What does it sound like?:

What happens when underground darlings attempt to join the mainstream? In this case, it all went badly wrong in every respect except the music…

This is the Dream Syndicate’s second album. Recording started a mere 18 months after their first rehearsal as a band. The eight tracks on the original album took six months of 12 hour days, seven days a week and $0.5m of A&M’s money (in 1983!) to lay down with Sandy Pearlman at the helm. The band basically fell apart in the process and a few short months after its release, split. What they left us with is an album like no other: a mixture of production gloss, feral guitars and songs that deal with death, arson, lust, child abuse and… Well, mostly death if I’m honest.

So what do we have a year too late for this 40th anniversary boxed set? A remixed version of the original album, sounding better than ever; the complete set of a slot supporting R.E.M. released in truncated form as This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album back in the day; some rehearsals; live performances; and two complete sets from gigs at CBGBs and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Ahhh … the Tribute Album. A collection of artists rendering their own versions of to their favourite songs by an artist that was no doubt a formative influence on them. Bad Company will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2025, and to mark the occasion, 10 acts have offered up their own takes on the cream of the Bad Company songbook. Paul Rogers and Simon Kirke also make appearances – cynical me says “did the acts just use the original backing tracks and perform over it karaoke style” – nope, they are both there on the recordings. Like Bruce Foxton in From The Jam, does this mean they are making a tribute to themselves. And why not … the songs remain a hard-wired part of 70s rock cannon. Whilst I can’t back this up with fact, I’m of the belief that Bad Company were bigger in America than the UK – and they were pretty big in the UK. This belief is evidenced by the roll call of names here – of the 10 (including Halestorm, Slash, Black Stone Cherry, and Charley Crockett) the only UK representation is » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

I never much liked Led Zeppelin – there, I’ve said it. I found their particular brand of tight-trousered rock’n’roll posturing very contrived. Robert Plant never impressed me as a front man. Rather than embodying the charisma of the West Coast free spirit he aspired to be, I always felt he looked like a builder’s labourer who couldn’t quite believe his luck. It’s probably sacrilegious to report that there are some Led Zep albums I have never listened to, and at this late stage of the day probably never will.

Then again, there are the solo albums, some of which from the 80s and 90s began to pique my interest, and which from as recently as Mighty Rearranger onwards became essential listening. There will be those of you on here who are familiar with Robert Plant’s entire musical history, back catalogue and influences, so I won’t attempt to draw any clever conclusions from my more cursory knowledge. The albums released as Strange Sensation, Band of Joy, Sensational Space Shifters and with Alison Krauss all demonstrate those influences whether they be Welsh mysticism, blues, desert blues, World Music, folk, Americana or rock’n’roll. On those recent » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Steven Wilson must never sleep because here he is again, this time with an Atmos mix of this 1979 album, which supersedes his 2014 surround mix. This bluray plus cd set encompasses everything that was on that earlier release, including the original 5.1 mixes, but adds an excellent 2025 Atmos mix. The album is maybe best known to the casual fan for Making Plans For Nigel, and to a lesser extent the non album but included here single. Life Begins At The Hop, but there’s plenty of other music here that’s equally worthy of your attention. In addition to the original album, there’s a further forty tracks comprising demos and rehearsals, so there’s plenty here to keep even the most hardcore fan happy. Of course, the question is, if you already own the 2014 set is this worth buying as well. If you have the requisite set up to listen, then the answer is a resounding yes, as Wilson’s new Atmos mix really gives the sound a 360 degree dimension, giving the songs a shimmering sheen while unearthing some previously overlooked details, all without affecting the original integrity of the songs. This for me » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Ronnie Wood is one of nature’s collaborators. He gets on with everybody, loves being part of a gang, and is willing to participate in all the fun, even if it means taking risks with excess alcohol, street drugs and groupies. He is an ideal band member, someone who can make the long hours in the studio or on tour pass more quickly. He has some guitar prowess but nothing that will steal the limelight from a real guitar hero. He brings occasional ideas to songwriting, but generally he needs someone to add melody and lyrics. He is blessed with a voice that suits backing vocals. Most importantly, he is too polite to demand top billing and equal pay.

Fearless collects together 38 tracks from the whole of his sixty year career, in chronological order. It starts well. The Birds and The Creation were raw and exciting, part of the UK Mod scene. The first song he wrote and recorded is You’re On My Mind by The Birds, one he has admitted is a copy of The Yardbirds. He co-wrote three tracks on Beck-O-La, the whole of side two in old vinyl, represented here by » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Last year, Beat convened to tour the three Crimson albums of the 80s, namely Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair. For those of you whose grannies are yet to perfect their albumen-through-a-straw technique, the three albums shared a common and consistent line-up, had a shared imagery in minimalist cover design, and most definitely a distinct take on the Crimson sound. It was the arrival of Adrian Belew and Tony Levin that brought that fresh stamp. Now, I am well aware that both at that time and since, for some, the new sound was a travesty of the Crimson legacy, almost sacreligious; given the tribalism of musical taste in the post-punk era, Belew’s association with Talking Heads put him beyond the pale with prog fans, as he had been playing with The Opposition. This review is not for those people, for why would they be interested? That said, I think it’s important that you know the starting point for your reviewer, so you can judge the perspective of observation. Well, for starters, when I first heard these albums, I was already a big fan of both King Crimson and Talking Heads, so comfortable, » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Ah! The vicissitudes of conducting a romantic relationship in the work place. This is the long lost album by the famous star crossed lovers before they joined Fleetwood Mac. It had one single print run on release in 1973, sold very little, and this simple remaster is the first time it has been available on CD, download or streaming. There are no extras, despite one well known bootleg having twelve additional tracks. It begs the question why it has been buried all this time.

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks met at High School in California. They found themselves harmonising to a Beach Boys song at a youth event. Later Buckingham invited her to join his band, Fritz. They touched real fame, supporting Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix, learning valuable lessons in stagecraft at first hand. It took five years and the breakup of the band for them to begin a personal relationship and for them to start writing songs of their own. Tempted to record demos at Sound City Studios by Keith Elson, they dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles. Nicks earned money cleaning Olsen’s house, waiting tables and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is the sixth and final box set in the ‘Eras’ sequence that started with Five Years in 2015. The template was set by Bowie himself: freshly remastered studio albums, contemporary live sets, Re:Call collections of officially released singles, B sides, EPs, and a different take on one of the albums. Five Years had a Ken Scott mix of Ziggy Stardust, Who Can I Be Now? a Harry Maslin mix of Stationtostation and Tony Visconti’s view of The Gouster, A New Career In A New Town Visconti’s mix of Lodger, Loving The Alien a Mario McNulty remake of Never Let Me Down, and A Brilliant Adventure included Mark Plati’s version of Toy. Live albums that have received a first official release on these boxes include an extended Stage, Serious Moonlight, and a complete BBC Theatre. Otherwise, Eras boxes do not include any outtakes or previously unreleased material, which are held back for a different collection of box sets covering approximately a calender year, a series that is up only up to 1973. Surroundsound was never a part of the offer, so no Blu-Rays.

I Can’t Give Everything Away covers a period of just four » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Bob Dylan said, “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism; Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree.” He may have a point. Proust’s concept explores the relationship between memory, self-identity and the passage of time, suggesting that our understanding of who we are depends largely on flimsy, inaccurate, subjective memories. Prine was modest, with a self-deprecating sense of humour. His band was faithful, his voice quiet and his songs simple, based on basic chords and an acoustic sound. He was never going to be big. He found wisdom and heartbreak in the everyday mundane, noticing and remembering profound moments that are most often ignored. His calm, measured approach is captivating and his carefully chosen words hang heavy, both on his shoulders and in our hearts. He was a man whose character was built from the small details that really matter.

Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings is a follow up, of sorts, to a Grammy winning comeback (after a five year spell away from the studio). It’s an attempt to cash in on the attention to secure some radio play and more sales. The production values are upped » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Whatever happened to White Arena Rock? Back in the seventies and eighties, almost any white rock band with a hit could fill a stadium, especially in the States. Think of Europe, Journey, Styx and Survivor. Both Michael Jones, guitar, and Lou Gramm, vocals, are original Foreigner members continuing to take an interest in the band but Jones’s Parkinson’s restricts his ability to tour and Gramm only makes the occasional appearance for one or two songs. Effectively, the Foreigner of today is their own glorified tribute act with high quality musicians and inflated prices for tickets. The Rolling Stones are another perfect example of a heritage act still filling stadiums, with just two original members, both in their dotage. Black Sabbath have just said an emotional farewell in their home town and, now, the Prince of Darkness has gone to another place. Oasis are relative youngsters performing songs that are a juvenile thirty years old. Dave Grohl has hit his mid fifties. Chris Martin isn’t far behind. White Arena Rock has become a nostalgiafest.

4 was Foreigner’s fourth album, released in 1981, at a time when the band reduced in number from six to four, » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Joni Mitchell has been having a conversation with Jazz her whole career. Her songwriting style has always been unique; self-relevatory lyrics on a volatile bed of unusual chord changes. Childhood polio weakened her left hand forcing her to be creative in finding fret placings for her fingers. Her solutions were chords most other singer songwriters never used but Jazz musicians recognised. In an interview with New York Magazine in 2005, she described her influences: romantic classical music, folksy impressionists, Leonard Cohen until she realised he took a lot of lines from Camus and Lorca, Bob Dylan, of course, and innovators such as Marie Curie. However, in the music world, it was Charlie Parker’s trailblazing approach to melody, rhythm and harmony that fired her up.

Her “Jazz period” is generally regarded as being between 1974 and 1979 for the albums Court & Spark through to Mingus, when she recruited bone fide Jazz musicians to her band and adjusted her writing to suit them, including luminaries such as Jaco Pastorius, Airto Moreira, Larry Carlton, Michel Colombier, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Emil Richards, and John Guerin. Most of this period is covered by » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Kathleen Edwards is a Canadian artist who, like other Canadian artists, always seems to hit the right note this side of the pond. Close enough to the US to appeal to those who like music in a broad Americana spectrum, distant enough not to offend those who don’t like country. Her self-imposed break from the music industry between 2014 and 2020, struggles with depression and her audience’s expectations of her, opening a coffee shop (Quitters) in an Ontario backwater town, and her subsequent return to music are all probably better known than the four albums she released beforehand.

Billionaire marks the second album since that return in 2020. While its predecessor Total Freedom marked a modest development of Edwards’ signature sound, a statement of intent, if you like, Billionaire makes it presence felt straight away with a much beefed up sound, chunkier guitar riffs and a sonic density that winningly complements Kathleen Edwards’ songwriting skills and deft way with a lyric. Partly responsible for this is the presence of Jason Isbell and members of the 400 Unit. Edwards manages to sound more strident and pissed off than ever before on many of these songs. » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Fifteen albums into a 41-year career you wouldn’t normally expect bands to be putting out some of their best work in 2025.

‘Bollocks to that,’ shout the five members of British rockers, FM.

Formed in ’84 by two members of Samson; two members of Wildlife, (brothers Chris and Steve Overland,) and the keyboard player from new wave band, The Invaders, (I still treasure their 1979 single, Girl’s in Action,) the band was signed by CBS and sent out on a German tour with Meatloaf. Their debut album, Indiscreet, was a big hit and they supported acts like Tina Turner, Foreigner, Gary Moore and Quo in their first two years, culminating in opening the U.K leg of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet tour.

After several personnel changes and four more excellent albums, the band split up at the end of 1995.

In 2007, singer Steve Overland, drummer Pete Jupp and bassist Merv Goldsworthy decided to have another go and the band has toured the planet and put out ten more albums since.

Last year’s Old Habits Die Hard was a masterpiece of melodic rock, packed with loud guitars, pinpoint harmonies and terrific tunes. I » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

There is a pall of sadness that hangs over this album. Mac Davis, who wrote or co-wrote these songs with Girelli, died in 2020 aged 78, and the work dates back six years before then. Davis was a veteran songwriter, performer and actor. He wrote A Little Less Conversation and In The Ghetto for Elvis Presley. He had a long songwriting career, including songs performed by Nancy Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Louis Jordan, Helen Reddy, Perry Como, Bobby Goldsboro, and, more recently, Bruno Mars and the Swedish DJ Avicii. Nevertheless, it’s Country music that flowed through his Texan veins. Girelli is from Otley, West Yorkshire and more than forty years younger. He started off in Indie Rock bands as melodramatic as Radiohead or U2. He’s always loved the big heartbreak songs of the fifties and sixties, decades before he was born, thrown in with some Springsteen and opera. A performance on Letterman brought him to Davis’s attention and soon they were writing together, prompting Girelli to changed direction towards emotionally charged songs of the Rock & Roll era set in the wild Yorkshire Dales. His solo debut in 2018, Love Kills, represented an artistic awakening, » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Few bands have had as many incarnations as Purple – at the time of writing, Mark IX is going strong, with a second album planned for 2026. New guitarist Simon McBride gives the band an edge unseen since Blackmore flounced back in 1993, Steve Morse coming off the subs bench after first choice Joe Satriani was blocked by Epic Records.

“Rapture” was Morse’s 4th DP album, and heralded Mark VIII when founder member John Lord stepped down, replaced by Don Airey. At its time of recording in 2005, Purple were without a record deal, EMI having dropped the band after indifferent sales of “Abandon” and “Bananas” in 1998 and 2003. This may have contributed to Purple raising their game and this re-mix overseen by Roger Glover adds some sparkle and punch that was absent the first time round.

This 20th Anniversary edition captures the 10 rack original plus bonus tracks that appeared only in Japan (“Things I Never Said”) or on limited edition / special tour editions (“MTV”, “Junkyard Blues”, “Before Time Began”) although the London Hard Rock Café live set from 2005 that accompanied a special tour edition is absent. Along with new » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is Speedvark’s third release in thirty-nine years. Ben and Pedro normally sing songs about homely mundanity, such as drinking tea, quietly existing in middle England. Music is more of a hobby, a bonding experience for the two of them, something to keep them out of mischief. You can imagine them writing songs around a kitchen table, guitars on their knees, a rudimentary keyboard within reach. They are fully aware of their limitations and approach performing, producing and marketing with good cheer and self-deprecation. Their first two albums troubled no charts and shifted few units. Some of their friends and family like them, which was the main thing. Presumably, they have alternative ways of making a living.

For this release, available for streaming and download, Ben Raudnitz recruits his offspring, Mig and Nath to play. Pedro Flatt is on drums. It is a sixty-eight minute piece inspired by Albert Lord Tennyson’s poem The Lotos Eaters, an epic tale about getting stoned out of your mind. It takes them a good seven and a half minutes of messing about with chords to find the riff. After all, they originally wrote it thirty-two years ago. The » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Recognising the highly important 53rd Anniversary, one of the greatest Live albums of 70s Rock Cannon gets the (inevitable) Steven Wilson treatment, and big box configuration including the original album, each of the recorded shows, all the encores, and a Blu-Ray Dolby Atmos Mix. Deep Purple never wanted to put out a live album. It was the sales of a live bootleg, and the performance of recent live albums including the Who’s Live at Leeds and the Rolling Stones’ Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out that (begrudgingly?) convinced them there might some commercial sense in it. Scheduled to tour Japan, the band were still not “hot” on the idea especially when presented with the equipment offered by the record company in Japan. Martin Birch was pulled in to engineer, upgraded equipment secured, and 2 shows at Festival Hall Osaka and 1 at Budokan Tokyo recorded for later assembly to the finished album. After the Tour closed, band interest in the album was still not high, and the compiling and mixing left to Martin Birch (with some partial assistance from Ian Paice and Roger Glover). The finished product was originally intended to be for the Japanese market » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Next in the line of UFO reissues is this 1980 album, which now comes as a two cd set, with the original album having been remastered for 2025 and with three bonus tracks added, being augmented by a largely unreleased show recorded at the Marquee in November of that year. The George Martin produced album marked the debut of ex Lone Star guitarist Paul Chapman, who had the unenviable task of stepping into the recently departed Michael Schenker’s shoes, not an easy role to fill although he acquits himself quite well. Stand out tracks are the title song, Young Blood, which was released as a single, Mystery Train and Lettin’ Go, but while this isn’t a bad album overall, it’s all a bit much of a muchness that hasn’t really aged that well and lacks the cutting edge of their classic 70’s releases. The live show is the better of the two discs by far, and perhaps tellingly it contains only three songs from the newly released album. Instead it concentrates on the old crowd pleasing favourites like Love to Love and Only You Can Rock Me, while the closing run of Too Hot » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Coles Corner is where Richard Hawley found his place in the musical firmament: shoulders square, reverb guitar, and mournful baritone, crossing Roy Orbison’s romance with Johnny Cash’s grit. The songs are beautiful constructs, with their feet firmly in the fifties, soul in the city of Sheffield and heart hopelessly dreaming of Hollywood. Hawley totally inhabits every moment of them. As with all the very best albums, Coles Corner is a world entirely of its own but, in 2005, the music scene in the UK was fragmented and there was enough room for its faded glamour and yearning nostalgia to be noticed. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize, won by The Artic Monkeys, also from Sheffield. As soon as Alex Turner accepted the award, he declared, “Call 999. Richard Hawley’s been robbed!” It’s his third LP and he has released six since, not to mention five film soundtracks and three live albums, but it’s the one with which he is most closely associated and many believe is his best.

The album was immaculately recorded in 2005 and requires no further embellishment or polish. Twenty years have enhanced its stature. It is the kind of » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Revved up and raring to go after touring with The Ramones, Talking Heads flew to the Bahamas to record at the newly opened Compass Point Studio with Brian Eno in the producer’s chair. They were a band in hurry, battle-hardened and armed with a clutch of songs they knew worked a crowd. Rather than separate into constituent parts, Eno recorded them as a single unit. The early run-throughs are the band playing together, live, all in the same room, with minimal Eno treatments. As a result, disc two of this set is fantastic: raw, frantic with energy, but as tight as a gnat’s chuff. The band clearly can’t believe their luck, loving their job and working in such a beautiful part of the world. David Byrne chortles away with delight at the beginning of the alternative With Our Love, hardly the cheeriest of songs, and the sense of glee pervades the whole project from beginning to end. It’s not often the work-in-progress tracks sound so great but these are definitely worth repeated listens.

John Cale had taken Eno to see Talking Heads perform almost a year before. A smitten Eno invited them to » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Four albums in and Haim have long since left their starting point of Fleetwood Mac 80s sunkissed harmonies, gated drums and a reverb-heavy sound (I re-played If I Could Change Your Mind and Don’t Save Me from their debut just to be sure, yup still there).

This album’s heaviest samples are a lifting of The Edge’s scuzzy guitar line from mid-90s U2 track Numb and George Michael’s backing vocalists from Freedom ‘90 (ok not that far from the tree). The latter is on album opener Gone, sitting on top of a shuffling acoustic guitar line that recalls nothing so much as Let It Bleed-era Stones complete with Mick Taylor-esque blues shredding. It sets out the tone for this album which sees several tracks (most notably Blood on the Streets) draw heavily from the late sixties early seventies sound.

I’ve listened to this album a good number of times. It’s both very varied – in say a way a Taylor Swift album isn’t – and very consistent – like the best of Swift, while still being unabashedly a series of succinct three minute poppers. Here’s some highlights:

Opener Relationships – we start with » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Reviewing a new Van Morrison album has been a tough sell for a good few years now. His pervasive mood of persecution and paranoia has led to him writing lumpy twelve-bar blues songs about going down to Monte Carlo to get away from the Press and, in the main, the albums have rarely made it past a third play. In our house, Van invented a new acronym; AFNK; All Filler No Killer.

Well, people; let me tell you that Remembering Now is Van’s best album in 30 years and he has restored that acronym to its rightful order. It is AKNF.

I remember sitting in a cinema in January 2022 to see Kenneth Branagh’s new film, Belfast and being captivated by the opening montage, filmed over a Van Morrison song called Down to Joy. The song sounded like it could have come from the sessions for his 1982 album, Beautiful Vision; it would have sat perfectly alongside Cleaning Windows and Dweller On the Threshold; and I realised how much I missed ‘spiritual, happy Van.’

Down to Joy is the opener here and it is immediately better than anything on his last 24 albums; which » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Two curios from a bygone age here, both remastered this year by David Singleton. The whimsical 1968 debut set from the trio appears here minus for the first time the rather dated ‘humorous’ spoken word elements, letting all the focus shine solely on the musical content. It’s a strange mixture of psychedelic pop and almost folk influenced music with some nice guitar playing thrown into the pot for good measure. Although no individual pieces particularly stand out, taken as a whole it’s a rather charming if now somewhat dated example of early British psychedelia, although commercial success perhaps unsurprisingly evaded it at the time. The Brondesbury Tapes, named after the location of the North London flat where the trio lived, comprises a set of demos recorded in 1968 and as such the sound quality is a little variable at times. The 21 pieces do however give a pointer towards the path that King Crimson would eventually follow. There are a couple of early attempts at I Talk To The Wind, one featuring Judy Dyble on vocals, while part of Suite No 1 would be used in Song of the Gulls, and Why Don’t You » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

The latest addition to the long running and invariably excellent series of Tull reissues sees the original 1972 double compilation album, which contained a mixture of album tracks, singles and rarities, expanded to a 5 cd plus bluray set, augmented to include related recordings and alternate mixes, and now put together with a live show recorded at Carnegie Hall in November 1970. The first cd provides the original album plus half a dozen previously unreleased tracks, while cds two and three have Steven Wilson’s new remixes of the material. Although a good deal of this has already appeared on previous box sets for the individual albums, there are still eleven previously unreleased versions on offer over those two discs. The final two cds have a full 1970 live show which has appeared before as part of the 2010 Collectors Edition release, although this is a brand new 2025 mix by Wilson (odd though that they haven’t included in the set the video of the show that was part of that release). As is customary, the bluray has the various mixes, including surround versions of everything, together with a number of promo videos from the » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Last year, Claudia Brücken celebrated a significant birthday with a round number. Bearing in mind she first enjoyed pop success in the eighties with German band Propaganda, you can guess which one it was. In fact, their first album, A Secret Wish, was released exactly forty years ago, a rather grand affair, typical of the label ZTT. The producer was Stephen Lipson “under the supervision of” Trevor Horn, but you can barely tell the difference. Brücken’s contribution to the songwriting and distinctive co-lead vocal, were an essential part of its character. The band quickly broke up in acrimony, fuelled by Brücken’s relationship with Paul Morley, when they discovered their contract meant they weren’t going to make any money, ever. Since then, apart from spending the nineties bringing up her two children, she has remained musically active furrowing the by-ways of the music industry, often working with others, including ex Propaganda members and OMD’s Paul Humphreys. xPropaganda’s The Heart Is Strange in 2022 was a third attempt at a reunion but only involved Brücken, Susanne Freytag and Lipson, and not Micheal Mertens and Ralf Dörper. It’s a fine album, if indicative of the complications of » Continue Reading.