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Rock & Pop
 Album of the Month
June 1998
Drugstore: White Magic For Lovers
Drugstore's debut album bulldozered
its way straight into our all time top ten. Thankfully, their
follow up is right up there too. A little more accomplished,
a lot more confident, still as amusing as ever. Click
here
Rock &
Pop Live
Bob Dylan
: Wembley Arena October 1997
 This
was a special one-off European gig to promote his latest album:
Time Out Of Mind. London is one of Bob's fave cities, and since
his near-death experience earlier this year, he was clearly glad
to be back. So happy in fact he continued to play on long after
the feisty concert organisers at Wembley had switched the lights
on in an attempt to end proceedings. Bob's retort hey man: "Everybody's
gotta get stoned". The crowd clearly agreed, puffs of dense
smoke spiralled through the air in response to his call to arms.
A bit like the Vatican, where Bob recently played in front of
the Pope.
Musically, Bob had gone country,
his excellent backing band featuring double bass and Nashville
style slide guitar. Strangely he only played a couple of tracks
from the new album (his first with self-penned songs for seven
years). Needless to say, Bob's children were just happy to be
with their mentor one more time. His singing maybe a bit strained
these days, his guitar picking flawed, but nobody hits the note
as well with tracks like "Stuck inside of Mobile with the
Memphis blues again" and "Blind Willie McTell".
A joy.
Royal Albert
Hall, 25 April 1997
"The Man
in Black", Johnny Cash played Kensington's Royal Albert
Hall on the London leg of his "Unchained" European tour.
 Suede : The Roundhouse
December 96
First we had
Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler's Suede. Butler's departure
could have signalled the end for the atmospheric and sometimes
daring outfit. Anderson, pictured right, persevered, signed up
young Richard Oakes as replacement lead guitarist and co-songwriter.
The collaboration bore fruit in the shape of the "Coming
Up" album, released in the summer.
Anderson appears
centre-stage, launching the show with hits from the new album;
Trash & Lazy moving on through more cuts from Coming Up and
dipping into the Suede treasure trove with the blinding Animal
Nitrate and Heroine kicking the crowd up into a cold turkey fever.
This is his
gig, his band, his fans. But hey we like it that way don't we?
Anyways, an eclectic gathering of The Beautiful Ones here in
the Roundhouse, Camden, certainly approved.
Suede is Leather
and Camp is Cool down by the Lock. Only Jarvis has the power
to punch harder at the DISCO 2000.
 Billy Bragg : The Forum
December 96
Earlier this
year Billy Bragg forged his comeback with new album William Blake.
Mellowed slightly he is now back on the road in Britain after
a 4 year absence taking care of his newborn son.
Billy would
not be Billy without the political monologues and we were treated
to many a discourse on both the perils of and need for a New
Labour government. But this was not a changed Billy rather a
one facing changing circumstances.
And so with
the music, new realism has at least penetrated his willingness
to pander to the fans demands for the old masters. We all shed
a few wistful Levi Stubb Tears as we remembered the Saturday
Boy on St Swithin's Day. Bragg may stand a solitary figure alone
on stage clutching his six string, but he brings with him a battalion
of clanging classics.
The new songs
indicate something of a new range, though From Red to Blue and
Upfield retain the right on crusade.
It is hard
to imagine a man so at ease with both himself and his audience.
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