MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael Jackson - from the fresh-faced, angelic-voiced pop kid via the confident teenager to the so-called King of Pop. It was one hell of a journey and a real shame that its ending was so tawdry. When it was glorious, however, there was no doubt that it was just that. When the Thriller video was released it seemed as if the whole world was watching.

Click on the images to read the reviews.
Got To Be There
Ben
Music & Me
Forever Michael
Off The Wall
Thriller
Bad
Dangerous
Invincible

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ROXY MUSIC

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  For many people, Roxy Music mean  the Radio Two stalwarts of  Jealous Guy, Love Is The Drug, Avalon, Dance Away  and  Oh Yeah! , performed by Bryan Ferry in a white tuxedo and played in lounge bars throughout the land.  For others, however, it is the strikingly innovative band that exploded on the scene with the single  Virginia Plain  in the late summer of 1972 that floats our boat.  They are a band of two distinct halves, like Fleetwood Mac (actually they had three) - the pre 1975 incarnation and the post hiatus one of 1979 to 1983.  I like both of them, as it happens, but it will always be the early years, those five great albums and the singles that do it for me.  In 1973, along with David Bowie and Mott The Hoople, there was nothing my fourteen year-old self liked better. I found a danceable solution to teenage revolution..... Did anyone really know what hit them in September 1972, when Roxy Music appeared on the scene with t...
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Tom Waits: Small Change - 1976

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  This was the album which saw the voice deepen and get more deliberately (seemingly) croaky and brought out many writers' gargling with concrete/razor blades/broken glass quotes. It certainly gave Waits an unforgettable, once heard, never forgotten character.  Backed here by a jazz trio of saxophone, bass and drums, along with some string orchestration, Waits' piano and whiskey paeans to night time street low life images and characters are reaching their first peak.  Just listen to the marvellous strains of  Tom Traubert's Blues  (later covered convincingly by Rod Stewart). I love the song and its multifarious images - I never, ever tire of it. Waits apparently wrote it after a night on the whiskey - it certainly did the job. What a song. A candidate for his best ever.  "Good night to the street sweepers, the night watchmen, the flame-keepers, and goodnight Matilda too."  My goodness, Waits could pen some lyrics. The old jazzy vibe is still there too ...
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TOM PETTY (with The Heartbreakers & solo)

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers came on to the scene in 1976, after a few years gigging as Mudcrutch, and because of the time they emerged, they were considered punk. I guess they had a swagger and wore leather jackets, but they were no Ramones. They were, quite simply, a Southern States US rock band, albeit with a penchant for short, concise, sometimes fast-paced rock songs. Their influences were The Byrds, The Rolling Stones and even 60s pop bands like The Searchers.  Click on to the images to read the reviews. Tom Petty You're Gonna Get It Damn The Torpedoes Hard Promises Long After Dark Southern Accents Let Me Up Into/Wide Open She's The One Echo The Last DJ Mojo Hypnotic Eye Full Moon Fever Wildflowers Highway Companion Best Of Anthology American Treasure Live Anthology
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The Ohio Players: Skin Tight - 1974

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The Ohio Players were a kick-ass brassy n' bassy funk band that peaked in the mid-seventies. They were also a hit with teenage boys such as myself back then due to their erotic album covers. Those were the days.  This was The Ohio Players' fifth album and it was the one that really brought them mainstream attention. Its production was slicker and smoother than on previous albums and the album's six tracks were all over five minutes in length. Extended, jazzy, brassy funk was becoming popular and this album led the way as many people got the funk. Groups like Tower Of Power, The Meters, Kool & The Gang and, of course, James Brown enjoyed similar success. It also influenced subsequent artists such as Rick James. Their over-the-top flamboyant image must have had an effect on Earth, Wind & Fire and The Isley Brothers too - soon, all funkers were donning the Elvis-style suits. They do look awfully dated now (even to me), almost like looking at Victorian sepia photos once...
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Fleetwood Mac: Then Play On - 1969

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  This album, from September 1969, the last to feature  Peter Green  and barely featuring  Jeremy Spencer  saw  Fleetwood Mac  shift direction away from searing, guitar-driven, gritty blues to a slightly more psychedelic, laid-back, hippy style.  The blues is still there in a lot of the guitar sound, but there is definitely far more of a hippy dreaminess to the group's sound now. It is the beginning of the more gentle rock sound that featured on the series of albums that would take the band up to their huge sea change in 1975.   The sound on the album is ok, but it is not quite as good as on the previous albums. It could probably due with losing a couple of tracks as it is a bit sprawling, but that is nit-picking, really. The cover also gives a clue as to the future direction, as it has gone very proggy.  Two  Danny Kirwan  tracks from the  English Rose  album from earlier in the year appear again -  One Sun...
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ELVIS COSTELLO

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  In the summer of 1977,  I was doing some student work in a bakery in Aylesbury, Bucks, when a colleague came running up, excitedly telling me that "Elvis Costello's coming to  Friars !" (the local rock club). I had never heard of Elvis Costello. His enthusiasm intrigued me so I went to the gig, despite not having heard any of his music. It was the "Stiffs" tour featuring Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric. Costello headlined and played an impressive set.  After that, I bought the  My Aim Is True  album and then, the following year brought  This Years Girl .  Many more live experiences of Costello and his excellent band The Attractions would be forthcoming over subsequent years as this quirky, bespectacled and passionate artist became one of my favourites.  He was an ideal new wave anti-hero - odd-looking yet possessed of a superb instinct for a piece of wordplay in his lyrics. He also knew his music and was influenced by country music, Stax soul, ...
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Roxy Music: Roxy Music - 1972

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"Is this a recording session or a cocktail party?" - Dr. Simon Puxley   For many people, Roxy Music mean  the Radio Two stalwarts of  Jealous Guy, Love Is The Drug, Avalon, Dance Away  and  Oh Yeah! , performed by Bryan Ferry in a white tuxedo and played in lounge bars throughout the land.  For others, however, it is the strikingly innovative band that exploded on the scene with the single  Virginia Plain  in the late summer of 1972 that floats our boat.  They are a band of two distinct halves, like Fleetwood Mac (actually they had three) - the pre 1975 incarnation and the post hiatus one of 1979 to 1983.  I like both of them, as it happens, but it will always be the early years, those five great albums and the singles that do it for me.  In 1973, along with David Bowie and Mott The Hoople, there was nothing my fourteen year-old self liked better. I found a danceable solution to teenage revolution..... Did anyone really know what h...
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DAVID BOWIE

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Where do I personally begin with David Bowie? Let's try.... On the 6th of July in 1972 when I saw him on  Top Of The Pops  doing  Starman . I was thirteen years old. He was completely new to me. Funnily enough, I had no memory of  Space Oddity  from 1969, despite knowing a lot of chart songs from back to the mid-late sixties. That one had strangely passed me by. Now, in 1972, though, I was like many, fascinated by what I saw on the TV.  Contrary to many people's experience, who found their parents despising him and his glam/androgynous appearance, my Mother loved him. A few months later I was really into the  John, I'm Only Dancing  single and my relationship with David Bowie was taking its first baby steps.  In December 1972, I have this memory (included in my  Aladdin Sane  review).  The Jean Genie  single, with its killer riff, had crashed into our collective consciousnesses back in those dark winter weeks. I distinctly...
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THE ROLLING STONES

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  Ah, The Rolling Stones. Where do I start?  I guess I was first made aware of them as a seven or eight year-old in the 1966-67-68 period when they started to appeal to my heightening sense that the all-conquering Beatles were goody-goodies and The Stones were proper bad boys. My developing tastes found this to be an admirable thing. Even at that age, there was a nascent feeling that if the older generation - parents, teachers and the like, even the judiciary - despised them, they must have something about them. Ironically, though, my Mother loved The Stones.  Then, of course,  there was the music - loud, punchy, riffy, buzzy and singalong, but not in a  "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.."  way, but in a  "he can't be a man because he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me"  style. The Stones always had a healthy cynicism and a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour that appealed to me no end.  Not only that, there was the look - the cockiness, the l...
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U2: Songs Of Innocence - 2014

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