My Top 25 of 2025 (3)

And we're back in the room of gloom...

16. Rialto – Neon & Ghost Signs

Louis Eliot’s Rialto were a particular favourite of mine in the late 90s post-Britpop landscape, mixing Suede’s urban glamour with more personal, storytelling songs like Monday Morning 5:19 and Summer’s Over. Although they didn’t really make it in the UK, apparently they were very big in Southeast Asia, where they even managed to knock Celine Dion off the top of the album chart. They split up in 2004 when Louis went solo… so I figured there was as much chance of a new Rialto record this year as there was of Pulp getting back together.

Rialto – Neon & Ghost Signs

Guess what?

Neon & Ghost Signs picks up where they left off, as though the last 21 years never happened. It was never going to win them an army of new fans, but for anyone who remembers them from the first time round, it does the job. Although the lead single clearly owes a huge debt to Kylie… but there’s nothing wrong with that.

15. Todd Snider – High, Lonesome & Then Some

And so we say farewell to Todd Snider, an Americana hero of mine since the moment I first heard Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues when it cropped up on an Uncut CD back in the early 90s.

Todd Snider – The Temptation To Exist

Todd’s final album, written and recorded while he struggled with chronic pain due to spinal stenosis, is a rambling, bluesy, low key affair which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone who’s not sampled his work before. Start with Songs for the Daily Planet, East Nashville Skyline or 2021’s First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder. For those of us who’ve been with Todd for the long ride though, it’s his last hurrah, and just as worthy of our time as anything he’s ever recorded.

14. Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire

Some artists keep reinventing themselves, striving for the new sound, trying to keep ahead of the crowd. Others take the Tom Petty template and refuse to tamper with a successful sound, just continue giving the people what they want. Kathleen Edwards is from the latter camp – the songs on her 6^th album, Billionaire, wouldn’t sound out of place on her 2002 debut record, Failer. (And if half a dozen albums doesn’t sound much for 23 years, bear in mind that she took 8 years off to run a coffee shop in the middle of last decade.) If you liked any of her previous records, chances are you’ll find much to enjoy here.

Kathleen Edwards – Other People’s Bands

Celebrity Jukebox #64 – Raul Malo

Another week, another big loss to the world of music. When I messaged Ben that Raul Malo was dead, I didn’t think it’d mean much to a 30-something hipster. But he replied instantly about how Dance The Night Away was the soundtrack to his childhood summer holidays… which only goes to prove how powerful music is in cementing those pesky neural pathways in our memory banks. 

The Mavericks – Dance The Night Away

Mavericks lead singer Raul Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr. died on Monday night after 18 months fighting cancer. He was 60. I’ve got to admit that back in 1998, at the time of their biggest hit, the Mavericks rather passed me by. I only came to appreciate them much later, and Raul was the one who got me to listen again when I heard him deputising for Ricky Ross on the Another Country radio show a few years back. Malo came across as a warm, intelligent man with a passion for music, and I found this more and more evident when I started digging into his back catalogue.

The Mavericks – All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down

Last year’s Mavericks album Moon & Stars showed us a band at the peak of their powers… all the more tragic then that we lost Raul Malo so young.

Radio Songs #74: Now, one day a man in a pinstriped suit…

There are big schedule changes afoot at my favourite radio station, BBC Radio Scotland. For years now, I’ve been listening to late night shows from that station (and a couple from BBC Radio Ulster) to help me get to sleep, and to keep my mind from racing when I wake up in the wee small hours. Radio has always been a big part of my sleep routine, even as a child I slept with the radio on and if I woke up in the night, it was reassuring to have a friendly voice there playing interesting music to keep the night at bay.

The Kinks – Around The Dial

These days I don’t listen to live radio, but through the wonder of BBC Sounds, I always have a bank of shows to go to in the night. Mickey Bradley and Ralph McLean on the Irish station; Iain Anderson, Natasha Raskin-Sharp, Roddy Hart and Ricky Ross from Scotland. There’s nothing on Radio 2 or 6Music for me anymore. 2 is too mainstream, far too much chance of hearing U2, Celine Dion and Simply Red. 6Music is too in love with dance music, or more likely to play something too loud which will wake me up with a hammering heart. And I can’t listen to commercial radio (what’s left of it) because of the ads (irony, I know, because I spent a large part of my life writing those bloody things).

Lucy Spraggan – Don’t Play This On The Radio

Anyway, Radio Scotland has a new programme controller, and I lived through enough of those in my time in radio to know that it’s rarely good news. Most new programme controllers arrive in the job with a mantra of “If it ain’t broke – fix it”, and so it is at Radio Scotland. Two of my favourite shows are ending while a third is being shuffled to the weekend in order to create a new regular late show that will appeal to the 45+ demographic… i.e. it’ll sound just like Radio 2. I may be prejudging, but I expect we’ll hear a lot more U2, Celine Dion and Simply Red.

Neil Young – Payola Blues

Farewell then to veteran broadcaster Iain Anderson, who's been on Scottish radio since the days of the Ark, but has always been a reliable place to go to hear the best singer-songerwritery material of the last 60 years. And an even sadder farewell to the wonderful Natasha Raskin-Sharp, a presenter with a Peel-like commitment to shining light on artists that never get played anywhere else on the radio. I’ve listened to both their shows for over a decade now, I’ve welcomed them into my home, they’ve become warm, stalwart, dependable friends, and I’ve valued the comfort they’ve given me in the long dark nights of the soul… I fooled myself into thinking they’d always be there.

Tom Petty – The Last DJ

There’s a campaign running to save these shows, to get BBC Radio Scotland to reverse it’s schedule changes (slated for the New Year), a campaign backed by a lot of the independent Scottish musicians who have come to rely upon the shows for airplay. I’ve signed the petition (currently at 15,000 signatures), but I don’t hold out much hope. Because I’ve worked in radio, and I’ve seen too many good presenters forced out over the years because the market testing showed audiences didn’t want individual choice or musical eclecticism.

Public Enemy - How To Kill A Radio Consultant

A week or so before the announcement, Iain Anderson played my favourite song by Mark Germino, and took a moment to dwell upon its message. I didn’t understand the significance at the time. I do now.

Now, one day a man in a pinstriped suit
Took the owner of the station to a restaurant booth
His pitch was simple, “you'll increase your sales
“If you only play the song list we send in the mail.”
He guaranteed a larger audience
Less confusion and higher points
“But your drive-time jock won't get to do his thing.
“Hey he's not half bad, tell me, what's his name?”

Namesakes #167: The Critics

It's true what they say... everyone's a critic!

And if you think I chose this band name just so I could use that line... I'll give you 5 stars.

THE CRITICS #1

Starting off today with some reggae from 1970. A double A-side single which featured Sexy Frankie’s song Tea, Patty, Sex And Ganga on the flip side. Class.

Critics And The Nyah Shuffle - Behold

THE CRITICS #2

Austrian songwriter Bob Wesling, aka Norbert Daum, aka Apolleon, aka TT Thumb, was also the man behind these Critics from 1980 (or 1978 if you believe the tube of you) using a disco soundtrack to celebrate the death of disco. Irony was alive in Austria in the 70s, even if disco wasn’t.

The Critics – Disco Is Dead

THE CRITICS #3

Newcastle based rock band… Newcastle, New South Wales, that is. Originally active in the early 80s, but the album they recorded in 1982 was never released… not until 2019, when it finally saw the light of day via the camp of bands.

The Critics - Flight From Maryville

THE CRITICS #4

Punky 5-piece band from Rochdale in 1981.

The Critics – Town Girl

THE CRITICS #5

Chicago power-pop band from the mid-90s who also appeared as the house band on a TV talk show hosted by Danny Bonaduce of The Partridge Family.

The Critics – Love Discreet

THE CRITICS #6

Back to Australia for some Perth punks from the early noughties…

The Critics – Pull Your Head In

THE CRITICS #7

Some kind of Christian Rock gubbins from 2004.

The Critics – Soul Still Remembers

THE CRITICS #8

Jazzy German Critics – who appear to sing in Spanish - from 2014.

The Critics - Todo el Mundo ama a Peggy

CRITICS #9

“Dirt pop” – whatever that is/was – from That London in 2015. Careful – they have a gun.

Critics – I Have A Gun

THE CRITICS #10

And finally today, some LA-based Critics (everyone's definitely a critic in LA!) who have been kicking around since the beginning of the 20s – already, that’s more than half a decade ago. This is their most recent offering…

The Critics - Town Heroes

Which band gets the Critic's Award... and which ones just get criticism?

My Top 25 of 2025 (3)

It's 2025... though as far as these guys are concerned, it might still be 1995...

19. Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More

A spur-of-the-moment purchase earlier this year based on the fact that the CD was selling for less than a tenner in its week of release… let that be a lesson to all pop stars out there: if Kim can do it, you can too!

Anyway, this is Kim Deal’s debut solo album  – worthy of note, considering that the artist formerly known as Mrs. John Murphy has been banging away at this racket for 40 years now (and has released a bunch of solo singles over the years, just never a long player).

Certain tracks naturally remind us of The Breeders…

Kim Deal – Big Ben Beat

…but there’s a real range demonstrated across this record, including a deeply moving song about the effects of Alzheimer's on Kim's mum…

Are you mine?
Are you my baby?
I have no mind
For nothing, but love
Are you mine?
How you seen me lately?
I have no time
I have no time
Let me go
Where there's no
Memory of you
Where everything is safe
And nothing is true

Kim Deal – Are You Mine?

…and the title track, which may well be the sweetest love song I’ve heard all year.

18. The Lemonheads – Love Chant

There always has to be a caveat when compiling these end of year lists that records released in the last month or so probably won’t do as well as ones that I’ve been enjoying all year. It should come as no surprise to anyone though that Evan Dando was one of the last people to get off his lazy arse and offer up a new record this year… particularly as this is the first original Lemonheads album in almost 20 years (not counting two fine cover version collections, Varshons I & II).

The Lemonheads - Fear of Living

Much has been written about why the Slacker King has been absent so long – and from what I’ve heard of his live shows this year, he’s still not completely on the wagon. His voice is a lot deeper than it used to be, and he looks less like the Grunge Heartthrob of the 90s… and more like a street bum who’s wandered into the recording studio in search of some White Lightning. Despite that, as one of the heroes of my youth, it’s great to have him back.

17. Counting Crows - Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!

And now for the one that should have been disqualified on the grounds of a) good taste; b) the worst album cover I’ve seen in a long time; b) the fact that half of it was originally released as an EP in 2021. In my defence, when I posted a song from it back then, Martin was grudgingly seen to reply, “That was better than expected.” Which only goes to show that whatever you post on the internet will one day be dug up to embarrass you in later years… so be very careful next time you’re planning on telling anyone how much you’re looking forward to the new Oasis album. (I have no idea whether there’s a new Oasis album… god, i hope not... but really, how could they resist the opportunity to cash in further?)

Counting Crows - With Love, From A-Z

Anyway – Counting Crows. From a similar era to the Lemonheads, yet somehow unable to achieve the same level of cool. The very fact then that I place this record one spot above Evan and co. will damn me in the eyes of many. (And looking like a street bum these days is one step up on looking like an extra in The Sopranos, Adam.)

I could offer the defence that this came out in May, so I’ve had much longer to relish it, but really… I should probably quit while I’m ahead. If you’re of the opinion that Counting Crows are beneath you, nothing I can say will change that. Bring on the brickbats…