Who remembers The Subways? They’re still going (playing with the legendary Die Toten Hosen in Germany this summer), but long ago disappeared into their fanbase. They were a fun rock pop band, most notable for having a couple who split romantically but carried on the band. After an initial bursting on the scene they settled […]
Michael Bublé: Nobody But Me
Nobody But Me It’s Christmas! It must be time for the Bublé to release an album. Thankfully it’s not a re-release of Christmas, though having released it as a normal CD, then deluxe, super deluxe, super deluxe with bells, super super deluxe with whistles and tassels and super dooper deluxe best-ever honest (remastered) with free […]
Kate Williams: Four Plus Three
Williams is the daughter of one of the world’s greatest guitarists, John Williams (a member of Sky for those with long memories), though given her own talent it would be appropriate to say that John is the father of pianist Kate. This latest project of hers combines a jazz piano trio with a string quartet […]
My First Christmas Album
If you’re looking for a Christmas album that the kids will like but won’t drive you up the wall, try this. It’s one of a series of Naxos CDs that try and introduce children to classical music, My First Complete Ring Cycle and My First Foray into Schoenberg’s Free Atonality being others. (OK, we made […]
Jeremy Loops: Trading Change
Mr Loops is somewhere between Ed Sheeran, as in acoustic-based pop, and he uses loops a lot (as one would expect), and the dreaded Mumfords — it’s the kiss of death to use the M word in a review now — but it’s banjo-centric and has the bouncy feel of the Mumfords at their best. […]
Septura: Christmas with Septura
Seven-piece Septura have played a blinder with this album, which presents classic Christmas music played on brass. Septura, a group that brings together London’s leading players “to redefine brass chamber music”, manages to sound both non-brass band-y and non-Christmas-y on an album that offers a brass band playing Christmas music. It’s a Christmas miracle. By […]
Stevie Nicks: Bella Donna / The Wild Heart
Stevie Nicks is the bonkers but brilliant singer with Fleetwood Mac, whose ethereal, scratchy voice is famous. You know the sound, so you know what these two remastered CDs contain. Bella Donna was her first solo release and is the better of these two, presumably because she had a batch of songs written over the […]
This Wild Life: Low Tides
We occasionally compare an album of sumptuous pop/rock to Manchester band Longview. Their debut (and only) album Mercury was released in 2003 and it was great. They wrote soaring pop tunes about lurrrve, and had some success on television soundtracks, but never did as well as they should, and split. With song titles such as […]
Michael Wollny and Vincent Peirani: Tandem
Opening piece Song Yet Untitled is something of a surprise: the pairing of German pianist Michael Wollny and French accordionist Vincent Peirani produces a sound you’re not expecting. There’s jazz/classical piano and accordion, with an overall sound like Last Of The Summer Wine if not on steroids at least some strong coffee and a Gauloise. […]
Recreations: Baby Boomers 2
We listened to this half a dozen times before reading the Press notes. The singer has got a bit of the “awight squire” Essex voice you expect to deliver jokey lyrics but doesn’t (in other places he sounds a bit Albarn so banish thoughts of Chas ‘n’ Davian antics). He sounds about 12, so when […]
