Just under a year after releasing his third solo album, There Goes that Rhymin’ Simon, Paul Simon put out his first solo live concert – Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin. The album is a mixture of his solo singles and hits from the Simon & Garfunkel archive. The first few songs he tackles with just his acoustic guitar including the jaunty “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” and a solid take at “Homeward Bound”. For the next few songs he performs with South American group Urubamba, most pleasingly on “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)”.
For the next batch of songs Simon brings out the Jessy Dixon Singers (Group). This ensemble works well on his solo material including some nifty bass playing on “Mother And Child Reunion” and a rollicking version of “Loves Me Like A Rock”. On the other hand “The Sound of Silence” sounds more like a Christmas carol and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” isn’t a patch on Garfunkel’s classic vocals. It’s the starkness of young men singing the originals that help make them memorable rather than the gospel embellishments found here. The concert album with performances recorded at the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Hall in New York has a few good moments but overall feels a bit underwhelming with better versions found elsewhere.
The Beatles’ Anthology 4 has not been met with the same rapturous praise that their recent expanded albums have received. Nonetheless, there are some delights to be found on the newest anthology addition that stretches from the band’s earliest recording days right up to 2022. A few highlights include “I’ve Just Seen A Face (Take 3)”, “All You Need Is Love (Rehearsal For BBC Broadcast)”, and “Baby, You’re a Rich Man (Takes 11 & 12)”. Perhaps a bit inessential for some but it would take more than two hands to count highlights from the 2 disc set.
The two main songwriters from British Britpop/Shoegazers Lush have released very good albums in the past few years. Emma Anderson’s Pearlies + the Piroshka albums that Miki Berenyi has released. Early in 2025, Miki released Tripla under the Miki Berenyi Trio moniker. Excellent songs include “8th Deadly Sins” and the dreamy “Ubique”. These next generation of releases by the Lush ladies have been a joy.
The much acclaimed Big Thief has been one that I’ve struggled to get into. I appreciate them more than really enjoyed their albums. That changed with last year’s solo album from singer Adrienne Lenker and continued with the band’s latest release, Double Infinity. Finally, their music clicked on an album that many others loved as well. All this time it’s been me with the issue, not you.
While others have long since listened, I’m still working my way through the David Bowie box sets that have been released over the years. The boxes that collect all the official releases and group by certain eras has been a bit of a mixed bag at times but finally reaching his Berlin Years on the brilliant A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) released in 2017 was a glorious listen. It’s been one where each new album listen made me excited for the next to hear the next one. A highwater mark in the legend’s career, this will be a set returned to again and again.
I ordered Kim Deal’s 2024 album from a local record store with normally fast shipping times but this one seemed to take ages, to the point of thinking I already had it in the collection when the call came that it had arrived. It took a minute to finally have in my hands but the impression of the album was immediate, Nobody Loves You More could have been released some time in the 90s and would not sound out of place with the great records from that period. Several decades later, Deal sounds as relevant as ever as she sings, “coming around is easy/coming down is rough”.
The world has genuinely been a scary place at times this year. War, bombs, rampant racism/antisemitism, random violence, drug abuse, homelessness, etc. I don’t make it out to as many local band shows as I used to but did attend the Death Cassette show at Winnipeg’s fantastic Blue Note Park venue. The punk rock energy was a cathartic release from all of the world’s turmoil. The beers were cold and the energy was electric. Punk rock lives, the kids are alright.
When walking through the hallways of high school in the late 80s/early 90s, sounds from the golden age of hip hop was regularly being blasted. Some albums I was fully onboard with and others passed me by. One of those albums that got away from me was the classic 3 Feet High and Rising from Long Island, New York’s De La Soul. Famously the disc has not been re-released in years due to original record label Tommy Boy not bothering to get clearances for the sample heavy tracks. That changed in 2023 when it finally saw the light of day again, in slightly altered form. Well worth the wait to finally hear daisy chain era tracks like “The Magic Number” and top 40 hit “Me Myself and I”, among the many.
I heard about the new Geese album when it released and knew it was getting some great reviews. I made the mistake of listening to the Sound Opinion podcast guys who completely trashed the experimental album. So it sat in my playlist for ages before finally getting back around to it months later. The podcast guys got it all wrong – Getting Killed was a helluva album that was chaotic at times but also had the melodies and tunes to back it up. My pick as album of the year – this one is a classic.
The last I had heard about Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires was from the excellent 2023 documentary Running With Our Eyes Closed. I hadn’t heard about their relationship since then and was sad to hear that they have gone their separate ways. Isbell’s newest album, Foxes in the Snow talks a lot about old and new relationships. Working with engineer/producer Gena Johnson, he put out the album that is heavy on acoustic guitar and personal matters. When he played the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July of this year, the acoustic guitar was put to the side several times so he could riff heavily with his band The 400 Unit. One of the great concert moments of the year.
For those of us that hit the drinking age in the 90s, 2025 was a big year for nostalgia. Suede released a terrific album as did their former tour partners, Manic Streat Preachers. It was their album, Critical Thinking that caught my attention. Never short on ear catching songs, “People Ruin Paintings”, “Brushstrokes Of A Reunion”, and “Decline and Fall” all held up through the year.
Right in the middle of Britpop renaissance of 2025 was the live return of the Gallagher brothers in a reformed Oasis line-up. Thrillingly for longtime fans, 3/5ths of the original band were included with Bonehead joining on guitar – a thrill to see one of the main members joining in on the fun. Drummer Joey Waronker was included along with Gem Archer and Andy Bell to round out the main band.
Sticking to Oasis’ heyday, the group ran through the highlights of the 1994-97 era. With their most elaborate stage show ever, the band played the exact same set every night including the second night of the Toronto shows which we saw. The devotion, intensity, love, and excitement was in the air as the Adidas wearing crowd sang along to every lyric including all the B-sides. Doing the Poznan to “Cigarettes and Alcohol”, the Noel sung “Half The World Away”, a reminder of who is the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and closing with “Champagne Supernova” – The hype was real, this was a remarkable live comeback.
It had been 24 years since we got an actual album from Jarvis Cocker with his old mates in Pulp. Sadly, More is the first album since the passing of bassist Steve Mackey. Still, he would be proud of what the band produced with several highlights including the upbeat “Spike Island” and the mature, “Farmers Market”. They’ve done many tours throughout the years, here’s hoping that it doesn’t take as long to release another album.
Author Peter Ames Carlin has written several music biographies on musicians such as Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney. In late 2024 he published a book on alternative rock heroes R.E.M. called The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M. Carlin writes about each member’s early childhoods, their days in Athens, signing with IRS Records, then right through their ascendency to rock superstars (then back down again). Thankfully there is little in the way of salacious gossip but doesn’t shy away from a few incidents of controversary. A really good read about one of America’s greatest bands.
Sadly, the British trio Saint Etienne announced their retirement in 2025, bowing out with two new albums. In our musical journey, we reached way back to the deluxe edition of their 1993 debut, Foxbase Alpha that was released in 2016. It’s an eclectic mix of 60s pop, indie rock and club beats. Original tracks like “People Get Ready” stand alongside magnificent covers including Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” and the spellbinding take on Field Mice’s, “Kiss And Make Up”. The extra disc of rarities almost eclipses the actual album.
One distinct memory of high school was having a substitute math teacher quote Paul Simon’s 1973 single, “Kodachrome” with the line, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school”. I’m not sure if the teacher was disgruntled or trying to be edgy but I may have been one of the few in the class that knew the lyric but not much of the rest of the song. While reviewing the album it appears on, “Kodachrome” really sunk into my conscious and remained there for months. Singing about the joys of owning a Nikon camera that captures the green of summer and makes everyday seem sunny swirled in my head, now making it one of my favourite Paul Simon songs.
I’ve owned The Supremes’ greatest hits album Gold for years now. Listening to the hits, especially the unbeatable one-two punch of “You Keep Me Hanging On” and “You Can’t Hurry Love”. This was the year I finally did a deeper dive into the singles released with and without Diana Ross. With a staggering twelve #1 hits, it felt like barely scratching the surface to do a review. Still, it was a exciting to find other tracks to listen to like the excellent “Stone Love” and dancefloor filler “Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart”.
Honestly, I bought Thompson Twins’ deluxe edition of Into The Gap on a whim. It was a favourite tape from the early 80s that I had never bought on CD. After seeing it advertised many times, I took the plunge into the three disc version released in 2024. Filled with several top ten UK hits including “Doctor Doctor”, “You Take Me Up” and worldwide hit “Hold Me Now”, the original record plays like a greatest hits. Adding in countless versions of all the songs on the album, it was a fun listen to a great album from an era where songs were reworked constantly for the dancefloor.
Dean Wareham made his name with his bands Galaxie 500 and Luna. He’s mostly been on the periphery of my music listening – always around but rarely front and centre. That changed immediately with the release of his sixth solo album, That’s The Price Of Loving Me that came out in the spring. The album has appeared in a few critics top albums of 2025 but for others got lost in the mix. The sun dappled record was often dreamy and hypnotic, bookended by two excellent songs including the closer – “The Cloud Is Coming”.
North Carolina band Wednesday made waves in 2023 with their album, Rat Saw God and continued that momentum with this year’s critically acclaimed, Bleeds. One of the highlights of the album was the lap steel guitar sounds of “Elderberry Wine”. The track sees singer Karly Hartzman lovingly stretch to hit the high note in the chorus before later harmonizing with guitarist MJ Lenderman. A memorable sing-a-along single from a really good album.
Wet Leg exploded onto the scene in 2023 with several singles including the enduring, “Chaise Lounge”. They would have been forgiven for hitting a sophomore slump after the initial clutch of songs but leaders Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers were having none of that. Adding their touring band into the official line-up, the now five piece band came back with the excellent moisturizer. Love was the main focus of the album, including on the track “CPR” but the band was just as feisty as ever on the threatening “Catch These Fists”.
In 1886 the gothic horror novel, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by author Robert Louis Stevenson was published. Friends, especially lawyer Gabriel John Utterson, are concerned about the mental state of Dr Jekyll and horrified by the actions of a one Mr Hyde. The duality of personalities are a struggle between the human capabilities for both good and evil. The short book does a masterful job of capturing the gloomy dark side of London and all it’s hidden secrets. A foggy foreboding hangs over the words as the characters try to piece the mystery together.
The 2024 edition of the book by Arcturus Publishing also includes several short stories listed as Other Strange Tales. The stories include the creepy The Body Snatcher where students fill the need of finding bodies for medical dissection and The Bottle Imp where an imp creature grants its owner their every wish but with potentially damning consequences. Stevenson’s unfinished novel at the time of his death, Weir Of Hermiston also appears.
One of the most talked about musical events 30 years ago was The Beatles Anthology TV special that aired on ITV in the UK and ABC in the US. Subsequent to those TV shows, the band released three anthology albums, each containing two discs of rarities. All these years later the band has remastered those discs and have also released the fourth version – Anthology 4.
The two disc Anthology 4 extends the entirety of the band’s releases. Starting with “I Saw Her Standing There” from 1963 to the 2023 release of single “Now and Then”. In between is a mixbag of tracks. “Tell Me Why” starts with studio banter and a false start before the band bursts into the song from A Hard Day’s Night. A sweet sounding version of “If I Fell” follows before a stop in your tracks version of “I’ve Just Seen A Face” arrives a few songs later. Like stumbling into a folk bar one night and hearing a singer do a spirited take on the track, helps if that singer is Paul McCartney.
“In My Life” is a more stripped down take, nostalgic young man John Lennon with a lovely vocal. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is more rough and ready, leaving out the horns that get replaced with a gritty guitar. One of the compilation’s highlights is “Baby, You’re A Rich Man” that has John and Paul asking assistants for cokes and cannabis resin before launching into a loose version of the track that would later appear on The Magical Mystery Tour. The band sounds like they are having a blast as they repeatedly sing the chorus. In similar fashion, the instrumental version of George Harrison’s “Hey Bulldog” is another blast of joy, regardless of Lennon’s comments at the end of the recording.
An instrumental version of “The Fool On The Hill” is intriguing as is the strings, brass, and clarinet overdub take of “I Am The Walrus” with Lennon’s vocals bleeding into the mix. The instrumental strings on “Something” are quite lovely while “All You Need Is Love” is taken from a rehearsal for the BBC broadcast with the reporter describing the band’s recording techniques. The album closes with the band’s last recordings with Lennon’s vocals used as the basis of the tracks. The 2025 mix of “Real Love” has a bit of a Ringo Starr drum kick and for some, it’s nice to have a physical version of “Now and Then” rather than the overpriced single from a few years ago.
Critically the album has been both treasured and trashed, a feeling of scraping the bottom of the barrel has been noted. A significant number of the tracks have already been released on past expanded editions of individual albums making those songs inessential for those who have paid big prices to already own them. Many of the songs talked about above are the same ones that other publications have zeroed in on as well, there is a bit of a consensus on what the goods are. While there are some inessential versions/takes of songs, there is a span of about 15 tracks in the middle of the collection that are sublime and a joy to listen to. Perhaps inessential but a great bit of fun to have playing around the holidays, songs that are as ubiquitous as the Christmas carols being played every where else at this time of year.
The Light Appears 