Category e) Naughts [2000 – 2009]
REALITY BITES
For many music fans around the globe, the death of David Bowie in January 2016 left a gaping chasm in the rock world. No more new studio albums from one of popular music’s most restless creative spirits; no more tours, no more shifts of direction, no more jump-cut personas. David—and all his identities—were gone, leaving […]
MORE SONGS ABOUT SEX AND BOOZE
What do you get if you mix the diamond grit of Dinah Washington, the heartbreak of Billie Holiday, the brash charm of Janis Joplin and the sass of The Ronettes? It’s a heady and potent cocktail, and one that resulted in soaring peaks and desperate troughs during the short life of Amy Jade Winehouse. In […]
AERIAL VIEW
From the time she topped the charts with her swooping, swooning debut single “Wuthering Heights”, Kate Bush has been a unique—and uniquely talented—voice. When her first album came out in 1978, Kate was just 19 years old, inexperienced in the music industry but possessed of both confidence and determination. It was the young singer/composer who […]
RAINBOW VINYL — PURPLE
“There’s gold at the end of them there vinyls” * Hope you’ve enjoyed this rainbow vinyl trip. * I recall being quite excited when I heard the first Tame Impala album back in 2010. Kevin Parker seemed to have reinvented—or at least re-invigorated—psychedelic rock for the 21st century and it was good. The follow-up album […]
RAINBOW VINYL — BLUE
Coloured vinyl. Guaranteed to lift the wintertime/summertime blues. * This excellent LP from female quartet Beaches has appeared in these pages before. In fact, it was one of Vinyl Connection’s more gushing reviews. Playing it today, I was again mightily impressed with this excellent debut. * Sydney’s Sunnyboys were also on the end of a […]
NOW HE SINGS
If I delay writing, I’ll stall for sure. Too much information will kill the personal resonance. What do I do with this Chick-shaped hole? Attempting to cover a sixty year career is daunting. … a few of the thoughts tumbling through the Vinyl Connection brain box as the news of Chick Corea’s death hits home. […]
ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD #4 — USA
There will be a globe-straddling spread of ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD posts, as promised. But right now, with the USA teetering on the brink of collapse into a terrifying Idiocracy, I’m thinking of my US friends. So Edition 4 of the series inspired by the WordPress Map Statistics (WorMS) is dedicated to anyone, anywhere, […]
TROUBLED TIMES
Back in the early days of Vinyl Connection, I wrote about one of the styles of music that has given me enormous pleasure over the years: Power Pop. Jangly guitars, catchy choruses, some salt in the chocolate. The piece still reads OK, and the playlist is a good test of whether you are likely to become […]
ENJOY EVERY SANDWICH
You’ve lived the rock and roll lifestyle and it’s taken a toll. Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given three months to live, you decide to make an album, to soundtrack your own wake. A last musical hurrah. Comrades heed the call. The last call. August 2002 For Warren Zevon it is The Wind. Jorge […]
I NEED DIRECTION
A Catholic Education Bandwagonesque Thirteen Grand Prix Songs From Northern Britain Howdy! The millennial year was a challenging one. Having formed a strong and passionate connection with a new partner, I was dismayed to hear that she was decamping to her English homeland for an indeterminate period. This was not my fantasy of how the […]
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