Reviews by richardwiggins

Pet Shop Boys’ sound is completely their own, an unusual mixture of the masculine and the feminine and an unsung progenitor for the heightened sensibilities of hyperpop and bubblegum bass. They can totally get away with stuff that it would be inadvisable for most others to try. The lyrics to Shopping are so silly that it shouldn’t work - but they are perfect out of their mouths. There is a gentle theatricality running through Actually which is really fun and refreshing.

The beats on this LP are more expansive and multi-layered than you'd typically the expect, the product of various different collaborators, they lift this album to a whole different level. Mike Ladd has a funny attitude that gives his jazz rap an amiable vibe. His rapping and occasional singing does not match the quality of the beats but they do add to the overall strangeness of this record. It's all pleasingly weird.

Mid table Lana Del Ray for me. The first couple of songs are quite arresting and lyrically interesting but it's not as satisfying a whole as Norman Rockwell. As ever with Lana it would be nice if she mixed it up a little with some different tempos, moods and textures.

Run-D.M.C. deliver beat poetry over jagged synth-pop on their debut. As a piece of hip hop its absolutely prehistoric, but enjoyed in its own right as something completely apart from hip hop I love how bright, bold, amped up and angular they are. My only critique would be that I think this would be a more successful half hour release. I love the hits but there's a couple of songs which are low on melody, where their rap flow becomes a bit wearing.

I really like Elvis Costello's approach to songwriting. He is instantly recognisable and adds something very different to the mix. The first half of this album is sensational, offering up a series of huge, uplifting, multi-dimensional pop songs. Towards the end it suffers some heat loss with less commanding songs in the same style, rounding out Armed Forces into an enjoyable overall release.

These are offensively inoffensive teen bops which have aged terribly. The songs are very short, but they are anything but snappy. The vocals are pleasing, but the musicians sounds comatose, in terrible need of a shot of adrenaline to stop them from keeling over. Every song is in a mid-tempo slump with next to no progression from passage to passage. All the songs could be significantly faster. I was eager for it to end.

I find Cream quite boring for a group with psychedelic leanings. They have a very stately, stilted, mild presence that smatterings of virtuoso guitar do not remedy. They’re fighting a losing battle with me with the blues rock stuff which I don’t like even when it’s done well, but I don’t think Cream does it well. The longest half an hour of my life!

Dr. John is the very definition of a character. I’m sure he has an eccentric and entertaining live presence but on Gris Gris, musically I find there’s a frustrating emphasis on quirk over quality. “That would sound strange” rather than “that would sound good.” I don’t find the core of these songs interesting enough to overcome the slightly annoying vibe given off by the Dr. Not for me!

My wife regularly puts this album on while we are doing an activity together, such as painting the house. I have a terrible memory so I will always say, “this album is absolutely incredible, who is this again?” and she, in an increasingly exasperated tone, will respond “it's Bill Callahan, we’ve listened to this so many times before!”

If I wasn’t busy painting the house I would have sat down before now to put into words how deeply this record has touched me. Don’t let my poor memory guide you, I think this is sublime. Callahan’s way with words, and the way he eeks out every sentiment, is spine tingling. “If you could only stop your heart beat, for one heart beat.”

He has a seemingly straightforward, deceptively complex approach to playing the guitar. At the core of each song is a simple melody which everything else hooks onto. This LP is absolutely chock full of sweet little melodies which have been corrupted and made dark by spooky additional instrumentation. There is a lot of light and shade, push and pull. Something new to discover with every listen.

Where Back to Basics feels like Christina Aguilera is overthinking everything, Stripped feels more direct, bold and intuitive. There isn't a single dud across the track list and it absolutely makes for interesting, radio friendly, contemporary pop music with a big personality behind the mic.

All of the angriest and spikiest elements of The Holy Bible have been smoothed out for Everything Must Go and what's left is a very fresh, bubbly radio rock album, which could not be more pleasant or listenable. I personally miss that spikiness but I can't honestly say they put a foot wrong. Where the Manics have lost that explorative breadth of musical styles they have gained a confidence and depth in their chosen style of choice.

While it does not quite reach the heights of M.I.A.'s second album, it is a more consistent release with plenty of pep and an exciting flow from track to track. I love her emphasis on melody and excitement, a maximalist approach to songwriting, wrangling tonnes of ideas into a single cohesive shape.

While I definitely prefer this outing to Talking Timbuktu I continue to feel uncultured listening to Ali Farka Touré, its fine as background music but pretty dry for my tastes if I lean in. I don't really enjoy blues in the first place, so putting a localised "king of the desert" spin on it doesn't do an awful lot for me.

I like the general ambiance Eurythmics creates but I prefer my Synthpop with a bit more pop. It's a shame I don’t vibe with them more because I can hear the clear influence they’ve had on my beloved LCD Soundsystem. The Human League is definitely more to my tastes, leaning into the big, bold, “punch the air” moments, rather than ghostly ambient leanings.

This is the closest to punk The Fall ever gets but it’s a mutated form with extra limbs. The band may be out of tune, with inconsistent timing and a punk bluntness, but the wandering instrumentals are much weirder and more explorative than punk ever was. "Post-punk" indeed.

Mark E. Smith is my cult leader of choice. His deranged vocals make everything bizarre and the tuning makes it all wobbly and woozy but it’s oddly catchy at points. On the occasions he or the band arrive at a hook its quickly dropped.

It’s incredibly strong from front to back but sonically at odds with anything else The Fall put out across the many years that followed. It's both a brilliant album and a curious artifact.

Missy Elliott is a great rapper and fantastic singer with strong pop sensibilities. It’s a long album but stuffed with enough melodic intrigue that it never feels like a drag. Timberland’s smart and sophisticated production is perfectly smooth, which when Missy Elliott is singing emphasises the beauty of her voice and when she’s rapping gives her something to push against.

I knew I was in for a treat with Selling England By The Pound when it kicked off with some Traditional English Folk singing. I find modernisations and evolutions of traditional folk endlessly fascinating. Genesis plunge these fragile, antique vocals into a whimsical, magical world of their own. One with long stretches of calm followed by sped up passages with tonnes of momentum, explosions of colour and curious side alleys.

Genesis seem to have a nostalgia and civic pride in a fantasy version of old England that they could not possibly know. There is a joyful, eccentric nerdiness at the heart of this pride which is the perfect accompaniment for their very slick, flawless interpretation of prog rock. They are in total control of the audience's experience, holding their hand every step of the way.

The sound is so broad and so deep that I find myself running into the limits of what human language can describe but my prominent feeling is just being pleasingly overwhelmed by the immense amount of shimmering detail across the track list. If it wasn't such a chipper, good-humoured performance it could be a bit intense, but they make every abrupt twists and turns a delight.

I love the intensity and freneticism Slayer bring to their performance. The full weight of the band is ploughed into every song - its full on. The closer you listen the more eccentric it all sounds. Beat breaks, unusual drum fills, out on a limb guitar playing. They truly earn the name Slayer.

I much prefer The The's debut to their Infected follow up. There's a better balance between the band members, each nicely in sync with the other, taking turns in being elaborate and effervescent. There is a joy to be had in stretching 7 songs out over 41 minutes, on each track playing the core song and then extended passages of jamming.

The gulf in quality between This Is the Day and any other songs of theirs I've heard is substantial. I am a fan of BIG POP MELODIES and there are tens of 80s groups which I could reliably turn to for these over The The, though on this record I do love their attitude and aesthetic.

Jon Spencer sounds as if The White Stripes went all in on a punk sound and dialled the aggression up several notches. I love the barely coherent outbursts and ramshackle attitude. On the one song where he reduces the energy and mellows out the sound loses all its shape, so I’m glad that the record gets by on mostly blunt force. A cool, weird sound that improves as it goes on.