THIS IS A JOURNEY INTO SOUND

In the last days of 2016, in a year when the world of music lost a lot of iconic and beloved musicians, the festive season bought more. One being the legendary Rick Parfitt, rhythm guitarist, occasional vocalist and songwriter of iconic UK boogie rock'n'roll band Status Quo. Rick had suffered more than a few health problems over the last couple of decades, including a quadruple heart bypass, and yet another heart attack in the summer of this year, which resulted in his retiring from live work. He had led a notorious hellraising lifestyle, as had his Quo partner Francis Rossi, but let's not allow that to detract from the music. In recent years the band had become a bit of a joke to some, releasing several albums of below-par cover versions, and a ridiculous feature film, Bula Quo!, but back in their 1970's heyday they were unstoppable and untouchable, both on record and onstage. After their psychedelic beginnings in the late 60's, the classic "Frantic Four"

I've bought less new music this past year, as other things have taken priority, but my interest hasn't waned. I still listen out for new acts, and still read the music press, although i find a smaller amount of music really grabs me these days. Some of the albums i'm going to review here are ones that i had for Christmas (some vinyl, some cd), but thanks to Youtube i've been familiar with tracks from them for a while, although nothing beats owning them and playing them in their entirety! So my personal favourites from this year, in no particular order: Madness - Can't Touch Us Now. 4 years after their last album, and one member down (Cathal Smyth aka Chas Smash) Madness are no longer seen as "the nutty boys", but elder statesmen of pop. They may not be writing massive hit singles as they did in their 80's heyday, but they have finely honed their songcraft. Taking their key influences of Motown, Ska, Ian Dury, Ray Davies, soul, and music hall,