Review: Music On Vinyl are our new best friends. With a wide range of music being reissued as of late, Yello's 1987 One Second is just spoiling us. Never being fully acclaimed when it was originally released, this is one album which really spans the full circle in terms of artistic ideas sonic experimentations. While being tagged primarily as a pop work, it's really more of a lesson in synth manipulations and nutty beat-making. "The Rhythm Divine" has to be out top track but do check the whole thing, it's magnificent...
Review: As Radiohead tour the world and then regroup to record their new album, Thom Yorke releases his own record, 'The Eraser' on XL Recordings. A collection of nine new songs, the record was written and played by Thom and was produced by Nigel Godrich. Variously hailed as "The Best Band In The World" (Q Magazine), "Rock's Best Live Band" (Rolling Stone) and the band were placed at number 1 of Spin Magazine's 40 most influential artists, Radiohead has arguably become the most acclaimed and adventurous force in modern music. Over six studio albums the group have proved that it is possible to make massive creative leaps whilst continuing to grow in worldwide stature. Their records set new benchmarks for others to aim towards, whilst their live shows reach levels of intensity and exploration that few can match.
Review: UK duo Young Gun Sliver Fox make a magical mix of modern soul, classic pop and funk that is drenched in sunshine. Ticket To Shangri-La is the pairs fourth studio album and it finds them fine-tuning their signature sound with West Coast AOR and plenty of lush and natural grooves. Their compositional skill and production really shines through and these tunes transport you to a wide open musical highway with open blue skies and plenty of positive vibrations to get you going. As a way of extending your summer into the darker, colder months, this is the perfect ticket.
Review: Three years after Ticket to Shangri-La, Young Gun Silver Fox return with a polished showcase of contemporary AOR and blue-eyed soul that could be a long-lost gem, but it isn't, it's all new. The duo of Andy Platts of Mama's Gun and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee really deliver here with achingly lush melodies, breezy harmonies and effortlessly smooth vocals that embody their signature mellow sound and tap into all the classics of this genre. From start to finish, Pleasure is steeped in warmth and nostalgia yet feels refreshingly modern and it's a must-have if you like soulful, feel-good pop and yacht rock. With a major European tour ahead, this duo continue to prove they're at the heart of today's AOR revival.
Review: We can never get enough of Neil Young's current run of reissues and rarities, and here comes another. This much-bootlegged performance from 1971 was recorded on January 30 at the University of California - it was a solo acoustic performance which puts Young's captivating songwriting and singing front and centre, adorned simply by piano and guitar. At the centre of the show is 'Journey Through The Past' - a haunting ballad which sounds incredible thanks to the diligent remastering job carried out by Young's team, working from the original analogue tapes no less.
Review: There are rock stars, then there are rock stars. Then there are rock starts like Neil Young who, with or without jumping on the Crazy Horse, will always be considered as a bonafide original and a true icon. Hence the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducting him not once, but twice, thanks to services rendered both solo and in the band Buffalo Springfield.
While every show Young plays is always remembered as a real moment in guitar history, some rank higher than others. His performance at New York's Carnegie Hall on 4th December 1970 sits in the latter category. Covering one of the most celebrated eras in this prized artist's career, it boasts an expansive setlist that includes anthems like 'Down By The River' and 'Sugar Mountain' realised in a pared-back style, with then-unreleased and, in the cases of 'Bad Fog Of Loneliness', 'Old Man', and 'See the Sky About to Rain', unrecorded gems also present and correct.
Review: We've had more Neil Young compilations thrown our way over the years than many of us care to remember, but only one really sticks in the mind, and it's this one. Originally released in 1977 and chronicling the period in which Young went from being a simple member of Buffalo Springfield to one of the most heralded North American songwriters of the late century, and comprising work from that band alongside Crosby Stills Nash and Young, it's studded with delights aplenty. From the extended guitar sprawl of 'Down By The Ocean' and 'Cortez The Killer' to poignant balladry like 'After The Goldrush' and 'Helpless', no-one captured the dreams and hopes of the hippie generation in quite the way Young did, and this collection is a magnificent testimony to his most fertile and heartwarming era.
Review: Neil Young recorded Toast in 2001 and has never previously released it. It is one of his numerous one-off genre-experiment albums and half of the tunes on it made it onto his Are You Passionate? in only slighted revised form. Made with backing from the soul legends Booker T. and the M.G.'s and Young's normal rock band Crazy Horse, there are hard hitting and hard rocking tunes like 'Timberline' next to more R&B leaning cuts and 'Gateway of Love,' a 10-minute guitar workout that is one of the best you will not have heard before.
Review: Recorded live at the Rainbow Theatre in London on November 5, 1973 as part of Young's tour with the Santa Monica Flyers, this key show in Young's career finally gets pressed to vinyl thanks to Warner. The band - comprised of Young on vocals and guitar, Nils Lofgren (lead and rhythm guitar, piano, accordion, vocals), Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, vocals), Billy Talbot (bass, vocals) and Ralph Molina (drums, vocals) - performed a series of standout shows following the release of their seminal album Tonight's the Night. Featuring too many classics to count, including 'Helpless', 'Don't Be Denied' and 'Cowgirl In The Sand', this show is regularly celebrated for its "completely spontaneous and high-revved performance".
Review: Back in November 1990, fresh off recording Ragged Glory, Neil Young and Crazy Horse took the stage at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz. They played a long and sprawling set of tunes that last three hours and took in songs like 'Love and Only Love' and 'Like a Hurricane' which they managed to hypnotically stretching out for more than ten minutes. The gig was also the debut live airing for 'Danger Bird' which was on the 1975 album Zuma. All of these make it on to the Way Down In The Rust Bucket album as part of Young's on going Performance Series.
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