102 posts
Reissues
As punk rock morphed into post-punk and new wave at the end of the 1970s, disco remained the shaping force of the Top 40. It was to attract some highly…
Reissue Review: Stevie Nicks – Stand Back 1981-2017
Think that Stevie Nicks is all about flowing skirts and ethereal vocals? Think again… She was the all-American middle-class girl who became a watchword for narcotic hedonism and rock’n’roll excess;…
Album review: Howard Jones – Transform
The keyboard wizard’s 11th album, Transform, may not convert sceptics, but long-term fans will definitely find that things just got better… Back in 1984, Howard Jones told us he’d like…
Reissue review: Prince – Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic
Credited with piloting the success of Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston, legendary US label head Clive Davis also reignited the career of Santana in 1999 when he persuaded the fading…
Reissue review: Kate Bush – The Other Sides
After the fanfare of the reissue of two CD and four vinyl Kate Bush Remastered boxsets last November, as well as separate remastered versions of every album, Kate Bush now…
Reissue review: New Order – Movement (Definitive Edition)
It’s oddly moving to see a slick, ‘definitive’ version of an album that was so raw, so ragged and unready. When Movement was released in November 1981 it was greeted…
Review: Massive Attack – Mezzanine
There was a period just before the turn of the millennium when every soirée you attended appeared to be soundtracked by Mezzanine. To be described as dinner-party music is customarily…
Review: Kate Bush – Remastered On Vinyl And CD
A series of new remasters charts the incredible back catalogue of one of pop’s most beloved auteurs, Kate Bush. At a music-awards show a few years ago, a lubricated John…
Review: The Police: Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings
Only an accident of birth made The Police a New Wave band. Sting was a sharp, slick songwriter; Andy Summers had hung with Hendrix and strummed with Soft Machine and…
Review: Bronski Beat – The Age Of Consent
This expanded version of Bronski Beat’s Jimmy Somerville-showcasing hit 1984 album reveals a vital and politicised, yet upfliting, synth-pop triumph “My purpose was truth,” said Jimmy Somerville recently, looking back…