Rating: 8.5

The horrendously rare talent that is Michael J. Sheehy has finally released his fourth solo album after a five year period that began when he was dropped from Beggars Banquet, a huge mistake on their part, in 2002. This probably happened because Sheehy, although incredibly gifted, is so unfathomably unknown as an artist. From London, he started out in the mid 1990’s as the singer and songwriter in Dream City Film Club. His former band combined the incendiary with the sorrowful, sounding like an amalgam of the best of Bauhaus, The Stooges, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. What set them apart from the others, however, was the voice of Michael J. Sheehy. His fragile, often vulnerable sounding vocals are the antithesis to the bravado of singers such as Iggy Pop and Peter Murphy. Sure, he adjusted his voice for the more raucous and cacophonous material, but on the slow, doleful songs, his talent as a singer truly shines. Dream City Film Club disbanded in 1999, and Sheehy has gone on to create a succession of solo albums that focus on the down tempo, mellow side of his songwriting. His first record, Sweet Blue Gene, is perhaps his best release as he found the perfect balance between swampy, delta blues and heart wrenching ballads on that album. Although he becomes a little bit more placid with each release, Ghost on the Motorway continues in much the same manner, and focuses most on his gospel, country and blues influences.

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Rating: 10.0

“When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. Don’t turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.” Leonard Cohen is primarily a poet, not some kind of rock and roll juggernaut. Several volumes of his poetry were published, along with two novels, years before he recorded his first album, released in 1967. His first three records are essential folk masterpieces that are a world apart from his later recordings,  where he would begin to stray musically. The reissues are a blinding example of Leonard Cohen at his best. His first album is a highly literate work of sheer brilliance that paved the way for the also near perfect second and third albums. They have just been given the remastering treatment and the re-releases come in classy hardback book packaging. As one would expect, included are the lyrics, which were criminally missing from the earlier cd versions of Songs From a Room and Songs of Love and Hate. There are also a few unreleased tracks thrown in to make us suckers once again purchase albums that we already owned.

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Rating: 7.0

With all of the excitement over the recent Jesus and Mary Chain reunion, we should give partial credit to Jim and William Reid’s little sister Linda for getting her brothers back together to write, record and perform with her on an album of songs that has just been released under the name Sister Vanilla. This name was actually given to her by her brothers in 1998 when she sang a song on the last Jesus and Mary Chain record, Munki. The song, “Moe Tucker,” was named so because brothers Reid thought that she sounded like the diffident Velvet Underground drummer. Thankfully, the Jesus and Mary Chain are back. They just played two successful shows last weekend in Southern California, including an appearance at the Coachella Festival on Friday evening. This new album sounds an awful lot like the Jesus and Mary Chain as it was mainly written by its two songwriters. In fact, it sounds like Little Pop Rock was more or less an exercise in getting the Reid brothers, who apparently did not speak for years, back to playing music together after a nine year hiatus.

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Rating: 9.8

A vast majority of what we listen to today has been directly influenced by a cannon of elite artists. These seminal acts, most of which hail from the mid to late sixties, have come to be widely respected as they are routinely name checked by about every media source. And from the seeds of the original rock groups, there has been very little left in the way of innovation and invention. Because of this, so many groups over the years have mimicked, borrowed and outright copied the originators of the craft. Nico, of Velvet Underground fame, however, is one individual who was so devastatingly avant-garde that her albums remain, to this day, virtually unknown. In fact, her material was so unique that attempts at copying her sound have rarely been done. Rhino UK have just re-released The Marble Index and Desertshore, two of her best solo albums, in one package entitled The Frozen Borderline. The songs have been remastered and also included is a wealth of demos, outtakes, and alternate versions. These records are stellar and the recent mastering job that has been done adds a freshness to the sound that makes them even more incredible than they already were in their previous compact disc form.

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About once every two or three years a record comes along that is so captivating, it ends up in residence in your cd player for about one month straight. Finally, after myriad bland new releases this year, many of them tepid and uninspiring, we have been offered up some form of musical redemption, and the saviors responsible for our salvation are three chaps from Oklahoma, brothers in fact, who are simply known by their last name, Hanson. Their new recording is called The Walk, and all I can say is that you better walk, but don’t saunter, and certainly do not run, on over to your local record store to pick up this masterpiece. I have also heard that Walmart has it in stock for those of you who reside in the Midwest.

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Rating: 8.0

On returning with their second album for Seattle’s Sub Pop Records, Low have found a way to remain truthful to their unique sound while adding a new element to their music in the form of ambience. Many of the songs feature a dreamlike quality with the inclusion of drum machines and loops. Their last record, 2005’s The Great Destroyer saw them embracing a more discordant and surprising rock sound. This one, however, is a welcome return to their trademark lethargic, late night music. It also showcases an experimental side that reminds the listener a little of their Songs for a Dead Pilot EP from 1997.

Breaker mp3

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Rating: 7.5

Lou Reed has always received the most credit for what is widely known as the incredible legacy of the Velvet Underground. The name John Cale, although it does conjure up an instant association with the aforementioned group, usually draws a blank with most people concerning his solo output from 1968 until the present. This is hugely due to the overwhelming lack of hit material that he has produced. However, those who have seen him as a vital presence as being at least equally important as Lou Reed in defining the Velvet Underground’s place in music history, have discovered that Cale’s solo career has consistently outshined Reed’s by leaps and bounds. To be succinct, his records contain a fine balance between pop, classical, and avant-garde music. His albums, for the most part, are both intelligent and challenging where Lou Reed’s often suffer from a prevalent tendency towards average good time rock and roll. When considering this point, it is obvious why the first two Velvet Underground records are so different from the third and fourth. The fact of the matter is that John Cale is an astonishingly original multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. The new double CD collection Circus Live was recorded mostly during the tour that followed 2005’s excellent BlackAcetate.

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