Skip to main content

Posts

This Is Northern Soul — Various Artists

       Year Released: 1999 Label: Crimson Records Year Bought: 2011 I bought this CD off a market stall in Braintree in 2011 (for £6 it seems) and have never listened to it. I got it because I had a cool light blue jacket with the Northern Soul fist logo on it so thought I better get into the scene a bit. Was probably too busy listening to the Manics to actually do it. Ok this took a long time to get through. It's 24 tracks, which is a lot in one sitting. A compilation released in 1999 by Crimson Records, to cash in on the "revival" seen in the 90s, according to the liner noters, this is a pretty good entry point to the genre. There's a load of tunes on here I admit I didn't know, which was the point of a lot of Northern Soul: find obscure 45s. The opening track is one that everyone knows, 'Move On Up' by Curtis Mayfield. However, I'd never heard the full, almost 9-minute long version. Even with the extension, it still feels like it's over too soon...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - David Bowie

                                                                                     Year Released: 1972 Label: RCA Year Bought: 2005 (although listened to mum's vinyl a lot before this) I got into Bowie when I was in my mid-teens, loving Hunky Dory in particular.  I remember being reluctant to listen to Ziggy Stardust in case it wasn't as good. Of course I was wrong. It's probably better. From the opening drums of Five Years to the closing cacophony of Rock 'n' Roll Suicide, Bowie takes us on a journey through his fantastical imagination, smeared with glitter and garish eyeshadow. Mick Ronson is an absolute starman on this album. That solo at the end of Moonage Daydream is one for the ages. There's not a bad song on it. There's no...
Post a Comment
Read more

Youth and Young Manhood - Kings of Leon

                                                                             Year Released: 2003 Label: Hand Me Down Year Bought: 2005 This is when Kings of Leon were great. Could you tell what Caleb was saying? No, but who cared. It all added to the mystery. The group looked like they'd stepped out of a Louisiana swamp (yes I know they're from Tennessee) and were doing it all purely for their own enjoyment. Red Morning Light is a great opener and then Happy Alone just ups the pace and incomprehensibility. The whole album bounces along with such a tightness and simplicity. All the guitar lines are straight to the point. There's nothing particularly inventive about the production and recording. The record wears its influences on its plaid shirt sleeves - you can...
Post a Comment
Read more

Urban Hymns - The Verve

  Year Released: 1997 Label: Hut Records / Virgin Records Year Bought: Can't remember It's hard to critique this album as it's just one of those albums that everyone universally considers to be great. I'll be honest, I've never really listened to it properly. The singles are ace, and I'm sure I gave it a spin way back when, but when it came out I was still on my Oasis trip, and then shifted to Radiohead and Jeff Buckley, so Urban Hymns just sort of lived in my peripheral vision. I knew the singles, that was enough for me. As album openers go, Bittersweet Symphony is up there with Smells Like Teen Spirit on Nevermind and Rock n Roll Star on Definitely Maybe as the perfect encapsulation of a band's ethos. It's the perfect headline. You can read on, but it tells you everything you need to know. When I saw Richard Ashcroft playing this at Wembley last year supporting Oasis, the whole stadium got to their feet like it's the national anthem. Let's be h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

Year Released: 2004 Label: Domino Year Bought: 2004 January 2004. I'd just quit uni. Was back at the family home in Bishop's Stortford. The place I'd been so desperate to get away from, and I was back and already bored.  And then things got a bit less boring. I remember this so clearly. I was having a shower and the radio was on, and on came 'Take Me Out'. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. At first I thought it must be an old tune that had passed me by, but no, it was announced as a new song by a band called Franz Ferdinand. It sounded glorious. It sounded interesting. After the staleness of the post-Britpop years, and beigeness of Coldplay, Travis et al, there was actually a British band doing something interesting. I loved it, and when the album came out the next month, I gobbled it up with glee. Listening back now, and I still love it. The hushed opening of 'Jacqueline', the sleaze of 'The Dark of the Matinee', the homoeroticism of 'M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Coming Up – Suede

  Year Released: 1996 Label: Nude Year Bought: 2011 I know lots of people love this album, and it has got some great songs on it, but I just can't love it. It's too trebly, too thin, too cold. It kicks off with 'Trash', which is an absolutely brilliant tune with fantastic lyrics. Brett is at his absolute best here, with talk of "nowhere towns" and "cellophane sounds", and being the "litter on the breeze". I love it. But, alas we go from one of Suede's best songs to one of their worst. 'Filmstar' feels incredibly lazy. The riff is nothing, and as for the lyrics:  Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car it looks so easy Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car tonight These are Noel Gallagher-on-an-incredibly-bad-day lyrics.  I hate the riff, I hate the chorus, I hate the lyrics. I hate how shiny it is. It's lazy ... which is the title of the next song. This tune sees the first use on the album of the "here the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blur — Blur

Year Released: 1997 Label: Food Year Bought: 2012 AND WHEN SHE LETS ME SLIP AWAY.... The opening track of Blur's fifth album is undoubtedly one of their best. I remember when "Beetlebum" came out that it felt like a gear shift from the band. Later in the same year, Radiohead did the same with 'Paranoid Android'. Oasis's big comeback single in 1997, "D'You Know What I Mean" didn't have the same vibes. Anyway, the self-titled album from Blur sees the band pretty much withdrawing from the Britpop battle. The chopping guitar of "Beetlebum" in many ways tells you everything you need to know about the record. Lo-fi, rough, a bit aggressive, the album sees Graham Coxon's love of US alt-rock, particularly Beck, dominating the sound. Take "You're So Great", a Coxon penned and performed tune that sounds like it was recorded on an old tape player. This is no "Country House". "Country Sad Ballad Man" sounds...
Post a Comment
Read more