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David Crosby or Croz to his fans, one of the key faces of 60s counterculture and ex member of The Byrds and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, died last month after a long illness. Crosby's career was a tale of two halves - firstly with the two aforementioned groups and a brief solo career before sex, drugs and rock & roll caught up with him landing him with a year of jail time in 1985. Initial come backs were often short lived, firstly with two solo albums in 1989 and 1993 and then teaming up with his son in the jazzy folk rock band CPR in the late nineties. However it was complete sobriety in the last decade of his life that led to a burst of creativity and five albums over his last ten years. His songs, opinions and moustache were part of the zeitgeist of the late sixties' counterculture and influence spread far and wide long after this period passed. Personally, I was particularly drawn to his sea songs because of my Devonshire roots and childhood days by the coast. This r

Around this time last year I started a small piece to mark the 25th anniversary of Billy Mackenzie's death, the former lead singer of the Scottish post-punk band The Associates who died on 22nd January 1997, leaving us with short but stunning legacy, all wrapped around an incredible four-and-a-half octave voice. I regrettably never published it at the time and with the sad news a few weeks ago of the passing of Alan Rankine, Mackenzie's co-founding Associate colleague I thought I best to revisit it and finish it off (so here we are :D). My reaction to the news reminded me of the kind of group The Associates were in their first incarnation - uncompromisingly single minded, esoteric and alas quite brief; a brilliant 3 albums - if you include their singles compilation Fourth Drawer Down - in a little over 22 months. And all the music written and recorded by Alan Rankine, every last instrument, solo, electronic synth and guitar riff.  A quick glance online backs up their cult stat

The first full uninterrupted year post pandemic saw us enjoy gigging and clubbing again and I was thankful to get to see a lot more live music than I had the previous few years with The Killers, Anne-Marie & Manic Street Preachers all providing memorable sets. The range of music released was perhaps wider than ever with the blurring of house and hip hop not letting up, indeed there was a reported revival of sorts with house identified as having a rebirth. Whilst this was largely spearhead by big name pop acts in the charts, for the primary product - the album, LP, Playlist - it was the hip hop that artistically made the most noise with great albums by Black Thought, Kendrick Lemar and Nas (again) whilst Pusha-T, Little Simz and Drake made vital contributions as well. This got me thinking back to Black Thoughts comments to Complex in 2017 about the crossroads that hip hop and its culture are at: are we now starting to see a subtle change in direction? With the huge social change see

  Last month saw the 25th anniversary of Oasis' Be Here Now , their third and last album by their classic line up featuring Bonehead & Guigsy and an LP that is Oasis warts and all, everything and the kitchen sink. It was hailed on its release as a classic with 5 star reviews by Q Magazine and Select but after all this time how does it sound now and how does this compared to how it sounded at the time of its release? Is it really their best as many Oasis fans attest or worthy for the charity shop? Below I'll go through it track by track but first.. Context You have to hark back to summer of 1997 and remember where Oasis were at. In less than 18 months they had released two classic albums, a series of great singles and not too mention even better b-sides as well as a number of triumphant live shows. They had started making in roads into America. Lead Up The hype around the record was something I'd not experienced before. For a band that 'got me into music', it was

   --  a short update on what I'm listening to  --    THE start of a new year always brings with it fresh hope, and music is no different, whether it's the tantalising promise of new music from your favourite artist or a certain song that seems to resonate, January tends to evoke a different, more reflective mood...which brings me to Crowded House.       Born in the early Eighties, I missed this antipodean band first time round but always knew a few of their big hits and it was after I turned on the radio and heard 'Don't Dream It's Over', arguably their best song and surely one of the best Eighties singles, that intrigue got the better of me and I picked up Spotify to take a closer look. And now years later after briefly listening to them before, it clicked - it's always at the turn of the year - but why?       I think it's because in songs such as 'Weather With You' and 'Distant Sun', their singer and chief songwriter Neil Finn (above)

Following the  first part of my 2021 review, below is a breakdown of my ten favourite albums of the year as well as a quick overview of songs which I enjoyed: Favourite 10 Albums of the Year 1. Blank & Jones -   Relax Edition 13 At the forefront of the late-90s rise in trance, the German duo of Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones turned to ambient thereafter with the release of their Relax series. This is the latest, a double album of chillout, tasteful funky house and balearic beats and a much needed tonic for lockdown despondency in 2021 - my choice for best album of 2021. 2. St. Vincent -   Daddy's Home A concept album about her father's return from prison, this album's real treat though is how Annie Clark recalls the atmosphere of early seventies downtown New York, the sleaze, the dirt, the funk. A melting pot of Lou Reed, Bowie, Steely Dan even Beatles (on the psychedelic Sun King-esque Live The Dream). 3. Cleo Sol -   Mother The singer in the mysterious London based col