The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Edition
“The first thing to say is that, despite all the revisions over the years, it’s still a brilliant album. Even without all the experiments, the tapes being thrown in the air, orchestral climaxes and use of Indian musicians, this is (largely) a set of extraordinary songs. The intro to Lovely Rita (and Paul McCartney’s inspired cry of ‘Rita!’); the warmth of With A Little Help; the spooky brilliance of A Day In The Life; the reprise of the title track; the daring of Within You, Without You; the internal rhyming of ‘and’ and ‘grand’ in When I’m Sixty Four. This album, like all great albums, has so much for the listener to unpack that you can still find new things in it half a century later. Even its weakest track, Good Morning Good Morning, has a strange, basic charm (and I often wonder if the writer of Meet The Wife, the now obscure British TV programme name checked in John Lennon’s lyric, ever got a thrill from hearing his show name-checked in a Beatles record). You may have other, preferred Beatles albums, but Sgt. Pepper, its novelties aside, is a brilliant record.”
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Flogging Molly - Life Is Good
“Punk can be a relative term, especially when applied to California. But all Flogging Molly’s rousing expat energy, best heard on The Hand Of John L Sullivan, can’t disguise a controlled finesse.”
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Wednesday 13 - Condolences
“Less punk and more metal – that’s the succinct aim behind Wednesday 13’s latest outing. However, the key elements first exhibited way back in Murderdolls and Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 are all present and correct, so any fans addicted to the cartoon horror schtick can breathe easy.”
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The Who Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 2004 - DVD review
“Every good magician knows never to do their best trick twice. But no one told The Who.“Turn the fucking sound up, it’s only once every three thousand fucking years,” says Pete Townshend, glancing out at the crowd of 50,000 at the band’s 2004 return to the Isle of Wight festival, and noting that an estimated 650,000 people watched their legendary 1970 IoW set.“Most of you were probably started here,” he quips.”
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Evan Dando - Baby I’m Bored
“the album settles and solidifies in its cowboyish latter half. It Looks Like You is a poppy Gram Parsons country ditty, while All My Life is a lovely – and, crucially, confident – tune with a dash of It’s A Shame About Ray’s sparkle.”
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The best new rock albums you can buy this week
