Every Record Tells A Story
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Predictions for 2015: These Things Will Definitely Not Happen
1. Thom Yorke To Release Solo Album in Even Edgier Manner. In Branches of Sainsburys. Said Thom, “I thought I’d release the album only in branches of Sainsburys because that way it’ll be easier for my fans to buy a copy when the pick up their groceries rather than messing around on the Internet for…
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Sugar Pie DeSanto: The Forgotten Queen of Chess Records?
There’s a song I heard recently that I haven’t been able to shake from my head. It’s a doozy of a song, soulful and funky, called “In The Basement” and it’s sung by Sugar Pie DeSanto and Etta James. It’s a great duet and was recorded whilst both singers were recording stars of Chess Records…
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Is This Skynyrd? It’s Pretty Cool: The Strange Tale of Raging Slab
In some respects, the Wikipedia entry for New York’s Best Southern Rock band (yes, you read that correctly) Raging Slab is as (unintentionally) funny and as interesting as any band. Raging Slab had a career blighted by incredibly poor luck, doubtless brought some of that on themselves*, yet began life with Deee-Lite’s Super DJ Dmitri…
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Every Record Tells A Story Photos of 2014
As the year draws to a close, it is nice to look back and reflect on the last twelve months. Did I really meet Johnny Rotten and was the one not wearing a tie? Was that really Metallica headlining Glastonbury, yet Dolly Parton was the one who drew the biggest crowd of the weekend? And…
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Review: The Year In Music 2014…And The Life and Death of Rock n Roll
The Death of Rock n Roll was the theme of 2014… January Perhaps it began with the crushing news that professional overdosers and part time rock band Motley Crüe had decided to split. This came as a shock to most people who thought that they had already split in the nineties. The Crüe did the…
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Why Megadeth’s Rust In Peace Is Better Than Indie Rock’s Finest
I was listening to Cloud Nothings’ Here And Everywhere Else the other day – a very fine record incidentally – when I reached a Eureka! moment. I don’t mean to say that I jumped out of the bath and hopped along the street. That sort of thing may have passed for normal behaviour in Ancient…
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Augustines – Live In The Round: at Camden Roundhouse
When Augustines play live you witness not so much a rock show as a rock revival. Like indie-Narnian-lions, the band breathe life into the the stone-cold Camden Roundhouse, converting a freezing December audience into the hippest looking bunch of Southern Baptists you will ever see. Lead vocalist William McCarthy wears his heart on his sleeve.…
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Christmas Shopping For The Music Fan in Your Life. Sorted.
It’s always difficult to know what gifts to buy for the music lover in your life. Sometimes just buying a CD seems a little…lazy. On the other hand, you know they’ll probably enjoy that more than a Christmas jumper or pair of novelty socks. But some people feel awkward or even a bit silly going…
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John Lydon Reveals Sid Vicious Beauty Secrets In New Autobiography “Anger Is An Energy”
Alongside Iggy Pop, John Lydon is widely regarded as the Godfather of TV Adverts Punk. Lydon’s infamy was secured this week in 1976 when The Sex Pistols swore on the Bill Grundy TV show, and called him a “dirty old sod”. Grundy’s behaviour, in encouraging a pop group to swear on tea time TV, is…
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Why German Heavy Metal Still Matters: Accept – Live at The Forum
As a veteran of several eighties Monsters of Rock Donington festivals, the odd Reading Festival, and a myriad of lesser gigs at Hammersmith Odeon, The Astoria, Dominion, Brixton, The Town and Country Club (now renamed as tonight’s venue, The Forum), et al, I have reached the point (or perhaps “age” is a better word) where…
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The National: The World’s Biggest Unknown Band – live at O2 Arena, London
When telling colleagues and friends that I was going to see The National last night, for their final show of their “Trouble Will Find Me” world tour, almost all of them gave me the same one word answer. “…….Who……???” On this evidence* it seems that The National might just be the World’s Biggest Unknown Band.…
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Picture This: A Blondie Photographic Exhibition at Somerset House
As someone who thinks that Art is someone who sang with Paul Simon, it is nevertheless enjoyable to walk around the galleries of London and allow some of the good stuff to soak in to the brain, hopefully adding something a little more beneficial than the other things London has to offer at this time…
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Jack White: Live at the O2 Arena
“Ten years ago I was in a band called The White Stripes and we were going to play the O2 Arena, but we had to cancel the tour, so that’s one reason we’re playing here tonight.” The world most important trinket-maker and blues guitarist, Jack White, returned to the UK and London’s O2 Arena last…
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The Recording of David Bowie’s “Heroes”
On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, David Bowie’s “Heroes”, written and recorded at Hansa Studios just a few hundred yards from the Wall, remains a landmark recording and perhaps Bowie’s best-loved song. It is also perhaps the best example of how music can be affected by the location it is…
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The MTV European Music Awards: Minaj Out-Swears Glaswegians Shocker
Great to see the return of the MTV European Music Awards tonight, live from Glasgow. Frosty, threatening to turn violent at any moment and barely intelligible, Nicki Minaj was the perfect host for the City. Previously the award show that has brought us the edifying spectacle of Miley Cyrus dancing with a spandex-clad little person,…
Every record tells a story 