Various Artists – ‘March of the Flower Children – The American Sounds of 1967’ ‘March of the Flower Children’, as well as delivering exactly what you might well expect, is cunning enough to throw in the odd curveball. Yes, three discs of sounds from 1967 include psych, pop, and daisy sniffing, but there’s also a […]
If you believe in God, the inevitable consequence is that you must also believe in the Devil. Fond of saints and angels? There are a surprising number of their dark counterparts to acquaint yourself with. You can’t have it all your own way. The big surprise is that the story of the Devil and his […]
BAD NEWS Every Mistake Imaginable – The Complete Frilly Pink Years 1987-1988 1991. The Berlin Wall has fallen only a few weeks ago. The Iron Curtain has given way, the shackles on the Eastern Bloc have been wrenched asunder, and the world watched agog as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved. Meanwhile, cloaked by […]
Martin Denny – Deep Exotica Music From Martin Denny’s Lush Lounge Righteous/Cherry Red Records There aren’t many genres of music where you could confidently, hand on heart say that one particular artist was the absolute pinnacle of their art. However, with all due respect to spluttering fans who would put forward someone else as an […]
The Lasry-Baschet Sound Structures might not be the go-to group on Spotify right now, I really couldn’t say. However, it would give humanity as a whole a tremendous boost if everyone were to run out immediately and listen to their remarkable, otherworldly creations. There are some composers who worked for years to bring to life […]
Prince Randian was born in 1871 in the Demerara area of what was then British Guiana (now called Guyana). Randian’s real name is unknown – indeed, little at all is known about his early life, other than that he was born with tetra-amelia syndrome to Hindi parents, believed to be British-Indian servants. Tetra-amelia syndrome is […]
Where Were You? Independent Music from Leeds 1978-1989 – Cherry Red Records Name a famous band from Leeds? Half a point for Sisters of Mercy (too obvious) one point if you said The Wedding Present or Cud. It gets really tricky after that – I could manage four or five, but then, I am from […]
The Banana Splits were born, predictably, in 1967, perhaps the most important year in the 60s for music, with game-changing releases by The Doors, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beatles, Small Faces, The Monkees and thousands of others. Neon colours, a logo you could copy onto your pencil case, psychedelia and catchy melodies were rife, […]
The Melvins – At the Stake – The Atlantic Recordings, 1993-1995 Led Zeppelin; Aretha Franklin; The Bee Gees; Foreigner; The Melvins. Of course, this is simply mischief – for every Hall & Oates there was an MC5, but make no mistake, the signing of The Melvins by Atlantic Records did raise eyebrows. In 1993, the […]
You’d think that Roald Dahl was the only author of children’s books for those living through the latter half of the 20th century, but the collections of curated folk tales by Ruth Manning-Sanders and illustrated by Robin Jacques were every bit as vital for those in the know. Though a noted poet and novelist in […]
