Our pick of the new year’s releases opens with Elvis Costello & The Imposters, who release The Boy Named If (14 Jan), a new album of urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting and a quick step to the rhythm. Costello tells us: “The full title of this record is The Boy…
Kicking off this week’s best releases, Scotland’s finest, Texas, make a very welcome return with their exhilarating new album Hi, flexing their rock soul muscle with a set of tracks that easily rank amongst the best of their stellar career. Texas are a band in their prime, fuelled by the swagger of their recent acclaimed…
On to our pick of this week’s new releases. November 2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of the North American release of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World – the beginning of a 10-year collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson that would produce indispensable albums such as Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, all…
Once again we have winnowed 6 splendid recommendations from the chaff of this week’s releases. First is Giants Of All Sizes, the eighth studio album by Elbow. Lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey describes the album as: “an angry, old blue lament which finds its salvation in family, friends, the band and new life.” This…
On the 23rd of August 1999, David Bowie played an intimate set for invited guests at The Manhattan Centre’s Grand Ballroom in New York for the VH1 Storytellers series. Ten years later, in 2009, a recording of the evening was released on CD, DVD and download. Now, 20 years on, the performance will finally be…
We have some lovely new releases to tell you about, kicking off with What Is Love, the new album from Clean Bandit, about which the band say: “The album looks at many different kinds and stages of love. We’ve been making it over three years, during which time we’ve all experienced love in our lives…
Glastonbury 2000 documents David Bowie’s legendary Sunday-night headline performance on 25 June at the most famous festival on Earth. The full 21-song performance is released here for the first time. The set includes many of David’s greatest hits. His performance of ‘Heroes’ became a highlight of the record-breaking ‘David Bowie Is…’ exhibition and is the…
We start our 6 of the best for 20 April with Volunteer, yet another fine example of how Old Crow Medicine Show remains one of the most vibrant and forward-thinking traditional bands of their time. Released 50 years after being recorded, Live At The Fillmore East 1968 captures two blistering performances at the legendary New…
There are some crackers among the 6 recommended releases for 11 November. For years the concert at which Bob Dylan received the infamous ‘Judas’ heckle was incorrectly labelled as the Royal Albert Hall when in fact it was in Manchester. Now, for the first time, the real RAH gig is released. Imaginatively titled The Real…
Pre-sale of the week is Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) by David Bowie, out on 23 September. The follow-up to the awarding-winning and critically acclaimed Five Years (1969–1973), this box set (spread over 12 CDs / 13 LPs) features all of the material officially released by Bowie during the so-called ‘American’ phase of his…