Morrissey - I Am Not a Dog on a Chain Review

2020 will no doubt become one of the strangest years of Morrissey's time. His gigs over the past weekend in the UK saw what could end up being the last major social gatherings for some before we all succumb to Covid-19's isolation.

The music press lapped up it's favourite outspoken uncle being unable to sell out seats, they sniggered that he's still spouting mad things like it's 1985 and daring to say "Meat is Murder" whilst blind zealots like myself wait for table scraps like eager dogs at the dinner table.

Segue out of the way, Morrissey's thirteenth album is I Am Not a Dog on a Chain, an album which sees Morrissey's most radical changes in sound for quite some time or possibly forever.

Album Rankings for 2016

Another year, another list because everyone loves lists.

David Bowie - Blackstar Review

We should have seen it coming. It should never have been a surprise.

Back in 2013, David Bowie shocked the music world by daring to release a comeback album. A decent album, let down by it's length and normality. At fourteen tracks, it was a long journey from beginning to end, but it was good nonetheless, not his best comeback but miles better than say, Black Tie White Noise.

Pixies - Indie Cindy Review

Hipster's have treated the Kim Deal-less Pixies as blasphemy; the musical equivalent of a family break-up, with clear cut villains and a helpless damsel who had done no wrong, only to be kicked to the kerb for daring to do something, somewhere to someone.

Hilarity ensues when the new incarnation of Pixies begin releasing new music for the first time in nine years and eventually; compile said new releases in their first album in over two decades. I'd already covered EP-1 last year and had planned to do the same for EP-2 and EP-3 before a lack of Internet access at home put a halt to that.

Album Ratings for 2013

Another year; another list of album’s I either managed to review or ones I intended to, going so far to score them but never getting there. I ran into two albums that ranked a nine (a first!) but album of the year goes to Sigur Rós with Queens of the Stone Age in a close second.

So enjoy this long list of titles and numbers and have an awesome start to 2014.

Arcade Fire - Reflektor Review

Arcade Fire; the holy grail of hipsters, two superb albums, one very good album, in their own words, have never had a hit single, but have enough critical acclaim, cult following and well deserved adulation, that they can pretty much do anything and the world will take notice. After The Suburbs and a three year wait; what did the band have in store for the adoring public?

Reflektor (the title track, not the album) gave a tantalising glimpse of things to come. A seven minute, Nu-Disco infused track with so much happening sonically, that brief moments with David Bowie and even the surreal accompanying music video were completely overshadowed. It was epic, it was strange and it nearly perfect.

Upon the album's release, the last thing on my mind (which normally rears it's ugly head with any double album) is whether the band could maintain interest and deliver an interesting package. Instead, I was still fascinated by the potential huge changes to their sound and atheistic.

David Bowie - The Next Day Review

I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably not the best person to review this. My first experience of Bowie came when my Dad asked me to scour the interwebs in search of the Spiders on Mars' album (the actual band, not Ziggy Stardust...) and my friends raving about Life on Mars (the TV show) and having the song of the same name played repeatedly for driving.

Naturally; I was suckered into the hype of David Bowie's first album in a decade. How years of trawling through his back catalogue showcased some of the best albums I'd ever heard. How the media was left stunned that his comeback wasn't on their radar and how the album would see Bowie reinvent himself again as a veteran rock and roller as opposed to the otherworldly persona's seen from his early days up until...2003?

It's a guaranteed number one and might possibly be the best selling album of the year but, at the end of it all, if you move past the hype, the ongoing adulation from other publications; is The Next Day, not only a good album but the comeback that Bowie needed?