» Listings for 2023

1. 2023 Albums Thing 229 - Mega City Four “Tranzphobia”

   Posted on 9:58am Friday 8th Dec 2023

   I first encountered the Mega City Four when my band, The Libertines (ya see Doherty and his bunch of musical junkies didn’t have an original name either !), were booked to open for them at The Dial in Derby in early 1989. I was positively disposed toward them even before I heard them due to my being a big 2000AD/Judge Dread fan and the connection with their name (for those not in the know Judge Dread polices Mega City One). But that night at The Dial I think they convinced me they might just be the greatest band on the planet at that very moment. Their amalgamation of Punk-rush and bloody fantastic, melodious songs had me hooked straight away.

   Their debut album, “Tranzphobia” was released just 3 months after that first encounter. I’d hoovered up their first 3 singles in the interim and this album proved to be an extension of those and the handful of gigs we did with them. I’m not gonna do some microscopic breakdown, none of this is complicated, you write great songs and you play them with some fire and skill. Walls of buzzsaw guitars and thumping drums back up Wiz’s high pitched vocals, and it works. The so called Pop-Punk bands of the US all sound like they very much over-familiarised themselves with the Mega’s before setting off on their way.

   I got to see them quite a few times as the Mega’s did some gigs opening for The Wonder Stuff and a few years ago I reconnected with bass player Gerry Bryant when he turned up as the bands driver on a TWS tour. Those that are fans are fanatical about the Mega’s, still. If you’re yet to experience them just click this link.

   Paper Tiger - https://youtu.be/EAKCL3vrAAg?si=0d9yusvmUM0LPVIf

2. 2023 Albums Thing 228 - Eric Matthews “It's Heavy In Here”

   Posted on 9:45am Thursday 7th Dec 2023

   In the days when we all used to swap comp tapes of the stuff we were digging amongst a group of us my brother Miles included “Fanfare” from this album on one of his. It was in the period he was working at MTV if I remember right and had heard it as part of research for his show. When I came across this album a couple of years ago I had to have it. Eric Matthews is a singer, composer and record producer. He had been in the band Cardinal in the early ’90’s and he has worked with the likes of Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow. This, his debut solo album, was released in 1995.

   “Fanfare” is a mid-tempo, horn driven anthem sung in a dreamy, low-fi style by Matthews. It’s bloody great and to my great surprise was released by Sub-Pop Records. Now I associate Sub-Pop with the likes of Mudhoney, Nirvana, Tad, Screaming Trees, ya know, noisy, grungy bands, not with orchestrated crooners, but that’s what we have here, an album as un-Sub Pop as it’s possible to imagine.

   After “Fanfare” it all gets very much more sedate. The vocals are what can only be described as breathy and the music is a mix of dreamy lo-fi (in style rather than sound, it’s a lush sounding record) Indie with a healthy dose of folk-ish-ness. It’s a very “lying in bed on Sunday morning drinking good coffee and reading about the matters of the day” kinda record, I think that’s the best description I could give it. Have a listen to “Fanfare” below and bear in mind that this is as raucous as it gets. 

   Sub Pop…really !

   Fanfare - https://youtu.be/brhiO6m6lxw?si=kJbh1HpWcNQMyYLX

3. 2023 Albums Thing 227 - Bob Marley & The Wailers “Legend”

   Posted on 9:40am Wednesday 6th Dec 2023

   He was/is…a legend that is. As Damien Dempsey sang in his anthem “Almighty Love”, “When Bobby Marley sings the downtrodden grow wings”. His influence is still there to see and hear across the Caribbean and Africa. We went on holiday to Barbados in 2014 and his image and music were everywhere.

   “Legend” has to be one of the best selling Best of/singles collections there is (a quick Google tells me it’s the best selling Reggae album of all time with over 25 million worldwide sales !). It is very much aimed at the casual Marley fan, not including too many of his rebel songs, really only “Buffalo Soldier”, “Get Up Stand Up”, “Redemption Song” and “Exodus”. The remaining songs are weighted toward his love songs and positive vibes. Which is no bad thing, Marley was a masterful songwriter and singer and the idea of this album, after all, was to shift units and they succeeded in that. It’s a pity they couldn’t find room for a couple of his more righteous singles, maybe “Concrete Jungle” and “Zimbabwe” but that’s just me being nit-picky.

   “Legend” is one of the best singles collections there is.

   Redemption Song - https://youtu.be/yv5xonFSC4c?si=BaoRbQLv-iMHoEex