More proper torch singer melodrama of the highest order.
Friday, September 20, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,805 Angel Olson - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Proper torch singer melodrama of the highest order.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 96 Workers Comp - Workers Comp
Darren Jones does it again. A man with a remarkable hitting average and capacity for sniffing out great new releases that have missed my own radar. I knew almost immediately that I was onto a winner here.
American refuseniks are one of my favourite causes You could write an excellent book about them, going back to when The Sonics first strutted onstage in Tacoma, Washington way back in the early Sixties and flipped the bird at mom, dad, the audience and the high school principal.
Since then, write your own list. Stooges, the Nuggets Garage Punks, MC5 and on towards Punk. Pere Ubu, Television, Jad Fair. Obvious suspects like Black Flag and Husker Du. But also more quirky candidates like Camper Van Beethoven, The Colorblind James Experience , Pavement, Lambchop. Silver Jews and onwards to this. My favourite record of today and one of the best I've heard all year, in any category.
A record predicated on primitive Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Velvet Underground riffs and the kind of attitude that fuelled Stiff Records in the Mid Seventies. Each track here is a different kind of joy. A different colour of the rainbow.
Coming out on ever / never records a quirky leftfield New York label that prides itself on 'putting out music for adults.' In their own words 'Workers Comp are doing their best to kick against the pricks.' In the wordsof Alan Freeman 'Not Arf !' All power to their elbows. This is as good as it gets.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,861 Nelly Furtado
I'm up with the larks on a Friday morning.So it seems is Nelly Furtado, the Grammy award winning dance siren, with her latest album 7. Is it her seventh LP Pop Pickers. I will leave it for you to discover , I thlnk it probably is.
Anyhow it's what you would imagine. Slinky, sex floor Latin dancefloor inuendo, It's cool Nelly. It speeds up and slows down. You could do far worse than give it a listen.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 246 The Plimsouls - The Plimsouls
Classic American High School early Eighties Power Pop. Neat three minute New Wave Pop songs. Difficult to beat.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,806 Midnight Oil - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Midnight Oil made some mileage ploughing forward in the md Eughties with an exceptionally intense and politically driven lead vocalist. I was driven to alternative Australian options. Notably Go Betweens and Triffids.I didn't really care for Peter Garrett's voice. But this is a cool New Wave record that's engaged and engaging.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 97 Dummy - Free Energy
And so we make our way out of summer and towards the darker and colder months. This countdown enters two digits and her's a review of LA band Dummy's latest Free Energy
Dummy have been players for a while and this is a record which pushes their prohect for deftly. I'd love to see them live an will keep my eyes peeled for the to me when they make their way to a local venue.
Dummy call themselves avant pop. That's as good a label as any to describe the simultaneously futuristic yet immediate and consistently melodic experience they present.
Stereolab, En Attendant Ana, Jane Weaver, Shoegaze, the stars. Reference point but they're charting bit they're a band plotting their own trajectory.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,860 Dora Jar
Dora Jar. Geddit ?!? An American Bedroom Pop artist from North Carolina with a couple of albums under the bed and approaching her thirtieth record.
Latest album No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire is an elfin exercise in self discovery and self assertion.File under Pop
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 247 The Psychedelic Furs - The Psychedelic Furs
Starts slow. Speeds up. Into an exciting, abrasive mass of relentless but subtle and yes Psychedelic pool of sound. Somewhere between the Velvet Underground. The Spiders from Mars. And erm Teddington
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 98 Lilacs & Champagne - Fantasy World
Starbuck is back. And not a moment too soon. Another post a few days back from Darren Jones, (AKA Starbuck) first mate of this Blog, pointed me into the orbit of new quarry just in time for Friday's breakfast.
Today we feast on Fantasy World by Lilacs & Champagne, a side project of Portland, Oregon experimentalists Grauls. This is a very modern sounding record though these kind of things have been being made for thirty years at least now so the expression 'Brand new - You're Retro comes to mind.
We're talking DJ Shadow and Avalanches territory. Sample heav sounding, shifting instrumentals to a film which may have been dreamed up, but not necessarily made yet. All highly atmospheric. With a slightly creepy dystopic record cover to boeat. Keep them coming Darren !
Song(s) of the Day # 3,859 Lunar Vacation
A slinky bass run that might have been one of Krist Novolesic's on Nevermind , A lead voice from the Kim Deal school. That will do me amd I've gpy somehing to listento as I rise on Wednesday morning as we dive into the second half of September. Decatu, Georgia's Lunar Vacation's Everything Matters,Everythings's Fine.
I was also mided of Chicago's Rat Boys. A band that have done fine work in recent years for constituents that are prone to thes kunds of sinuous, narrative guitar driven narratives. Another band to watch.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 99 Laurie Anderson - Amelia
Pop and Rock music can and does aspire to the status of high art. This is not a high faluting, pretentious or nonsensical statement. The artist and musicians that I celebrate most highly on It Starts wish most to make that kind of splash. To be 'not just another drop in the ocean.'
Laurie Anderson almost had a Number One single in the UK with Oh Superman in 1981. A seven minute single so deeply unusual, prescient, unsettling and frankly moving that people are still talking about it and what it felt like coming out of daytime radio sandwiched between Spandau Ballet and Adam & The Ants.
Forty years and mire on her latest album Amelia is a celebration of a bygone age and a phenomenal bygone achievement that still inspires . Amelia Earhart's flighted circummavigation of the world in 1937. It's a serene and rather beautiful 35 minute ride.
Captivating. Sublie. As with Oh Superman, Anderson's assured authoritative voice pilots the experience. You are passing the equator. Bobbing up and down in air streams. Surrender to the experience. June 8th Dakar. A wonderful start to my week. You can't beat artistic vision.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,858 Divine Sweater
Boston Ma. band rock a sophiticated and polished sound on new album A Time For Everything. A little too sleek and 'product form taste bur smooth as synthetic silk.
Monday, September 16, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,809 Peggy Lee -Black Coffee With Peggy Lee
Not a wise offer to refuse. So I didn't. Peggy Lee has one of the most sultry, come to bed voices of the 20th Century.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 248 Depeche Mode - 101
I was slightly old for Depeche Mode at the time. That crucial year. But now 101 sounds like the weirdest thing. Boys from Basildon wuth dreams of global conquest which they were acrually realising. Strange dreams of teenagers realising fantasies of S & M to adoring masses appreciative euphoruc chants in an arena in Pasedena. It makes a strange historical parallel wuth Nuremberg of 50 years previously.Strange. But a fantastic listen.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 100 Beabadoobee - This Is How Tomorrow Moves
Hey I can do the commercial thing. This isn't really a Pop blog though labels are slippery and unreliable . Generally I lean towards Rock & Roll. It worked for most of the people who hang out in CBGBsback in the day. . Once and for always my favourite scene..
But there was Pop in that scene. Blondie most particularly. Blondie did Pop as well as any band before or since. They also had thir Rock & Roll moments. Beabadoobee is Pop primarily. Bea Kristi, who is as melt in your mouth pretty as Debbie, is Beabadoobee.
Her new albun, the poetically named This Is How Tomorrow Moves sounds like a record that knows it's time has come, or is coming tomorrow at the very latest. And why shouldn't it. Beabadoobee are signed up as Taylor Swift's support. Isn't that pretty much all it takes these days.
Personally I prefer Bea to Taylor. Taylor is simply too vast, too enormo to process. Or even really have an opinion on. Like the Death Star moving slowlyacross the widescreen at a multiplex. This is all a lot more human. On a smaller and more manageable scale..Even if it was produced with Rick Rubin of all people at the helm. Bea's voice at times reminded me eerily of Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays. Sunday's Girl ! It was a reminder that endeared me further to the record.
This Is How Tomorrow Moves is a lot easier to digest than Taylor. Yjere's always a slight Pavement thing going on. Bea has long had a thing for Syephen Malkmus. Mut in general, this is a sweet and sincere record that emotes It has a heart that pumps, a soul that bleeds. Like the best Pop.Pop product. I hope it shifts.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,857 Clark
Sculpted electronic, spiritual noise. In Camera by Clark. Strange altered vocal effects slipping in and out of the mix. I thought of Radiohead's In Rainbows. There is a ghostly take on The Carpenters Superstar which let's face it was ghostly enough in its own right.
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,810 Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana
A bit heavy on the'N' word but hey I'm a white liberal. Otherwise ticks all the Jazzy laidback hipster boxes you might choose.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 101 Liz Lawrence - Peanuts
Liz Lawrence is a performer with a Low Fi past who seems intent on making a louder noise and a bigger splash on latest record Peanuts, just out on Chrysalis records.
Now there's a blast from the past. Weren't Blondie on Chrisalis records. Like that band , this manages to be both arty and radio friendly.
Liz is pictured in chain mail and medieval battle gear on marketing photos for the record. Well if she keeps throwing these fighting poses, I'll keep cracking these weak gags.
Apparently 'crossing her fingers for a nineties revival' which is an odd one. This record joins the dots between Cate Le Bon and Katy J Pearson. A good thing in my book,
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 249 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
During the Pet Shop Boys peak years I didn't pay them much attention. They were just there. Always on the radio. Always on Top of the Pops. They pushed a gay sensibility and I didn't consider myself gay. Though I wasn't bigoted.
Now I take to them much more. Their sensibility is beaurifully realised. This was their commercial peak. Several of their best singles. Frankly this is state of the art. As good a soundtrack to ever day life in the UK. They were fantastic chroniclers.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,856 Young Scum
'Jamgly Indie Pop from Richmond Va,' Sometimes it pays to keep things simple. The decription on Young Scum's Spotify's bio. Debut album Lighter Blue is exactly that. Eleven uncomplicated, melodic musings on life. I enjoyed it while it spun, but probably won't return.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,811 Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
I was never drawn to Metal sounds. It just didn't appeal at 13 and hasn't really done so since. But QOTSA still cast a particuar spell. They're good at what they do.
.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 102 Okay Kaya - Oh My God - That's So Me
Another week. Another journey. This one starts with Okay Kaya. Her fourth album has what Oh My God - That's So Me has much to recommend it. A cool step in its stride.
Saying rhat, the Bio on Spotify doesn't really do the artist favours particularly. Apparently she's 'an artist at the peak of ambivalent lyrical mastery.' You mean the words are good. Well they are actually but deserve better than this.
What I was reinded of mostly while the record unfolded was Weyes Blood. Oh My God - That's So Me has some of the wistful nostalgia for an age you may not have lived but still yearn for. This is a rather lovely, beguiling record.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,855 julie
Slightly generic alternative guitar noise. Very Nineties. That Pixues / Sonic Youth / My Bloody Valentine. dissonance and emotional lyrical unease.But the powerswitch is the guitar noise. Backbone.
julie's debt on their debut album my anti-aircraft friend is so absolute, so all concuming, that in the end I thought whu not listen to Isn't Anything. But this beguiling while it spins,
Friday, September 13, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,812 Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
It's my father's ninetieth birthday. My dad always wanted to fly. This seemed like an incredibly relevant album to listen to.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 253 The Vapors - New Clear Days
'I wnt a doctor. To take your picture . So I can look at you from nside as well.
I try not to live in the past. I have few regrets. I don't see any point in living a place that's gone. What good is that to me. Ot anyone else for that matter. . But I might have bought The Vapors, New Clear Days in 1980. O liked the cover. U liked short, snappy three minte songs. And if I had, I might have listened to it a fair bit. It's a fone record.
Very mych of ts time but with melodies that endure and sentiments that prevail. A song about The Cold War. Let's face it. That's probably stull going on. Their famous moment. Turning Japanese. About unrequited passion. Obsession. And erm. You work it out yours
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 103 Head Portals - A Lesson In Object Permanence.
Saturday. 'Saturdays the day for fun,'as my dear Father says. Darren Jones AKA Starbuck to the rescue once more. A band from Salt Lake City and their staggering new album A Lesson In Object Permanence.
I can tell you no more about Head Portals. You don't really need to. The recird speaks for iyself. It's conflicted. It's anguished and then sensitive. It's a journey.Its a record that suprrises you and doesn't need labels. If you want some I would just mention Bob Mould.The sporit probably mre than the actual sound. Compliments don't get much higher.
It's another good one Darren. Fetch yourself a gold star and put it next to your name on the wall. Another good deed.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,854 Nick Lowe
Listening to the new Nick Lowe album. Has he been a Song of the Day artist on It Starts before. I imagine so probably. When I started this series I said it woudn;t happen. But I'm so far down this particular road that I can't be bothered to check. Sue me.
It's am old school record. Nick hasn't really changed in terms of his tastes, perspectives .and approach since he kicked off as a Pub Rocker with Brinsley Schwartz in the early Seventies. Sometimes this is comforting. I like a man who knows what he likes..
Nick likes Rock & Roll and Country. He was Johnny Cash's son in law. On Indoor Safari his latest, he goes through tried and tested motions. He has a happy constituency who will be more than pleased with the results here.
You can sometimes judge a book b its cover you'll be pleased to hear. Indoor Safari has a cover with a sutry siren type raising a concktail, sporting a classy bob, with a glass in hand, and with a come hither look.
As fir the songs. This is a language Nick is utterly fluent in. This is a record that could have been made in 1959. 1979. Any year really. But it's been made in 2024 and it's a cool record. .
Thursday, September 12, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 254 Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Trust
Costello was fiery on all cylinders when he recorded Trust in 1981. The sessions were plagued with alcohol and drug issues and tensions between the players. In this case though the tensions spark brilliantly.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,813 Four Tet - There Is Love In You
Electro dance. Fir me this strikes me as workout music. I don't have atreadmill here so I dont get through a track before I'm off elsewhere though it's certainly hypnotic.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 104 Sinai Vessel - I SING
'Victim of a leaking pen..'
Browsing through the playlists on a Saturday morning you can chance upon the shiniest catches, like gold glittering in a net trawl dragged aboard a fishing trawler in the early morning sunight.
Reminders of Pavement, Elliott Smith and Beck. But this is I SING. The fourth album by Caleb Cordes out of Chicago going by the Nom De Plume Sinai Vessel, a great new personal discovery.
This is great post Nineties singer songwriting that deals with introversion and the universe. Two of the great modern Internet obsessions.
Sinai Vessel manage a great balancing act here. The songs here burrow inwards and gaze outwards. An incrediblbe balancing act which is incredibly sustained and never succumbs to self pity. This is an extrordinary record.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,853 The Howl & The Hum
'The ghost of Thelonious Monk. in my mind.'
Ambition. You can't fault youth and ambition. The Howl and The Hum's Same Mistake Twice has no lack of either. Sam Griffith's set off from his studies at York University ovet ten years back and now he's got a band of fellow travellers who tayyle like a band possessed from the off in the spirit of the likes of Arcade Fire, James and The Waterboys. It's certainly a case of hang on to your hats
It'snot a record that does anything to attempt disguise its ramshackle fervour. The band rattle like The Ant Hill Mob in Whacky Races. Barelling down the highway. Griffiths can't but help exhibit his education and the wounds, the scars of his life. This definitely strikes me as a band to see if they make their way to your doorway.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 255 A R Kane -69
A R Kane aare nor a hugely remembered band and '69 not a hugely remembered album in Rock annals. But Melody Maker eulogised the band to the high heavens at the time and the record stands up I'd say whule also remaining very much of its time. A dubby, youthful and hugely creative reminder of a different world.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 105 Villagers - That Golden Time
Villagers have been a name I've been aware of for a while. I finally got round to listen to an album. Latest record That Golden Time. Living on the earth can be a slightly disquieting thing right now, given the burning earth we are living on.
Politics and the changing planet cannot be totally ignored and avoided. We're experiencing a second Industrial Revolution and it can be frightening and disturbing. Music is often the best refuge or consolation.
Villagers pilot, Dublin's Conor O'Brien, has a distinctive voice. It may be marmite-ish, but I warmedyyo its humanity and enjoyed That Golden Time increasingly as it span. It's an eloquent poetic record, highly wordy and lyrical.
Mostly it was full of humanity and I appreciated its warmth and slightly sad wisdom. On the album cover there's's an image of a butterfly pinned. The ultimate contradiction. Midway through the record ther's a song where O'Brien slips into a vocal loop 'keep the dream alive...'. Poignant is a word I've been discussing with my students this week . It's an adjective which applies to this record. In spades.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,852 Oh Rose
More grog for Starbuck methinks. For several years now Darren Jones, First Mate of these parts has been chucking tasty morsels fot the crew of It Starts With a Birthstone to feast on at the Captain's Table. On a regular basis .
Here's one of his latest wonders. Dorothy from Portland Oregon's Oh Rose. Written in tribute to Olivia Rose, their lead singer's late mother. Yes, Rose.
There's clearly a deeply personal narrative at work here which may lead to listeners investing no end of time and emotion in here. It strukes me as a record whuch would fully reward such investment.
It's a Folky, dreamy and celebratoryexercise and tribute. Not shrouded in grief but transcendence love and joy. It's a rather lovely record actually. A close cousin of Katy J. Pearson 's Sound of the Morning. And a marvellous, emotive and layered lalbum in its own right.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 256 Lambrettas - Beat Boys in The Jet Age
Not essential. Mods at the fag end f the Mod Revival in 1983. The songs were good and the ties and suits were sharp but onlt full on revivalists get very excited about this in 2024 surely.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,816 Son Volt - Trace
Before Wilco there was Son Volt. A purer Cosmic Country place.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 106 Personal Trainer - Still Willing
A Pessimist is Never Disappointed, (the first site listed on the Blogroll to the right hand side of this page), has been a go to place for me for many years, and continues to prove so.
This morning it's guided me to Personal Trainer a Dutch Inide band based in Amsterdam. Their latest album Still Willing is steadfast Indie product, just out on the ever reliable Bella Union label.
The record does feel like product rather than a record of artistic desiderum that' needs to be '. That doesn't make it any less commendable.It's very well put tigether nuanced producton every level.
The band are a good time septet. Pavement is the most obvious comparison point which will tell you all you need to know about its ramshackle, cute charm.
This kept me company between five and six this morning until my bath was ready to run. I'm grateful to it and will be back.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,851 knitting
knitting, Toronto's finest young guitar shape throwing Young Turks have just released their debut album. Some Kind Of Heaven. It's an excellent record and a bracing start to a Tuesday morning.
Grounded on a love of sinuous, twisting Eighties and Nineties guitar melody. Pixies, Sonic Youth. Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
There's something intriguing about this winding, gnarly sound. A flirt with pain. A hint of danger. Excess. kntting are young but know exactly to do with their needles. This is a daring start. I imagine they'd be ones to catch live.
Monday, September 9, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 257 Scott Walker - Climate Of Hunter
I love Scott Walker. But I found Climate Of Hunter hard work this morning. It's plagyed by that clinical 80s production and artful detachment that gets rather wearing after a few tracks.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,817 Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Kurt Vile does a very similar thing on each succeeding record . Nowt wrong with that. The finest artists work on the premise of variation on a theme. Anyhow it certainly appeals to me. Guitar driven streams of consciousness meandering.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 107 Travis - LA Times
I always liked Travis. Essentially I think because lead singer Fran Healy was an introvert. That's how I see myself. You can sense it in his songwriting. He's an unusual one. In an industry of exteoverts and showboaters he and his band fly the flag for those that prefer to look within.
LA Times is their tenth album. It's not too different from their first three albums in texture and shape . The one they made their reputation on and established their craft. There's is a simple formula. Belle & Sebastian with the quirks ironed out and an eye on the charts,
The somgs are crafted and unfurl at their own assured pace. They're everyman anthems for the quiet thinker in front of the stage. The album is as good as their early recirds but will get less attention because that's the way the Pop World is. It's off elsehwere in search of the new.
But Healy and his bandmates Andy Dunlop, Dougie Payne and Neil Primeose are skilled artisans. I've been appreciating it a lot over the past few days and thinking about where I've been in the trwenty five years since The Man Who came out.
It was 1999 and I was off to Catania, Italy. It was a wonderful year in my life and I listened to The Man Who a lot while I was there. Teaching in a Language School. Living with Sicilian students. Writing my crap, unneeded novel.
I've recently rediscovered it and I'm preparing myself to head back to Catania at the end of September where I'll celbrate my 59th birthday and hook up with old friends again. I imagine I'll listen to LA Times while I'm there. Like The Man Who it strikes me as a grower. It's worth staying with. One of its closing tracks Naked In New York goes straight into their canon. There's plenty else here for anyone else who has ever cared for the band.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,850 Okay Kaya
Another week. Another journey. This one starts with Okay Kaya. Her fourth album has what Oh My God - That's So Me has much to recommend it. A cool step in its stride.
Saying rhat, the Bio on Spotify doesn't really do the artist favours particularly. Apparently she's 'an artist at the peak of ambivalent lyrical mastery.' You mean the words are good. Well they are actually but deserve better than this.
What I was reinded of mostly while the record unfolded was Weyes Blood. Oh My God - That's So Me has some of the wistful nostalgia for an age you may not have lived but still yearn for. This is a rather lovely, beguiling record.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 257 Van Morrison - Common One
Virtually every Van Morrison album has something goin for it. And that something is usually Van. This is mud period Van. His great work was probably mostly behind him. But he's Van Morrison so had plenty of interest in the bank.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,818 The Offspring - Americana
The Offspring frankly are pretty hard work 35 years on. I found them pretty hard work first time round. I iagined they used the term Punk to describe themselves. But they sounded like Grunge for the masses. In dreadlocks, beach shorts and tatoos. With irritating ska thythms chucked into the mix in case you weren't irritated enough aready.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2024 # 108 Astrid Sonne - Great Doubt
Astrid Sonne is a Danish composer and viola player currently living in London. Her latest record Great Doubt has a cover shot of her face. She has a nice smile and is wearing a plain gold earring.
The album is avant gard and probably won't be heard by many people. The kind who might listen and persevere will probably be prone to this kind of stuff already and more than likely have some Laurie Anderson, Yoko One and Post Punk records from back in the day when it was genuinely Post Punk.
I found this a cool lesson sat listening in the dining room of my parents house. As my dear mother cooked us all a lovely meal.I thought it was great. The meal and the record. As I listened later on in the evening, weirder and more wonderful still. My current favourite off the wall Danish viola player.
Song(s) of the Day # 3,849 Beeef
What's your Beef? Nice of you to ask. Well actually at the moment my beef us Beeef Allston, MA's finest. Their new album is an uncomplocated Indie breeze.
It made me think of Jonathan Richman's masterpiece Roadrunner. Out on the modern highway with the radio on. Guitars ringing like bells.
Not reinventing.wheels. But wheels work fine after all. Think Real Estate,Think La's. A straight talking Pavement. Mighty fine.
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,818 Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
Delightfully quirky and deteminedly eccentruc modern art pop dreaming.
500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 258 Psychedelic Furs - Forever Now
Strange kismet, I'm preparing myself to go to Teddington for a school reunion today.Seeing people who I haven't seen for over forty years. Back to the future. Psychedelic Furs oddly hailed from Teddungton themselves. A still idlyllic suburb on the commuter belt. South West London.
Forever Now, and that's a great album title and great way of approaching life if you can take was the Furs third album came out in 1982, the year I left my secondary school and moved to college and off into life. As you must if you have any sense.
It's a good Art Pop album. The Furs were un transition at this point themselves. From Cult trendies towards the American market. MTV and the open road. This is a fine set of songs. Velvet Underground for the masses. Good lyrics. Bowie moves. Bowie always casts a shadow on Richard Butler. He cast a shadow on plenty. Lots of echoes of Beatles twisted lyrics too.The lyrics and sentiments stand up.
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