Ever since the CD boom in the 90s, the market hasn’t been short of rock compilations. There have been literally thousands of collections of 70s rock classics flooding the market, often very similar in nature. You’d think they’d only be a finite amount of people willing to put their hands in their pockets for discs containing Rainbow’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’, UFO’s ‘Doctor Doctor’ and Hawkwind’s ‘Silver Machine’, but still they come…and in huge numbers.
Returning after three years away, Colorado punks Record Thieves released a long awaited new debut album ‘Wasting Time’ in 2020. A bright spark during a terrible year, the record quickly gained positive reviews from the punk press, with the Brooklyn Vegan website drawing favourable comparisons with legends like Face To Face and Millencolin.
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Compared to his recorded legacy with Traffic, Jim Capaldi’s solo work has often been overlooked. His first three albums for Island Records – ‘Oh How We Danced’, ‘Whale Meat Again’ and ‘Short Cut Draw Blood’ – were given the opportunity for re-appraisal in 2020 when Cherry Red Records released a box set containing all three albums, plus a selection of welcomed extra materials. Good news for physical format buyers, but it left digital purchasers and serial streamers short, since 1975’s ‘Short Cut Draw Blood’ was omitted from digital services.
When Gentlemen Rogues released their ‘Do The Resurrection!’ 7″ at the tail end of 2020, they gave the year one of its finest rock tracks. The melodic riffs, straddling a fine line between melody and distortion, harked back to the very best college rock of the 90s. The three minute banger carried elements of ‘Lick’ era Lemonheads, a massive love for The Replacements and even a bit of Sugar at their most melodic. For lovers of the style, it surely sounded like an instant classic – a reminder that so much retro sounding 90s rock is now capable of creating a wave of nostalgic feelings.
The Scandinavians’ talents for great metal have been long documented. Bands like In Flames, Soilwork and Opeth have taken heavy sounds into adventurous and arty places, but very often have managed to underscore their heavier moods with some superb melodies.