The road to success hasn't been easy for Beth Hart. It was her second album Screamin' For My Supper, and particularly the single LA Song (Out Of This Town) that saw Beth score her first hit and subsequent inclusion on the soundtracks to a number of prime time television shows. At that time she was in her late 20's and after a long history of substantial drug use since her teens … [Read more...]
Savage – Eurythmics
The first time I spied Annie Lennox she looked a little… well, intimidating. Short-cropped shock of burnt orange hair, dressed like a man with a voice so deep and rich that many men would secretly envy. And those eyes - they looked like they could stare you down and kill you with a thought! The song, or should I say the video, was Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This). The year was … [Read more...]
All I Can See – Amarillo
Sometimes you don’t need much to capture a very large space. All I Can See manages to do that with a lilting, almost haunting feel and an introduction not that far removed from Paul Simon’s Sounds of Silence. In this case that void of endless silence was Australia’s outback and it became the inspiration for the song when Melbourne band Amarillo toured throughout the remote … [Read more...]
Revolver – The Beatles
In a few days time this landmark album will notch up its 50th birthday and while that milestone might be seen by some as “old” this extraordinary record still sounds fresh to these (ageing) ears. Whether it’s the best album the Fab 4 ever released as many believe is too close to call for me when The Beatles (white album) and Abbey Road are also taken into account. But without a … [Read more...]
Low Lays The Devil – The Veils
If you love the Black Keys as I do chances are you're going to dig this. Low Lays The Devil comes wrapped in a vamped organ, slightly distorted guitar and thumping beats - all of which sound like they've been poured through a fuzzed out filter with a muddied production that puts this track somewhere between the Mississippi delta and the devil down below. Singer/songwriter Finn … [Read more...]