As another week slips into history and a new one begins its path towards the same, it’s time to examine the best new albums — and the best old albums — to hit the shelves of your local record shop (and your favourite online retailer) this week.
It’s quite a collection: a new album from the returning Black Country Communion, a Stones classic given the traditional anniversary makeover, a collection from the great Suzi Quatro, and even some Vardis…
Black Country Communion - BCC IV
“Certainly, in the often fractious world of heavy rock there’s a sense of chemistry and camaraderie in BCC which will ensure that they can carry on down the line for some time yet.”
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Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition
“Experienced in new crystal clarity half a century later, TSMR can be appreciated as a spangled embodiment of that technicolor year and fullest manifestation of Brian’s ever-questing sonic spirit, upgrading the psychedelic jam of Sing This All Together (See What Happens) from wankered self-indulgence to fearless avant garde exploration.”
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Suzi Quatro - Legend
“Alongside Glitter and Holder and Bowie, she defined glam rock on British (and Australian) screens during that era – but she always had a harder, leaner edge than her contemporaries.”
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Hiss Golden Messenger - Hellelujah Anyhow
“This native Californian has become a leading Americana voice in the last decade, alchemising his love for The Byrds, The Beatles, Dylan, Van Morrison and Neil Young.”
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Chris Hillman - Bidin’ My Time
“There are tangible echoes of Hillman’s past on Bidin’ My Time, not just through revisiting The Byrds on Bells Of Rhymney and Here She Comes Again. He doffs a laconic Stetson to his days in the Flying Burrito Brothers on the self-written prairie lament Restless, and a version of Wildflowers that arguably edges Petty’s original.”
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Vardis - Reissues
“Vardis wisely released a live album as their debut in 1980, hell-for-leather boogie-fuelled lunacy at its core. The aptly titled 100 M.P.H. (8⁄10) remains a red-raw combo of cage-fighter aggression and bullet-train acceleration…”
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The Bronx - V
“It swings between buoyant hardcore punk, heritage-heavy hard rock and snotty, brattish proto-punk, all polished to a modern sheen.”
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Cradle Of Filth - Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness Of Decay
“There’s little ground they haven’t covered before, whether that’s the old school Steve Harris gallop of The Seductiveness Of Decay or the choral interlude of Achingly Beautiful, but no one does it quite like them.”
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The Horrors - V
“Faris Badwan’s polished croon lends a classy air to proceedings, though some of these studio-sculpted anthems clearly owe more to production wizardry and guitar-pedal pyrotechnics than solid songwriting.”
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Kaipa – Children Of The Sounds
“These five extended pieces are mostly grand prog-folk pastorals with a smooth jazz-fusion sheen, their nature-worship lyrics woven with filigree threads of bagpipe-style guitar, gleaming synthesiser fanfares and Celtic-meets Nordic fiddle flurries.”
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Reverend & The Makers - The Death Of A King
”…another intriguing pop record – McClure dabbles in spooky country voodoo on Miss Haversham, Shinto pop on Bang Saray and, on Boomerang, even something you could only feasibly call jungle jazz.”
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