history

Manchester Legends OASIS Released Stupendous Debut Masterpiece ‘DEFINITELY MAYBE’ 25 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

29 Augustus 2019

On 29 August 1994, 25 years ago, Manchester’s legends OASIS released one of the best albums ever according to my ears. DEFINITELY MAYBE was a stunning life-celebrating rock album that came at a perfect moment as The Stone Roses blew their minds on drugs for five years after their astonishing 1989 debut LP and only delivered a half great second longplayer 3 months after the Gallagher Brothers took the vacant place and scored a
No 1 hit LP in the UK with their ace debut. Except for the two stinkers Digsy’s Dinner and ‘Married With Children’ all songs were euphoric jackhammers with most of them sounding like ecstatic anthems millions would sing along word by word afterward. Historic score!

Thanks to NME hyping the band in their early days I went to London in August 1994
to see Oasis play in a small venue. An unforgettable experience it was. Mind-boggling electricity! It was the first of about 30 Oasis concerts I witnessed. Their overwhelming, rhapsodic live force was unmatchable for years to come. Best time of my life! Hallelujah!

Here come three of the several masterstrokes on ‘Definitely Maybe’…

– SUPERSONIC –

– LIVE FOREVER –

– CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL –

Album in full…

OASIS: Website – Facebook –  Discography

JEFF BUCKLEY Released His Heavyhearted Debut Album ‘GRACE’ 25 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

23 August 2019

The late great JEFF BUCKLEY released GRACE his debut album, actually his only proper studio LP, 25 years ago today, on 23 Augustus 1994. A heavily emotional album with Buckley’s characteristic touching vox as one of the main instruments for his introspective and intimate inner journeys. Compelling, captivating and passionate from start to finish. Initially, the LP was largely ignored and peaked at number #149 in the U.S. but slowly but surely critical acclaim build up. Eventually Grace had sold over 2 million copies worldwide.

ALL MUSIC wrote: “Jeff Buckley was many things, but humble wasn’t one of them. Grace is an audacious debut album, filled with sweeping choruses, bombastic arrangements, searching lyrics, and above all, the richly textured voice of Buckley himself, which resembled a cross between Robert Plant, Van Morrison, and his father Tim. Grace sounds like a Led Zeppelin album written by an ambitious folkie with a fondness for lounge jazz.” Score: 5/5

Key tracks…

– HALLELUJAH –

– LAST GOODBYE –

– LOVER, YOU SHOULD’VE COME OVER –

Album in full…


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JEFF BUCKLEY: Facebook

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

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 –

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– 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

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.

THE PRODIGY Released ‘MUSIC FOR THE JILTED GENERATION’ 25 Years Ago Today…

Posted on by JL

4 July 2019

This day 25 years ago, on 4 July 1994 techno-punks THE PRODIGY released their game-changing longplayer ‘MUSIC FOR THE JILTED GENERATION‘. An overwhelming cross-over acid house monster. A droning anti-establishment soundtrack for illegal 24 hour-parties. Unfortunately, this birthday is entirely overshadowed by Keith Flint‘s unexpected and premature death on 4th March of this year. I want to turn this day into a celebration of
a unique artist and a one of a kind performer who deeply loved what he did and who was astonishing good at it. Let’s remember Mister Flint with these highlights of THE PRODIGY‘s 25-year old second album, their breakthrough sledgehammer…

– NO GOOD (START THE DANCE) –

– POISON –

– VOODOO PEOPLE –

Album in full…

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THE PRODIGY: Website – All Albums