Every weekday between 1 and 5pm we play tracks from our #spotlightartist. They’re an artist with a body of work which has stood the test of time. We’ll play the hits – but also some deep cuts. Listen ad-free through New Zealand via @tunein at https://goo.gl/VL6m3NS
Fleetwood Mac are a massive group with a huge body of work. This week we’re going to focus in on a particular aspect – Stevie Nicks’ vocals with the group. Nicks joined the group in late 1974. After several personnel changes Mick Fleetwood had invited Lindsey Buckingham to join the group – he agreed on condition that his then girlfriend Stevie could as well. The rest as they say is history – the ensuing album Fleetwood Mac broke the band through to mainstream success and sold over 5 million copies. We’ll enjoy some of the big hits such as “Rhiannon” but also some great album tracks such as “Storms” and “That’s Alright” this week.
We loved Christine and the Queens’ first album a few years ago, and the singles already out for this new effort are remarkable as well. The full album is worth a listen. Unusually we agree with Pitchfork‘s gushing review. It gets into detail about the courage and creativity of her gender crossing persona. We just think its a great collection of music, especially “Girlfriend”, “5 Dollars” and “Doesn’t Matter”. See what you think.
Ben Howard – Hot Heavy Summer
Mansionair- Falling
Lana Del Rey – Mariners Apartment Complex
Mitch James – Bright Blue Skies
Mike Posner – Song About You
Stephen Erlewine describes this album as “an impassioned collection that spins his signature sounds into something stirring and, at times, incandescent”. This is a positive and much anticipated album four years on from Strut.
With a changing lineup, The Byrds evolved through the late sixties, always remaining true to a core folk rock sensibility. Formed in 1964 by Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke, Jim (known as Roger McGuinn from 1967) was the only constant in the lineup through to the end in 1973. Their first album Mr Tambourine Man combined folk influences with the sound of the British Invasion, and the title track was one of my favourite songs when I was young (played on classic hits radio frequently). They evolved however, pioneering psychedelic rock sounds then country rock. This week we’ll enjoy tracks from right through their varied career.
“Macca’s back in the groove” proclaimed The Guardian. Certainly this album contains a number of cracking tracks. Any older artist working with Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic etc) seems to attract immediate fire, presumably for trying to be contemporary. Paul however has always incorporated ‘of the moment’ influences as a rock and pop artist, while remaining true to his core sound as well. This collaboration produces a great catchy tune (“Fuh You”) however its joined by a number of other great tracks including “I Don’t Know”, “Come On To Me”, “Dominoes” and “Back In Brazil” amongst others. We look forward to checking out the album through the week.
Ben Howard is a talented British indie artist. Hard to categorise, we loved his recent album Noonday Dream and decided to feature his work this week. We’ll explore Noonday Dream as well as tracks from his debut album Every Kingdom, EP The Burgh Island and 2014’s I Forget Where We Were.
British folk artist Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg) takes us on a road trip through America. Perhaps more of the same, but a pleasant sounding album none the less.
We usually feature new albums in this slot, but this week we’ll take a look back at an all time classic from 1973. This album was Paul McCartney’s first widely respected album after the Beatles ended (the previous albums had mixed reviews). We’ll be playing the original tracks from the US release including the great song “Helen Wheels”. For more about this album I’d highly recommend checking out the great Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast episode 6