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...

  An album that’s definitely piqued our interest just through those involved in it, it’s fair to say that the Wingmen have quite the supergroup pedigree. Formed around the nucleus of the Sensible Gray Cells' rhythm section of Paul Gray (also of the Damned, Eddie & the Hot Rods and UFO) on bass and Marty Love (also of Johnny Moped) on drums, also along for the ride are Stranglers frontman Baz Warne, Ruts DC guitarist Leigh Heggarty and Supergrass keyboard player Rob Coombes. You can definitely hear elements of all of the group's parent bands in here but the key is that the Wingmen put enough of their own DNA in there to ensure that you'd never mistake this as an album of off-cuts. Second song The Last Cigarette  (which follows the garage rock style opening instrumental  Starting Blocks ) is a case in point with elements of the Damned circa The Black Album  or Strawberries and Supergrass in their more wistful moments (think Going Out  or similar), a classic sw...