The Rubettes – The Singles 1974-1977 (Cherry Red Records) As of mid-2023, The Rubettes have had a total of 32 band members, putting them on a par with the funk conveyer belt, Funkadelic. To make sense of their lineage would be an article in itself and would be a miserable experience for all involved, not […]
All God’s Children – Songs From The British Jesus Rock Revolution 1967-1974 I’m hoping it wouldn’t be terribly unreasonable to express surprise that there was a Jesus rock revolution – at any point! At least, that was my first thought. 1967-1974 is an odd period to highlight as one to probe for answers, given that it […]
There will be a great number of people in the world who think Brian May, the guitarist from Queen, wrote the music for the film ‘Mad Max’. This is perfectly understandable to a point – the dates work out and he has a history of working on films (‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Highlander’ most obviously, but […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
