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Denise Johnson Where Does It Go PART OF the soul and fabric of Manchester before her sad and untimely passing in July, this is Denise Johnson's posthumous debut album. As a proud Mancunian, who's soulful voice has adorned many a Mancunian band as well as some of Primal Scream's higher watermarks, Johnson chose to record 5 classic songs by Manchester artists as well as record 2 of her own. Things start with the well known New Order song True Faith which is a faithful rendition, with the outro particularly working well on acoustic guitar as the chords change.       10cc's I'm Not In Love follows and is spellbinding - it is my pick of the songs here. With such a short selection - with 7 tracks totaling 28 minutes it is more the length of an E.P. - each track carries more weight but none are filler, each having their their own intriguing beauty including intriguing covers of The Smith's Well I Wonder and Sunshine Over The Rain. A poignant eulogy to a beautiful soul....

PRINCE Sign '☮' The Times   ( originally released 1987 ) HIS PURPLE majesty arguably released his greatest album in  Sign  'O' The Times , his ninth studio album and undoubted masterpiece. Purple Rain may get all the plaudits but his first album without his backing band The Revolution is greater, not just in length, but also in scope as Prince went from apocalyptic funk (on the title track), to playful pop (on Starfish & Coffee), to ballads (Adore) and religious epics (The Cross). How it came to be is one of Rock and Pop's most interesting back stories and to understand it is to gain a far wider appreciation of why this release is so important.       Firstly though let's do the basic math: whilst the album itself is a 16 track double album, the super deluxe release is 92 tracks (!), a full 8hrs 2 mins of music. Even if you discount the last 18 tracks of live recordings and 13 of the tracks for being alternative takes or mixes of the tracks that al...

The face said it all... On February 13th 2019, The New York Times reported that several women had accused Ryan Adams, the famous alt-country star of sexual misconduct including his ex-wife Mandy Moore and singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridges. Since then more details followed along with the expected apologies from the star. My initial reaction was one of disbelief at the time. Because I was a massive fan, because I didn't want to think about it, because I loved his music. So I decided to do what most people do when they don't believe something: bury their head in the sand. This blog hadn't started back then and hey there's lots of music to listen to, so what's all the fuss? Alas I guess my reaction was one of bewilderment and confusion. I was a huge fan and as a British indie turned dance kid, Country and Americana was a genre I rarely dipped into but Ryan Adams was, for me at least the one, as he was undoubtedly a major talent, ever since his Whiskeytown days and then ...