ALBUMS
Key Manchester Albums
Reviews of the key releases that came out of Manchester in the 70s, 80s & 90s.
Featured Albums
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
"Deep heaving baritones come out of a man so small he’d be blown away by the gust of his own voice..."
Album review
Durutti Column, The Return of the Durutti Column
"Hannett’s wayward nature would prove his undoing, while Vini merely kept on spiralling into some crystaline alternative universe..."
Album review
Section 25, Always Now
"The first album by Section 25 is a perfectly fine blend of sub-PiL dance politics and Northern existentialism."
Album review
A Certain Ratio, Early
"Tracks like "Knife Slits Water" kick in a way that makes you think Joey Beltram might have spent his school holidays visiting a trendy uncle in Manchester..."
Album review
New Order, Substance
"Never had their pop sensibilities been so perfectly honed. Although the group enjoyed many great moments after this point, Substance should still be their time capsule release."
Album review
The Smiths, Meat is Murder
"It marked the third long-player from the group in the space of the year, at the point when they were seen as the most important British band since Joy Division."
Album review
Happy Mondays, Bummed
"It is the rogue heart and spirit that beats away here is what stops the album from collapse..."
Album review
Happy Mondays, Pills 'n' Thrills 'n' Bellyaches
"At the time it felt like nothing you'd ever heard before; except it was absolutely everything you'd heard before..."
Album review
