Manchester. So much to answer for. Home, at least spiritually, to some/most/all of the best bands ever to spring forth from the fertile soil of this sceptred isle. Something in the water. Tonight two of the best (the two best?) are sharing the stage. There is no support act. Not really. One is simply appearing [...]
When Sleeper played the Star Shaped Festival at the end of 2017 it was a wonderful reminder of quite how good they were. Every song they played sounded like it should have been a number one hit. Choruses that were so catchy that the Centre for Disease Control in the States along with the World [...]
It seems like a long time ago now. All of it. "Violent Men" for the first time. The Melody Maker tour at the Garage on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. Supporting Morrissey, specifically at the Civic Hall in Motherwell. Buying "This World and Body" from Sleeves in Kirkcaldy. Somehow getting a promo copy of "Miyako Hideaway". [...]
"Now That's What I Call Music..." reached its centenary this year. Nobody really cared. In the era of Spotify, Deezer, iTunes and YouTube the compilation album is largely redundant...I'm not sure that anyone other than sales reps and desperate middle-aged children on Father's Day morning actually buys them any longer. I say this, of course, [...]
Like lots of other people I use Spotify. In an ideal world I would have a Sony Walkman with those foam headphones and a bag of compilation tapes to listen to as I gaily meander around the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. This, in case you hadn't noticed, is not an ideal world. For a start [...]
When I attended the Edinburgh International Book Festival appearance from Brett Anderson a few weeks ago he discussed the early, formative moments of Suede and how they had placed an ad in the music press looking for a guitarist...an advert that brought two applicants, one from Ken and another from Bernard Butler. I wonder what [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOfLzGvlJJo 16th of February, 1993. Inside the Alexandra Palace the great and the good of the music industry have gathered to drink champagne and dance all night, under electric candle light. It is the Brit Awards. Richard O'Brien is hosting. The list of winners from that night reveals just how out of touch the [...]
Recent Comments