Nite Songs

  Top 20 time then - hopefully a few albums on here you might have missed first time out and will enjoy giving a much deserved listen to. Tune back in for the Top 10 tomorrow... *** 20.     CAROL HODGE - "The Crippling Space Between" Hodge's third solo album sees her in good form, mixing light and shade to brilliant effect. Informed by the strange climate that lockdown brought on, by turns angry and hopeful, despairing and optimistic, it runs the full gauntlet of emotions that a lot of us felt during those weird months. She may still be one of the UK music industry's best kept secrets but on the evidence of The Crippling Space Between , it's really time that somebody changed that and she received the recognition she deserves. *** 19.     MINISTRY - "Moral Hygiene" Times like this provide rich fodder for Al Jourgensen and Moral Hygiene  is arguably Ministry's strongest album for over a decade. As you'd expect, it doesn't let up on the heavines...

  Well blimey, here's a name from the past. Londoners Spearmint were one of those bands who first broke through in the dying days of Britpop with their almost-hit Sweeping The Nation  but unfortunately they arguably timed their entry on to the scene a couple of years too late to become the new Pulp that some were touting them as and would disappear almost as quickly as they'd arrive. Except they never really disappeared, they just retreated back to the underground where they've remained ever since with Holland Park  being no less than the band's ninth album. Intended as a concept album of sorts about being in a band and the aftermath of success, the template is apparently the story of frontman Shirley Lee’s dad’s prog band who were apparently briefly tipped for big things in the ‘70s but, similar to Spearmint themselves, just never quite made the leap up to the big leagues as well as tipping its hat to Bowie. Indeed, opener They Call Us Stupid  could almost be the so...