We dive into a couple of female-fronted indie records this week. Glasgow twee-pop band Camera Obscura are back for their first record in over a decade. I’d never heard of Itasca before, but it’s one of my favourite new releases…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton Topped the NZ chart: for 3 weeks from 17 October 1963. Bobby Vinton was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a bandleader. He learned the clarinet and studied…
We’re up to installment number 35 of Greatest Hits. Can you link these artists to their compilation covers? I scored 18 It would have helped if I’d known Conway Twitty’s gender…. Can you beat me? Congratulations to HeavyMetalOverlord and…
Two veterans this week. Portland literate folk-rockers The Decemberists are back with their ninth album while Portishead’s Beth Gibbons releases her first solo album. The Decemberists As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again 2024, 7.5/10The Decemberists’ ninth album…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965-1968 and was a major influence on…
We’re still slogging through greatest hits collections. There were many artists I care deeply about in this edition. The Flaming Lips, Cheap Trick, Bo Diddley, Talk Talk, Tom Waits, Ariana Grande, and the Delfonics are all worthwhile. Despite my…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 19 by Paul Hardcastle Topped the NZ chart: for 5 weeks from 7 July 1985. I was surprised that there’s a 5-week number-one hit from the 1980s that I’d never heard before. But I’d…
British pop maverick has enjoyed her most successful album release cycle yet with her eighth album Brat. It’s sold well in the UK and US and enjoyed critical acclaim. It’s even become part of the US political landscape – democratic…
In the year 33AD, a financial crisis hit Rome. In Greatest Hits XXXIII, you have another selection of 20 increasingly obscure artists to guess. Can you tell The Zombies from The Yardbirds? Connected to The Yardbirds, John Mayall passed…
Two notably prolific acts this week. Neil Young’s back with his 47th studio album, an archival project recorded in 1969. Sault have their 13th release, dating back to 2019’s 5. Neil Young and Crazy Horse Early Daze 2024, 8.5/10Neil Young…
