Every Record Tells A Story
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Everything You Need To Know About Cassette Store Day
“Music sounds great on cassette. I have a big collection of original albums on cassette from artists like Dylan , The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, MC5 & Suicide. I also have great compilation tapes I made to play on Primal Scream tours. Cassette is a cool medium to listen to music on. Warm and fat.…
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Supersize Me: Morgan Howell’s 45 rpm Exhibition at Snap Galleries
In the Window of Snap Gallery’s latest exhibition by artist Morgan Howell is a quote by Johnny Marr of The Smiths. He says “The seven inch single, as an entity, is an absolutely powerful, possibly otherworldly object”. It certainly would be powerful if one of Howell’s creations landed on your toe, because this exhibition is…
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Retro Sounds Records, Newquay, Cornwall
On holiday in Cornwall this year? Let me recommend a second hand record store: Retro Sounds Records is a small but perfectly formed shop just off the high street in Newquay, a minute from the station and rammed with used vinyl of all kinds. I stumbled upon it a couple of weeks ago and thought…
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London’s Rock Venues: Now And Then…
Let me set the scene: 1987. As yuppies carrying brick-sized mobile phones drank Champagne, wearing garish pin-striped suits and highlights in their hair, London enjoyed the benefits of a booming economy as well as its unfortunate side effects. These included a widening gap between the haves and have-nots, and the ghastly sight of yuppies wearing…
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Ten Reasons Why It Was Okay To Like Bon Jovi In The Eighties
If you have been reading some of the rubbish I have come up with over the last eighteen months you may have built up a Sherlockian picture of me, although instead of observing the type of sand on my shoe (mentally noting I must live by the sea), or the bruise on my otherwise clean…
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Rock’s Great “Lost” Albums of the Eighties: #5 Tesla – Mechanical Resonance
When Mechanical Resonance was released in December 1986, I was pretty much certain it was a seminal moment in rock n roll, like that of The Beatles’ landing at JFK, Van Halen‘s debut release, or Adam Ant’s performance at Live Aid. It has always been something of a disappointment to me to know that, according…
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The Top Ten Jack White Collectables
(And no, a Christmas card from Jack to Dan Auerbach isn’t on the list, although I hear a Jack White piano is in production – where all the Black Keys will be removed). Ever since I heard Bowie’s Space Oddity, I have wanted my own Stylophone. Actually, that’s probably not true. Space Oddity may be…
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Ken Dodd’s Dad’s Dog’s Dead – Live Review
Since their appearance on Sounds of 2013, new British band Ken Dodd’s Dad’s Dog’s Dead (or KeDoDaDoDe as fans know them) have built themselves up an enviable live reputation as a new British band that plays live music in front of people. Last night, at Brixton’s legendary Custard Club KeDoDaDoDe impressed a curious crowd right…
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Can You Use Spotify And Still Be An Ethical Music Buyer?
Calls to control a growing internet menace has reached fever pitch this week. “Protect the vulnerable!” goes the cry. It’s a dirty, filthy business everyone is agreed. No, not the government’s crackdown on online pornography, but the far murkier issue of the music industry, and the question as to whether Spotify is its saviour, or…
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Atoms For Peace – Live at Camden Roundhouse
Thom Yorke has acted swiftly to make up the lost earnings he will have suffered from withdrawing his Atoms For Peace album from Spotify. Although the more cynical might suggest a morning paper round might cover the loss of income, Yorke has decided to choose another route: becoming a shopkeeper. Well, not actually a shopkeeper.…
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Another Look At The Top of the Pops Annual 1978
Like the sad, drippy mess revealed to the world by Janet Ellis in the Blue Peter Garden (and I don’t mean her daughter Sophie Ellis Bextor) the 1978 Top of the Pops Annual is a fascinating time capsule of life in the seventies. I expected to see Blondie, The Undertones and The Clash. Instead, featured…
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A Look Back At Top of the Pops: 1978
As I was growing up, something of a ritual established itself on Thursday nights at 7.30pm. After tea had been consumed, typically consisting of a home made beef lasagne lovingly cooked by mum and the washing up duties squabbled over and completed, the family settled down together to watch TV. Ours was a particularly fine…
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Rock star “Faithful To Wife” Shock Claim
The music world was left in shock today when a prominent musician, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was described as having a “monogamous relationship” with his well known wife. The revelations may leave the indie star’s reputation in tatters as close friends rallied round. “I can’t believe it’s true” said one band mate.…
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Rock’s Great “Lost” Albums of The Eighties #4: Michael Katon – Proud To Be Loud
Being born and raised in Hell must be quite a problem. It’s a bad neighbourhood. Your neighbours tend to be the sort that don’t mow their lawn (and store shopping trolleys there), seldom sort the recycling bin bags properly and often start needless and provocative boundary disputes with you. It’s also very very hot, all…
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So, Just How Much Could You Spend On A Full Set of White Stripes Vinyl?
White Stripes Release New Double Live Album “Nine Miles From The White City” Despite having split up in 2011, The White Stripes have released a new double live album this week. Marking the tenth anniversary of their magnum opus “Elephant”, the red and white vinyl album “Nine Miles From The White City” is a recording…
Every record tells a story 