Category f) Tens [2010 – ]
2025 ACQUISITIONS: A SELECTION
The 75 FROM ’75 Countdown obviously dominated the second half of 2025, yet this did not prevent a steady influx of new records into the Vinyl Connection den of vinyl iniquity. Here are a few highlights. * JANUARY One of the first features for Discrepancy Records was the latest solo album from Pink Floyd guitarist […]
UP ON THE ROOF
Despite rock and roll having been around for half-a-dozen decades, inter-generational collaborations have been far from common. Sure, a young gun will be invited onto the stage at a celebration for some venerable rocker, or an odd couple (say, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett) will put out an LP, but generally the invisible borders between […]
GOOD LUCK
Rock behemoths Pink Floyd cast a long shadow across popular music, from the 60s to the 80s and beyond. Perhaps that is why Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has produced just five studio albums in a six decade career; the band that bought him fame, fortune and friction has tended to dominate his creative life. Luck […]
CONTRACT OF LOVE
He is a powerful voice backed by a forceful band, an entertainer who shirtfronts his fans while elevating them; a singer-poet-preacher who roars about suffering while channelling exaltation. He is Warracknabeal born global citizen Nick Cave, and his latest album is Wild God. If you follow Cave’s music, you already know that Wild God has […]
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A buzzing, industrial sound, a bass pulse, somewhere in the distance a noise, a scream. Distorted guitars offer a grinding melody that rolls like a broad dark river cluttered with storm flotsam. The tune evokes “Oh Shenandoah”, a classic American folk song. After a couple of minutes, when the melody is kicked up an octave, […]
KALEIDOSCOPIC GLORY
Transatlantic are a genuine progressive rock supergroup, albeit a part-time one. Comprising members of Spock’s Beard (Neal Morse) Dream Theatre (Mike Portnoy) Marillion (Pete Trewavas) and the Flower Kings (Roine Stolt), the band released its first album, SMPT:e in 2000. In February 2014 Kaleidoscope, their fourth studio album, appeared. Another huge opus blending symphonic prog […]
DRIVE
The real trick in creating a first class film soundtrack is finding the balance between music to support the on-screen vision and an album that holds up to focussed listening on your turntable. Composer and former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Cliff Martinez certainly achieved this delicate feat with his soundtrack to Drive, a high-paced […]
SMALLS
LPs by legendary bass players are sometimes less than legendary. Lamentable perhaps, but we cannot avoid this difficult truth. John Entwistle (The Who), Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin); they rarely bothered the ‘Best Album of the Decade’ lists. Or ‘Record of the Month’. Or even ‘this week’s also-rans’. Who could forget […]
INOCULATE AGAINST FEAR
One of the most popular on-line music guides lists more than 50 adjectives to describe the last album by progressive-metal masters Tool. This tells you a lot about the complexity of their 2019 eighty-minute epic. Some of the descriptors are pretty obvious… dramatic, powerful, intense, heavy… words that fans of the band will see as […]
QUIETLY URGENT
Decked out in silver platform boots and a feather boa, Brian Eno first rose to prominence as a member of art rockers Roxy Music, appearing on their first two albums. Yet he is probably best known as a producer and for his solo work, particularly in the ambient genre. In fact, Eno is often credited […]
ALL ABOARD THE McCARTNEY EXPRESS
When Paul McCartney released his first post-Beatles album in 1970, he was about to turn twenty-eight years old. The self-titled debut came out half a year after Abbey Road and a month before the Beatles swan song, Let It Be. Since then, McCartney has given us a slew of live recordings and seventeen studio albums, […]
COVER ART | ALBUMS AL FRESCO
It’s Spring in Melbourne. The weather tends to be varied—drizzle, downpours, showers, storms, occasional sun—but when time and inclemency allow, I’ve been taking some records for walks. They need a change of scenery after the long lockdowns. * The adventure began in the back garden, celebrating Joni Mitchell’s 78th birthday (7 November) during a break […]
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