-Blackberry Smoke, 'Be Right Here'
Who are they? This band from Georgia (USA) has been practicing southern rock and roll influenced by the Allman Brothers Band for a decade.
It's so good Be Right Here? It is, basically, an album without trap: rock and roll from the south of the United States, country-rock, club songs, songs to listen to while keeping the rhythm with your feet… and a gem called Whatcha Know Good, which will inevitably lead to recovering Tom Petty records. The group's drummer, Brit Turner, who recorded this work, died of a brain tumor this month. The enjoyable listening to Be Right Here.
![Cover of Lorne Behrman's album, 'Blue Love'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/P_IoHwL4PSFu7RuZLJPfMhE86c4=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/DEH2VGF4YBAZ5IPXYI6SLUNXUU.jpg)
-Lorne Behrman, 'Blue Love'
Who is it? A musician based in New York who has played in several bands and with a solo punk-rock album. But suddenly, Blue Love.
It's so good Blue Love? A tribute to New York that bets more on the Lou Reed-style street narrative than on the rowdiness of the New York Dolls. There is also something on this album from Paul Westerberg's solo period, even though the leader of the Replacements is not a New Yorker. Blue Love is an album of (sometimes cynical) love for New York City, with its whirlwind romances and “blue eyes that turn green” as the night progresses. Sensational album.
![Cover of On the Runway's album, 'Tell Yourself It's Pretty'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/kvE6PvrYvW0K_upT2AlMErci2lo=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/G2SWUHMDD5GHDHOIIC6A5TJBBY.jpg)
– On the Runway, 'Tell Yourself It's Pretty'
Who are they? Dave Morris has moved his instruments from Memphis to Atlanta. The other thing hasn't changed: he continues to record fantastic songs.
It's so good Tell Yourself It's Pretty? It was called alternative rock and was played on some American university stations. There they played a lot of REM from the beginning, Buffalo Tom or Gigolo Aunts. They sounded disheveled: just a game of confusion to chisel beautiful melodies. That's what the album by Dave Morris' new group, On the Runway, is about.
![Cover of Idles' album, 'Tangk'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/2S5IQ3s6n_PpK3EVDWN7J6iJ1yc=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/JZ2YTZXSN5C47DGWNU3X5VXUOI.png)
– Idles, 'Tangk'
Who are they? The Bristol band that has been leading a punk revival in the United Kingdom for a few years now. This is their fifth album.
It's so good Tangk? Perhaps for those who know Idles' previous works this Tangk Your work may seem less punk. They will be right, and this fan will find incentive to see that Joe Talbot can sing with subtlety and even sing a falsetto. Nigel Godrich Producer of (among others) Radiohead, he has brought out the less furious side of Idles in an album that deals with the unfathomable universe that is love. The supposed softness of Idles is close to the dark atmospheres of Nick Cave. But the British also get rough on an album that sounds less monolithic than some of his previous work.
![Cover of Paul Collins' album, 'Stand Back and Take a Good Look'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/op_iUW16_ieXOeELBwbA-1rzMrY=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/3L5XW2SESJCW7BNMBB3WG6CSH4.jpg)
– Paul Collins, 'Stand Back and Take a Good Look'
Who is it? Guitar pop eminence (or power-pop) leading bands since the seventies like The Nerves or The Beat. Always working from the margins, without achieving massive success, but being a reference for groups that did manage to fill halls, such as REM or Green Day. Collins, now 67 years old, lived in Spain for a few years and even set up a business here.
It's so good Stand Back and Take a Good Look? How many songs has Paul Collins recorded with exquisite rock and roll melodies? Dozens. Well, it still sounds different composing on the same basis: the beat of the sixties. Accompanied by acolytes like Shoes, 20/20, Richard X Heyman and Ronnie Barnett and a generation companion like Dwight Twilley (probably in his last breath before passing away, in October 2023) offers a superb album, with an energetic first part and a second of relaxed songs, some with country touches, others inclined to folk, and all enjoyable.
![Liam Gallagher and John Squire album cover.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/fzcBElkckdFXCf8TmmA39RGrC8s=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/FYNPZW4XA5HVNOR2RS7YFVTIV4.jpg)
– Liam Gallagher & John Squire, 'Liam Gallagher & John Squire'
Who are they? Fed up with his brother Noel not wanting to reform Oasis, Liam has got together with former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire to say that they are alive and that 90s British rock can still make good songs.
It's so good Liam Gallagher & John Squire? There is a lot of nostalgia in this meeting, but also pride: we are in shape. They are? Liam sings like no one else “it's gonna be all right” and Squire draws some solos with his guitar that remind us what an original instrumentalist he is. The good thing about the album is that, sounding like the nineties, it's not a pastiche. The songs are good, there is variety (it even sounds bluesy) and they make up some irresistible choruses. Does anyone remember from a band called Dodge? They remember a little. And that's cool.
![Cover of Karmento's album, 'La serrana'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/gbCq_JPgkLypIMiQUjzdThIbjic=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S42BZ4IS5ZHB5GHC2YGGBVLRDA.jpg)
– Karmento, 'The mountain range'
Who is it? Carmen Toledo had already been working in music for a decade when she appeared at Benidorm Fest in 2023. Karmento, her stage name, achieved popularity thanks to the festival that she would not have achieved with anything. And now we all know her and we can enjoy this The mountain.
It's so good The mountain range? A record that smells of freshly washed clothes hanging in the patio, of a stream, of earth, and of the town square (perhaps yours, Bogarra, in Albacete, with barely 800 inhabitants), where you gossip about your neighbors, your daughter who has gone to earn a living in the capital. The fantastic voice of the woman from La Mancha tells stories that are evocative stories of life, as The town madwoman. Folk music brought to the present, as we have already heard in Rodrigo Cuevas or in Rozalén. Another album to add to the stimulating new Spanish folk.
![Cover of Judas Priest's album, 'Invincible Shield'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/E__pwERwT62ut4llIIkXi0ZqEmg=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/O5ZI5JF7EFDNFK5SCTN7F5QPXI.jpg)
-Judas Priest, 'Invincible Shield'
Who are they? If Black Sabbath invented heavy metal without intending to, Judas Priest gave the genre identity, speed and aesthetic concept. The latter, absolutely aware of it.
It's so good Invincible Shield? Rob Halford is 72 years old and looks like a hairless Santa Claus. He could be at his house, rocking in an armchair by a fireplace and reading books about the Middle Ages. But not. Halford puts his studded wristband up to his elbow and causes the windows of your living room to vibrate with his still high-pitched and imperious voice coming out of the speakers. Judas Priest's new album, the 19th of his career, is so recognizable that it seems recorded in the eighties. The shape the English group is in is spectacular despite the years, the losses (KK Downing) and the fragile health of some (Glenn Tipton). Speed, powerful voices, stories of “doors that lead to hell”, fast-paced guitar solos, dramatic choruses… This is classic heavy metal.
![Cover of Stephie James' album, 'As Night Fades'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/Zk_tR7tnDK9uOgxCT9ZFUZzE9vg=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/P276LMLE5NGA3KA4SOLUQ2US7Y.jpg)
– Stephie James, 'As Night Fades'
Who is it? Stephie James was born in Detroit and lives in Nashville. From there she has composed for other performers and has performed in dozens of clubs. She now publishes her first album.
It's so good As Night Fades? When you have a voice as beautiful and ductile as Stephie's, all you need to do is compose good songs, and the American does not falter in that area either. Phil Spector's wall of sound, the Shirelles, frontier music, rock, slum ballads… All with a no-fuss production, letting the musicians effectively practice their craft.
![Cover of Ace Frehley's album, '10,000 Volts'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/vfVr5Uen7R0v7931JRYDKRM1x44=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/BTZGWQ4FNJGAHHHY4DEAXJVD2A.jpg)
– Ace Frehley, '10,000 Volts'
Who is it? None other than the founding lead guitarist of Kiss. Frehley has been dedicating more or less witty putdowns to his former Kiss colleagues, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, for some time now. These last two, by the way, have announced that Kiss is over. But we bet that before the tour with avatars that they have announced, the duo will return to give each other a few tributes on stage.
It's so good 10,000 Volts? It seems like an album taken from the mid-eighties, when melodic hard rock was at its best and was in continuous rotation on MTV. 10,000 Volts It has everything that made those albums successful: catchy choruses, fast guitar solos, cheesy ballads and even its filler theme. (Stratosphere, in this case). The bad news is that we are no longer in the eighties and this album has nowhere to play; The good thing is that whoever stumbles upon it is going to have a good time.
![Cover of Estopa's album, 'Estopía'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/xH2xnpu6zvI-NfMvcwVjXdMsbf4=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S3363JXM7FC5ZJM2E566QUIO64.jpg)
– Estopa, 'Estopía'
Who are they? The Muñoz brothers celebrating 25 years of career. They face a stadium tour and deliver their tenth album.
It's so good Estopía? Some identifiable Estopa: for the rumbas, for the influences of Extremoduro, Albert Pla, Sabina… Also with some trips to other music, like that No ink in the pen whose melody reminds Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, by Burt Bacharach; or the funk beginning of Reverse, or the mexican closure with The Ranchera. In the lyrics there is still some theme of friends in the neighborhood, but the stories of relationships take precedence.
RESCUED JEWEL OF THE MONTH…
Every month we recommend an album that may have fallen under the radar.
![Cover of The City's album, 'Now That Everything's Been Said'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/tgN7b6wOic0m7r4tZbI6kPfXSJc=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/JKSWJSBPZJANFE5K2IWZS6ERWQ.jpg)
– The City, 'Now That Everything's Been Said'
Who are they? The couple formed by Carole King and Gerry Goffin had composed hit songs for Aretha Franklin, the Shirelles and the Monkees during the sixties. (even the Beatles covered his Chains). The couple divorced and King moved from New York to Los Angeles, to Laurel Canyon, where a great hippy and rock movement was beginning to form. There, she meets guitarist and singer Danny Kortchmar and bassist Charles Larkey (whom she would later marry) and they form The City.
It's so good Now That Everything's Been Said? Some consider The City's only album to be Carole King's first solo album, because it already points out some of the essences that the singer-songwriter would later develop in her first album, writer (1970), and especially in the monumental Tapestry (1971). In Now That Everything's… You can already hear a composer of beautiful and complex songs (you just have to listen Paradise Alley), a lyricist who breaks down the great dilemmas of human beings and a personal interpreter. The album moves between Californian pop-rock, folk ballads, jazz touches and relaxed soul. A gem that, after years of being out of print, was reissued in 2015. The one that has an original vinyl from 1968 that keeps it in a safe box.
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