Nobody knew what to make of The Pixies when they arrived on the music scene—one minute they weren’t there…and the next everything was turned on its head; with scarcely any parallels or similarities to be found with other bands past or present, the critics and fans were caught somewhere between wanting to like them and not knowing what to do with them if they did.

The Pixies were liked to some extent instantly, but faced an immediate and tough up-hill (more…)

I don’t really know why, but I absolutely love this video. This genre isn’t my speciality when it comes to music and I don’t have more than a couple of Dance CDs in my collection. Saying this, ‘Another Chance’ is such a damn catchy song that I find it hard to resist…

Dance videos can actually be very clever and I openly admit that I have sat watching them on dedicated channels in the past. Because the content of a (more…)

Have you ever noticed just how similar some singers are to others? There are quite a few people in the music scene who are uncannily similar to the artists of years gone by. But this is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it can work out rather well…

For example, if you are a fan of Joan Armatrading then there are frustratingly few of her studio albums to listen to. However, if you also enjoy the music of Tracy (more…)

I am a big fan of The Smashing Pumpkins and my favourite album of theirs is ‘Machina: The Machines of God’. It never ceases to amaze me how completely underrated this record is. Out of the seven (almost eight) albums that the Pumpkins have recorded I would cite this one as being their greatest work.

‘Machina’ is actually a concept album, although it is not as obviously a ‘story-record’ as is something like ‘Misplaced Childhood’, ‘The Wall’ or ‘Tommy’. The (more…)

On the twenty-fifth of November, 1974 the world lost one of its most beautiful song writers and lyricists. It was a very sad day but the saddest thing of all was that he had been so little known. Nick Drakes’ life had only been twenty-six years long but he had recorded three incredible studio albums.

Nick found life to be a very painful experience and he chose to leave it by overdosing on amitriptyline. He had led a troubled life (more…)

In 1979 a little-known band, who had previously been playing under the name of ‘Warsaw’, released, ‘Unknown Pleasures’. ‘Joy Division’ had been born and their new record was gaining a lot of interest from fans and music critics. It was the end of the Punk era and people wanted a new sound and ‘Unknown pleasures’ delivered it.

Joy Division had all the destructive energy of Punk but they also had a great deal of introspection in their music. This was (more…)

In 1975 Pink Floyd unleashed what is arguably their greatest record. ‘Wish You Were Here’ was their seventh studio album and it was in such high demand at the time of its release that EMI could not get enough copies sent out to music stores. It turned out to be Pink Floyds fastest selling album ever.

Many Floyd devotees will stand by the belief that, 1973’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is their greatest work. Undeniably, ‘Dark Side’ is a (more…)

If you enjoy intelligent pop music then check out the self-titled debut album by Miike Snow. You may have even heard one or two of their songs without knowing it. The album’s first track is an extremely catchy reggaesque number that has a slight whiff of The Police about it. Inevitably, it has already been used as a background on a few adverts and their melancholy single, ‘Burial’ has had a good amount of airtime on several of the larger (more…)

A few years ago I had the good fortune of stumbling upon a band called Gravenhurst. It was quite by accident but they are now a firm favourite in my CD collection.

Gravenhurst are basically the vehicle of Nick Talbot. He has worked with several of the same musicians on their four albums but Talbot, most certainly, is at the helm. They cite their influences as including the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, The Kinks and Husker Du. (more…)