Beggars Banquet レコード& CD

Review: The Charlatans self-titled fourth album gets a lovely yellow make over for this reissue on Beggars Arkive. It's the first time for over 20 years new copies of this landmark album have been pressed, and Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road has taken care of the excellent mastering. The original release date was in 1995, and the album was the most ambitious of the band's career with plenty of number ones included along the way. The most successful of these of course was 'Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over'. It's a real piece of classic 90s indie that will always sound good.

Review: It's 1987 and you've just hit play on Electric. The third album from English rock greats The Cult. It followed their breakthrough record, Love, in order but not style, marking a sharp artistic shift from the gothic tones they first garnered attention with, and then blew up through, and onto more of a straight up bar room hard rock that positioned them closer to the likes of AC/DC than The Cure. That's no criticism of course - both those points of reference are amazing in their individual ways. And Electric certainly landed on the right side of its sound, peaking at 27 in the UK album charts and getting critics commenting on the swagger and irreverence at the heart of the tracks. Guitars played as they should be, for want of a better turn of phrase.

Review: Original Bauhaus front man Peter Murphy made some excellent solo albums between the mid 1980s and 1990s, a five of which were recently reissued on vinyl by Beggars Banquet. To finish off the campaign, they've decided to offer up this compilation of rare demo tracks, remixes and radio edits. There's plenty to enjoy across the set, with our highlights including the goth-goes-indie-dance goodness of 'Final Solution (Club Mix 2)', the mid-80s Bowie-esque 'I've Got a Miniature Camera', the ambient pop masterpiece that is 'Jemal (Version 2)' and spine-tingling acapella cut 'Cool Cool Breeze'.