When the Led Zeppelin anthology was released in 2004, fans were given lots of reasons to get excited. Not only was the black and white footage from Denmark ’69 available for the first time, but the double disc set also included a full set from London that same year, alongside highlights of Knebworth 1979 (full show here) and Earls Court 1975. As has been discussed many times, fans would like to see the latter pair of shows released uncut…but it’s never going to happen.
In terms of pop, 1982 was a strong year: Madness took a further step towards songwriting sophistication with their album ‘The Rise & Fall’, Prince made a huge breakthrough with his ‘1999’ double platter of much filthiness and Phil Collins showed us that the previous year’s ‘Face Value’ wasn’t just a one-off solo success when his “tricky second album” spawned a #1 hit single and a few of his best solo tunes.
With the world in turmoil and people in isolation, there’s a good chance you have far more on your mind right now than “What are the best albums of 2020 so far?”…but we’d be happy to tell you that House Above The Sun’s ‘Time I Got Goin’ EP is one of the finest releases to emerge from the year’s first quarter.
For a lot of people, 1981 is a year where the 1980s really found its feet. It’s a year where fewer things carry a feel of the 70s; it’s a year where the New Romantics and the new wave of synth pop stars dominated the charts. As well as being a solid year for pop, 1981 also found the New Wave of British Heavy Metal reaching its crescendo.
Swedish prog band Isildurs Bane formed in 1976. They’ve recorded a string of albums, but their 2016 collaboration with Steve Hogarth really helped to bring them to a new audience. Their work, ‘Colours Not Found In Nature’ was given a live premier in November that year. A studio recording of the same name appeared in 2017.