Blog: The Opening Acts

Here's my sole criteria for judging this silly little topic: Can I take an artist's collected output for this decade, filter out the best songs, and turn it into a totally kick-ass, 80-minute mix CD in which every second is filled with amazing moment after amazing moment? Richard Hawley achieved this criteria by his fourth album, 2005's Cole's Corner . With this year's release of his sixth album, Truelove's Gutter , it became damn-near impossible to squeeze all his best moments into 80 [...]

• Richard Hawley - Long Black Train