Vinyl KingsBig New LifeKool Kat Label Grown Up Pop Music With an American Rubber Soul Kicking off with the poppy and charming title track, “Big New Life,” which features lush harmonies and some sweet George Harrison style slide guitar from this merry band of veteran musicians, songwriters, and producers, who have previously worked with artists ..read more

Lake Street Dive Good Together Fantasy Records So Cool This Could Be Curated By Steve McQueen! Apparently, this is Lake Street Dive’s 8th album yet our paths never crossed until las Sunday when I was cutting my lawns. We were at the stage of the month when all of the ‘obvious’ and ‘reviewers choice’ albums were in the can and I needed something to fit into the schedule. As I scrolled through my iPhone I came across Lake Street Dive and vaguely remembered the bio on the press release … as it was an uncommonly hot and sunny day I gave it a shot. I had only mown the first line of grass when my f ..read more

Paul Thompson Baby Hedgehog Self Release Modern Folk Songs Aligned To ‘Easy On The Ear’ Melodies Full of Lusciousness and Thoughtfulness. We’ve met Paul Thompson before; when Anita reviewed his last album LONE STAR in 2022; and while the world has disappeared further towards Hell on a handcart; this singer-songwriter and his songs remains in the wings charming all who sit before him. The opening song Traveling Light is a sweet love song that thankfully falls well short of Hippy-Trippy whimsy; and somehow made my heart flutter a tad when I played it last week …. “And we’re travelling light on ..read more

Anthony Geraci Tears in My Eyes Blue Heart Records Gloriously Understated Blues Piano and a Dusky Voice that Fits Like a Well Worn Velvet Glove. There are times when I research musicians that I think (realise) that I know nothing about music at all. Obviously when you see a picture of Anthony Geraci you realise he’s not in the first flush of youth; but nothing prepared me for the amount of albums that he’s previously released under his own name and various guises too, but alongside legends like Sugaray Rayford, Otis Grand and Ronnie Earl as well as guesting on far too many albums to list here ..read more

Nat King Cole Trio Live at the Blue Note, Chicago Label ? A Career High From One of America’s Greatest Ever Singers In a Live Setting Who among us doesn’t have a soft spot for Nat King Cole? That’s what I thought. Like in most other years I’ve been inundated with releases aimed at Record Store Day; 99% of which I’ve purposely ignored; as to me … music is for life; not just for vinyl fetishists with more money than sense. Then along comes this delight … and a delight it most surely is. In 1953 Nat King Cole was just approaching the heights of his fame, and this concert was more or less a favou ..read more

Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne Blues From Chicago to Paris: A Tribute to Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon Stony Plain Records A Remarkable Album With as much Boogie and Woogie as You Could Ever Imagine. Probably dating back to my pre-teens I’ve always had eclectic musical tastes; and an enquiring mind, which is why I started the website; as the magazine and website I’d previously wrote for were quite restrictive in what I could review. If I’d stayed there I’d never have discovered the sheer delight of Canadian Boogie-Woogie and all around Blues Maestro Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne. Here Wayne has taken a ..read more

Anna Lavigne Roses For the Ride Barbaraville Records Grown-Up Late Night Avant Garde Dinner Jazz Loveliness With a touch of Celtic Charm Too. Even though I’d met her a couple of times in the preceding twelve months I was totally unprepared for the sheer loveliness and all around quality of Anna Lavigne’s debut album ANGELS IN SANDHOES in 2020; and when she got in touch a couple of weeks ago regarding this release I was genuinely worried that she and Producer Martin G Stephenson could hit those heady heights a second time, in a year. More fool me! The couple appear to have created a distincti ..read more

Taj Mahal Savoy Stony Plain Records We, The Hepcats Will Love These Remakes From The Blues Chapter of the American Blues Songbook After flitting between Bluesy genres for decades I suppose it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to find Taj Mahal revisiting this particular chapter of The Great America Songbook. Plenty of others have recorded or re-recorded all of these songs over the years; and I already have a couple of versions of each dotted around my collection; so it was with something of a ‘sigh’ that I pressed ‘play’ on the office stereo. Taj actually introduces first song, Stompin’ At T ..read more

Andy Fairweather Low Flang Dang Last Music Company Grown Up Pop Music Full of Danceable Melodies, Uber-hooks and Monster Riffs. When I was about 14 I once bought an LP which had Amen Corner on one side and The Small Faces on the other and as my Record Collection was in its infancy, I played the Hell out of it! Never a huge singles collector I also bought Andy Fairweather Low’s 45, Wide Eyed and Legless; and that’s probably where our paths ceased to cross until now. In between I’ve seen him countless times as the gunslinger beside many household names in the music business; where he can play r ..read more

Little River Band Ultimate Hits & Masterpieces Capitol/UMe A Soundtrack To a Time of Fast Cars, Short Skirts, No Socks, Big Hair and …. No Worries! WOW! This is a ‘blast from the past’ in many ways ….. not least because one of the first ‘freebies’ I ever received was a Cassette copy of their 1978 release SLEEPER CATCHER, which I got in a Goody Bag when I attended a Music Industry Fair alongside my mate who was a manager for FW Woolworth! A lot of water and peroxide has flowed under the bridge for all of us since then; bringing us to this delightful and thoughtfully packaged release; coinc ..read more