Rocktrospectiva: The Dazzling And Carnivalesque "Rain Dogs" Turns 40

Released on 30 September 1985 "Rain Dogs" was the ninth studio album by US singer-songwriter Tom Waits, a conceptual album about "the urban dispossessed" of New York City, Rain Dogs is generally considered the middle album of a trilogy that includes Swordfishtrombones and Franks Wild Years, the album spawned three singles "Jockey Full Of  Bourbon", "Hang Down Your Head" and the iconical "Downtown Train" the aided the album to peak No. 29 in the UK and No. 199 in the USA, years later in 1989/1990, Rod Stewart covered the song and made it and international hit.  

 

The album, which features guitarists Keith Richards and Marc Ribot, is noted for its broad spectrum of musical styles and genres, described by Arion Berger as merging "outsider influences – socialist decadence by way of Kurt Weill, pre-rock integrity from old dirty blues, the elegiac melancholy of New Orleans funeral brass – into a singularly idiosyncratic American style.

 

Waits wrote the majority of the album in a two-month stint in the fall of 1984 in a basement room at the corner of Washington and Horatio Streets in Manhattan. According to Waits, it was, "kind of a rough area, Lower Manhattan between Canal and 14th Street, just about a block from the river ... It was a good place for me to work. Very quiet, except for the water coming through the pipes every now and then. Sort of like being in a vault."

 

In preparation for the album, Waits recorded street sounds and other ambient noises on a cassette recorder to get the sound of the city that would be the album's subject matter. A wide range of instruments was employed to achieve the album's sound, including marimba, accordion, double bass, trombone, and banjo, indeed the album is notable for its organic sound, and the natural means by which it was achieved. 

 

Waits, discussing his mistrust of then fashionable studio techniques, said, "If I want a sound, I usually feel better if I've chased it and killed it, skinned it and cooked it. Most things you can get with a button nowadays. So if I was trying for a certain drum sound, my engineer would say, 'Oh, for Christ's sake, why are we wasting our time? Let's just hit this little cup with a stick here, sample something (take a drum sound from another record) and make it bigger in the mix, don't worry about it.' I'd say, 'No, I would rather go in the bathroom and hit the door with a piece of two-by-four very hard.'"

 

Rain Dogs was the first time that Waits worked with guitarist Marc Ribot, who was impressed by Waits' unusual studio presence. Ribot said, "Rain Dogs was my first major label type recording, and I thought everybody made records the way Tom makes records. ... I've learned since that it's a very original and individual way of producing. As producer apart from himself as writer and singer and guitar player he brings in his ideas, but he's very open to sounds that suddenly and accidentally occur in the studio. I remember one verbal instruction being, 'Play it like a midget's bar mitzvah.'" Ribot also recalls how the band would not rehearse the songs before going to record; rather, Waits would play them the songs on an acoustic guitar in the studio. "He had this ratty old hollow body, and he would spell out the grooves. It wasn't a mechanical kind of recording at all. He has a very individual guitar style he sort of slaps the strings with his thumb ... He let me do what I heard, there was a lot of freedom. If it wasn't going in a direction he liked, he'd make suggestions. But there's damn few ideas I've had which haven't happened on the first or second take."

 

It also marks Waits' first recording with Keith Richards, who played on "Big Black Mariah", "Union Square" and "Blind Love". Waits said, "There was something in there that I thought he would understand. I picked out a couple of songs that I thought he would understand and he did. He's got a great voice and he's just a great spirit in the studio. He's very spontaneous, he moves like some kind of animal. I was trying to explain 'Big Black Mariah' and finally I started to move in a certain way and he said, 'Oh, why didn't you do that to begin with? Now I know what you're talking about.' It's like animal instinct." According to Barney Hoskyns, the album's general theme of "the urban dispossessed" was inspired in part by Martin Bell's 1984 documentary Streetwise, to which Waits had contributed music.

 

Though it has been remarked that the man on the cover bears a striking resemblance to Waits, the photograph is actually one of a series taken by the Swedish photographer Anders Petersen at Café Lehmitz (a café near the Hamburg red-light boulevard Reeperbahn) in the late 1960s. The man and woman depicted on the cover are called Rose and Lilly. 

 

The album has been regarded as one of the most important albums in Waits' career, continuing the new path which he forged Swordfishtrombones onwards, hailead as a romantic and carnivalesque masterpiece imbued with the avant-garde sound of New York, and whose lyrics might be the best in Waits career, also because every track seemed to be like a short-themed movie full of mystery and darkness. 

 

Rain Dogs Track List: 

 

1. Singapore

2. Clap Hands

3. Cemetery Polka 

4. Jockey Full Of Bourbon

5. Tango Till They're Sore

6. Big Black Mariah 

7. Dimaonds And Gold

8. Hang Down Your Head 

9. Time  

Rocktrospectiva: The Jesus And Mary Chain Classic "Just Like Honey" Turns 40

Released on this day 40 years ago, "Just Like Honey" was a song by the Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain from their 1985 debut album Psychocandy. The track was released as the third and final single from band's debut album, and turned into an important milestone in the development of the alternative rock subgenre of noise pop. 

 

The song was written by band members William Reid and Jim Reid. Drummer Bobby Gillespie quotes Hal Blaine's opening drum riff from The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" in the song's intro. The single peaked at No. 45 in the UK charts in 1985. 

 

The curios single/track began with an echoing solo drum beat lifted straight from Hal Blaine’s famous intro to the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." William Reid cranked a hollow-body guitar through a Japanese fuzz-wah pedal from the ‘70s. The Jesus and Mary Chain were famous for their guitar feedback, where the amplified sound from the guitar is picked up by the guitar itself and amplified again and again and again. 

 

Not a love song it all, it's more like anti love song but it has that weirdly beautiful and anti-pop yet pure pop at the same time, emboding the messiness, insecurity, and wounds, everything that really touch and hurts. 

 

The song has appeared in several films such as "The Man Who Loved Yngve", a Volkswagen ad, in an episode of American Horror Story, but the most notably appear is in the closing scene of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, a film that is considered a poetry in motion, and that's why it worked so well on this closing scene.

New Music: Words

           

Big Thief have released their new single "Words" taken from the band's latest album "Double Infinity" this time, the band have enlisted Adrianne Lenker's brother, Noah, to direct a video for their track. In the short, the band indulges in mystical activities—conjuring, transmogrifying, reading alphabetti spaghetti tea leaves—in various rural settings, using the power of words to unlock mysteries of the universe. This is Big Thief's first music video since 2017's "Mythological Beauty" not to be based on a live performance. Here, Noah Lenker reflects on it in a statement befitting the playful tone of the video itself: "The finite meanings of our words encompass the boundaries of how we perceive reality. Yet… there are times when cosmic bubbles breach through our spirit’s wellspring and issue forth other sensations—glimmers of possibilities, ineffable vastness, and mystagogic connectedness beyond the horizon where language dissolves. Do we wield words, or do our words wield us? And how may we reshape and shape anew words that will better aid us? Sometimes we must play with the letters of our alphabet soup, sometimes we must combust our pencils to then scribe novel glyphs of empowerment into the sands of time."

Books: Teenage Daydream "We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band"

An evocative coming of age story from one of the UK’s first ever female post-punk musicians. Debsey Wykes was the bass playing singer in the first all girl punk group Dolly Mixture. Thrown into the musky, misogynistic, male dominated world of the UK music industry in the late 1970s, they enjoyed unlikely #1 success alongside Captain Sensible of The Damned on1982’s even unlikelier cover version of ‘Happy Talk’, whilst fame and success on their own individual terms alluded them.

Debsey went onto greater prominence with Saint Etienne with who she has performed since 1992, whilst in 2025, desirable Dolly Mixture reissues sell out around the world as quickly as they are printed.

Featuring a cast of contemporary post-punk heroes – rom Paul Weller and the Jam (their first record label boss) to Madness and the Pogues – Teenage Daydream is a unique coming of age story of youthful ambition, enterprising DIY musical ethics and how an unlikely bunch of school-girl friends ended up on Top of the Pops in home made hula skirts.

Title: Teenage Daydream "We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band" 

Author: Debsey Wykes 

Language: English

Publisher: New Modern

Pages: 304 

New Music: Misery

           

Irish alt-rock trio NewDad have released a new video for their single "Misery", a cut from their second album "Altar", out now. The video for "Misery" was developed by creative partners Rory Mullen and Peter Eason Daniels. Frontwoman Julie Dawson elaborates on the track, saying: “It’s a song about how sometimes it’s easier to stay in a miserable and uncomfortable place rather than actually trying to make changes and improve your life. Basically it’s easier to mope rather than to fix things. Lyrically the drama is definitely heightened just because it felt like it had to be to match the energy of the song, I felt like I could have real fun with this one.”

New Music: One Of The Greats

           

Florence + the Machine released the single "One Of The Greats," a new song from Florence Welch’s forthcoming LP Everybody Scream, which is set for release on October 31.  Welch describes the song as a "long poem about the cost of greatness," a rumination on why she continues to pursue perfection despite past criticism and the personal toll of her creative process. The song was written in a single take with Mark Bowen of IDLES, with Welch singing the lyrics as he played guitar. The final version was elevated with the help of Aaron Dessner. "One Of The Greats" follows the album’s title track,  "Everybody Scream,". The video was directed again by Autumm De Wilde

Rocktrospectiva: The Acclaimed "You Could Have It So Much Better" Turns 20

Released on 28 September 2005 "You Could Have It So Much Better" was the second studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. The album spawned four UK top 30 singles: "Do You Want To", "The Fallen", "Walk Away" and "Eleanor Put Your Boots On."

The album became the band's first UK number-one album, and although their debut album was relatively successful in the United States, going platinum and reaching number 32, You Could Have It So Much Better managed to reach number 8 and earn gold status in the United States. The cover design is modeled on Alexander Rodchenko's 1924 portrait of Lilya Brik. It was produced by Rich Costey and Franz Ferdinand.

Initially it was reported that the album would simply be eponymous like the debut album, 2004's Franz Ferdinand. Singer Alex Kapranos explained, "The whole point is that the album doesn't have a title. We decided quite a while ago that we didn't want to give any of the albums titles, they were just going to be called 'Franz Ferdinand'."

He added, "The albums are going to be identified by their colour schemes rather than a title. The contrast of different colours creates a different mood. We experimented with different combinations of colours and this one stuck. At one level they looked good together, and they capture the mood of this record quite well." However, on 1 August it was revealed that the band had changed their minds and decided to give the album a name. The title was also initially reported as the lengthy You Could Have It So Much Better... With Franz Ferdinand. The album's cover art is inspired by the works of Alexander Rodchenko, the Russian avant-garde photographer and collage pioneer. In particular, the cover image is a direct copy of Rodchenko's of Lilya Brik.

Franz Ferdinand, like many was an effective singles band, "Do You Want To", the lead single from this album, was another real deal for the band, and they had the chance to kept on sounding like that across the length of this album: gleefully unselfconscious, increasingly glammy and trad-rock, and almost disturbingly amped-up, to the point where most of these songs feel like they're spewing confetti all over themselves, whether you feel like helping or not. Some stretches are packed with so many hooks and effortless swings and shifts and yowls that you might start to ignore them entirely.

Even thought this record was full of energetic twists and flourishes that don't quite make up for a lack of real, memorable songs, tracks like "Walk Away", "Eleanor Put Your Boots on", and "Fade Together", where the band key moments on this album, by these style-conscious art kids who played at the time to be a fine, entertaining pop band.

The album was the first chart topping album for both the band and their label, Domino Recording Company, in the UK. 

You Could Have It So Much Better received universal acclaim from music critics, praising the way the band showed working harder and sounding bigger, befitting their stature as rock's saviors of the moment", the album had deeper roots in the first wave of white electric dance music, also the band sounded exactly like the way listener and fans expected with pumping disco beats and lookin'-sharp guitars on track after propulsive track, and called it "so much better than its predecessor" thanks to Kapranos' "dubious sensitivity".

 

You Could Have It So Much Better Track List:  

 

1. The Fallen

2. Do You Want To

3. This Boy

4. Walk Away

5. Evil And Heathen

6. You're The Reason I'm Leaving

7. Eleanor Put Your Boots On

8. Wll That Was Easy

9. What You Meant

10. I'm Your Villain

11. You Could Have It So Much Better

12. Fade Together

13. Outsiders

New Music: Because

           

Julian Lennon is back, and his brand new song/single "Because" was a demo from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s—including his original back-bedroom vocals—brought to life again over the last year. The track it’s about many of the unpleasant relationships we find ourselves in & believing in karma, got a bit of 80's vibe in there, but still feels very contemporary, the video has been directed by Julian himself. 

New Music: Dracula

           

Kevin Parker aka Tame Impala has shared "Dracula," the third single from the forthcoming Tame Impala album Deadbeat. The new song comes with a music video directed by Julian Klincewicz, who helmed the visual for lead single “End of Summer." It’s kind of the oldest song from the album process. It’s kind of one of the ones I started first, Parker told about the track, that's, like, an example of one of the ones that started in this really raw, minimal way, and then just sort of, like, slowly expanded into this sort of, like, pop.” Deadbeat the new album is out October 17. 

Rocktrospectiva: The Challenging And Audacious "Washing Machine" Turns 30

Released on 26 September 1995 "Washing Machine" was the ninth studio album by the US experimental/indie rock band Sonic Youth. It was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and produced by the band and John Siket, who also engineered the band's previous two albums. The album features more open-ended pieces than its predecessors and contains some of the band's longest songs, including the 20-minute ballad "The Diamond Sea", which is the lengthiest track to feature on any of Sonic Youth's studio albums.The album spawned two singles "The Diamond Sea" & "Little Trouble Girl". 

Washing Machine reached No. 58 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 39 on the UK Albums Chart. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the band for exploring new challenges as well as the guitar playing of band members Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. 

The album was the follow-up to Sonic Youth's 1994 DGC album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. After Experimental Jet Set, the band decided to take a hiatus from performing live and concentrated on numerous side projects. Moore and Gordon also had their first child, Coco. According to Moore, their daughter had provided a different perspective for the band: "I'm more focused and level-headed. There's a sublime awareness factor of your spiritual place in the world. I feel more at ease with myself ... Babies are little Buddhas. They're completely great".

Washing Machine was recorded at Easley Studios in Memphis, where some indie rock bands like Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Grifters had previously recorded albums. Moore remarked that the atmosphere in Memphis helped them disconnect from the people who were constantly following the band. He also felt that Washing Machine was conceived and recorded like some of the band's first albums, stating that it "hearkens back to records like Sister where we'd write a bunch of songs, go into the studio for a month, put them down, then go on the road and play them for a year. By the end of the year they'd mutate into something much more excited". Gordon credited Memphis for its relaxed atmosphere and cited the album as one of her favorites.

The song "The Diamond Sea" was notable for its 19:35 duration. Moore explained the length of some of the album's songs: "We all have different aesthetics as to how songs should work. I generally push for a lot of abandon while some people in the group are more interested in truncating things. If I was the leader as much as people say I am, every song would be 20 minutes long". The unlisted ninth track, officially called "Becuz Coda", was originally part of the song "Becuz", but the record label felt they needed to cut the seven-and-a-half-minute track to make the album's opening more accessible. 

About the lyrics and unlike Experimental Jet Set, which was described as difficult and claustrophobic, Washing Machine is considerably more open-ended and contains some of the band's longest songs, except of course the final track, "The Diamond Sea", which was the lengthiest track on any Sonic Youth album. The song was edited down to 5:15 for release as a single, which included an alternate 25-minute version as an additional track. Washing Machine was the band's first album on which Gordon almost exclusively played guitar instead of bass, resulting in a three-guitar and drums lineup. Mostly of the songs were unfolded over even-tempered rhythms and guitars that linger rather than attack. A splatter of distortion may enter, but the effect is mostly languid and wonderfully hypnotic".  

Although Gordon's lyrics on Experimental Jet Set addressed gender roles and stereotypes, her contributions to Washing Machine were considered more feminine and girl-oriented. Tom Moon of Rolling Stone noted: "The title track is an odd, earnest love song; "Panty Lies" was a playground taunt blown to absurd extremes; and "Little Trouble Girl", was a dramatic, earnest coming-of-age story" and features vocals by Gordon and Kim Deal (of Pixies and the Breeders) along with other musicians. Gordon felt that Deal had an ideal voice for the melodic part and explained that the song was about "wanting to be seen for who you really are, being able to express those parts of yourself that aren't 'good girl' but that are just as real and true". Lee Ranaldo contributed two songs, "Saucer-Like" and "Skip Tracer". The latter was co-written with his wife Leah Singer, inspired by a performance that the couple attended of riot grrrl duo Mecca Normal. The song also alludes to the band's special relationship with a major label.  

The track "Junkie's Promise", sung by Moore, was described as a "heroin vignette", although it was originally interpreted as a tribute to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Moore explained that the song is only about the emotional relationship between friends, with one of them being a drug addict. According to him, "Any individual involved with drug addiction will lie to his friends for the self-serving need. It's the cruelest truth of the situation. Kurt may fit this profile and he was surely in my mind as I wrote but the song is not a specific dedication to him". The songs "Becuz" and "No Queen Blues" were built upon numb grooves with slivers of melody, power, and gorgeously crafted noise. "The Diamond Sea" was described as a "Neil Young-esque ballad billowing into an epic noise excursion". According to Pitchfork, the song was described it as the most Sonic Youth song you can imagine. 

The album cover consisted of a cropped Polaroid photograph of two unidentified fans taken at a Sonic Youth show in Amherst, Massachusetts, in April 1995, during a short tour undertaken while the album was still in production. The fans are depicted wearing T-shirts that were sold as merchandise during that tour; early in 1995, the band considered changing their name to Washing Machine. Visible on the shirt on the left are signatures by Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw of the tour's opening band Come. The photo was taken by Gordon, who believed it could be used as the album cover. The band liked the shot, but the record label did not want to use it without permission from the fans. Because the band did not have any way to contact them, their faces had to be cropped out.

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, depicting the album as the band's most adventurous, challenging and best record since Daydream Nation ... Not only are the songs more immediate than most of the material on their earlier records, the sound here is warm and open, making Washing Machine their most mature and welcoming record to date, practically Washing Machine encompassed everything that made Sonic Youth innovators, and shows that they can continue to grow, finding new paths inside their signature sound back then.

 

Washing Machine Track List: 

 

1. Becuz

2. Junki'es Promise

3. Saucer-Like

4. Washing Machine

5. Unwind

6. Little Trouble Girl

7. No Queen Blues

8. Panty Lies

9. Becuz Coda (untitled on the packaging)

10. Skip Tracer 

11. The Diamond Sea

Rocktrospectiva: The Intimate And Vulnerable "Tails" Turns 30

Released on 26 September 1995 "Tails" was the only album by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, released in 1995 by Geffen Records. Earlier versions of the songs "It's Over", "Snow Day", "Do You Sleep?", and "Hurricane" originally appeared on Loeb's previous studio album Purple Tape. Tails peaked at number thirty on the US Billboard 200, in the top ten in New Zealand, and number fifteen on the Canada Top Albums chart.

 

Back in 1994, Lisa Loeb seemingly came out of nowhere, with no record label to her name, to have a hit song off of the Reality Bites soundtrack. Many probably don’t know that Loeb had been working tirelessly to craft her skills in the industry and shape a sound all her own. In a time period of rising female singer/songwriters like Ani Difranco and Sarah McLachlan, Lisa wanted to stand out.

 

While promoting her single "Stay," she would join Juan Patino in the studio to record new songs along with staples from her Liz and Lisa and Purple Tape days. What came out of the process would be a joyous blend of pensive indie-rock and a sweetness that only Loeb can provide. It’s a subtle sweetness, never overpowering but welcoming.

 

The album opened on the slightly more folk driven "It’s Over."  Loeb took you through the depths of turmoil and emotional destruction that have welled up through the end of a relationship. A fantastic evolution comes from “Snow Day.” She opts for a more finger-style guitar intro that completely evokes the falling of snow. The electric guitars add brightness and warmth to the song. Lisa dives into the themes of loneliness and depression on the track.  "Do You Sleep?"  kept the absolutely beautiful fade in guitar loop at the song's beginning. It maintains this dream-like feeling as you open up into this indie rock-driven world. The themes of love lost continue through Loeb’s questioning of how he’s managing since she’s gone. "Hurricane."  was a song that absolutely blooms through the orchestral string section. She takes a more poetic license at the tale of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This woman that appears to be a safe place will only destroy you in the end.  One of the oldest tracks to made the album is "Garden of Delights,"  which can be traced back to her Liz and Lisa days. 

 

The remaining tracks were written specifically for the album. "When All The Stars Where Falling"  takes us in a country western direction. Loeb takes a much softer approach on this track. We seem to be alluding to falling of one’s goals to make them fall back to the surface. One of the best indie rock tracks on the album is the complete earworm "Taffy."  was the punchiest track on the album, Loeb’s electric guitar-filled ditty swells you forward as it kicks off. The title is a nod to stretching the truth like candy machines stretch out taffy.  Each verse sees Lisa bumping her friend til they bruise from all the tall tales this person is apt to tell. "Rose-Colored Times"  continued in on the punchier pseudo-acoustic indie rock vibe that other tracks have fashioned quite well. The story Lisa has written takes us through the rough life of a young girl. This child appears to be very neglected by her mother. "Sandalwood"  is a quiet acoustic track around all the things Loeb loves about this man she’s met. The title alludes to the scent that perfumes his skin. Although clearly a song about lust, Lisa keeps it rather tender. 

 

"Alone" was a sort college rock guitar tones throughout the track. The electric guitars drag in a way that reminds me of the sepia tones of nineties college rock videos. Loeb is grabbling with the loneliness she feels being isolated from the man she’s thinking about, 

 

The album's second, more indie rock-forward song was "Waiting for Wednesday."  The title alludes to the day she’s waiting on to see if she gets her period. She goes through all the emotions of worrying about this pregnancy scare and wondering if her boyfriend will stay or run from her. She weaves back and forth between wanting to confront him on her cowardice and being petrified about the notion of his reaction. Then "Lisa Listen"  was the album's most singer/songwriter-sounding track. The title refers to someone else’s attempt to tell her of her worth. She keeps this fairly ambiguous. The song opens with her unease about herself and those around her, and finally the stand-out track on the album which was the final track, “Stay (I Missed You).” This is the song that jump-started Loeb’s career without being signed to a label. This would also introduced us to not only Lisa’s brand of indie rock but heartfelt songwriting style. "Stay" has been highlighted this argument between this couple that leaves the woman missing him in the end.

 

The album was well received by the public, critics were also favorable to the album, praising than nthat "Loeb has an undeniable gift for creating an air of intimacy and vulnerability, which may well be enough for 'Stay' fans looking for additional doses of contemplative melancholy."

 

Tails Track List:

 

1. It's Over

2. Snow Day

3. Taffy

4. When All The Stars Were Falling

5. Do You Sleep?

6. Hurricane

7. Rose-Colored Times

8. Sandalwood

9. Alone

10. Waiting For Wednesday

11. Lisa Listen

12. Garden Of Delights

13. Stay (I Missed You)

Rocktrospectiva: The Outstanding "Music Complete" Turns 10

Released on 25 September 2015 "Music Complete" was the tenth studio album by English rock band New Order.  It was their first released for the label Mute, the album features guest vocals from Elly Jackson of La Roux, Iggy Pop, and Brandon Flowers of The Killers. This was the band's first album with new bassist Tom Chapman, replacing the original bassist Peter Hook, and the first time to featured as a five-piece band, as original keyboardist and guitarist Gillian Gilbert returned to the band and Phil Cunningham, who initially replaced Gilbert remained in the band. 

Music Complete marks a return to a more electronic direction compared to New Order's previous two albums, which had been more guitar-based. Guest backing vocals are provided by Denise Johnson and Dawn Zee, who have performed with the band on their last three albums. 

Three years in silence and with the band fragmented, New Order hailed into the scene with their first album since "Waiting For The Siren's Call" circa 2005. The recovered Gilbert who along Morris and Sumner recorded and released one of the most long-awaited albums from that year, in spite the depart of Peter Hook, one of the most important founder member of the band since their days of Joy Division. The band achieved to overcome and the three altogether compelte a functionality since their days of "Technique", perhaps the reason the band baptised the album as "Music Complete".

The band achieved to sound younger even when they had to go into the 80s., to recovered that shape and vibe of the old days of yore, also a list of collaborators that helped to define the record that turned into a fantastic surprise for many, it was like the band decided to combine their 80's classic sounds and their fantastic 1993' album "Republic", achieving a cohesion long time ago forgotten.  

From the opener "Restless" the band prepared the sound for the listener ears, a tune made of natural instrumentation, a solid drums, acoustic backgrounds and a gloomy electronica landscape well produced by Tom Rowlands, "Singularity" was a total collaboration by Tom Chapman, his bass sounded strong and complete to filled the void left by Hook, "Plastic" had that style Giorgio Moroder like propelled New Order into their good old days. "Tutti Frutti" was another example of that sound under direction of Elly Jackson (La Roux) she putted the voices into this eurodisco tune, "People On The High Line" had an Electronic band sound, "Stray Dog" was a misterious tune with some melacholy and dark taste thanks to Iggy Pop who read a poem by Sumners under a The Other Two instrumentation.

Now the band decided to take a look into their 80s style, here we come with the new wave, post punk and dance rock tunes, "Academic" is the most nostalgic, "Nothing But A Fool" had Ennio Morricone orchestration, and then the band passed into electronica with "Unlearn The Hatred", the album finished with euphorical "The Game", and finally "Superheated" vocals courtesy of Brandon Flowers,  

The band achieved to reinvented themselves, no doubt the depart of Hook aided the band to created their most varied and substantial work in decades, it was easily New Order's best album since Technique, and probably their most musically diverse ever. 

Music Complete Tracklist:

1. Restless

2. Plastic

3. Singularity

4. Tutti Frutti

5. People On The High Line

6. Stray Dog

7. Academic

8. Nothing But A Fool

9. Unlearn This Hatred

10. The Game

11. Superheated

Rocktrospectiva: The Dark And Conceptual "Outside" Turns 30

Released on 25 September 1995, "Outside" was (stylised as 1.Outside and subtitled The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-cycle) was the twentieth studio album by the English musician David Bowie.The album reunited Bowie with the musician Brian Eno following the late 1970s Berlin Trilogy, the two were inspired by concepts "outside" the mainstream, such as various outsider and performance artists. 

Recorded throughout 1994, the experimental sessions saw Bowie conceive a world where "art crimes", such as murder, pervade society. The resulting Leon project initially faced resistance from labels due to its uncommercial nature. The project's bootlegging led to additional sessions in 1995 to revise the concept and record more commercial material, inspired by a diary Bowie wrote for Q magazine.

Influenced by the television series Twin Peaks, the nonlinear narrative of Outside concerns the residents of the fictional Oxford Town, New Jersey, and follows the detective Nathan Adler as he investigates the murder of a 14-year-old girl. The tracks show perspectives of specific characters, while spoken word between-song segues convey more character ideals; the story and Adler's diary entries were presented in the album's CD booklet. Musically, Outside displays styles from art rock, industrial rock and jazz, to electronica and ambient. The album spawned three singles "The Heart's Filthy Lessons", "Strangers When We Meet" & "Hallo Spaceboy". 

Released at the height of Britpop in the UK, Outside received mixed reviews from critics. While most praised the music, others found the concept pretentious and hard to follow. Nevertheless, many considered it Bowie's finest record since 1980's Scary Monsters. Outside peaked at number 8 in the UK and number 21 in the US. The lead single, "The Hearts Filthy Lesson", performed poorly but the following singles, "Strangers When We Meet" and a remix of "Hallo Spaceboy" featuring Pet Shop Boys, performed well in the UK.

Outside was plenty dark and concept album, that told the story of a bleak future, an old-school gumshoe detective, an artist that is also a sociopath who creates her works from the organs of dead people, here Bowie played all the roles: Nathan Adler, the detective; Baby Grace Blue, the young teenage victim and, gruesomely, the work of art; Ramona A. Stone, artist/presumed murderess; Leon, a streetwise intermediary; and Algeria Touchshriek…well, maybe that name says enough. David Bowie managed to broaden his appeal in the 90's again. Outside was for the 90's generation the same milestone as was "Ziggy Stardust" for the 1970's glam rockers and "Let's Dance" for the new wavers in 1980's. 

"Heart's Filthy Lesson" and "Hallo Spaceboy" are top tracks indeed, but also the title track and haunting songs "The Motel," and "I'm Deranged" stand out. "Oxford Town" is such a great song, while the more light-hearted and the most immediately accesible tune "Strangers When We Meet" fits nicely in the end. 

Bowie envisioned an ongoing narrative, which lends clarity to the record’s official title: 1. Outside. He imagined an audio novel, divided into three concept albums, and further exploration of this alternate end of the century, as described by a lyric from "I Have Not Been To Oxford Town" — "Toll the bell, pay the private eye, all is well, twentieth century dies." 

The key factor on this album was the return of Brian Eno as a producer, 16 years after the Berlin-trilogy concluded. However, unlike on those albums, which were as much Eno projects as they were Bowie ones, Outside merely betrays an abstract semblance of Eno's style.

The influences of this album were far and wide, and as a result, Outside is a broad panorama of mid-90s culture. You hear the subtle effects of the developing industrial and tip hop scenes, both informing, but not commanding Bowie and Eno. The duo were also heavily affected by outsider art, and the newest trends of the cultural underground, and they embraced this grimy, sticky and imperfect mess that comes from these sources.

Apart from this very 90s atmosphere, which feels closely related to Nine Inch Nails or Pixies, the grooves were intense from fast paced, unrelenting guitar and drum grooves with insane jazzy madness. Amongst the bangers, "The Hearts Filthy Lesson" was well known for playing over the end credits of the Fincher movie, Seven, a neurotic, dirty as hell and has a very memorable guitar riff leading it. "Hallo Spaceboy" also had addictive drumbeat courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys remix. "The Motel" was a trippy, quietly beautiful song, with a strong piano, "I'm Deranged. Again", was an incredibly groovy song, with some incredible synth ambiances produced by Eno. It keeps up such a steadily high level of energy output throughout. It's truly brilliant. "Strangers When We Meet" was also a stunning piece, it's incredibly lush, and is definitely inspired by the Eno-produced U2 album, The Joshua Tree.

Outside was an ugly record that dared to show where it was going, and still had songs with deep hooks and hummability. Critical reviews of Outside were mixed on release. While the majority praised the music as challenging, many felt the overarching concept was hard to follow, some welcomed it and called it an excellent David Bowie album, a genuine creative rebirth, a fantastic comeback album, praising the music as a callback to the Berlin Trilogy and concluded: it was mad, bad, dangerous album – by turns, chilling, pretty, ugly, scary, gripping and vastly intriguing and truly innovate, although others called the record as something confused that lacked of musical innovation except for certain tracks, obviously appealed Bowie fans but not the new ones, and in the end it was just a quite simply rubbish record. Nevertheless the album pushed Bowie who initially envisioned the album as the first in a series of records that would be released each year until the end of the millennium, in the end Bowie and Eno liked so much this record.

 

Outside Track List:  

 

1. Leon Take Us Outside 

2. Outside

3. The Heart's Filthy Lesson

4. A Small Plot Of Land

5. Segue-A Baby Grace (A Horrid Cassette) 

6. Hallo Spaceboy

7. The Motel 

8. I Have Not Been To Oxford Town 

9. No Control

10. Segue - Algeria Touchshriek 

11. The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty)

12. Segue - Ramona A. Stone "I Am With Name"

13. Wishful Beginnings

14. We Prick You 

15. Segue - Nathan Adler 

16. I'm Deranged

17. Thru' These Architects Eyes

18. Segue - Nathan Adler

19. Strangers When We Meet

Rocktrospectiva: The Formidable And Cohesive "X" Turns 35

Released on 25 September 1990 "X" was the seventh studio album by Australian rock band INXS, it was he follow-up to the massive seller Kick, but X scored hits with "Suicide Blonde" and "Disappear" (both Top 10 in the US). Two other singles from X were "Bitter Tears" and "By My Side" but they had less chart success. A fifth single, "The Stairs", was only issued in the Netherlands to coincide with the release of the Live Baby Live album.

X was the third consecutive INXS album produced by Chris Thomas. The title, the Roman numeral for "10", represents the band's tenth year since their debut album was released in 1980. X features a sample of blues-harp player Charlie Musselwhite on "Suicide Blonde", and Musselwhite himself playing on "Who Pays the Price" and "On My Way". 

INXS gained great success with the release of their previous studio album, Kick. The multimillion-selling album received critical acclaim and proved to be the band's biggest selling album by far, having gone platinum multiple times. In 1987 and 1988, INXS toured heavily in support of Kick.

During 1989, the band took a break to work on side projects. Vocalist and primary songwriter Michael Hutchence collaborated with Ian 'Ollie' Olsen in the band Max Q, the two having previously worked together on Richard Lowenstein's film Dogs in Space. The remaining members of INXS also got involved in other musical projects, including songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Farriss, who joined singer-songwriter Jenny Morris in the studio to produce her second solo album, Shiver. Bass guitarist Gary Garry Beers collaborated with ARIA award-winning Sydney band Absent Friends during 1989. Beers first toured with the group, and later recorded tracks for their debut album, Here's Looking Up Your Address. Drummer Jon Farriss joined the recording sessions, contributing percussion on one track. Guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly, along with lead guitarist Tim Farriss, both paired up to help produce an album for local Sydney band, Crash Politics.

The band worked again with producer Chris Thomas at the new Rhinoceros studio in Sydney, Australia. Regarding the new studio, Thomas felt that it imposed a different feeling on the band's sound, which reflected in the album's material. In a 2002 interview, Thomas commented, "We worked at the new Rhinoceros studio, which was ridiculously enormous. To some degree, it forced isolation on everything, including the control room. To get a vibe on playback, you had to turn everything up really loud because the room was so big".

Most of the material for X was written by the songwriting duo of Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence with the exception of "Disappear", "Faith in Each Other" and "Deepest Red" (excluded from the album), which were written by Hutchence and Jon Farriss, whereas "By My Side" was a collaboration between Andrew and Kirk Pengilly. Some songs that appear on the album were in fact written years prior, including "Lately" and "Disappear" - the lyrics for "Lately" were originally written by Andrew during the recording sessions of the group's fifth studio album, Listen Like Thieves, while Hutchence and Jon wrote the lyrics for "Disappear" when they were living in Hong Kong in 1989.

An idea that Andrew suggested to Hutchence and the rest of the band was the sound of a Blues harp. After discovering Blues musician Charlie Musselwhite had been touring Australia, the band met with him and decided to use his harmonica playing talent on the album. For "Suicide Blonde", the band used samples of Musslewhite's playing rather than recording with the band in the studio; he does play traditional harmonica on "Who Pays the Price" and "On My Way". Like the band's two previous studio albums produced by Thomas, X features a slickness and polish in its production, a quality that was removed during production of subsequent albums. It was also the group's last studio album produced by Thomas. 

Sticking to the formula that was built on Kick, Thomas urged primary songwriters Andrew Farriss and Hutchence to condense their song writing strengths on X. According to the liner notes on the album's 2002 remaster, Thomas stated, "Everything about INXS this time around was grandiose, and this was reflected in the material". He added, "The album got away from the funky stuff and was moving towards the epic on tracks like "Lately" and "The Stairs".  The band focus their strengths, coming up not only with tough, state-of-the-art pop but with the casual confidence of a mature collective personality". Regarding the recorded material, Evans observed that "the record blends R&B; and rock as INXS always has done – but this time the grooves are more solid, the energy and moods less disparate". 

Similar to the themes that were explored on Kick, X continues to reflect on the band's personal experiences about relationships and daily life, while touching on social topics such as media, fame and society. The title and lyrics to "Suicide Blonde" came from a phrase that Hutchence first heard used by his then-girlfriend Kylie Minogue, while "Disappear" describes how Hutchence is flushed with anxiety when he sees what's going on in the world, but all those problems and fears are cast aside when he's with the one he loves. Hutchence asserted that "The Stairs", a song about singular city life, was the most ambitious song he had ever written; the song describes how tens of millions lead daily lives separated by walls mere inches apart yet never meet. Andrew was inspired to write "By My Side" for his wife, Shelly, and said that the song is about "missing family and people while being on the road". Regarding the lyrics to "Hear That Sound", Hutchence commented, "it is about the power of people, more particularly in large crowds or in marches for the purpose of peaceful protest or celebration".

 

Reviews for X were generally favourable, commenting that INXS had stepped up their game, others felt that the album followed too much in the same formula as Kick. Others rated the album as their greater than the sum of its parts. It defines the band and clarifies the fullness of its appeal".

 

X Track List: 

 

1. Suicide Blonde

2. Disappear

3. The Stairs

4. Faith In Each Other

5. By My Side

6. Lately

7. Who Pays The Price

8. Know The Difference

9. Bitter Tears

10. On My Way

11. Hear That Sound

Rocktrospectiva: The Replacement's Final Album "All Shook Down" Turns 35

Released on 25 September 1990, "All Shook Down" was the 7th., and final studio album by The Replacements. The album spawned three singles "Merry Go Round", "Someone Take The Wheel", & "When It Began". 

 

This album was originally intended to be frontman Paul Westerberg's solo artist debut. His management talked him into doing it as a Replacements album before the recording started. As a result of its initial intent, All Shook Down is marked by numerous session, side and journeyman musicians, in addition to the three other Replacements.

 

Although there are no clear records of which members played on which tracks, there are numerous clues. Westerberg noted that there were four drummers on the record, but 'we didn't bring in any guitar players,' indicating that all of the guitar parts were performed by Replacements members, but many of the drum parts were not. Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson joined the project only about a week after it started, and no bassists are included among the list of session musicians, indicating that Stinson played most of the bass on the record. Stinson has mentioned 'the songs I didn't play on' which may refer to songs like the title track that do not feature bass, or that Westerberg, who occasionally played 6-string bass on the band's earlier recordings may have played some bass in Stinson's place.

 

Replacements drummer Chris Mars also brought in a cassette tape of his own material that he recorded on a four-track. Mars had written songs for the Replacements before, but when Westerberg became the band's primary songwriter, he began to reject every song that Mars would bring in. When Westerberg dismissed his songs out of hand, Mars decided it was time for him to leave the band altogether.

 

A number of the tracks also prominently feature Stinson's backing vocals. Guitarist Slim Dunlap joined the project later, and may have participated less than Stinson did, but it is notable that Westerberg kept Dunlap around to add guitar and vocal overdubs after Stinson and Mars finished their parts, and while the album has relatively few guitar leads, several songs feature Dunlap's distinctive lead style. Mars had already been replaced by session drummer Charley Drayton on a few tracks before he arrived at the sessions, and the band used two other session drummers before its completion, indicating that his role was limited compared to the other band members. The only track featuring the entire band performing together may be the acoustic rave-up "Attitude".

 

Of the other musicians, notable contributors include John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground, who plays viola on "Sadly Beautiful", and Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde, who duets with Westerberg on the song "My Little Problem".

 

About the album cover, Westerberg said: The two dogs represented me and Tommy, two stray dogs in the rain sniffing each other's asses. My singing was horseshit from boozing, I had reached the end of my marriage and didn't know where to go or what to do. The band issued the singles for "Merry Go Round", "Someone Take the Wheel", "When It Began", and "Happy Town". "Merry Go Round" was the band's most successful Modern Rock Tracks single, reaching No. 1 for four non-consecutive weeks. 

 

Drummer Chris Mars left the band in November 1990, his last appearance as a Replacement being in the "Merry Go Round" video and Steve Foley filled in on drums for the six-month All Shook Down Tour of 1991. The band were nominated for the Best Alternative Video and Best Special Effects categories at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards for the claymation/live action music video for "When It Began". The band played its last show on Independence Day, July 4, 1991, at Chicago's Grant Park. And as a final joke, they also received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

 

All Shook Down Track List: 

 

1. Merry Go Round

2. One Wink At A Time

3. Nobody

4. Bent Out Of Shape

5. Sadly Beautiful

6. Someone Take The Wheel

7. When It Began

8. All Shook Down

9. Attitude

10. Happy Town

11. Torture

12. My Little Problem

13. The Last

New Music: Need

           

The Dublin band Sprints will released "All That Is Over" this 26 September, an also is sharing their brand new single "Need" starring Steven Ogg and presenting the same exciting and disturbing sound. 

Rocktrospectiva: Pet Shop Boys' "So Hard" Turns 35

Released on 24 September 1990 "So Hard" a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, was the lead single from their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). The song is about "two people living together; they are totally unfaithful to each other but they both pretend they are faithful and then catch each other out". It peaked at No. 4 in the United Kingdom, No. 1 in Finland,  No. 27 in Australia, No. 24 in New Zealand, No. No. 2 in Italy, No. 77 in Canadá, No. 62 and No. 62 in the USA Billboard Top 100 No. 62.

According to history, the original was harping back to Giorgio Moroder with loads of all these retro instruments", recalled Chris Lowe. "Then David Morales took the chord progression from the middle section and made this classic pumping house track. It's quite funny, because we did this gig in Los Angeles and Frankie Knuckles played this track at the party afterwards. Neil came over and said, 'Why don't we make records like this?' I said, 'Neil, it is us.' So that's how much we know about dance music!"

The music video for the song was directed by Eric Watson and filmed in Newcastle and North Tyneside. Filming locations included the Bigg Market, Newcastle Quayside, Railway Terrace in Wallsend, Byker, Whitley Bay and the Tyne and Wear Metro. According to Chris Lowe, the duo wanted to capture that night life style of the city on the video, that also co-stars Paul Gascoigne's sister Anna Gascoigne. The video also shows people dancing and having fun on the streets with Neil and Chris in the background

Critics were favourable for the track striking enough of a modern pop stance to encourage alternative and top 40 radio airplay. Pet Shop Boys they do make excellent pop records. and this was typical Pet Shop Boys despite the change of producer: brash disco backing, dry sophisticated singing and a great tune, with all radio formats unite! This commercial pop single - featuring that typically inescapable chorus 

Track List: 

Standard 7" and cassette single: 

1. So Hard 

2. It Must Be Obvious 

 

UK 12" single:

 

1. So Hard (extended dance mix)

2. It Must Be Obvious

3. So Har (dub mix)

 

UK 12" single The KLF vs Pet Shop Boys: 

 

1. So Hard (The KLF vs Pet Shop Boys)

2. It Must Be Obvious (UFO mix)

 

UK CD Single: 

 

1. So Hard 

2. It Must Be Obvious

3. So Hard (Extended dance mix)

 

US maxi-CD single: 

 

1. So Hard (extended dance mix 

2. So Hard (Single)

3. So Hard (Dub)

4. It Must Be Obvious

5. Paninaro (12" remix)  

News: Pet Shop Boys Are To Release "Disco 5"

Pet Shop Boys are to release new remix compilation, Disco 5, in November, the first in their Disco series since Disco 4 in 2007.

This release features 12 remixes and collaborations, running from 2008’s Symphonic Mix of Sam Taylor-Johnson's "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" (which Pet Shop Boys also produced) to the duo's Hot Mix of Tina Turne'’s "Hot For You Baby", released in April 

The set doesn’t include two post-Disco 4 remixes: of Lady Gaga’s 2009 single ‘Eh Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)’, or of MGMT's "Kids"  from 2008. However, it does include – in unremixed form – "Let The Music Play", the song Pet Shop Boys produced for former Floy Joy singer Carroll Thompson, which was on soundtrack of Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, for which Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe also produced Boy George's title theme song. Thompson sang backing vocals on Pet Shop Boys' first tour in 1989, but the soundtrack – released on PSB's own Spaghetti label – has long been deleted, with the duo wanting to see "Let The Music Play" available again.

Other artists remixed on Disco 5 include Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and The Hidden Cameras. It includes Pet Shop Boys’ Extended Mix of "Purple Zone", their collaborative single with Soft Cell from the latter's *Happiness Not Included album, and their remix of Sleaford Mods’ cover of "West End Girls". The only Pet Shop Boys song to be remixed is "Dreamland", their duet with former Years & Years singer Olly Alexander from 2020's Hotspot album 

Disco 5 will be available on CD and black or orange double vinyl. The first three Disco albums, released in 1986, 1994 and 2003, focused on remixes of Pet Shop Boys' own music, before Disco 4 featured their remixes for the likes of The Killers, Madonna, Yoko Ono and Rammstein, as well as their own singles "I’m With Stupid" and "Integral".

After checking the tracklist, you can realize there are interesting cool tracks as Noel Gallagher, Claptone, the Carroll Thompson is a fantastic add and rare odd gem, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Primal Screams, Paul Wellerand that Sleaford Mods fantastic "West End Girls" a minor track would be The Hidden Cameras one and Soft Cell, not necessary Tina Turner's track cause I felt it wasn't good enough according the Pet Heads standards and the forgettable "Dreamland" one of the most weakest tracks in Pet Shop Boys catalogue. 

Disco 5 is released on 21 November 2025, via Parlophone.

Track List:  

1. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – ‘Think Of A Number (PSB Magic Eye 12” Remix)’ (2023)

2. Tina Turner – ‘Hot For You Baby (PSB Hot Mix)’ (2025)

3. Claptone – ‘Queen Of Ice (PSB Extended Mix)’ (2022)

4. Carroll Thompson – ‘Let The Music Play’ (1992)

5. Soft Cell and Pet Shop Boys – ‘Purple Zone (PSB Extended Mix)’ (2022)

6. The Hidden Cameras – ‘How Do You Love (PSB Remix)’ (2025)

7. Sam Taylor-Johnson – ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star (PSB Symphonic Mix)’ (2008)

8. Wolfgang Tillmans – ‘Insanely Alive (PSB Maxi-Mix)’ (2021)

9. Primal Scream – ‘Innocent Money (PSB Remix Radio Edit)’ (2024)

10. Pet Shop Boys Featuring Olly Alexander – ‘Dreamland (PSB Remix)’ (2019)

11. Paul Weller – ‘Cosmic Fringes (PSB Triad Mix)’ (2021)

12. Sleaford Mods – ‘West End Girls (Pet Shop Boys Remix)’ (2023)