Review: Ten years after their brilliant sophomore LP Smoke + Mirrors, rock-radio-ready roilers Imagine Dragons (once celebrated as, among many, the biggest band in the world) mark the occasion with a fresh vault of 14 previously unreleased demos from the sequent album's recording sessions. While the original showed off the band's dynamic range, securing them many a number-one spot, this collection offers a raw glimpse into the creative process of the LV power-pop rovers. Much less polished than official chartists might expect, we still note of the band's seemly evolution out of an already rather anachronistic early-10s EDM-plated sound, primed for radi-a and stadia alike. Many of these songs were written for the road, so it's interesting to hear, and/or imagine, what might've been if the band had followed these songs to their glossiest conclusions at the time.
We're Rolling, It's 1985 Studio Dialogue (CD2: demos & outtakes)
Funk Song #11 Take 2/Working Title Of What You Need (Alternate Take)
Press The Blue & Red Button Studio Dialogue
Kiss The Dirt (Studio demo)
Meaning Of The Song Listen Like Thieves - Interview Excerpt
Listen Like Thieves (Studio demo)
INXS SA FM Radio Spot
One X One (Studio demo)
This Time (Studio demo)
Shine Like It Does (Studio demo)
Good & Bad Times (alternate take)
Red Red Sun (Studio Jam)
Red Red Sun (alternate take)
Recording Of Same Direction
Funk Song #9
What You Need (Studio demo)
Shine Like It Does (Home demo)
Listen Like Thieves (Home demo)
Kiss The Dirt (Home demo)
Introduction By Pete Drummond (CD3: live From Royal Albert Hall - 24th June, 1986)
Same Direction
Soul Mistake
Kiss The Dirt
Biting Bullets
Burn For You
Do Wot You Do
Original Sin
Different World
Shine Like It Does
Listen Like Thieves
One X One
What You Need
Red Red Sun
Review: INXS have gone all in and hired the best in the business to provide a brand new stereo mix of their 1985 Listen Like Thieves album, namely Giles Martin and Paul Hicks, who have been remixing and remastering the Beatles back catalogue together. Ill content to let a better sounding album be enough of a package, the Australian 80s icons add previously unreleased sessions tracks, outtakes, demos and a live recording the BBC did at the Royal Albert Hall in 1986. Of the tunes on here, 'This Time' has a U2-esque stadium-filling atmosphere that is undeniably empowering. But it's also great hearing another, more stripped back side to the new wave icons and 'Kiss The Dirt' is a great place to start with this - you can hear a work in progress and let your imagination can fill in the gaps.
Review: The ill-fated Sex Pistols US tour of January 1978 has become as infamous and discussed as the band themselves, as it came at a time of rife turmoil between members whilst it was potentially beginning to dawn on them how out of place they were on their label, how inconsiderate and mismanaged they were being treated and how much more of a travelling circus show those in attendance were paying to see rather than genuinely caring for the music or message in the same manner of their homegrown fanbase. This exhaustion, frustration and evident burnout was all captured during these live performances, which after several semi-coherent releases have finally been isolated, properly sequenced and finally deliver the closest fly-on-the-wall experience to these implosive shows yet. Taken from their set at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, this is peak pissed off Pistols on the cusp of their ultimate breaking point. While the band are currently enjoying a celebratory jaunt with former Gallows vocalist Frank Carter replacing the MAGA man John Lydon, delivering the closest experience to the Never Mind The Bollocks era yet, those who'd rather not spend more than 100 quid on a ticket can now experience the authentic real thing from the comfort of their turntable.
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