Red Hot And Blue III

 

In today's installment of the theme, we set off on paths that couldn't be more different. Let's start with David Sylvain and the first single from his debut album from 1984. After he split from Japan, nobody knew which musical direction he would drift in, but he more than convinced many with his idiosyncratic mixture of art-rock, jazz, ambient and a voice reminiscent of Brian Ferry.

David Sylvain - Red Guitar

Next stop is Georgia. The Allman Brothers Band were well known for their interpretation of Southern Rock. But for me it is more than playing heavy guitars. They always included elements of jazz and prog-rock to their sound. Hot 'Lanta describes it very well. Excellent guitars moving over rolling drums that makes this song timeless.

Allman Brothers Band - Hot 'Lanta

In 2006 The Charlatans released Simpatico, the probably best album of their late history. There sound included still massive guitar and the voice of Tim Burgess but was extended with fantastic grooves and reggae rhytms.

The Charlatans - Blackend Blue Eyes

Deeper Than Holy

Another new band from Manchester came to my ears the recent days. Pastel is a five piece guitar band by cousins Jack and James Yates and influenced by bands like The Stone Roses, The Charlatans and The Verve. Of course it is nothing new or the next big hype but they are able to make songs in the tradition of shoegaze that makes me happy when I listen to them.

 

Felt

It was back in the early 80's a band appeared on the scene that gave a lot of inspirations to bands like Belle and Sebastian or The Charlatans. Blessed with jangly guitars, great songs and a post-punk attitude added with superb songs made them a big place big place in history. They released a couple of outstanding records these days and sadly were forgotten now. Listening to albums like Crumbling the Anitseptic Beauty or Forever Breathing the Lonely is still a pleasure after all the decades and worth to feature them on this pages.

Felt - Cathedral
Felt - Down but not yet out

Labled

Like many other British independent labels Beggars Banquet were formed under the influence of the punk-rock movement. During the years they released a lot of records with quality and taste. Their first release was a classic punk single by the Lurkers. With the subsequent singles the hit the nerve of the time and bands like Tubeway Army and Gary Numan reached high positions in the charts. But Beggars Banquet had also open ears for gothic and new wave. Further along the line the released the records by The Go-Betweens and records by MES's The Fall at his best times. This could be an endless list if I would feature songs by Robert Forster or Grant MacLennan. Anyway, good to look back at the disclosures of this record label with a smile.