Elbow

AMERICAN EPIC, a film series produced by Allison McGourty, Duke Erikson and Director Bernard MacMahon, explores the pivotal recording journeys at the height of the Roaring Twenties, when music scouts armed with cutting-edge recording technology captured the breadth of American music and discovered the artists that would shape our world. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. It was the first time America heard itself.

TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music television series in the Dutch language area. The Netherlands broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from September 22, 1970, to June 27, 1988…

The Kinks are an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965 (as a result of constant fighting between the brothers). Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States…

In a tumultuous 2020, the re-emergence of Doves with new music has provided a shaft of light in an otherwise brooding sky, finally landing their fifth album, 'The Universal Want', after an eleven-year artistic break. Buoyed by refreshed chemistry, restless studio creativity and public reaction to their return, the album's release is preceded by the single 'Prisoners'. Refusing once more to fall into predictable, guitar-bass-drums, 'plug in and play' dynamics, 'The Universal Want''s overwhelming sense of intrigue owes everything to Doves' three decades experience at the wheel of their band (a lifespan going back to their time as dance band, Sub Sub), and an autobiographical trip through the sounds of their own lives.

Ignored by the majority but adored by a faithful, modest few, Failsworth, Manchester's Puressence were something of a contradiction in terms. Although they shared a laddish image and an implied arrogance with the mid-'90s incarnations of other north west England indie rock acts such as Oasis and the Charlatans, the high-register, ethereal vocals of frontman James Mudriczki pointed to something altogether more sophisticated. Claims that the band met on a bus on the way to the Stone Roses' legendary May 1990 gig at Spike Island, helped fuel and maintain their down-to-earth credentials, while in contrast their music represented a transcendence of the mundane – similarly executed during this period by acts such as Aberdeen, Scotland's Geneva, and later by Southampton's the Delays.

None of the more than 30 albums recorded by singer Morgana King beginning in the mid-'50s were embraced by the size of the audience that bought tickets to see the first two chapters of The Godfather film trilogy, in which King acted in the role of Mama Corleone. But it would be wrong to assume she had more impact as an actress than as a vocalist. Her acting roles, few and far between, were chosen with care, but did not have the resonance of some of her finest recordings.

Peter Gabriel has released Flotsam and Jetsam, a collection of b-sides and rarities spanning his lengthy solo career.