Rocktrospectiva: The Succesful "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" Turns 25

 

Released on 28 February 2000, "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" was the fourth studio album by English band Oasis. It was the band's first album under their new record label Big Brother Recordings. In the year preceding the album's release, Alan McGee closed Creation Records, and Oasis had lost two founding members Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and hired new producer Mark "Spike" Stent to replace Owen Morris.

Curiously, the album marked a significant change from the Britpop scene to a modern psychedelic sound full of drum loops, samples, electric sitar, mellotron, synthesisers and backward guitars. The result was an album more experimental with electronica and heavy psychedelic rock influences. Songs such as "Go Let It Out", the Indian-influenced "Who Feels Love?", and the trip hop sounds on "Gas Panic!" departed from the band's earlier style. This album also marked the first time that lead singer Liam Gallagher contributed on songwriting with the track "Little James", and this process continued for their subsequent albums, instead of relying solely on Noel Gallagher's songwriting as they had for the first three albums.

The album's title misquotes an expression by Sir Isaac Newton: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". Noel Gallagher saw the quote on the edge of a £2 coin while in a pub, and liked it so much he thought it would be a suitable name for Oasis' new album. He then wrote the name on the side of a cigarette packet while drunk, and upon awakening in the morning, he realised he had written "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants". 

Noel decided to drop the equipment used in the three previous albums and instead buy "loads of really weird pedals, old guitars, and small amps" as the lack of a deadline on the album allowed him to "take quite a few days just messing around" and experiment with new musical landscapes. Noel was forced to play nearly all the instruments on the album, aided by some additional musicians, due to the departure of two founding band members, while the album was still being recorded, their parts were re-recorded for legal reasons.

Spawning three singles, "Go Let It Out", "Who Feels Love?", & "Sunday Morning Call". The lead track, "Fuckin' in the Bushes", features no vocals, but does include sampled quotes from Message to Love, a documentary film of the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. Another rate track is "Gas Panic!" inspired by the panic attacks Noel Gallagher had as he quit drugs in advance of the birth of his daughter Anaïs, and of course "Fuckin' In The Bushes" and due for this Walmart didn't want to sell the album.

The artwork features the photo of the Manhattan skyline taken from the rooftop of 500 Fifth Avenue (5th Ave/W 42nd St). Some famous buildings are visible including the Empire State Building, and in the foreground and the former World Trade Center in the background. This album was the first Oasis artwork not to be created by Brian Cannon at Microdot.

Despite its lukewarm critical reception, both Liam and Noel Gallagher have praised certain aspects of the record, the both thought it's a great album ... it's just a bit different", whilst Noel Gallagher has stated that he regards "Go Let It Out". Noel has also praised the sounds and production of the record. 

 

Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants Track List:  

1. Fuckin' In The Bushes

2. Go Let It Out

3. Who Fells Love?

4. Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is

5. Little James

6. Gas Panic!

7. Where Did It All Go Wrong?

8. Sunday Morning Call

9. I Can See A Liar

10. Roll it Over

Rocktrospectiva: The Nice And Fair "Deluxe" Turns 30

"Deluxe" originally self-released by Better Than Ezra in 1993 and then re-released by Elektra on 28 February 1995, Deluxe an album full of beloved jangle-pop and fantastic nineties college radio sound spawned three singles "Good", "In the Blood" and "Rosealia." 

 

Better Than Ezra does not get the respect and airplay the band deserved, most people only know them from their one major hit song "Good" and "Rosealia" remember when both had huge airplay on the MTV (Alternative Nation, 120 Minutes and regular shows). hard to believe that even the band hasn't had the same attention since, they still recording and currently playing, they have recorded 8 studio albums so far, but unfortunately none of them on the same level as the iconical "Deluxe". 

 

A band that just wanted to play music like so many, they were tight, well produced and actually extremely talented. And this album was the proof of that, with their songs about teen problems, looking for love and southern life.

 

Now with the support of a major label "Elektra", the band re-released "Deluxe", since the beginning you can appreciate the vanquished vocals and semi.quirky guitar chords and sound on "Good", this track put the band on the spotlight and commenced to gained airplay on the MTV in the days when alternative music was on the top of the lists, a band that dare to do and sound different, they came from Louisiana and  it was rare for a rock band to mention the south without bleeding over into country, but no, this band was different,  they seemed to understand what life was like in the heat of the double-face south where people bless you when they didn't like you and where they ignored the problems just because if you ignored the issues, they simply didn’t exist.  

 

But the album wasn't only "Good", they had another great tracks just like " the gear-switching tempo of "In the Blood,", also the tempting pull of "Southern Girl.", and lovely indie ballad "Rosealia", "Teenager" a song about the things teens face everyday, something still the same 30 years later, "Cry In The Sun" a beautiful song with a certain Neil Young background, "Porcelain", a brilliant track with backing vocals from Melanie Owenhere, and the bonus track "Der Pork Und Beans", even when certain critics considered the album a total flat. The songs on the track are deeply introspective with tunes covering darkness within people to domestic abuse, to the temptations that teens are faced with on a daily basis.   Kevin Griffin, Tom Drummond and Drummer Cary Bonnecaze seemed to be fit to create this interesting album. 

 

Deluxe Track List: 

 

1. In The Blood

2. Good

3. Southern Girl

4. The Killer Inside

5. Rosealia

6. Cry In The Sun 

7. Teenager

8. 

9. Summerhouse

10. Porcelain

11. Heaven

12. This Time Of The Year

13. Coyote

In Memoriam: Legendary Actor "Gene Hackman" And His Wife Found Dead

Legendary and Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog have been found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said: "On 26 February, 2025, at approximately 1:45pm, Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to an address on Old Sunset Trail in Hyde Park where Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and a dog were found deceased." "This is an active investigation - however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.

Hackman was 95, and his wife - a classical pianist - 63.

In a wide-ranging career spanning more than six decades, Hackman won two Academy Awards for his work on iconical films such as The French Connection and Unforgiven.

He won the best actor Oscar for his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in William Friedkin's 1971 thriller The French Connection, and another for best supporting actor for playing Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven in 1992.

A relative latecomer to Hollywood, Hackman's breathrough came in his thirties, when he was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde - opposite Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway - and again for I Never Sang for My Father in 1970. Both films saw him recognised in the supporting actor category. He was also nominated for best leading actor in 1988 for playing the agent in Mississippi Burning.

Hackman played more than 100 roles in total, including supervillain Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies in the 1970s and 1980s. Hackman acted opposite many Hollywood heavyweights including Al Pacino in 1973's Scarecrow, Gene Wilder in 1974's Young Frankenstein and Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton in 1981's Reds. He also starred in the hit movies Runaway Jury, Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.

As well as his Oscar wins, Hackman also collected two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He took a comedic turn playing a conservative senator in 1996's The Birdcage alongside Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, who starred as a gay couple. His last big-screen appearance came as Monroe Cole in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004, after which he stepped back from Hollywood for a quieter life in New Mexico.

Born in California in 1930, Hackman's family moved frequently, and after lying about his age at 16, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps serving for four-and-a-half years. He was stationed in China, Hawaii and Japan before being discharged in 1951. Following his military service, Hackman lived and worked in a variety jobs in New York, and studied journalism and television production at the University of Illinois, before deciding to drop out and move back to California to pursue his childhood acting dream.

He joined the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where he befriended a young Dustin Hoffman. "I suppose I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about 10, maybe even younger than that," Hackman once said. "Recollections of early movies that I had seen and actors that I admired like James Cagney, Errol Flynn, those kind of romantic action guys. "When I saw those actors, I felt I could do that. But I was in New York for about eight years before I had a job. I sold ladies shoes, polished leather furniture, drove a truck. "I think that if you have it in you and you want it bad enough, you can do it."

Hackman moved back to New York in 1963, performing in Off-Broadway productions - including at the Music Box Theatre for the comedy Any Wednesday - and smaller TV roles. But he began to really make his name in the 1970s, becoming a leading man as New York City detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection. From then on he became a fixture on the big screen in the likes of 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure.

He also appeared in Children From Their Games at the former Morosco Theatre, Poor Richard at Helen Hayes Theatre and The Natural Look at Longacre Theatre, before later returning in 1992 to perform Death And The Maiden at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

Hackman and his first wife, Faye Maltese, were together for 30 years and raised three children before getting divorced in 1986. In his later years, he and his second wife, Betsy stayed out of the spotlight, but made a rare public appearance together at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, where he won the Cecil B. deMille award.

In 2008 he told Reuters that despite the lack of any official announcement, he was "not going to act any longer". He also explained he was focusing his attentions away from the big screen and towards his quieter, calmer passion for writing novels. "I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press," he once said.

New Music: Mr. Apples

           

Madness releaser their first single after a three-year hiatus, yes they are back with "Mr Apples" taken from their forthcoming new album "Can't Touch Us Now" recorded at Toe Rag Studios in east London, the album is the follow-up to 2012’s Top 10 album Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da, and was produced by Clive Langer and Liam Watson, The madcap video, directed by Chris Foreman and Jim Canty, plays out as a conversation between frontman Suggs and the eponymous protagonist, Mr Apples. Now the video takes us on a journey through two-worlds; one of a Sunday-devout religious man, the other being a pious, small-time gambler on the perennial search of a good night out. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Astonishing "To Bring You My Love" Turns 30

Released on 27 February 1995 "To Bring You My Love" was the third studio album by English indie rock artists PJ Harvey, the album came after the break-up of the PJ Harvey Trio, so practically this is considered her first proper solo album, heavily influenced by US blues music, the album spawned three singles "Down By The Water", "C'mon Billy" & "Send His Love To Me".  

 

Harvey co-produced the record with Flood and John Parish and the music on the album was played largely by Harvey and Parish, with contributions from seasoned musicians Joe Gore, Mick Harvey, Jean-Marc Butty, and others. The album is considered to be Harvey's breakthrough, gained hed massive critical acclaim worldwide becoming her best-selling studio album, and the single "Down By The Water" received extensive airplay on radio and MTV.

 

After releasing two studio albums and a compilation in less than two years, she kept a low profile for most of the year. Made only one public appearance in 1994. So she used the royalties that she had received from her first two studio albums, she bought a house in rural England close to her parents' home in Yeovil. So living in near isolation, she began writing the songs that would appear on To Bring You My Love.

 

The tone and sound of the songs on To Bring You My Love differ somewhat from what Harvey had presented on her earlier albums. She changed the aggressive style onto something more reflexive about the loss or departed lover, also many of the songs emplys biblical imagery as Heaven, God, and Jesus Christ, despite she was not a religious person, only two songs "Meet Ze Monsta" and "Long Snake Moan" the rest of the album is practically softer than her previous two albums. 

 

In music terms, the album seems to be more complicated than her first two albums, using two guitar parts by Harvey and Parish, the acoustic guitars and strings arrangementes can be heard throughout the whole album, bells, chimes, and a vibraphone add to the atmosphere of the recording. Keyboards and organ are also used extensively, a result of much of the album being composed on a Yamaha keyboard the artist bought second-hand, the deep rumbling organ tones provide many of the lower notes on the album, replacing traditional basslines.

 

The album received a heavy promotional push from Island Records, extensive MTV rotation and college radio airplay especially for the first single "Down by the Water" an infanticide fable with a Maria Mochnacz-directed music video of Harvey drowning in an emerald pond while wearing an extravagant wig, heavy make-up and a slinky red satin evening gown, gave Harvey her biggest radio hit to date, reaching number two on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and the album itself debuted at number 40 on the Billboard 200, in the UK the album peaked No. 12, the other single "C'mon Billy" a song about a woman begging for 'Billy' to come home and meet his son, had a moderately airplay only peaked at No., 29 and finally "Send His Love To Me", but also fails to achieved the same impact as the first single. 

 

Nevertheless the critical response was overwhelmingly positive, praising the record as an astonishing thing, full of threat and an imagery between Siouxsie and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds. 

 

Down By The Water Track List:  

1. To Bring You My Love

2. Meet Ze Monsta

3. Working For The Man

4. C'mon Billy

5. Teclo

6. Long Snake Moan

7. Down By The Water 

8. I Think I'm A Mother

9. Send His Love To Me

10. The Dancer

In Memoriam: Actress "Michelle Trachtenberg" Dies At 39

Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress who rose to fame as a child star in the 1990s and 2000s, has died aged 39. The Police in Manhattan said they responded to an emergency call on Wednesday morning, and found Trachtenberg "unconscious and unresponsive". She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her family's representatives confirmed her death in a statement: "It is with great sadness to confirm that Michelle Trachtenberg has passed away. The family requests privacy for their loss," 

Authorities said her death was not being treated as suspicious, no criminality is suspected. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation remains ongoing at this time, according to the NYPD statement.

The actress was best known for playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer's younger sister Dawn Summers, and later took on the role of manipulative socialite Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl. Trachtenberg made her film debut in Harriet the Spy in 1996, and she appeared in several Nickelodeon productions. 

Trachtenberg got her start in acting at age nine on the Nickelodeon television series "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" early in the 90s, by the early 2000s., she was nominated for several acting awards - including a Daytime Emmy Award - for her role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She also starred in films including EuroTrip, Ice Princess, Killing Kennedy, and Sister Cities.

Trachtenberg first appeared in Gossip Girl in 2008. She returned to the role for two episodes of the second season of HBO Max's reboot in 2023. Her last major acting role was in 2021 as the host of a true-crime docuseries Meet, Marry, Murder, which appeared on digital streamer Tubi.

New Music: Still Dancing

           

The iconic Billy Idol has announced a new album, Dream Into It, arriving April 25th. also he shares the lead single of the album "Still Dancing", The autobiographical song calls back to one of Idol’s biggest hits ("Dancing With Myself") and charts his musical journey, from humble punk roots to rockstar status. That’s reflected in the music, which channels the sound of Idol's '80s heyday with its throwback production, surging guitars, and huge chorus hook. At the start of the song I’m recalling the early times in London, when I was living in squats or at friends' apartments, all my belongings in a plastic bag," said Idol in a press release. "Everybody at home or work told you what you were doing was never going to happen. But punk rock gave me an opening. I was surrounded by people who loved the music as deeply as I did and you were going to throw caution to the wind, believe in what you were doing and grab on for dear life."Still Dancing" serves as the closing track on Dream Into It — Idol’s first full-length studio album since 2014. The LP spans nine songs and features guest appearances by Avril Lavigne, Joan Jett, and Alison Mosshart of The Kills.

New Music: A Drop In The Ocean

           

Doves shares their final album preview single "A Drop In The Ocean" with a fantastic video the Hington Studios. About the single, Andy Williams explained: It's a song about us being insignificant, which can be helpful to remember when you're going through a tough time, "IA problem can be so big in your head," he continues," but it can be comforting to remember how small we are in the grand scheme of things.

New Music: What Do I Know

           

Deep Sea Diver is sharing the single "What Do I Know," a new offering from Billboard Heart, the band's new album, out this Friday, February 28th, 2025 worldwide on Sub Pop. Dobson says of the song and video, "What Do I Know" holds a special place on the record. It is the first song that I engineered all of the instruments myself at my home studio. At the time, I thought I was recording a demo and most of the parts are first takes. We kept all of the imperfections, and nothing was overthought. For the music video, we wanted to lean into that same spirit and gave ourselves only a few hours to film in a very small space. The song is equally existential as it is tongue in cheek, and we wanted the video to reflect more of the raw elements of who we are as a band." The video for the single stars the band, and is directed by Eric Luck and Deep Sea Dive'’s Peter Mansen.

Rocktrospectiva: The Formidable "The House Of Love/The Butterfly Album" Turns 35

Released on 26 February 1990 "The House Of Love" or "The Butterfly Album" was the second studio album by the British alternative rock band the House of Love. It should not be confused with the band's debut album, which is also called The House of Love. It is generally referred to either as Fontana (after the record label it was issued on) or The Butterfly Album (after Trevor Key's sleeve art). The album spawned four singles "Never", "I Don't Know Wny I Love You", "Shine On", & "Beatles And The Stones". 

The recording and mixing of The House of Love was beset with problems, with the band members distracted by hedonism, ego and indecision. Band's leader Guy Chadwick would later comment "we really needed guidance at that crucial point. Most groups just go nuts. It's like this huge trolley full of booze being placed in front of you. With a whiff of success, people change towards you. We were taking too many drugs, I was drinking ridiculously and that's the worst combination when things are going wrong."

As opposed to the recording of the debut album (which had only taken one week, despite a protracted and argumentative mixing period afterwards), the new recordings were spread out over two years in multiple studios and would involve the work of four different producers (Dave Meegan, Paul Staveley O'Duffy, Stephen Hague and Tim Palmer) as well as production involvement by the band members themselves. 

The band would find themselves at odds with their A&R man Dave Bates, who saw the band as generators of hit singles and who had selected the album producers (whom Chadwick deemed "quite obviously wrong for us") as well as commissioning remixes which the band loathed and had not authorised.

During the slow and argumentative recording process, The House of Love's rhythm section Chris Groothuizen and Pete Evans would moonlight as members of a separate band. More seriously affected was lead guitarist Terry Bickers, an introverted character who was already unhappy with the implications of the band's deal with Fontana. Bickers would retreat into manic depression as his relationship with Chadwick deteriorated into a non-speaking one in which the two were more likely to communicate by post rather than have a face-to-face conversation. Following the completion of the album, Bickers would acrimoniously quit The House of Love during the early days of the sixty-date promotional tour. A couple of years later he would comment "I just found at the time that I didn't have the same aspirations as the rest of the band. I was more into exploring music than exploring the exploitation of markets around the globe.

The album generated four nice and brilliant singles. The first of these was "Never" (issued against the band's wishes) which stalled at number 41 on the UK Singles Chart on release in 1989, as did the November follow-up "I Don't Know Why I Love You" (although the latter would achieve greater success as a Radio 1 Single of the Week and in reaching number 2 on the Modern Rock chart in the US). The third single was a re-recording of the band's debut single "Shine On", which became the band's biggest and best-known British hit (reaching number 20). The last of the four was "The Beatles and the Stones", which reached number 36. 

Another good highlight is "The Hedonist," is turned from a light acoustic number into a evocative modern blues. Another, "Blind," is changed very little, its simple fragility still holding a soft sway. Everything else is new and quite often stunning, building on the combination of power and emotion from the first album perfectly. "I Don't Know Why I Love You" remains the group's definitive single, three and a half minutes of romantic angst matched by a fiery, perfectly arranged performance. Althought for me it was "Shine On", another good one "Beatles and the Stones," far from being a nostalgia piece, refers to the bands in question as making it good to be alone, with a rich, melancholic acoustic performance to boot. another fiery performances on songs are "32nd Floor" or "In a Room" and the result here was a definitely a true lost classic. 

 

The House Of Love Track List: 

 

1. Hannah

2. Shine On

3. Beatles And The Stones

4. Shake And Crawl

5. Hedonist

6. I Don't Know Why I Love You

7. Never

8. Someone's Got To Love You

9. In A Room

10. Blind

11. 32nd Floor

12. Se Dest 

New Music: The Hero

           

The NYC electronic duo The Knocks and Canadian dance-pop diva Dragonette have revealed the second single of their collaborative work entitled "The Hero", this brand new single once again deliver a match made in synth-pop heaven that take us to one of those 1980s ballads. This collaboration is a follow-up to The Knocks & Dragonette's 2019 GRAMMY-nominated single "Slow Song." Dragonette's Martina added: "This song is about the banality of how a relationship can turn cold. When it’s not a dramatic explosion of betrayal or strong emotions that crash together. It's about finding yourself in the midst of something else, unseen and unknowable making the question "is this working” hard to answer". The video presentes the singer and to make the trip even more nostalgic, there is the MTV look-a-like video identification too.

New Music: Jansport Backpack

           

Sparks is on fire, the duo is sharing now their brand new single "JanSport Backpack", sure I do remember those backpacks, back in the day, but the song a quirky pop track is about fading love as remembered through a faithful, but worn-down, backpack, now that's pretty original. Sparks brand new album "MAD!"will be out on 23rd. May.

Rocktrospectiva: The Emotional, Honest And Brutal "Songs From The Big Chair" Turns 40

Released on 25 February 1985 "Songs From The Big Chair" was the second studio album by English band Tears For Fears. A follow-up to the band's successful debut album, The Hurting (1983), Songs from the Big Chair was a significant departure from that album's dark, introspective synth-pop, featuring a more mainstream, guitar-based pop rock sound, sophisticated production values and diverse stylistic influences, while Roland Orzabal and Ian Stanley's lyrics displayed socially and politically conscious themes.

The album peaked at number two in the UK and at number one in the U.S., becoming a multi-platinum seller and the band's most successful studio album to date. Spawning five singles "Mothers Talk", "Shout", "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", "Head Over Heels" & "I Believe"

The singles "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" both topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart, while "Head over Heels", "Mothers Talk" and a live version of "I Believe" were also successful internationally.

The album was to be titled The Working Hour, but Roland Orzabal thought to change it to Songs from the Big Chair, a title derived from the 1976 American television film Sybil about a woman with multiple personality disorder who only feels safe when sitting in her analyst's "big chair." The title reflects the band's opinion that they were the targets of a hostile British music press. The band started to generate new material around the beginning of 1984. The first song written for the album was "Head over Heels", which the band played live during a tour undertaken between the two studio albums.

Recorded at The Wool Hall in 1984. Conceptually and musically, it further developed the band's sound from the previous studio album The Hurting (1983), reintroducing guitars to their electronic sound and imparting a lighter approach overall. Early songs written for the album included "Head over Heels" and "The Working Hour". "Mothers Talk" was released months before the album as a single. These songs, as well as "We Are Broken", were all performed on the Tears for Fears 1983 tour. The song "Shout" became a central work during the recording of the album, and the band and producer Chris Hughes spent months working on the track.

The album utilises many styles and influences, and progressive rock was cited as a primary influence on the album. "I Believe" was influenced by the songwriting of Robert Wyatt. "Broken" is a reworking of an earlier song and a live version is repeated at the end of "Head over Heels". The largely instrumental "Listen" has been described as a symphonic piece. Lyrically, the psychological themes on The Hurting were continued and extended to include a variety of themes such as politics, war, money and love.

Near the end of the completion of the album, Roland Orzabal played two simple chords on his acoustic guitar that formed the foundation of the song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". Although he was initially not interested in working on it, Orzabal was convinced to write a song based on the two chords and he added the chorus line. The song was completed in about a week and was the last track recorded for the album. 

The album also heralded a dramatic maturation in the band's music, away from the synth-pop brand  and moving towards a complex, enveloping pop sophistication. The songwriting of Orzabal, Smith, and keyboardist Ian Stanley took a huge leap forward, drawing on reserves of palpable emotion and lovely, protracted melodies that draw just as much on soul and R&B music as they do on immediate pop hooks, almost be called pseudo-conceptual, as each song holds its place and each is integral to the overall tapestry, a single-minded resolve that is easy to overlook when an album is as commercially successful as Songs from the Big Chair. 

It was not only a commercial triumph, it was an artistic tour de force. No doubt with the single "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," Tears for Fears perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic making the album one of the finest statements of the decade.

The critics called the album a calculated and brilliant peak, a quintessence of polished pop putty ... perfect at its shimmering surface, worthless to its craven core. Compared with the band's debut, this one has been crafted as a new masterpiece with softer, smoky vocals, more tempting melodies and less abrasive rhythms.

 

Songs From The Big Chair Track List: 

 

1. Shout

2. The Working Hour

3. Everybody Wants To Rule The World

4. Mothers Talk

5. I Believe

6. Broken

7. Head Over Heels/Broken (live) reprise

8. Listen

Rocktrospectiva: The Charming And Shiny "Submarine Bells" Turns 35

Released on February 1990 "Submarine Bells" was the New Zealand band The Chills first album on a major label, as Martin Phillipps signed to Warner Bros. Records subsidiary Slash Records, to release the album in the U.S. 

The album reached No. 1 on the New Zealand album charts and had significant support from US college radio. The album was awarded gold status in New Zealand and represents the peak of the Chills' popularity at home, and also is considered to be one of the defining albums of the Dunedin sound, the album spawned three singles "Heavenly Pop Hit", "Part Past Part Fiction", & "The Oncoming Day".

The Chills released their debut studio album Brave Words in 1987; they had relocated to London earlier in the year, they signed to independent label Slash Records and major label Warner Bros. Records. Upon returning to London in early 1989, the band started working with Gary Smith for their next album Submarine Bells.

The Chills’ sound, were a sort of jangle pop &  indie pop fount with tangible if savvy nods to the 1960s, is well-suited for vehicular absorption. Beginning with one of the band’s signature tunes, “Heavenly Pop Hit", no doubt deepened this first good impression on may, peaking at No. 2 on New Zealand singles chart, also it snuck into the UK singles sales list at No. 97 and even made the Alternative Airplay chart in the US at No. 17., not a bad thing indeed.

But in breaking through to a wider audience, Submarine Bells brightened The Chills’ sound, but it otherwise made no major alterations to an approach that was already amongst the very best in the pop-rock biz. Instrumentally sharp, the keyboards of Andrew Todd broaden Phillipps’ jangle foundation as the rhythm team of bassist Justin Harwood and drummer James Stephenson knew exactly how much weight to give each of the compositions, which launch from a classique foundation but with an utter avoidance of cliché. Phillipps’ distinctive vocals bring it all together, and to often exquisite result.

Other record's highpoint is its concluding title track, but in "The Oncoming Day" the playing gets quite energetic, and later, in "Familiarity Breeds Contempt," becomes borderline raucous, while "Singing in My Sleep" offers an infusion of tremolo rather than jangle. But it’s the sweet beauty moves, like the organ strains in "Dead Web" and the piano and strum of "Don’t Be – Memory," that help to secure Submarine Bells as a masterpiece. "Effloresce And Deliquesce" should be a tipoff to Phillipps’ disinterest in merely revamping standard subject matter and of course the good and decent one "Part Past Part Fiction". 

The critics were favorable especially with the splendorous title track "Heavenly Pop Hit", and many other individual tracks, but chiefly praised the album for its overall cohesion and consistency – signs of the Chills' evolution from "a first-rate singles band" to a fully formed artistic venture with a "mature, restrained and affectingly personal approach" also consider the album as a whole big thing, peaking on the culmination of the Dunedin sound. 

 

Submarine Bells Track List: 

1. Heavenly Pop Hit

2. Tied Up In Chain

3. The Oncoming Day

4. Part Past Part Fiction

5. Singing In My Sleep

6. I Soar

7. Dead Web

8. Familiarity Breeds Contempt

9. Don't Be – Memory

10. Effloresce And Deliquesce

11. Sweet Times

12. Submarine Bells 

New Music: No Front Teeth

           

Perfume Genius join forces with Aldous Harding on his new single "No Front Teeth" a track full of tension which is bolstered by time changes throughout the song and the haunting, ethereal chorus driven by Harding’s vocals. The video is directed by Cody Critcheloe and is a fever dream-unhinged, sexually charged, hilarious and riveting, leaving the viewer questioning what is real and what is an aberration.

In Memoriam: R&B Singer "Robert Flack" Dies At 88

The pop/R&B legend, the vocalist Roberta Flack, who reached stardom in the early ’70s thanks her hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song," has died, according to a statement from her representant. No cause of death was cited; Roberta was 88.

“We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” the statement reads. “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.”

The classically trained singer-pianist only belatedly found fame when Clint Eastwood employed her 2-year-old version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in his 1971 directorial debut "Play Misty for Me."

That No. 1 pop was succeeded by a second chart-topper, 1973’s "Killing Me Softly." Both performances were acknowledged in back-to-back years with Grammys as record of the year – somehthing that wasn't duplicated until U2 captured the same award in 2001-02.

She reached her peak with the 1974 pop and R&B smash "Where Is the Love," which claimed the apex of both charts. In all, her, slow-burning style brought her six top-10 pop hits and 10 top-10 R&B singles, some of them in partnership with vocalist Donny Hathaway.

Roberta Flack was, in many ways, the perfect soul act of the early '70s. Her pretty, sensuous ballads appealed to the Burt Bacharach/5th Dimension crowd, while her shimmering keyboards and flawless diction made her the poster child of the penthouse soul crowd. Even though her chart presence faded at the close of the '70s, Flack continued to record into the new millennium; her last album, the Beatles recital “Let It Be Roberta,” was released in 2012.

Born to a musical family in Black Mountain, N.C., Flack was inspired as a girl by the gospel work of Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke. He began studying piano at the age of 9; something of a musical prodigy, she entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., at 15 on a full scholarship.

Her graduate work was cut short by her father's death, and she taught school in North Carolina and the District of Columbia. She also began work as a nightspot performer in D.C.; a fateful engagement at the club Mr. Henry's was attended by jazz pianist Les McCann, then a crossover star at Atlantic Records. McCann brought Flack to the attention of the label, which signed her in 1968.

Then in 1969, her Joel Dorn-produced debut "First Take" didn’t catch fire. However, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Fac" — a ballad composed by English folksinger Ewan MacColl and cut by the American folk-pop act the Kingston Trio in 1962 — supplied popular liftoff for Flack after Eastwood used it behind a love scene in his thriller "Play Misty for Me."

Flack had already garnered a No. 8 R&B hit with her version of James Taylor’s "You've Got a Friend," but "The First Time" became a No. 1 pop ubiquity, and pushed "First Take" to No. 1 for five weeks. In January 1973, it collected the record of the year Grammy.

Almost simultaneously, "Where Is the Love," was Flack’s second pairing with the similarly subdued and sensuous soul singer Hathaway, reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 5 on the pop list. Flack reached the height of her popularity among both the public and her peers with "Killing Me Softly." Penned by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, the number was inspired by singer Lori Lieberman’s reaction to a performance by pop folkie Don McLean. Lieberman's 1971 recording of the tune failed to chart, but Flack quickly recorded it after hearing it during an airline flight to New York.

Produced by Dorn, Flack’' lustrous version shot to No. 1 on the pop chart and No. 2 on the R&B charts in early 1973; the "Killing Me Softly" album peaked at No. 3 and went double platinum. The song was named record of the year and best female pop vocal performance at the 1974 Grammys ceremony, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The Fugees' 1996 cover, featuring vocals by future Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, was also a No. 1 R&B hit.

Flack continued to log chart hits through the '70s, topping herself with the double-barreled pop and R&B No. 1 single "Feel Like Making Love" in 1974. She also notched another chart-topping pop single, "The Closer I Get to You," with Hathaway in 1978.

However, that teaming was tragically sundered by Hathaway's suicide in January 1979; the duet "Back Together Again," issued posthumously in 1980, reached No. 8. Her subsequent pairing with vocalist Peabo Bryson yielded a No. 5 R&B single, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," in 1983.

Flack's adult contemporary-oriented sound waned in popularity in the late '70s, as listeners increasingly gravitated to the harder sounds of funk, rap and hip-hop. Her final top-10 album, "Blue Lights in the Basement" No. 8, was issued in 1978. Her last major pop singles were the Burt Bacharach-penned movie theme "Making Love" was No. 13, 1982 and "Set the Night to Music," a fantastic duet with reggae singer Maxi Priest was No. 6, 1991.

Nominated a total of 13 times, she received her last Grammy nod in 1995, for best traditional pop vocal performance, for "Roberta," on which she essayed the standard songbook. Flack, who was divorced from Stephen Novosel in 1972, was predeceased by her son Bernard Wright, who died in 2022.

Rocktrospectiva: The Smart-Futuristic "The Race For Space" Turns 10

Released on 23 February 2015 "The Race For Space" was the second studio album by British alternative group Public Service Broadcasting. Working with sound samples from the British Film Institute, the album relives the story of the American and Soviet space race from 1957–1972. The opening track features the speech by John F. Kennedy on 12 September 1962 at Rice University. 

The album reached number 11 in the UK chart and number 1 in the UK Indie Albums Chart the week following its release. The vinyl edition was the 5th highest selling record of 2015 in the UK. The album spawned three singles "Go!", "The Other Side" & "Sputnik EP".

Public Service Broadcasting is the innovative work of Londoners J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth. With a clever way to combined looped dance beats and electronics with spoken-word passages culled from old public-service messages, synced to meticulously edited film footage projected while they perform. The album incorporate original news broadcasts and communications between the astronauts and NASA's master control. 

From song to song, this tapestry of source material narrates each chapter chronologically, placing the listener inside the drama of the moment — propelled by futuristic tunes that reminds a weirdo combination between Kraftwerk, space rock and Daft Punk.

The album opens with a mood-altering choral overture and JFK's inspirational speech as a haunting invocation. "Space is there, and we're going to climb it. And the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there," Kennedy says, as a soaring choir gives every line extra resonance. The duo crafts tiny instrumental flourishes that illuminate the story. "Sputnik" includes the distant yet unmistakable bleeping of a satellite. In "Valentina," chiming wordless voices from folk duo Smoke Fairies honor cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space. And the somber celestial silence in "Fire In The Cockpit" recounts the deaths of Apollo 1's three crew members.

The exuberant "Gagarin," which bursts with slinky disco riffs and funked-up horn blasts while playing reports about cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. Meanwhile, "Go!" channels fiery, motorik beats, intricate guitar licks and early 80s., ynths as the Apollo 11 team counts down before landing on the moon — a moment punctuated by Neil Armstrong's famous line, "The Eagle has landed."

"The Other Side," might be the key moment, is about Apollo 8 slingshotting itself around the dark side of the moon. Again, Public Service Broadcasting demonstrates its masterful touch for storytelling when the dusty drum machines momentarily drop out — just as the astronauts lose contact with NASA ground control. The song builds anxiety and tension as we sit nervously for what feels like an eternity — and then swells to a joyful release when the voices from space finally reconnect.

Public Service Broadcasting fittingly closes with "Tomorrow," a melancholic and meditative final statement that admires how far we've come. Decades later, all this can seem like far-off history. But Willgoose and Wrigglesworth's ambitious concept music allows listeners to rekindle that same wonder again. Space still has the capacity to captivate.

The album met with largely positive reviews from music critics. Most reviews praised the band's choice of theme and commented heavily on the album's use of tone and instrumentation to depict certain events in the space race. While most critics unanimously praised upbeat tracks such as "Gagarin" and "The Other Side", they were somewhat divided on other tracks on the album, such as "Fire in the Cockpit" and "Valentina", which drew, if any, minor criticism. Critics also believed that The Race for Space had elevated the band from a "novelty act", and praised the album as a concept album that improves on its predecessor. 

 

The Race For Space Track List: 

 

1. The Race For Space

2. Sputnik

3. Gagarin

4. Fire In The Cockpit

5. E.V.A.

6. The Other Side

7. Valentina 

8. Go!

9. Tomorrow

Rocktrospectiva: The Vital And Influential "In The Dark" Turns 45

Released on 22 February 1980 "In The Dark" was the debut studio album by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). Recorded at the group's Liverpool studio, it showcased their minimal synth-pop style and peaked at number 27 on the UK Albums Chart. "Electricity" and "Red Frame/White Light" were released as singles; a re-recorded version of "Messages" provided OMD with their first hit in the UK, reaching number 13.

Much of the album's content centres around war themes, with OMD exploring "the lengths to which people would go in a situation beyond the norm". The band expressed dissatisfaction with their production efforts on the album, although frontman Andy McCluskey later came to appreciate its "naivety". 

Rather than hire studio time to record the album, OMD co-founders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys used their advance payment from Dindisc to build their own Liverpool recording studio, The Gramophone Suite. The duo predicted they would be dropped by the label due to disappointing sales, but would at least own a studio. McCluskey and Humphreys used cheaply-acquired instruments, as well as the low-end Korg M500 Micro-Preset (which had been paid for in many instalments).Their studio incurred leakage when the lead covering was stolen from its roof, and so McCluskey had to record his vocals under an umbrella.

Dindisc scheduled the album for release in February 1980, allowing three weeks for recording under the supervision of manager Paul Collister. The included tracks were composed during the previous four years: "Electricity" (McCluskey and Humphreys' first ever composition), "Julia's Song" and "The Misunderstanding" were holdovers from OMD precursor outfit the Id. A version of "Electricity" had been issued as OMD's debut single in 1979, and featured an early take of "Almost" as its B-side.

McCluskey and Humphreys had to write two final songs, "Pretending to See the Future" and "The Messerschmitt Twins", "off the top of their heads" in order to complete the tracklist. Much of the content centres around war themes; McCluskey noted that the band were exploring "the lengths to which people would go in a situation beyond the norm".

Still generally a duo performing alongside a TEAC 4-track tape recorder christened "Winston", OMD enlisted Martin Cooper and Malcolm Holmes. The latter had performed with McCluskey and Humphreys in the Id (both musicians would become full-time band members the following year). Cooper played saxophone on "Mystereality", while Holmes supplied percussion on "Julia's Song"; Dave Fairbairn played guitar on this track, as well as on "Messages". Kraftwerk, Neu! and Brian Eno served as key musical influences on the album, which showcased OMD's minimal synth-pop style.

The Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark sleeve was created by graphic designer Peter Saville and interior designer Ben Kelly, based on a door conceived by Kelly. It featured a die-cut grid through which the orange inner sleeve was visible. Saville and Kelly won a Designers and Art Directors Award for their work. McCluskey has praised the artwork, saying in 2019, "To this day, I think half the people bought [the album] for the Peter Saville sleeve."

Th reviews of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were favourable, depicting the fine and different their melodies can be, how detailed and distinctive their song structures. It's much more varied and surprising, often exhilarating and always captivating, than dissenters claim this stuff can be. Also praising the band to be the most inventive of all the new Mersey side bands, still today is considered and odd album from an odd duo with strange and intriguing electronic excursion, the album was hailed as a superior record within the contemporary synth-pop movement. 

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark was a formative influence on electronic group Depeche Mode. Moby named the "phenomenal" album as an inspiration, while physicist/musician Brian Cox cited it as a major influence and a personal favourite. LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy "constantly" listened to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and follow-up Organisation, during the making of This Is Happening (2010). 

 

In The Dark Track List: 

 

1. Bunker Soldiers

2. Almost

3. Mystereality

4. Electricity

5. The Messerschmitt Twins

6. Messages

7. Julia's Song

8. Red Frame/White Light

9. Dancing (Instrumental)

10. Pretending To See The Future

New Music Ariel

           

The Horrors shares their new single, the goth-atmosphere "Ariel" from their sixth album "Night Life", featuring a reformed lineup because it's their first album without all five original members, the album has nine tracks, and this is a band-favourite, because, it’s probably unlike any song we’ve written before, and kind of marks the beginning of a new chapter. We are always looking to explore new sonic territories and find new ways for the band to sound, it’s probably what we enjoy most about being in The Horrors. Ariel was very much a studio creation – we put a distortion-heavy demo down at home and started moulding it into something more subtle at Holy Mountain with Yves, the visuals are under direction of Sarah Piantadosi.

New Music: Big Ben Beat

           

Kim Deal has unveiled a new video for the single "Big Ben Beat" featured on her debut solo album "Nobody Loves You More", the track is full of industrial guitars and one of the most interestinh tracks on her new album, the video directed by the comedian and actor Richard Ayoade features Kim herself, alongside Savages drummer Fay Milton and Richard's own family, it paints a striking portrait of complex interpersonal dynamics. 

New Music: Hangman

           

The Nottingham-based quartet Divorce shares their latest single Hangman" ahead of their debut album release, the track delves into themes of judgment and societal scrutiny. Divorce have previously explored the human experience and the complexities of life through their music, and this new single fits right in, the single also encapsulates the band’s unique sound and their ability to tackle complex themes with authenticity. The video was shot by Tiger Cohen-Cowell

New Music: The Sign Of A Man

           

The Sign of Man is taken from the newly announced, eagerly awaited album reveal from The Moonlandingz, No Rocket Required, to be released by Transgressive Records.  Seven long years after their debut, The Moonlandingz have returned. Composed of Adrian Flanagan (Acid Klaus) and Dean Honer (who along with Flanagan are the Eccentronic Research Council) and Lias Saoudi (Decius, Fat White Family). This is a song about torpor unbound, about the relegation of love into need, about our failure to summon up "care"… this is a song about justice.

New Music: Love Is An Ocean

           

The synth wave heroes Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan aka The Midnight presents their brand new single "Love Is An Ocean" another danceable and reminiscing track so 80's flavored with a video courtesy by Amber Paredes and Jordan Soto.

New Music: It's Amazing To Be Young

           

The Irish band Fontaines D.C. are back with a brand new single "It's Amazing To Be Young", an emotional track who capture the confusion and frustration of youth but also the euphoria and a sense of overwhelming possibility in a cruel and mad world, the single also arrives with a music video directed by Luna Carmoon, that follows the development of a couple in love, both meets in a pharmacy where the giy picks up a prescription to heal a horrible black eye and then a sort of strange romance is ready and set when he met a girl, but that romance is disrupted by a grumpy mother who sent away her daughter to avoid the company of the guy, but not even this can separate both. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Ethereal Shimmering "Some Cities" Turns 20

Released on 21 February 2005, "Some Cities" was the third studio album by British band Doves, the album became the band's second consecutive album to top the UK Albums Chart at number 1. Some Cities was conceived as a rawer, stripped-down record, and conceptually touches upon the physical changes of the band's hometown of Manchester, as well as emotional transformations. The album spawned three singles "Black And White Town", "Snowden" and "Sky Starts Falling."

After the worldwide success of Doves' second album The Last Broadcast, the band decided to take a more "stripped-down" approach to recording Some Cities, which included decamping to rural locations in England, Scotland, and Wales. We were also wanting to make a few social comments about the area we lived in. There's a lot of subject matter on that album dealing with change. Buildings get ripped down and replaced by more generic ones. It kind of gave ourselves a bit of purpose to write about it. We also listened to a lot of Motown and Northern soul, and I think that came out in that album. It was a definite change.

In a February 2005 interview with The Irish Times, vocalist/bassist Jimi Goodwin said, "Jeff Barrett from our label, Heavenly, suggested we work with William and we were fine with that, we're always up for trying new stuff. But I think we expected too much from him. He was happy just to be in the studio with us because he hadn't worked with a band since Blur. His point was he was just recording what he was hearing. He wasn't doing anything that we wouldn't do ourselves normally and we put a lot of pressure on him almost to subvert us. He's a top guy, but it just didn't work." The band subsequently co-produced Some Cities with Ben Hillier, who also mixed the album except for "Some Cities" and "Walk in Fire", which were mixed by Rich Costey. 

Much of the recording occurred at a farmhouse in the English countryside over the course of 2004, except for closing track "Ambition", which was recorded in an empty Benedictine monastery in Scotland, which the band had found while doing a photo shoot for the album. The huge reverb effect was achieved using the acoustics of the main hall. 

The album received positive reviews, praising the album, calling it "an ethereal outpouring of emotion; melancholic madness meeting soul-soaring serendipity head on, praising that Doves have cultivated a better understanding of their strengths and limitations, and Some Cities beams with a revivified looseness.

 

Some Cities Track List:  

1. Some Cities

2. Black And White Town

3. Almost Forgot Myself

4. Snowden

5. The Storm

6. Walk In Fire

7. One Of These Days

8. Someday Soon

9. Shadows Of Salford

10. Sky Starts Falling

11. Ambition