I have my record player back after six months or so out of service. This is a blessing. I also have a vinyl copy of this majestic recor. So I put it on,
“Memory is what we are. Your very soul and your very reason to be alive are tied up in memory.” Nick Cave
I have my record player back after six months or so out of service. This is a blessing. I also have a vinyl copy of this majestic recor. So I put it on,
I've saved this chapter for a week as I've just been up to Glasgow on a short holiday break combined with a bit of work to keep the bank balance ticking over. It was my first visit and frankly I fell in love with the place in a way that I rarely do. It's an enchanting, magical city with a gritty charm. I could easily move there and I don't think I'lll say that about many places before my time is up.Music is not the least of the places charms, though there are other factors for its appeal
Al Stewart's talent is one I appreciate more with the passing years. A singer songer with a taste and touch for times gone past, he's not an artist who will become fashionable again if he ever was. But he has a melodic and melancholic gift and flourush that are rare and treasurable. The title track on this is the song he'll remain best known for.
It's apt that I've fallen under the sell of Dreamers On The Run, the latest album by The BMX Bandits this morning.I've just come back from a short holiday break in Glasgow this week. It's the city the Bandits mecurial leader and visionary Duglas T. Stewart is most readily associated with. A place where the musical scenes and sensibility he was a mover and shaker within still looms large.
Dreamers On The Run is in every respect a tribute and addition to the seam of music which Stewart emreged from at the end of the Eighties. The sleeve of the album here depicts him in bearded reverie, and serves up reminders of visionary mavericks of the Sixiues. Scott Walker, Dion, Van Dyke Parkes and Del Shannon spring to mind.
The record does not shame comparisons such as these. A Naive Art album in the tradition of The Modern Lovers, Jad Fair, Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian and The Delgados, it's an LP of continual childlike wonder and beauty.
Not for all tastes perhaps. Best enjoyed and appreciated if you have wimpy C-86 blood flowing through your veins. I'm a man of such DNA and this was an excellent start to my Friday morning. It's surely Stewart's masterpiece. I imagine he's incredibly pleased with this, and with very good reason. Dream on Duglas. You fragile pearl. .
PJ Harvey records are always a ride.None more so than this, her fifth, from 2000. Made after six months spent in New York City and it shows. An urban, jagged, rounded and typically intense experience.
I have a lot of time for the Buckingham / Nicks era Mac. The final album of the classic line up is perhaps not the record of theirs I'd choose but their are sparks of the old magic.
There was once a time when men were not afraid to harmonise in groups with out fear of being labelled wimps or having their sexuality questioned. The Everly Brothers, Doo Wop Groups. The Four Seasons.Beach Boys, Beatles.
Then a bit of a lull. Men became men from 1966 on for the most part onward. Bared their chests and projected their testosterone at the babes in the front row. You had the Bee Gees. Then Punk. Hardly the high point of men harmonising sweetly together.
Early R.E.M. brought back some of that pure beauty back.Then twenty years or more onwards the likes of Midlake and Fleet Foxes were not afraid to lay bear their souls in the quest for beauty.
Californians Local Natives have been plying this seam for the best part of twenty years. On latest album But I'll Wait For You they revel in this fragile sensitivity and frankly it's all rather lovely.
Esbjorn Svenson died tragically young, at 44. An ambassador of Jazz and this record, (from 2002) is a fine way to begin an appreciation.
I'm reasonably open minded. But Pink Floyd is generally the line in the sand I refuse to cross.. I couldn't start listening to this. I was enjoying my day and planned to continue doing so..
There are worse things to do first thing in the morning than becoming acquainted with a Tom Waits record that you haven't heard before. He remains consistent to his beautiful, crooked vision. He's an artist, in the truest meaning of hte word.
A very Turkish vision the album sleeve. A sultry looking lady in a flowing dress gazing out at you alluringly, not to say seductively. Talk about Turkish delight.!
The latest album Her Dem Akustik matches up to its sleeve.Full of the mystery of the near orient.A veteran of the Turkish music scene and she's on majestic form here.
Felt are a band that had to await decades before they received their due. Albums like 1984's Splendor of Fear seem lke brilliantly realised, crystalline products four decades on. They've been given the repackaging and rereleased process they richly deserve four years down the line. That's little consolation to Lawrence and guitar visionary Maurice Deebank I imagine. Where are their mansions? Their swimming pools?.
Down On The Upside is a perfectly respectable follow up to a world-slaying album. It's the same formula really as Soudgarden had already deployed to such good effect on Superinknown. They're a state of the art killing machine. The best at what they do. Thirty years on Superinknown is the record you need. In an eat all you can dinery, Down On The Upside is here for those who are not sated and need second servings. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of it this morning without being convinced that it had anything that we hadn't already experienced with their career defining album.
Almost a composite, dream sound of a certain sound. A dream marriage of a particular sensibility dreamed up on the Internet.
Cocteau Twins meet Sundays, Cranberries, Alvvays and Darling Buds on a dream date and settle down n the suburbs to make records together.
Definirely ones to watch. They're a managers or record pluggers vision of hapiness. A perfectly formed sound and look ready for in stores and the road.
Ryan Adams became an 'unperson' for while. One of those 'cancelled' celebrities. A dilemma quite of his own making. It doesn't stop his body of work being any less remarkable.
Strange that I should be in Glasgow listening to Snow Patrol. It was a T in The Park broadcast where I first set my eyes on the band. Playing a headlining slot in a large tent. Their moment of arrival in front of a sea of ecstaic believers.
It was quite a memorable moment. Even if at this distance, the music from their breakthrough record, 2006's Eyes Open, sounds a mite 'generic windswept.'
An interesting and different start to the week for me. Perched at the end of a hotel bed in Glasgow, preparing for my online lesson later this morning. Listening to an interesting and altogether charming new record too.
Steven R. Smith's Olive. An orchestral and baroque instrunebtal chamber piece. I found it strangely reminiscent of the music to the magical childhood TV programmes I used to watch open jawed back in my youth.Noggin The Nog came to mind. .
.Evocative winding instrumental pieces that allow your mind to explore the vistas the music plots. Verdant winding paths. Seas and valleys. A great start to the working week
Record Store Day remains an event for the likes of me for whom music remains a central preoccupation. Though there's rarely much that appeals to me, I'm not that kind of obsessive and I probably have enough records in my flat to keep me going for the rest of my days, it's good to show willing.
So I showed my face briefly at RPM Records yesteray. My favourite record shop in Newcastle. Where everybody knows my name.To chat to Rich an Craig who were extremely bust and listen to the DJs selections, yesterday something from Donal Fagen's Nightfly, always a pleasure.
Browsing through the rows of special releases, there was inevirably something which caight my fancy. Yesterday Pat Thomas, with Jazz and Bossa Nova classics arranged and conducted by Lalo Schiffre from 1962. On Green Vinyl no less. I still feel I need souvenirs from these occasions. .
Written a while back:
Midnight Oil and their earnest lead singer Malcolm Garrett were everywhere in 1987. They were well meaning but Garrett sounded like he was gargling grit to me. Anyway I had The Triffids and Born Sandy Devotional to feed my widescreen dreams.
The video of Chris Martin making his way down down a beach and mewling the lyrics of Yellow at the camera was a defining three minutes as the millenium turne. It was everywhere and frankly I found it wet and unappealing in the extreme. Debut album Parachutes had moments that were more to my liking. They were highly skilled craftsemn for the road they chose. Stadium Rock. It's not my favourite thing. I generally prefer the support band.
There are some bands I ujst can;t get on with and Grateful Dead are generally one of them. The thought of their endless and often exceptionally stoned live performances are enough to instil actual fear in me. But I gave Europe '72 a listen. Or at leas some of it. It's a set of live performances recorded across various venues in erm.... Europe in erm 1972. I enjoyed the groove they built and sustained.Enjoyed the mood. I didn't listen to the whole thing. You don't really need to in orer to pick up the vibe. I suspect a joint might have enhanced the experience.
This looks like becoming Darren Jones week here on It Starts with a Birthstone.. I may not be entirely exaggerating. The last two Songs of the Days have been Darren suggestions.
This is the third in a row and the best so far as well as be one of the best albums I've heard all year . So we may well keep going until the man runs out of ideas. He doesn't seem to. Well it makes things very easy for me.
This. Michigan songwriter Conor Lynch's fourth album Slow Country is a record that attains classic status almost within the first five minutes of its run. Sometimes you just need the first song to know you're on a good road. .
This is a melifluous and relaxing Folk Rock record in the classic tradition. Think Nick Drake most obviously. But then think Midlake, Kevin Morby, Phosphorescent. Any of those people, R.E.M's Find The River. Conor Lynch is not an artist and this is not a record that is shamed by such esteemed company.
One to listen to with a cat on your lap. or else a blanket. This establishes and maintains a pace and momentum of its own that I suspect you might want to stay with it, Thanks Darren. This is a peach..
To Hull and back. Throbbing Gristle. Mick Ronson & The Spiders From Mars. The Housemartins. Beutiful south. Philip Larkin. Everything But The Girl/.Hull was becoming a City of Culture and choosing Brexit.Looking for toutes out of Post Industrial decline.
The soundtrack to the quite gamechanging Twin Peaks. Still intrigues.To listen to this is always to let yourself go. The dark romance of the screen. And the night.
I've written about this excellent, landmark record recently on another of my process of endless countdowns and count up lists that I conduct on here for want of anything better to do. But life is a process of journeys if it's anything and it's Friday morning and I was more than happy to relive this particular one just now before heading to the pool. Damon Gough has a particular vision and it's best experienced here.The Hour of Bewilderbeast lasts jyst Nort of an hour and encompasses home, obsession fear, loneliness. The whole gamut of human emotions. And finds its way to love.
Pop bands don't get better than The B 52s. Cosmic Thing was their quite unexpected late Eighies rennaissance. So hurry up. And bring your jukebox money.
Post Rock. Sunny Post Rock. I loves me a bit of Sunny Post Rock. Especially of the Instrumental sort occasionlly. Thanks again to Darren Jones. Fisherman on the High Seas of Alternative Music. His latest recommendation.
I don't generally like Instrumental Rock Music. I'm a bit impatient. I'm usually waiting for the vocals to kick in.To colour things in . To give me narrative or emotional direction. In the case of Dog Unit's At Home I'll make an exception. There is enough nuance and thought in their playing to give the listener all the direction he or she might need.
At Home has great track titles Concrete Barges on The Banks of The Thames. When Do We Start Fighting. John X Kennedy. So far, so intriguing. And the tracks are even more intriguing.
Who needs Ian Curtis. Stuart Staples. Laetitia Sadler. Or whoever. Great as all of these people are. But Dog Unit give you free rein. To think what you want to. To encourage you to dream. I like bands that do that.
In short I thoroughly enjoyed At Home and I sign up for Dog Unit's fanclub and look forward to them coming to my hometown. They're my new favourite Post Rock Instrumental band. Everybody needs one. Just as much as they need a Shady Lane.
Karl Witney gets off the Megabus from Leeds to The Steel City and wanders off in search of the sound of Sheffield. Inevitably he ponders The Human League, Heaven 17 and Cabaret Voltaire. Pulp. Less so Def Leppard. The spell cast by A Clockwork Orange which is echoed in Sheffield's grim urbn landscape.
A 1989 album on 4AD from Kitchens of Distinction a London threepiece that Melody Maker championed fror a while. Love is Hell is a fragile curiosity worthy of forty minutes of your time. Pained, introverted vocals and a jangling, delicate sound.
Not for the first, and I imagine not for the last on here, I'm grateful for Darren Jones, my first mate on here, for coming up with a whole list of recommendations for my listening at a moment when I was running dry of inspiration.,
Song of the Day is a inportant feature of this blog to me and I like to devote it for the most part to new releases. Given the way that the internet has broken open things for the avid listener, there is no end of listening choices for the avid and engaged listener now. It's just a matter of keeping an eye open for the delicacies an training the prow of your boat in on them.
This morning Virgo by Band Warmer out of Kingsport, Tennessee.They tell us there that 'We make Music.' They do indeed. It's worthy of notice. Impossibly young according to Darren. Immpossibly smart according to a listen of Virgo.
I'm running across any number of intriguing Bedroom Indie records coming out of smalltown America this year. The heartlands and High Schools still dream,
This is a delightful, introverted, essentially romantic album album. Guitars and sighing. Heartfelt vocals and playing. Charming record. Thanks Darren. Onwards. To breakfast and the working day..