Robin Adams’ latest album The Beggar maintains a habit which has occasionally crept into his previous recordings, that of revisiting older songs, often just demos or curiosities, sometimes available to download but essentially somewhat ephemeral in comparison to his official releases. That’s not to say that these back pages are in any way inferior, it’s more that Adams seem to be forever on a song writing quest and some of his writings can be waylaid or left behind, only to be picked up again and re examined.

While The Primevals, Glasgow’s premier garage rock psychedelic free jazz grunge band  have recently had a brush with fame due to a link up with Stuart Lee (““the world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” The Times”, as Lee always gleefully points out) via their song I’m The  Man-Wulf, their front man Michael Rooney has stealthily released a solo album. Intersections is not a great departure from recent Primevals albums, primarily because Rooney’s dead pan, dead cool vocals are to the front and centre, but across the seven songs here he has the opportunity to spread out a bit while his band mates (assorted Primevals and like minded associates) contort themselves to accommodate the shifts.

If you’ve ever wondered what a real life “hard core troubadour” looked and sounded like then I’d recommend a trip to a Nathan Bell show. After a shot at fame in the 80s, Bell only returned to recording after a 30 year hiatus, working and raising a family. When his job went belly up a decade or so ago he picked up his guitar again and has since released a series of albums which sink their teeth into the American jugular.

Since 2022 guitarists Simon Kempston and Paul Tasker have appeared annually at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for their Songs Without Words residency at Edinburgh’s venerable folk venue The Royal Oak, an oasis of calm amidst the hurly burly of the carnival atmosphere on the nearby Royal Mile. One thing that was missing however was a souvenir for the audience to take home with them, a recording of the pair playing together.

Most country themed male/female duo acts are compared to classic forebears such as George and Tammy or Gram and Emmylou. The Pleasures, a duo comprised of Australians Catherine Britt and Lachlan Bryan are a shade darker, more gothic if you will, and not afraid to shake the rafters with some rattling rock’n’roll when it suits them. They are more akin to departed bands such as Blanche and Twilight Hotel, both of whom were gloriously dark and messy.

We’re a bit late to the party with this disc which was officially released at the end of May. In our defence it was only a few weeks ago that the mail man delivered it; post from the States these days is a bit of a hit and miss affair. Anyhow, there was huge excitement at Blabber’n’Smoke as we tore open the package and delved into this remastered, deluxe edition of…

Blabber’n'Smoke last encountered Maria Muldaur when she released the excellent Let’s Get Happy Together, recorded with the New Orleans band Skinny Tuba, an exuberant celebration of New Orleans styled old time music, syncopated and swinging. It was the latest in a lengthy catalogue of albums which have showed that Muldaur, a genuine one hit wonder with her 1972 song Midnight At The Oasis…

Colorado based David Starr has gained a lot of fans here in the UK with his annual tours and an array of albums which have found him firmly in the singer/songwriter orbit. Love & Sabotage was a country rock album in the sense of 70s luminaries such as Poco while the more expansive Beauty & Ruin (based on a book written by his grandfather) dug into timeless themes in a manner reminiscent of the Eagles’ Western album Desperado.

Judging from his regular newsletters Scotland’s Findlay Napier is a busy, busy man. He has a finger in many pies, his work in the folk supergroup that is The Magpie Arc, an ongoing commitment to song writing workshops, a lecturer on traditional music at Scotland’s Conservatoire (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the institution he attended), along with being a sometime stand-up comedian, it’s surprising that he has the time to consider his solo career.

Back in 2020 Thee Holy Brothers sparked into view with their excellent debut album My Name Is Sparkle. The duo -Marvin Etzioni (ex Lone Justice) and Willie Aron (of The Third Mind) - were so named by the rabbi at their local synagogue , Mordecai Finley, who described them thus, a moniker which was heartily endorsed by another member of the congregation, Leonard Cohen. 

Alongside Edinburgh’s Dropkick, Ian M Bailey has been foremost recently in reviving the jangled and sun kissed era of Los Angeles pop and folk rock with particular reverence given to the sound of the Byrds and Roger McGuinn’s 12 string Rickenbacker. This time around, on Lost In A Sound, Bailey and his co-writer, Glasgow’s Daniel Wylie, continue to mine the goldmine that is the heyday of California music but there’s less of the jangle and much more of the introspection and social awareness which characterised the shift from chart oriented singles to much weightier topics as the 60s progressed.

We set our sights here on an album which was originally released back in 2006 and then kind of disappeared. It’s popped back up into view due to a vinyl pressing by the UK label Unspun Heroes whose…

We set our sights here on an album which was originally released back in 2006 and then kind of disappeared. It’s popped back up into view due to a vinyl pressing by the UK label Unspun Heroes whose raison d’etre is, to quote, “To go on a musical adventure of reissued vinyl. Releases happen in small batches, limited to no more than 500 pressings… the label has a guiding principle: to find and highlight music deserving of wider attention.

If your concept of boogie woogie piano only extends to hearing Jools Holland tinkling the ivories, no matter who he’s playing with on the telly, then prepare to have your boundaries expanded by Glasgow’s Daniel Meade on his latest album. While Meade is a versatile character, as seen on previous albums, a rocker, a balladeer, a country singer at times, …

Now, here’s a thing, a bit of a holy grail really if you are a fan of Doug Sahm in his early incarnations, the leader of various line ups of The Sir Douglas Quintet. The Complete Mercury Recordings is a very cool (and comprehensive) box set which contains six hard to find albums recorded between 1968 and 1971 (Sir Douglas Quintet +2 = Honkey Blues, Mendocino, Together After Five, 1+1+1=4 The Return Of Doug Saldaña…

It’s very tempting to limit this review to the words, “Here’s another Dropkick album,” and leave it at that. Those in the know will then be rushing to their merchant of choice to purchase said albu…

It’s very tempting to limit this review to the words, “Here’s another Dropkick album,” and leave it at that. Those in the know will then be rushing to their merchant of choice to purchase said album. Sadly, it seems there are still some folk who have not been exposed to the perfect power pop espoused by this Edinburgh band despite their being one of the most prolific bands around.

Although the Paisley Underground was a somewhat nebulous concept, there’s little doubt these days that The Rain Parade’s debut album, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip was the quintessential album of this short lived phenomenon. Released in 1983, the album was an astounding update of the psychedelic sounds of bands such as The Byrds along with several acts who had appeared on the seminal 60s collection, Nuggets.

Blabber’n’Smoke was much taken with Sulidae’s second album … Invincible Summer and we were fortunate enough to catch one of the launch gigs for the album in Glasgow’s Glad Café. Today sees the release as a single (with accompanying video) of one its outstanding songs. Co-written by Bobby Motherwell (AKA Sulidae), James Grant and Bobby Bluebell (some well kent names for sure), …