All The Records I've Ever Owned

Year Released: 2014 Label: Reprise, Warner Bros Year Bought: 2014 When frontmen/women make solo albums, there's always a question of whether the final product could have just been an album by their main band, or does it stand up in its own right? My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way released Hesitant Alien in 2014, a year after his band split up (and five years before they got back together). One of the leaders of the mid-00s emo scene, MCR hit it big with The Black Parade, a rock-opera album that channelled Meat Loaf, Queen, and Bruce Springsteen. Way was always an ambitious front man, and the former comic book artist was open about his love of British music - be it Bowie, Britpop, or shoegaze - long before he made this album. Those influences are splashed around Hesitant Alien, alongside the expected overwrought stylings so associated with MCR. The album kicks of with 'The Bureau', which has a real Berlin Bowie vibe. It's more interesting than many would expect, but i...

Year Released: 2014 Label: Columbia Year Bought: 2014 For some reason, and I genuinely can't remember why, I was anti-Kasabian when they first came out.  Perhaps I was too enthralled by the more post-punk vibes of their contemporaries such as Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand, and I dismissed the lads from Leicester as nothing more than Oasis wannabes. Anyway, I was wrong, and Kasabian have not only outlasted many of those bands, they clearly have a great back catalogue. 48:13 was their fifth album, and I bought it after watching them headline Glastonbury in 2014 (as in, I was actually at the festival). They were brilliant that night. The crowd - full of flags and flares - were totally enthralled, and it was one of those sets where you were reminded of just how many brilliant songs a group has written. They really are the perfect festival band. This album - the only Kasabian record I own - is a synth heavy record with proper boisterous bangers. It is peppered with electronica and hip-...

Released: 2014 Label: Self-released When I bought: 2024 ( Listen to the album here ) This is another record I picked up in She Said Boom in Toronto. As I said when writing about 1977 , I wanted to get albums from local artists and small labels.  This record was sitting in the local artists section, and came as a vinyl/CD package, which is pretty good value for CA$6.99 (£3.90). I know nothing about Jonathan Billings, and can't find too much online (there's no information on his Spotify page) but it is clear there are two wolves inside the man - one is Dave Gilmore, and the other is Rory Gallagher. The majority of the album is solid, good old fashioned blues rocks.  '78 Buick','Yorkville', 'No Sympathy' 'When You See Me' are no nonsense tracks, with crunchy riffs and searing guitar solos. This is where the Rory Gallagher (and other blues player) influences are really on show. It sounds good on the record, but I reckon the best place for this music ...