Reviews by richardwiggins

I have recently made a habit of sitting in the garden first thing each morning to enjoy a cup of coffee in serene silence among the birds and plants. Having lived in the city for years means I'm not yet use to having an easily accessible outside space, but it's been a mindful and relaxing addition to my life. I've never listened to music along with this but did today, listening to System of a Down for the first time. This morning was a very different vibe.

I had no idea that metal ever sounded this close to post-hardcore. The crunchy guitars, volume swells and sudden high pitch, humorous vocals bring to mind a band like Mclusky, not a group I'd have positioned anywhere near metal. Sugar particularly is a dead ringer. Had someone had introduced me to SoaD when I was 17 I could have had ended up with a very different core music taste because its brilliant and totally up my street.

There is a good mix of dynamics and energies across the LP. Grand, slow moving passages are followed by choppy, chaotic ones. Humour is used to good effect, not just in the vocals, but in the quirky basslines and guitar finger picking but they are equally capable of playing it straight and making a genuine emotional connection. A fascinating band which I have slept on too long!

Chic’s Good Times might be the most iconic Disco song of all time, or at least its most iconic bass line. It’s chock full of touch points which you’ll have heard ripped off in a broad spectrum of music since, especially the drumming. This is the high point, and while there are no lowlights I’d also say there are several of songs going for the exact same vibe with the same approach that don’t quite reach the same heights, it’s not a record with a great deal of variety, but still a perfect accompaniment to any social gathering. A classic.

Growing up in the 2000s the level of Beatles worship was off the scale. They were unquestionably the greatest band of all time, responsible for all the greatest albums of all time - either directly or indirectly. Any conversation about musical lineage would eventually end up with them. It was a bit much, but one can't deny that there was an element of truth. The Beatles were a total one off who came out of nowhere and rocked the world for the best part of a decade. We are still feeling the ripples.

To give into hyperbole for a moment, for me personally Revolver is unquestionably the greatest Beatles album. They'd gained a major edge on Rubber Soul, pulling away from the well-worn (if expertly delivered) sound of the early 1960s pop groups, but Revolver is where they fully exploit those developments. Every song here is a perfect, well observed composition. Thanks to its three superb writers, Revolver's multiple iconic hits do not fit a single mould: Taxman, Eleanor Rigby and I'm Only Sleeping could not have come from the same mind but all complement each other perfectly. Even lesser celebrated songs like And Your Bird Can Sing have a mind bending quality to them that would take up more cognitive space if it were not for the company they keep.

Like most Beatles records everyone gets a chance on the mic, but there is something especially cohesive here. It is most impressive that even Harrison's Indian classical inspired sounds fit into the mix so naturally, and (more controversially) that something as bold as Yellow Submarine sits so neatly on the track list. I am a grump when it comes to The Beatles' children's music, but I have to admit, like everything else here - it’s the best in its field.

I admire the breadth of styles The Boo Radleys cover on their second album. They sound creatively unleashed, able to point themselves in several directions at once.

On the gentler songs they have a delicate, diminutive sensibility, one that sounds cute and down on its luck. On the grander songs they sound like they are fizzing with too much energy, manic and bold. I like that there are some songs with steel string guitars and others with synth sequencing. These are fantastic contrasts.

It’s a long album and one I feel could grow even more in appreciation with more listens, but my first impressions are a surprise delight.

I was an NME reader in 2009 so I must have heard Two Dancers at the time. I've been conscious of Wild Beasts to differing degrees since this time but never quite arrived at an opinion.

This is the most smart and sophisticated version of indie rock from this era. They make unique and atmospheric use of the same set of instruments that every other band uses. The spacey yet crisp production is to die for - they are going all out for a dreamy, regretful, summertime atmosphere in the instrumentals and the fragrant, elaborate vocals add nicely to this.

Compositionally though there isn't a lot that grabs me. My kind of indie rock really goes for the jugular, and despite Wild Beasts' occasional bouts of passion, they are mostly indirect and vibey. I think this is why they've never stuck in my mind and I've spent a lifetime skirting around listening to them properly.

It feels strange to label a record with such a large amount of variety as tedious, but I hate pretty much everything Jah Wobble is trying to do. This is dub music made by an ex-member of PiL who is attempting to blend every Global genre under the sun and the fusions simply don't work. I don't want to hear an English guy from a punk background trying to bring together Latin, Arabic and Jamaican influences under one roof. Its senseless and harebrained.

The romance! The glamour! The longing! I am a lover of crooning and Frank Sinatra is truly a master of the art. I could listen to him sing sad songs all day, tastefully backed by chamber instrumentals that have the feel of an old movie. This is a listen that can be as easy or as challenging as you like depending on how much you lean into the music. I am charmed and swept away by it.

For the entire time I lived in London (2018-2025) Tina Turner the musical was playing at The Aldwych Theatre around the corner from my work. Despite flashing lights around her name regularly entering my field of vision it wasn't until today that I checked her out. This is going to sound needlessly unkind, but based on what is contained within this album I cannot understand why she has earned her legendary status within pop, or a multi-year tribute at a West End theatre. Look away now if you're a Turner fan please.

I find her voice utterly repellent. I love melodramatic 1980s music (I'm the guy who loves ABC) so it's not that, but her particularly gristly, gravelly brand of warbling makes me feel uneasy. The backing music is boilerplate beyond belief to me, so I'm struggling to identify anything distinct that would single Turner out as a particular hitmaker. She was, so there is something I'm missing clearly.

The one piece of Turner I had experienced before today was her turn in Mad Max 3, from around the time this album released. Its pleasing to see that her hair is more or less the same vibe as in that movie.

The aesthetic of this album is initially very cool and remains so until the hardcore elements dissipate into generic rockery. Once they lean away from the heavy bits any personality they have goes with it. Even during the front end I am not particularly excited about any of the individual songs, rather just the general sound they come up with.

This is the final Police album and they're not going down quietly. There are multiple versions of the band across Synchronicity, the title tracks being the particularly frenetic, exciting spine of the first half of the record. The second half is much more chilled out but each side offsets the other nicely. I grateful for the almost total lack of reggae (especially in Sting's vocals) but this is a rare occasion when the fantastic percussion pulls focus throughout. The performance and production of the drums is simply sublime and raises the game of the entire project.

Mother is an unhinged delight, I love the degree of playfulness and demented delight The Police bring to this song, especially Sting. I didn't think they had it in them. On first listen Every Breath You Take drew an eye roll from me simply due to over-familiarity, but I take it back, in the context of a record which goes to as many places as this, a contemplative slice of well written cheesy pop is exactly what the LP needed. I'm stunned at how well rounded the album is.

Miles Davis has absolutely perfected his craft by the time Kind of Blue swings round. Backed by a talented but very traditional collective of musicians, his trumpeting adds every bit of spice you'll hear across the LP. I've heard this album a few times and I can still never quite anticipate where he is going or what he is going to do. Davis' performance is antithetical to everything around him, yet exactly right at the same time. Surprising, yet sympathetic. Its compelling, though in my opinion not quite as explosive as some of his later work. Having said that, I imagine that it sounded pretty radical when compared typical 1950s jazz.

I’m sure it’s sacrilegious to say, but despite Arerha Franklin having a phenomenal voice the only exceptional composition here is the hit song A Natural Woman. The rest is a comforting, easy listen by a talented performer, but nothing that gets me overly excited.

A Northern Soul is much vibier and jam based than Urban Hymns. It's full of quintessential 90s grooves, the first half sitting on the rougher edges of Britpop, the latter half being much smoother. None of it is the output of aspiring hit makers. I'd struggle to pick out the singles, but it's a pretty robust and compelling whole.

The most similar band that comes to mind when I listen to The Teardrop Explodes is Echo & the Bunnymen but instead of a dour and Gothic approach TTE are here for a good time - disco drums and blaring synth horns mean that in comparison it’s upbeat party music. Yet the vocals remain thoughtful and reflective, and reverb touches every element of their sound, smudging any natural crispness from the performance. It’s a beautiful whole with consistently fun and engaging writing throughout.

It amazes me that something this freewheeling and explorative came out in 1966. Even today acts like Ariel Pink and MGMT are still pulling at these threads.

It’s hard to categorise so much of Freak Out! Any time that The Mothers of Invention arrive at a way of organising their sound, it shifts. The main theme (to my ears) is them mocking the common forms of music that people would have been very familiar with (and perhaps bored of) in the mid-1960s.

Joke-y music can go one of two ways, it often falls flat because quality song writing and instrumentation has less importance placed on it than silly premises. A song like‘Motherly Love takes an extremely thin and silly premise and unnaturally stretches it out. This time round, for whatever reason it works on me.

Much of the back end sounds improvised as they employ some impressive psychedelic production techniques. I have a high tolerance of “silly” experimental music so the story of Suzie Creamcheese, which includes random hoots, groans and animal noises, works on me - I’m sure it’ll bemuse a general audience. It’s not as good as Jazz Rock era Zappa but gets top marks for ingenuity and entertainment value.

Laura Nyro is a rare entry into my personal canon of captivating singers including Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser and Scott Walker. I’m amazed I was not familiar with her before picking up this record because she is a sensation. It's not often that a genre completely clicks in your head for the first time but her take on vocal jazz did that for me through an elaborate vocal performance which bursts with vital feeling, flavour and a joy for life. It elevates a more familiar pop soul sound, which I usually find soothing but straightforward, into something wholly unpredictable and shaken up. She’s here for a party. She’s bringing the party!

I love it when Joan Baez gets dark and spooky, elevating her performance from that of a gentle soul, to someone with a more chilling perspective. I particularly liked Free Thee Well and Donna Donna. The sweeter takes on traditional folk are beautiful and smooth but possibly less memorable in the canon of traditional folk singers.

I much prefer this to A Short Album About Love. The (divine) comedy lands much better and when it doesn’t it's more than made up for with the dramatic, cinematic, romantic, sweeping orchestral arrangements which put me in a great mood. The songwriting shows an understanding of how to get the most out of both the band and the chamber instruments.

Charge is particularly, elaborately unhinged. “BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!” There is a dark twistedness to Through A Long & Sleepless Night which also sounds barely in control emotionally. Fascinating. Neil Hannon’s aristocratic operatic vocal persona totally works on me. I am charmed.

I am a big fan of post-punk from this era, and loved Shot By Both Sides when I first heard it as a teen. Despite this, Magazine has never been up there with the greats as Real Life is a bit of an uneven debut. Parts of the second half where they lean towards that early Fall make them sound more complete. I also like the more silly and melodic songs. Elsewhere I find the vocal performance a bit… performative(?) and the instrumentals lack the urgency of that single.

I have an aversion to bluesy, funky rock music, even small traces have me coming out in hives. As a result I much prefer the second half of this record, which settles into some very assertive psych-rock. Little Wing, which certainly caught the ear of middle era Pink Floyd, is particularly good. The second half is so much more my thing in fact that I have to go back to the beginning to remind myself just how much I dislike the start of the record in comparison.