Reviews by richardwiggins

This is the best Paul Simon album, and the one I most readily gravitate towards. The fluidity of the guitar and vocals are in contrast to the band who are so crisp and tight, the perfect backdrop for him to shine.

Duncan is one of the best songs ever written. So knowing, cheeky, lyrical, nostalgic. The lyrics, which keep pulling the rug from under you, are some of the best too. “My father was a fisherman, my mother was a fisherman’s friend.” “Holes in my confidence, holes in the knees of my jeans.” The silliness of the lyrics, and the tenseness of the music are a wild combination.

The mixture of light and dark, funny and serious is part of what makes this LP work so well. Paul Simon is here to have a lot of fun, but it’s not fluff! ‘Me and Julio’ and ‘Peace Like a River’ sit side by side on the tracklist. Both equally as good as each other, yet diametric opposites. I always like it when he undercuts a serious point with a joke. Counterintuitively it improves the point (and the mood!)

It’s a strange sensation to listen to a thoroughly likeable album with a consistently enjoyable vibe, but not be able to just lose myself in it. It might be Bryan Ferry’s vocals that are holding me back, but there’s a lot to enjoy. Out Of The Blue has one of the nicest twistiest bass lines I’ve ever heard. There’s a whip crack propulsion to this song. I also love how tender Ferry sounds on the intro to Bitter Sweet and how a touching, mournful guitar occasionally wraps around him.

There will be occasional sparks of genius (such as the gnarly sliding guitar on Whole Lotta Love) which put me in the mind of the majority of people who adore Led Zep. There’s some very clever flourishes, bits of surprising songwriting. But at their core they make music which doesn’t appeal to my sensibilities. It’s a me thing.

Ramble Tamble is an amazing first track. The vocals have an unhinged craziness to them that the rest of the album lacks - later on I kept wanting him to loosen up a bit more.

The cover of I Heard it Through the Grapevine is also fantastic, but similarly, reminded me that the rest of the album had lacked some of the poppier melodic moments that this track brings in spades.

Elsewhere there’s a professional mix of blues and rock n roll but not something that sets my world alight.

I find the album tracks to be a lot more interesting than the singles. The radio friendly first half sees the band in overly bombastic territory, though I admit I was a little touched by the chorus to With Or Without You. Fans will often present this as the album to listen to if you’re a U2 skeptic, I unfortunately remain a skeptic, though I think in the right light they can be a powerful band.

The opening track to this record is hilariously off kilter and absurd “remember people thought the world was round?” Hot Chip are not aiming for the charts with this one, they’re just vibing. In fact, there’s nothing that can really be called a single across the entire tracklist which is solid in the most part but does peter out towards the end.

It’s one of those albums that is just so beautifully performed that, despite not having individual songs that I’d pull out and shine a light on beyond the opening a closing track, still come together as a grand and satisfying whole. The only song that I didn’t gel with is The Jungle Line which interrupts the flow a little bit.

It’s stunning that’sJoni Mitchell is such an exceptional artist that this excellent release doesn’t stand amongst her best albums.

This album has fantastic production and rap that has an actual flow to it (not a given for the time). It’s not “cool music” but it is a big blast of fun and energy. It’s Tricky comes out on top for me. Its hip hop that’s trying to show people a great time and start the party!

They get plenty of credit for setting the template for so much hip hop / rap rock, paving the way for acts to come, like the Beastie Boys. Also - my perfect amount of Aerosmith is one chorus of one song - it’s a successful collaboration!

There’s a chaotic amount of ingredients in this pot. Spirit never sit still. I don’t know if there’s one flavour I like enough to get me into the rest, but it’s interesting that it can fluctuate from (aptly) spiritual sounding music which is at one with nature and something a lot sillier and funkier.

I’ve been searching for an album like this for ages. The musical diet I am fed by “the agreed canon” is very male focused, so its refreshing to get such a single heavy, uplifting new wave record that is also feminine.

It’s astonishing that Beauty and the Beat is from 1981 as it sounds like acts that come from well after them. You have jangle pop guitars that I’d associate with acts from the mid-80s; harsher post-punk moments which add a nice bite to a wholesome overall production. Then, the thing that shines through this is the highly charged, overbright, overbold power pop which harkens back to the soul girl groups of a couple of decades earlier. It makes me feel so positive.

I am looking forward to getting to know The Go-Go’s better!

An iconic voice, an iconic persona, giving her definitive take on an exciting selection of soul standards. She really understands and unlocks the potential of the material. When it's good, it's good, but on the several occasions that it's great, it is truly something else.

For many Skepta is the absolute top Grime artist out there. So, while I have definitely preferred Wiley (and my ears pricked up when he started rapping on this!) I might have to accept I’m just not that into the genre. I like the production. I quite like rapping. But I’m not particularly into the lyrics which don’t really go anywhere. We all like a bit of hype, but I think it lyrically he needs to pack a bit more than just that. Everything lines up really nicely on Man and That’s Not Me - the best tracks on this LP.

This is an all consuming break-up album. One that wraps itself around you many times, constantly exploding outwards, spinning and expanding into ever increasing detail. It has a number of instruments that you'd more closely associate with an orchestra than a rock band. Textually it is in a million places at once but it never loses focus on its awesome singular vision.

It can be difficult to pin down exactly what Spiritualized are doing because any point of comparison seems a little bit off. I can hear elements of Dark Side of the Moon; fragments of The Velvet Underground & Nico; a general sheen of My Bloody Valentine folds itself in at points. None of these parts stay still long enough to pull focus and become an obvious reference point. Dare I say it sounds… new? Unique?

My favourite bits are the saxophone, where a little bit of menace gets into it and it gets a little freaky, even though it’s subtle, with the backdrop of smooth jazz it’s very powerful for me. The opening track is particularly effective in this regard, slipping between calm and slightly manic expressions of love.

My least favourite bits are the guitar, it does nothing for me. No hidden menace. Overall it’s very listenable and home to some bits that I absolutely adore.

OK Computer is an expansive and cinematic record. Albums of this ilk are often described as “ambitious”, as if to insinuate that they aim high but don’t quite succeed. OK Computer is an ambitious album which completely nails what it’s trying to do. It has also defined how post-production is approached by most modern rock bands.

Radiohead manages to be epic in a sophisticated way. Bands who perform epic music (like Muse or Kings of Leon) sometimes sound a little pretentious as if the audience knows that the style they are performing in places more importance on the music than it actually deserves. OK Computer presents itself as epic and important in a completely unpretentious way.

It has been said a million times, but this album really shows off the full breadth of how compelling and detailed a catchy rock record can be. If it wasn’t for In Rainbows I might even be able to call it the best album of all time.

So many bands want to sound like Wire. They are the exact centre point between punk and post punk. Tough, carefree vocals meeting guitars that are thoughtful when they want to be and blunt instruments when required. 21 tracks over a pleasingly short 35 minutes. You never get a chance to get tired or even stay still for a second.

A steady and sweet album that reads like an open book. You can leave any cynicism at the door with this one and just allow yourself to be sung a series of kind hearted country songs.

Like Nick Drake, because of the tragic end of life story, people also overestimate how sad Elliott Smith’s music is. It’s melancholic, sure, but it is hardly miserable. There’s a fine balance between introspection and a sunnier side to his music that makes it a compelling listen.

He has such a unique and distinctive voice. In the 28 years since Either Or it has been often copied but never been bettered. It is not experimental, it doesn’t push boundaries, but it nails a specific grungy, singer songwriter approach that no other artist has quite managed to perfect.

Combining delicate, intimate folk rock with angsty, sometimes bitter vocals is another tricky balance but he arrives at something universally enjoyable. It doesn’t come across as just “music for teens”, though it would be very good for that also.

This album passed the time without much note, but in a pleasant way which made me feel good. Not the sort of thing I’d gravitate towards but it’s very good natured and pleasing. It also makes me feel like I’m getting the full live experience, which is the key with any live album. I think I would have had a pretty chill time at a Peter Frampton gig.

I’m not sure anyone, including the band, knew exactly what they were going for here. The album treads water, aimlessly wandering from one mid tempo tepid track to another. I had a particularly hard time with Wonderful, which took forever to end.

I agree with the band’s assessment that they should not have produced the record themselves. I dread to think of what the original mixes sounded like before Nigel Goodrich stepped in. I could imagine a much more listenable album if they had teamed up with a producer from the start.