Dave Simpson
Bastille - review
Long before Bastille could ever have dreamed of a No 1 album , frontman and mastermind Dan Smith was a student at University of Leeds. As he tells those who have come to see him at his alma mater, he got the news about Bad Blood 's success as his tour
How we made Killer, by Seal and Adamski
The singer and producer recall the acid house anthem that took them from illegal raves to stardom and a No 1 hit Seal, singer I was living in a squat. Before that, it had been floors and sofas, but then I'd managed to finance my way travelling round A
Rhye: Woman - review
(Polydor) When mysterious duo Rhye began posting their music online, comparisons to the likes of Sade and Tracey Thorn led to assumptions that singer was a female . While the band have now revealed themselves as Copenhagen producer Robert Hannibal and T
Jimi Hendrix: People, Hell and Angels - review
(Sony Legacy) With almost four times as many posthumous collections as studio albums released during his lifetime, James Marshall Hendrix really may be worth more dead than alive. Most of the dozen songs here have been released before in other forms, a
Stereophonics: Graffiti on the Train - review
(Stylus) For their sizable fanbase, Stereophonics will be for ever be synonymous with good times, Chris Evans's TV show and hands punching the air. For their detractors, they remain purveyors of meat-and-potatoes musical gruel. It may be too late to ch
The Jacksons - review
"They wanted to tear down this family's name," the four remaining Jacksons told this paper recently, referring to the controversies which dogged their late brother Michael before his untimely death in 2009 – everything from unproven child molestation alGirls Aloud - review
Arena, Newcastle A decade ago, when reality TV show Popstars: The Rivals pitted Girls Aloud against favourites One True Voice, you wouldn't have put money on the female underdogs making it past the series' end. More than 10 years later, their boyband
Johnny Marr: The Messenger - review
(Warner Bros) After over two decades of collaborations with everyone from The The to the Cribs, Johnny Marr 's first solo album proper (2003's Boomslang, fronting the Healers, shouldn't count) finally edges back towards his Smiths vintage guitar playingCaitlin Rose: The Stand-In - review
(Names Records) Nashville 25-year-old Caitlin Rose 's 2010 debut, Own Side Now, won deserved plaudits, but this second effort really ups her game. With pedal steel, Wurlitzer organ, slide guitars and strings, The Stand-In pitches somewhere between count