Review: Paul Weller unveils the 'Supplement: 66 EP', featuring four exquisite new tracks. These songs, recorded at Weller's Black Barn Studios, reflect a heartfelt homage to his musical roots while showcasing his evolution as an artist. Produced by Weller himself, the EP includes contributions from the Wellerband, along with notable musicians like Max Beesley - yes, the actor - on vibraphone and folk legend Danny Thompson on double bass. Original Jam member Steve Brookes adds guitar work, enhancing the rich soundscape. The closing track, 'So Quietly', features esteemed folk artist Kathryn Williams on lead vocals, who also co-wrote the haunting piece. 'Supplement: 66' delivers an additional four tracks of soulful, roots-inspired rock, perfectly complementing its parent album.
Flying Fish (Alexis Taylor & Pilooski remix) (5:46)
Nothing (Richie Stevens Smudge remix) (4:39)
Review: Two tracks from the Modfather's current 66 album get the remix treatment, with the A-side seeing Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip joining unlikely forces with Parisian DJ and producer Cedric Marszewski aka Pilooski for an overhaul of 'Flying Fish', before the flip hosts 'Flying Fish' Richie Stevens of virtual band Spacemonkeyz works his magic on 'Nothing'. Weller's remixes have been well chosen and generally top drawer ever since Brendan Lynch reworked 'Wild Wood' back in the mid 90s, a rich tradition that continues unabated here.
Review: Released in 1978, this compilation album encapsulates the essence of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles journey. It features a selection of tracks that highlight the band's evolution and McCartney's songwriting prowess. The album's remastered edition offers enhanced audio quality, bringing clarity to the intricate arrangements and emotive performances. This release serves as a comprehensive overview of the band's contributions to the rock genre.
Review: Paul McCartney's long-lost project, One Hand Clapping, is finally seeing a near-complete release 50 years after its inception. Filmed and recorded over four days in August 1974 at Abbey Road Studios, the sessions feature a new Wings lineup with Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and drummer Geoff Britton, alongside Del Newman and Howie Casey. The album includes recent hits like 'Live and Let Die,' 'Band on the Run,' and 'Jet,' alongside Beatles classics 'Let It Be,' 'The Long and Winding Road,' and 'Lady Madonna.' Denny Laine covers the Moody Blues' 'Go Now' and Paul revisits 'Maybe I'm Amazed' and the Tin Pan Alley classic 'Baby Face.' Previously unreleased, except for a few tracks scattered over the years, One Hand Clapping is now available as beautiful packages with exclusive solo performances recorded in the backyard of Abbey Road. This release is a nostalgic treat for McCartney and Wings fans that harnesses the band at a unique moment in their storied career.
The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone's Pizza House) (3:11)
Review: This classic Tom Waits album showcases an intimate quality while delving into a traditional jazzy sound. Each track features his brilliant bluesy vocals, complemented by silky smooth instrumentals. The horn and string arrangements enhance his intricate lyrics, painting a vivid picture of the lonely streets of New York City at night. While 'Closing Time' captures solitude, The Heart Of Saturday Night reveals the broader landscape of the city, where Waits evokes relatable emotions that resonate deeply with listeners.
B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
Hang On St Christopher (2:44)
Straight To The Top (Rhumba) (2:25)
Blow Wind Blow (3:32)
Temptation (3:33)
Innocent When You Dream (Barroom) (4:12)
I'll Be Gone (3:03)
Yesterday Is Here (2:27)
Please Wake Me Up (3:06)
Frank's Theme (2:46)
More Than Rain (3:51)
Way Down In The Hole (2:48)
Straight To The Top (Vegas) (0:43)
I'll Take New York (7:21)
Telephone Call From Istanbul (3:11)
Cold Cold Ground (4:05)
Train Song (3:19)
Innocent When You Dream (78) (3:11)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
The tenth studio album from Tom Waits, released in 1987 via Island Records, was yet another landmark in a career which, by this point, had already given us a raft of stone cold classics. The last two of those LPs, Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs, certainly swerved expectations, marking a new period in the life and times of an acclaimed jazz and blues man. Taking its name from a track on Swordfish, Frank's Wild Years is actually "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts" according to the subtitle, with several songs here taken from a play of the same name which premiered in Chicago a year prior. In many ways, the theatrical side story was an inevitability, with the previous records all pointing in the direction of a gravelly blues-jazz-rock core with a vaudeville, spoken word, and narrative disposition.
Review: Two years on from Tom Waits' landmark Swordfishtrombones and the jazz cat-turned staunch experimentalist continued to explore the roads less travelled with Rain Dogs. Originally released via the seminal Island Records in 1985, if the preceding album felt expansive, the follow up broadens horizons even further, inviting luminaries Keith Richards and Marc Ribot to get in on the action, although neither come close to even sharing the spotlight with the real star of the show. Spanning New Orleans funeral march melancholy, old down and dirty blues rock, heart wrenching balladry, wild cinematic instrumentals, noir-ish pulp fiction storytelling, and more than a little of the Swordfish-style stomping oddness, it's a masterpiece. Perhaps what really sets this apart, though, is how these myriad styles, at least some of which could easily fall into caricature, feel and sound so authentic, making it impossible not to buy into.
Review: To say that Tom Waits' eighth studio album marked a stylistic shift would be like saying winter is markedly different to summer. Having established himself as one of the finest piano-based songwriters of his generation - or any other for that matter - Swordfishtrombones was the first LP from the artist to lay out what was to come. Something very, very unusual, as visionary as it is bizarre, a celebration of the beauty of surrealism and the joy of having fun with music. Whether it's the opening number, 'Underground', and its strange, almost cartoonish chain gang jazz-blues stomp, the quiet keys and solitary vocals of 'Johnsburg, Illinois', or the distorted, compressed electronic jangling and organ riffs of 'Dave The Butcher', within the first few tracks alone you're presented with a vast and varied universe of ideas.
Review: UMR add to their Tom Waits reissues impetus with a re-release of Bone Machine, Waits' eleventh studio album, first released in 1992. A unique blend of rock, blues and industrial music, it's one of a subset of albums by Waits to deal in themes of death, violence, and religion, and features guest appearances by Keith Richards, Les Claypool, and David Hidalgo. Recorded in a room in the cellar area of Prairie Sun Recording studios, described by Waits as "just a cement floor and a hot water heater", the album is often noted for its rough, stripped-down, percussion-heavy style, as well as its dark lyrical themes revolving around death and chaos.
B-STOCK: Sleeve slightly damaged, slight surface marks on record
Underground (2:01)
Shore Leave (4:05)
Dave The Butcher (2:28)
Johnsburg, Illinois (1:23)
16 Shells From A 30.6 (4:24)
Town With No Cheer (4:12)
In The Neighbourhood (3:16)
Just Another Sucker On The Vine (1:43)
Frank's Wild Years (1:49)
Swordfishtrombone (3:03)
Down, Down, Down (2:13)
Solder's Things (3:13)
Gin Soaked Boy (2:24)
Trouble's Braids (1:17)
Rainbirds (3:03)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve slightly damaged, slight surface marks on record***
To say that Tom Waits' eighth studio album marked a stylistic shift would be like saying winter is markedly different to summer. Having established himself as one of the finest piano-based songwriters of his generation - or any other for that matter - Swordfishtrombones was the first LP from the artist to lay out what was to come. Something very, very unusual, as visionary as it is bizarre, a celebration of the beauty of surrealism and the joy of having fun with music. Whether it's the opening number, 'Underground', and its strange, almost cartoonish chain gang jazz-blues stomp, the quiet keys and solitary vocals of 'Johnsburg, Illinois', or the distorted, compressed electronic jangling and organ riffs of 'Dave The Butcher', within the first few tracks alone you're presented with a vast and varied universe of ideas.
Review: The debut full-length from Los Angeles glam metal superstars, Warrant, is the perfect time capsule of late eighties sunset strip era rock of a bygone leather-chapped age. 'Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich', boasted the hit singles, 'Heaven', 'Down Boys', and, 'Sometimes She Cries'; all still heralded as some of the group's most essential cuts to date. Noted for its pushed back release due to vocalist Jani Lane suffering a nervous breakdown upon catching his best friend and girlfriend "entangled", an encounter detailed in lyrical form on the band's single, 'I Saw Red', which would feature on the following year's sophomore effort, 'Cherry Pie'; there's still no ignoring or denying the infectious cheese, stadium-sized riffs and endlessly catchy hooks that still prop up this debut as a (not so) timeless classic of its stature.
Review: Huge guitar solos, a not-so-subtle hint of seduction and romance, rousing choruses and an attitude that screams: "I'm gonna make that heavy metal hand signal every five or six minutes." Warrant may not be the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to the heyday big room, sexually charged glam metal, but when all is said and done they did pretty well during their seven years in the game.
Emerging from the Los Angeles scene of the mid-late-1980s, a city that has a lot to answer for in these musical ends, by the time they packed up their Fenders and called time more than 10million albums had been sold, with the double-platinum Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich the real gem of the lot. Dog Eat Dog came along a little later, in 1992, and by this point the group had really got into gear. Don't expect the same tangible hunger and impact as the inaugural effort, then, but in many ways this is far more complete example of what they were gunning for.
Review: The Best of Warrant compiles 16 defining tracks from the band's early years, pressed on limited 180-gram red audiophile vinyl with a numbered double vinyl format and an insert. This collection revisits the glam-metal era with hits from their first three albumsiDirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, Cherry Pie and Dog Eat Dogioffering fans a nostalgic journey through Warrant's prime. Favorites like 'Down Boys', 'Heaven', and the iconic 'Cherry Pie' capture the band's energetic hooks and singalong choruses. The acoustic version of 'I Saw Red' highlights a more introspective side, while deep cuts like 'Thin Disguise', a Cherry Pie B-side, add exclusivity. Their hard-hitting cover of Queen's 'We Will Rock You', from the Gladiator soundtrack, showcases a grittier edge. The inclusion of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and 'Mr. Rainmaker' underscores their storytelling flair, while tracks like 'Big Talk' and 'Sure Feels Good to Me' keep the energy high. Originally released in 1996, this greatest hits package is still thee best collection of their best.
Review: It's been twenty five years since the last Roger Waters solo album, and given the fractious nature of global affairs of late, it's hardly surprising that the lugubrious 74-year-old rock colossus has had no trouble finding things to get angry about of late. Dishing out songs on drone warfare, terrorism and American nationalism, 'Is This The Life We Really Want?' - which is stylistically very much in the mould of his post-'Dark Side' oeuvre - may be no barrel of laughs, but it's oddly reassuring that his righteous rage remains undiminished, not to mention aided and abetted by the skills of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich in its intensity and relit ire.
Review: Pink Floyd's Roger Waters recorded The Lockdown Sessions at home during the COVID lockdowns between 2020 and 2021. Of course, intrigue was bound to spark up as to what Waters would be doing in this time, so we're not surprised supply has matched demand. What ensues is a mixture of exclusive live originals (mastered for this EP of course), and a handful of new versions of old Floyd classics. The 2022 version of 'Comfortably Numb' falls into the latter category, appearing on the B-side. Meanwhile, brand new cuts like 'Mother' and 'Two Suns In The Sunset' appear on the A, acting as Waters' new reflections on a world driven mad; the songs were first streamed live to fans during the incipient, isolated phase of Zoom-calling and make-do music performances from inside musicians' homes.
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