Laurie Wright is back with a track with strong vocals, guitars, drums and…. Harmonica! This song comes roaring out of the gates with attitude, and it’s a cracker. I really like Laurie’s vocals on this, it sounds like he’s having a blast recording it, but this belies the dark feeling behind the lyrics, there’s a …
Single Review: “That’ll Be The Day” – Buddy Holly
As tomorrow is 63 years since Buddy Holly, along with Richie Havens and The Big Bopper died tragically in a plane crash I thought I’d commemorate this with my favourite Buddy Holly song. I have memories of jamming this on the piano with my friend Simon and him singing and playing on a battered acoustic …
Single Review: “Solo” – Fran Minney
I like the soulfulness of this tune. Fran starts off in the lower range of her voice but what really took me by surprise was when she hit the chorus and the multiple layers of harmonies. Beautiful work! The production on this is so good too, I love the synths on this – poppy but …
Single Review: “Living Proof” – Pearl’s Cab Ride
WELL!!! This… is…. FUNKY! The stabs in the intro promise so much and over deliver, this is professional musicianship at its best. From the horns, drums, bass, vocals, hammond organ this is a blast to listen to – it reminds me of early 90s acid jazz, and it’s so well done, I don’t want to …
Single Review: “Boys From Jungle” – Junior Bill
I’m trying to decide whether this is a punk protest song or not. It’s definitely punk, the attitude is there. But the lyrics are definitely interesting, it’s the reality of immigrants coming to the UK, and their stories, it’s loud, it’s aggressive. But do you oboe what? It’s getting the message across. For me the …
Single Review: “Sidecar” – Prima Hera
I have heard this song so many times now, I think it’s part of my soundtrack of 2023. It’s such a simple song, Prima Hera’s vocals are gorgeous on this. She has a touch of reverb on her vocals, and she’s able to harmonise comfortably going from a major to minor harmony with the other …
Single Review: “I Still Love Him” – Blossom Calderone
There are so many things that I like about this song, first of all it’s in 3/4 time. That will always be welcome around here. Secondly, the pizzicato strings, you don’t usually hear that in music nowadays unless it’s arpeggiated a la Rodney Jerkins 90s productions, so it’s good to hear that. Thirdly, Blossom’s voice …
Album Review: “Letters To George” – John Hollenbeck. Words: Sammy Stein
https://johnhollenbeck.bandcamp.com/album/letters-to-george John Hollenbeck is a genre-fluid composer/percussionist, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds. He gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet, and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked …
Blog interview: Dave Britto, Arrows
Hello Dave how are you? Hello Del, I’m good and thank you for speaking to me. Congratulations on the release of “Another Avenue”, how does it feel? Thanks! It’s great, there’s always that feeling of nervousness and excitement that comes with every release. I’ve been holding on to this song for a very long time, …
Single Review: “Can’t Touch” – The Great Leslie
The boys are back in town and they’ve got a cracker of a track proclaiming that they’re planning to make more noise in 2023. “Can’t Touch” is a mixture of different patterns, first of all it starts off with a guitar riff that chugs off at 16ths, the drums come in at 0:06, all toms …