Archive For The “Rock” Category
From the days when men were men and Ray Davies took a song about an encounter with a transvestite to the top of the charts. The story of the Kinks is a strange one. A prodigiously gifted songwriter, Ray Davies was always an outsider to the Beatles and Stones in-crowd. His acutely observed vignettes of … Continue reading »
Simply. Brilliant. Take that Mr. Cowell… There are times when it seems its just not worth chewing through the straps and for those of us that remember Thatcherism in all it’s hideous detail, the empty council housing, the riots in Parliament Square, the pointless and tragic Falklands conflict, even Ben Elton deserves to be recognised [...]
Although these days it’s tough to find the time, I do like to keep a hand in with music making when the opportunity presents itself. I don’t really have an ongoing band at the moment, so have to throw something together when gigs come up.This year was …
There were only two bands worth listening to in the Britpop movement and neither of them were called Oasis. This album transcends the genre effortlessly, providing the definitive soundtrack to a generation for whom the alienation of the after party comedown became a lifestyle. Bernard Butler, a guitarist and arranger of prodigious talent and singer 
Interpol, as incisive as surgery, display the fearsome grasp of rock dynamics that place them head and shoulders above a host of post punk pretenders. This, their fourth album has seen them simultaneously embrace a wider palette and lose their bass player – who, apparently, had grown to hate the bass. It is to be 
Eighties icon in punctuation jape! Another immaculate collection from rock’s most literate songwriter. Lloyd Cole writes songs that sound so natural they might have been plucked out of the air. This collection, backed by a band featuring Fred Maher, Blair Cowan from the Commotions and Joan ‘As Police Woman’ Wasser, is the strongest in a 
How can you not love Eels? The final episode of a frankly uneven trilogy sees Mark E returning to a mode that if not exactly sprightly, recalls a jauntiness last seen to full effect on the awesome Daisies of the Universe. While some tracks retain the melancholy that characterised the first few Eels albums, the 
From the days when waistbands were high and trousers voluminous; as close to perfection as a debut album has ever been, ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’ launched one of the most meticulous recording careers in rock. Not uncommon for ten years or more to elapse between releases, yet each album maintains the implausibly high standards 
Beer, Bourbon and cheap motels. This strange collaboration just keeps on giving. The third album from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan is occasionally quite sublime; Blues and Murder Balladry of the highest order from an enduring partnership which suggests that Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s Jackson was more than just a wicked tease. Shades of 
