Beggars Banquet 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


The Charlatans self-titled fourth album gets a lovely yellow make over for this reissue on Beggars Arkive. It's the first time for over 20 years new copies of this landmark album have been pressed, and Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road has taken care of the excellent mastering. The original release date was in 1995, and the album was the most ambitious of the band's career with plenty of number ones included along the way. The most successful of these of course was 'Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over'. It's a real piece of classic 90s indie that will always sound good.

Review: After they'd moved on from their earliest moves as Death Cult, Ian Astbury's goth-tinged new wave rockers The Cult laid down their opening manifesto proper on Dreamtime and forged a classic in the process. It's a totem of the darker side of new wave for good reason, draped in shimmering guitar lines and angular grooves that defined the era, loaded with driving anthems like the title track and brooding atmospheres aplenty - just catch the sinewy mood of '83rd Dream' as a prime example. An all-time great, now available once again thanks to this reissue on Beggars.

Review: Originally released in 1984, following the band's evolution from the Southern Death Cult, to Death Cult, and then simply The Cult, Dreamtime finds the outfit featuring Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, pivoting from their goth and punk roots into something eclectic, aspirational, and adventurous. Rife with lyrical references to the indigenous cultures of the Americas and Australia, and set against a more bombastic and muscular musical backdrop, Dreamtime hints at what would envelop the band over the next four decades, a dedication to their wholly unique songwriting, both musically and thematically and the frenzy that was soon to come with the release of Love only a year later.

Review: It's 1987 and you've just hit play on Electric. The third album from English rock greats The Cult. It followed their breakthrough record, Love, in order but not style, marking a sharp artistic shift from the gothic tones they first garnered attention with, and then blew up through, and onto more of a straight up bar room hard rock that positioned them closer to the likes of AC/DC than The Cure. That's no criticism of course - both those points of reference are amazing in their individual ways. And Electric certainly landed on the right side of its sound, peaking at 27 in the UK album charts and getting critics commenting on the swagger and irreverence at the heart of the tracks. Guitars played as they should be, for want of a better turn of phrase.

Review: Goth heroes Fields Of The Nephilim's second album The Nephilim was realised 35 years ago by Situation Two and Beggars Banquet in 1988. Recorded in a former courthouse in the Somerset countryside, it has not been re-pressed since then and now comes on special golden brown vinyl with, of course, their most celebrated track and the rather epic 'Moonchild' (which hit number 28 in the UK charts) included alongside three other new bonus cuts. Influential frontman Carl McCoy twisted metal and electronics in his work after he first formed the band in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. This album was their best work and still stands up today.

Review: Fields Of The Nephilim, a UK goth band formed in 1984, made waves with their second studio album The Nephilim. Originally released in 1988, this goth masterpiece and reissued here in form set was released, featuring four bonus tracks for fans to enjoy. Known for their blend of hard rock, goth and psychedelic elements, led by vocalist Carl McCoy's growling, harsh voice adding a heavy edge to the music alongside Tony Pettit on bass, Peter Yates and Paul Wright on guitars and "Nod" Alexander Wright on drums, they create a powerhouse of sound on tracks like 'Chord of Souls' and epic seven minute opener 'Endemoniada'. The album debuted at an impressive number 12 on the UK album charts, solidifying Fields Of The Nephilim's status as pioneers in the goth rock genre along side contemporaries like Sisters of Mercy and The Mission.