Reviews by richardwiggins

It's a pretty flawless record which peaks at the perfect 1-2 of Deja Vu and Our House. It's an obvious thing to say, but the combined skills of the album’s different writers opens up a range of possibilities and styles. It's not a consistent product but it's all the better for it. I particularly like Neil Young’s vocals, he strikes me as their most valuable player. The flaw in the Persian rug for me would probably be Almost Cut My Hair which took me a few listens to get beyond the lyrics. Every other song though is a warm hug of perfectly executed folk rock.

I’ve always been very fond of the Best Of Kinks compilation I listened to countless times as a child, and have only recently dived into a couple of their albums. Sadly as it stands I’m resigned to preferring them as a singles band, with a bit of the magic I feel from Sunny Afternoon being missing from the LP as a whole. It's not a bad listen by any means, but I always had them pegged as a category above.

It starts off pretty interesting, with the spoken word track and some nice songwriting on the opening few tracks, but the further down the considerable tracklist you get the more threadbare the writing becomes - simple power chords, basic drums, one dimensional bass playing. It lacks finesse, flavour, or frankly - surprise. What starts off as quite charming soon becomes tedious. The most certainly did not have enough fuel in the tank for a double album.

Heroes is one of the most naturally expressive LPs of Bowie’s career. It has a misleading title track as it is in no way an album of anthemic hits. In fact, a couple of instrumentals make this an unexpectedly calm, even meditative experience at points. At other points it's the most Bowie has ever sounded like Bowie - have the idiosyncratic elements of his voice ever been more distilled and than on Sons of a Silent Age?

This is a genre mismatch for me so I’m not in a great position to judge. When there’s a little energy to proceedings it’s more entertaining, if a little cheesy. The slow numbers though are impenetrable and sound pretty old fashioned for 1974. I’ve never known an album clocking in at less than 30 minutes to drag like this one.

I’m surprised this album is not more widely recognised. This was The Beau Brummel’s first album of original compositions, a confident series of tightly written songs which are so heavy on detail that you’d swear the band was bigger than a trio.

Vocally, the most obvious comparison that comes to mind is Bob Dylan, but there’s more of an elaborate, theatrical performance. You could almost imagine the vocalist making eye contact with you throughout - it’s a performance that wants to be seen and heard.

The whole album is strong, but my favourite moments are at the end. The pensive, patient and ultimately forceful performance on The Wolf of Velvet Fortune is a hidden gem of the 1960s. There is then a quantum shift in tone as we move into the cheery, bright Old Kentucky Home which I would love to have seen performed live. It leaves you with a big rush of energy at the end.

They had me in the palm of their hand throughout!

Without being familiar with William Orbit you quickly work out that he must have been influential. In 1993 he delivered a new style which (to my ears) survived until the early 2010s in cinema and TV thrillers.

There’s a nice overlay of organic sounding synths with guitars, dance beats and, surprisingly, a baggy strand which crops up throughout the record. This is all offset with ambient tracks.

The opening track with Beth Orton is most effective, following tracks have similar points of interest, but it is a series of diminishing returns after that. Still, for 1993 this is undeniably forward thinking music which would make for a great soundtrack.

My favourite moments are where Tom Petty feels barely able to keep a lid on things, like he has pent up energy that’s going to burst out in some unintended way. American Girl comes in like a punch in the face at the end of the album and it was much appreciated by me. I needed a solid gold anthemic single with plenty of cheer. I could have probably done with a little more of this in the last third of the tracklist which is a more patient affair.

This sits firmly within the zeitgeist for 1983, summing up pop music for this period. Of course, anything caught within the zeitgeist runs the risk of burning bright before fading from collective consciousness. Though would a pop star prefer to peak high then fade, or to never have been at the centre of culture? Forty years later there is still something to be said of this plush, radio friendly form of dance-pop. It's certainly not short of melody as it pleasingly fidgets from one bright, bold idea to another. They know how to write a song with a hook - they earnt their airtime.

A delightfully serene record that’s likely to put you in a beautiful mood and unlikely to ruffle any feathers. It’s simple, slow tempo country harmonies without any fuss, though there’s possibly not quite enough to it to keep me coming back for more.

This album is surprisingly political with a strong social consciousness on hit track Papa. I admit that I prefer hearing the group deliver pop hits (and this is certainly not that) but I do appreciate the smooth, gentle soulfulness throughout this half hour.

I’m conflicted on Creedence Clearwater Revival because I really like some of their stuff - the first three tracks on this record get into some interesting grooves and are pretty inventive. But then there’s a bluesy stylistic shift in the middle of the LP which sounds less imaginative to my ears. I was surprised to see that Proud Mary wasn’t a cover and that CCR are the band who wrote this number! I’d personally take Ramble Tamble over this track any day, but I can still appreciate the cultural impact.

A fun, energetic band who wants you to know exactly how young they are. They are very self referential, clearly understanding that the music they are making is powerful and arresting, if not exactly complex. You’re unlikely to have a bad time with The Adverts.

Hejira is an album that demands repeat listens, not because it's hard to enjoy but because on first listen it's so dense with musical and narrative detail that you couldn’t take it all in at once. There are wonderfully queasy, unnatural rhythms, particularly in the way Joni’s guitar interacts with the imaginative bass guitar playing that takes some time to fully wrap your head around.

Then of course, her voice and vocal delivery is just sublime and the best of the three of her albums I’ve listened to so far (though I’ve yet to listen to Blue!)

I am not someone who puts music from the 1970s on a pedestal, but I have to admit I envy an era where market conditions regularly allowed bands who had enough label support to fluidly release multiple albums in a year - charting their development in real time. Plastic Letters, released in early 1978, sets out Blondie’s stall with a series of songs that showcase a fun, sunny vibe, but there is a monumental step up with Parallel Lines which is stuffed full of highly energetic singles and doesn’t let you sit still for a second. The introduction of a more post-punk sound has come from nowhere, but it substantially perks everything up. They are firing on all cylinders. Great songwriting meets exceptional style.

Elvis Costello has more dimensions to him than I realised, with this album going to some surprisingly dark places, contrasting with what I would have considered his more typical jubilant mood. Interestingly the title track was the only one I didn’t particularly vibe with, the rest of the record is a lot smoother. The slow, mournful ballad I Want You is the best song I’ve ever heard from him - a career highlight!

It’s not devoid of any good stuff, but there’s a nauseating fusion of genres which doesn’t do much for me, as well as an infuriating take on spirituality. When Singh settles on a particular idea you might get a passage or two that’s quite pleasant but then something silly will be dropped in the mix that throws me off. All spoken word passages on this LP are without exception terrible.

In the UK in the 2000s Parachutes was on regular rotation in most CD players across the country. It hit the sweet spot of being both intellectually stimulating and instantly accessible, synthesising a broad range of fresh sounds (a little bit of OK Computer, a little bit of David Gray) and delivering something brand new to a country who’d almost had its fill of Oasis.

Every song has a deep emotional core which you can lean into and convincing melodic hooks to match. There’s a nice balance of intimate, introspective ballads and fuller, rockier songs, but it never tips over into bombast.

Delivering fresh energy and new ideas to alt rock music, without fundamentally altering the form, is an undervalued contribution. Barring some slight grunge leanings The Afghan Whigs feel to me to be a straight up rock band who deliver all their points of interest through snappy and dramatic songwriting. The album gives good insight into men's failings, this being most effective in the first half though I enjoyed the inclusion of Marcy Mays on vocals in the last third, which has made me want to check out her band Scrawl. I have to admit though that it did bring into focus that I slightly preferred her as a vocalist…!

I preferred Sail Away by quite some margin, partially because it sounds better organised and more focused, but also because it does more to spotlight Newman’s lyrical content - his key selling point. On Good Old Boys I find myself peering through the mix trying to understand what he is saying. Some moments are chipper, others are thoughtful, others leave no impression at all, though it does provide some good mood music if you’re happy for it to fade into the background.