Reviews by richardwiggins

Peggy Suicide sounds like someone has put a bunch of my favourite bands of the 80s and 90s into a blender. It’s strange how different the groups that I’m reminded of are - The Smiths, The Fall, Happy Mondays - linked only by the fact they’re all from the North. While sonically Julian Cope travels vast differences, there’s a sense of fun and a gentle nature throughout which I find attractive, as he leads you from track to track. It’s a very explorative “anything goes” writing style that absolutely commands the extended runtime, with him wringing the most out of every idea.

Having now listened to all of The Beatles’ 1970 solo efforts (with the exception of Ringo’s two LPs from that year - sorry Ringo) I have to admit none of them quite capture the magic of the full group. The intrinsic appeal of The Beatles are these oppositional writing forces pulling away from and towards each other, and to my ears on their first efforts John, George and Paul hadn’t yet found a substitute for that artistic tension. It’s not a competition, but Paul McCartney’s rough and ready debut is my favourite of their solo releases from that year, even if John and George’s have the bigger singles.

Plastic Ono Band is a little bit dour for my tastes, though I was very struck by the powerful emotion conveyed by the highly confessional opener Mother, a single only a solo artist could release. This album is an important departure though and one which paved the way for a successful solo career.

I remember being on a school trip to Paris as a 13 year old (not an unusual thing for kids growing up in the south of England) and listening to A Hard Day’s Night on my iPod Photo on the coach. On arrival I was singing Can’t Buy Me Love to myself to the absolute delight of what appeared to be an impossibly old Parisian who informed me it was a favourite of his when he was my age. It’s quite hard to get that kind of reaction out of the people of Paris, so I think that speaks to the immediate excitement generated by these early Beatles records.

At 15 I had a girlfriend who was hyperfixated on The Beatles, but from memory she mainly talked about the early stuff, including watching the movies (this record soundtracked one of them). It wasn’t until I was 17 that I fully focused my energy on the later Beatles records, so that has formed my view of them and is perhaps why I find their output pre-Rubber Soul to be generally underrated by fans. Of course this is no where near The Beatles’ peak but controversially I think these 13 tracks totalling 30 minutes comes close to matching the more mature offerings of Sgt. Peppers and The White Album.

The emotions across A Hard Day’s Night are always close to the surface and at maximum intensity. Here The Beatles find the simplest and most effective ways to profess love, longing, joy and heartbreak. It is their brightest and straightforwardly tuneful effort, and the robust foundation that the rest of their career is built on.

I prefer folk to country, so not everything on John Prine's self-titled is for me, though for the most part it’s a solidly written effort with some soothing, pleasing songs. I must confess though there is the odd moment which made me weary (Your Flag Decal…) and my favourite bits are those that reminded me of Bob Dylan.

Since I Left You is the definitive plunderphonics album to which all others are compared. I love its scatty, harebrained optimism, especially the patchwork masterpiece that is Frontier Psychiatrist which scratches a very particular itch in my mind. The highs are high and there are no lows.

Death in Vegas had zero name recognition to me, coming in with no expectations I was absolutely blown away by Dirge. For whatever reason I’m not at all into trip hop but this psychedelic shoegaze variant of it is very much up my street. Together these flavours occupy a space I’ve never quite heard before and make The Cortino Sessions an absolute must listen.

The different vocalists mean you can never quite settle into a groove, it’s great to hear each one work their way around the music, which vacillates between chill club and a fully fledged rock band. By the end you feel like you’ve been taken on a huge sweeping journey, it doesn’t end where it starts!

Deee-Lite's production across the whole record is fantastic. I could not help but be won over by their warm, elaborate approach. I kind of just want to be their friend and hang out with them! There's some strong songs, then it wanders a bit before peaking with Groove Is in the Heart which is in a whole different league from the rest of the track list. Interesting band!

Out of the three Public Enemy albums I've heard thisis easily the most ahead of its time. It's got the incessant, bolshy rapping but there's a sense of fun and plenty of pep in the production, which goes surprisingly hard at points. It all comes together as a very vibey, head banging package without any weak spots.

It is very cool hearing Carole King take ownership of her songwriting like this. Taking a patchwork of songs she'd written for other people and reinventing them as her own. Tapestry works as a "best of" of career highlights, elevated and made more cohesive by having a consistent, simple set of arrangements. Carole King singing and playing the piano while an assortment of musicians bolster her performance. The hit rate is very high and the songwriting variety vast. Smackwater Jack is possibly only song track I would have trimmed.

Killing In the Name is pretty fierce, but across the whole record RATM prove themselves to only really have one idea. It’s a very spikey, unashamedly anti-establishment performance but not strong enough to be able to be doled out on each and every track. They're good at what they do but it's not something I'd listen to twice.

This album is not devoid of good songs, the opener is especially smart, but there are some real clangers on the track list too, title track Butterfly being chief among them. It's an album which actually punishes active listening. The more you let it fade into the background the more dreamy and pleasant it becomes in its faintness.

Koffi Olomide’s music is tremendously fun. The picture of him on the front of this LP pointing towards the camera pretty much sums up this record, the sunniest record on Earth. However, it must be said that the closer it gets to its conclusion the more wearisome its optimism gets, as it’s essentially the same song 9 times over. Had it been half the length I would rated it higher.

Unashamedly dramatic and bombastic, Skunk Anansie are putting on a show, especially lead singer Skin who has ample natural charisma to drive forward the whole project, though the band are great and put a lot of energy behind her. I don't know if the songs themselves are always that interesting but I like the mix of approaches, alt rock at some points, power pop and elements of trip hop at others, and I like that they are not afraid to get emotionally raw, heavy and angry. Its entertaining!

Teenage Fanclub sound like Guided By Voices but with their edges smoothed out. It’s a bright, fuzzy, cheery sound and an enjoyable enough vibe that it did not bother me too much that it was not exactly unique and none of the songs stood out.

I was devastated when LCD Soundsystem retired in 2011 and was over the moon when they prematurely returned from retirement in 2015. They justified their return by doing something a little different with this record, much of it is skeletal and brave. With the exception of side C (where they have hilariously packed all of their singles). This is by far their least immediate and poppy release.

From a quality perspective my feelings are a little mixed. ‘other voices’ is fidgety and infectious, the instrumentation is pretty well balanced considering how few elements there are (some tipedy tapping drums, with occasional guitar and synths). Despite this it sounds like a well-crafted rehash of something you’d hear on Sound of Silver, but not quite as good.

Other songs are more successful. ‘i used to’ and ‘how do you sleep?’ are masterpieces that push the band into new and exciting territory. James Murphy sounds incredibly bitter performing these savage takedowns of old friends he has lost faith in. Being wistful for the past is an attitude that suits him. After the long and patient build up on ‘i used to’ the meaty guitar riff is hugely rewarding, before the band break into a silky smooth synth break “I’m still trying to wake up”.

‘oh baby’ is a wonderful take on Suicide’s ‘Cheree’, a reference that you wouldn’t hear from any other band working in popular music today. It eases the listener in gently to American Dream and sets the appropriate tone for quite an awkward record.

‘tonite’ and ‘emotional haircut’ are fun single worthy songs which tap into what a mainstream audience wants from LCD Soundsystem. You could imagine these being blared out of fifty foot speakers on a festival stage. ‘call the police’ and ‘american dream’ are somewhat satisfying singles which fall a tad short of this, they’re quite lethargic.

‘change yr mind’ is the only song that I do not like at all. I’m all for LCD Soundsystem borrowing from other artists and updating sounds in their image - that’s kind of their MO. But this song sounds like a poor Let’s Dance era David Bowie pastiche which falls flat to me. The band had already made their own version of Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ with ‘All I Want’ so this further dedication seems redundant.

Like every LCD Soundsystem album Murphy’s lyrics are consistently good, but in the context of their previous records there seems to be a lot of regurgitation. “You’re still a baby now” is lifted from ‘You Wanted a Hit’. “Text the cops” is a hybrid of lyrics from ‘Somebody's Calling Me’ and ‘Daft Punk is Playing at My House’. “Oh I'm a reminder/ The hobbled veteran of the disk shop inquisition” is a rehash of lyrics on ‘Losing My Edge’. It’s a shame not to hear a fresh perspective from an artist who has never struggled to say something new.

I guess it’s easier to criticise than say something nice. The truth is that there is more good material on American Dream than bad. It's the worst album in an almost perfect discography.

In Memphis is Dusty on her best form, opening her soul for all to see. When you are a performer rather than a songwriter you have to have an iconic magic that pulls audiences towards you, Dusty absolutely has that. This record is enhanced by a variety of inventive accompanying instrumentation, musicians absolutely nailing their performance and bolstering Dusty's vocals.

My brother's relationship with The Beatles is that they do not particularly emotionally resonate with him but that he enjoys listening to them through other people, enjoying how much they mean to those around him. I'm sadly the same with Bruce Springsteen. I've certainly had enough exposure to be able to say I've given him a good try, my friends and family love the guy, but sadly I can't get his music to resonate with me in the way it does with others, though I do like it.

It’s a terrible thing to say, but I actually prefer Brandon Flowers doing a Bruce Springsteen impression!

I prefer this album to The Last Broadcast. I especially like the beginning which kicks off with a series of moody, atmospheric rock tracks which are very up my street, it’s a mysterious sound. Unfortunately for me, it leans more into power-chordy radio rock further into the track list, which I find a little less engagement but passes the time fine.

You're in safe hands with Elvis Costello, he is a strong songwriter and this is another consistently lovely record with a bright, detailed sound. An effort has been made to add a little intensity here and there, though it doesn't push as hard in that direction as the much darker Blood and Chocolate.

I’m increasingly weary as I get older of music which leaves me more impressed than entertained. It’s impressive that The Magnetic Fields wrote 69 love songs, then built a cult audience around a mixed quality three hour experience. Some of these songs are great but they're lost in a tiresome sea of unedited content that wasn’t worth publishing.