Reviews by richardwiggins

I love the pulse and momentum of this album. It flies by with one big beautiful beat after another and a smart integration of samples. Listening, I was mostly just enjoying the general dancey vibe and bopping my head along with the music, but In My Arms and Drop the Pressure stood out as especially striking singles. It's a shame this is Mylo’s only release as it would have been awesome to hear more from him.

My favourite version of Nick Cave is all over this record - I love it when he is furious, raucous and unhinged. On Papa Won’t Leave You he sounds like an excited, angry sailor, venting his frustration. Even the emotional ballads like Straight to You are gregariously over-delivered and exaggerated - it feels like Cave is breathing down your neck. His more reflective, subdued approach which I’m less into has become more prominent in later years. It's clear to me that I need to focus on the earlier end of his mammoth discography.

I like the energy and feel of both the dancier, bubbly, synthy songs and the more stripped back, delicate ballads. It's much more my kind of thing than the garage rock of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s debut. In the final third of the record there is a bit of power loss as they move into something more introspective, but it’s still a very respectable effort with some cracking stand out singles.

The Byrds set the scene well with a great vibe, and sometimes that’s all you need. This amiable series of (mostly) covers puts me in a good mood but there isn’t anything unique or compelling enough to bring me back to it.

Genre-wise this should be up my street. Indie infused post-punk with an occasional psychedelic leanings harking back to the 60s. The framework is great unfortunately the content, the songwriting, is pedestrian and unimaginative.

The prominent vocals never caught me and I found the lyrics very circular - a new idea is raised at the beginning of each song and repeated but never developed. I’m also not sure I heard a hook over the 45 minutes. After a while I realised that I was listening to “The Wedding Present but if they were boring.”

I feel far more distant towards this record than the more patient, introspective Happy Sad (the only other Tim Buckley album I’ve heard). He is going for a jubilant, carefree mix of blues and funk which I don’t think he is naturally suited to and I had trouble surrendering to.

I had no idea that The Who were at one point a psychedelic rock band. This is much, much more my thing than their hard rock stuff and puts my lack of exploration of the band to shame. There’s so much heart and soul on this record. The epic, restless I Can See For Miles is the high point (a new favourite song of mine) but I also loved the jingles and warm sense of humour (reflective of the cover art).

I struggled to connect with Brothers. There are individual elements which I could imagine being able to lose myself in a different setting (I quite like the vocals) but the songwriting is very boring and the further you get into the very long tracklist the more of an issue that becomes.

I had to listen to it in two sittings because my wife asked if we could put something “more fun” on. Fair enough!

Cohen sings from the darkest depths with such elegance and grace that its surprising that this is his debut - he sounds like an old master.

Its almost all centered around simple, subtle, baritone vocal and guitar melodies. So much so that when even small amounts of chamber instrumentals are added into the mix it feels like a radical change; equally when he moves slightly up in the vocal register on the superb So Long, Marianne, the difference feels stark and the listener receives a big whoosh of energy.

It doesn't rush to reveal itself - but there's plenty there.

It kicks off with some tight, very precise numbers which are very exciting - legendary even. But then after that it's a lot looser, sprawling, less organised, sounding more like experiments pointing towards something greater.

It is interesting to hear a series of covers performed in a radically different way. They’d make a great TV chat show band or a backing band for an artist writing originals. It’s harmless, cheesy fun.

I love Paul McCartney - one of the world’s great enthusiasts who has only gotten cooler as he’s gotten older. This third and final Wings album sees him on particularly life affirming form with brilliantly sunny songs pouring out of him. There is a glorious range of effortless interwoven textures and sounds on each song including some fantastic guitar work which has a proper bite and plush harmonies.

The pretty jangle pop aesthetic is breezy and likeable but the songwriting is extremely faint with easily forgotten songs making little to no impact. The lyrics sound odd and awkward against slow moving strumming that goes on forever in search of a melody.

I am a Deep Purple novice having only listened to a couple of studio albums released around this time. I’ve had a soft spot for them, but my word this live album goes further and deeper than either Deep Purple in Rock or Machine Head. It’s faster, wilder, more indulgent and more of an “experience” benefitting from having space to insert an elongated drum solo here, a never-ending song outro there. It’s pretty outrageous that the shortest song on the menu is just shy of 7 minutes long - the longest is almost 20 minutes(!) but they get away with it, using their pre-existing material as a jumping off point / rough guide.

The only song here which I don’t like is Smoke on the Water. The various “guitar players” at school who could only play the main riff from this song might be to blame for that, or it might be because it’s slow and stodgy and totally unrepresentative of what I love about this band.

I think you’ll find that it’s Sade who is the smooth operator. It's impressive that she can maintain such a romantic, cosy vibe for the full run time without the spell breaking or becoming cloying. It is a very singular approach bookended with the obvious hits that works a treat.

I can see why Purple Rain is popular, it's objectively very listenable, beautifully composed, and certainly my favourite of the Prince albums that I’ve listened to. Perhaps it is the general drawn out and exaggerated aesthetic which I struggle with, but it doesn’t make me want to party, or stand in the pouring rain crying. It's certainly very interesting though and a worthy addition to the cannon of “classics.”

MIA gets into some highly unlikely grooves with hyperactive hooks throughout Kala. The best moments of this record are the big anthems where she is using her full force of personality to completely overwhelm the senses. There are six or seven of these songs with opener Bamboo Banga standing out with some particularly peculiar, arresting hooks which make this a “must listen.”

She has a great ear for pairing melodies with tones - I love the audaciousness of the horns on XR2. She's also great at manipulating sounds, as showcased by the iconic way a The Clash sample is repurposed on Paper Planes.

Some of the more drawn out, patient songs are hits but others are misses - most notably the double interpolation of New Order and Pixies on 20 Dollar is a strong flavour which almost but doesn’t quite work for me.

Every song is a masterclass in different ways to approach post-punk writing. They don't settle into a groove, constantly shifting and surprising with an energetic, erratic performance. Themes of the occult permeate every song, making them a cohesive whole, almost a concept album. The witch-y vibe gives Siouxsie and The Banshees an idiosyncratic, iconic sound.

The first half sounds like a better version of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the commonality being Nick Cave positioning himself as the energetic and reckless entertainer. The lower key second half sees Cave performing chaotic piano ballads with a rickety band around him twanging guitars and thudding muted drums. I prefer him in the more amped up mode but can appreciate the vivid textures of the more acoustic set. All together it is far too long for me though and not enough songs grab my attention enough - despite the excellent musicianship and craft behind them.

The first three songs, Independent Woman, Survivor and Bootylicious are 10/10 all time classics. The rest of the album then lives in the shadow of these songs. A shorter record with better sequencing could quite reasonably call itself a classic record, but it tries to bite off more than it can chew. Still - few records add this much to the culture. How many weddings have you heard all three of those songs at?

Psychedelic post-punk with a quirky, slightly dark sense of humour is an unusual flavour but The Soft Boys show it to be quite effective.

I Wanna Destroy You is a passionate anthem of hate with gorgeous harmonies. Positive Vibrations is the complete flip of this with cheery vocals over quite anxious, busy-brained and amped up guitars. Tonight is more at ease with itself with quiet verses and electric, punch the air choruses. The twisty turny guitars on You’ll Have To Go Sidewides are brain bending. And then there are the various more patient, far weird cuts.

A vast record!