Over halfway through the eligibility period for the Grammy Awards 2016 I thought it was finally time to do some early nomination predictions. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: June 2015
The UK’s Greatest Hits: Round Up
40 albums is a lot of songs to listen to and I got the feeling that lots of said albums were surprising first listens for me. These sort of albums were the reason I wanted to do the list in the first place. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 1. Greatest Hits – Queen
Thematically consistent it’s all about the band as a whole, rather than the bigger focus on Freddie as a vocalist seen on Greatest Hits II. It’s a stellar set of songs too, You’re My Best Friend, Another One Bites The Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love being wonderfully diverse, but remaining distinctly Queen throughout. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 2. Gold: Greatest Hits – Abba
Heartbreaking, danceable, catchy, emotive and damn fun to listen to, these songs are the high standard that pop has been held to ever since. The writing here is second to none, Benny and Bjorn’s focus on melody allows every song to be a ‘moment’ which Agnetha and Anni-Frid take to this raw emotional place time and time again. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 3. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s changed everything and began the ‘album era’ of music, which coincidentally seemed to have ended a few years ago. The idea that you could listen from track 1 right through to the second side of the vinyl and have an experience must have been such a shock to the system for the listening public, it’s easy to take for granted as someone who was born in the 90s. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 4. 21 – Adele
here’s a range of emotions in every one of these 11 songs, something that turns a belter of a song like Set Fire to the Rain from a big chorus sang well into a memorable moment of pop music. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 5. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? – Oasis
It’s a timeless album. Packed full of hooks; big, loud, impatient hooks. That’s the key here for me. No matter which way you look at it, every single track on here is a hit. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 6. Thriller – Michael Jackson
Thriller is often cited as the ‘perfect’ pop record, where every track is a potential single; a short but sweet shot of pop music. Nearly every song on Thriller did see a release too, there were only 2 songs I didn’t recognise on the tracklist, 7 out of 9 of them becoming singles. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 7. The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
The spacey jams are definitely the peak moments for me, songs like Any Colour You Like and Breathe In The Air using layers of sounds just busy enough to let the odd guitar or vocal note pierce through. Continue reading
The UK’s Greatest Hits: 8. Brothers In Arms – Dire Straits
I went in expecting it to all be as upbeat as Money For Nothing, more like Sting or The Police to make an obvious comparison. What’s here though is some pretty chilled, but solid pop rock tracks. Continue reading