Album Reviews – Page 5 – The Light Appears

Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong (2026)

Posted on May 3, 2026 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

Album Reviews

Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)

Posted on April 30, 2026 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

Album Reviews

Siouxsie and the Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse (1982)

Posted on April 21, 2026April 21, 2026 by Michael

Recording of Siouxsie and the Banshees fifth album started in May, 1982. Long hours in the studio fueled by a flurry of love, drugs and alcohol sees the band record the experimental A Kiss In The Dreamhouse. The dark and foreboding sound of “Cascade” opens the album with various sound effects swirling in the background, Siouxsie singing “Echoing the revolver/Emptying into my mouth”. “Obsession” is more stripped down but no less dark – a spooky atmosphere surrounds it, this contrasts with the recorder opening and shimmering guitar sound of “Green Fingers”.

Serious topics are explored on “Circle” – the circle of abuse and pain spins around and around. Based on the book, the pounding drums of “Painted Bird” drive home the story of bizarre animal abuse. The band even manages to sing about S+M, dominance and death on the single “Melt!” The dark sounds do provide brighter moments. The percussive sound of “She’s A Carnival”, complete with organ outro, and the (maybe) gothic dance craze described on “Slowdive” add a dash of fun. A Kiss In The Dreamhouse is a rollicking bit of dark theatre that still entices 40+ years later.

8/10

Album Reviews

Courtney Barnett – Creature Of Habit (2026)

Posted on April 17, 2026 by Michael

Creature of Habit is the new album from Australian transplant Courtney Barnett, now living in LA. The album centrepiece, “Mantis”, was co-written with Stella Mozgawa who co-produces and plays on all the tracks. As the verses tumble out one after another, Barnett is hyper aware as she sings “Organizing all my thoughts, making them rhyme”. Inward looking is a major theme throughout the album, “Rip this thing out of my head (please be patient)” goes first track “Stay In Your Lane” and as she sings on “Sugar Plum”, “I’m in over my head”.

The pronounced bass on “Sugar Plum” turns to technicolour over layers of guitars when she sings that she’s “looking forward to some brighter days”. Though introspective, the album is never down. Songs such as the thoughtful “Wonder” spring to life and the repetition of closing track “Another Beautiful Day” turns it into a mantra. While it’s hard to pinpoint a truly great song, Creature Of Habit is chockful of very good tracks. Another Courtney Barnett album that stands tall upon repeated listens.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

David Bowie – Tonight (1984)

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Michael

After the mammoth success of the Let’s Dance album just one year earlier, David Bowie and record company rush released Tonight. Instead of trying to duplicate that success with producer Nile Rodgers, Bowie decided to work with Derek Bramble and Hugh Padgham as engineer. At nine tracks, five of them covers, Tonight is a hodgepodge release.

The album starts off promisingly with the crisp drumbeat of “Loving The Alien”. The track has a great build-up to the chorus on the song name that would later serve as the title of the box set for the years 1983-1988. That promise is also seen on punchy first single “Blue Jean”. The lyrically simple song about girls is amped up on the high end with horns and on the low subtle end with the marimba. The upbeat pop track went top 10 around the world.

The rest of the album does not live up to those two moments. Three of the songs were originally done by Iggy Pop including the reggae influenced title track that sees Bowie singing with Tina Turner. Bowie also turns his attention to The Beach Boys with an atrocious version of “God Only Knows” that does much damage to one of rock and roll’s greatest love songs. Instead of working as a cohesive whole, much of Tonight feels like it’s slapped together, throwing songs at the wall to see what sticks. On this release, much of it doesn’t stick at all.

5/10