Music reviews

American Aquarium,”Lamentations” (New West)- This fine outfit’s creative mainstay BJ Barham has aready been hailed as “The Southern Springsteen” and the North Carolina born singer and guitarist certainly has his finger on the collective pulse as he chronicles the increasingly marginal lives of the millions of ordinary people who’ve discovered that the much vaunted “American Dream” is little more than an illusion. He’s aided and abetted in his sterling efforts here by Grammy Award winning producer Shooter Jennings and the finished product must rank as American Aquarium’s most impressive offering to date, as you’ll discover for yourself if you lend an ear to stand-out tracks such as “Me+ Mine (Lamentations),” “The Long Haul” or the Tom Petty flavoured “Starts With You.”

Annie Keating,”Bristol County Tides” (Self Released)-Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Annie Keating spent the early months of the pandemic holed up in the normally blissful surroundings of rural New England, where the enforced isolation inspired her to assemble her eighth album,”Bristol Country Tides.” The life enhancing contents take listeners on a beguiling musical journey which makes it easy to understand why her work has prompted comparisons with the likes of Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch in the past. Producer Teddy Kumpel’s eloquent guitar work enhances the subtly memorable “Kindred Spirit,” “Marigold” and “Lucky 13.”

“Oh! You Pretty Things-Glam Queens and Street Urchins 1970-76” (Cherry Red/Grapefruit)-The latest multi disc anthology from the good people at Cherry Red is “Oh You Pretty Things,” a highly entertaining 3 CD set featuring performances from a whole host of artists who might loosely be pigeonholed within the glam-rock firmament. An interesting assortment of hits and obscurities are given an airing in the process, including archive gems from the likes of Roxy Music,Slade,Lou Reed and the New York Dolls to name but a few.