Thanks for dropping by. Welcome to issue two.
The debut album by 15 year old John Lennon McCullagh features 12 brilliant songs. The
album, produced by Alan McGee, was recorded in one day. McCullagh is
McGee's greatest discovery so far. Courtney Love's quote about McCullagh
("He does Dylan better than Dylan") is spot on. There may be
similarities between the tune of McCullagh's Colour of The Sun and Dylan's duet with Bono Love
Rescue Me but McCullagh's track has far more charm and he's
also a better harmonica player. Full credit for McGee for managing to capture
the feeling of classic 60s albums such as Blonde on Blonde and Freewheelin'.
Slipping Away features some lovely guitar playing and an astonishing vocal
performance which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. In case
you're wondering: John Lennon McCullagh is the name on his birth cerftificate.
It's not a stage name. Let's give the last word to Alan McGee... "John Lennon McCullagh is influenced by Bob Dylan and Robert Johnson. I think it's great that the new young talent are coming through like Jake Bugg, The Strypes and John Lennon McCullagh. My friend John Robb thinks it's a teenage revolution - let's hope so."
We think the best new album this month is 6 Feet Beneath The Moon by King Krule (XL Records). Buy it in its double vinyl format. "It's a fucking masterpiece of craft and art" claims King Krule also known as Archy Marshall. Some songs on this debut are apparently five years old, written when Archy was just 14, others were written a few weeks back. Many critics have compared him to Billy Bragg and mentioned his strong London accent. I detect a bit of 80s Glasgow band Joseph K in the mix. Marshall says the name King Krule came to him after playing around with the title of the Elvis film King Creole. He says King Krule is about taking genres of music such as 50s Rock and Roll, Free Form Jazz, and punk and using them as meat. "My brain is a meat grinder. What comes out is King Krule"And finally... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO... Beyonce whose special day is the 5th of September
Beyonce says: "love doesn't hurt. Loving the wrong person does."
