Nite Songs

  So then, we've finally got to the place where this list SHOULD have started if I hadn't gone down about thirty different musical rabbit holes in the last few weeks. Guess we'd better make up for lost time, welcome to the Top 50... *** 50.     SASSYHIYA - "Take You Somewhere" South Londoners Sassyhiya are a band who crucially understand that lo-fi indie music always works best when it has a mischievous sense of fun underlying it and  Take You Somewhere  has that quality in spades featuring odes to everyone from Kristin Stewart to pet cats while closer  You Can Give It (But You Can’t Take It)  is a righteous diatribe against bullies. A strong debut. *** 49.     JAMES SULLIVAN - "Vital Signs" Now on his second solo album and following the breakup of his band More Kicks,  Vital Signs  sees James Sullivan continuing to spread his wings impressively. The power-pop that was his old band's calling card is very much still there but Sulliva...

  On into the Top 30 we go then. Brace yourselves... *** 30.     RICKY WARWICK - "When Life Was Hard And Fast" When Life Was Hard And Fast   sees Ricky Warwick back to the no-nonsense rock music he's made his name with first in the Almighty and more recently with Black Star Riders. Veering from fired up punk to more moody reflective moments, this is straight ahead fist-in-the-air singalong rock anthems done by a master of the craft. Great stuff. *** 29.     BEANS ON TOAST - "Survival Of The Friendliest" Jay McAllister aka Beans On Toast is one of those songwriters who can make you see the light in even the most dark of times and Survival of the Friendliest  was a much needed ray of sunshine as the bleakness of December and the prospect of yet another lockdown set in. Working with a full band for this one, it's an album full of songs of hope to put an arm around your shoulder and see you through your long dark night of the soul. *** 28.     PE...

  James Sullivan is a former guitarist with the Role Models as well as being the frontman with More Kicks who were regulars on the London power-pop circuit a couple of years ago. This is his first solo album and, as with a few other efforts we've reviewed of late, was written and recorded during the lockdown amid an uncertain future for touring musicians. Sullivan set himself the task of writing a song a day for ten days and Light Years  is the result. There's an endearing Television Personalities style lo-fi quirkiness to this album from the spoken word opener Lea Bridge  giving way to the gentle Frank Turner style acoustics of It Won't Do You Harm  and the rough around the edges power pop of Keep Your Heart Alive . Getaway is propelled along by rumbling bass and a drum machine before the acoustic led Guided  and the gentle piano ballad Up To My Neck Again  show that this is an album where the curveballs just keep coming. The lockdown frustration of Totall...