New Music Reviews

Reissue CDs Weekly: Tim Buckley - Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 01 August 2021

Anyone in San Francisco on 15 and 16 June 1968 would have had a tough choice if they wanted to see live music. On Saturday the 15th, Big Brother & the Holding Company and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown were playing The Fillmore. That night, The Charlatans were on at The Straight Theatre.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Chris Barber - A Trailblazer's Legacy

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 25 July 2021

The book included with this splendid box set dedicated to British jazz innovator Chris Barber includes a series of quotes paying tribute to his standing. Billy Bragg says "Chris Barber's influence on British popular music, be it through playing jazz, creating skiffle or promoting R&B, has been immense.

Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan review - noir settings for classic numbers

Tim Cumming Monday, 19 July 2021

What is the Shadow Kingdom and how do you gain access to it? In Bob Dylan’s case, it may be found in the film noir classics of his birth – 1941’s The Maltese Falcon onward – and it’s those noir settings, artfully condensed and reduced to a signature sauce, that dictate the tone of the dim-lit tableaux that decorate the settings for Dylan’s first foray into online streaming.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Karen Black - Dreaming Of You (1971-1976)

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 18 July 2021

Karen Black’s connection with music was never hidden. In Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville she played a country singer. In 1970’s Five Easy Pieces she was a would-be country singer. In Nashville, two of the songs she sang were self-penned.

Reissue CDs Weekly: The Count Bishops - Speedball

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 11 July 2021

A new band called the Sex Pistols played their fifth live show on 28 November 1975. The appearance at a ball at Kensington’s Queen Elizabeth College got them their first mention in the press. New Musical Express remarked “they are all about 12 years old. Or could be 19.”

Reissue CDs Weekly: Yardbirds - Yardbirds

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 04 July 2021

Instability coursed through the Yardbirds in 1966. When their first studio album Yardbirds was issued in July, the band seen on stage was not the one which had made the album. Bassist and in-house producer Paul Samwell-Smith had left between its recording and release. His replacement was session player Jimmy Page.

Rag‘n’Bone Man, Jazz Café review – powerful first post-lockdown gig

Katie Colombus Thursday, 01 July 2021

Rory Graham’s first words as he comes on stage are: “Well this is a bit weird, isn't it? It's been a while.” After a run of cancelled gigs, the band haven’t performed live for a year and a half – which feels, says Rory, “a bit like missing a testicle.”

theartsdesk on Vinyl 65: Solomun, Black Sabbath, Trojan Records, The Creation, Seefeel, Motörhead and more

Thomas H Green Thursday, 01 July 2021

The latest edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl combines the best new sounds on plastic with the vinyl reissues that are pressing buttons. Ranging from heavy rockin’ book-style boxsets to the funkiest summertime 7”s, all musical life is here. Dive in.

VINYL OF THE MONTH

This Is The Deep The Best Is Yet To Come (Part 1) (B3)

Reissue CDs Weekly: Elton John - Regimental Sgt. Zippo

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 27 June 2021

Empty Sky, Elton John’s first album was released in June 1969. Now, an album titled Regimental Sgt. Zippo has turned up. It’s marketed as “The debut album that never was.” The 12 tracks are annotated loosely as having been recorded from November 1967 to May 1968.

Album: John Grant - Boy From Michigan

Kieron Tyler Wednesday, 23 June 2021

While recognisably a John Grant album, Boy From Michigan brings on board something new and unprecedented – an outside producer. Welcome, Cate Le Bon. Among her previous production credits are Deerhoof and Tim Presley, whom she’s collaborated with on an album. As these and her own releases attest, she’s not going to steer anyone towards the mainstream.