Mark E Smith was never precious about the band's back catalogue, especially if there was a few quid in it for him, so there's an alarming number of live Fall CDs out there. 74, according to Steve Prin...

Welcome to review number 750. This means there's only about 500 more to go, as long as I don't buy any more CDs.So, we're probably about halfway through, given that it's about six weeks since I pulle...

We reach the 700th album review here, with the second of last week's haul from Stamford. I very nearly didn't buy this, so sure was I that I already had it, but on checking I didn't.Coincidentally, Ma...

Ah, the "is it an EP or an album" dilemma strikes again. 4 tracks weighing in at 29 minutes could go either way, but the band refer to it as an EP. In any case, I'm only claiming to be reviewing CDs, ...

On a visit to Stamford yesterday, I popped into Oxfam, to see their CD wares, and had to think about this one. On the one hand, it's a compilation of their output on Kamera Records, drawing lots from ...

Originally released in two parts in 1979, Zappa's 'rock opera' Joe's Garage is a satire on everything from the music industry and sexual fetishes to (possibly) the Christian authoritarianism many in U...

What I know about Billy Childish could be written in one paragraph at the start of an uninspired review.He's a Medway based artist, filmmaker and musician, friend of Tracey Emin, and possessor of an i...

The final purchase from a recent visit to Cambridge, and this wasn't staying in the Oxfam shop racks for very long while I visited, despite a price tag designed to alleviate famine relief on its own.I...

I've tried not to buy compilation albums since starting this blog, preferring to visit stand alone efforts, but for £1 in a charity shop in Leicester yesterday, a pang of 1980s nostalgia overcame me a...

David Thomas, main man in avant-garage band Pere Ubu died this week, after a long illness. I saw Pere Ubu several times, but did once see Thomas head up Rocket From The Tombs, a revival of his pre-Ubu...

During the latter part of my university years (1978-1981) XTC were probably my favourite band. I saw them play on an early date with a new girlfriend, and was blown away by the energy and creativity o...

Tight band, layered drums from a duo of drummers, pounding bass, lyrics half spoken, half sung on top, House Of All have taken The Fall sound and moved it on.But they aren't the Fall, and Martin Brama...

The first new purchase of 2025 is Richard Dawson's latest release. I've spoken lots about my love for Dawson's musical world and this album doesn't disappoint.Dawson's previous album in 2022 (three ye...

By autumn 1978 I thought The Jam were also rans. Two average albums with a couple of decent songs on, and a couple of minor hits. I saw them headline the Reading Festival that summer, and felt it was ...

Mike Ratledge, the final founding member of Soft Machine to leave the band, died this week, so we might have a couple of Softs albums in the next few days.About 20 years ago, we took our daughter to a...

Nick Cave's covers album from 1986 features an eclectic selection and Cave himself has suggested it's the album where the Bad Seed really developed as a band, possibly through playing strong interpret...

I bought this album many moons ago, in a sale in a short lived Fopp outlet in Canterbury, and I don't recall ever listening to it. It seems to be a compilation of early (1977-78) demos by the duo on C...

It's 1978, and for the most part, as a first year student I'm very punk resistant, still preferring the more cerebral challenge of the world of prog, especially if there are a few jazz overtones, alth...

Reflections is the second album from the Original Album Classics box set, which Santa brought me, and was heavily drawn from on the Glory compilation and it contains a number of favourites of mine.It ...