Investigation

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Johnny Sharp  |  Sep 14, 2025  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2025

One part musical genre, one part media-fuelled cultural phenomenon, Britpop was the UK’s vibrant answer to America’s grunge. Johnny Sharp spotlights 20 of its best albums

Who, or what, was Britpop? Good question, partly because it wasn’t a genre as much as a movement, or a ‘scene’. It’s shorthand for a period in the mid-1990s when a slew of alternatively inclined British vocal groups (solo artists barely got a look in – this was all about community endeavour) grew too big for their spiritual home of the weekly music press and the ‘indie’ charts, and entered the mainstream...

Mark Craven  |  Mar 07, 2026  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2026

Out of the hard rock swamps of the early 1970s rose a new form of guitar music that wanted to turn everything up to 11. Mark Craven searches for the origins of heavy metal

While music historians debate when and where exactly the heavy metal genre began – some cite songs from the 1960s and even the 1950s – what is inarguable is that by the early 1980s the name was well established. And what did it mean? A particular breed of guitar music where the tempos were faster and the solos were longer, accompanied by lyrics that touched on more than the usual rock ’n’ roll tropes. Singing about sex and drugs had become, for the most part, passé.

Johnny Sharp  |  Jul 05, 2024

It’s not just about the riffs but the plot twists too... Johnny Sharp on sets that make every chorus a cliffhanger as he brings you chapter and verse on the Top 20 concept albums

Any ambitious artist needs to challenge themselves sometimes, and there’s nothing like a concept album to set the bar high. Why release a collection of a dozen or so unrelated ditties when you could link them all together into a grand statement, an epic tale or a shaggy dog story in song?

Ken Kessler  |  Mar 03, 2021
Ken Kessler turns to his pile of permanently on-hand CDs to bring you his pick of the discs that will shine a light on your system's performance

Like asking to choose your favourite food or movie, narrowing down 15,000 CDs and SACDs to a mere 20 is torture. The brief was to cite those I use regularly for reviewing purposes and which can reveal the qualities of a component or system. That said, this is also the stack of CDs which never gets filed with the rest, sitting there ready for action.

Steve Sutherland  |  Nov 07, 2025  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2025

’Tis definitely not the season to be jolly, as Steve Sutherland brings you a selection of musical chillers guaranteed to scare away those Halloween trick-or-treaters

Welcome to the inaugural Hi-Fi News ‘Themed Playlist’, which will be available to stream via Qobuz, the pioneering digital music service established in 2007. Each HFN playlist will have, at its heart, a topical issue – perhaps something seasonal or newsworthy – with many selections offered in ‘hi-res’, as available. For our first playlist, we’ve cherry-picked 20 numbers associated with ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night!

Ken Kessler  |  Apr 08, 2026  |  First Published: May 01, 2026

As the jazz world celebrates Miles Davis’ centenary, Ken Kessler brings you 20 recent vinyl releases that showcase him at his best – and the artists that he influenced

It will not go unnoticed by the jazz community nor the record industry that 2026 marks Miles Davis’ centenary. Leading up to it, Mobile Fidelity, Craft and other labels have been rewarding audiophiles with beautifully remastered LPs from all points in his career, among them stunning box sets from 1950s sessions, major albums reissued in One Step form, live recordings, Davis’ forays into rock/fusion and much more. He produced – according to the best sources – over 60 studio albums and at least 35 live albums. The actual amount of his output is a conundrum, like the man himself.

Steve Sutherland  |  Feb 09, 2026  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2026

Funk themes to Stones grooves, 1990s techno to a Queen classic... Film fanatic Steve Sutherland builds an eclectic playlist of music made memorable by Hollywood

In our last issue [HFN Feb ’26], Ken Kessler cast his eye over 20 recently released movie soundtrack albums on vinyl and SACD. Now, like any good blockbuster film franchise, comes the sequel – 20 memorable individual songs from the world of cinema, in honour of the approaching movie awards season.

Ken Kessler  |  Feb 02, 2026  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2026

Bob Dylan, fire-breathing dragons and a certain bespectacled wizard... Ken Kessler spotlights 20 recent stage and screen soundtrack albums available on vinyl and SACD

Who can explain the raft of ultra-desirable, super-luxurious soundtracks released this past year or two? If anyone thought the genre – once a dependable source of demo LPs and tapes for audiophiles – was past its best, this batch is so on trend that one can only imagine an invasion of Gen Zers taking control. Soundtrack albums have made a comeback and I for one am not complaining.

Ken Kessler  |  Nov 26, 2025  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2025

Various artists sets keep the variety levels high and boredom at bay, while being the perfect way to discover new artists and genres. Ken Kessler spins 20 of the latest

Compilations featuring various artists come in a number of flavours, but nearly all of the serious ones are intended to provide overviews of genres or eras, while others show off a label’s catalogue. Ever since the first great various artists sets of the 1970s, especially 1972’s Nuggets chronicling US garage rock and the one-hit wonders it engendered, the levels of research have been dazzling.

Johnny Black  |  Jun 15, 2021
Johnny Black on the creation of the iconic artwork for Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon

Apiece of art that can today be found in 45m homes around the world was kick-started by a simple, none-too-detailed instruction to 'do something clean, elegant and graphic'. The instruction came from Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright, and was given to Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, the founders of Hipgnosis, a London-based art and design group whose first sleeve design had been for the Floyd's 1968 album A Saucerful Of Secrets.

Johnny Sharp  |  Dec 03, 2021
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for David Bowie's early '70s album Aladdin Sane

If you want to go to a fancy dress party as a rock star, there are plenty of different ways that you could 'do' David Bowie. But probably the easiest would be to paint a red, blue and silver lightning flash over your right eye. Kapow! Instant Bowie. Fancy paying tribute to the great man on your Facebook profile? A lightning flash should do the trick. You might even get away without dying your hair red or growing a mullet.

Johnny Sharp  |  Feb 07, 2022
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home

The artist formerly known as Robert Zimmerman broke new ground in all kinds of ways. But one field where his pioneering role isn't often acknowledged is sleeve art. By the early 1970s, it was standard practice for fans to pore over LP covers pondering the significance of the imagery presented to them. But in 1965 the profundity of most popular music album artwork didn't extend much further than a shot of the band looking mean and moody, or happy and playful depending on the image they'd chosen to portray.

Johnny Sharp  |  Mar 07, 2022
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Elton John's 1975 album Captain Fantastic

Pride, it is said, comes before a fall. But when Elton John made a concept album at the height of his success, celebrating the journey he and lyricist Bernie Taupin had made since their first meeting in 1967, the old maxim didn't hold true. Not only did it become the first album to top the Billboard charts in its week of release, it would also prove to be a creative high-water mark for the songwriting partnership.

Johnny Sharp  |  May 06, 2022
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Elvis Costello's 1979 album Armed Forces

For a man not blessed with the kind of appearance naturally lending itself to the limelight, Elvis Costello always did a damn good job of promoting himself. It helped that those around him were past masters of pop marketing. After all, music lovers of a certain age will recall the infamous t-shirt of his first label Stiff, bearing the deathless slogan: 'If it ain't Stiff, it ain't worth a f**k'.

Johnny Sharp  |  Jul 12, 2021
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Hot Rats, Frank Zappa's second solo LP

The '60s were coming to a messy, slightly bitter end, and so were Frank Zappa's The Mothers Of Invention. Deep in debt after six studio albums and fed up with paying the wages of a nine-piece band who didn't always seem to be fully on board with his creative vision, Zappa was starting to become disillusioned.

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