We have already reviewed XTC before ( 225) XTC - Drums and Wires ) and just over a year after that album they returned with their fourth record.I heard Andy Partridge on a podcast and cannot say I warmed to him, I know next to nothing about him so maybe he was having a bad day, we all do so I am not judging him but clearly in later years  he clashed with Dave Gregory and Colin Moulding with Gregory leaving and Moulding and Partridge calling it a day back in 2006.   As the yea

I am under no illusion that anyone under thirty, possibly forty, reads these reviews. My daughter will often say someone is old and when I ask, she will usually say about forty, I point out that I am a lot older than that and she says “yes, you re my dad, I know your old. “ She is twenty-four I am fifty-four so of course she is right I would have thought someone of fifty-four was bloody ancient when I was her age.   Dave Ball died last week and he was only sixty-six, which is

Gorillaz are where Damon Albarn can basically do what he wants, it’s a clever concept and has certainly been effective, Gorillaz have sold more than records than Blur. I can’t really be bothered with the cartoons, but I’ll usually have a listen and there is usually something to connect with.   These reviews are meant to be brief so I cannot go into all sixteen tracks and at an hour long a couple of tracks may have been best left on the studio floor (Sweepstakes I found partic

We have already done two Cure albums, my favourite Head on the Door and the most recent, Songs of a Lost World.   From this most recent release I think we can say their legacy is now assured as that record has been rightly lauded and The Cure are, and will be always, known as one of the UK’s best bands.   Since they arrived back in 1979, they have had thirteen band members and have released fourteen records.   Let me take you back (picture The Young Ones scene at the start of

We are in rare territory a request for an artist I know. I remember hearing The Crane Wife and really enjoying it but for some reason I have never listened to any of The Decemberists other records, don’t know why, can I go with the stupidity card again? On first listen I am vaguely reminded of early REM up to Out Of Time period and on reading up Peter Buck guests on three tracks, almost as if I know what I’m talking about, let’s not go there. Buck is on the opener, Don’t Carr

It had all been going so well for Kevin Rowland with the first two Dexys albums, both yielding number one hits.Then they released Don’t Stand Me Down which was a commercial disaster although thankfully it now receives the praise it deserved. (https://www.albumsin200words.co.uk/post/242-dexys-midnight-runners-don-t-stand-me-down) Because of You made the top 20 the following year (I remember it was the theme tune to Brush Strokes a truly dreadful BBC comedy) and that was goodn

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie were a six piece, and they were at their best as a six piece, but keyboardist Rona Scobie had left before their third record Five and guitarist John Duncan also moved on, famously becoming involved with Nirvana. When working on Five there had been plans to push Shirley Manson’s vocals more to the front, but this had only happened on the track Normal Boy. Time for a re-think.   From the outside the lead singer becoming the guitarist and the backing singer

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Out of the blue free songs started to appear on the internet but this wasn’t anybody chucking up whatever they wanted this was Mick...

Nine albums with a well-respected group and nine solo albums plus being able to turn your hand to the odd bit of writing, it’s fair to...

Sunday December 22 nd , 2002, was a crap day. Through the years I had always hoped That Petrol Emotion, The Smiths and The Clash would...

Here we are heading to another country for a review, I’ve recently done bands from Norway and Canada so let’s nip over to Denmark for...

Someone should compile a list of the most underrated bands ever, top 100 based on just being generally under appreciated. I have made it...

I was awful at Geography at school, I was good at English (a shock I know to regular readers) and Arithmetic, hence the job in Finance...

A great debut with magical singles, dazzling second but lost the genius guitarist, defying the critics comeback on the third record, a...

Recently I’ve not known any of the requests, amateur I know.So a request to review The Walkmen was another one I had no clue about so...

Want one of those reviews where I tell you nothing about the record that I occasionally write. Of course you do. I’m from Glasgow and my...

I always have to read something on the internet when writing these reviews so that I am semi accurate (then usually someone messages me...

Post marriage split my friends, and I used to meet on a Friday night in a social club before we properly hit the pubs where we would have...