Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
Born Myra Ellen Amos, in North Carolina, Tori Amos took her stage name when a friend’s boyfriend told her that she resembled a Torrey pine. Her family moved to Maryland when she was two, where her father was a Methodist minister. She was the youngest student ever admitted to the […]
As a casual music listener it’s easy to hear The Beach Boys’ sun-drenched hits, and conclude that the group were all beaches, girls and cars, and no substance. But the group was led by Brian Wilson, one of the most talented musicians of his era, with an ear for sophisticated […]
When Lana Del Rey emerged with the viral single ‘Video Games’ in 2011, she wasn’t someone who I expected to enjoy a long career. ‘Video Games’ had a unique atmosphere, a cinematic ballad with nostalgic Hollywood glamour, but it pigeon-holed Del Rey into a distinctive style. Del Rey’s worked with […]
Pearl Jam grew from the remnants of Mother Love Bone, whose singer Andrew Wood overdosed. Rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament started a new band with Mike McCready on lead guitar and recruited surfer Eddie Vedder as their vocalist. The band have gone through a succession of drummers who […]
Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam was born in London but spent most of her childhood in Sri Lanka, where her father was a Tamil activist. She originally planned a career in the visual arts but pivoted to a music career after she made a documentary about Elastica and met electroclash artist Peaches. […]
Introduction The punk and new wave movements lowered the barriers to entry to a musical career, promising a more egalitarian future. Yet with the occasional exception, like Debbie Harry, The Go-Gos, and Tina Weymouth, guitar-based music remained a largely male domain in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Raincoats […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in 1953 when they appeared in their school’s production of Alice in Wonderland – Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. Learning to harmonise together, they released their first single, ‘Hey Schoolgirl’ in 1957 as Tom & Jerry. Initially inspired by […]
I spent my teenage years enamoured by the pop tunes of Billy Joel. Joel has a touch of show-tune about his work, and his work has never been as critically acclaimed as his more celebrated contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen or Elvis Costello. Nevertheless, Billy Joel has plenty of natural assets […]
After years of playing live, The Band recorded the Basement Tapes with Bob Dylan, where they developed their unique melding of rock with traditional folk, country and blues forms. The organic harmonies, the virtuoso but unassuming musicianship, and songs that seemed to spring from an America of a hundred years earlier; these […]
My first encounter with the music of Paul Westerberg was my sister’s copy of the Friends soundtrack. I wasn’t impressed – his rough-hewn vocals were out of place among slick alt-rock tracks from Hootie and the Blowfish, The Rembrandts, and Barenaked Ladies. When I snagged a copy of The Replacements […]
Lloyd Chudley Alexander was stationed in Wales during the Second World War. He was inspired by the country’s scenery and castles, as well as the Welsh mythology of the Mabinogion. He took names and ideas from Welsh mythology, mixing them with a more contemporary American perspective. He was already established […]
I’ve already posted about my favourite five Van Morrison albums, but all five were released in the 1960s and 1970s. While he didn’t reach the level of his earlier peaks, Van Morrison continued to release fine albums in the 1980s. While other rock veterans like Neil Young, Eric Clapton, and […]
