Nite Songs

  So here we go, the Top 50. *** 50. LILY ALLEN - "West End Girl" It's probably inevitable that we will end up including at least one "big" album on this list but West End Girl  genuinely is worthy of its place here. A brutally honest dissection by Allen of the end of her relationship, it shows that beneath the pop princess image is a very accomplished and savvy songwriter. Often uncomfortable but always cathartic listening, this might just be her best album to date. *** 49. MANIC STREET PREACHERS - "Critical Thinking" For those of us as a certain age, the idea of the Manics as a solid dependable long term rock outfit still arguably takes a bit of getting used to but at least Critical Thinking shows that they've still got the ability to produce good albums and occasionally surprise you as proved by the confrontational title track sung by Nicky Wire here. Elsewhere, the likes of People Ruin Paintings , One Man Militia  and Decline And Fall  show tha...

  "Outlaw boys of the rebel kind, gotta keep movin', don't look behind..."  - Torme  - All Around The World Now here's a rum one. I'm not sure Torme strictly count as a "supergroup" as such as at the time they existed, none of the members had quite got the reputations they'd subsequently build up afterwards but it was definitely an interesting meeting of minds. The group were formed by guitarist Bernie Torme (obviously) shortly after he left Ozzy Osbourne's band and Phil Lewis who at the time had just left the band he'd made his name with, Girl. Bernie Torme had actually first come to prominence in the punk era when he'd moved across to London from his native Ireland. Although he was a rock guitarist, he saw the prevailing trends at the time, cut his hair short and became a regular with his group at the punk clubs like the Roxy and the Vortex - he even appears on the Live At The Vortex compilation alongside other late in the day punk ...

  Formed by ex-Dogs D'Amour guitarist Jo Dog and former L.A. Guns frontman Paul Black, Sonic Boom put out one sadly underappreciated album in 2000, Sundown Yellow Moon , and it's good to see them back with a much-delayed follow-up here in 2022. While the group's first album was a straight up slice of blues rock powered along by Jo's dextrous guitar work and Black's world-weary vocals, on this follow-up there's definitely signs of new ground being broken. Opening track Another Tree For Shade  has an almost Humble Pie era Steve Marriott style feel to it with the soaring chorus and chirping organ plus the lengthy blissed outro underpinning the song and gets this one off to a strong start. Up For The Late Show  sounds like a speeded up version of Jo's old band's classic Sometimes  and keeps the momentum rolling while Blue Like The Morning  is a lovely longing slice of Gram Parsons style country sorrow before former single You're Home picks up the tempo a...

  So here we go...the big moment...who's won our Album Of The Year award? Read on to find out! *** 10.     L.A. GUNS - "Checkered Past" A real return to form for L.A. Guns and arguably the best album that's come out under this band's name in nearly three decades. Checkered Past  sees them retaining the heaviness of their recent efforts but applying them to the big fist-in-the-air template that they made their name with in the late '80s, veering from strutting AC/DC riff-fests through ferocious thrash to more moody introspective moments. Phil, Tracii and the rest of the guys can congratulate themselves on a job well done here. *** 9.     THE CORAL - "Coral Island" One which escaped our attention at the time, Coral Island  might just be the Coral's best album to date. Almost a world within a record, side one is pure blissful summertime psychedelia set at the titular seaside destination before side two sees winter roll around and things take a more ...

  It's fair to say that L.A. Guns' workrate has been impressive over the last few years since Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns decided to reunite to give things another go. 2017's The Missing Peace  and 2019's The Devil You Know  were the sound of a band rejuvenated packing an added heaviness which proved that this band were doing anything but quietly sticking to their trademark sound. And now with Checkered Past , the current incarnation of the band might just have come up with their strongest effort yet. Opener Cannonball  kicks in with a scuzzy Slaughter & The Dogs style riff from Tracii before Phil's snarling vocals kick in - it's like a heavier version of One More Reason  from the band's classic debut. The sleazy strut of Bad Luck Charm  meanwhile sounds like something that could've sat on Cocked And Loaded  albeit with a more stripped down back-to-basics sound which suits it down to the ground. The freewheeling Living Right Now  sounds like so...

  "Rats in the cellar, screams in my head, I look in the mirror, I look like I'm dead"  - L.A. Guns  - Why Ain't I Bleeding? The mid-'90s were a tough time for sleaze rock. When grunge hit, it pretty much brought on a nuclear winter for the genre which almost overnight went from in vogue to about as out of fashion as you could get. Some bands were simply instantly sunk by the tidal wave while others attempted to swim with it by changing to a heavier sound. It maybe goes without saying that the vast majority of the latter though would fail miserably as they just couldn't carry off the change convincingly. There were, however, the odd exceptions and one of them is the album we're covering today, L.A. Guns' 1994 effort Vicious Circle . I was probably a year or so too late to get into L.A. Guns back in the day (although I remember seeing the video for Some Lie 4 Love  on the ITV Chart Show Rock Top 10) despite them being that most rate of beasts, a Sunset ...