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Retro Reviews (these
are just a few of the latest reviews of historic albums)
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Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority.
Blues meets jazz meets funk as Chicago released their debut album
in 1969
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Midlake - All three Midlake
albums reviewed and rated. Wonderful harmonious Texas rock
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Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath -
Sabbath's first album is dark and sinister, but is it any good?
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Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman
- An understated album with some notable moments but too much filler
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The Who - My Generation. Raw
rhythm and Blues kicked things off for the Who
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The
Beatles - Sergeant Pepper. Sergeant Pepper and 11 other
Beatles albums rated and reviewed
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America
- Silent Letters. A little known gem from one of my favourite
soft rock, harmony bands.
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Al Stewart - Love Chronicles. An
introverted but highly personal look at love from the Scottish bard.
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10CC
- 10CC - always one of the most innovative and clever of
British bands, this was 10CCs 1973 debut. Reviewed alongside other
releases.
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Love
- Forever Changes - An undisputed classic as fresh today as it
was in 1967 when it first appeared.
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Elton John -11-17-70 - I have never been a fan of Elton's live work.
This one was recorded in November 1970
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Janis
Ian - Between the Lines - One of my favourite albums by a female
singer-songwriter. Sad and uplifting at the same time
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Elton
John - Elton John - We begin our look at the work of Elton
John with his second and to my mind best album. |
The
Byrds - Byrdmaniax - Arguably one of the low spot of the
Byrds' career
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The
Byrds - (Untitled) - a mix of studio and live album in the
group's longest player
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Frankie
Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome. One of the best
albums for the 1980s
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Jimmy
Webb - Lands End - To my mind the greatest living songwriter, but
what of his solo ouput? It is reviewed here |
Judy
Collins - Judith - An album that has been part of my life for
over 30 years and Judy Collins at her best as an emerging
song-writer
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David
Bowie - Low - Sparse and uncompromising as Bowie changed
directions with some excellent art inspired music.
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Lindisfarne
- Fog on the Tyne - One of my favourite albums - so goodtime, so
gloriously raucous, so wonderfully out of tune
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Starsailor
- Love Is Here. One of the best debut albums for a long time.
Three Starsailor albums reviewed |
Billy
Joel - Cold Spring Harbor - A very understated album to begin
Joel's singer songwriter career. |
Don
McLean - Tapestry - A fine debut album from a
singer-songwriter on top of his game from the start
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Don
McLean - American Pie - This was the real McCoy. A superb album.
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Nick
Drake - Five Leaves Left. The first of Drake's trilogy.
Read reviews of all three. |
Arcade
Fire - Funeral. Canada has brought us a number of excellent
bands in the last few years, Arcade Fire are one of the best |
Bee
Gees - Odessa. A complex album of pop, psychedelia, country and
classical that works so well. Re-released in deluxe format
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Jethro
Tull - Thick As A Brick. Dense textures in concept format
from Jethro Tull. A number of other Tull albums are also reviewed.
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Carpenters
- Ticket to Ride - Nine Carpenters albums come under the
microscope |
Pink
Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Where it all started - a
strange ethereal album. Other Floyd albums also reviewed. |
Jethro
Tull - This Was - a bluesy start to one of the darlings of
progressive rock. Tull albums come under the microscope
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Supertramp
- Crime of the Century - One of my favourite all time albums.
See the entire Supertramp section
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Divine
Comedy - Absent Friends - More understated than some of the
earlier DC albums finds Neil Hannon in reflective mood. |
Divine
Comedy - Liberation - Neil Hannon considered this to be the
first DC album and it showed the emergence of a highly literate
style |
Divine
Comedy - Fin de Siecle - A complex and charismatic album full of
powerful pop.
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Scott
Walker - Scott - Reviews of Scott Walkers early solo albums
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The
Moody Blues - Read reviews of the Moody Blues' first seven
albums. |
Curved
Air - Air Conditioning - Curved Air's first album and entry
into the prog rock hall of fame. |
Curved
Air - Second Album - Slightly less proggy and more of a vehicle
for Sonja Kristina's vocals
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Curved
Air - Phantasmagoria - The third album takes us firmly back into
prog rock territory
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The
Monkees - More of the Monkees - The band's second album before
they took control of their affairs |
The Monkees -
Headquarters - They took control, but was it worthwhile? Find
out here |
The
Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd - Not sure
about the title, but more weirdness from the boys
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Leonard
Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen - A trend-setting album from
1967. Other Cohen albums also reviewed.
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Abba
- Ring Ring - The first album even before the name had
evolved. A very patchy effort |
Abba
- Waterloo - Another patchy effort from a band trying to find
the identity they would achieve later. |
Abba
- Abba - One or two high spots but again an album with plenty of
filler in it
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Abba
- Arrival - The band begin to come of age with more grown-up
material, better songs and lyrics
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Deep
Purple in Rock - Deep Purple - The finest example of heavy
metal ever recorded and it sounds as fresh today as in 1970 |
Richard
Harris - A Tramp Shining - The first of two successful
collaborations with one of my favourite songwriters Jimmy Webb |
David
Bowie - Pin Ups - An album of covers from 1973 that came between
Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs.
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Emerson
Lake and Palmer - Tarkus - If the first ELP album was a classic
this somehow fell well short.
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Queen-
Queen - A good starting point for a band that was to become
one of the all time greats. |
Queen
II - Queen. The cover alone shows the emergence of a classic
rock band and the melodies and prog rock takes the band to another
level. |
Brian
Wilson - Imagination Possibly Wilson's best solo album
and the one that conjures up the surf and sand
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Emerson,
Lake and Palmer - Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The first and
arguably the best from three musicians of individual brilliance
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The Strawbs - From the
Witchwood - An embryonic folk rock band prepares
to rip into the crazy world of rock. We revisit this 1971 offering |
The Strawbs - Grave New World
One of the most powerful albums ever as the
Strawbs find their feet and find their style - a classic |
Rod Stewart - An
Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down - opened his long career with this rocker. There was better to
come.
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Rod
Stewart - Gasoline
Alley Gasoline continued the road to rock stardom
and was a more confident offering than the previous.
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Rod
Stewart Every
Picture Tells A Story - One of the classic rock
albums of all time where all the promise came to fruition |
Rod
Stewart - Never
A Dull Moment - The last of Stewart's rock
quartet of albums. Had the downward spiral begun? |
Simon
and Garfunkel - Wednesday
Morning 3 am S and G first album is a
beautifully understated collection of traditional songs and Paul
Simon originals.
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Simon
and Garfunkel - Sound of Silence. Paul Simon comes of age,
writing 10 of the 11 tracks on this album as he turns into the
world's great folk/rock poet
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Simon
and Garfunkel - Parsley,
Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - Some have
likened this to Sergeant Pepper and Pet Sounds. Is it that good? |
Simon
and Garfunkel - Bookends
- S and G tread the well worn path of
folk stardom with a further selection of excellent songs |
Simon
and Garfunkel - Bridge
Over Troubled Water -- A sublime collection of songs that have a
lasting and important place in the chronicles of Folk and Rock
history.
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Neil
Young - Neil Young - A quiet and reasonably efficient solo debut
album that hinted of the glories to come
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Neil
Young -Everybody
Knows This is Nowhere. This first effort with
Crazy Horse was a rather rambling affair |
Neil
Young - After
the Goldrush - Young comes of age with a
vengeance and records one of the great folk/rock albums |
Neil
Young - Harvest - Another groundbreaking album full of atmosphere
and sublime tunes
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The
Feeling - Twelve
Stops and Home - Sussex seems to have produced some
excellent Brit-pop bands. Here is one of them
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