It Starts With a Birthstone...

  'I wandered out in the world for years. You just stayed in your room. I saw the crescents. You saw the whole of the moon..'  The W...

  Matt Berry was not a musician or artist I was aware of until late yesterday. I spotted a post on social media, from RPM Records . My favou...

 

  Spacemen 3 didn't get much recogniition durung theur run. I retrospect they were largely a trial run for the great Spiritualised recor...

  Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds here they come again. Wherever I go there. Like monstrous portents of bad faith. A black cat zig zagging acr...

  Bobby Gillespie made his way into the public spotlight during 1985. Insect royalty, a spindly but spiky vision of confrontation and ennui....

  Hold the front page folks! It's the weekend. The sun, albeit a sickly one, has risen in the Newcastle heavens and I'm giving the l...

 

  'The songs have titles that read like paperback novels... Gary Brooker is extremely fond of descending chord structures and slow tempo...

  Where David Roback went from Raun Parade. On his way to She Hangs Brightly and Hope Sandoval. Kendra Smith erstewhile bassist of Dream Syn...

  The Cure were getting into their stride in 1985. Moving away from the suburbs and towards tour buses on endless slogs across American plai...

  Friday morning. My bath is running, and I have a new C Duncan album to listen to as I make my way to a busy day at my desk.. Planning and ...

 

  I have this record on vinyl. In some ways I wish I had all of the Bug Thief albums on vinyl. Their's is one of the great journeys of m...

  'How does it feel. To be on your own. With no direction home. Like a complete unknown. Like a rolling stone.' I went to see the la...

  The second Dinosaur Jr. albym in a row on this series.A great record from three dysfunctional but brilliant young geeks. A telling record ...

  You had to be into Talking Heads if you were coming of age in the early Eighties. They were the great educators. About music. About life. ...

  Petite Amie ! Little Friend !. Hey my French is pretty basic but I have my moments. Petite Amie c'est es mon nouveau meilleur amie. Th...

  Dinosaur Jr were always an incredubly treasurable proposition and remain so. 

 

  One thing it's difficult to keep track of is just how fast bands and music moved back in the day. A Quick One is The Who's second ...

  'Look yonder.'  The stagecoach, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' dark nocturnal vision was building. Fuelled by nicotine, cheap ...

  Garth Hudson. Dead and gone, A new American Political Administration for those who can bear to watch. For those who can't hear are Gly...

 

  The reason I write a blog like this. To listen to excellent, inspired and endlessly creative records like these. 

 

  ________________________________________________________________________________ 'Echo and the Bunnymen embodied all the archetypes of...