The Levellers - Greatest Hits

Memories abound of midweek club nights in the 1990s whenever I hear The Levellers, and it makes me feel old to find that they are releasing a Greatest Hits compilation. It isn’t until you see the tracks laid out in front of you that you realise what a huge body of work they have under their belts, so much so that ‘Carry Me’, the title track of their debut EP doesn’t surface until track 12 of disc 2. Kicking off with ‘Fifteen Years’ from the breakthrough 1991 album Levelling The Land, it is sheer class all the way.

Although at their commercial peak in the early 1990s, the band never stopped working on their own terms. This collection was handpicked and as such paints an honest and personal picture of the band’s timeline. Crowd pleasers and student disco floor fillers are in attendance of course; ‘One Way’, ‘Fifteen Years’ and ‘Just The One’ sit comfortably among ‘The Recruiting Sergeant’, ‘Burn America Burn’ and ‘Truth Is’, illustrating their political commentary and ear for a damn fine tune to boot.

As a cool little twist for a Greatest Hits album, several of the best known songs have been re-recorded with guest vocalists adding their own unique spin on things, especially interesting as the originals are there for comparison. Billy Bragg, Bellowhead, and Frank Turner all step up to the mic and Imelda May’s vocals on ‘Beautiful Day’ are worth the admission fee alone.

Levellers website

Release date: 29^th September 2014
Imelda May ‘Beautiful Day’ available as download and limited edition 7”: 15^th September

Additional formats with extra features available, see website for details.

Listen to The Sunday Alternative here

Steve McGill - Covered: Volume 1

With fifteen years of service behind him, Steve McGill is a familiar name on the Nottingham circuit. Before listening to this album I would recommend taking in one of his previous offerings of original material to get a feel for his sound. The reason for this is simply because I would hate for him to be dismissed as simply a covers artist of no discernible merit. Mindful of the fact that there is little if any money in a large section of the local scene, McGill is one of the few artists, if not the only one, who acknowledges that the covers gigs are what provide for his family. With this string to his bow, he is also one of the few artists who will be recognised by an audience indifferent to the fact that Nottingham even has a music scene.

Covered is a collection of, would you believe, cover versions available from Steve’s website. You could call it his The Spaghetti Incident, but I won’t.

Opening with the Goo Goo Dolls song ‘Iris’, Steve has recorded the whole album as live, and in one take. Every track is perfectly suited to Steve’s gravelly, Cocker-esque voice (Joe, not Jarvis), and accompanied by nothing but an acoustic guitar. It is well worth listening all the way through, because in keeping with the ‘one take’ ethos, there’s the occasional false start (and an “oh bollocks”) and fluffed guitar, at one point asking if he can start again. A lot of musicians would be too insecure to expose this side of themselves in their work, but we’re all human and the occasional fuck up can be charmingly incorporated into a fine collection of songs.

‘Walking in Memphis’ could be an original song, such is McGill’s total immersion in the music, as could ‘Sun in the Morning’. Playing familiar songs from The Killers, David Grey, Deacon Blue, and Johnny Cash (a cover of a cover as it were; Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nails classic ‘Hurt’), one can imagine watching him perform this album as a gig. Maybe that’s an idea for the follow up – a live collection of covers; this is subtitled as Volume One after all!

Our Last Confession - Embers To Empires

Usually when a band announce a hiatus, indefinite or otherwise, they are basically saying that they are splitting up so don’t hold your breath for any new material. That fortunately isn’t the case with Our Last Confession, who have also managed to circumnavigate the dreaded ‘second album syndrome’. Taking the professional risk of taking time out due to family commitments, the band went their separate ways in 2009. The musical hunger was still there thankfully, and after a three year layoff, via the solo acoustic album Twisted Kites and an experimental dubstep/acoustic project, Our Last Confession returned to business in 2009.

Embers to Empires is a triumphant return to form for OLC, with Paul Joyce (Lionel Ritchie, Kelly Rowland) working his magic on the buttons. From the opening orchestral sweep that starts ‘Blisters’ to the final fade out of ‘Everyone’, this is an instant classic album. The orchestral string flourish that underscores the album compliments the no-nonsense rock and roll, reminiscent in places of the angst driven trait of the 1990s Seattle era. This isn’t some hobbyist bedroom band at play, Our Last Confession are skilled musicians in it for the long haul. I’m pretty confident that it won’t be long before they are blowing the roofs off the larger venues on the circuit.

Our Last Confession’s website.

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Hear me on the radio:

The Sunday Alternative, Trent Sound (UK), Sundays 1pm-3pm
NottinghamLIVE, Trent Sound (UK) Wednesdays 7pm-10pm
The Sound of Nottingham UK, Robin HoodRadio, (USA) Fridays 11pm & Sundays 1pm (EST – check your time difference)

Eddie & The Hot Rods - 2 Sides

You can get as pissy as you like about Eddie & The Hot Rods not being the ‘original’ lineup if you want, but the simple fact is that the current lineup is the longest serving and possibly (although as a live act I only have this lineup to go on) the strongest. Founding member Barrie Masters has lost none of his energy since he made his Top of the Pops debut, and he has stood in front of nineteen previous Rods before Simon Bowley, Richard Holgarth, Chris Taylor, and Ian ‘Dipster’ Dean picked up their instruments.

The latest album, 2 Sides, combines relatively new tracks (at least to the Hot Rods casual) with well known favourites. The first half of the album contains studio recordings, with everyone having a hand in the song writing duties, every song sounding like classic Rods, with covers of ‘Born To Be Wild’ and ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’ thrown in for good measure.

As great as the ‘new’ tracks are, it is the second half of the album (the B-side in old money) that truly demonstrates what Eddie & The Hot Rods are all about. The restrictive confines of the studio does no justice to the powerhouse sound that the band are capable of producing. Kicking off with ‘Hard Drivin’ Man’, it’s familiar crowd favourites all the way to the end. Close your eyes and you can imagine Bowley’s tireless drumming, Holgarth and Taylor’s guitaring and Dipster’s unique bass playing, one of the few bassists capable of treating his four strings like a lead guitar. They’re all here; ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’, ‘Quit This Town’ and all, climaxing with ‘Gloria’ featuring with an introduction to the band and their talents.

The Rods are a live act pure and simple, probably the best in the country, and the live tracks especially are best listened to at full volume.

Eddie & The Hot Rods website

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Hear me on the radio:

The Sunday Alternative, Trent Sound (UK), Sundays 1pm-3pm
NottinghamLIVE, Trent Sound (UK) Wednesdays 7pm-10pm
The Sound of Nottingham UK, Robin HoodRadio, (USA) Fridays 11pm & Sundays 1pm (EST – check your time difference)