Category: Pop rock
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Café Mambo: 20 Years of Ibiza Chillout
This is three CDs of chillout classics, laidback grooves and remixes from the legendary Café Mambo on Ibiza. The trouble is, it’s music for people who have been up all night dancing on Es and want to relax before bed, or for those who are still on Es and want to rehydrate and chill before…
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Morrissey: Vauxhall and I
The 20th anniversary “definitive master” of what some Mozzer fans say is his best solo effort comes with a unreleased 1995 live concert (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), which again features solo stuff bar one track. It was reportedly written after the death of several close acquaintances, not least Mick Ronson; death and its inevitability seem…
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Mastodon: Once More Round The Sun
Mastodon are one of those muscular metal bands whose music really does go “Kerrang!” or even “Whoooarrrghhh!” They’ve always been a bit loud for me. This new one, though, is more melodic; while the riffage, guitar breaks, big bass lines (at times it made us think of Motorhead on steroids) and manly vocals…
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Lucius Wilderwoman
This is the debut album from the band, who are led by twin vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig. It’s a hard one to say much about: there’s no obvious lead track and the mix of genres means it doesn’t leave much impression at first. But it’s all good and on a track by…
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Rory Gallagher Kickback City
Rory Gallagher: he might be dead, but he’s going to write this review for us. Over you, Rory . . . . This town could take a child’s smile / And turn it into stone. Just look right over here / Back up against the wall / Hands on the bottle. My baby’s done me…
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12 Years A Slave
This being an important film, this is not just a soundtrack it’s curated, by John Legend. So it’s surprising that he picks Hi-NRG disco as the soundtrack, a genre that’s the least suitable . . . only joking but he could have done, as this is an “audio companion” to the film, ie not actually…
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Glenn Tilbrook Happy Ending
Instantly recognisable as one of — if not the main — name behind perennial favourites Squeeze, Glenn Tilbrook’s fifth non-Squeeze album is what you’d expect from one of the best songwriters of recent times: thoroughly pleasant and easy to listen to, full of instant hooks, catchy tunes and the usual assemblage of cleverly crafted lyrics.…
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Billie Joe and Norah – Foreverly
Our opinion of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong changed after watching the documentary that came with the re-issue of Tres! just before Christmas. He might be a tattooed punk with an addiction problem but he came over as a talented and hard-working musician. Plenty of musicians do projects away from their day jobs and this…
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Polly Scattergood – Arrows
We saw Polly Scattergood at the Latitude festival a few years back. Her mum and dad were in the audience (it was a small stage in the woods) and it was all very nice. Despite us making the effort to walk all the way over to see her, we could also see why she’s not…
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Turner – This Is Turner
Turner — she has no first name as far as this goes — is a talented singer who’s sung with Elbow, toured with DC Fontana and is in demand as a session singer. And now she’s probably finding out how hard it is to be the main act on your own merits. All credit to…
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