New Music Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Merseybeats, The SorrowsSunday, 15 August 2021
After a band’s back catalogue has been reissued countless times, any new release needs a fresh approach to attract attention. Archives and collections can be scoured to find previously unissued tracks. There might be otherwise unknown recordings released under aliases, or maybe something which escaped via an obscure continental soundtrack album. But on their own, such discoveries aren’t enough. They need to be married-up with the familiar. Read more... |
Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson, Apple TV+ review - riveting survey of the technology that transformed musicMonday, 09 August 2021
Producer to the stars and creator of the monstrously successful “Uptown Funk”, Mark Ronson knows a thing or two about making noises. He has combined this know-how with a laid-back knack for presenting to make this six-parter for Apple TV+, delving into the history of how developing technology has driven innovation in the music business. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Choctaw Ridge - New Fables of The American South 1968-1973Sunday, 08 August 2021
“Saunders' Ferry Lane” elegantly paints a picture of revisiting an empty, out-of-season neighbourhood to reflect on an old relationship. It’s cloudy and begins raining. The grass where the couple lay is dead. Birds have flown away. The gentle arms which held the narrator are gone. “I find no present comfort for my pain” sings a forlorn Sammi Smith. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tim Buckley - Merry-Go-Round at the CarouselSunday, 01 August 2021
Anyone in San Francisco on 15 and 16 June 1968 would have had a tough choice if they wanted to see live music. On Saturday the 15th, Big Brother & the Holding Company and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown were playing The Fillmore. That night, The Charlatans were on at The Straight Theatre. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Chris Barber - A Trailblazer's LegacySunday, 25 July 2021
The book included with this splendid box set dedicated to British jazz innovator Chris Barber includes a series of quotes paying tribute to his standing. Billy Bragg says "Chris Barber's influence on British popular music, be it through playing jazz, creating skiffle or promoting R&B, has been immense. Read more... |
Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan review - noir settings for classic numbersMonday, 19 July 2021
What is the Shadow Kingdom and how do you gain access to it? In Bob Dylan’s case, it may be found in the film noir classics of his birth – 1941’s The Maltese Falcon onward – and it’s those noir settings, artfully condensed and reduced to a signature sauce, that dictate the tone of the dim-lit tableaux that decorate the settings for Dylan’s first foray into online streaming. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Karen Black - Dreaming Of You (1971-1976)Sunday, 18 July 2021
Karen Black’s connection with music was never hidden. In Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville she played a country singer. In 1970’s Five Easy Pieces she was a would-be country singer. In Nashville, two of the songs she sang were self-penned. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Count Bishops - SpeedballSunday, 11 July 2021
A new band called the Sex Pistols played their fifth live show on 28 November 1975. The appearance at a ball at Kensington’s Queen Elizabeth College got them their first mention in the press. New Musical Express remarked “they are all about 12 years old. Or could be 19.” Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Yardbirds - YardbirdsSunday, 04 July 2021
Instability coursed through the Yardbirds in 1966. When their first studio album Yardbirds was issued in July, the band seen on stage was not the one which had made the album. Bassist and in-house producer Paul Samwell-Smith had left between its recording and release. His replacement was session player Jimmy Page. Read more... |
Rag‘n’Bone Man, Jazz Café review – powerful first post-lockdown gigThursday, 01 July 2021
Rory Graham’s first words as he comes on stage are: “Well this is a bit weird, isn't it? It's been a while.” After a run of cancelled gigs, the band haven’t performed live for a year and a half – which feels, says Rory, “a bit like missing a testicle.” Read more... |
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