Author: jerobear
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Busted: Half Way There
For the first couple of tracks we thought Busted were trying to reinvent themselves as a British Blink 182 — the opener has echoes of songs such as Blink’s I Miss You, and Busted sing over the riff in the same way as Blink. But this cutting edge doesn’t last long and it soon calms…
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The Good, the Bad and the Queen: Merrie Land
We got involved with a Twitter discussion this week; an American was fretting that he didn’t like Pink Floyd but felt he should, and where could he start (Wish You Were Here, obvs). We and others told him that he didn’t have to like Pink Floyd, and that we were always unmoved by Bowie and…
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Anna Szalucka: A Century Of Polish Piano Miniatures
This is a pianists’ piano album, as Szalucka is an exceptional pianist and can play both softly and very intensely; a couple of moments on this CD are incredibly fast. She’s won more prizes than you can shake a metronome at: 1st prize together with the Eller, orchestra, recital and Estonian Museum Awards at the…
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Skinny Lister: The Story Is…
Skinny Lister are one of those good-time live bands, all punky folk catchiness and entertainment; we saw them live at Rode Hall’s Just So and they’ve recorded at Newcastle-under-Lyme, although they’re not local. It’s three tracks in before Skinny Lister hit the sound we were expecting, the first three songs all showing a new pop…
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Tom Petty: American Treasure + Fleetwood Mac: 50 Years + Aretha Franklin: The Queen Of Soul
Tom Petty’s American Treasure has been compiled by his family and it’s a collection worth getting for the acoustic version of Won’t Back Down alone, recorded live. The box set features live and personal favourites so it’s not your standard attempt to cash in. While some mourned the death of David Bowie, the loss of…
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The Coral: Move Through the Dawn
Clearing out last year’s CDs from the Review Corner we came across this; came out in August, got forgotten. At a time when most bands are of an age to be worrying about their third or fourth album, The Coral started so young that they hit peak cool at about 15, had done all their…
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István Kassai / György Lázár Széchényi: Piano Music From A Hungarian Dynasty, 1800-1920
We can find little original to say about this entertaining and jaunty collection of music, and we don’t want to resort to copying the sleeve notes. The Széchényi dynasty were at the heart of Hungary’s political and musical life in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they excelled at vibrant, melodious dance-patterned music. István Kassai…
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The Blood Choir: Dartmoor (EP)
We’ve got a good knowledge of music but we’ve never heard of The Blood Choir. This EP is billed as “an object of pure fable among Blood Choir fans”; its four tracks comprising a “long-rumoured collection”, initially recorded between 2007 and 2009, long before the band’s 2012 debut album No Windows to the Old World.…
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Willard Grant Conspiracy: Untethered
We first came across Willard Grant Conspiracy on a compilation, a song called Soft Hand, a great downbeat blues/Americana tune with hypnotic vocals and addictive inputs from strings and guitar; it’s about lying in bed. We’ve bought albums since and the quality is always good, if you like gloomy Americana. Their songs always have atmosphere…
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Rudimental: Toast to Our Differences
It’s hard not to like this album, in the same way it’s hard to dislike beans on toast or any buddy bromance cop movie — they’re just products, meant to be consumed by the masses. Gone are the days when you’d turn Rudimental up loud for a shot of euphoria … but then this is…
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