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/VL6m3N
Our spotlight artist this week, sadly departed last year, had a stellar career stretching back to the 1970s. From early bands Epic and Mudcrutch, by the end of 1976 he had released his first album with the Heartbreakers. It did respectably in the charts, with single “Breakdown” hitting the top 40 – it also yielded signature song “American Girl”. For me it was their third album Damn The Torpedoes which marked their creative blossoming. Every track a great listen, it sold over 3 million copies in the US and hit number 2 on the Billboard charts.
Tom Petty was a household name through the MTV era, and his 1991 album Into The Great Wide Open and subsequent Greatest Hits collection really cemented his reputation with a new generation. By this time he had joined Rock royalty with his participation in the Travelling Wilburys project with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynn.
Leaving his original label, he branched out to release his second solo album Wildflowers, an exquisite album that we’ll feature several tracks from. He continued releasing solo and “Heartbreakers” albums through to 2014’s Hypnotic Eye and continued to tour all the while.
He leaves an enormous body of fantastic work, and this week we’ll sample only some of the absolute classics he released, along with a selection of lesser known cuts. What a legend.
Ben Howard – There’s Your Man
Peter Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – Iguana Bird
Mallrat – Groceries
Maroon 5 – Girl Like You ft Cardi B
Flight Facilities – All Your Love ft. Justin Tebbutt
Passenger – Hell Or High Water
Lowell – No Talk
Liz Lawrence – Circling Numbers
pronoun – run
Mr Geoffrey Arnold Beck was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He played with a few bands before being recruited by The Yardbirds, replacing Eric Clapton, on the recommendation of Jimmy Page who joined the band the following year. This was an incredible stamping ground and Beck’s almost two year stint produced some incredible music. Listening to their 1965 album Having A Rave Up is incredible with the blend of solid blues numbers, and the incredible “Heart Full of Soul” which contains Indian influences (the Indian sitar player had trouble producing the sound needed so Beck produced a sitar-like effect on his guitar).
We’ve been looking forward to this album from this Glaswegian band for months since their promising early singles “Miracle” and “My Enemy” were released. Lauren Mayberry’s vocals are incredible, and the band’s synth pop sound continues to evolve. The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart gave some early inspiration. An interesting influence mentioned in an interview with Matt Waterman of Beats 1 was New Order’s track “Age of Consent”, with its loose, rough feel. They certainly have achieved a raw live feel with this great album. Can’t wait to play it to you!
A wonderful album name, and cover, this is one of the quintessential psychedelic albums, released this day in 1968. The Small Faces had already had some big psychedelic hits the previous year (e.g. Itchycoo Park). This album is filled with pounding beats and crunching guitars, and you’ll spot it on most “Top 500 Albums” lists. The Guardian told its story on its 40th birthday 
Marvin Gaye’s seventh album was released on this day in 1966 (23rd of May). His career was obviously well underway, and the plan was to establish the Motown singer as a strong album artist. He was interested in recording an album of standards but the sessions were unsuccessful. Six songs from this album were released as singles and impressively four reached the Top 40 on the Pop Singles chart. We’ll be playing some tracks from this album as our Classic Gold tracks each hour from 12pm.