Albums

BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND ‘Live’ Bullet (EMI) Some albums float around the ether and get missed when it comes to writing a review. Then, it’s Sunday night […]

BASTILLE “Bad Blood” (Virgin) When you’re clocking up a couple of million YouTube views and three hit singles in the UK, you ain’t no record company hype. Bastille is the

LOVEJOY Greatest Hits (Indie) Kylie and Jeff Lovejoy are part of Brisbane’s rock and roll fabric. Possibly taking a cue from Van Halen and Bon Jovi, the pair used their

DAVID BOWIE The Next  Day [Sony] [rating: 4/5] Earlier this week journalists around the world were ushered into various Sony offices to listen to the new David Bowie album in

The Bees Gees Barry Gibb & The Bee Gees/Spicks And Specks/Turn Around … [Festival/Warner] Morning Of My Life/The Best of 1965-66 [Festival/Warner] [Rating: 3.5/5] Hats off to Festival Records for

Elvis Presley As Recorded At Madison Square Garden [Sony] The New York Times headline says it all: Like A Prince From Another Planet. That was what kicked off the review

EMI have released a Best Of Bond … James Bond/50th Anniversary Collection. There are two versions in the market place. We’ve got the single disc set, which includes every theme

The Rolling Stones Grrr! (Universal) It’s time to pension off your Forty Licks compilation as the re-booted Stones deliver a new retrospective. Various editions are currently on the shelves. We’ve

The Beatles are back with their entire catalogue re-released on vinyl. Better still, there’s a magnificent box set to boot. Manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork, the

Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp Songs of the Southern Skies (Kin/Universal) This reviewer first saw Katie Noonan perform well over a decade ago at Brisbane’s Powerhouse Theatre. Fast forward to

Let’s Go Naked Emotion Engine [Trust] Coming out of Brisbane in the mid 1980s with a kit bag full of literate melodic pop songs, a girl drummer and a striped sunlight

Various Puberty Blues Soundtrack (Sony) Whereas Howzat! Got it so wrong, Puberty Blues gets it so right. We have to admit to getting a little obsessed with the lives of

Pet Shop Boys Elysium (EMI) This reviewer spent most of the weekend bathing in the Pet Shop Boys’ eleventh studio outing, Elysium. It’s that kind of record. It literally washes

Matchbox Twenty North (Warner) For the last decade Matchbox Twenty have been filling stadiums and commercial radio with big hooks and big CD sales. Here Rob Thomas continues to craft

Green Day Uno! (Warner) Green Day are back with a triple punch. Uno! has arrived and it will be followed, in two monthly intervals, by Dos! and Tre! Their heroes

The Sunburys Keep A Lid On It (Handsome Devil) By the time most bands sort out their drum sound in the studio, the Sunburys have made a new album. This,

The Angels Take It To The Streets [Liberation] The Angels return with their first album in the best part of a decade and it’s the first not to feature former

SOMETHING FOR KATE Leave Your Soul To Science (EMI) It’s been six years since Something For Kate’s last recorded album, Desert Lights, and the lead up to that album, a

The XX Coexist (Remote Control) Never has a traditional set up of drums, bass, keys, guitars and vocals been so hauntingly memorable. Their distinct style of stripped down beats and

DAVID BYRNE & ST. VINCENT LOVE THIS GIANT (4AD/Remote Control) There are people young enough to know who St. Vincent is, but who don’t recognise this old guy hanging out

Various Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War [Sony] Okay, we were glued to the mini-series and loved the music featured. If you missed it, Howzat! dramatised the emergence of Kerry Packer’s World

Blur 21: The Box (EMI) [rating: 4.5/5] There seemed a strange finality to British band Blur’s announcement back in April that they would be issuing this wonderfully exhaustive and elaborate

ADELE & GLENN CARRINGTON STREET (Indie) Album of the year? Possibly. It’s modesty probably counts against those kinds of big accolades. Lets just say that Carrington Street represents a perfect

MADONNA  MDNA (Universal) Madonna returns with her first album since the misfiring 2008 effort Hard Candy. That album was a misstep where the Queen of Pop tried her hand at hip-hop.

PAUL WELLER  SONIK KICKS (Universal) Word on the street is that Paul Weller’s new wife has turned the mod-father onto David Bowie. Whether it was that, or the inspired touch

NORAH JONES LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS (Blue Notes) For whatever reason, it has never been especially cool to like Norah Jones. Snarky critics have dismissed her liltingly lovely music as jazz-lite

DAMON ALBARN DR. DEE (EMI Australia) Ever since Britpop phenomenon Blur took a time-out back in 2003, frontman Damon Albarn has kept busy with an almost bewildering array of projects.

HILLTOP HOODS Drinking From The Sun (Golden Era Records/Universal) Wow, it`s a good day for Aussie hip-hop when Hilltop Hoods can rattle Adele at the top of the charts. So

Cold Chisel No Plans (Warner Music) I don`t want to tell you again all that stuff about Chisel’s history, reformation; big tours chart positions how platinum 78s and all that