Category Archives: Music

Duran Duran, All You Need Is Now. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. March 22nd 2011.

If there is a band that sums up the pop scene in Birmingham in the 1980’s and the resulting worldwide fan base that followed with their cut glass image, their smooth and carefully planned videos and sexual appeal, then it would be none other than of course, Duran Duran. It can be said that this decade belonged them.

Now three clear decades on since they thrilled Birmingham crowds at the Rum Runner Club they have released the 13th studio album and things finally look back on track for the band after a few failed attempts to recreate the early magic had left them looking rudderless and no longer a viable musical option.

Duran Duran, All You Need Is Now. Album Review. full post

(398 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

John Wesley, The Lilypad Suite. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 13th 2011.

For fans of John Wesley, the news that he has released a new album will be greeted with a fan fare so loud that it will be heard from Florida to Stourbridge. One of the finest musicians of his generation, he has thrilled audiences with his own music and with collaborations with Fish and Porcupine Tree over the last twenty years.

The Lilypad Suite is no exception to the hard and fast rule that once you have found a sound, stick with it, tweak it, play around with it, even enlarge it but never forget what made you admired and loved.

John Wesley, The Lilypad Suite. Album Review. full post

(367 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Foo Fighters, Wasting Light. Album Review.

For any band to follow up one of their finest albums especially after a four year gap can be daunting, especially when that album was the sensational and 2 x platinum selling Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace.

With the bands seventh studio album Wasting Light, Foo Fighters have done that…just. The album has a wonderful urban feel to it and should come as no surprise to the band’s massive following and multitude of fans that the album was originally recorded in Dave Grohl‘s garage. Other bands have tried this effect of taking the band feel and giving it a new environment and in a lot of times it doesn’t give the band the sound or the credit they deserve for the experiment, in this case however, the deconstructive result gives the band an unseen quality that many would have missed over the last fifteen years.

Foo Fighters, Wasting Light. Album Review. full post

(345 words, 1 image, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Dust Bowl. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 13th 2011.

Almost a year to the day since he released Black Rock and fewer than nine months since Black Country Communion’s debut album, Joe Bonamassa has once more turned out an album of pure quality that will appeal to the Blues Rock fan but also to the wide reaching music lover everywhere.

Dust Bowl has all the qualities that you would associate with one of the most laid back guys in Blues, he may be a man of very few words but his fingers do more than just talk for him, they simply ooze conversation without so much pausing for breath. From the opening track of Slow Train, Joe takes the listener on a slow bound journey calling at all stops including inspiration, joy and appreciation.

Joe Bonamassa, Dust Bowl. Album Review. full post

(372 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Rush, Moving Pictures. 30th Anniversary Edition. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. April 23rd 2011.

There are some anniversaries that deserve a little something extra, a chance to really set the town alight, go the whole hog and show that special someone how much you care and love them. For fans of the Canadian super group Rush, that’s exactly what’s happened for them in the form of the seminal piece of work Moving Pictures.

Rush, Moving Pictures. 30th Anniversary Edition. Album Review. full post

(446 words, 1 image, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Kate Bush, Director’s Cut. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 17th 2011.

Kate Bush has long been considered an enigma, part immense talent that has inspired so many other artists and fans alike, part recluse, never really giving too much away to the point that some critics and reviewers become exasperated and ignore the music behind the woman.

It is to Kate’s credit that she has survived for so long in a business that can cruelly tear people apart just for not releasing a new album every couple of years. Kate herself hasn’t recorded a new album since 2005 with the release of the sensual Aerial and although there are rumours of a brand new set of songs that will be unleashed onto the British public at some point, Kate has decided to revisit older works and give them a new edge.

Kate Bush, Director’s Cut. Album Review. full post

(375 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Shared 2. Various Artists. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 17th 2011.

It’s rare to come across an album that is so cool that you listen to it a couple of times just to make sure your ears weren’t playing tricks on you the first time round. Conceived by Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff, Shared 2, is as it sounds, a collaboration between some of the U.K’s best musicians and although you may not have heard of some of the artists, when you hear the album it will encourage you to go and seek out these guys and hear them in their natural setting.

Shared 2. Various Artists. Album Review. full post

(363 words, 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Sparrow and the Workshop, Spitting Daggers. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 31st 2011.

A band’s second album, as the phrase goes, is their most difficult, for their first they have been writing all their life. For the Sparrow and the Workshop trio, this could be the case, as any follow up to 2010’s release Crystals Fall would have to be gigantic in the extreme and have some critics actually turn on their hearing aids to appreciate what a phenomenal job the band have done in writing Spitting Daggers.

Sparrow and the Workshop, Spitting Daggers. Album Review. full post

(327 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Journey, Eclipse. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. May 31st 2011.

Journey are, and always will be associated with the idea of stadium rock. They are heavy, musically talented and highly enjoyable to listen to and thanks (or not, depending on your own point of view) to the television programme Glee are easily recognisable to a newer, younger audience.

In 2007, the band saw the arrival of Arnel Pineda with his boyish good looks and a voice to match, fans that were still debating Steve Perry’s absence from the band were soon arguing on whether Arnel was in fact just as good as the main man that gave the world the voice behind such hits as Don’t Stop Believing, Anyway You Want It and Open Arms. The debate wasn’t helped by Journey re-recording some of these classic tracks for the Revelation album in 2008.

Journey, Eclipse. Album Review. full post

(322 words, 1 image, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Miles And Erica Live 2010/11. Miles Hunt And Erica Nockalls. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. June 7th 2011.

Occasionally, a live album comes along that fires the imagination and leaves you with a warm glow inside. Miles and Erica Live 2010/11 is an acoustic album of fantastic simplicity that showcases the talent of The Wonder Stuff‘s Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls and gives a wonderful insight into the artists’ mind when they tour with a back catalogue and strip it back to the point where the songs take on a different life and a different vibe, this gives any band a more human face and the final result is one of superb achievement.

Miles And Erica Live 2010/11. Miles Hunt And Erica Nockalls. Album Review. full post

(371 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)