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Following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Oasis, Florence & the Machine have recorded a session for MTV Unplugged.
Includes her biggest songs to date across both her debut album 'Lungs' and her sophomore album 'Ceremonials'.
Alongside three of her band members and a 10 piece Gospel choir from New York, Florence played a set that included well known tracks like ‘Dog Days Are Over’, ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Shake It Out’ and ‘No Light, No Light’. Florence also offered up two brilliant covers of Johnny Cash’s ‘Jackson’ as well as a beautiful rendition of ‘Try A Little Tenderness’. For the ‘Jackson’ cover she was joined by Josh Homme who travelled to New York especially to record this stripped back version of the June & Johnny classic.
Includes her biggest songs to date across both her debut album 'Lungs' and her sophomore album 'Ceremonials'.
Alongside three of her band members and a 10 piece Gospel choir from New York, Florence played a set that included well known tracks like ‘Dog Days Are Over’, ‘Cosmic Love’, ‘Shake It Out’ and ‘No Light, No Light’. Florence also offered up two brilliant covers of Johnny Cash’s ‘Jackson’ as well as a beautiful rendition of ‘Try A Little Tenderness’. For the ‘Jackson’ cover she was joined by Josh Homme who travelled to New York especially to record this stripped back version of the June & Johnny classic.
Guy & Howard return, older & wiser this time round, exploring a depth of influences across these five special tracks which draw from their love of African rhythms, deep house, disco and vocal jazz.
'All of these tracks are sample based and we wanted to delve into genres that we hadn’t really experimented with in the past. What we ended up with worked so well together as a set - uplifting, upbeat and danceable, and it made sense to put them all out now in one go.' - Disclosure
The "Moonlight" LP consolidates all these releases and is available now! It finds the delectable darlings of UK dance music in creative and confident form and hints at what they've got contained 'in their locker' (to quote a ream of 90s football commentators). They've just gotten started on this whole music biz ting and have got plenty styles and flavour in store for their fans!
'All of these tracks are sample based and we wanted to delve into genres that we hadn’t really experimented with in the past. What we ended up with worked so well together as a set - uplifting, upbeat and danceable, and it made sense to put them all out now in one go.' - Disclosure
The "Moonlight" LP consolidates all these releases and is available now! It finds the delectable darlings of UK dance music in creative and confident form and hints at what they've got contained 'in their locker' (to quote a ream of 90s football commentators). They've just gotten started on this whole music biz ting and have got plenty styles and flavour in store for their fans!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Brothers Lawrence continues to peacock their myriad styles - turning their hand to glitched up electro-boogie, electronic jazz akin to Floating Points, pumpin' disco-house and a truly unique moment of weirdo pop bliss - we heart this!FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Originally released as a single from the Batman Forever film soundtrack album, 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me' reached number 1 in Ireland, number 2 in the UK and number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts in the US in 1995. The song has been remixed for 2018's eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour and features Gavin Friday and Arcade Fire's Régine Chassagne on vocals.
The sprawling 25-track affair features unreleased Michael Jackson vocals on the track "Don't Matter To Me," a song which appears to be built around previously unreleased music: Paul Anka is listed as a co-writer on the track. Scorpion also included appearances from Static Major, TY Dollah $ign and Jay Z. On "That's How You Feel," Drake samples Nicki Minaj's song "Boss Ass Bitch" and Future appears on "Blue Tint." No I.D., DJ Premier, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tay Keith, Boi-1da, and Murda Beatz are among the producers credited on the album.
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Drake has returned and is killing it once again with his fifth studio album. The album is culminated of twenty five tracks so you can eat your heart out, Scorpion is fierce and (of course) packed with emotion. Most importantly it features the hit single ‘Nice For What and ‘God’s Plan’.FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLtd LP Info: Double LP in a gatefold sleeve.
June 1, 1974 was originally released by Island Records the same year in which it was recorded. The idea for the concert came from Richard Williams (Island’s A&R), who suggested that the reunion of all of these Island artists would help generate interest in the label (which had up to then been primarily associated with reggae).
Brian Eno performs two songs from his debut solo album Here Come the Warm Jets (1973), while former Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico delivers a stunning version of The Doors “The End”. Fellow former Velvet John Cale curdles the blood with his alarming take on Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”.
Kevin Ayers journeyed from his secluded lifestyle in France to appear and his performances take up the remainder of the album The personnel is completed with Ayer’s extraordinary touring band The Soporifics – featuring guitarist Ollie Halsall (Patto, Timebox), exceptionally reinforced by Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) and Mike Oldfield.
Limited to 1000 worldwide.
Just 200 in uk!!!
Brian Eno performs two songs from his debut solo album Here Come the Warm Jets (1973), while former Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico delivers a stunning version of The Doors “The End”. Fellow former Velvet John Cale curdles the blood with his alarming take on Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”.
Kevin Ayers journeyed from his secluded lifestyle in France to appear and his performances take up the remainder of the album The personnel is completed with Ayer’s extraordinary touring band The Soporifics – featuring guitarist Ollie Halsall (Patto, Timebox), exceptionally reinforced by Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) and Mike Oldfield.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: A one off pressing of this island records classic!Limited to 1000 worldwide.
Just 200 in uk!!!
Spring King’s second album. A Better Life is both a stunning evolution from their 2016 debut, Tell Me If You Like To, and a primal, joyous, generational demand for no less than a better world. For the first time in their six-year existence, the Manchester four-piece have fully collaborated, a band no longer looking to the talismanic Tarek Musa (vocals/drums) for the central sound. A thundering procession of party-hard anthems from the newly invigorated, sonic northern powerhouse!
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: It's a pretty good week for the punk revival isn't it? First with Idles' second outing and now this sleek thumper from Macc's own Spring King. Snapping snare drums and roaring overdrive pedals overlaid with two-part harmonies bound to get even the most staunch of heads bobbing. Brimming with attitude and the skills to back it up.FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Limited edition clear vinyl.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
U2 release their Record Store Day exclusive 12” Picture Disc for 2018, containing three versions of ‘Lights of Home’ taken from their fourteenth studio album Songs Of Experience released last December. Hear the new Beck Remix of (Lights of Home /Free Yourself) exclusively for the first time anywhere. Tracks on this 12” are: Lights Of Home, Lights of Home (St Peters String Version) and (Lights of Home /Free Yourself/Beck Remix). Includes a Download Voucher. Following last year’s acclaimed stadium run with The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, U2 will return indoors this year with the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour. Kicking off in North America on 2nd May 2018 , the European leg of the arena tour will reach Berlin on 31st August ahead of shows in Manchester (19th October) and London (23rd October).
U2 release their Record Store Day exclusive 12” Picture Disc for 2018, containing three versions of ‘Lights of Home’ taken from their fourteenth studio album Songs Of Experience released last December. Hear the new Beck Remix of (Lights of Home /Free Yourself) exclusively for the first time anywhere. Tracks on this 12” are: Lights Of Home, Lights of Home (St Peters String Version) and (Lights of Home /Free Yourself/Beck Remix). Includes a Download Voucher. Following last year’s acclaimed stadium run with The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, U2 will return indoors this year with the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE Tour. Kicking off in North America on 2nd May 2018 , the European leg of the arena tour will reach Berlin on 31st August ahead of shows in Manchester (19th October) and London (23rd October).
It’s been three years since Jessie Ware released her second album Tough Love. Described by Pitchfork as an album that “moves into the territory of real, messy love” Tough Love was the critically-embraced follow up to Jessie’s landmark debut Devotion in 2012. Signed to the influential London label PMR, Jessie’s deep roots into UK music saw collaborations with SBTRKT and Disclosure bear fruit before her acclaim reached international levels. With both albums now gold-certified in the UK, a million albums sold worldwide and her influence undeniable, Jessie has spent the last three years working on her third album Glasshouse.
House of Balloons is the debut mixtape from The Weeknd. A blend of electronic, R&B and soul with elements of trip hop and dream pop tones, it's one in a trilogy of releases that came forth in 2011
There was a time when EVERYONE was wondering who the hell The Weeknd was. Here is what we knew. His take on R&B was pretty unique, or at least from The Dream's school of dark and moody. He wasn't signed. Dude wouldn't do interviews. He had a killer track with a Beach House sample and flipped Siouxsie. House Of Balloons made a ton of best of lists and nominated for loads of awards at the end of the year and this was just a mixtape. Needless to say, dude made an impact. "What You Need" is a haunting track similar to a James Blake ballad with Dubstep undertones and "Loft Music" is so damn sexy I lost my underwear every listen. Double vinyl pressing with gatefold sleeve.
The 2011 mixtape, which features some of his most well known tracks such as High For This, Wicked Games and House Of Balloons Glass Table Girls was initially released as a free download from his website in March of 2011, followed by two other mixtapes Thursday and Echoes of Silence in the same year.
There was a time when EVERYONE was wondering who the hell The Weeknd was. Here is what we knew. His take on R&B was pretty unique, or at least from The Dream's school of dark and moody. He wasn't signed. Dude wouldn't do interviews. He had a killer track with a Beach House sample and flipped Siouxsie. House Of Balloons made a ton of best of lists and nominated for loads of awards at the end of the year and this was just a mixtape. Needless to say, dude made an impact. "What You Need" is a haunting track similar to a James Blake ballad with Dubstep undertones and "Loft Music" is so damn sexy I lost my underwear every listen. Double vinyl pressing with gatefold sleeve.
The 2011 mixtape, which features some of his most well known tracks such as High For This, Wicked Games and House Of Balloons Glass Table Girls was initially released as a free download from his website in March of 2011, followed by two other mixtapes Thursday and Echoes of Silence in the same year.
Grammy award winning, chart-topping, Kanye-collaborating, Drake-approved, Beyonce-remixing, Selena Gomez-dating Canadian rapper and R&B genius The Weeknd makes his triumphant return with a snazzy red vinyl pressing of his latest LP "Starboy". The title seems entirely appropriate for a man whose rise from viral video sensation through blog pin up to global number one superstar puts those losers at NASA to shame. If you don't know the story, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born in a Toronto suburb, as the only child of Ethiopian parents. He started getting stoned at eleven, spent his teens spangled on pingers, vallies, coke, ket and mushrooms, and dropped out of any formal education institution he came anywhere near. Short of a brief dalliance with clarky cat or cake, The Weeknd seems to have thoroughly enjoyed every step on Killroy's drug ladder, putting our collective Piccadilly efforts to shame! Sacking school off to get high and make music seems a wise choice in retrospect, though I wouldn't want to go on record setting that example - Stay in school kids!
Anyway, "Starboy" is here and finds The Weeknd in remarkable form, effortless switching between smooth R&B vocal and hypnotic hip hop flow over a succession of slick synthetic beats. Boasting contributions from Kendrick and Lana Del Ray, not to mention the stunning Daft Punk productions which bookend the LP. Already number one absolutely everywhere in the world, this is gonna stay on your player for aaages.
Anyway, "Starboy" is here and finds The Weeknd in remarkable form, effortless switching between smooth R&B vocal and hypnotic hip hop flow over a succession of slick synthetic beats. Boasting contributions from Kendrick and Lana Del Ray, not to mention the stunning Daft Punk productions which bookend the LP. Already number one absolutely everywhere in the world, this is gonna stay on your player for aaages.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLtd LP Info: Translucent red vinyl edition.
Enter, Aquilo.
The duo Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher share their debut album 'Silhouettes'. From the outset, the title track is a resplendent and delicate balance of bass, strings and angelic sweeps, constructing harmonic monoliths before breaking them down into their constituent parts. It is this sort of constructive insight that changes the tracks from their individually stunning building blocks into a breathing lenticular construction, layered, deep and multi-dimensional.
'Almost Over' begins with a stunning organic synth swell, before being joined by pitch perfect vocals and a softly tickled piano riff, adding weight to the airy and inauspicious beginnings before blooming into a full-force orchestral odyssey.
'Never Seen You Get So Low' beginning with the words 'Slow Down' is perhaps the most apropriate beginning for a piece wholly constructed from 80bpm beats, gloriously emotive Rhodes and two-part harmonies. A graceful and triumphantly constructed slice of hopeful melancholic writing, and following this with the stunning 'Low Light' ; Shining delayed guitars and throbbing bass, topped with heavenly vocal refrains and soaring arepggios.
As the album moves on, it becomes clear that Higham and Fletcher have a delicate and unique sound, mournfully visceral, triumphantly hopeful and resolutely beautiful.
The duo Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher share their debut album 'Silhouettes'. From the outset, the title track is a resplendent and delicate balance of bass, strings and angelic sweeps, constructing harmonic monoliths before breaking them down into their constituent parts. It is this sort of constructive insight that changes the tracks from their individually stunning building blocks into a breathing lenticular construction, layered, deep and multi-dimensional.
'Almost Over' begins with a stunning organic synth swell, before being joined by pitch perfect vocals and a softly tickled piano riff, adding weight to the airy and inauspicious beginnings before blooming into a full-force orchestral odyssey.
'Never Seen You Get So Low' beginning with the words 'Slow Down' is perhaps the most apropriate beginning for a piece wholly constructed from 80bpm beats, gloriously emotive Rhodes and two-part harmonies. A graceful and triumphantly constructed slice of hopeful melancholic writing, and following this with the stunning 'Low Light' ; Shining delayed guitars and throbbing bass, topped with heavenly vocal refrains and soaring arepggios.
As the album moves on, it becomes clear that Higham and Fletcher have a delicate and unique sound, mournfully visceral, triumphantly hopeful and resolutely beautiful.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A beautiful collection of delicately balanced instrumentation, mournful but hopeful vocals and heart-wrenching orchestral interludes. A brilliant introduction, and a band to watch out for.
Life as and RnB revelation, hip hop saviour and meme sensation can get pretty tough, and our man Aubrey isn't afraid to admit that. His fourth album finds him in peerless form, switching effortlessly between the lovelorn balladeer, blinged up hustler and laid back superstar. Laying his smooth, soulful and ever so slightly robotic flow over production from 40, Nineteen85, Maneesh Bidaye, Kanye West and Jordan Ullman, Drake topped the chart for the majority of the year, working his way into everyone's ears with the Timmy Thomas sampling "Hotline Bling".
Beach Baby will release their much-anticipated debut album, 'No Mind No Money', on September 2nd. The band will be supporting Beaty Heart around the US in September, before playing their own series of headline dates across Europe Additional festival slots are still to come at Reading & Leeds and Festival Number 6, with across-the-board support at Radio 1, 6Music, Radio X and Spotify. Captured vividly across ‘No Mind No Money’, London four-piece Beach Baby have built up a tightly-sealed, vaguely surreal world of their own. Beach Baby’s touchstones have now evolved to include seminal acts on both sides of the Atlantic –from Parquet Courts and Mac DeMarco to Ariel Pink and cult lo-fi artist Cleaners From Venus. They each supported themselves throughout this creatively-intense period with make-ends-meet jobs, which included working in burger joints, ‘charity muggers', and - in perhaps the oddest of odd jobs - working as a script reader for production companies like Icon.
The aptly-titled ‘No Mind No Money’ touches frequently on those less-glamorous uncertainties of post-campus life: apathy, escapism, and the distance between your own future and the iconic bands or movies you grew up on. “One of the best new bands in Britain” Sunday Times Breaking Act. “Make no mistake, Beach Baby have every means of triumphing in the big leagues” DIY. “Captures the best of several genres – post-punk, baggy, shoe gaze, grunge –without sounding like a mess” Guardian. “That aching, inexplicable magic of college innocence is all here” Stereogum. “You’ll fall for this London foursome” i-D
The aptly-titled ‘No Mind No Money’ touches frequently on those less-glamorous uncertainties of post-campus life: apathy, escapism, and the distance between your own future and the iconic bands or movies you grew up on. “One of the best new bands in Britain” Sunday Times Breaking Act. “Make no mistake, Beach Baby have every means of triumphing in the big leagues” DIY. “Captures the best of several genres – post-punk, baggy, shoe gaze, grunge –without sounding like a mess” Guardian. “That aching, inexplicable magic of college innocence is all here” Stereogum. “You’ll fall for this London foursome” i-D
After years of hard graft, releasing a number of thunderous and catchy songs, and constant touring supporting the likes of Slaves, Wolf Alice and Courtney Barnett, Spring King’s journey has only just begun as they release their debut album Tell Me If You Like To.
The new album was recorded and produced by lead singer, drummer and songwriter, Tarek Musa. It features their breakthrough track City, energetic single Rectifier, and this, their newest release The Summer which showcases the band’s ability to pen huge festival-worthy anthems.
The new album was recorded and produced by lead singer, drummer and songwriter, Tarek Musa. It features their breakthrough track City, energetic single Rectifier, and this, their newest release The Summer which showcases the band’s ability to pen huge festival-worthy anthems.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: Just found a couple of copies of this long deleted 7"!
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Whipping up a frenetic, fun-filled brew of surf pop and garage rock, this Manchester quartet have been creating quite a stir with a handful of great 7" singles and high octane live shows over the last few months.
"Tell Me If You Like To", is their debut album and it's choc full of garage-punk gems (including their three 7" single tracks) as you'd expect - think The Ramones covering The Beach Boys, OD-ing on Haribo's!
"the most promising band of 2016" (NME)
Whipping up a frenetic, fun-filled brew of surf pop and garage rock, this Manchester quartet have been creating quite a stir with a handful of great 7" singles and high octane live shows over the last few months.
"Tell Me If You Like To", is their debut album and it's choc full of garage-punk gems (including their three 7" single tracks) as you'd expect - think The Ramones covering The Beach Boys, OD-ing on Haribo's!
"the most promising band of 2016" (NME)
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Rousing and anthemic rock from the sunny shores of Manchester. Gnarly hooks and 3-part harmonies permeate the churning rhythm section. Pounding, triumphant punk-tinged rock and roll. A superb outing from Spring King, and if only an insight into what's to come, a bright future is ahead. Great stuff.Catfish & the Bottlemen’s second album The Ride, mostly produced in LA by Dave Sardy is a collection of bold and riffing pop songs that verge on the anthemic.
“I feel like the last album was the support band, or even the soundcheck and this one’s the headliner,” says charismatic frontman Van McCann.
“I feel like the last album was the support band, or even the soundcheck and this one’s the headliner,” says charismatic frontman Van McCann.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Glistening pop-rock anthems a plenty on this newest release from Wales' Catfish and The Bottlemen. Driving and heartfelt odes to love and loss underpinned by shimmering production and emotive instrumental performances, impeccable vocal harmonies float atop the main vocal lines before the distortion kicks in, and breaks it all down into pulsing, grooving rock territory. Everything you'd come to expect, and more.
This spring sees the release of PJ Harvey’s ninth studio album, The Hope Six Demolition Project.
The Hope Six Demolition Project draws from several journeys undertaken by Harvey, who spent time in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. over a four-year period. “When I’m writing a song I visualise the entire scene. I can see the colours, I can tell the time of day, I can sense the mood, I can see the light changing, the shadows moving, everything in that picture. Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with”, says Harvey.
The album was recorded last year in residency at London’s Somerset House. The exhibition, entitled ‘Recording in Progress’ saw Harvey, her band, producers Flood and John Parish, and engineers working within a purpose-built recording studio behind one-way glass, observed throughout by public audiences.
Barry says: What better positive rock icon could there be than PJ Harvey? Her meaningful and often hard-hitting lyrical themes serve as a powerful back-up to her latent politicism. The trademark outpourings are as much on show here as they ever were, but through the variety of influences absorbed for this undertaking, there is a diversity both thematic and aural. Rock hooks above barely-there guitar solos and brass stabs. Clanging guitars and fist-pumping choruses meet meandering noodles, underpinned by sonic sweeps and a rawkus, but often smooth vocal delivery. Rousing and anthemic, everything you'd expect from Harvey, and everything you could ever want.
Sil says: PJ Harvey takes the role of musical war correspondent critiquing the injustices and political abuse that the powerless suffer upon. This album is a poignant reminder of the state of the world. The melodies are poppy and catchy but the lyrics are like a mirror reflecting back at us which makes us question our role in it all.
A Line in the Sand is my favourite track here. Infused with evocative melodies and the overpowering PJ Harvey's falsetto.
The Hope Six Demolition Project draws from several journeys undertaken by Harvey, who spent time in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington, D.C. over a four-year period. “When I’m writing a song I visualise the entire scene. I can see the colours, I can tell the time of day, I can sense the mood, I can see the light changing, the shadows moving, everything in that picture. Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with”, says Harvey.
The album was recorded last year in residency at London’s Somerset House. The exhibition, entitled ‘Recording in Progress’ saw Harvey, her band, producers Flood and John Parish, and engineers working within a purpose-built recording studio behind one-way glass, observed throughout by public audiences.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: Documenting trips to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington DC with photographer Seamus Murphy, this album is a protest album of sorts. A natural progression from 'Let England Shake', it looks at the aftermath of American political decisions, acts in the name of progress, both home and abroad and the often negative consequences. Dealing with war, death, displacement and poverty amongst other things, you know it's never going to be easy listening. The songs are at times bleak but there's empathy, defiance and conviction in Polly's delivery that married to a swamp-blues soundtrack embellished with funereal keyboards, wailing sax and field recordings, makes for a powerful, intoxicating album. Having seen her perform live in the Summer completely sealed the deal for me. Her performance was completely captivating and emphasised the power of the album and also what an exceptional musical force Polly Harvey is.Barry says: What better positive rock icon could there be than PJ Harvey? Her meaningful and often hard-hitting lyrical themes serve as a powerful back-up to her latent politicism. The trademark outpourings are as much on show here as they ever were, but through the variety of influences absorbed for this undertaking, there is a diversity both thematic and aural. Rock hooks above barely-there guitar solos and brass stabs. Clanging guitars and fist-pumping choruses meet meandering noodles, underpinned by sonic sweeps and a rawkus, but often smooth vocal delivery. Rousing and anthemic, everything you'd expect from Harvey, and everything you could ever want.
Sil says: PJ Harvey takes the role of musical war correspondent critiquing the injustices and political abuse that the powerless suffer upon. This album is a poignant reminder of the state of the world. The melodies are poppy and catchy but the lyrics are like a mirror reflecting back at us which makes us question our role in it all.
A Line in the Sand is my favourite track here. Infused with evocative melodies and the overpowering PJ Harvey's falsetto.
Jack Garratt is 24 years old and originally from Little Chalfont, Bucks. He is unlike any other artist of the last decade. Jack defies all categorisation: Songwriter. Producer. Drummer. Guitarist. Pianist. R&B vocalist. Arranger. One man band. Multi-instrumentalist. Neo-soul. Dubstep. 2-Step. Funk. Electronica. Pop. Both from his live performance, delivered all on his own - to the uniquely contemporary and fresh sounding music, he sits all on his own in the current musical landscape.
The masterpiece that is Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ was originally released on Friday 3rd June 1977. He recorded the ‘Exodus’ album in exile in the UK, having escaped an assassination attempt in Jamaica.
‘Exodus’ transformed Marley’s career. A recording of extraordinary creative maturity, the album resonated with audiences around the world. In the UK alone in stayed on the chart for 56 consecutive weeks and included three massive hit singles. Bob Marley was established as the Third World’s first superstar, a legacy that survives thirty years after the album’s release.
‘Exodus’ transformed Marley’s career. A recording of extraordinary creative maturity, the album resonated with audiences around the world. In the UK alone in stayed on the chart for 56 consecutive weeks and included three massive hit singles. Bob Marley was established as the Third World’s first superstar, a legacy that survives thirty years after the album’s release.
STAFF COMMENTS
Philippa says: The album that crossed over from the reggae scene into the mainstream charts, turning Marley into a global star. 'Natural Mystic', 'Exodus', 'Jamming', 'Waiting In Vain', 'Three Little Birds', 'One Love'... A classic!FORMAT INFORMATION
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
'Catch A Fire' was the major label debut for Bob Marley and the Wailers, and it was an international success upon its release in 1973. Although Bob Marley may have been the main voice, every member of the Wailers made valuable contributions and they were never more united in their vision and sound. All the songs were originals, and the instrumentation was minimalistic in order to bring out the passionate, often politically charged lyrics. Much of the appeal of the album lies in its sincerity and sense of purpose - these are streetwise yet disarmingly idealistic young men who look around themselves and believe they might help change the world through music. Marley sings about the current state of urban poverty ("Concrete Jungle") and connects the present to past injustices ("Slave Driver"), but he is a not a one-trick pony. He is a versatile songwriter who also excels at singing love songs such as his classic "Stir It Up." Peter Tosh sings the lead vocal on two of his own compositions - his powerful presence and immense talent hint that he would eventually leave for his own successful solo career. More than anything else, however, this marks the emergence of Bob Marley and the international debut of reggae music. Marley would continue to achieve great critical and commercial success during the 1970s, but 'Catch a Fire' is one of the finest reggae albums ever. This album is essential for any music collection.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Years before Amy Winehouse garnered international attention with 'Back To Black', the sassy soul singer put herself on the UK music map with her 2003 debut, 'Frank'. Nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, the record glides along on the subtly jazzy production of Salaam Remi, which allows Winehouse's expressive voice, strongly influenced by Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, to shine, particularly on the downbeat 'Stronger Than Me', "Take The Box" (which made it onto Gilles' "Worldwide 2" compilation), the powerful 'You Sent Me Flying', and the sultry 'I Heard Love Is Blind'. It's an impressive debut, fusing soul with jazz, hip hop, reggae and Latin flavas, all topped off with her distinctive soul-jazz vocals.
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: 180g vinyl pressing in gatefold sleeve.LP includes MP3 Download Code.
HOW BIG
For Florence Welch, the success of her first two Florence + the Machine albums Lungs (2009 – Album of the year, Brit Awards 2010) and Ceremonials (2011) meant five years of back-to-back recording, promoting and touring. Lungs ran straight into the making, promoting and touring of the Grammy-nominated Ceremonials, an album written while on the road and recorded straight after coming off tour. The shows were getting bigger, the hair redder, the success wider and wilder.
HOW BLUE
A pop star at 21, with two international hit albums behind her, Florence discovered that in giving seven years to her music, some elements of real life had been left by the wayside. Coming back from tour and moving out of her mother’s Camberwell home, Florence re-engaged with normal life: going out, falling in and out of love, and simply trying to learn how to look after herself outside of the hermetic bubble of life of the road. And so the new Florence, and her songs, started to swim into focus.
HOW BEAUTIFUL
The result is 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful', a collection of songs, written and recorded over the course of 2014. Produced by Markus Dravs (Björk, Arcade Fire, Coldplay) with contributions from Paul Epworth, Kid Harpoon and John Hill, the third album by Florence + The Machine is live-sounding, tune-rich, unhinged in all the right places and powerful in all the best ways. In voice and, ultimately, outlook Florence has never sounded better.
For Florence Welch, the success of her first two Florence + the Machine albums Lungs (2009 – Album of the year, Brit Awards 2010) and Ceremonials (2011) meant five years of back-to-back recording, promoting and touring. Lungs ran straight into the making, promoting and touring of the Grammy-nominated Ceremonials, an album written while on the road and recorded straight after coming off tour. The shows were getting bigger, the hair redder, the success wider and wilder.
HOW BLUE
A pop star at 21, with two international hit albums behind her, Florence discovered that in giving seven years to her music, some elements of real life had been left by the wayside. Coming back from tour and moving out of her mother’s Camberwell home, Florence re-engaged with normal life: going out, falling in and out of love, and simply trying to learn how to look after herself outside of the hermetic bubble of life of the road. And so the new Florence, and her songs, started to swim into focus.
HOW BEAUTIFUL
The result is 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful', a collection of songs, written and recorded over the course of 2014. Produced by Markus Dravs (Björk, Arcade Fire, Coldplay) with contributions from Paul Epworth, Kid Harpoon and John Hill, the third album by Florence + The Machine is live-sounding, tune-rich, unhinged in all the right places and powerful in all the best ways. In voice and, ultimately, outlook Florence has never sounded better.
Wilder Mind is released through Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records. Produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, HAIM, Florence & The Machine). It features twelve new tracks, written collaboratively by the band in London, Brooklyn, and Texas. A number of the new songs were written and demo'd at Aaron Dresner’s (The National) garage studios in Brooklyn. The band also returned to Eastcote Studios in London, where they recorded Sigh No More, for further writing and demo sessions. This new album marks a significant departure for the young British band from their previous records, 2009’s Sigh No More, and 2012’s Babel. The early sessions in New York and London witnessed a change in the band’s approach not just to writing and recording, but to texture and dynamics, too. There is a minimalist yet panoramic feel to the new album, the band describe it as “a development, not a departure.”
13th studio album from the Irish stadium rocking 4piece. The latest collection of songs from Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam is 11tracks including brand new single ‘The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) as well as potential future singles ‘Song for Someone’, ‘Every Breaking Wave’ and ‘Trouble’ ft Lykke Li. Recorded over the last 4 years, produced by Danger Mouse, Ryan Fedder and Paul Epworth.
From Llandudno, North Wales, this four piece is fronted by outspoken and charismatic frontman Van McCann, release their debut ‘The Balcony’ on Island Records / Communion.
Includes the singles ‘Fallout’, ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Cocoon’. Produced by Jim Abbiss, the man behind critically acclaimed releases by Arctic Monkeys, Adele and Kasabian.
Includes the singles ‘Fallout’, ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Cocoon’. Produced by Jim Abbiss, the man behind critically acclaimed releases by Arctic Monkeys, Adele and Kasabian.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
'So Long, See You Tomorrow' is the band's 4th studio album and has been produced by band member Jack Steadman in their London based studio, making it their most personal album to date and has already received a great deal of praise and critical acclaim across all media for its original sound.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd CD Info: Limited digi-pack.
Recorded in Hamburg, London and Atlanta, ‘A Different Kind of Fix’ captures the sound of a band effortlessly progressing and innovating at a startling rate. Guitars are firmly plugged back in for album number three, but added to the mix with potent results are synths, sampled loops, layered vocals from all four band members and washes of reverb throughout.
Production-wise, the album reunites BBC with Jim Abbiss - who produced their debut - and also introduces them to Ben Allen – noted for his work with Animal Collective - whilst lead singer, Jack Steadman co-produces throughout.
Indeed, Jack has been quietly making electronic music as a bedroom side-project for the past few years, and these sounds gently permeate throughout the rich and textured production on ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. An electric guitar album with a human heart for sure, but one with a bionic pulse.
The sheer breadth of styles and range of influences on display across the record is startling.
First single, ‘Shuffle’, emerges from a looped piano sample to burst forth into one the band’s biggest songs to date, as the piano loop recruits gargantuan drums and bass that march to an epic chorus on their way to a house break of Balearic proportions.
Album opener, ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep’ is all marble steeped vocal loops and breathy samples, which are also used to devastating effect on ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’: a song of such rarefied beauty and rhythmic hooks, one imagines a lost, codeine-fuelled Talking Heads album. ‘Take The Right One’ is the kind of timeless, life-affirming melodic fuzz rock that Alex Chilton and Teenage Fanclub have set (broken) hearts on fire with; ‘Beggars’ follows the same deft, folk path laid by ‘Flaws’ and with the Low-esque hymn, ‘Fracture’ and gorgeous album closer, ‘Still’ – just Jack, piano and an ocean of reverb - provide inlets of beatific calm amongst the album’s more widescreen rock moments, ‘Bad Timing’, ‘Leave It’ and ‘What You Want’.
Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Production-wise, the album reunites BBC with Jim Abbiss - who produced their debut - and also introduces them to Ben Allen – noted for his work with Animal Collective - whilst lead singer, Jack Steadman co-produces throughout.
Indeed, Jack has been quietly making electronic music as a bedroom side-project for the past few years, and these sounds gently permeate throughout the rich and textured production on ‘A Different Kind of Fix’. An electric guitar album with a human heart for sure, but one with a bionic pulse.
The sheer breadth of styles and range of influences on display across the record is startling.
First single, ‘Shuffle’, emerges from a looped piano sample to burst forth into one the band’s biggest songs to date, as the piano loop recruits gargantuan drums and bass that march to an epic chorus on their way to a house break of Balearic proportions.
Album opener, ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep’ is all marble steeped vocal loops and breathy samples, which are also used to devastating effect on ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’: a song of such rarefied beauty and rhythmic hooks, one imagines a lost, codeine-fuelled Talking Heads album. ‘Take The Right One’ is the kind of timeless, life-affirming melodic fuzz rock that Alex Chilton and Teenage Fanclub have set (broken) hearts on fire with; ‘Beggars’ follows the same deft, folk path laid by ‘Flaws’ and with the Low-esque hymn, ‘Fracture’ and gorgeous album closer, ‘Still’ – just Jack, piano and an ocean of reverb - provide inlets of beatific calm amongst the album’s more widescreen rock moments, ‘Bad Timing’, ‘Leave It’ and ‘What You Want’.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: VERY limited edition. Signed and numbered. ONE PER PERSON.Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Taking the boom of British bass culture and marrying it to the sweet slickness of classic American R&B, AlunaGeorge - aka Aluna Francis and producer George Reid - drop their eagerly awaited debut album ‘Body Music’.
If you fell in love with the duo after 'You Know You Like It' on underground imprint Tri Angle, then you'll also love 'Body Music'. Citing the Neptunes and Timbaland as influences, AlunaGeorge producer Reid also packs the duo's sound with UKG (fresh from their 'White Noise' Disclosure smash), footwork and electro-pop touches, creating the perfect backing for Francis's sweet and saccharine Aaliyah-meets-Lily Allen style vox.
Like Disclosure's 'Settle', 'Body Music' is packed with catchy choruses and big pop hooks, providing us with an antidote to the X-Factor balladeer blandness and electro-brostep-folk nonsene that's clogging up the charts at the moment. A joy!
If you fell in love with the duo after 'You Know You Like It' on underground imprint Tri Angle, then you'll also love 'Body Music'. Citing the Neptunes and Timbaland as influences, AlunaGeorge producer Reid also packs the duo's sound with UKG (fresh from their 'White Noise' Disclosure smash), footwork and electro-pop touches, creating the perfect backing for Francis's sweet and saccharine Aaliyah-meets-Lily Allen style vox.
Like Disclosure's 'Settle', 'Body Music' is packed with catchy choruses and big pop hooks, providing us with an antidote to the X-Factor balladeer blandness and electro-brostep-folk nonsene that's clogging up the charts at the moment. A joy!
They say you know you're getting old when the policemen look like they've only just left school. The same adage could be said about bass music producers Disclosure, who don't look old enough to be growing the facial hair they've both been displaying in pics recently. However, looks can be deceiving as the brothers Lawrence (Guy and Howard) have been quietly getting on with transforming the state of UK dancefloors and even the pop charts over the past three years with a series of quality originals and remixes. After several years of mid-tempo, click-track driven electronic house music (yawn) holding sway in clubs, Disclosure have finally bring us the light at the end of what seemed like a never-ending tunnel of bland smoooothness. With inspiration taken from 90s UK garage, 2-step and rave, and given a new twist, the pair have brought a bit of life back to the dancefloor - the beats are up a few BPMs, the tracks swing, the guest vocalists (Sam Smith, AlunaGeorge, Eliza Doolittle, Edward Macfarlane, Jamie Woon, Jessie Ware, London Grammar, Sasha Keable) aren't autotuned, all the tracks have proper pop choruses that can sing along to etc. 'Settle' (with its rather unsettling sleeve image) is the perfect combination of tough-enough bass music and pop-garage - the perfect summer album! - PJ
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLP Info: Deluxe heavyweight double vinyl in gatefold sleeve.
The debut album from the eccentric and unique singer, songwriter and producer (he self produced this album), an international star in the making, born in New Zealand, but plied his musical trades in Britain and the States (he released a single on Jack White’s print Third Man Records and supported Jack at his UK shows).
This album is a new, updated version of the 'extras' CD which was previously available only as part of the "Fruit Tree" box-set. Long since deleted, a new generation of fans can finally get their hands on these different versions and out-takes from his three proper LPs, and more importantly: the last four songs Nick cut before he died. Except, hooray, they've discovered one brand new song! "Tow the Line" isn't up there with his best, but it does provide some much needed yin to "Black Dog"'s yang. It suggests Nick wasn't going to succumb to depression, as the desperate "Black Dog" would have you believe; he was going to play the game...get on with things. In short: not top himself! There's a bit of a Beatles' Anthology going on with two other tracks, as Nick's college buddy and original arranger - Robert Kirby - scores new strings for old songs. Both "Magic" and "Time of No Reply" now sound as intended. They're beautiful. And Kirby weighs in again, with two previously unreleased recordings of "River Man" and "Mayfair", from his room at Cambridge and before Nick even had a record deal. There's also a new, longer version of "Three Hours" that's not been out before. This release is evocatively packaged and a must for completists. For all music lovers, infact.
Of Monsters and Men began as the solo project of Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir however it quickly grew with the additions of friends Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson (co-singer/guitarist), Brynjar Leifsson (guitarist), Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (drummer), Árni Guðjónsson (piano/accordion player) and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson (bassist)
Crafting epic songs inspired by their amazing homeland, fairy tales and personal history, the band went from battle of the bands winners to the breakthrough act at this year’s Iceland Airwaves and SXSW festival. The bands self-released, first single ‘Little Talks’ to date has sold an impressive 400,000 copies and received 3 million views on YouTube.
Of Monsters and Men continue to make waves among fans and tastemakers alike. ‘My Head is an Animal’ has already enjoyed huge success in Iceland and Europe. Mirroring that feat in America ‘My Head is an Animal’ entered the iTunes alternative chart at #1 and album chart at #2 however went on to top the album charts one week later. And in Germany the album debuted at #4 on their official album chart.
Along with a penchant for crafting rising epic pop numbers ‘My Head is an Animal’ has beautifully delicate moments and signal a fully-fledged band destined to win the hearts of musical lovers worldwide.
Crafting epic songs inspired by their amazing homeland, fairy tales and personal history, the band went from battle of the bands winners to the breakthrough act at this year’s Iceland Airwaves and SXSW festival. The bands self-released, first single ‘Little Talks’ to date has sold an impressive 400,000 copies and received 3 million views on YouTube.
Of Monsters and Men continue to make waves among fans and tastemakers alike. ‘My Head is an Animal’ has already enjoyed huge success in Iceland and Europe. Mirroring that feat in America ‘My Head is an Animal’ entered the iTunes alternative chart at #1 and album chart at #2 however went on to top the album charts one week later. And in Germany the album debuted at #4 on their official album chart.
Along with a penchant for crafting rising epic pop numbers ‘My Head is an Animal’ has beautifully delicate moments and signal a fully-fledged band destined to win the hearts of musical lovers worldwide.
STAFF COMMENTS
Ryan says: A stern bit of icelandic pop right here, it's a bit folky but they manage to turn humble folk into a collection of sing-out-loud anthems. It's brilliant!
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To mark the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence Island Records are releasing a huge box set entitled ‘Sound System - The Story Of Jamaican Music’ on June 25th ’12. ‘Sound System’ will feature 8 CDs of glorious music and a deluxe hard backed book by acclaimed writer Chris Salewicz (author of biographies of Bob Marley, Joe Strummer and ‘Rude Boy - Once Upon A Time In Jamaica’) and featuring hundreds of photos by legendary photographer Adrian Boot.Compiled by Ramus (musical factotum at Chris Blackwell-era Island, Mango and Palm Pictures) and Paul ‘Groucho’ Smykle (dub producer who’s worked with PiL, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Jah Wobble, BAD and many more), ‘Sound System’ features 120 songs randomly programmed to ape the way a Sound System DJ might select his set on any given night. It features a wonderfully eclectic mix of R&B, mento, ska, blue beat, reggae, dub and funk and celebrates the incredible musical gift this small island has given to the world.From Althea & Donna’s global hit ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ to Eric Donaldson’s ‘Cherry O Baby’ via Augustus Pablo’s peerless ‘King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown’ and The Royals’ ‘Free Speech And Movement’.
STAFF COMMENTS
Philippa says: 128 track 8xCD box set featuring every Island reggae track you could ever want + a 100 page hardback book by Chris Salewicz and Adrian Boot, fully illustrated with photography.FORMAT INFORMATION
CD Box Set Info: LP-sized 8xCD box set + 100 page hardback book by Chris Salewicz and Adrian Boot, fully illustrated with photography.
Limited CD/DVD edition in a hardback book style package. Includes a 10 track DVD with 8 videos, album track by track interview and an exclusive interview with Paul.
'Sonik Kicks' is the follow up to the Mercury Music Award nominated 'Wake Up the Nation' and Paul Weller’s eleventh solo album. The album includes the track 'Around The Lake' and features appearances from the likes of Noel Gallagher and Graham Coxon.
'Sonik Kicks' is the follow up to the Mercury Music Award nominated 'Wake Up the Nation' and Paul Weller’s eleventh solo album. The album includes the track 'Around The Lake' and features appearances from the likes of Noel Gallagher and Graham Coxon.
Epic and euphoric in equal measure, this single epitomises Clock Opera’s signature sound of looping samples, layered textures and soaring vocals and demonstrates yet again their skill in audio autopsy - deconstructing and reassembling sounds and words to startling effect. Lyrically “Once and for All” recalls memories of being a teenager and the myriad complex and extreme emotions that we experience during those transitional years.
Also included on this 12" is a remix by arguably one of the most devoted pioneers of experimental and electronic music, Mr Andrew Weatherall. If you've enjoyed his remixes of Hardway Brothers and Cut Copy recently (and I know you have!), then this deep, sequenced electronic house groover will be another essential for your shopping list!
Also included on this 12" is a remix by arguably one of the most devoted pioneers of experimental and electronic music, Mr Andrew Weatherall. If you've enjoyed his remixes of Hardway Brothers and Cut Copy recently (and I know you have!), then this deep, sequenced electronic house groover will be another essential for your shopping list!
STAFF COMMENTS
Philippa says: Weatherall's on a remix roll right now. Here's another deep, driving electronic refix from him.
Let England Shake: 12 Short Fims By Seamus Murphy is the visual accompaniment to 'Let England Shake', featuring all 12 tracks from the album, each with its own short film shot by award winning photographer and film-maker Seamus Murphy. The DVD also features a bonus video, a solo live version of the track "England". Available on a limited edition hardback book DVD format.
Iconic instrumental hip hop / trip hop godfather, DJ Shadow AKA Josh Davis, returns with his fourth full length studio album, and his first for five years.
Taking in a wide scope of ideas "The Less You Know, The Better" feels like an eclectic mixtape that one of your record-collecting fiend mates has made. There's old skool hip-hop ("Back To Front", "Stay The Course" - featuring Posdnous & Talib Kweli), blazing rifftastic heavy rock ("Border Crossing", "I Gotta Rokk"), almost Gil Scott-Heron style soul (the beautiful "I've Been Trying") and simple vocal / piano offering "Sad And Lonely", along with eerie dubs. Other guests include Little Dragon singer Yukimi Nagano on the airy "Scale It Back" and Tom Vek on doom rocker "Warning Call".
Like Bibio's recent "Mind Bokeh", the initial contact with so many varied strands and styles can be overwhelming, but also like that long player, sticking with "The Less You Know, The Better" will reap benefits.
Taking in a wide scope of ideas "The Less You Know, The Better" feels like an eclectic mixtape that one of your record-collecting fiend mates has made. There's old skool hip-hop ("Back To Front", "Stay The Course" - featuring Posdnous & Talib Kweli), blazing rifftastic heavy rock ("Border Crossing", "I Gotta Rokk"), almost Gil Scott-Heron style soul (the beautiful "I've Been Trying") and simple vocal / piano offering "Sad And Lonely", along with eerie dubs. Other guests include Little Dragon singer Yukimi Nagano on the airy "Scale It Back" and Tom Vek on doom rocker "Warning Call".
Like Bibio's recent "Mind Bokeh", the initial contact with so many varied strands and styles can be overwhelming, but also like that long player, sticking with "The Less You Know, The Better" will reap benefits.
Though Tom Waits had spent most of the 70s establishing himself as one of America's most distinctive singer-songwriters, "Swordfishtrombones" found him reinventing himself and creating one of the most original sounds in popular music. Leaving behind his Kerouac-influenced lyrics and lounge-lizard piano-bar stylings for an unprecedented eclecticism that merged Brecht-Weill artsong, Captain Beefheart-style avant blues, Harry Partch-inspired junkyard percussion, along with a healthy dose of everything else but the kitchen sink. All this sonic exoticism would be for naught where it not accompanied by equally striking, arch songwriting. "Swordfishtrombones" moves from the Ken Nordine-style recitative of "Frank's Wild Years" and the demented Delta blues of "Gin Soaked Boy" to the marimba-laced shaggy-dog tale "Shore Leave" and the crazed, Loony Tunes instrumental "Dave the Butcher". The blazed a trail that Waits (and countless imitators) would follow fruitfully for years to come, and remains one of the most impressive recordings not just of Waits's career, but of anyone's.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Import copies.
CocknBullKid is poised and ready to take on 2011 and what better way to kick things off than with the massive single "Hold On to Your Misery"?
We all know and cherish Miss Anita Blay; from early one off 7”s exciting the senses, her potential to grow from coolness of the underground to a true pop sensation has always been huge. Now she’s up there with the new crop of truly exciting and talented British girls and boy, has it been worth the wait? Well of course it has! "Hold On To Your Misery" opens with solo piano / vocal before adding a full band backing track complete with strings and a killer sing-along chorus and 60s girl group breakdown. It's pop with a capital P.
We all know and cherish Miss Anita Blay; from early one off 7”s exciting the senses, her potential to grow from coolness of the underground to a true pop sensation has always been huge. Now she’s up there with the new crop of truly exciting and talented British girls and boy, has it been worth the wait? Well of course it has! "Hold On To Your Misery" opens with solo piano / vocal before adding a full band backing track complete with strings and a killer sing-along chorus and 60s girl group breakdown. It's pop with a capital P.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: Limited edition picture disc 7" in full colour outer and inner sleeve!
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PJ Harvey’s new album was recorded in a 19th Century church in, Dorset, on a clifftop overlooking the sea. It was created with a cast of musicians including such long-standing allies as Flood, John Parish, and Mick Harvey. It is the eighth PJ Harvey album, following 2007’s acclaimed "White Chalk", and the Harvey/Parish collaboration "A Woman A Man Walked By".
"Let England Shake" evokes the troubled spirit of 2010, but it also casts its mind back to times and places from our long collective memory. In keeping with such imaginative intentions, its music has a rare breadth and emotional power. Nearly two decades after she made her first records, it proves that not just that its author refuses to stand still, but that her creative confidence may well be at an all-time high. It is safe to say that you will not have heard anything like it before.
"Let England Shake" evokes the troubled spirit of 2010, but it also casts its mind back to times and places from our long collective memory. In keeping with such imaginative intentions, its music has a rare breadth and emotional power. Nearly two decades after she made her first records, it proves that not just that its author refuses to stand still, but that her creative confidence may well be at an all-time high. It is safe to say that you will not have heard anything like it before.
STAFF COMMENTS
Martin says: PJ Harvey used to send Captain Beefheart each one of her new albums for his appreciation. This was his favourite; which is quite an endorsement. It is hard to evoke, with any conviction, and without resorting to cliché, the already well documented and tragic events of 100 years ago, but this bitter and brilliant WWI themed LP manages just that. With it's variety of styles but unity of spirit it does appear to owe just a little to 'London Calling', but I would like to think Polly Harvey, or any of her fellow travelers on the LP, would not be at all offended by the comparison. Or, for that matter, flattered by it.
Love her or hate her, you can't deny that La Roux has come up with some super-catchy electro-pop tunes this year. "Quicksand" is another one that's sure to make a run up the charts. With snapping 80s electro-dance beats, a dirty bassline and a big hooky chorus, this has 'hit' written all over it.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CDS Info: Includes "Quicksand" original mix and Beni / Boy 8-Bit remixes.
The Tavistock five piece return with their second album, recorded and produced in New York by none other than Mark Ronson. "Welcome To The Walk Alone" shows the Rumble Strips in a much more widescreen light than their previous offering with parping brass toned down and the FILMharmonic orchestra of Prague drafted in by Owen Pallet (The Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy) to fill this album with incredible cineramic textures and epic arrangements.
"I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose" is a beautifully literate and ambitious debut. From the dizzying MBV/M83 swoops and morning-after ruefulness of the LP's opening song to the open-tuned, Appalachian folk feel of the record's closing track, the album thrums with subtle invention and quiet emotional intensity. Fans of Bloc Party, Broken Social Scene and Bon Iver, or any mildly sensitive soul with a fondness for ricocheting guitar chords, will be utterly beguiled. Indie rock rarely gets to enjoy its innocence these days, but Bombay Bicycle Club know that's exactly what makes it precious.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd CD Info: Limited edition digipak.
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Paul Weller bookends an incredible year with CD/DVD "Just A Dream". The main DVD features a full 90 minute-long live session recorded by Paul for the BBC, first televised in December 2008, 21 tracks in all and includes six previously unseen performances. Other features include a five-track session recorded for Channel 4, the videos for "Have You Made Up Your Mind" and "Echoes Round The Sun" and an exclusive and candid end-of-2008 interview with Paul and his band. The CD features 13 blistering live tracks recorded from the Brixton Academy, London in November 2008, including tour exclusive versions of "Shout To The Top" and "Eton Rifles".
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xCD/DVD Info: The set comes in deluxe hardback book style packaging and includes a 32-page booklet of previously unseen photos taken during the course of the year.
This album follows Polly Harvey's 2007 release "White Chalk" and is Harvey and Parrish's second collaboration after 1996's "Dance Hall At Louse Point", an avant-garde collection which never enjoyed the success of her solo albums. This album's synthesis of folk, blues and experimental rock has been hailed as bold, challenging and inventive, yet with a more accessible sound than before. Co-produced by Flood, it includes the single "Black Hearted Love". The album has been described by journalist, John Harris, as '…mischievous, deadly serious, elegant and poetic, and possessed of a brutal power – it is doubtful that you will hear a record as brimming with creative brio and musical invention this year…'
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"No Line On The Horizon" is U2's twelfth studio album, and follows the massive success of 2004's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb". The first single from the album, "Get On Your Boots", may be an all-out rocker akin to previous successes like "Vertigo", but the remainder of the album sees the band diversifying in ways similar to their "Zooropa" days. It is inescapably a U2 album, though, so Bono's vocals still speak of injustices personal and global, and The Edge's guitar work continues to be both feathery and metallic in equal dose.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd CD Info: Limited edition digipak includes 36 page colour booklet and fold out poster along with access to exclusive downloadable Anton Corbijn film.
In the late 90s Neil fronted Slowdive, and after a couple of really good records they split. From there Neil formed his current band Mojave 3, who have released four records to date with a few more to come, we hope. Hard to find two bands with more critical accolades, and at the core of those bands was Neil and his songwriting. "Oh! Mighty Engine" is the name of Neil's newest solo record. It is a record that can handle excessive listens and seems to absorb every mood thrown at it. It is really hard to find a record that can make you happy, sad, and can make you laugh all at once. This record does that.
The classic "A Sailor's Life", an eleven minute epic folk-rock track that staddles the centre of Fairport Convention's third album "Unhalfbricking" like some colossus, was startling in its originality and ambition. It has some of Richard Thompson's finest guitar work, amazing playing from (soon to be full time bandmember) Dave Swarbrick on fiddle and one of Sandy Denny's most resonant, yet understated vocals. The rest of the album ain't half bad either with another Denny classic in "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" and the bands only 'hit' single in "Si Tu Dois Partir". It also marked the departure of Ian Matthews and the last recordings before his death of drummer Martin Lamble. "Unhalfbricking" is another essential release and marked the way towards one of the greatest albums of all time, their fourth album "Liege And Lief".
It's astonishing to think that The Charlatans have been touring and releasing records for the best part of 20 years. They are, without doubt, one of the finest bands that the UK has produced. They have ridden the rollercoaster of successes and disappointments that comes with the release of 10 studio albums. They have had 3 number 1 albums and over 20 UK hit singles. Their songs have become the soundtrack to the generation who merged dance and indie music and their singles defined the 90s. This double CD features the best of their BBC Recordings. 32 In Session and In Concert recordings of some of their biggest hits. It is an alternate Greatest Hits and captures the band in the under-the-gun atmosphere of the BBC's studios and live In Concert and is a fantastic retrospective of the band's recordings for the beeb. 'The Charlatans are great pop. Like The Rolling Stones, like The Stone Roses, like Betty Boo'. - Bob Stanley.
Attic Lights release their new single "God", this follows the Glasgow based 5-piece's debut single for Island, "Never Get Sick Of The Sea", which was released in early February to a flurry of excellent reviews. Their lush vocal harmonies and chiming pop perfectly reflect their love of The Beach Boys, Go-Betweens and Flaming Lips. And just to up the harmonic pop cred it's produced by Francis Macdonald from Teenage Fanclub.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: The 7" includes "Live It Up" on the B-side.
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Hot on the heels of 1997's "Portishead" album, "Third" has a lot to prove in order to reclaim fans of "Dummy" 14 years down the line. The last 10 years seems to have been well spent amassing a whole new trove of influences to draw upon, making sense of their choice of acts at the All Tomorrow's Parties weekend. Boris, Ladytron, Kling Klang and Om have replaced valium-slow Isaac Hayes samples and vinyl scratching as reference points this time around, while primitive synthesizers and Adrian Utleys' take on the US drone rock movement dominate on many tracks. Lead single, "Machine Gun" is something of a curveball, taking no prisoners with its' juddering avant-electro update of "Blue Monday"'s drum pattern before the mood settles with the introduction of chanteuse Beth Gibbons. For those who enjoyed the Beth Gibbons "Out Of Season" album from 2002, there are similar forays into chilly nu-folk. While there's little point in wondering whether this will have the same impact as either of its predecessors, one thing is for certain, they haven't let the grass grow under their feet.
"Music Weaver - Sandy Denny Remembered" is the first ever definitive cross-label anthology celebrating the work of Sandy Denny and is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Sandy's untimely death. As well as containing the cream of Sandy's solo work there are choice cuts from when she fronted Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and her collaborations with Led Zeppelin (on the "Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin "IV"). "Music Weaver" contains 36 songs including rare demos, album tracks and live BBC recordings.
Scooping glorious chunks out of their own 'Bay Area' harmonies with addictively wilful grooves of chiming guitar, bass and drums, Rogue Wave lay down the blueprint for forthcoming album "Asleep At Heaven's Gate", on this 7" single.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: The limited edition 7" includes "Lake Michigan" on the B-side.
After the multi-layered sound of "To Bring You My Love", PJ Harvey came back in 1998 with "Is This Desire?", a much more intimate album. That's not to say that the tracks here aren't any less expansive, just slightly more paired down. As with previous PJH outings, "Is This Desire?" moves between quite angst and ferocious anger, with musicians Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart, The Residents, Pere Ubu etc), John Parish, Joe Gore, Jeremy Hogg, Richard Hunt, Terry Edwards, Mick Harvey and Rob Ellis along for the ride.
"Rid Of Me" was PJ Harvey's second album, circa 1993, but her first for major label Island. The set features the same line-up as the "Dry" sessions (Polly doing vocals, guitar, violin, cello and organ, Stephen Vaughan on bass and Robert Ellis on drums, vocals and harmonium), but the extra money shows in the much slicker production to the album's predecessor. Recorded by Steve Albini, this forceful sophomore effort veers from hoarsely quiet to ferociously looming in one beat.
United by a passion for great songs, and taking influences from Oasis, Teenage Fanclub, The Kinks and The Zutons et al, Tom, Ed, Rich and John are four young men who over the last few years, have dedicated any spare personal time to honing their talents and mastering the art of penning a classic indie-pop gem. And boy, have they spawned a few. Following their debut release on Hungry Kid records, they now release "All I Can", backed with new track "That Much Better".
U2's "The Joshua Tree" has been meticulously remastered from the original analogue master tapes to mark 20 years since its release. 'There has been continuous demand from U2 fans to have "The Joshua Tree" properly re-mastered', says Paul McGuinness. 'As always, the band had to make sure it was right, and now it is.' In 1987, "The Joshua Tree" reached Number 1 around the world and won a Grammy for 'Album of the Year', while U2 won the Brit Award for Best International Act and Time Magazine put the band on its cover, proclaiming them 'Rock's Hottest Ticket'. Including the singles "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Where The Streets Have No Name" and "With Or Without You", "The Joshua Tree" went on to sell in excess of 20 million.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLtd CD Info: Deluxe edition including a second CD of B-sides and demos from the original album sessions.
This is very much a complimentary release to the critically acclaimed "Year Zero" and the latest remix album from Trent Reznor since his last effort, 2000's "Things Fall Apart". This time around Reznor 'reached out to heroes, friends and strangers' whos efforts are compiled on these releases. Remixes are of tracks taken from the "Year Zero" album and featured remixers include Phones (Paul Epworth), Ladytron and Stephen Morris (Joy Division/New Order).
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xCD/DVD Info: The CD package features a CD of remixes plus additional DVD of all music parts (WAV files) ready for use in Garageband, Logic, ProTools etc to allow people to make their own remixes. It is packaged in a 6-panel digipak as per the standard "Year Zero" packaging with 4 page booklet.
A new version of the legendary Nick Drake box set "Fruit Tree", which was originally released in 1979. The 2007 version of "Fruit Tree" is a four-disc box set featuring all three of Nick Drake's studio albums - "Five Leaves Left" (1969), "Bryter Layter" (1970), and "Pink Moon" (1972) plus a DVD of the 1986 documentary film "A Skin Too Few" by Dutch film-maker Jeroen Berkvens. The box set also includes a 108 page book which features comprehensive lyric sheets, exclusive interviews with Nick's producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood who discuss each song Nick recorded under their auspices, a song-by-song musical breakdown and history by Robin Frederick and the original sleevenotes by Arthur Lubow.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Box set Info: This three LP box set also includes the "A Skin Too Few" DVD.
Eighteen months ago Nine Black Alps packed their bags after nearly two solid years of touring their excellent debut album "Everything Is", said goodbye to another cold, wet winter in Manchester and retreated to the warm sanctuary of a Los Angeles studio. With a hat full of catchy guitar riffs and a working title, that seemingly no one could agree on, the band began to work on recording their second album, under the stewardship of David Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother). Wealthier for the experience, Nine Black Alps have emerged from the studio with a tantalising batch of new songs raising the bar of expectations, with a record that surely signifies their coming of age. Not bereft of their signature riffage, the new songs have a new found maturity which marks them out on a par with any of their contemporaries.
Paul Weller re-established his place at music's top table with this life-affirming, second solo album - he gained the nickname 'Modfather' reflecting his revered status within the UK Britpop movement. There was a feeling of stretching out with more diverse influences – particularly the pastoral British folk/pop of Nick Drake, Traffic, Van Morrison and even Crosby, Stills & Nash. Digitally-remastered from the original master tapes, the album features the classic hit singles "Wild Wood", "Sunflower", "Hung Up" and "The Weaver". Includes no less than 28 bonus tracks, demos, B-sides, mixes, alternative versions, BBC tracks and unreleased songs from the Wild Wood period. Also includes a 28-page booklet with extensive new sleevenotes, brand new interviews with Paul Weller and rare period photos.
New single from the Manchester based rockers Nine Black Alps. Taken from their forthcoming album "Love Hate"; "Bitter End" is a powerful yet melodic three-minute pop song drawing influences from the likes of The Lemonheads, Nirvana and Blind Melon.
CDS Info: The CD single includes "Overdramatic" and the video for "Bitter End"
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: 7" part 1 includes "Daytime Habit" on the B-side.CDS Info: The CD single includes "Overdramatic" and the video for "Bitter End"
"White Chalk" is PJ Harvey's eighth album. The eleven songs were recorded in West London and co-produced by Harvey, Flood and John Parish. The album features performances from Eric Drew Feldman and Jim White of the Dirty Three. Recording followed the 2006 release of "PJ Harvey: The Peel Sessions", a collection of Harvey's recordings for the veteran broadcaster spanning her whole career.
"Berlin" is the second single to be lifted from their "Baby 81" album and it's prime BRMC; a chugging bluesy riff and drums beating out a steady sharp rhythm while guitars twist and turn over the top and Bolan-esque vocals carry the languid melody.
FORMAT INFORMATION
7" Info: The 7" includes "20 Hours" on the B-side.
After self-releasing several well-received singles, Tindersticks became darlings of the mainstream British and alternative American press with the 1993 release of their eponymously titled debut album. Moving from classically-tinged ballads, chaotic rockers with plenty of cacophonous dissonance, and simple, yet captivating pop gems, the band proved that an album with twenty songs could maintain a consistent vision without becoming repetitive. Where their contemporaries were often direct and to the point, Tindersticks were obtuse and leisurely, crafting dense, difficult songs layered with literary lyrics, intertwining melodies, mumbling vocals, and gently melancholy orchestrations. Essentially, the group filtered the dark romanticism of Leonard Cohen, Ian Curtis, and Scott Walker as filtered through the bizarre pop songcraft of Lee Hazlewood and the aesthetics of indie rock and with each successive record, the band upped the orchestral ante without compromising melody, subtlety or mood. This double CD contains 25 of their BBC In Session recordings made between 1993-1997, selected by the band. The artwork was designed by Stuart Staples and sleeve notes written by David Boulter.
Cited as an influence by Aphex Twin and Chemical Brothers, White Noise's "An Electric Storm" was the work of American-born David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire (who had created the electronic version of the Doctor Who theme for the BBC) and Brian Hodgson. 1969 was a year which saw the world of popular music blossom. Musical freedom was the watchword and experimentation was welcomed by an ever increasing underground audience who were eager to feed their heads with ambitious albums by acts who embraced the worlds of rock and the avant garde. It was also a year in which independent record labels began to make their commercial mark in Britain. Of these companies, Island records was undoubtedly the biggest player. Of all the albums released that year by Island, "An Electric Storm", by White Noise was by far the most experimental and ground breaking. The album was equally surprising for the fact that two of the three members of White Noise were not long haired rock musicians, but were respected pioneers of electronic music who worked at the BBC's legendary Radiophonic Workshop. Initial recording work was undertaken by Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale during the night after staff had gone home. 'It was all very unofficial and the BBC was unaware of us using the studio and equipment for our own ends' recalls David. 'However, it's common knowledge now that the first couple of tracks recorded by White Noise were actually recorded at the BBC, so I think it's safe to come clean!'
FORMAT INFORMATION
CD Info: Digitally Remastered from the original master tapes.
Debut UK release from Australian singer-songwriter Josh Pyke. "Middle Of The Hill" is a rather lovely rambling pop song, with an endless stream of cute, funny story-telling lyrics about his childhood, that Josh reels of hardly pausing for breath.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CDS Info: The CD single includes "Drop In The Stitch".
"Baby 81" is an ambitious, powerful, guitar-driven rock'n'roll record that's guaranteed to get people jumping and thinking. Although sonically it's a far cry from 2005's rootsy, acoustic "Howl", "Baby 81" was born only minutes after the final track on "Howl" was completed, when Peter Hayes (guitars/vocals) and Robert Levon Been (bass/vocals/keys) were rejoined in the studio by drummer Nick Jago after a brief break up earlier that year. There's plenty on here to get inspired by: the chunky riff that launches opener "Took Out a Loan"; the massive, Led Zeppelin-style beat propelling "666 Conducer", the woozy, piano-led "Window", or the gorgeous symphonic drone of "All You Do Is Talk". The highlights include anthemic first single "Weapon of Choice", the album's most upbeat tune, the melodic "Not What You Wanted", and "American X", a sprawling rocker that clocks in at exactly nine minutes and eleven seconds.
Whether or not you believe he was raised by pheasants following his birth in 1904 as his Myspace page purports, a glimpse of the refined, debonair and charismatic Luke Toms leads you to think he may just believe it himself. Equally influenced by Hercule Poirot (moustache, pre war fascination) as Freddy Mercury (moustache, consummate showman) and with a Bowie-esque performance on this hazily rich new single "Peace By Myself", Toms really is quite unlike any other singer songwriter in the UK today.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CDS Info: The CD single also includes the track "Crazy".
"Year Zero" (also known as "Halo 24") is the title of this brand new studio album comprising of 16 tracks. This is a concept album (part 1 of 2) that is set some 15 years in the future. In short, it is a vision of the future, a cautionary tale of a world we could be living in if current world events stay on the path we are set on. The album was written and performed largely on a laptop during the "With Teeth" 2005/6 tour, produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, mixed by Alan Moulder and mastered by Brian 'Big Bass' Gardner.
New EP from the soon-to-be-massive Rumble Strips. All formats feature four tracks: "Oh Creole", "High St Heaven", "Born Bored" and "Running Away". Uplifting pop songs embellished with a brass section that draws comparisons to Dexy's Midnight Runners.
FORMAT INFORMATION
8" Info: Limited edition white vinyl 8".
The biggest highlights from Weller's incredible career, for the first time ever combining Jam, Style Council and solo material.
2xDVD Info: The complete video collection, all 64 tracks in DTS 5.1 surround sound.
FORMAT INFORMATION
4xLtd CD Info: The 4 CD version boxset, which is the definitive Paul Weller singles collection. 67 tracks in total, a dedicated Jam CD, a dedicated Style Council CD and two separate solo discs. This also features a 60 page booklet complete with a full career overview from the infamous 70s NME scribesman Adrian Thrills.2xDVD Info: The complete video collection, all 64 tracks in DTS 5.1 surround sound.
Three years on from her debut "Frank" and all the acclaim she got back then, 2006 sees Amy Winehouse back at the centre of media attention with its follow up, and especially inspirational new single "Rehab" which kicks things off here too. Bracketed in with the nu-soul singers back then, Amy always had more of a jazz edge to her songs, and especially her voice which sounded like it should be coming from a 50-year-old black American singer, not a skinny white Londoner. With "Back To Black" she takes a trawl through the sound of 60s soul, girl group pop and the kind of laid back torch song crooning favoured by the mafioso of old, all given a totally modern twist by her smart confessional lyrics. This all comes backed by The Dap-Kings and features lush orchestration too, with production by Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. ESSENTIAL!!!
STAFF COMMENTS
Martin says: It could be that watching 'Amy' recently up in Iceland (where it seems opinions on her life, and especially those surrounding it, are held with surprising passion!) inspired this choice. The realization that what appeared on this record was precisley Amy Winehouse; nothing diluted, nothing held back, the entire and unashamed human being on display for all to see. A brassy, brazen young woman with an ocean of talent and an incredible voice, a huge heart, a wicked sense of humour and one fatal flaw. Every damn atom is here, every joyful, mischievous, painful detail, delivered with a voice that - just like her often similarly tragic inspirations - drips with emotion.
Called "The Outsider" beccause he has never fitted into any particular clique, DJ Shadow's new album is eclectic as ever. There's songs with samples and songs with no samples. There's very dark stuff and very light stuff. Fast and slow. Simple and complicated. Vocal and instrumental. Hip hop, blues, crunk, soul, hardcore punk, psyche, breaks - it's all here, making for another satisfying stew of sounds. Guest vocalists include Kasabian's Sergio Pizzorno & Christopher Karloff, Q-Tip & Lateef The Truth Speaker, The Heliocentrics (Malcolm Catto and pals), Chris James (Stateless), David Banner, Christina Carter (Charalambides), Phonte Coleman (Little Brother) and many more.
Keane follow up their massively successful debut album with another collection of soaring, melodic songs. Here though they experiment with a more expansive, darker sound too.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xCD/DVD Info: Limited edition book style packaging, the DVD features the making of the record along with videos and early live performances of songs from this album.
A rabid chant-a-long for the land's underdogs stuck in shit jobs and nowhere suburbs, the Dogs snarl through the pack's most anthemic offering yet.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CDS Info: The enhanced CD single also includes the tracks, "Don't Ever Change", "Tarred And Feathered (Video)" and "Dogs barge clip - Video".
John and Beverley Martyn's classic album from 1970 has now been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and has been expanded with four previously unreleased demos: "One Of Those Days", "I Don't Know", "John The Baptist" and "Traffic-Light Lady". This was actually Martyn's third album for Island but since he'd got married in 1969 and Beverley was already established on the London folk scene, a collaboration made good sense. They recorded it with a bunch of groovy dudes in Woodstock ( The Band's drummer, and John Harris on keys) and it just oozes that mellow, warm, laid-back vibe. It's a beaut.
Nine Black Alps release at last their hugely anticipated debut album. The product of their LA recording sessions with Beck and Elliot Smith producer Rob Schnapf, "Everything Is" includes their long deleted debut single "Cosmopolitan" along with recent singles "Shot Down" and "Not Everyone".
Having already gained an underground following with his US releases on Hollywood Basic, his own Solesides label and via the ultra-hip Mo' Wax imprint, the arrival of the 1995 recorded (hence the tenth anniversary deluxe edition reissue) and 1996 released "Entroducing..." saw DJ Shadow gain plaudits across the globe. With his crate diggers magpie-like sample finding ability, Shadow took hip hop's blueprint of building breaks from old records to another level, creating an often psychedelic, tripped-out, but still funky selection of instrumental tracks that totally reinvigorated the 'trip hop' scene and inspired many artists who followed. Our (and so many others') record of the year for 1996, "Entroducing..." still sounds as fresh as ever in 2005!
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xCD Info: Deluxe edition CD comes with a bonus disc of B sides, rare mixes, remixes, alternate takes etc. It's packaged in a fold out digi-pack sleeve with tracing paper insert and 18 page full colour booklet plus comes wrapped in an outer PVC slipcase. Phew!
More beautiful sadness for you! Sandy's 1973, third solo offering is rich with nostalgia. Not only are two of the songs covers from her father's record collection but Sandy's own tunes are heavy with romance, memory, loss and loneliness. There are five absolute anthems on this album and the singing is beautifully embroidered with subtle inflections and emotional nuances. It wasn't for nothing that Robert Plant named her as his favourite of all the British female singers. And this edition's unaccompanied take of "No End" has to be up there with her greatest ever performances.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CD Info: Digitally remastered with, sleevenotes and enhanced packaging plus four bonus tracks: "At The End Of The Day (Alternate Take Without Strings)", "King & Queen Of England (Demo)", "Like An Old Fashioned Waltz (With Fairport Convention)" and "No End (Solo Piano Version)".
After leaving Fairport Convention in '69, Sandy Denny made one record with her new group Fotheringay, and then this, in 1971, her first solo LP proper. The amazing Richard Thompson plays guitar and infact this album shares a similar, dense, drone-based tonality with his own debut solo effort. It's also a little idyosyncratic, truth be told, but there's still moments of unbelievable beauty here. With two alternate takes and two songs begun (but unfinished) during the sessions, now included, this is a must have purchase for all you Nu-Folkies and oldies alike!
FORMAT INFORMATION
CD Info: Digitally remastered, with sleeve notes and enhanced packaging plus four bonus tracks: "Late November (El Pea Version)", "Walking The Floor Over You", "Losing Game" and "Next Time Around (No Strings)".
Sandy's second solo LP in 1972 was a bit less folky and more singer-songwriterly than her debut. She'd duetted on "Led Zeppelin Four" with Robert Plant and come up with perhaps her stongest set of songs. The arrangements were more expansive and the sound more ambitious, which was just as well since a number of the songs dealt with the healing powers of music. As she said herself: 'I can't write happy songs'... so here's another lush, melancholic, autumnal record for all you dreamers and true believers.
FORMAT INFORMATION
CD Info: Digitally remastered with sleevenotes and enhanced packaging plus five bonus tracks: "Here In Silence", "Man Of Iron", "Sweet Rosemary (Demo)", "Ecoute, Ecoute" and "It'll Take A Long Time (Live With Fairport Convention)".next 100
Two more @ArcticMonkeys single reissues here>
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Wed 23rd - 9:47
Wed 23rd - 9:47
Just taken delivery of some @ArcticMonkeys single reissues. Grab them while you can.
https://t.co/6f3fZjqA1i… https://t.co/TA6jLxhtXh
Wed 23rd - 9:46
Wed 23rd - 9:46
MASSIVE @PyeCornerAudio NEWS : Pye Corner Audio 'Hollow Earth' https://t.co/1BaruBQRoI
Preorder LIVE! https://t.co/WBDjSu953s
Tue 22nd - 3:09
Tue 22nd - 3:09
Back in stock and in the ‘just in’ section on the website. 12” vinyl from @77_78_ and @TheOrielles via… https://t.co/IbSJhbPdh2
Tue 22nd - 11:10
Tue 22nd - 11:10
The @sharonvanetten banner looking really good today. Her new album ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’ out now via @jagjaguwar… https://t.co/Jw6ndNfnzP
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Tue 22nd - 10:57
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