The first of this week’s smashers is Chronicles of a Diamond, the hotly anticipated second album from Black Pumas. When the Austin-bred duo made their self-titled debut in 2019, they set off a reaction almost as combustible and rapturous as their music itself. Along with earning a career total of seven Grammy Award nominations (including…
The first of this week’s sparklers is Taylor Swift’s new studio album, Midnights. This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night: a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face – the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout Taylor’s life. Direction Of…
Direction Of The Heart is the first album of new material from Simple Minds since 2018’s outstanding UK Top 5 album Walk Between Worlds. Throughout its nine tracks, Direction Of The Heart finds the band at their most confident, anthemic best on a record that is an inspired celebration of life and that manages perfectly…
Here we go again with the biggest release week for plenty of months. Our distilled 6 this week start with All Mirrors, which tracks the artistic voyage of the wonderful Angel Olsen: her beginnings as a collaborator shifted seamlessly to her magnificent, cryptic-to-cosmic solo work, and then she formed bands to play her songs, and…
The first of our 6 of the best releases this week is Whatever it Takes, the sixth album from The James Hunter Six. They have already established themselves as a permanent fixture in the world of rhythm and soul with their five previous albums, each more poignant and well-executed than the last. However, Whatever It…
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…