lefreeakblog

      Damon Albarn surely has to be one of Britain's greatest active singer-songwriters and one of the last true auteurs. As a wee young lad I was an Oasis fan and derided Blur  for being a bit silly and for, well not being Oasis. But how wrong I was to do this as Blur firstly released their self-titled fifth LP and then Albarn created a new virtual band which allowed him to move out of the shadow of the restrictive Britpop label and grow wings and go on an incredible run of releasing new music every few years. In the twenty three years since Albarn has released solo work, soundtracked a Chinese opera, formed his London supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen, reunited Blur and continue the aforementioned Gorillaz including their most recent release, November 2020's Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez .       Albarn's ability to create a pop song are second to none with his style developing as he goes. At the beginning of his career, Alba...

Masks. They're everywhere! In my household, the latest series of The Masked Singer is proving a big hit, the latest series of a format that originally started in South Korea and spread to Australia, US and now UK and is basically reality tv featuring performers singing behind a mask and/or a costume and trying not be voted off (and thus having to reveal who you are). We're also now having to wear masks where we leave the house, enter shops etc as part of the pandemic restrictions which of course we should all be adhering to. But it was the  recent sad news of the passing of MF DOOM - a rapper who always wore a mask on stage - that got me thinking about them and in particular which musicians wore them as part of their act. So the following is a quick - I stress quick! - list of 10 artists that came to mind: MF DOOM: famed for his signature metal mask, that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, from whom he adopted the name. He rarely made public appearances without it. Ma...

      It's been a strange year but the music has come thick and fast, despite the limitations of the pandemic which cancelled pretty much all touring and live music. Artists either completed planned recording sessions in time or worked around these limitations to produce a really wide variety of work. The following are my favourite ten albums and singles of the year. Enjoy.. Album of the Year 1   Fetch The Bolt Cutters         Fiona Apple         Arriving a matter of weeks after the  start of the first worldwide lockdown, this wild and brilliant album, Apple's 5th, took a direct wrecking ball to any doubts that the music industry was not involved in #MeToo.  Apple sang powerfully about assault, abuse of power and coercion, over complex  and unusual arrangements.  The opening piano led one two of I Want You To Love Me and lead single Shameika recalled Tori Amos, whilst th e title cut that followed payed...

Tis the season to be jolly and there's no doubt that this year's festive joy has come as somewhat of a tonic for this most difficult of years. Amidst the festive songs are the songs about Christmas that are the best at making me dance, chuckle or just sing and so here are my favourite ten songs about Christmas in chronological order. Merry Christmas!! 1. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Frank Sinatra (1957) For some reason the winter season always makes me want to listen to jazz and along with Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis, it's Frank who I go back to again and again and this hymn on his 1957 Christmas album hits the spot perfectly. 2. Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes (1963) It wouldn't be Christmas without some Ronettes and their festive take on Phil Spector's wall of sound. Genius. 3. Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys (1963) Arguably one of the best originally penned Christmas songs, this minor Brian Wilson classic is for rock aficionados who don't want to listen t...

Bruce Springsteen   Letter To You     Colombia The Boss is back with the E Street Band for the first time since 2014's High Hopes   AFTER THE PASSING of former E Street Band member George Theiss and   a period of writer's block, Springsteen was  inspired to book 5 days of studio time at his before cajoling himself to come up with some brand new songs for his former band. Assembling them again, all recording was completed in just four days, as they rattled through them and they were recorded live, with minimal overdubs.       These new songs make up nine of the album's 12 songs, whilst the remainder were originally written by Springsteen for his 1973 debut Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and have been subsequently released by others since then including The Hollies' Allan Clarke and Warren Zevon. Springsteen stumbled across his original recordings while assembling a compilation album and decided to complete them.       Opening...

It was Roni Size's birthday last month. And Dynamite MC's birthday too, friend and member of Roni Size's Bristol drum and bass group Reprazent. A chance to wish them both happy belated birthdays and also an opportunity for me to mention their stellar and Mercury Music Prize winning New Forms and in particular drool over Railing, it's opening track: Evolving from the posse of friends that formed around the birth of the Full Cycle label in 1993 by Roni Size and fellow Bristolian DJ Krust, Reprazent was the full embodiment of Roni Size's vision, melding tight chopped up propulsive jungle beats with live drums and double bass in give it a jazzy vibe. Railing is his mission statement, like a Nineties Electronic version of the Sex Pistols' Holidays In The Sun, served by his spokesman Dynamite MC as he delivers the message: "Yes, something of a different pace Fresh, It's a 97' made taste Now, I believe the time is right How, stepping from the left to the ...

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....