W/e 14/03/25 - Hot Wax, Lady Gaga, Ming City Rockers, Pale Blue Eyes, Black Sabbath

A good week, our highest scores for 5 months.

Congrats to Lady Gaga, who surprised a few and land at #4 in our 2025 chart. The girls continue to kick ass, with 4 of the top 5.

This Pale Blue Eyes offering was a 150+ places below those from the 2022 and 2023, but they have our TOTW as consolation.

Kudos is still due however. Of the 18 (!) acts who’ve had 3+ albums reviewed, only HRH Jack White has received better average scores, so they possibly deserve the title of our fav ‘new’ act? On that logic Du Blonde would be second.

Sam storms to the 😀 with his best set of scores for 18 months. After hogging it at the start, Phil has his first ☹️since October.

The Hannah AI has not checked but I don’t think we’ve ever had identical scores for all 4 new albums, as Adam did this week. It was a defo week of 7s.

Black Sabbath sit comfortably in the top half of our classics, alongside fellow legends The Rolling Stones and Marvin Gaye.

Guy

HotWax – A similar sound to Amyl and the Sniffers but perhaps without the level of energy. Decent debut though – 7

Lady Gaga – If PBE wasn’t released this week, this would amazingly. Have been my album of the week. This is pop gold, with loads of influences from throughout the ages. Yazoo, The Carpenters and Shadow of a Man could have been Michael J. Quality pop – 7.8

Ming City Rockers – I was fearing the worst but this was OK actually. Felt a little weakly produced and raw but some decent Rock ‘n’ Roll tunes on it – 6.5

Pale Blue Eyes – These guys churn out some quality tunes. There’s hardly a duff tune on the album and the sound is distinctively theirs. Top stuff – 8

Black Sabbath – The front half of the album is significantly better than the back half imho but this is a good slice of classic Heavy Metal with a nice bluesy sound to it - 7

Andy

HotWax - Really strong debut. Girls playing guitars always works for me, especially so close to International Women’s Day. Might have to do a weeknight trip to see them at the Face Bar at the end of the month 7.5

Lady Gaga - Magnificent pop album. Absolute bangers throughout and album closer Die With A Smile has been a big one round here for ages. Can’t say I’ve been massively goo goo for Gaga in the past (songs from films excepted) but I might have to delve into the catalogue 8.5

Ming City Rockers - Thought this was all a bit meh, it’s not bad on the whole, but it just didn’t do anything exciting. Don’t know if it was better or worse when they sounded like The Toy Dolls 6

Pale Blue Eyes - I quite liked some of this but never really loved any of it. Musically it drives along nicely, like a lower powered Mogwai but I couldn’t quite get on with the vocals. Not totally unlistenable though 6

TotW - Killah - Lady Gaga ft Gesafflestein

Black Sabbath - Some all time classics on here but there’s also the likes of Planet Caravan, the side of Sabbath I’ve never quite understood. But hey, it’s got War Pigs on it 8

Simon

Hotwax: have had an eye out for this lot since the excellent A Thousand Times EP and their debut delivers more of the same raucous grungy rock, even if nothing here grabs me as much as Treasure from that EP. Promising stuff. 7.5

Lady Gaga: has all the right ingredients for a great pop album - upbeat tunes with big, catchy hooks, and immaculately produced - but it was all a bit safe and formulaic for me, doesn't have much in the way of character or individuality. 6

Ming City Rockers: initially entertaining but it's so lightweight and throwaway it didn't take long for me to get bored - at least it didn't outstay its welcome. 6

Pale Blue Eyes: another quality dream pop offering from the PBE gang, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights of their previous albums - there's shades of Lush and the like on some tracks (The Dreamer), but I still think they are at their best in full Krautrock mode, a la Scrolling and Travel Day (amongst others). 8.2

Black Sabbath: not familiar with this other than Paranoid and Planet Caravan, which is on Air's Late Night Tales compilation - didn't mind it tbh, has more of a bluesy feel to it than I was expecting. 6.5

TotW: Pale Blue Eyes - Our Lost Words

Justin

Hot Wax - good bit of rock and roll indie that got several spins. Guitar and attitude 7.1

Lady Gaga - the start was a but weak pop for me but some of the later tracks are real synth pop classics 7.3

Ming City Rockers - similar to Hot Wax. All good fun indie rock. Probably great live in a small venue 7

Pale Blue Eyes - a bit too indie dreamy for me. All sounded a bit muffled which was a shame as I think the underlying tunes are good. 6.5

TOTW Don't Call Tonight - Lady Gaga

Black Sabbath - ahead of its time and still hard and heavy whilst remaining tuneful. It's not a day-to-day album that I listen to but it does get the odd few spins on a regular basis. Extra points for being a landmark album. (on a side note finally got round to watching Dirt. Hilarious that the whole film is about how mad Motley Crue were but just for context show that Ozzy was madder!) 8

Sam

Hot wax , great bit of fun. ! I’ll be seeing them live for sure . 8

Lady Gaga: started off like Gaga 101, bit obvious . But then expanded in to much more . A good pop album overall .7.2

Ming City Rockers : next month I’ll be seeing them for the 4th time . Best album of the year so far . 24 minutes of pure joy with blistering glam rock guitars . Marvellous. 9.1

Pale Blue Eyes : well made dreamy indie . Maybe kick it up a notch next time . 7

Black Sabbath : Forged in the steel works of Birmingham. Absolutely fucking amazing . Miles ahead . Tony plays the best guitar sounds . People forget Ozzy had a great voice . I’m a bit emotional it’s so good . 9.2

TOTW many contenders but I’ll go for ‘I’d like to assist you but my heads too small ‘ by Ming City Rockers

Jim

Hot Wax 7.5

I like it when I see influences coming through from acts I still think of as new, and there’s plenty of Wolf Alice in here. With some added scuzzy edge it works really well. Looking forward to some Monday night r&r in a couple of weeks.

Lada Gaga 7.5

Goo goo for ga ga. Ha! Yeah, I’ve never heard anything from her that’s interested me but tbh I’ve not tried that hard. There is a lot to like in here, and the nod to Micky J on Shadow on Man is great. It didn’t really need the couple of power ballads at the end.

Ming City Rollers 7

Great fun, one to see in the festival republic to get the DD3 up and running. 3 of 4 was a great way to end.

Pale Blue Eyes 8

Doesn’t have the amount of bangers as 2023’s awesome This House but it stands on its own as yet another really good synth pop offering, with a handful of tracks to add to my playlist. The excellent Half Light finishing things off nicely.

TOTW: PBE – Half Light

Black Sabbath 8

First listen for me although a few tracks were known. Not a genre I listened to much in my yoof, the early Queen albums were about as close as I got, but it’s simple, uplifting hard rock with more blues that I was expecting as well.

Mark

Hot Wax - latest in a long line of all girl guitar bands we've had over the years, nice punchy grungy stuff a la Dream Wife / Wolf Alice - 7

Lady Gaga - afraid I found this all a bit Eurovision, over dramatic and lacking in subtlety. She's got talent for sure, but there wasn't enough variety in this for me - 5.5

Ming City Rockers - not what I expected, I had them down as glam NY Dolls types but this is more wise cracking budget indie guitar, a bit like Sports Team kind of thing. Not bad, short and sweet but nothing revolutionary - 6.5

Pale Blue Eyes - more of the same from PBE, pleasant propulsive dream / synth pop, they've got a knack for a tune beneath all the shimmering synths and breathy vocals - 7

TOTW - Hard Goodbye by Hot Wax

Phil

HotWax 5

Tedious punky shouty stuff with very little to recommend it.

Lady Gaga 7.5

I agree with the majority view that this is full of top quality pop. I also could have lived without the power ballads but there are plenty of compensations on offer.

Ming City Rockers 6.5

Straightforward rock’n’roll fun with grungey guitars and tongues firmly in cheeks. The final track, 3 of 4, shows what they’d be capable of if they took themselves a bit more seriously.

Pale Blue Eyes 6

Pleasant enough synth pop. Listenabke but unexciting.

TOTW – Lady Gaga – How bad do U want me?

Classic

Black Sabbath 7

The Sabs’ early stuff was quite bluesy and at times genuinely scary. If metal had stayed like this I might be more of a fan.

Erol

Hot Wax - a bit too angry-punky for my taste. When dialled down though, it had an intriguing bite. 6.9

Lady Gaga - so many influences, so much fun. When she’s on form, as she is here, she’s one of the best around at cool dance/disco. 8.3

Ming City Rockers - fun at times, less so at others. Would be good at a festival, I reckon. 6.9

Pale Blue Eyes - very listenable dreamy indie pop. Solid but nothing terribly outstanding. 7

TOTW - Zombieboy, Lady Gaga

The mighty Black Sabbath - the stuff of rock gods. This is a classic in the true sense of the word. 9.8

Matt

Hot Wax - 7.3

Lady Gaga - 7.8

Ming City Rockers - 7

Pale Blue Eyes - 8

TOTW - Pieces of You, Pale Blue Eyes

Adam

Hot Wax - good in your face punk rocking. The Hastings rockers may not reach the same heights as some other punk outfits out there but a solid album. 7

Lady Gaga - Most I’ve enjoyed Gaga since her debut. Big catchy pop beats and excels with some synthy moments. 7

Ming City Rockers - More upbeat enjoyable rocking this week from this outfit. Peaking when they intermix some female vocals on tracks like Seven Ate Nine. Felt a slight 10’s wave of indie rock nostalgia come over me in moments - always a good feeling. 7

Pale Blue Eyes - Dreamy soundscapes combining 90’s/00’s indie and 80s synth pop. Lovely stuff. 7

TOTW - Seven Ate Nine - Ming City Rockers

Black Sabbath - Iconic rock from the Brummie boys. War Pigs, what a start to the album. Top notch and filing this under ‘they don’t make em like they used to’ 8

Annette

Hot Wax: 7

Lady Gaga: 7 5

Ming City Rockers: 7

Pale Blue Eyes: 7.5

TOTW: PBE - Pieces of you

Black Sabbath: 7.5