104 posts
Reissues
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…
Review: Cocteau Twins – Treasure Hiding: The Fontana Years
In 4AD’s halcyon years as the keepers of indie-pop’s most ethereal flames, no artists were more closely associated with the label’s ethos than the Cocteau Twins. Indeed, some of their…
Review: This Mortal Coil – It’ll End In Tears/Filigree & Shadow/Blood
Ivo Watts-Russell is one of the great under-celebrated pathfinders for UK 80s indie music. His 4AD label incubated a sharp, profound, melancholic musical aesthetic whose influence has reverberated ever since.…
Review: Yazoo – Four Pieces/Three Pieces
A new boxset – on either four vinyl discs or three CDs – remasters Yazoo’s two classic studio albums and adds BBC radio sessions and remixes Yazoo’s genesis was rooted…
Review: Pet Shop Boys – Behaviour / Very / Bilingual: Further Listening
These three reissues – plus extras – covering the Pet Shop Boys’ 1990s output prove that we should take their post-imperial phase seriously… In the pre-fame days, when he was…
Review: Morrissey – This Is Morrissey
Morrissey’s cancelling last month of his UK and European tour to promote last year’s Low In High School album was a fresh nadir for an artist whose career has, for…
Review: Various Artists – Now That’s What I Call Music! 1
The original Now! album weaned a whole generation off recording pop songs from the Sunday evening Radio 1 countdown Admittedly it wasn’t the first but it went on to become the…
Reviews: Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell & A Broken Frame – 12″ Singles
Witness the musical growing pains of a band as the Essex electro-poppers get to grips with a new line-up and their own emerging sound. Ian Gittins gives this Sony reissue…
Review: David Bowie – Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78)
Captured in the summer of 1978, this 2CD live set showcases a recovering genius back on top of his game and sounding as vital as ever. Ian Gittins review’s Bowie’s…