Can you please review Ivy Apartment Life? No problem, thanks for the request. Mr Knowledgeable wants to ask one question is Ivy a band or a female solo artist?   Quick type on phone, a band, of course,  I thought so….   Brief history, Ivy were a three piece band featuring two multi-instrumentalists Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger and singer Dominique Durand (Chase and Durand are now married) and between 1994 and 2012 released six albums.  Sadly, Schlesinger died of Covid in 2

As far as I am concerned Machine Gun Etiquette was/is a triumph and even though the band lost bassist Algy Ward due to him and Rat Scabies not getting along they returned within a year with their fourth record The Black Album. Paul Gray joined on bass and although there have been many line up shuffles through the years The Black Albums line up has been the current band for the last three years and even though they are now gentlemen of a certain age they are astounding live. W

A new Damned album was always purchased but I had to admit to my friend that I didn’t think Anything was as good as Phantasmagoria but Alone Again Or was pretty good. “Aye, but the original was better.” I nodded in agreement, “aye obviously, just saying, good cover.”  That night in my room I checked the album sleeve to see the writing credits, he was right clearly not by The Damned but who the hell was Bryan MacLean. Smoothly I had got away with that one, as if.   All these y