(hed) p.e. BACK 2 BASE X. Suburban Noize
It’s been some time since this lot tore up rock club floors across the UK with ‘Bartender’ and ‘Killing Time,’ both tracks are still heard in the clubs all over the land - such was their impact. The band then seemed to fade away, but, like Ill Nino, they just kept doing what they do, recorded some new material and kicked it out in the dust on the road. We now arrive in 2006 and some changes are afoot…
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The Raconteurs BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS. XL Recordings
The Raconteurs is a new band made up of old friends, consisting of Jack Lawrence (bass), Patrick Keeler (drums), Brendan Benson (guitars, vocals, keys), and Jack White (guitars, vocals, keys). The seed was sewn in an attic in the middle of a hot summer when friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote a song that truly inspired them. This song was ‘Steady, As She Goes’ and the inspiration led to the creation of a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler. While each of these four individuals had successful careers with their own bands, the culmination of all of their talents is what truly makes The Raconteurs a force to be reckoned with. The quartet convened at Benson’s East Grand Studio to lay down the basic tracks for BROKEN BOY SOLDIERS. Work would continue whenever the boys could get together over the next year. The band is now, for its members, all consuming and they now present themselves to be consumed, or at best simply heard.
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Imogen Heap SPEAK FOR YOURSELF. Megaphonic Records
Okay, I admit, I’m addicted to this record. First time I heard it I thought, ‘not for me,” too poppy, too bright and breezy. Then I decided to play it again Sam, and fuck me, I haven’t stopped playing it since. Imogen Heap has remained a bit of an enigma to me; I’ve heard her other artist’s records, and each time I try to go see her live, she decides to cancel – perhaps she knew I had been invited? She’s no prolific record-maker; I believe this is only her second album and the first sells at around £30 (if you can find one) which is a bit too rich for me. So here she is at last, in recorded form at least, and I’m now desperate to see her perform.
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Morning Runner and The Fallout Trust Live
Manchester Academy 3, 14 May 2006
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Phoenix IT’S NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT. Source
How these guys are not huge is beyond me. The first two albums UNITED and ALPHABETICAL were brilliant, but covered a range of styles that was perhaps just a little too varied for mainstream tastes.
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Nick Rhodes & John Taylor Present ONLY AFTER DARK. EMI
While they’ve been a band who’ve only satisfied me a few times (’The Chauffeur’, ‘Wild Boys’,'Hold Back the Rain’, Arcadia’s ‘Election Day/The Flame’, ‘American Science‘), Duran Duran do come from a certain era, which seems wildly exciting now - despite the fact Robert Elms manages to milk a yawnworthy book from it (sadly less amusing than his stand-up poetry). Duran emerged from Birmingham and were certainly part of a regional scene caught in the slipstream of glam and punk and the burgeoning developments that would become electronic music. Duran might have been artier had Stephen ‘Tin-Tin’ Duffy stuck around - sadly Duran became a diluted version of Japan before becoming the Stones of New Romantic.
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Enuff Z’Nuff GREATEST HITS. Cleopatra
The story of Chicago’s Enuff Z’Nuff has the makings of an epic rock n’ roll novel or at least an insightful mini-series. It has all the ingredients of a classic story. There are heroes, villains, high drama, success, disappointments, conflict and unity. Few bands have had such a colourful journey down the rocky road to rock n’ roll stardom. Through all the highs and lows, the band has never lost perspective on what is truly important, the music! Throughout their journey, Enuff Z’Nuff has moved forward honing their craft, creating music that has won over the hearts and devotion of listeners and critics worldwide. Enuff Z’Nuff’s Chip Z’Nuff met band co-founder Donnie Vie through a mutual friend of theirs in 1983. Enuff Z’Nuff soon went into full gear. Quickly after the band formed in 1985, they got funding (with the financial help of a fellow police officer) to record a demo tape they aptly titled HOLLYWOOD SQUARES. After 4 years of playing local gigs and recording countless demos, the band got their big break. With offers from Atlantic (ATCO), Capitol, Chrysalis, and Warner Brothers, the band signed in with Derek Shulman (Bon Jovi, AC/DC) and ATCO records.
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Feeder THE SINGLES. Echo
Surely this has been some kind of mistake, Feeder haven’t been around long enough for the ‘best of’ treatment, oh, maybe they have… What we have here is a 20-track compilation of some of the best alternative rock songs delivered by any band in the last 10years or so, sure there are the obligatory ‘new’ songs that pepper any album of this kind these days, but for the most part you have the collected ‘singles’ from the band, hence the title, no shit!
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Red Hot Chili Peppers STADIUM ARCADIUM. Warner Bros
The Red Hot Chili Peppers unleash a two-CD set, STADIUM ARCADIUM, a 28-track double album with discs entitled ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Mars’. Anthony Kiedis, Flea, John Frusciante and Chad Smith entered the studio last March with producer Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash, The Cult, System Of A Down) to commence work on the album in the same house in the Hollywood Hills where they recorded 1991’s groundbreaking, multi-platinum album BLOODSUGARSEXMAGIK. “We set out to write 13 songs,” says Kiedis. “But as has been the case every time we’ve tried to do that, we ended up with 30-some-odd songs. The difference this time was we ended up liking all of those songs and finishing all of those songs, and it actually became a very difficult process to even whittle it down to 28.” Frusciante explains, “Every album we do, we try to have a concept and a sense of direction, the most important idea for this album was movement.” Smith elaborates, “Something new is constantly being introduced, in every chorus or verse, whether it’s a backing vocal or a guitar part, a different rhythm or an unexpected style.”
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Neil Young LIVING WITH WAR. Reprise
“I was waiting for someone to come along, some younger singer 18 to 22 years-old, to write these songs and stand up. I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the ‘60s generation. We’re still here.” And with this thought flying around in his head Neil Young set about writing the LIVING WITH WAR anti-war, anti-Bush album. Following hot on the heels of Bruce Springsteen’s latest polemical release, Young has created an uncompromising (and uncomfortable for Bush and his sidekick Blair) album, whose sales will send a message that cannot be ignored. Young explained, “This is about exchanging ideas… It’s about getting a message out. It’s about empowering people by giving them a voice. I know not everyone believes what I say is what they think, but like I said before, Red and Blue is not Black and White. We’re all together, it’s a record about unification.”
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