Big Star - Live At Lafayette's Music Room

(This review first appeared in issue #77 of Shindig! magazine.)

Omnivore CD / 2LP

This hometown set from 1973 has been released before (as disc four on the Keep An Eye On The Sky box set) but a standalone release comes newly restored and remastered, and makes its debut on vinyl. The band were supporting Archie Bell and The Drells at the same venue where four months later they'd play the legendary Memphis Rock Writers Convention.

Despite Chris Bell having recently left, the new three-piece are captured on top form. With superior sound and performances than those on the Live (at WLIR) album from the following year, it's a set worth owning for Jody Stephen's joyful drum fills alone, and contains sprightly covers of The Kinks, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Todd Rundgren and T Rex. It's also a reminder that the band were not then lauded – acoustic versions of 'Try Again' and 'Watch The Sunrise' compete with disinterested audience chatter and receive scant applause. Here's to hindsight!

Birth Of Joy - Hyper Focus

(This review first appeared in issue #77 of Shindig! magazine.)

Glitterhouse CD / 2LP

Birth Of Joy's fifth studio LP finds the band capturing their road-worn psych-blues rock in all its VU meter pushing glory. No fancy production embellishments, more a straight ahead juggernaut of a record that you either jump aboard or risk being crushed by. For all its bludgeoning testosterone-fuelled energy there are many moments of sophistication – the scale-ignoring organ fills on 'Join The Game', the swing-jazz found on 'Forenoon' or 'Sypdorkat's hint of afro-rock rhythms.

The Dutch power trio's tag-line is “sixties on steroids” and indeed their sound has roots in the organ-led heavy rock of Deep Purple, ELP, Vanilla Fudge et al. Similarly the album's title could be read as a sly reference to fellow Dutchman Thijs van Leer's long-serving prog rockers, but Hyper Focus pioneers as successfully as it follows. State of the art 21st century heaviosity that's both a portal to the past and to new possibilities.

Dodson And Fogg - A New Day

(This review first appeared in issue #77 of Shindig! magazine.)

Wisdom Twins CD

You wonder how Leeds-based polymath Chris Wade finds the time. The debut LP released by his musical nom de plume Dodson And Fogg, came out in 2012, since when he's released a further sixteen albums, wrote several books and made a couple of films.

The music on his latest album falls loosely under the folk-rock banner, be it the delightful sitar accompaniment on the titular instrumental, or the one-chord acoustic guitar and flute boogie on 'Look At Your Home', Wade finds enough variety to maintain interest, at times recalling a cross-legged Bolan and the anti-establishment protest of Roger Waters.

Best of all is elegiac closer 'There's a Change In The Air', where rooted and muted brass sounds back an exploratory electric guitar. A neat musical metaphor for contemporary Britain? Perhaps not but the homespun folk on A New Day resonates with a decidedly bucolic Brit-folk vibe that's as eternal as the Pennines.

The Osiris Club - The Wine-Dark Sea

(This review first appeared in issue #77 of Shindig! magazine.)

Indie CD / LP

Much modern music claims to fall under the banner of dark psychedelia but little of it contains such drama and energy as found on this second LP by London-based quartet The Osiris Club. Their follow-up to 2014's debut The Blazing World sees them mix nightmare-inducing '70s prog with doses of post-punk spikiness and nu-metal urgency. It's music that echoes King Crimson, Cardiacs and even at times The Teardrop Explodes, but ultimately evokes their own shadowy universe, one dense with guitar riffs and ominous textures.

Such sombre haunting is not surprising given the songs' subject matter which draws from the horror fiction of HP Lovecraft and Robert Aickman, and sinister comic book characters ('Citadel of the Fly' is inspired by occultist Gustav Strobl from Hellboy). It may be an unrelenting voyage to the darker side of music and the human psyche, but is recommended for those that need to nourish their inner Goth.

Nick Coleman - Voices: How A Great Singer Can Change Your Life

(This review first appeared in issue #77 of Shindig! magazine.)

JONATHAN CAPE BOOK

Coleman's previous book A Train In The Night was a poignant but hopeful account of suffering from Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. A big deal for anyone but more so if you've spent the previous 25 years writing about music for a living. Though impaired his hearing has returned in sufficient form to allow the consumption and enjoyment of music again.

Voices is the result of binge-listening to his favourite singers in an attempt to store up the feelings, insights, nourishment and emotions they generate. Over the course of ten taut chapters Coleman distills what it is about an artist's voice that makes it so affecting, mixing in some social history and a little autobiographical colour. He dissects why certain music chimes with us at certain times (or not in the case of Sinatra). It's a subjective book but covers much ground mixing the great with the unexpected. Whether analysing rock 'n' roll giants, Motown legends, footnotes of jazz, or ruminating on British blue-eyed soul, rock's mature sophistication and punk's re-scattering of the dice, Coleman always presents a precise and engaging case.

As Coleman knows only too well there are times we'll all need the services of a doctor, nurse, specialist or surgeon. Hopefully not often and not for long. Our favourite singers however can be called on every day for solace, sensitivity, salvation, inspiration and wonderment. Coleman's book is a warmly written reminder of this that will have you delving into your music collection with fresh thanks and renewed appreciation.

Click here to buy via Amazon.

Snowchild - Age Of Change

(This review first appeared in issue #76 of Shindig! magazine.)

Kozmic Artifactz CD / LP 

This Wichita-based power trio know certain boxes need ticking for successful doom/stoner/sludge rock – long songs, ominous riffs and sheer heaviness for starters. What happens beyond that determines whether you rise above the competition. Snowchild needn't worry - subtle tempo changes, intuitive ensemble playing and dynamics ensure that Age Of Change never gets boring. And despite the old-school rock leanings, the subject matter makes for an album as contemporary as they come.

Anyone upset because Black Sabbath have knocked it on the head can find solace and cause for celebration here as bassist/vocalist Larry Donaldson is a graduate from the Ozzy School of Vocal Phrasing. There are other influences – the intro of 'Born in Flames' owes as much to Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul as it does to Master Of Reality, and 'Boudica' expands their palette with sitar-like guitar, eastern scales and a space rock vibe. Dark, heavy and soulful.

Daniel McGeever - Cross The Water

(This review first appeared in issue #76 of Shindig! magazine.)

You Are The Cosmos CD / LP

Edinburgh-based musician McGeever has plied his trade as guitarist in The Wellgreen and Delta Mainline but now steps out front with this wholesome solo debut. Taking inspiration from Lennon's piano period with a pinch of Bill Fay, McGeever has a classicist's approach to songwriting, turning out meaningful heart-on-sleeve lyrics and memorable choruses. His middle eights are pretty decent too.

'MMXIII' is a highlight with dreamy backing vocals, strings and what sounds like a Mellotron in the coda. 'You're Coming Home' is a Memphis soul ballad transported to Auld Reekie, whereas 'For Violet' makes the personal universal, a heartfelt song for a newborn family member that could melt the most cynical of hearts. Not one to shy away from the big themes, with family, love, life and death all covered, there's a sense of McGeever taking emotional stock, looking back and forward in equal measure, with a rarely found but welcome openness.

Richie Havens - Richard P. Havens, 1983

(This review first appeared in issue #76 of Shindig! magazine.)

Retroworld CD

1969 was a defining year for this Greenwich Village folkie. The opening appearance at Woodstock and the release of this sprawling 17-song collection, which originally came out as a double vinyl set. The Orwellian title taps into the paranoia of the age, the songs half utopian ideals, half the dawning of dystopian realities, all rendered in the production values of the time - heavy stereo, loose jams with subtle exotic touches of tabla, sitar, congas and even an Ondioline.

An underrated writer mixing poetry and protest in his self-penned songs, Havens' was also a skilled interpreter, unearthing nuances here in songs by Dylan, Donovan and Cohen, along with four Beatles tracks. Most poignant is the final run of songs (side four of the original vinyl), recorded live at a Santa Monica gig where his rich soulful voice, warm rapport and willingness to improvise remind us what an original talent he was.

Brad San Martin - Shoot Tomorrow / Learn Tonight

(This review first appeared in issue #75 of Shindig! magazine.)

Jigsaw CD

The former member of indie-popsters One Happy Island stays the right side of twee on the follow-up to 2015's Tell Someone, not striving for complication or perfection, but winning listeners over with simple arrangements and inspired instrumental touches from his guest players (Mitch Easter, Pete Weiss and Kevin Dunn). Added to that is his vocal delivery, reminiscent of Eric Matthews, and a winning way with tunes, be it the stately piano pop on 'Promises' or the sprightly upbeat 'Hey Everyone'.

The main attraction however is the range of subject matter. Martin is unafraid to lay his frailties, fears and faults on the line which makes for an album that's honest and brims with curious thoughts and obsessions. Whether comparing the merits of various British jazz critics, analysing the appeal of The Bar-Kays' 'Soul Finger' or documenting his move from Massachusetts to North Carolina he's unguarded and open. Therein lies the album's charm.

Belle Adair - Tuscumbia

(This review first appeared in issue #75 of Shindig! magazine.)

Single Lock CD / LP

Muscle Shoals is famed for its soul music but Belle Adair's second LP makes it clear there are other sounds to be found in modern day Alabama. With a sound rooted in '70s soft pop and melodies and tempos more indebted to Teenage Fanclub than to the purveyors of deep, brassy soul, Belle Adair channel the same introspective melancholia that made the records of Big Star and Badfinger such a bittersweet delight.

Though the record is named after the band's hometown and was produced at the legendary FAME Studios by longtime Wilco collaborator Tom Schick, there's an unmistakable Anglophile tint to it. Personal but universal lyrics, chiming guitar arpeggios, gentle organ washes and Matt Green's understated vocals all help recall the legacy of the British invasion and merge it with some southern state sadness. A successful and intoxicating mix, and one that deserves to resonate far beyond the Cotton State.