Favourite Five Recently Reviewed CDs
Five of the best albums from the recent postings at New Music From Elsewhere. Music too good to let slide into the archives. The Elsewhere place if you are looking for a quick fix of great and interesting albums.
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The Chills: The BBC Sessions (Fire/Southbound)
26 Dec 2014
During their peak in the Eighties -- in '85, '87 and '88 -- various line-ups of the Chills recorded sessions for John Peel's famous radio shows on the BBC. Here collected are all 12 of the songs, and it is a thrill to hear this group/these groups at the top of their game as Martin Phillipps helms them through some classics (Rolling Moon, Brave Words, Night of Chill Blue) and other songs... > Read more
Dictaphone Blues: Mufti Day (bandcamp)
18 Dec 2014
Ed Castelow aka Dictaphone Blues is, for Elsewhere's money, one of the most talented, smartest and best pop-rock songwriter/singers at work in this country right now. He's also very funny as he plunders doo-wop (here on the absurd intro to Lance's Tape), writes very witty lyrics and some highly moving ones, latches them to memorable tunes (Her Heart Breaks Like a Wave deserves to be pouring... > Read more
STONEY AND THE JAGGED EDGE, UNEARTHED (2014): The Sixties sound of psychedelic garageband Detroit
9 Dec 2014
Just when you think the library of the past has been fully illuminated, someone comes along and points to a low door in the wall which opens into a secret, dark room. And in there your torch picks out . . . Stoney and the Jagged Edge. Not to be confused with other bands called Jagged Edge, this group from Detroit in late Sixties had a strong local following, opened for the Doors... > Read more
Nathan Haines: 5 A Day (Warners)
8 Dec 2014
In a recent in-depth interview with Elsewhere, Nathan Haines spoke about how hard it was for him and his longtime producer Mike Patto to make this new album. In comments we didn't publish there he said, “we were running up against deadlines and it took a massive toll on our lives”. “I had to stop working because there were a lot of man hours in there. You read... > Read more
Curtis Harding; Soul Power (Warners)
1 Dec 2014
Back in early June we posted a review of this album under our ONE WE MISSED banner because it had appeared through the indie distributor Southbound the previous month. Well, seems everyone is now playing catch-up because it is out again through Warners and suddenly the reviews are tumbling in. So we'll just re-post what we said five months back . . . This fascinating, genre-defying... > Read more