history

XTC Released Excellent Third Album ‘DRUMS AND WIRES’ 40 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

17 Augustus 2019

40 years ago, on 17 August 1979, British quartet XTC released their third, breakthrough, album DRUMS AND WIRES. It was labelled by many critics as a great new wave LP as it was issued in that musical era. To Turn Up the Volume‘s ears it sounds more like a tremendously creative guitar pop record remarkable for its inventive, clever and masterly songwriting. The LP contained one of their rare, but well-deserved, hit singles with ‘Making Plans For Nigel‘ not written by frontman Andy Partridge, like many of the other songs, but solely
by bassist Colin Moulding (also co-writer with Patridge on a couple of other tracks). The album peaked at #17 in the UK.

Here’s that splendid single…

Album in full…

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XTC: Biography – All Albums


The single’s sleeve

NEIL YOUNG – 25 Years Ago His ‘SLEEPS WITH ANGELS’ Album Came Out…

Posted on by JL

15 August 2019

25 years ago, on 16 August 1994, living legend NEIL YOUNG released his 20th album ‘SLEEPS WITH ANGELS’. Although it was never officially confirmed we can assume that
the LP’s title referred to Kurt Cobain who committed suicide in April of the same year.
It was Young‘s seventh collaboration with Crazy Horse. An emotional, downhearted and gloomy longplayer, except for fierce rocker ‘Piece Of Crap‘, bringing his darker self like he exposed on his 1975 masterwork Tonight’s The Night back to mind again.

ALL MUSIC wrote: “The album thus has a tired, mournful feel that is both compelling and off-putting. Young had not investigated such forbidding territory since the days of ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and ‘On the Beach’, and ‘Sleeps With Angels’ is on a par with those often harrowing works.” Full review here.

Three highlights…

– MY HEART –

– PIECE OF CRAP –

– PRIME OF LIFE –

Album in full…

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NEIL YOUNG: Facebook – All Albums

THE BEATLES Started A 7 Week Run On Top Of The UK Albums Chart 53 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

13 August 1966

BeatlesRevolver

I’m sure nowadays high-profile artists would sell their souls to the devil just for free if they only could create just a fraction of the very genius of THE BEATLES‘ (and sonic ideas wizard George Martin) masterpiece REVOLVER. Every single chord, every single note, every single beat, every single vocal, every single harmony, every single lyric, every single handclap still sounds – even in today’s high-tech world – perfect, more than half a century after it was released! A landmark achievement. Genial fab pop experts forever.

It was their 7th longplayer and landed on the top spot of the
UK Albums Chart this day 53 years ago, on 13 August 1966.

Three cuts from an all killers, no fillers LP…

– ELEANOR RIGBY –

– DOCTOR ROBERT –

– GOOD DAY SUNSHINE –

REVOLVER in full…

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Check 20 cool things, thanks to NME magazine,
you should know about REVOLVER right here.

REVOLVER

THE BEATLES: Website – Facebook – Discography

LED ZEPPELIN Played Their Last UK Concert 40 Years Ago In KNEBWORTH…

Posted on by JL

11 August 2019

This day 40 years ago, on 11 August 1979, heavy rock icons LED ZEPPELIN played their final concert (in the original line-up) on the grounds of Knebworth House near the village of Knebworth in the north of Hertfordshire, England . This was the second of two massive shows (the first a week earlier). The band had not played live for two years since the death of frontman Robert Plant‘s son during the band’s 1977 North American tour, and they had not performed in Great-Britain for four years. More than 150.000 people attended
the historic event.

Here are three highlights…

– WHOLE LOTTA LOVE –

– ROCK AND ROLL –

– BLACK DOG –

LED ZEPPELIN: Facebook – Website

THE STOOGES – Eponymous Debut Album Is 50…

Posted on by JL

5 Augustus 2019

This day 50 years ago, on 5 August 1969, Michigan rock legends THE STOOGES fronted by icon IGGY POP released their eponymous debut LP. At the time it came out many critics ignored it or disapproved it like American magazine Rolling Stone that called it: “loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish”.

Only later after second LP ‘Funhouse‘ (1970) and ‘Raw Power‘(1973) the media changed their point of view and when punk happened suddenly it was as if Iggy Pop and The Stooges invented it. I agree with what ALL MUSIC wrote in retrospect about that self-titled debut: “the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once.”

It wasn’t an overall perfect record but it became a monumental classic for the right reasons: for its primitive and unheard rawness, its controversial no future punkiness
and Pop‘s eccentric and fuck you vocality. Nobody sounded that nasty and utterly cool!

I guess you all know these three raw crackerjacks…

– NO FUN –

– I WANNA BE YOUR DOG –

– 1969 –

Album in full…

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THE STOOGES: Biography

PINK FLOYD Released Stunning Debut Album ‘THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN’ 52 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

4 August 2019

This day 52 years ago, on 4 August 1967, art-rock legends PINK FLOYD launched their debut LP, the stunning ‘THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN’. An indefectible, influential psychedelic classic with most of the songs written by troubled genius Syd Barrett. A year later he was fired for his erratic and uncontrollable behavior due to too many drugs.

NME‘s review: ” ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ has inspired plenty of people – Blur, The Coral, Klaxons, The Horrors, Devendra Banhart, pretty much every Home Counties art-school band ever – which makes it all the more ironic that one of the few bands that haven’t copied it is
Pink Floyd themselves. It’s down to one man, of course: before he lost his mind, Pink Floyd’s main songwriter was Syd Barrett, a sensitive, good-looking middle-class art student from Cambridge. His songs on ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ assemble a cast of cats, silver
shoes, unicorns, mice called Gerald, bikes, gnomes and the I Ching, and put them to some
of the most inventive and surprising psychedelic music ever recorded.”
Score: 9/10 – full review here

Album in full…

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PINK FLOYD: Website – Facebook – Biography – All Albums


Back sleeve

German Legends CAN Released Their Debut Album ‘MONSTER MOVIE’ 50 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

1 August 2019

Fifty years ago, on 2 August 1969 German musical innovators CAN released their debut longplayer ‘MONSTER MOVIE‘. Their very first work entitled ‘Prepared to Meet Thy Pnoom‘ was actually ready for release the year before but the band found no label who wanted to invest money in it and put it out (those recordings were eventually released on a LP in 1981 as part of ‘Delay 68‘).

So MONSTER MOVIE became CAN‘s first official LP displaying their creative appetite for mixing – in their weird, spellbinding way – psychedelia, rock and blues, free jazz, avant-garde and any sound/instrument that could serve their experimental repetitive rhythm textures and motorik beat jams, later labeled as Krautrock. This wasn’t their best work
yet, but a most intriguing introduction to their fascinating far-out sonic vision.

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Though ‘Monster Movie’ was the first full-length album in what would become a sprawling and often genre-defining discography, ‘Can’ were on a level well ahead
of the curve even in their most formative days. Recorded and released in 1969, ‘Monster Movie’ bears many of the trademarks that ‘Can’ would explore as they went on, as well as elements that would set the scene for the burgeoning Krautrock movement… Even in their earliest phases, Can were making their name by blowing away all expectations and notions that rock & roll had limits of any kind.” Score: 4.5/5 – Full review here

Album in full…

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CAN: Fan Facebook – Biography – All Albums


Back sleeve

BEASTIE BOYS Released Second Ace Album ‘PAUL’S BOUTIQUE’ 30 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

24 July 2019

On 25 July 1989, yep, already 30 years ago, legendary hip-hop rap punks BEASTIE BOYS released their second, ace longplayer ‘PAUL’S BOUTIQUE‘ Maybe not their best known album, but certainly one of their very best. Rowdy, clamorous, mental, inventive & totally cuckoo!

Rolling Stone wrote: ” ‘Paul’s Boutique’ named after a Brooklyn store whose radio ad is tossed in the mix and whose picture graces the cover, surprises from the get-go. Each track brims with ideas and references too numerous to catalog, veering in new directions at every verse. The songs are buoyed by the deft interplay of the three voices and a poetic tornado of imagery. The Boys’ rap references range from Magilla Gorilla to Dickens, their musical samples are equally far-flung, including Johnny Cash, Hendrix and Jean Knight’s ‘Mr. Big Stuff.’ The Boys are just being themselves, thrashing about in a reality ignored by too many mainstream white-rock acts.” – Score: 4/5 – Full review here

Top Single: Hey Ladies…

Album in full…

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BEASTIE BOYS: Facebook

The Late Great TIM BUCKLEY Released Third Album ‘HAPPY SAD’ 50 Years Ago Today…

Posted on by JL

10 July 2019

This day 50 years ago, on 10 July 1969, the late great Washington D.C. born TIM BUCKLEY released his third, superb LP ‘HAPPY SAD‘. A truly remarkable longplayer. Ambitious, jazzy, bluesy and with a similar exploring and soul-stirring effect as Van Morrison‘s Astral Weeks.

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Easily Tim Buckley’s most underrated album, Happy Sad was another departure for the eclectic Southern California-based singer/songwriter. After the success
of the widely acclaimed Goodbye and Hello, Buckley mellowed enough to explore his jazz
roots. Sounding like Fred Neil’s Capitol-era albums, Buckley and his small, acoustic-based ensemble weave elegant, minimalist tapestries around the six Buckley originals. Lovingly
under-produced this is one of the finest records of the late ’60s.”
Full review here – Score: 4.5/5

Stream HAPPY SAD here…

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TIM BUCKLEY: Biography – Facebook


R.I.P.