Bob Mould "Here We Go Crazy" (2025)

Here We Go Crazy

release date: Mar. 7, 2025

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]

producer: Bob Mould

label: BMG - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Here We Go Crazy" - 2. "Neanderthal" - 3. "Breathing Room" - 4. "Hard to Get" - 9. "You Need to Shine" - 11. "Your Side"

14th studio album by grunge rock-forefather Bob Mould following 4½ years after Blue Hearts (Sep. 2020) is not surprisingly an album filled with much energy. The album is Mould's first on BMG after having released a long series of albums on Merge Records but with Mould himself in his usual roles as songwriter, composer, and producer, this new album shouldn't result in many raised eyebrows regarding style or themes. In the past, Mould has experimented with his soundscape and the use of instrumentation, however, since Silver Age from 2012, he has been quite consistently on an energetic alt. rock platform, boldly shaped via his preference for power pop and with hints to his more distant past in Sugar and Hüsker Dü in a more traditional guitar-rock setting. Comparing with his most recent album Blue Hearts, this is a wee bit harsher, slightly more direct, less politically oriented, and instead it's filled to the brim with sheer emotions. This both fits nicely with the applied amount of energy and a melodic drive, and then at times you could argue that it tends to touch on repetitiveness but we're talking about freak*** Bob Mould here!, and that guy should forever be granted every right and permission there is to go ahead and plug his electric guitar into his amplifier and have his fun at shouting and confronting whatever he feels like - be it the world, himself, his relationships, himself growing older, or the country's intolerable leader! Bob Mould is a sort of valve of modern times. Let the steam come out!

I have followed his work since the final two albums with Hüsker Dü, and he has always been an artist whose work I've shared a particular soft spot for, and most of the time he has been able to enrich my life, which is why I remain a stable fan. He's not an artist who invent music any longer but he's a guarantee of quality and a voice that speaks up for humanity as well as being someone who takes a stand against stupidity, which is another good reason to follow this great artist.

Here We Go Crazy is basically what we have come to expect from Mr. Mould, and once again it's relevant and recommended!

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars]

Sleater-Kinney "Little Rope" (2024)

Little Rope

release date: Jan. 19, 2024

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]

producer: John Congleton

label: Loma Vista - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hell" - 2. "Needlessly Wild" - 3. "Say It Like You Mean It" (4 / 5) (live on KEXP) - 4. "Hunt You Down" - 6. "Don’t Feel Right" - 9. "Dress Yourself"

[ full KEXP live-performance ]

11th studio album by American rock-duo Sleater-Kinney following Path of Wellness (Jun. 2021). The band was formed by its two current members Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, both credited vocals and guitars, but the band has formerly been an actual band of three members, which earlier and for the longest period also included drummer Janet Weiss, who left the band reduced to its founding members after the band's ninth album The Center Won't Hold (Aug. 2019). Little Rope is Sleater-Kinney's first on Loma Vista, and producer Congleton (St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Lucy Dacus, Marilyn Manson, Conor Oberst, Gossip, Phoebe Bridgers, Lana Del Rey, The Killers, Goldfrapp) secures a tight and energetic edge, which makes the album a more powerful expression than the band's previous outings.

Lyrically, it's stripped down, angry and filled with personal despair. The background is the sinister lived-tragedy when Tucker's parents were both killed in a car accident in Italy back in 2022 - a central story to the ten compositions. In that way the process of writing new material might as well have resulted in something closer to Nick Cave's Skeleton, but Little Rope is more like its opposite, full of energy and opposing sensations, and all cleverly held together by great hooks and melodies, which both reminds us of The Undertones, Breeders, and St. Vincent without the bad taste of mere copyist 'cause Sleater-Kinney is much more in their own right.

Imo, Little Rope is possibly the best album from Sleater-Kinney.

Recommended.

[ Mojo, Record Collector 4 / 5, 👉Pitchfork 7,7 / 10, Slant, Uncut 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Grrrl Gang "Spunky!" (2023)

Spunky!

release date: Sep. 22, 2023

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]

producer: Lafa Pratomo, Grrrl Gang

label: Green Island Music - nationality: Indonesia

Track highlights: 1. "Birthday Blues" - 2. "A Fight Breaks Out at a Karaoke Bar" - 3. "Rude Awakening" - 4. "Spunky!" - 5. "Cool Girl" - 9. "Blue Stained Lips" - 10. "The Star"

Full-length studio album debut by Indonesian trio Grrrl Gang. The album follows the compilation Here to Stay! (2020) and the ep debut Not Sad, Not Fulfilled (2018). Grrrl Gang consist of lead vocalist and guitarist Angeeta Sentana, bassist and vocalist Akbar Rumandung, guitarist and vocalist Edo Alventa, and together they formed the power pop trio in Yogyakarta, Java in 2016 - since then, they have relocated to the capital city of Jakarta.

Spunky!" is a ten track album; however, running for less than 25 mins. it's a rather short album. And frankly, that only makes you wish they had more songs on their repertoire 'cause it's really a fine addictive list of power pop tunes you probably wouldn't expect to originate from Asia - and say least of all: Indonesia. The three met and formed at Gadjah Mada University but might as well have formed in Seattle, or somewhere else in the US, which is like the living proof of how the world has become much smaller when speaking of music culture. Grrrl Gang play power pop and indie rock - in the 90s often referred to as college rock with bonds to The Breeders, Pixies, Echobelly, Throwing Muses and the like.

It's straight-forward and simple, and then it reminds us of how you could just go on and form a band back in 1977/80, or say 1990, just as long as you had some fundamental skills in place, and Grrrl Gang surely know one or two things about composing energetic indie pop.

Spunky! is already an acclaimed album - NME puts it at number #48 on its list of the 50 best albums of the year. I guess all three band members could very well have found, or hoped for another type of living than what they sat out for when deciding to relocate to the capital to find day jobs, and then instead ended up in a successful band.

Highly recommended.

[ NME 4 / 5, Under the Radar 7,5 / 10, 👍Loud and Quiet 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Elvis Costello "The Best of Elvis Costello - The First 10 Years" (2007)

The Best of Elvis Costello - The First 10 Years (compilation)
release date: May 1, 2007
format: digital
[album rate: 4,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Hip-O Records - nationality: England, UK

Best of compilation by Elvis Costello compiled by Costello himself is a strong contender to the best single disc compilation around with his earliest - and best - material. The selection starts off from the debut album My Aim Is True (1977) and ends with his last album released on F-Beat, Blood & Chocolate (1986). A couple of fine things about the album is how all studio releases except (the shallow) Goodbye Cruel World (1984) from this ten year period are represented, and that the songs appear in chronological order. The total of 22 tracks is made up from three taken from Costello's first three albums, My Aim..., This Year's Model (1978) and Armed Forces (1979), then two from albums 4 and 5, Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981), one composition from his 6th, Almost Blue (1981), then again three from his 7th, Imperial Bedroom (1982), two from his 8th, Punch the Clock (1983), two from his 10th, King of America (1986), and one song from his 11th, Blood & Chocolate. Of course there's no way he would be able to satisfy everyone's taste and personally; I miss more from Get Happy!! and Blood & Chocolate and I could live without few of the selected, but ultimately, it's impossible to pick 22 tracks only, and when going for 1-3 songs from these albums, it's a pretty decent job.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Bob Mould "Blue Hearts" (2020)

Blue Hearts

release date: Sep. 25, 2020

format: digital (14 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Bob Mould

label: Merge Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Next Generation" - 3. "American Crisis" - 5. "Forecast of Rain" - 7. "Siberian Butterfly" - 8. "Everyth!ng to You" - 10. "Baby Needs a Cookie" - 12. "Leather Dreams"

13th studio album by Bob Mould as usual released on Merge follows 1½ years after Sunshine Rock (2019), and it's as usual with Mould as producer and songwriter and composer on all tracks.

It may not be the strongest progression that we are witnessing here - in fact, it's as if in his older days Mould seems to have sought back towards the starting point of his musical career in the harder-hitting punk rock. Where Sunshine Rock was more upbeat, Blue Hearts is its unpolished counterpart. It's a mixture of energetic and raw guitar-driven melodies with an angry and wronged older man, and on the other hand the few more harmony-driven and melodious compositions. Taken together, you are easily led to believe that you are back in the late eighties and are about to listen to music that was to shape the foundation for the grunge rock wave of the early 90s, but this is Bob Mold in 2020. And strangely it's not the experience of old music sounding as something he has already made several times before. It's a collection of solid rockers exuding sheer energy fronted by an artist who appears as someone with a desire to play, and you may think it's a lie when this guy three decades ago explained his withdrawal from music because of acquired tinnitus as he nearly hasn't been this loud before. Bob Mould has always been a kind of valve for the political climate and the living condition of Americans, and you could say he has rarely faced so much to open up about. He comments on the infected political climate, on our collective global climate as well as the handling of a worldwide pandemic. And by that, it's like gasoline on Mould's eternal fount of inner lyrics just waiting to be ignited. As good as anyone, he can compose a 2-3 minute hard-hitting song with three verses, a bridge, and a rich chorus - 'Bang-bang-bang! On to the next one!!'. In fact, three tracks are under two minutes long, and at the other end, only one track plays for more than three minutes, and the entire album of fourteen tracks is over in under 36 minutes.

Never has he released a solo album that bears so many similarities to the music he helped create in Hüsker Dü, and the album emerges as a beautiful essence and a bit of a late journeyman work of art showing us what Bob Mould is capable of as a songwriter: that commenting with a rare directness and precision on social conditions that affect most people - and done with finesse, with and without noise! Some might argue that the album comes 30 years late, but the messages are contemporary and the music is just universal.

Blue Hearts is quite simply one of Bob Mould's very best solo albums and therefore highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👍Rolling Stone, Clash 4 / 5 stars ]

Bob Mould "Sunshine Rock" (2019)

Sunshine Rock
release date: Feb. 8, 2019
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Merge Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Sunshine Rock" (studio session) - 2. "What Do You Want Me to Do" - 3. "Sunny Love Song" - 5. "The Final Years" - 7. "I Fought" - 9. "Lost Faith" - 11. "Send Me a Postcard"

12th studio solo album by Bob Mould is like all his solos produced by Mould and it's his fourth consecutive album to by released on Merge. It's the continued story of the old rock artist, who has found his niche on his older days. It takes off where he left us on Patch the Sky in 2016, which again took off from the two previous releases. The album is Mould's 4th since what many saw as his "comeback" album, Silver Age in 2012 - an album that followed several years with musical experiments and the then most recent "folk rock-ish" Life and Times (2009) - and his most welcomed 2012 rocker presented Mould's nice return to form - something he has proved to keep to ever since.
Sunshine Rock may not appear as alternative and heavy as his most recent studio album, but it still stays very true to the power pop label he is first and foremost associated with. Sometimes he turns up a bit on the alt. rock side of the style, at other times it's more harmonically composed, but it's always power pop with hints and bonds to the old punk rock soul and with a natural link to an American tradition of folk rock as personified by Neil Young, and the album is in my mind one of Mould's more bold releases to share a common ground in songwriting style with his time in Hüsker Dü. In this respect you may compare to Candy Apple Grey (1986) and Warehouse - Songs and Stories (1987). Track #11, "Send Me a Postcard" is a mighty fine cover - originally a blast of a [non-album] song by Dutch [Jefferson Airplane-ish] band Shocking Blue issued as a 7'' single in 1968 [ check the original here ].
The album has been met by positive reviews, although, it hasn't reached the favourable position on the albums chart list as his best charting album in recent years, Beauty & Ruin from 2014. Bob Mould keeps rockin' away - that's what he knows, and he does that better than most. What also comes to mind here, is his long legacy with power pop tunes and how he may find it increasingly difficult not to repeat himself if he doesn't add more to his new material. Having said that, the album is a prolific example of alt. rock craftsmanship and something essential in a collection of contemporary alt rock.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, 👍Slant 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10, Uncut 4,5 / 5 stars ]

The Vaccines "Combat Sports" (2018)

Combat Sports
release date: Mar. 30, 2018
format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Ross Orton
label: Columbia Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Put It on a T-Shirt" (live session) - 2. "I Can't Quit" - 3. "Your Love Is My Favourite Band" (live session) - 4. "Surfing in the Sky"

4th studio album by The Vaccines, who has changed its line-up since the successor English Graffiti (2015). Drummer Pete Robertson left the band in June 2016 and was subsequently replaced by Yoann Intonti - initially, only to full-fill live concert obligations but when the band initiated studio work on the new album, they announced that not only had Intonti become a steady member, but also touring keyboardist Timothy Lanham had by now been included in the band.

Musically, there's not much progression since the debut in 2011. The Vaccines play 'power pop' and 'indie pop' in the lighter end of 'alt. rock', and they base most of their songs on memorable hooks and quick chorus-lines. In that respect, the album doesn't provide us with anything new. Yeah, they play well, they compose their songs within their sphere, but frankly, it's becoming increasingly harder to distinguish their albums from one another - and a wee bit tedious. Several tracks sound like spin-offs or new versions of familiar songs making it a bit annoying.

"A new album by The Vaccines, you say?... Yeah, well, I dunno... It doesn't really ring any bells."

People may play it at a party and no one really pay any attention, wonders or asks for more. So what's the point if they just reproduce the formula note by note? Let's say, they'll try this a fifth time... I will not bother but for now, I concede this only above 3, but please, guys, don't drag us through the same one more time...

Not recommended.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, NME, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]

Frank Black "Teenager of the Year" (1994)

Teenager of the Year
release date: May 24, 1994
format: cd (1999 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Eric Drew Feldman, Frank Black, Alistair Clay
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Whatever Happened to Pong?" - 2. "Thalassocracy" - 3. "(I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain" - 5. "The Vanishing Spies" - 6. "Speedy Marie" - 7. "Headache" (4 / 5) (live) - 11. "Fiddle Riddle" - 14. "I Could Stay Here Forever" - 16. "Superabound" - 17. "Big Red" - 20. "Pure Denizen of the Citizens Band"

2nd solo studio album by Frank Black is a true long-player at 62 min. playing time and containing 22 tracks (with several tracks under 2 min. and 10 tracks over 3 mins) thus being released as a double vinyl lp. Like on his debut, former Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago feature on several tracks but the musical backbone is once again co-producer Eric Drew Feldman on bass & keyboards and Nick Vincent on drums.
Stylistically, Black may not introduce a lot of new styles here - he excels in what he does best: playing alt. rock and indie rock - at the time often referred to as college rock, but the album is something else than his first solo album where he sort of just did what he had been used to do. And lyrically, he just continues to sing about whatever pops up in his weird super-sub-conscious fantasy. Yes, it's songs about video-games, comics' and cartoon characters, space, UFOs and what lies in between [!]... Quite often it's rather funny, though. The album is very varied incorporating not only inspiration from other genres and styles but by adding elements from 1960s surf rock, folk rock, 70s art rock and of course punk rock. Sometimes he even sounds inspired by more traditional folk as exemplified in "Superabound" and "Sir Rockaby", but without pointing in all directions he somehow manages to keep it all together thanks to a simple production sound without too much post-recording rework and by altogether containing all the various styles in his special universe of alt. rock.
Admittedly, I rejected the album in '94. I did try listening to it - more than once - but I just didn't get it. To me, it was too noisy and without direction and appeal. I dunno. I guess I felt the same way about Trompe le monde by Pixies when I first heard that one. There's something confrontational about his music that may cause people to keep it out, perhaps. Anyway, for me this is an album that has taken more than a usual amount time to settle and to adjust to. But I have. From a 2010-perspective I can't really understand why I didn't just embrace the album as the continued journey out of Pixies - kind of together with what The Breeders did.
The album contains a lot of fine tracks and great bits, and overall, it's quite an accomplishment, where I feel completely in line with Al Wesel of Rolling Stone when he sums up that: "The songs switch gears so much that you're never sure where you might end up, but the ride is always exhilarating." At the time of its release, the album was met by fine but also luke-warm reviews; however, time has really rocketed the album up on many best of charts, and it's also included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, NME, Select, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Frank Black "Frank Black" (1993)

Frank Black [debut]
release date: Mar. 8, 1993
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Eric Drew Feldman, Frank Black
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Los Angeles" - 2. "I Heard Ramona Sing" - 3. "Hang on to Your Ego" - 8. "Ten Percenter" - 13. "Adda Lee" - 15. "Don't Ya Rile 'Em"

Studio album solo debut by Frank Black, aka Black Francis, which used to be his moniker while band leader of Pixies, aka Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV [actual birth name!] released only a few months after Black had announced the break-up of Pixies, which apparently had come as a surprise to the other members of the band. Musically, it follows close in the tradition of Pixies' material and also as a follow-up to its last album Trompe le monde (1991). Joey Santiago of Pixies feature on additional guitar, and Black's two foremost musical associates here are co-producer Eric Drew Feldman (former Pere Ubu and Captain Beefheart) on bass and keyboards and with Nick Vincent on drums and percussion.
I recall listening to the album by chance in the early 90s finding it superficial and of no particular interest. I think, I had been taken so much by surprise by the split of a great band and also found the band's last album of less interest - at the time - that I simply rejected this, thinking the band had been great with Doolittle and not really again after that. A few years later I changed by view on Pixies last album but never found this one in close relation to that. It's obvious that it's rather close to the soul of the band, but I don't find this one particular successful, and have come to regard it as Black's urge to show the others how he was somewhere else - already releasing his own material as if to say: "Pixies is all over with - just look where I'm heading!" - or something.
It does for sure seem unfinished - like an album in the making, and I have always regarded it as something just above the mediocre... for some reason.'Cause when I compare it to the last two albums by Pixies it's really not far from those - not considerably poorer. I think, it's major problem is that it almost only summarizes what Pixies stood for. Too many compositions stand so close to what has already been issued by his former band - here new songs have their own specific arrangements. That's true, but they still sound like remakes, and that's the problem about this album. Black doesn't do something else than going through the motions - just for himself this time. Perhaps it's actual problem is that it's his break-up album where he just wants something to shove in the face of his former associates saying "We used to do this together, now I do it on my own (and we all know it's the same shite)".
I'm not overly pleased about it, though I can't really say it's near bad. I just don't play it often and can only say that I do not agree with Heather Phares at allmusic.com.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

XTC "Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)" (2000)

Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
release date: May 17, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,34]
producer: Nick Davis
label: Cooking Vinyl - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Playground" - 2. "Stupidly Happy" - 3. "In Another Life" - 5. "Boarded Up" - 6. "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" - 8. "Standing in for Joe" - 10. "You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful" - 12. "The Wheel and the Maypole"
[ full album ]

12th studio album by XTC is the second part in the band's "Apple Venus" (volumes) series and the remaining tracks of an intended double album. XTC is still a duo of songwriters Andrew [Andy] Partridge and Colin Moulding after guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Dave Gregory left during the recordings of Apple Venus Volume 1. As usual, Partridge has written the majority of the tracks as Moulding is credited for three out of twelve songs.
This new, second part, doesn't quite follow the style of Volume 1 as it's much more a pop / rock album in the style of psychedelic pop / art pop and power pop - rhythm-guitar rock with clear bonds to Beach Boys, The Kinks, The Beatles, Badfinger and Todd Rundgren (who produced XTC's acclaimed Skylarking) more than more experimental styles of neo-psychedelia and progressive pop found on the '99 album, which in a way seems a bit odd given the fact that Partridge, Moulding and Gregory had already written material for a double album when entering the studio back in early '98.
Where critics loved the '99 album, they are much more reluctant and luke-warm about this.
Neither do I find it as fine and innovative as Apple Venus Volume 1, but it's more than just a decent album. It's really such a pity that they couldn't finance the double album they sat out for when entering the studio in '98. I think, it would have been great. Instead of producing an album containing all songs - perhaps with a completely different track listing, which would have made it more of a conglomerate - they end up having released two rather different albums that will always be compared to one another. Some even talk about "the leftovers" from "Volume 1" when determining this is the inferior second part... No, they are just very different, but also so much in the spirit of XTC, who have never ceased to write and compose music in so many different styles without losing the band's dna. This is another fine chapter in the story of XTC - not one of their best but less suffice to make a good album.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, NME 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "All This Useless Beauty" (1996)

All This Useless Beauty
release date: May 14, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Geoff Emerick and Elvis Costello
label: Warner Bros. Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Other End of the Telescope" - 2. "Little Atoms" - 3. "All This Useless Beauty" (4 / 5) - 4. "Complicated Shadows" - 5. "Why Can't a Man Stand Alone?" - 6. "Distorted Angel" - 10. "You Bowed Down"

16th studio album by Elvis Costello following Kojak Variety (1995) is his first in a decade since Blood & Chocolate (1986) but also his final to feature his old backing band The Attractions on all tracks [see Brutal Youth]. And then it's also his last studio album on the Warner Bros. Records label (a best of album, Extreme Honey, subtitled "The Very Best of Warner Brothers Years" from '97 would be his final issue releasing him from his contract with Warner).

All songs here is a collection of songs that Costello intentionally wrote for other artists to record and two of the these were written and composed with other artists: track #1 with Aimee Mann, and track #7 with Paul McCartney.

It's not a return to the sound and tempo of former albums delivered together with The Attractions, but it's neither a follow-up to other recent releases, where he has experimented with classical material and roots rock, country and traditional folk. Before his '95 album he released the acclaimed Brutal Youth (1994) with reminiscences of his heydays with his renowned backing band, but not really in that neighbourhood either. Then what is it? To compare with former Costello works it sits somewhere in between - and could be described as the combination of three albums: the stripped-down and pure Brutal Youth, the softer Mighty Like a Rose (without the heavy arrangements) and the personal, much varied, and yet unique sound of Spike.

Personally, I had stopped following new material from Elvis after his '95 album. My impression at the time was that he had peaked long before that and had his best years behind him, Although, what years they were! 'Cause no mater what, how could he come up with anything new without risking to to fail?! At this point in his massive career, he has been around all corners of genres and styles, he had covered and played with music greats. And perhaps that's what he cleverly unfolds here when he mix EVERYTHING he has done and showcases his 'roots rock' fascination, perfections his Dylanesque composer skills, points to popular music icons of the sixties and plagiarises his older self in completely new tones. It's all Costello, and he can do anything. I still think his best years were back then in the '70s and 80s, but nevertheless, I should have paid this album some attention in '96 'cause fact is, it's much better than many of his other recent releases and up there close to his '94 album. It contains many strong compositions - perhaps not as musical originals but as a songwriter, boy, he really still delivers.

[ allmusic.com, NME 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone, Uncut, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

The Fratellis "Costello Music" (2006)

Costello Music [debut]
release date: Sep. 11, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Tony Hoffer
label: Fallout Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Henrietta" (live on later) - 2. "Flathead" (4 / 5) - 3. "Cuntry Boys & City Girls" - 5. "Chelsea Dagger" (live on later) - 6. "For the Girl" (4 / 5) (AOL live session) (acoustic) (acoustic live) - 8. "Creepin Up the Backstairs" (AOL live session) - 10. "Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night"

Studio album debut by Scottish Glasgow trio The Fratellis consisting of vocalist & guitarist Jon Fratelli (aka John Paul Lawler), bassist & backing vocalist Barry Fratelli (aka Barry Wallace) and drummer, percussionist & backing vocalist Mince Fratelli (aka Gordon McRory). The album is released on the Island Records' sublabel Fallout, and all songs are credited the band, although, on later albums Jon Fratelli is credited for the majority of the band's compositions.
This is fine alt. rock, indie rock, or garage rock revival somewhat related to another Scottish band, Franz Ferdinand, only, I think this is ever so much more direct and less pretentious, and I really like their retro references to music of the great British invasion beat combined with garage rock. Sometimes the style is more alt. rock like Arctic Monkeys but mostly it's just The Fratellis... not so much fuss, just the fun of it, and that's actually quite nice, and this is their only and best album, so far.
[ allmusic.com, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Show lyrics <- click...

~ ~ ~
"For The Girl"

"La la la la la la........

Well she said I know but I just cant tell
Everything you've just been saying
Lucy was there as well in the dark
The kids in the band were playing

No-one can hear a word or tell
What the girl was singing
See she must've been 16 or 18
I'm just past caring

She was into the Stones when
I was into the Roses
She was breaking my bones when
I was bursting their noses
She would tell me a secret
I would lose it the next day
Young love pleases you easy
Makes you sick in a bad way

And all the while the girls sang
La la la la and she sang
Kickings for my sweetheart
Bruises that I just don't miss

And she said "I can't love you anymore than this!"

La la la la la la la...............
La la la la la la la...............

Aw she said she said no no no no
Then again yes why don't you kill me
He asked him why you messed up right there
Sweetheart you know that don't thrill me
Said I would've been there for if you had been a little bit nicer
I was dead by Sunday half dead scared just trying to please her

She getting the pills when
I was into her best friend
She was chasing the thrills
And living down at the West End
she was pretty in braces
I lived under her window
She said take me to London
Tell me something I don't know

And all the while the girls sang
La la la la she sang
Kickings for my sweetheart
Bruises that I just don't miss

And she said "I can't love you anymore than this!"

La la la la la.....
La la la la la.....
La la la la la.....

She was into the Stones when
I was into the Roses
She was breaking my bones when
I was bursting their noses
She would tell me a secret
I would lose it the next day
Young love pleases you easy
Makes you sick in a bad way
And all the while the girls sang
La la la la she sang
Kickings for my sweetheart
Bruises that I just don't miss

And she said I don't like you
You can't stand me
I can't love you anymore than this"

~ ~ ~

Bob Mould "Beauty & Ruin" (2014)

Beauty & Ruin
release date: Jun. 3, 2014
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Merge Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Little Glass Pill" (live) - 3. "I Don't Know You Anymore" (live at KCRW) - 4. "Kid With Crooked Face" - 6. "The War" (4 / 5) (live at WFUV) - 7. "Forgiveness" (4 / 5) - 8. "Hey Mr. Grey" (live at WFUV) - 10. "Tomorrow Morning" - 12. "Fix It"

10th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist. Like always, Bob is his own producer, and that just seems to work fine. This is another strong album after several years off and a fine follow-up to his strongest album in this millennium, Silver Age (2012). It took me a while to get accustomed to this one. Initially, I thought of it as vague and an attempt to be more aggressive and in that way come closer to his best albums of the past just without much new to offer. However, over a span of 2-3 months I now find that the album is not only packed with fine compositions - they may need time to open up, but it's even an improvement to his fine 2012 album. One peculiar observation suggests that the best tracks don't figure on the first half of the album but are stowed away in the last part. With his fine 2012 release, I don't find this as surprising but musically it's even better proving there's still many fine years back in the father of grunge. The front cover features a double shot of Bob with one photo from his youth ['beauty'?] and a recent photo ['ruin'?].
Not only do I find the album a very fine collection of songs at this point of a long career; for now, I simply consider it no less than his second best album - ever.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, 👉Pitchfork 7,3 / 10 stars ]

Back cover

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions" (1994)

The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions (compilation)
release date: Oct. 25, 1994
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Demon Records - nationality: England, UK

Best of compilation album released on Costello's former record label with songs spanning from his earliest albums to Blood & Chocolate (1986) after which he signed with Warner Bros. And just this label had earlier in '94 (Mar. 8) released Costello's Brutal Youth, which had been seen as a "return" despite having already released two other albums on Warner since his '86 album; however, both Spike (1989) and Mighty Like a Rose (1991) had been reviewed and possibly intentionally released as bolder mainstream albums, and Brutal Youth was compared to his more power pop-shaped '86 release.

This is not the best "best of" album you'll find with Costello, in fact there are so many best of albums claiming to contain his "hits" that it seems like an endless project to list them all. The first official album making the attempt to compile a best of album is The Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions from 1985 issued on Columbia exclusively for the North American market containing 19 tracks, and a similar, though not identical, release The Best of Elvis Costello - The Man issued by Demon for the UK and Japanese markets containing 18 tracks. These two issues originally had the same front cover as background but "only" twelve tracks in common and a completely different playlist. Later issues of the UK version have a different cover. In 2007, Hip-O-Records issued the album The Best of Elvis Costello - The First 10 Years compiled by Costello himself, which basically is a (fine) combination of the two former best of albums containing 22 tracks.

Demon also released the extensive album Girls + £ ÷ Girls = $ & Girls (commonly referred to as Girls, Girls, Girls) subtitled "The Songs of Elvis Costello / The Sounds of Elvis Costello & The Attractions" from 1989 containing 47 tracks, and in 1999: The Very Best of Elvis Costello containing 42 tracks. Apart from these, Demon and associated labels have released various compilation albums, and also Warner / WEA has issued a number of Costello compilations like Malice and Magic (1994) and Extreme Honey (The Very Best of the Warner Bros. Years) (1997).

Forced to choose just one of the many best of albums, I would go with the 2007 Hip-O-Records issue.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Elvis Costello "Brutal Youth" (1994)

Brutal Youth
release date: Mar. 8, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Mitchell Froom and Elvis Costello
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Pony St." - 2. "Kinder Murder" (4 / 5) (live on Letterman) - 3. "13 Steps Lead Down" - 4. "This Is Hell" - 5. "Clown Strike" - 7. "Still Too Soon to Know" - 9. "Sulky Girl" (official video) - 11. "My Science Fiction Twin" - 13. "Just About Glad" - 15. "Favourite Hour"

14th studio album by Elvis Costello follows an usual three years since his latest album Mighty Like a Rose (1991). The album is like the '91 release co-produced by Mitchell Froom and it's Costello's first album since Blood and Chocolate (1986) to feature The Attractions. They are not credited on the cover (or spine) but are listed as backing band on five of the songs. The relative long hiatus - for Costello - in between albums doesn't mean he didn't produce and compose music. As soon as the recording sessions for his '91 album was over (Winter '90/'91), he was engaged in composing and writing music with film-composer Richard Harvey for the BBC Channel 4 TV-series GBH, released Jul. '91, in '92 he began a collaborative work with the classical act The Brodsky Quartet with whom he released the album The Juliet Letters (Jan. '93), AND he wrote and composed all songs songs for the Wendy James' solo debut Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears (1993) - half of these co-written by Costello's wife Cait O'Riordan. So, no! The man is bloody productive as always.

Critics were rather divided on this (see below) ranking the album from mediocre to near masterpiece. Stephen Erlewine from Allmusic criticises the production sound: "Unfortunately, all this nostalgia and good intentions are cancelled by the retention of producer Mitchell Froom, whose junkyard, hazily cerebral productions stand in direct contrast to the Attractions' best work.", and Chris Willman in Los Angeles Times on the other hand: "You don’t have to have underrated Costello’s recent work to agree this is his finest album since his last with the Attractions, 1986’s Blood and Chocolate.”

Brutal Youth was promoted as a return to former heydays and it's striking how Costello has left the orchestrated arrangements of brass and strings somewhat behind instead of focussing on simpler song structures. That said, it's not Blood and Chocolate part 2 - the power pop songs are outnumbered by more singer / songwriter and pop / rock material but it IS a fine album that gave promises of a return to form of one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary songwriters.

[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Blender, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, Q Magazine, Uncut 4 / 5, NME 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Bob Mould "Silver Age" (2012)

Silver Age
release date: Sep. 4, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Merge Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Star Machine" - 2. "Silver Age" - 3. "The Descent" (5 / 5) (live on WFUV) - 6. "Fugue State" - 8. "Angels Rearrange" - 9. "Keep Believing" - 10. "First Time Joy"

9th solo studio album by Bob Mould and his first on new label, Merge Records signals a new start.
The album shows us a much more focused Mould than we've been used to for the past two decades.
For the first time in that many years it's so nice to hear the old man back on top. He sounds pretty much like Bob Mould in 1996, which means it cannot be bad - in fact, it's more than just Okay, and I find that it's one of the better releases in 2012. For quite some years I had given up on the man, as he continued to release new albums in search of a new styles or a new combo within familiar styles, without much luck, and without the right package of good songs, he's so famous for.
"The Descent" is just one blasting mofo song. Thanx Bob, how great to see you back!
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👉Pitchfork 7,6 / 10 stars ]

Bob Mould "Life and Times" (2009)

Life and Times
release date: Apr. 7, 2009
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Bob Mould
label: ANTI- (Epitaph Records) - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Life and Times" - 3. "City Lights (Days Go By)" - 4. "MM 17" - 5. "Argos" - 6. "Bad Blood Better"

8th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist is an album with Mould in control of things. On District Line from 2008, he played most instruments but here he goes even further, as he is credited for playing all instruments aside from drum parts handled by Jon Wurster.
Musically, it's not far from the predecessor where Mould blends the things he's good at: the signature power pop, the angry alt. rock and the ballad-like singer / songwriter parts that takes us back to his debut album Workbook from 1989, which in a way characterises this album the most, but it also sound much like the second and slightly better part of his former album.
Life and Times is not pure brilliance nor unforgettable like most of his recent works, but it comes out as another more than a decent return of the Mould we saw and heard in the 90s. Except for the angry "Argos" and "Spiraling Down" the album is very much like a look back on his debut with its focus on singer / songwriter and folk rock instead of more electrified power pop and alt. rock compositions of the 90s. Lyrically, it works on a high level with fine stories but it's also an album without obvious great songs, and I mostly find it the nice return with hopes of something more.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 7 / 10, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Bob Mould "District Line" (2008)

District Line
release date: Feb. 5, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Bob Mould
label: ANTI- (Epitaph Records) - nationality: USA

7th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist released 2½ years after his most recent album Body of Song from 2005, which appeared as the attempt to find back to his roots after a strange detour into electro synth pop experiments.
District Line shows us a much more focused Mould doing what he's good at, and stylistically, he has successfully returned and revived "the old" power pop alt. rock and indie rock style with the addition of folk rock and chorus-based compositions as his albums of the 90s.
The album is not just a blast of great rock tunes, as the songs are more like reminiscences of another time, with a taste of greatness. It's undoubtedly Mould's best album in years, and it's nice to hear the man back to what he does the best. At least he hasn't abandoned music, and now that he has found back to the style that works, we just have to wait 'cause Mould has that capability of creating great music, although, District Line may not quite be one of his best - it's still far from his worst and a quite recommendable listen.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Undertones "All Wrapped Up" (1983)

abridged issue

All Wrapped Up (compilation)
release date: Nov. 1983
format: vinyl (abridged issue) / 2 lp vinyl (ARD 1654283) / digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: various
label: Ardeck - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

1st compilation album by The Undertones originally released on EMI sub-label Ardeck is issued after the disbandment that followed the release of the band's fourth album The Sin of Pride (Mar. 1983). The original UK album is a double vinyl album containing 30 tracks. The abridged version of the album is the most common, which was issued in North America, Japan, and for the European market. The abridged version contains many great songs as it's a compilation of the band's A-side singles, but it's really the C- and D-sides of the double album, which also happens to be the B-side singles that makes the issue a must-have. Songs like "True Confessions", "Smarter Than You", "Emergency Cases", "Mars Bars" all have that extra wit and bit that defined this great band of the North, and which ultimately reveals what a great band they were to produce such great material as their B-sides.

org. double album

Bob Mould "Body of Song" (2005)

Body of Song
release date: Jul. 26, 2005
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Granary Music - nationality: USA

6th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist follows more than three years after Modulate (Mar. 2002). Is this his worst album? I do believe it's one of them, anyway. Best news is that he has now abandoned the electro synth experiments and has returned to alt. rock and power pop, but the good songs are simply missing Bob! This is just mediocre and not really recommendable but it's better than his most recent career low point, Modulate.
Not recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]