After 1984’s gargantuan greatness with the dominance of Frankie and meteoric rise of Madonna and Prince, 1985 had a lot to measure up to. …And indeed, some have said it’s a rather more forgettable year for pop.
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TRAVEL LANES – On
In 2015, Philadelphia’s Travel Lanes released ‘Let’s Begin To Start Again’, a hit and miss album that mixed a few pop and power pop influences with several rootsier John Mellencamp, John Hiatt and Connells styled moods. A few wobbly vocals let the side down from time to time, but there were a few decent tracks to be found within. Five years down the road, their third album only offers eight tracks in a very succinct twenty nine minutes, but its concise approach very much suits the band. Compared to previous Travel Lanes works, ‘On’ is far more consistent in terms of quality.
Exclusive: Stream a live version of ‘Verbose’ by The Fierce And The Dead ahead of release!
UK post-rock band The Fierce And The Dead have made some fine recordings over the past few years, but as the fans know, it’s in the live setting they really start making their most impressive noises. Two live recordings sourced from festivals are available already (2017’s ‘Field Recordings’ and 2019’s fantastic ‘Live USA 17’), but on 1st May 2020, the band will complete a live trilogy with a download only release, ‘Show Me Devon: Live At Kozfest’.
Guitarist Matt Stevens calls the recording a record of “…a very special gig.”
THE WATCHERS – High And Alive EP
Following two enjoyable studio releases, San Francisco stoner rock band The Watchers give fans a genuine treat with their third release. ‘High And Alive’ shows the band in their natural environment, in front of an enthusiastic crowd. With four tracks recorded at The House of Rock, the EP shows how much better this band sounds without the constraints of a studio and with some extra volume applied.
The Great 80s Project: 1982
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.