Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

Nicely Out Of Tune - 1971 Newcastle band Lindisfarne tend to have been somewhat forgotten about as the years have gone by, but in the early seventies they were quite big among the album-buying fraternity, attracting folk, rock and prog fans alike. They were more the rock side of folk, though, a bit like Jethro Tull. Their debut album was a big hit in the folk-rock circuit, and its lead-off single, the mysterious and captivating Lady Eleanor, remains one of my favourite lesser-known seventies hits. The harmonica-driven easy folk rock of Road To Kingdom Come, the blues of Knackers Yard Blues and the dreamy, hippy-trippy Alan In The River With Flowers typifies the album.  Fog On The Tyne - 1971 The follow-up contained another such track in the wonderfully atmospheric, catchy and highly nostalgic Meet Me On The Corner, as well as the iconic title track. City Song is a good one too, merging gentle rock with folk perfectly. The same applies to Alright On The Night and Scotch Mi...

I have mentioned on my review of Clifford T. Ward’s second album some of my memories of him from 1973. Another one I have is of seeing this, his late 1973 third album, as I flicked through album sleeves in record shops. I have got to know it in subsequent years and, like Home Thoughts From Abroad, it is a most appealing, understated, but lyrically clever offering. Ward’s style is one of subtly orchestrated and gentle melodies backing his observational lyrics. He was a man that cared about things, and this shines through the whole album. It is sensitive and studious. Ward was an ex-schoolteacher with unfeasibly long blond hair who shied away from publicity, but he produced a couple of really attractive albums of vaguely folky singer/songwriter stuff. It is such a pity he is no longer with us. Although this album was released in December 1973 it very much has a vibe of 1970-1972, for me - that slightly hippy, airy, folky earnestness that didn’t really fit in late 1973/early 1974. It was ...

After 1976's release of the very rustic folk of  The Albion Country Band 's  Battle Of The Field  this featured far less of the Morris dancing jigs and far more copper-bottomed electric folk rock. Now called just  The Albion Band , it still featured  Ashley Hutchings ,  Simon Nicol  and  Dave Mattacks .  Martin Carthy  also appears on some tracks too. It is a fine folk rock album. It is also very adventurous in places.   Ragged Heroes  is a solid opener, with some  Steeleye Span -influenced electric guitar all over it and a powerful drum sound. This is a proper slice of electric folk.  Poor Old Horse   is a stately, moving sea-shanty-sourced song with some strong drums, electric guitar and bass, together with impressive vocal harmonies. It was released as a single but made no impact on the charts. It has a great electric guitar solo at the end as well.  Afro Blue-Danse Royale  is a dual instrumental fea...

Not long after recording the seminal, ground-breaking folk-rock album  Liege And Lief  with  Fairport Convention , vocalist  Sandy Denny  left and with future husband  Trevor Lucas  formed Fotheringay.  This debut (and, unfortunately, only) album was released in 1970.  It was not an album that drew on traditional folk balladry, like Liege And Lief had memorably done. It was almost a rock album with folky elements, to be honest. Quite a bit of  “country rock”  about it too. A full band is used - proper drums, bass, electric and acoustic guitars and piano.   Nothing More  The first track sets the mood -  Nothing More  is a solid, powerful mid-paced rock song, with a warm, rumbling bass and some excellent electric guitar. It is perfect laid-back folk-influenced rock.  The Sea The Sea  is beautiful, with Denny’s voice in full, haunting  Reynardine  mode and an addictive bass rhythm underpinning th...

  This is very much an album from an artist in  Robert Plant  who is now very comfortable in what he puts out, bowing to no trends and just doing what he wants to do.  It is an engaging mix of folky rock,  Americana  with bits of blues influence, world music, Eastern music and is very much an intelligent, cerebral album. It is largely laid-back, but not without considerable power and  "oomph" . There are still muscular, visceral moments on here. On the cover, Plant looks craggy, charismatic and wise. That feeling is all over this excellent album.  The opener,  The May Queen ,  gives reference, of course, to  Stairway To Heaven . It is a strong piece of  Led Zeppelin III -influenced acoustic rock, with some solid fiddle backing.  New World....  is extremely  U2 -esque as indeed is the beguiling  Season's Song . These are both really appealing and attractive songs.  Dance With You Tonight   is an atm...

This is  Mark Knopfler 's first album for three years or so. You know what you're going to get from him by now - immaculately played, laid-back folky, slow tempo rock. If you like Knopfler, you will like this. It is as simple as that.  Nothing much changes in the material he has been putting out for many years now. Having said that, however, I have to say that, of all his solo albums, this contains the most musical diversity. Look, it's not Sgt. Pepper or A Night At The Opera in its chocolate box diversity, but, for Knopfler, it is by far the most changeable, track by track, album he has released. His voice largely remains the same, calm and melancholic, but musically, there is quite a lot in here. It isn't all just a gently strummed acoustic guitar.   The album's opener,  Trapper Man ,  is a lengthy robust number with a muscular drum sound, some bluesy guitar interjections and Knopfler's usual quiet, gentle vocal. There is a contemporary-sounding drum section a...

Despite my many comments about whether Ringo's albums are memorable or not, what is for certain is that Ringo Starr  albums are reassuring things - always about half an hour in length, always full of immaculately-played, catchy, pleasing, inoffensive rock songs. The world is sort of a better place with Ringo still in it, putting out an album every few years. Who would have thought it? This is his twentieth studio album.  Gotta Get Up To Get Down  is a vaguely funky, pounding but catchy slow rock with contemporary references to Facebook. It also has a few “rap” passages that don’t sound too incongruous. After a few listens, I really like it. There is some good wah-wah guitar bits in it as well.  It’s Not Love That You Want   is a lively little tuneful rocker with a typical, endearingly deadpan Starr vocal and some nice guitar and keyboard riffs.  Septuagenarian (soon to be octogenarian) Ringo urges his listeners to  Grow Old With Me  on his cover o...

The final album of Spandau Ballet's that I will look at is  this one.   It saw them at the peak of their popularity, and was their Thriller or Can't Slow Down - packed with killer hit singles in the glorious romance of  True , the anthemically delicious Gold, the catchy eighties pop of  Lifeline  and the pop-funk-white soul of  Communication .  Even a non-single number such as  Pleasure  was poppily appealing, as too is the more laid-back  Code Of Love . This album saw the group at their best, delivering slick, funk-lite catchy pop that dominated the airwaves, clubs and wine bars in 1983.

  This album, released at the height of Duran Duran "mania" was basically more of the same (as described in the review of Rio) but with the addition of a few contemporary dance-ish sounds - programmed rhythmic breaks, scratching sound effects and the like.  It was best showcased on the huge number one,  The Reflex  and the non-album single  Is There Something I Should Know?  - both of which had "scratchy", extended 12" mixes, all the rage in those days - and the group were praised at the time for being musically adventurous. In retrospect, that was something of an overstatement, wasn't it? They just incorporated a few dance sounds into their well-used existing sound, that was all. It was an effort to go "sexy" and "cool dancefloor" and opposed to just new romantic pop. Duran Duran wanted to portray themselves as dancefloor sophisticates but they still retained much of their trademark sound.  The  album's other big hit,  New Moon On M...

This was Nick Drake's final album, and it featured just him on acoustic guitar, delivering a series of peaceful, bucolic numbers such as the sleepy things  Behind The Sun .  Again, you can hear the sound that would influence Paul Weller on this album. There is a bit of a rootsy bluesiness to numbers like the minimalist   Know  as well and the opener,  Pink Moon , features a subtle bit of piano. Check out that persistent guitar line on Know too.  I feel that these tracks and indeed all of the album would have been improved with a Bryter Layter full band sound. The album is only twenty-seven minutes long and it is one of those that peacefully washes over you, albeit very pleasantly. So that was dear Nick Drake. God bless you Nick - your music was far better than you ever knew.  

This is the most folky of  Pentangle 's albums - the tracks are all traditional folk. No jazz experiments to be found here. Quite why they never made it to the heights of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span is a mystery. Some of their stuff is as good as you will hear traditional folk songs interpreted.  Jacqui McShee' s voice is simply sublime, crystal clear and the instrumentation is rich, warm and textured.  The first song is a favourite of mine  A Maid That's Deep In Love   - tells a fascinating story about a girl who goes to see dressed as a man in order to be with her lover.  When I Was In My Prime  has Jacqui McShee singing totally unaccompanied, a very difficult thing to do. It is an utterly beautiful delivery. Not a note out of place. Her voice is hauntingly seductive.  Lord Franklin  has  John Renbourn  on lead vocals on an evocative, moving, tragic seafaring tale. Lord Franklin died trying to navigate the North-West...

After two successful albums in Private Dancer and Break Every Rule, Tina Turner continued her remarkable renaissance with this rocky and bluesy album, that, although containing some hit singles, also had some credible, down 'n' dirty rock. It is actually quite a mature, sexy, adult rock album, albeit with a few eighties traits such as synthesiser riffs every now and then amidst that polished late eighties sound.                        Steamy Windows is a swampy, bluesy rocker written by legendary Southern States bluesman Tony Joe White. The backing is punchy and intoxicating and Tina's vocal matches it perfectly.  The Best was a huge hit, and is known to all, (particularly The Office's David Brent). Yes it is cheesy and clichéd, but it is also built around a classic rock chorus, I can't help but like it. Killer saxophone solo in it too. You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What) is a funky slice of late eighties disco rock. Und...

Many bands went synth-poppy in the eighties, masquerading as new wave in the process before going full-on synth pop by the mid-eighties.  This was Steve Miller's contribution, and it is a pleasant thirty-seven minutes of melodious but essentially unremarkable material (save the impossibly catchy title track). The simple fact is that I am not motivated to analyse or describe each song individually, as it is one of those albums that is sonically homogenous (lots of synths, new-wavey organ and funk/rock liveliness) and functions as a whole as opposed being a chocolate box of different numbers.  My girlfriend back in 1982 really loved it (and the album) - I can still see her dancing enthusiastically to  Abracadbra -  and, in my three or four recent listens I have enjoyed it but I still can't bring any song back to mind - other than that I wanna reach out and grab ya....- ok, the Fleetwood Mac-ish  Something Special , the Talking Heads-esque cod-reggae of  Give ...

From 1985, Scarecrow was  John Mellencamp 's powerful blue collar statement. It was arguably his finest album although there is a paper-thin difference between it and  Uh-Huh . This one probably just edges it due to slightly more variety, musically, in the compositions. It plays as a pretty cohesive album.   Rain On The Scarecrow  is a brooding and blistering protest song in support of Mid-Western farmers. The crackly old  Grandma's Theme  is pretty superfluous but I guess it sort of leads into the power of  Small Town ,  which  is classic Mellencamp - I don't really need to say that it has great riffs, acoustic and electric guitars in tandem, social comment and a killer vocal. This was what he was all about and I'm buying into it, that's for sure - I'd forgotten just how good some of this stuff was.  Minutes To Memories   is blue-collar rock by numbers, but it is still a fine track, with a strong vocal and hook. Mellencamp spits ou...

This album, the first to feature later to be Rolling Stones keyboardsman Chuck Leavell, was one blighted by deaths, drunkenness, drug abuse and inter-band arguments. All that considered, it rocks with a carefree vibrancy that is perhaps unexpected. It is more country-ish than blues in places too.  Wasted Words  is an easy-going, rambling rocker while the instantly recognisable rocking bar-room strains of  Ramblin' Man  are pretty much irresistible. Top quality upbeat blues rock.  Come And Go Blues  slows the tempo down somewhat on an appealingly shuffling heavy blues rock grinder that features some fine piano.  Talking of the blues -  Jelly Jelly  goes the whole hog and delivers some grade 'A' walking pace, grumbling blues rock, punctuated by a killer guitar solo.  Southbound   gets us back to rocking once more in a style that Eric Clapton would utilise many times over subsequent years.  The lively instrumental  Jessica ...