I’m finding myself lacking in inspiration for new music lately. Since Christmas, I can’t recall discovering one new band. I’m in need of some inspiration. What new music are you listening to at the moment?
Paul McCartney gave his fans a wonderful early Christmas present with a magnificent gig at The O2 on 5 December. This was the fourth time I’d been lucky enough to see McCartney, and this was easily the best. Macca doesn’t need support artists. Instead, people who took their positions early were treated to a video montage [...]
Reading this story on the BBC website, about Other Lives being hand-picked to support Radiohead, I reflected on some of the support acts I’ve enjoyed in the past. Frightened Rabbit, for example, blew me away at a Gomez concert. And I loved Pure Reason Revolution – whose last gigs I sadly missed this week – [...]
When I set about writing this blog, I was keen to make most of the posts positive. I’m about to break that unwritten rule. This cover version – which I was able to tolerate only around a minute of – is overblown rubbish. Yes, the voices are in tune, and it’s based on a good [...]
Do great band members make good solo artists? That’s the question I’ve found myself pondering in the last 10 minutes or so, since stumbling on Gomez (or, as it sounds like, just Ben Ottewell) doing their (or his) version of Wichita Lineman. Ben Ottewell released his own solo album – Shapes and Shadows – at [...]
What makes a good cover version? Is it authenticity to the original work, or taking the canvas of the original and painting over it with something entirely different? I think there are good examples of both. Mark Cox, regular commenter on this fine blog, recently introduced me to the mighty fine The Civil Wars. Check [...]
It was a sad day for music fans yesterday, as REM – masters of their trade for 31 years – announced their untimely split. My first introduction to the band was around 1994-1995. I was 13/14, and working diligently at Martins the Newsagent. One Saturday morning, as we loaded the Saturday papers with their weighty [...]
Another year’s Mercury Music Prize winner has been announced and this year, a very worthy winner has been chosen. PJ Harvey’s album, Let England Shake, was by far the stand out album. Lyrically, it’s not the most uplifting of albums. Far from it – it describes the realities of war vividly. In many ways it’s [...]
It came, it happened and it already feels like it was a million years ago (OK, it nearly was considering how long it’s taken me to finish writing this blog). However, Glastonbury 2011 was my third favourite Glastonbury. This year, to get things off a novel start, I was convinced to let the bus take [...]
I first started writing this blog in April, then work got in the way. Prior to my Glastonbury summary – which was excellent – I thought I’d post my long-promised thoughts on the King of Limbs first. It’s been a while since I first listened to The King of Limbs. In the time that’s passed, [...]
Musings on moving moments in music.