"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. " -- Groucho Marx.
Sophomore albums are difficult to do well and many bands have suffered from the sophomore album curse. That curse is one of the reasons that the second album is so hotly anticipated from any band, but when that band is Maroon 5 and the first album was as good, and as successful, as Songs […]
Can you imagine a world where U2 was still cool? Imagine they had taken the right track and followed Nirvana down that Alt.rock path. Imagine if they had turned away from the mawkish, bland has-been rock that they are so fond of now. But instead, allowed themselves to be inspired by the […]
We all have them, songs that touch a secret place in your soul – sometimes secret even from you. They can grow and occasionally fester in you like an open wound, or they can heal you, fill you up and inspire you. Sometimes they don't even reflect your musical tastes. They can […]
This week’s band of the week are the brummie trio of Mark Tromans (vocals, guitar), Craig Taylor (bass), and Mark Sheehan (drums/percussion) also known as Attica State (formerly Sons of Gossamer). Attica State’s sex-soaked guitar riffs, perfect harmonies and cogent songwriting make this young band a powerful contender to be the next hot British […]
I love the smell of the beach; even here in Scotland it smells the same. The sweet, scent of the crisp air, the salty clean aroma of the water, the sandy whiff on a windy day. Nothing seems as pure or inspiring as that smell. You can feel the draw, the energy […]
80’s new wave sounds from artists like The Cure, Peter Gabriel and Depeche Mode were always upbeat — even when they were depressed — atmospheric and romantically inspired. And those great honest guitar-driven rock anthem bands from the 80’s like U2, The Police and Simple Minds were the same but different. Two sides […]
I have received several e-mail over the past couple of days, from a variety of sources, asking whether or not I knew that I had featured a Christian musician as my Band of the Week. (That would mean a ticket straight to both music journalist and atheist hell – oddly enough they are in exactly […]
When my esteemed colleague the Co-Assistant Music Editor – Under Junior Assistant Music Editor, and he knows it – at Blogcritics.org magazine, DJRadiohead (not his real name you understand), was asked to perform the laborious and thankless task of compiling the official BC Magazine Best Albums of 2006 I knew that I wouldn’t agree with […]
When I was just a lowly BC writer I was trawling through the un-reviewed CD database and found several interesting sounding albums by unknown — and I would later learn unsigned — bands (The Ruse and American Princes - both bands later became Band of the Week). I agreed to review their CDs and I […]
In what could only be considered the funniest practical joke ever perpetrated against me — I suspected by Blogcritics’ illustrious boss Eric Olsen, and if not him then by the Universe at large — I have had the new Crazy Frog Christmas single fling its way, unbidden by me, through my letterbox. My immediate […]