Singer-songwriter Josh Rouse was born in the small town of Oshkosh, Nebraska. He moved often as a child, due to his father’s military career. His first record, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, was released in 1998. But Rouse’s sweet voice and…
Welcome back to another week of quizzing. We’re back for another round of identifying greatest hits albums. This week’s quiz requires you to identify the greatest hits album by artist, given the artist and title. Congratulations to Heavy Metal…
It’s the last batch of 2023 reviews for 2024. There’s a marked contrast between the rough-hewn sounds of Asheville’s Wednesday and the pristine, keyboard-driven sophisti-pop of Laura Groves. Laura Groves Radio Red 2023, 9/10Laura Groves released her debut album, as…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Chains Topped the NZ chart: from 4 August 1996 for 5 weeks ‘Chains’ is like New Zealand hip-hop and soul’s equivalent to Queen and Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’. Two musicians from different bands quickly improvised…
I was a keen buyer of greatest hits records in my teens. With a limited budget, they were bang for your buck, and they suited the CD format of the 1990s – often the LP length of 40 minutes wasn’t…
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 to 1968 and was a major…
Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly is barely known outside of Australia, but he’s one of his country’s most beloved musicians. His literate songs are plain and unadorned, often with a rock band or with touches of country and folk. Kelly has disowned…
Welcome back. If you’re in America or the UK, it’s still probably “Pash Wednesday”. This has happened twice since World War 2, when Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday fall on the same day. To honour this, we have a love-titled…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 3 Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree Topped the NZ chart: from 1 June 1973 for 10 weeks The past is a foreign country. It sounds irredeemably corny now. But ‘Tie a…
‘I’m Your Man’ was Wham’s only number one hit in New Zealand during the 1980s. ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Careless Whisper’, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, and ‘The Edge of Heaven’ all peaked at #2 or #3. Wham! Andrew Ridgeley and…
