'Like a Glam Phil Spector, Roy Wood performed this nostalgic teen epic on Top of The Pops.... a star painted on his forehead, and spent a month at Number One.'
Saturday, July 27, 2024
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 51 Judee Sills
Judee Sills was a particular talent. A fragile, troubled soul who sand like an angel. Albeit a fallen one.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,859 The Stone Roses - The Second Coming
So many had so much invested in The Stine Roses that many tried desperately to invest themselves in it when it finally arrived in 1994. Now it seems slightly sad. A band that had blown their early promise. Everyone loves to celbrate their youth and it had its moments, most notably Love Spreads but really the debut is all you need.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 299 The Prisoners - A Taste of Pink ?
Garage Mods. Gnarly and coiled from the off. Brings back a vision of the Eighties I was aware of but never fully embraced in the Eighties because it looked permanently backwards itself. To the kind of lifestyle celebrated in Quadrophenia..
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 154 Callum Easter
Willy Wonka had his 'little helpers' and I've got mine. Willy had his Oompa Loompas, I've got my first mate Darren 'Starbuck' Jones and my Bury correspondent Jo 'Napoli' Adkin. Invaluable advisors both. I'm very grateful for their direction and support. And pleased to spread the word further.
Here's Jo's latest suggestion. Callum Easter an Edinburgh based maverick who she caught in his support slot for Nadine Shah few days ago. I've been listening through to his latest record Get Forever .... Delete Don't Want since. It's idiosyncratic stuff which shares some DNA with early Beck and early Baxter Dury I'd say.. I like it.
It's a protest record of the best sort. There's a lot to make a stand against these days. We appear to living through unhinged times. But there are also plenty of good times to be had here too. An eccentric and cherishable vision. Out now on Lost Map Records. Nice work Jo.
Wand - Vertigo
Wand, the Los Angeles, Alternative Noise sensation contunue to wave their magic and weave their spell. . Vertigo their latest record does what they;ve being doing so well for over a decade now, . In spades.
They're an odd band, as are so many from their contemporary West Coast family tree. See Ty Segall. See Oh Sees. I'm not quite sure whar everyine is on exactly but Wand are always particularly welcome at my place whenever the return with fresh product.
Somewhere between Sabbath Sparks, Radiohead and theur own headspace. This is brimming with fanaticism. Inventive glee. The joy of being alive, In the words of another Angeleno, A man who amy or may not have expired in a Parisian bathtub. 'Stoned. Immaculate.'
.As so often they seem to have hoovered up the choice drugs and spew them out here with glorious abandon. A splendid Freak Flag Feast,
Song(s) of the Day # 3,808 Crack Cloud
Red Mile the latest from Calgary collective Crack Cloud places itself firmly in a nonconformist tradition. Zappa, Beefheart and the likes of Flaming Lip and Black Lips come to mind, It's a representative of a certain sensibility as much as an album of music,
I wonder how much I'll come back to this, though I enjoted listenung this morning, It's rather jarring. It doesn't attempt to hit the right notes. On the cover a member of the band in ied vermillion hair is shown, skydiving in shades.
It flies the Freak Flag, of the kind that Kesey Kerouac and Ginsberg birst planted themselves under. It's a but more discordant than the kin of thing I'm looking for but I respect its insurrection.
Friday, July 26, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,860 Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida
Iron Butterfly have some claim to be the prototype Heavy Metal band. This is occasionally hard work sixty years on but has curiosity value.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 300 The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
Has its moments. Opening track Start Me Up where The Rolling Stones momentarily seem relevant. In 1981. Mostly they're your embarassing older uncles.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 155 Odie Leigh - Carrier Pigeon
The new bohemian beatnik schtik. Singing about your college days, and good time you spent with your roomie. If Odie Leigh had been coming of age in the early Sixties she'd have been consudering her options. Whether to relocate to Greenwich Village with her acoustic in its guitar case. Or else for the West Coast and the new dawn.
Instead she's releasing her debut album Carrier Pigeon with a fantastically designed cover which looked it was cut and pasted together with scissors, coloured paper and glue but was actually [robably done on a Mac.
As for the record. It's a delight. I' warrant that Odie knows her Joni and Rickie Lee. One glance at her Spotify lists confirms this. She knows her Marty Robbins. Her Fiona Apple.
She's used her listening and her creative skills to come up with a captivating record I was pleased yo chance upon in the early morning hours when I was struggling for shut eye. Either Way sounds like a hit to me.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,807 Snowy Band
If in doubt on It Starts, turn to Starbuck. AKA Darren Jones, first mate to this blog and faithful guide. To steer us into calmer waters from the eye of the storm. Into port for the weekend, Another excellent tip.
This morning. The Snowy Band. Not the most inspiring band name perhaps. But persevere. Because the record itself, their latest album Age Difference, is a still a gem of the most valuable kind and no mistake.
A Melbourne band. I'm always pleased to tumble across another one of those. In the words of a review I tracked down ' each song ambles through big themes like religiosity , existentialism, fear of regret, time and love.'
This is dappled, nuanced stuff. Textured. Like meeting a whole new set of people one evening from the other side of the world and realising you might have known them your whole life. You have so much in common. Thanks Darren. Another pearl.
Thursday, July 25, 2024
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 156 Vera Sola - Peacemaker
Vera Sola self consciously ticks all the classy bird, boxes you possibly might have. Latest album Peacemaker, (and that's a funny name for a record like this) flounces out of the traps with its stiletto heels clicking and frilly dress flashing. A knife between its teeth.
This is a record of a certain sort and not one you haven't heard before. Anna Calvi, PJ, Nadine Shah, Mattiel and all those other dames have been throwing these kinds of shapes for many years.
It's all wonderfully entertaining anyhow. Melodic, dramatic and up for a fight. Cast in her Spotify bio as 'the lost love child of Leonard Cohen and Nancy Sinatra' , Vera is a record company ad man's dream realised in silk and chiffon.
Peacemaker, is a devilishly accomplished record. I'm far too old to pretend it hasn't all been done before, but still young enough to be perfectly happy to experience it all once more for the road.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 301 XTC - English Settlement
'Andy Partridge became the successor to Ray Davies' poignant British pastoralism. Glinting agrarian pop.'
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,861 Foals - Antidotes
Foals confuse me these days. They're a muscular Rock band with a muscular and tattoed singer. They don't speak to me. In 2008 they appealed to me. They seemed to owe something to Talking Heads and Vampire Weeekend. They were preppy. Interested in exploration. Fresh from the campus library.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,806 Dr, Dog
Bands like Philadelphia indie stalwarts Dr, Dog cater for a particular mindset and sensibility, They're comforting somehow. Turning fifteen, Then sixteen. Then seventeen. Finding your people. Deciding you don't really fit and don't have any intention in fitting in,
It's important to find your ban at this point. Someone to pledge your allegiance. Tie your colours to their mast. Pavement. The Replacements, R.E,M, Violent Femmes, Neutral Milk Hotel. Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse. This is an important youthful ritual. Kids will always need to do it.
Dr. Dog's latest Called, erm Dr.Dog, celebrates these moments for the best part of forty minutes and is a nice soundtrack to wake up on Thursday and sail towards the weekend on. It celebrates the joys of friendship and familt, Adventure. The small verities
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 48 JD Souther
Somewhere between The Band and The Eagles in the early Seventies laidback lanes. You get the impression that David Geffen would have loved this loads.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 302 The Gun Club - The Fire Of Love
Now this is a wonderful record and Gun Club remain pioneers and explorers. There's something ferocious and phenomenally brave about Fire Of Lovem their debut. It's difficult to imagune Pixies for one, withput them. Three cheers for Jeffery Lee.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,862 Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
Aaargh. Run and hide! I'm reasonably open minded and tolerant but I do think it's important to draw a line somewhere.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 157 Omni - Souvenir
I had enormous fun yesterday giving a couple of spins to Souvenir, the latest album from Atlanta, Georgia wonders Omni. They're a band I've always enjoyed listening to previously and ir's good to have them back.
Their first album came out in 2016 and Souvenir is their fourth. Omni can only really be described as a Post Punk band and in their case it's a relief to be able to say that this doesn't come across as a slur.
It's fair to say that 2016 is a fairly long time ago now. Back in those days when I first started listening to Omni, being Post Punk seemed almost an exciting thing ro be. That's no longe. the case I'm afraid. There are whole flocks of Post Punk bands munching the grass of the pastures on the Pop horizons with no intent apparent apart from sounding as much like one another as possible and frankly being as featureless and dull as they possibly can be.
Omni meanwhile still sound brittle and fresh. Their take their cues from Wire, Television and Josef K. Always a good idda, let's face it. They impose their own mathematical twist on these bands template and the result is invariably mightily invigorating. Feast on their heart.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,805 Orcas
When I get up I search for somethung that's going to help me organise my thoughts, Put me in a composed, structured and organised frame of mind for the day ahead,
This morning, as we reach the mid-point of the working week I've found the ideal record. Orcas', How To Color a Thousand Mistakes.
It's a florid, slightly precious title which describes a florid and occasionally precious record. But precious in a way that consistently endeavoyrs to uncover and wallow in beauty. Beauty is always something I appreciate and seek.
It;s ambient, textured Pop exercise. If you want a comparison point think John Grant fronting early R.E.M. Even Michael Stipe needed a day off sometimes.
Orcas have been doing what they do here for over 15 years since the main players first met in Seattle. They're getting good at doing what they do. They've uncovered treasure here. A slightly precious comment of my own. But preciousness is great sometimes.
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 158 Abbie Finn Trio - Stotties for Three
Every second Tuesday evening I pop round the corner from my flat on Clayton Street West in the heart of Newcastle. I'm off in search of some good Jazz and good company. Invariably I find both. In the Newcastle Arts Centre on Westgate Road they hold a free Jam Session attracting many of the finest local players and singers and a healthy and appreciative crowd invariably gather with their pints in the large basement area. Sometimes the music is just mindblowing. Considering this remains a free event, it's great credit to all concerned.
These occasions to me feel like more than a relaxing evening out with a set of people I've known liked and respected for many years. It nurtures the best local traditions and principles which I've been so happy to witness and be a part of since I came to Newcastle. That was in 2008 when I used to hang out at Keith Crombie's Jazz Cafe most weekends and made some of the best friendships I've made in my 15 years in Newcastle. The quality of the playing and the good vibes generated over the course of the evening on one of these jam evenings can be so powerful frankly that the end result feels as much a source of epiphany and revelation as simply a night out listening to music.
The jam is chiefly organised and maintained by Paul Grainger a mainstay of the local scene. A double bassist, and general all round good guy. Paul also moonlights with the Abbie Finn Trio who can be caught live, or else sampled on their recently released debut album Stotties for Three.
The other two players on this altogether excellent product that consciously foregrounds local culture, character, grittiness and pride are Abbie Finn herself who drums composes and arranges, and Harry Keeble providing melodic drection on Tenor Sax.
I took a fifty seven minute break from work on Wednesday lunchtime to take the record in and it was time very well spent. All three are fine players and they combine wonderfully here.. It's a record that's thick with endeavour, wisdom, invention and wonder.
Other reviews can be found here and on the band's Spotify homepage..
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 303 Paul McCartney - McCartney II
Paul McCartney might not have been deemed cool Post Beatles quite in the way that Lennon and Harrison were. He never seemed concernedd about that. He seeme happy. McCartney II came out the year Lennon was shot and contained Coming Up as well as the infamous Temporary Secretary, Sure he piled on the sugar. But he was never a fool and had and has an unparalleled ability.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,863 Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
I got fed up of Damon Albarn just after Parklife. And frankly wrote him off for a couple of years thereafter. But boy has he come back strong over the next twenty five years. He still has a tendency to irritate slightly. Frankly being irritating is a defining characteristic of the man. But boy he has talent. A talent tht owes something to Ray Davies, something to Lennon & McCartney. Simething to Terry Hall. Something to The Clash. And something to his own questung spirit. This is one of the numerous excellent records he's contributed to or steered down the years.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,804 Rich Ruth
Generally when Uncut Magazine has a six or eight page splash on an artist I haven't heard of, I expect to hear about the latest Americana whiz kid. I'm generally not far wrong.
In this month's issue they've gone for something more genuinely exciting, exploratory and trailblazing. Nashville based renegade Rich Ruth and his latest record Water Still Flows a freeform Cosmic Jazz adventure which I've been listening to for the last couple of days and finding quite extraordinary.
In the article in Uncut which is well worth a read, Ruth describes a lifechanging visit to Cambodia when he was 21. He visited a village on the border with Vietnam which followed animist value systems, Then recounts an evenng where the villagers all stayed up all night chugging tye whisky and dancing around in traditional clothing, In the morning one of them hacked up a water buffalo in a scenes reminuscent of Appocalypes Now. Hardly a scenario you'd ever forget.
That's enough of a taster to what informs Ruth's music. Water Still Flows needs listening to to appreciate where it's taken his muse. It's freaky stuff, defying description sometimes but certainly tending to spiritual jazz by inclination. It's one hell of a record.
Monday, July 22, 2024
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 24 Slade
The pick of Slade's '72 hot streak of boot-stompong bruisers encapsulated two eternal glam themes - we're going crazy and there's lots of us - in a thrilling din of gung-ho guitars.
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 46 Grin
Where Nils started from.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 304 A Certain Ratio - Sextet
' 'Caught somewhere betwenn the arthouse and the dancefloor....' A Certain Ratio didm't gollow the Rock heard.. There's great stuff on Sextet . Some of it sounds slightly fussy. Some a bit like Joy Divusuin gone funky.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,864 Jellyfish - Spilt Milk
Jellyfish were a bunch of guys with an odd selection of oddly unmatched hairdos. Powerpoppers who seemed to like Queen as much as Cheap Trick. They gained some traction in the Nineties but I'd say they're best injected in limited doses.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 159 Withered Hand & Kathryn Williams - Wilson Williams
Kathrym Williams has been plying her trade, oing her thing for some years now. A Liverpulian singer songwriter originally. She's now up here where I live in Newcatle. Her husband runs the artisan bakery on the corner of my block. It's doing well. Starting from scratch more than ten years back it now is becoming a veritable cottage industry wirh branches in Jesmond and elsewhere across this great city.
I just listened to Wilson Williams, her rather lovely record with Edinburgh's Dan Wilson under the Withered Hand banner. It's a lovely record of the old school. Folk by tradition but with an appreciation for Simon & Garfunkel, always a useful appreciation and trick to have up your your sleeve.
Wilson and Williams' voice dovetail and coo tigether in beautiful fashion. The record has tenderness and is built on genuine love and appreciation of the importance of music. This is a great start to the working week. You can't beat a great start to the working week.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,803 Antonio Adolfo
Reviewed with loving attention by a friend of mine Lance Liddell from the Jazz Scene in Newcastle. Lance is a lovely fellow who worked in Windows Music Shop in the Edwardian Central Arcade just off the monument.
Now Lance tends the Bebop Spoken Here Jazz Blog. Yesterady I spotted a review of Love Cole Porter, a series of interpretations of the great man's workbu Antonio Adolfo the Brazilian Jazz stalwart.
It's a predictably laid back and sumptuous record. Embracing the best things i live at its own pace. Here's Lance's review if mine lacks the requisite detail.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer
Cassandra Jenkins is one of the coolest fishies to come swimming up the Art Pop pike in recent years and no mistake. If 2021's (An Overview of ) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature was a fascinating entre, My Light, My Destroyer is the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.
There's a sense of realisation listening to this. No longers as boho as she seemed on Phenomenal Nature. So Rickie Lee. So Laurie. My Light is a remarkably assured record from the off. Seemingly intent on the heart of the charts just as much on critical garlands.
A fantastically realised Pop album of silky, textured, confident songs. Jenskins voice has become softly, textured and realised. There's a sense of realisation here. Like a beautuful bride in a stunning dress, making her way down the aisle on the best day of her life.
.
Jenkins retains her 'otherness' here. There are plenty of 'outre' moments. In some ways this feels like a deeply thought through record. But not in a calculated sense. Just another giant leap forward for \Jenkins. It will be fascinating to watch where she goes from here. Infinity and beyond.
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 25 Alice Cooper
'Glam singles were empowerment anthems for thoe resenting their uniforms.'
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 45 Russ Giguere
Initially in The Association, Russ Giguere went on to release a feisty, punchy solo album Hexagram 16 n 1971 which this featured on.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 305 The Chords - So Far Away
The Mod Revival of 1979 and 1980 was an odd thing to experience. Even at the time. Ignited by the excellence of The Jam and the release of Quadrophenia it excited no end of estate kids to become Mods. It also encouraged a lot of records hat weren't a patch on The Jam. Like this one. It's skinny jeans and sharp ties. There are a few decent tracks but really this is a curiosity.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,865 The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies
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'This is an age of machinery. A technological nightmare...'A pleasure to see this on my rundown list. A fantastic record to turn to as the sun rises in Canterbury. So much is here.Like all the best records it doesn't date a day.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 160 The Hanging Stars - On a Golden Shore
The Hanging Stars. A bunch of relaxed guitar strummers with a great name. Easy going Cosmic Cowboys you get the feeling Alan MacGee might be prone to and get slightly dewy eyed if he caught them by chance playing in his local on a Friday night. Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. Big Star and Gram.
I almost saw them playing in the Brandling Arms in Gosforth a few years back. Pretty much a local of mine where I live in Newcastle. A short bus ride from my front door anyhow. But the gig came just as the point that the curtain was coming down for Lockdown and the gig was called off at the last minute just as it was being decided that human beings could not congregate safely together for a while.
The Hanging Stars soldiered on. Kept gigging and putting out records. On a Golden Shore is the latest and it joins the dots in the Rock & Roll Colouring Book. From Roger and David to Gram to Alex and Chris to Teenage Fanclub. It's all impeccably written, played and wonderfully mellow.
This is another set of songs that say Take It Easy whether The Dude likes it or not. The steel pedal is used, but judiciously It's polite and melodic, doesn't outstay its welcome and the band stays behind to clear away their bottles and help polish the surfaces before closing time. My kind of record and people frankly,.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,802 A Lesser Version
She Was Wounded I was Terrified ! An intense, committed second album from Liverpool band A Lesser Version.
No immediate comparison points came to mind. It;s slightly more Emo than I generally tend towards. But I admire the fortitude on show here.
Saturday, July 20, 2024
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 26 Lou Reed
'One of Glam's most heavenly ballads.'
I See You Live On Love Street - Music From Laurel Canyon 1965 - 1975 # 44 David Crosby
If I Could Only Remember My Name. is one of the late David Crosby greatest achievements It's a record to point to where the Hippie Dream makes perfect sense.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 306 Harold Budd, Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde - The Moon & The Melodies
I think I might be allergic to Robin Guthrie, nonsense trilling and pretending to be a Pre Raphaelite poet while stumbling round in huge billowing blouses and wafting incense sticks around.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,866 Pet Shop Boys - Behaviour
Behaviour came out in 1990. I was in my last year at university sharing a flat with the biggest Pet Shop Boys fan I've ever met. He came out during the year we graduated got himself an American partner and I imagine has never looked back. He said that Being Boring might as well have been the soundtrack of his life.
When the Smiths split mid ddecade theyy passed the baton on to Pet Shop Boys. Listening to their records now is as good a way to rememeber what it felt ike being young, British and alive in those days as I can think of. .
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 161 Whispering Sons - The Great Calm
I am considering the possibility of a short break in Belgium at some point this year. I'm getting wanderlust for one reason or another and am looking into the possibility of a whistlestop tour of at least one of the low countries. Eurostar to Brussels. A couple of days in Liege, a couple in Antwerp, then Bruges, Ghent perhaps, then home. The thought appeals.
Perhaps my trip might coincide with a gig by Brussels favourite offspring Whispering Sons. While I pondered the possibility of continental travel and experience over cereal yesterday morning I listened to and enjoyed their latest album The Great Calm.
Calm was not necessarily the adjective that immediately came to mind. Urgent perhaps, certainly assured and with a sense of direction and purpose. They're a band that certainly know what they're doing which is always a relief.
They are, whisper it ... Post Punk. Certainly. You probably guessed already.Certainly if you've looked at any band photos where they generally do their best to look moody and stare in different directions. Don't spill your cookies and turn the page just yet though. Because Whispering Sons are a rare good example of this much abused term. They take Joy Division most obviously as their guiding stars but singer Fenne Kuppens is less full throttle and in immediate need of emotional concern amd support than Curtis was, almost from the very beginning,
But this band share JD's intensity, differentiation of instrumentation, and specificity of task objectives for different players. This is a proper group effort. The Great Calm is a great ride and I would love to see them live..Meanwhile the record is more than enough.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,801 Las Nubes
My new favoyrute band part blah, blah, blah. Miami, Florida crackers Las Nubes and their latest Tormentas Malsanas are here to Rock Your World !
Comung on like the Hispanic Deals on acid, Las Mubes frontline Ale Campos and Cuci Amador throw fabulous Rock shapes from starting gun to finishing tape here. It;s divertida para toda la familia.
Breeders at their best is the most immediate comparison point uf Kim and Kelley hd been born al sur de la frontera. Caramba! This is some joyous alternative rock noise.
There's something thrillingly affurmatuve about what's on show here. It's a riotous feast and no mistake. It might remind you of others but theirs is the name to make sure you remember. Recuerda que lo esuchaste aqui. .
Friday, July 19, 2024
Labelled With Love - A History of the World in Your Record Collection - # 31 Kill Rock Stars
'The Portland / Olympia Pacific Northwest base of Kill Rock Stars has worked well for the label. It provided an identity that frd into its independent ethos and artistic freedom.'
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 27 Suzi Quatro
Banshee- hollering Glam from Chinn-Chapman's favourite gal... Chapman did it for a bet, challenged by a pal to write a song about the 1848 European economic crisis on the silk trade.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 307 Spacemen Three - The Perfect Prescription
With Spaceman Three you know what you're getting. Flat drone. Repetition. Feedback.Velvets, Stooges, MC5, Suicide. Heroin chic. Transposed to Oxford suburbs. Little variation. Virtually any track will give you the idea. Qyute compelling in short byrsts. A little wearing with extended exposure.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,867 Echo & The Bunnymen - Porcupine
Pircupine found the Bunnymen at a crosswords. A dead end too, to mix metaphors. WEA their record company asked them to rerecord it it, it seemed so obscure and foreboding. Kicking off with two of the bands finest, bristling singles The Cutter an Back In Love, it moved on to more uncompromising fare. But the record endures well. They were one of a kind.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 162 Flight Mode - The Three Times
I'd like to travel more from now. There are places I'd like to go. I'd like to go to Oslo for example. I hear it has lots of wonderful parks, I visited briefly on a holiday when I was a teenager and would like to go again and have another look roun now I'm definitely not one of those,
Flight Mode are from Oslo. They have a vaguely generic, mundane name and a guitar sound that seems distantly related to Nineties strummers like Bettie Serveert and Daryl Anne. Lyrical inclinations that suggest everything will be OK after a spell of moping around and not speaking to ine another.
Their album The Three Times appears to be their first. It runs on tracks that are determined early on. You know what the record is going to sound like afyer a couple of tracks and nothing that happens thereafter will surprise you much.There are some nicely crafted tracks here though which mark them out as ones to watch
Song(s) of the Day # 3,,800 Beachwood Sparks
Waking up early on Friday morning its good to have a new Beachwood Sparks album to listen to. A Los Angeles based Cosmic Country band who know their Felt as well as their Byrds and Beach Boys, it feels like you're in California a short walk from the beach and the ocean.
Across the River of Stars doesn't immediately sound as if it will reveal itself in weeks and months to be their go to album. That would probably be theur debur, a quarter of a century back now.
But this will more than do .Across the River of Stars qyuckly reveals itself to be a place where Gram set aside his differences with the Byrds and stepped up onstage and walked into the jingle jangle morning. Off we go into the weekend.
Thursday, July 18, 2024
The Ultimate Genre Guide - 40 Best Glam Tracks - # 28 The Osmonds
'Squeaky-clean image and devout religious faith notwithstanding, the toothsome Urah brothers rocked their tails off on this high-energy screamer, leading ine to wonder if Mormonism's gain was Glam Metal's loss.'
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,868 Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door
The last Led Zep album.The one that nobody really talks about. They're in myscular form but generally it sounds rather soilless. Heading towards the Eighties and life without Bonzo.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 308 U2 War
'To claim the prize that Jesus won...'
I made the mistake of buying this record. I had liked some of U2's earlier songs and wondered whether they were a band to hoist my alleguance to. I soon decided they werem't. with the execption of New Years Day which I liked at the time and still don't mind War sounds garish and vulgar. One tubthumping anthem after nother. A self conscious bid for stadium largesse.
Steve Lillywhite productuibns. The drums are the albums lead instruments. Bono is mounting the speakers and projectung to the back rows. I find it empty and barren. Callow and devoid of poetic spark or inspiration. To say they're trying too hrd is puttung it hugely lightly. No band has ever tried so hard. Thousands went for it in the mid West and were slain by their empty bellicose wailing.. America fell for them. Mugs. It's one of the most lyrically and sonically manipulative records ever made. The band put in the necessary roadwork. I lost interest,
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 163 Alison Cotton - Englechen
You don't always wake every morning hungry to embrace Pop Tunes, Sometimes you're in the mood for something slightly more sombre to greet the sun as it it rises in the heavens outside your windows.
If that's your wish, I'd direct you towards Alison Cotton's latest album Englechen. It's one SOMBRE record, let's put it that way. Portentious is another adjective which comes to mind. One to take you back to the late Thirties perhaps. If that's where you wish to go. Forty minutes to reflect. Before war and calamity break out. On all sides. Perfect for times when all the world is talking about more wars breaking out and plenty are well underway.
Essentially a chamber piece with bonus Greek Chorus. The kind of record embraced by the likes of The Quietus, Stewart Lee and misery guts of your acquaintance.
I quite enjoyed it myself. But then I'm prone to wrinkling my brow, stroking my chin and thinking profound thoughts myself of a morning. This makes excellent company for this kind of behaviour. Embrace your inner intellectual.
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