The finest that Athens, Georgia, has to offer deserve a definitive career-spanning Best Of. Sadly, this isn’t it… R.E.M.’s precipitous late-1980s ascent into the rock stratosphere was a charming, off-kilter…
Reissue Review: Spear of Destiny – The Albums 1983-85
William Blake famously observed that the fool who persists in his folly shall become wise. Pouting peroxide post-punk Kirk Brandon represented a pretty stiff challenge to that weighty maxim. Brandon’s…
Review Round-Up: New Releases & Reissues – Issue 53
New Albums Collard – Unholy While Collard isn’t the new Prince, Prince would have likely applauded him. The 24-year-old’s debut is laced with strikingly atmospheric soul and hip-hop, with the…
Reissue Review: Blancmange – The Blanc Tapes
Never viewed as A-listers, Blancmange rarely feature in lists of the crème de la crème of 1980s electropop pioneers alongside sacred trailblazers such as New Order, The Human League and…
Reissue Review: Depeche Mode – Black Celebration/Music For The Masses – The 12” Singles
All the 12″ singles from depeche mode’s fifth and sixth albums, together at last… Depeche Mode’s weighty singles reissue campaign continues apace with this latest instalment – two 12″ vinyl…
Review Round-Up: New Releases & Reissues – Issue 52
New Albums George Benson – Walking To New Orleans Long before George Benson enjoyed hits like 1983’s In Your Eyes, he’d earned a reputation as a jazz and soul maestro,…
Reissue Review: Various Artists – C87
Originally released as a mail order cassette by NME in May 1986, C86 was, for better or worse, to spawn a whole movement of alternately twee and shambling indie guitar…
Reissue Review: Primal Scream – Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll
“You can’t sing, you can’t play, you look awful,” a sneering A&R man told a hapless bunch of pop hopefuls on the other side of his desk in a fondly-remembered…
Reissue Review: Iggy Pop – Zombie Birdhouse
There are few artists whose oeuvre is quite so hit-and-miss as Iggy Pop. Pick a card, any card – which Iggy will you get? His strongest moments came when he…
Reissue Review: Booth And The Bad Angel – Booth And The Bad Angel
Angelo Badalamenti’s lush, dreamy film and TV soundtracks seduced many a leftfield musician and James’ Tim Booth was no exception. In thrall to the American composer’s succulent symphonies, he was…