Nite Songs

  20.     DEXY'S - "The Feminine Divine" Since he resurrected Dexy's a decade or so ago, Kevin Rowland has been on a good run of form and  The Feminine Divine  continues this purple patch. Slinky and soulful, it sees Rowland getting to grips with the passing of time, making peace with his past and celebrating the women in his life while sounding as if he's genuinely loving life to the maximum. The sound of a man who's happy with his lot and making the most of every passing day.  *** 19.     THE HANGMEN - "Stories To Tell" Now in their fourth decade of existence, it’s to the Hangmen’s immense credit that Stories To Tell stands up with their best stuff - 33 minutes of the sort of lean, fat-free rock ‘n’ roll that there’s depressingly little of in this day and age. Simple straightforward scuzz-punk howling at the moon on a lonesome night outside some dive bar, this is the sound of a band on top form. *** 18.     DUNCAN REID & THE BIG H...

  Getting close to the top of the chart now as we enter the alliteratively alluring Nite Songs' Top 20 albums of 2020. Some crackers in here and no mistake. 20. SPARKS - "A Steady Drip Drip Drip" ( Review ) Scary to think that Sparks are now almost half a century into their careers. And scarier still that they're still putting out albums as great as A Steady Drip Drip Drip  way after most of their contemporaries had given up the creative ghost. Taking in the group's formative glam stomp as well as excursions into everything from samba rhythms to music hall stylings to pure pop, this is just as much of a joy to listen to as ever. Great stuff. *** 19. DIABLOFURS - "Neon Satellites" ( Review ) With controls firmly set to the new wave era of the early '80s. Nottingham glitter merchants Diablofurs came up with one of the best debut albums of 2020 mixing Tubeway Army style electronica with pure power-pop sensibilities to great effect on tunes like Rival Gr...

  There's no doubt that Sparks have definitely enjoyed something of a career renaissance in recent years. Their previous album, 2017's excellent Hippopotamus  saw them enjoying their first UK Top 10 album for well over 30 years and it was deserved as it was one of their strongest efforts in recent memory. The Mael brothers have always been experts at constructing slightly warped and wonderful pop music and the Beatles-y opener All That  is a good example - the sort of song that would have easily been a chart hit if the singles chart still meant anything these days. Likewise the demented glam stomp of I'm Toast  which starts off with a great typical Sparks lyric "Started at the top/Then I had a drop/Then a further drop..."  And let's face it, any band which can rhyme Lawnmower  with Andover definitely deserve your attention. But then I guess song titles like Stravinsky's Only Hit  (as gloriously demented as its title suggests you'll be pleased to know) ...