Nite Songs

  Yup, it's that time again. Similar to last month, a bit of a bumper crop this month with the Singles Bar meaning we've officially got our first multi-parter of the year with no less than three instalments coming at ya this morning. First bit here and the second bit'll be up in an hour or so. Enjoy... *** Well the obvious big news this month is a new Michael Monroe  single and Can't Stop Falling Apart  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) is a confident comeback from the guy - a mid-paced ode to sticking to your guns and not giving up which builds up to a trademark big Monroe singalong chorus which has a definite hint of the early '70s Stones in there. The frenetic B-side Murder The Summer Of Love  is even better with its panic attack vibes and angry message showing a definite nod to Mike's old mucker Stiv Bators. Good stuff - roll on the album! *** Those of you with long memories may recall that the Sweet Things ' In Borrowed Shoes On Borrowed Time  was the first album we ever re...

  So here we are again. The autumn is rolling in although given that as I write this it's 25 degrees up here in Yorkshire, clearly no-one told the supreme being. Guess we'd better grab some cold ones, head out on to the terrace and see what aural delights the month has waiting for us then... A couple of covers to kick us off this month, both courtesy of Screaming Crow Records' Action Jukebox series. First up,  The Dirty Denims  take on the Kiss classic Rock 'n' Roll All Night  (🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑) and turn in a respectable version although it was always gonna have its work cut out matching the peerless original. The fact that they're a Donnas style female fronted band at least gives this version a slightly different twist (hey hang on, didn't the Donnas cover Rock 'n' Roll All Night  themselves back in the day? :checks notes: No, turns out that was Strutter . Carry on) The original track Better Believe It  on the flipside is actually the better tune here, so...

  So here we go then, our favourite ten albums of 2020. Big thanks once again to everyone who's given this site a read over the last six months since we set it up and taken an interest in the demented gibberings within. And quite frankly, I think we can all agree, good bloody riddance to this awful year. We'll be back in 2021 with the usual mix of reviews and features but we're going to take a few days off to recuperate after how insanely busy December has been here. We're just about caught up with our review backlog now so we figure we deserve a bit of a break! Have a great New Year whatever you do folks and we'll see you on the other side... *** 10. BEANS ON TOAST - "Knee Deep In Nostalgia" ( Bandcamp ) ( Review )/"The Unforeseeable Future" ( Bandcamp ) ( Review ) Released on the same day, these two albums show the two different sides of Beans on Toast. While Knee Deep In Nostalgia , produced by Frank Turner, was a warm and gentle full studio a...

  So here we go - the first Nite Songs end of year summary. It's been a very weird year and I'm sure I'll deal with some of the oddness when I come round to doing the first part of our Albums of the Year list tomorrow - certainly I don't think any of us ever envisaged 2020 turning out the way it did. One side effect of the changing nature of the music business and the circumstances brought on by the pandemic though is a massive increase in the number of bands putting out EP's and mini-albums this year. Extra time on people's hands? Quicker and more cost-effective than having to devote time to making a full album especially when you're stuck indoors and having to record it on your own equipment rather than using a professional studio? Dictated due to band members having to work remotely? Probably a bit of all the above. But either way, there's been some crackers come out which weren't quite long enough to be a full album and it seemed only right that ...

  "I saw a clip of Boris Johnson on the news the other day/Made me wanna punch the screen, the man's a fuckin' disgrace!" . Now there's an opening line for you. Dead Sheeran (aka Paul Catten) first came to our attention recently with his self-titled EP recorded in the first lockdown which was a sheer howl of frustration at lockdown society and the state of Britain in 2020 and as opening number Can Things Get Any Worse?  demonstrates here, the intervening six months or very much haven't seen him mellow. In an era where we've had several bands who've tried the "electro rock 'n' roll with a social conscience" schtick (Sleaford Mods, Idles, Fontaines DC), most have come frustratingly close to putting out a good album but not quite pulled it off. However, the lack of pretentiousness and sheer vitriol here sees Dead Sheeran properly nailing the formula and A National Disgrace  might just the most damning inditement of the sorry state this s...

  In keeping with this month's Nite Songs theme of clearing the decks for the end of the year, I've decided to split the Singles Bar into three parts this month with parts 1 & 2 (which hopefully you've read already!) dedicated to single track releases and the third and final part to EP's and mini-albums so I can talk about these in more detail. In case anyone's wondering, the Nite Songs definition is an EP = 4-6 tracks and a mini-album = 7-9 tracks and less than 30 minutes' run time. Hope that's cleared everything up. Anyway, let's take a look at what's in here, shall we?  *** CJ Wildheart - "Siege" The lack of new material from the extended Wildhearts family this year has been a bit of a bugger but thankfully, just in the nick of time, CJ has come along to give us some new material and it might just be one of rhe angriest albums you hear this year. CJ's last album Blood was a ferociously heavy effort and on the evidence of the fero...