Posted in Album Reviews

Heavenly – Highway To Heavenly (2026)

Posted on by Michael

It’s been 30 years since British band Heavenly released their last single, the ultra catchy “Space Manatee”. The band originally dissolved after the suicide of drummer Mathew Fletcher. After playing reunion shows a few years ago, the band recorded their fifth album, Highway To Heavenly. The sound is immediately familiar: jangly guitars, keyboard grooves and Amelia Fletcher’s vocals.

Quick out of the gate is the keyboard ska of “Scene Stealing” and first single, “Portland Town”. The sugar energy rush of “Skep Wax”  and “Excuse Me” are a blast of cotton candy air, the latter could easily have been on their 90s albums. “A Different Beat” sounds like two songs mashed together, “The Neverseen” a more mature take on the sound, and album closer “That Last Day” speaks to the tragedy of Mathew. With the signature sound intact, having Heavenly back making music is a big win for the indie pop crowd in 2026.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Yo La Tengo – Summer Sun (2003)

Posted on by Michael

By the time Yo La Tengo released their 10th studio album, Summer Sun, they had already recorded one masterpiece in I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One as well as several other great releases. For this 2003 recording, the band still sounds like one of the great American indie rock bands but add various funk and jazz elements to their sound. The 10 minute penultimate track, “Let’s Be Still” adds horns and a flute to the underwater vocals of Ira Kaplan. The spare sound of “Nothing But You And Me” also takes on this jazz sound through the use of a piano.

The various textured sounds are a welcome addition but it’s still the guitar rock band sound that really makes the listener take notice. Georgia Hubley takes over the vocals on “Little Eyes”, her drumming beat drives the melody. “Today Is The Day” captures the spirit of someone stuck in a rut, waiting for their partner outside of smoky bars. Bassist James McNew takes over the vocals for “Tiny Birds”, his plaintive vocal style mixes in with the musical soundscapes behind him.  The album closes with a country like cover of Alex Chilton’s track, “Take Care”.  Summer Sun is a nuanced record, filled with quietly wonderful moments from this quietly wonderful band.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

America – The Complete Greatest Hits (2001)

Posted on by Michael

There’s not shortage of compilation albums of British-American trio, America. Formed in England while their fathers were stationed there as part of the US Army, the band would eventually relocate to Los Angeles and further soak up the soft folk rock sounds of the early 70s.  A success right out of the gate, their first three singles went top ten in the US including their most well known song – “A Horse With No Name”.  With vocals of Dewey Bunnell sounding not unlike Neil Young and terrific backing vocals of Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek; the guitar strumming song went to #1 on the back of the song’s memorable “la la la la” as it comes out of the chorus.

Fans of 2000s Saturday Night Live will smile at the Spanish guitar sounds of “Ventura Highway”, a track that was surely the inspiration for the theme to The Californians skit. “Tin Man” and “Lonely People” are nice sounding tracks that glide by, ones that if they appeared on a random playlist would have the listener ask, “who is this?”. The band would then hit #1 again with the great strumming guitar riff of “Sister Golden Hair”.  The crisp drumbeat helps pick up the pace of the chorus. Less successful is the band’s polarizing single, “Muskrat Love”, a song that Captain and Tennille would have great success with a few years later.

The Complete Greatest Hits ends with a slick 80s sound on songs such as “You Can Magic” that was a top ten hit in the US. Replacing the “la la la” with “doo doo doo”, it’s their first single without Dan Peek who left a few years prior.  The album then finishes with two new songs that follows in their familiar pattern of pleasant and catchy sound. And that is what sums up this collection – a handful of great songs and a slew of pleasing ones that can easily soundtrack a summer evening of watching the sunset while enjoying a glass of California white wine.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong (2026)

Posted on by Michael

Lucinda Williams’ sixteenth studio album is a politically charged bluesy, roots rocker released into a chaotic world early in 2026. Williams’ aging and raspy singing voice adds a gravitas to the recordings including the title track about a couple trying to make both ends meat and sense of the world.  Like a lot of us, they are both “looking for comfort in a song”. “Something’s Gotta Give” ponders that “there’s darkness to these days.. as the light fades away”.

Mavis Staples joins for the Bob Marley cover of “So Much Trouble in the World”, a bit more atmospheric in a honky-tonk bar.  A sleek guitar in the chorus adds some punch to the very good sounding “Punchline” while the album closes with a hymn like gospel sounds of “We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around”. Like lots of people, the characters in the songs are trying to come to grips with how the world is turning these days – talk of ballrooms amongst rising gas prices.  Williams does a very good job of articulating these feelings in a tuneful way.

7/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)

Posted on by Michael

Recorded quickly on the heels of their debut, Black Sabbath’s second album Paranoid was unleashed to the public in the fall of 1970.  The album is a masterclass of Tony Iommi’s heavy metal guitar riffs that start right away, along with the air raid sirens of “War Pigs”.  The music cuts away in the first verse so Ozzy Osborne can sing about the evils of warmongering bankers and politicians, “generals gathered in their masses/Just like witches at black masses”.

Not to be outdone, “Iron Man” contains one of the rock music’s great guitar sounds on a track about a time traveller who goes into the future to see the apocalypse.  When he comes back, no one listens to his warnings. The title track was the band’s biggest hit, peaking at #4 on the UK singles chart.  A great vocal from Ozzy as he pleads, “Can you help me?” and closes with the kiss off, “I tell you to enjoy life/I wish I could, but it’s too late” The song about depression and mental illness is one of the great rock songs of any era.

Those three tracks are some of the band’s most well known songs, but great moments abound elsewhere.  The liquid vocals of “Planet Caravan”, Bill Ward’s pounding drums on “Hand of Doom”, and the bass groove of Geezer Butler on closer “Fairies Wear Boots” are all exceptional tracks. On the UK #1 album Paranoid, the four band members all have their moments to shine and standout on one of the classic albums of what would become known as heavy metal.

10/10