Master Of The Game - Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band

Advantages: Sweet rockin’ rhythms from the back alley’s underbelly
Disadvantages: If you never knew the bottom of a bottle of Jack, you might not feel it; post-George band doesn't quite cut it.

...lines, and blended so effectively with Payne's jumping piano keys, rich synthesizer and lilting flute. But their earliest work under George remains a hallmark of a certain creative, acerbic, devil-may-care side American rock. A generation after the original band leader's death, a four-CD boxed set, "Hotcakes & Outtakes: 30 Years of Little Feat", came out just after the Millenium. However, I've always felt that boxed sets lose the flow of any specific album. The very term “boxed set” speaks to a categorization that the original Little Feat always managed to defy. So I keep coming back to what I consider to be Little Feat's seminal work, "Dixie Chicken", their outstanding third album, a masterwork re-released in 1987 as a CD. It sounds just as fresh today as it did on vinyl in its original 1973 release, when I was chasing the sun... Read review

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Advantages: It's Robbie (the good one)
Disadvantages: None

...who has played for the likes of David Sylvain and Joni Mitchell in his long recording career. For me personally the key song on the whole album is the track "Breakin' the Rules" which if the Blue Nile followers check out the sleeve notes you will find the whole band appear together on this track, from Robert Bell playing Bass to Paul Buchanan playing guitar and singing background vocals to Paul Moore and his individual style keyboard playing the band stamp the track with their sound, the sound of Paul Buchanan singing the lines "We can't go on, Hiding the pain, Breakin' the rules, Of the game" make the price of the album worth it alone for me. Another reason that I think that I enjoy this album is the overall sound of the whole project, engineer and associate producer Steve Nye who has worked with the likes of Roxy Music and 80's new wave... Read review

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Advantages: Top blokes, great music
Disadvantages: None

...Having been a fan of Travis for three years beforehand, I was delighted back in '99 when a friend of support band Ooberman got me into one of their end-of-tour parties at the Notting Hill Arts Centre. I don't want to boast about meeting the band blah blah blah, just tell a story which proves that Travis really are one of the nicest bands around. Having chatted to Fran for a bit (we subscequently featured in the Melody Maker's 'Ligger of the Week' section, I came across Dougie and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. Only problem was, as we lined up for the photo, the guy holding my camera to take the shot dropped it. The back fell off and I was gutted; but Dougie refused to let this stop the photo going ahead! He made half the room stand still while he crawled around the floor to find the missing piece of my camera, then put... Read review

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