I'm sure you've often asked yourself this pertinent and relevant question; 'So what exactly do Scandinavians actually bring to the table....' In reply i'd have to say. 'Well this !!!' Grab yourself a seat at your desk or wherever you choose to perform your labours in your flat or home. Pur on your headphones and give Les Big Byrd's new album Ruin Everything a blast. Within a couple of minutes all will be clear. That my friend is what Scandinavians bring to the table.
I went out yeterday to have a discussion about the state of Rock & Roll with Nick who owns Beatdown Records the Record Emporium across the road from my flat at the top of the rise flowing past the Catholic Cathedral and down the steady slope towards Newcastle Central Station. The State of Rock & Roll needs to be discussed and who better for this kind of summit than two middle to late middle aged men like Nick and myself . I've come in on previous occasions and Daisy, Nick's pretty teenage daughter has been helping her dad behind the counter. Daisy knows. She tends to pat Nick on the head and disppear off to Beatbox backroom and leave us to it. Busying herself with more important matters.
Back to the Rock & Roll summit of gestern nachmittag. Nick and I discuss all things Rick Rubin. Earth changing Johnny Cash albums now already a quarter of a century or more behind us, which said and say something fundamental about life itself, the human condition, made the fundamental readings on some key texts.
I meanwhile saw the sleeve of Ruin Everything which immediately makes you want to own it.It's the sleeve of the year so far. At least for me. I resisted the coveting urge which is very strong among record buyers like me bid my farewells to Nick and went down for thirty lengths at the fitness centre. A couple of great chats and a stew in the sauna and then I came back to listen to Ruin Everything again on my headphones and sailed into Saturday afternoon with my windows open to allow the sun's breezes to cool my flat and beckon us to the evning.
I'm listening to it again now on my television set. We're just past Summer Solstice but July and August look promising and it's good to hear a rip roaring Rock & Roll record with occasional calming interludes from the land of Thor and Odin on a Sunday morning before I head for church. I've just listened to SomethIn' Else by Cannonball Adderly to ease the sleep from my limbs. Now I want something to summon the blood and embolden me for the skirmishes of the day.
Ruin Everything ticks those boxes. It's gloriously dystopian. In all the right ways. Hawkwind, Les Bid Byrd's Scandinavian forefathers, The Stooges & MC5, Spacemen 3 and Spiritualised, Suicide and so forth. In genreal it's just a glorious blissed sound. A record as good as its sleeve....
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