Tag Archives: album reviews
1975 COUNTDOWN | #10 — #6
Finally we arrive at the Top 10. The first of two parts… * #10 POPOL VUH — EINSJÄGER UND SIEBENJÄGER Probably my favourite Popol Vuh album, Einsjäger und Siebenjäger is also one of their most rock-orientated, with guitars well in evidence. This more muscular sound serves the music well and pulls the pieces back from […]
1975 JAZZ | #20 — #11
It is not entirely clear whether 1975 was an exceptional year for jazz or whether Vinyl Connection was simply more into the form at this time. Either way, it was quite a struggle to reduce the contenders to twenty. Those who are unmoved by America’s gift to music may still find things to enjoy in […]
1975 COUNTDOWN | #30 — #21
#30 NEIL YOUNG — ZUMA After the grim soul scouring of Tonight’s The Night, Young reformed Crazy Horse with new guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro replacing Danny Whitten. Zuma blends wistful reflection with raw electric power. “Don’t Cry No Tears” and “Barstool Blues” evoke rough-edged tenderness, while “Cortez the Killer” stands among his finest works—a thunderhead […]
ZAP YOUR MIND!!
Acid Mothers Temple. Just one of many names linked to Kawabata Makoto, the Japanese guitarist who founded the collective back in the mid-1990s. His aim was to play improvised psychedelic rock around the world and document the explorations on his own record label. With a catalogue of hundreds of albums featuring almost as many players, […]
DAVID, STEPHEN AND GRAHAM
On 28th June 1969 the self-titled album by Crosby, Stills & Nash entered the US charts. It reached #6 and stayed around for an impressive 100 weeks. Two singles were released—Nash’s jaunty ‘Marrakesh Express’ and Stills’ extended ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’—both reaching the Top 30. So much for the data. What makes this album so […]
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 […]
KEEPING TIME
It is easy to forget how many great songs R.E.M. wrote. Forty years on from their formation and a full decade after the band called it a day, the band’s legacy as one of the most successful indie bands of all time is assured. That legacy is in full view on In Time 1988-2003: The […]
MOMENTARY PINK
After The Final Cut (1983), Pink Floyd were no more. So decreed Roger Waters, key lyricist and driving creative force in the band. But guitarist David Gilmour had other ideas and in 1986 he began working with drummer Nick Mason in the floating studio he had created on the magnificent houseboat Astoria, moored along the […]
GRANT HIM A LISTEN
Early in the twenty-first century it seemed that, finally, the jazz loving world was starting to pick up on guitarist Grant Green. Hallelujah! His rhythmic playing being neither complicated nor particularly flashy, Green stayed off the radar of casual jazz fans for far too long. Yet he was all over bebop and worked with many […]
KID REMEMBERS
Sonically daring and lyrically challenging, Radiohead’s follow-up to the hugely successful OK Computer was the result of much suffering. Thom Yorke endured a psycho-emotional crisis during the extensive world tour following OK Computer’s success while the whole band agonised about their ‘direction’. Yet somehow they managed to both renew their sound and create an album […]
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