Category Archives: Pop
SERENA KERN-I LIED E.P.
SERENA KERN-I LIED E.P. Hardly a day goes past without me receiving press releases about artists who have “a big future ahead of them.” Sadly, that’s often wishful thinking. Either that, or the result of an over exuberant P.R. company. Not in the case of Serena Kern. Serena Kern is the real deal. She has …
BLOOD RELATIVES-DEERHEART.
BLOOD RELATIVES-DEERHEART. It’s about this time of year that people start that the movers and shakers in Scottish music start thinking about the nominations for the Scotland’s premier music award, the Scottish Album of The Year Award. Last year, R.M. Hubbert’s sophomore solo album Thirteen Lost and Found won the Scottish Album of The Year …
LOU ADLER-A MUSICAL HISTORY.
LOU ADLER-A MUSICAL HISTORY. Songwriter, producers, manager, director and impresario. That describes Lou Adler. During a long and illustrious career, that started back in 1958, Lou Adler has written over 150 songs and has 300 production credits to his name. Lou Adler has worked with some of the biggest names in music. Among them are …
THE BLUE NILE-PEACE AT LAST (REMASTERED DELUXE SET).
THE BLUE NILE-PEACE AT LAST. The Blue Nile were no ordinary band. They did things their way. Enigmatic, reluctant and contrarian are words that best of describe the Blue Nile, whose third album Peace At Last was released as a Remastered Deluxe Set on the 3rd March 2013. This reissue has been a long time …
FREDDIE FICTION-I DON’T DREAM.
FREDDIE FICTION-I DON’T DREAM. Nowadays, when we hear a song we’ve never heard before, we can find out everything we want to know at the click of a button. We either log on to the internet, or reach for our phones. Not this time. Freddie Fiction’s debut single I Don’t Dream isn’t all it seems. …
KATE BUSH-LIONHEART.
KATE BUSH-LIONHEART. Kate Bush is no ordinary singer-songwriter. Far from it. She was discovered aged sixteen, by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. He recommended her to EMI. They signed Kate. In 1978, aged eighteen, Kate released her debut album The Kick Inside. Some of the songs on The Kick Inside, had been written when she …
DUSTY HEARD THEM HERE FIRST.
DUSTY HEARD THEM HERE FIRST. For the latest instalment in Ace Records’ Heard Them Here First compilation series, compiler Mick Patrick has turned to the music that influenced Dusty Springfield. Dusty Heard Them Here First was recently released by Ace Records and features twenty-four tracks. Fittingly, each of these tracks are the US versions. Why …
THE BEATLES-RUBBER SOUL.
THE BEATLES-RUBBER SOUL. It was fifty years ago, The Beatles made a breakthrough in America. This was when they released Introducing…The Beatles on 20th January 1963. It reached number two in the US Billboard 200. The Beatles had arrived. Ironically, Introducing…The Beatles proved to be the least successful album The Beatles released in America. After …
RUNAWAY ORCHESTRA-RUNAWAY ORCHESTRA.
RUNAWAY ORCHESTRA-RUNAWAY ORCHESTRA. You’ll be hard pushed to find more enchanting album than the Runaway Orchestra’s eponymous debut album Runaway Orchestra, which has been rereleased by Brighton’s Mr. Bongo Records on 1st January 2014. I was going to say the Runaway Orchestra give ten familiar tracks a makeover. That however, would be an understatement. Transformation …
THE BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2013-PART 3.
THE BEST NEW ALBUMS OF 2013-PART 3. RODDY WOOMBLE-LISTEN TO KEEP. Back in 2006, when Roddy Woomble, the lead singer of Idlewild, released his debut album My Secret Is My Silenced, Idlewild had just enjoyed the most successful period of their career. Their third album, 2000s 100 Broken Windows was certified silver, while 2002s The …
THE BEST SCOTTISH ALBUMS OF 2013-PART 1.
THE BEST SCOTTISH ALBUMS OF 2013-PART 1. Over the past thirty-five years, Scotland has produced some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands in British music. From the tail-end of the seventies, Scottish bands have been trailblazers, producing music that’s innovative and ahead of the musical curve. This stared with Postcard Records, who …
ROCKY SHARPE AND THE REPLAYS-IF YOU WANNA BE HAPPY-THE POLYDOR AND RAK MASTERS AND MORE.
ROCKY SHARPE AND THE REPLAYS-IF YOU WANNA BE HAPPY-THE POLYDOR AND RAK MASTERS AND MORE. December 1978 found Rocky Sharpe and The Replays enjoying an unexpected hit single. They’d covered The Astors’ Rama Lama Ding Dong, which reached number seventeen in the UK. This was the first of series of hit singles Rocky Sharpe and …
THE STAINED GLASS-A SCENE IN BETWEEN 1965-1967.
THE STAINED GLASS-A SCENE IN BETWEEN 1965-1967. Sometimes, despite their undoubtable talent, a group fails to make the impact their talent and music deserves. It’s only years later, that people realise how innovative a group they were. That was the case with The Stained Glass, who started life as The Trolls. Quite simply, The Stained …
THE BETA BAND-THE REGAL YEARS 1997-2004.
THE BETA BAND-THE REGAL YEARS 1997-2004. Although The Beta Band were only together eight years, their music made a huge impact. Formed in 1996, The Beta Band split-up in 2004. In the intervening eight years, they’d released a trio of E.P.s and albums. The music on these E.P.s and albums influenced a generation of musicians. …
CHVRCHES-LIES.
CHVRCHES-LIES. One of the biggest success stories in Scottish music during 2013, is Chvrches, who will soon release their fifth single Lies, on Virgin Records. This sees Chvrches go full circle to where their career started. After all, Lies was their debut single. It was released in an unusual way, through the blog of the Neon Gold label. …
MIKE OLDFIELD-FIVE MILES OUT.
MIKE OLDFIELD-FIVE MILES OUT. There aren’t many artists whose debut album sells 3.75 million copies. Back in 1973, Mike Oldfield’s debut album Tubular Bells did. Reaching number one in the UK and number three in the US Billboard 200, Mike Oldfield not only launched his career, but the new record label he was signed to, Virgin …
GOUSH BEDEY.
GOUSH BEDEY. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, music almost overnight, became illegal. No longer were concerts held, sheet music printed or albums released. Suddenly, Iran’s vibrant and eclectic music went into hibernation. Musicians headed overseas. They became exiles. There was no point living in a country where they were persecuted and banned from making …
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