Every summer there's always one new album you buy to take away on the holidays to listen to on the beach.... And as usual my choice is completely inappropriate for lounging round the pool


The Secret Sisters are actually sisters and Put Your Needle Down is Americana from the Deep South laced with a bit of gospel and American gothic


The opener Roll my Bones, a song about one very horny woman, motors along like a cross between Footloose and the band Lone Justice


The standout track of Iuka follows - a story of a pair of young lovers running away from an abusive redneck father. It's dark, percussive with a wailing violin adding a really eerie feel. Unsettling but compelling


The harmonies between the sisters are used sparingly and occasionally the track veer to close to Doris Day or pure Nashville (Lonely Island and I Can't Find a Way being prime culprits) but there are gems to be unearthed.


The Pocket Knife weirdly seems to steal its opening riff from a Seth Lakeman track and Dirty Lie is the American cousin of Amy Winehouse's Back in Black


Bob Dylan were so taken with this band he provided an unreleased song (Dirty Lie) and PJ Harvey also contributed a track


The album ends on the River Jordan, a proper southern revivalist gospel song with plenty of tambourine and it just dares you to add your own hallelujahs....


All in all a really fantastic little discovery

Insomnium have returned and Shadow of the Dying Sun doesn't disappoint..... Still musically brutal but with melodies any AOR band would shave their heads for


The vocals are still mainly of black metal genre, low and growling but the use of a second vocalist providing clean vocals raises the band above the (blackened) masses.


While we Sleep is a perfect example of what this band does - propulsive drumming reminiscent of the Iron Maiden gallop, a mix of vocal styles, a short acoustic interlude and even a full on guitar solo to end which wouldn't sound out of place on a Marillion album


The stunning single Ephemeral turned out to be a great taster for the album while Revelation and Black Heart Rebellion are harder and faster than the last album ever was


There are surprises such as Lose to Night which drops the pace and adds an almost crowd like sing-along chorus. The title track also adds a spoken word section and another catchy coda as the song build towards the end


Once again this band breaks through all the stereotypes associated with Scandinavian metal to produce another magnificent album that matches their masterpiece album One For Sorrow from a few years back.....

The problem with Crippled Black Phoenix is every new album needs approaching likes its a new band (which invariably it is !)


And so to the latest White Light Generator which bizarrely starts off with what seems to be a Cliff Richard outtake from the late 50's The two part No! soon brings back the Floyd influences and crashing percussion.


From then on it's bleakness all the way - track titles like Lets Have an Apocalypse and You'll Be Murdered give you the idea. I can't say I particularly like the new vocalist  and there is no light relief to be had with the music whereas in the past there's been a Journey cover or Vic Reeves sample


Northern Comfort would be the stand out track with some middle eastern female vocals added some much needed colour


CBP seem to produce some truly amazing albums, I Vigilante or No Sadness Or Farewell and  followed them up with a lesser effort such this album or Mankind the Crafty Ape (I know I gave it a great review but it didn't stand up to repeated plays). If the pattern plays out again then the next album will be something to behold

There's been a lot to review recently and yet somehow I still haven't got round to it......


So lets start with the new self titled album from the Smoke Fairies. I approached this album with more trepidations than any of their previous albums - new label and a indifferent first single weren't good signs


The vinyl goes on for the first spin and the first thoughts are where are the guitars ? Opening track  We've Seen Birds is quite poppy in its chorus and not to my liking..... The single Eclipse Them All burns slow behind some ominous organ but doesn't seem to go anywhere. After side 1 it's looking like the end of the love affair with the Fairies


Over to side 2 and Misty Visions suddenly grabs tightly hold of your loins. All skittish rhythms, crashing guitars riffs and a lustful lyric and you forgive side 1 already..... The guitars are back for Koto which is the album highlight, a slow building tale of casual sex in an out of season seaside fun fair - It's the flip side to the Dire Straits song, Tunnel of love.


After a couple of listens there is a lot more depth to the album. The guitars are there but used sparingly. This really is an album for headphones as something new reveals itself on each listen. Even Eclipse Them All is hiding some chiming chords


So far none of the Smoke Fairies albums have sounded too similar to each other (though Drinks and Dancing harks back to the debut), so embrace the new and invest some time in these tunes

Something a bit different for a change.... I bought a book celebrating 70 years of the Radio Programme Desert Island Discs and a fascinating read it is


It lists the choices for a selection of castaways and some of the choices are mindboggling....
Elton John - Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd
Margaret Thatcher - A sketch by the comedian Bob Newhart (!)
Frank Bruno - Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea
Desmond Tutu - The charity record We are the World by USA for Africa
Gordon Brown - Loch Lomond by Runrig
Johnny Vegas - Dignity by Deacon Blue


So it gets me thinking about my choices - The rules are simple eight tracks (not albums), one book and one luxury. And so here goes:


1. One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head
The first 7" record I ever bought and 30 odd years later I still know all the words
2. Kayleigh - Marillion
First album I truly loved and named my eldest daughter
3. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Still the greatest guitar solo and as a student an album that was a soundtrack for 4 years
4. Last Exit for the Lost - Fields of the Nephilim
Most amazing live experience at the Astoria. Viewed through the dry ice a sea of arms reaching skywards
5. 225 - New Model Army
Lyrically one of the greatest bands ever and this one from my favourite album
6. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns & Roses
This band are the reason I wore cowboy boots and drunk Jack Daniels as a student in the frozen north
7. Crimson - All Living Fear
The sound of the Cavern Club, always dark, slightly claustrophobic but the gigs were great
8. I Wanna go to Marz - John Grant
Stood in a tent at Beautiful Days festival and felt like I was the only one there


The book would be Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and I guess luxury is a crate of single malt.

You see an album and think "that's gotta be good...." and so it was with Snowbird and their debut album Moon.


Paul Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) provides music along with guest spots from members of Radiohead and Midlake so what can go wrong ?


The opening track I Hear the Owl call my Name is all subtle rhythms and layered ethereal female vocals and very promising. There's a touch of the Horrors side project Cats Eyes about it.


All Wishes are Ghosts slows things down with flute and piano dominating the ballad and that where the issues start - The tempo doesn't really alter until the final track. The layered vocals grate by track 4 and it's like listening to an extended John Lewis Christmas advert. The whole thing is a tortuous listen in one sitting.


The last ballad In Lovely finally allows the voice to sing alone without multi tracking it and so much better for it


There is a track called Porcelain which as a description sums up the album - delicate, pretty but ultimately cold.


BUT.....


Just when you think disaster, the album comes with a remix disc of all the tracks called Luna.
Now I've never heard of RxGibbs but he remixes all 11 track in the same running order


Suddenly I Hear the Owl call my Name comes alive with beats. The vocals are reduced to a repeated sample, guitars muted in the original spring forward and this is now fantastic.


The 3 minute piano ballad Amelia is doubled in length with drums adding much needed colour whilst again the vocals are twisted into samples. Porcelain removes nearly all the singing and adds some shimmering guitar for decoration.


The album I bought was a let down but the very special album hidden as a bonus is the one I will enjoy again and again

Now my knowledge of Steeleye Span is limited but a concept collaboration with Terry Pratchett was enough to pique my interest....


Wintersmith is based around the character of the young witch Tiffany and the spirit of winters love for her. After the opening instrumental overture the opening song the Dark Morris Song is a real surprise as it rocks harder then I ever expected from this band - There is a power behind this album


Mr Pratchett guests on the track Good Witch with a spoken section and The Making of a Man has some really interesting rhythms as Maddy Prior lists the components of the human body.


The other surprise is quite how much the vocals are shared around throughout the group


Unfortunately having to build an album around a narrative means some filler and at 16 tracks long that's probably 4 too many. The small blue Nac Mac Feegle (basically alcoholic smurfs) may make good reading but the track Wee Free Man is a rather embarrassing inclusion with its chanting verses.


Luckily the album ends with the two strongest songs. Maddy Prior gives real feeling to the violin and piano ballad of Ancient Eyes relating the endless travels of the celestial turtle (perfect sense if you've read the books!). The final song We Shall Wear Midnight features sax and plucked strings as the band tell of the loss of youth as Tiffany realises her future as witch.


It must be difficult to take a book and make a coherent album from it but this is a excellent effort.