Bjork - Debut

A CD I must've listened to a thousand times. When we were young it was always there when we were chilling out after a night of pills or whatever. Also nice to listen to if you were feeling a bit erm, stressed.

The jewel case of this CD is the shabbiest I've ever seen, showing evidence of use for purposes other than storage.

This is such a massive 10 of an album. Every note, word, beat is absolutely perfect. The bit recorded in the bogs of The Milk Bar is so good - so evocative and so clever.

After I had ripped all my CDs to WAV files, I mostly stopped listening to albums as complete works. This is one of those albums that , much as I like the individual songs, is even better listened to as a whole.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#Bjork
#Debut

Shannon - Let The Music Play

Last night we watched the Milli Vanilli biopic. It wasn't too bad to be honest.

The Milli Vanillis were at a party and this was playing. Honestly, what a fucking tune.

For years I made do with the dub mix on a Street Sounds Electro album, but bought this Australasian issue of the 12" a few years ago, with its nasty sleeve artwork.

I've come to appreciate 'Freestyle' synth-dance more as I've got older than I remember doing at the time, being a bit more of a soul-boy then. Shannon's vocal walks the line between futuristic robot and disco diva perfectly.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#Shannon
#LetTheMusicPlay
#Freestyle
#MilliVanilli

Tom Waits - Small Change

This is my first post on my new/old lappy with Linux Mint. Very nice it is too.

My mate Dave (RIP) was wise. Amongst other things he was the first to spot that Morrissey was becoming a wrong-un and would have this discussion with Smiths loyalists over the football, and there were a lot of them in the mid-80's over the Orient. He also liked Tom Waits and would tell me I was underestimating his music by dismissing it. Interestingly, the song that had put me off him was off this album ( [i]The Piano Has Been Drinking[ (Not Me)/i]. They used to show a video of it on the telly a lot, and it just got on my tits.

Waits had popped up in a little cameo on a Richie Cole album I'd bought, and I really liked that, and I suppose my taste for him grew from there. i must say though, I think I got into his later, noisier stuff before I got into this earlier, sing-y stuff.

I like it now, though. I haven't played this for years. It's really good.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#TomWaits
#SmallChange

John Shuttleworth - The Yamaha Years

I had How To Be Happy In A Sad Sad World as an earworm this week. I went down the shed to pull out a random selection of CDs and there was this album.

I've been trying to install Linux Mint on an old lappy, which is a task that has its frustrations, but I've found myself singing along with Shuttleworth whilst I do it, rather than throwing the fucking thing in the bin and going off to JB HiFi to buy a new one.

Graham Fellows is a comedy genius and John Shuttleworth is just such a believable, likeable and funny character.

We saw 'John Shuttleworth's Guide To Stardom' show in, I reckon 1992, at the MAC in Brum and he told Charlotte that she could be a bubbly barmaid in Emmerdale. That's a claim to fame if ever I heard one.

His films are now on YouTube and well worth watching.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#JohnShuttleworth
#TheYamahaYears
#LinuxMint
#MidlandsArtsCentre
#Birmingham
#GrahamFellows

Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight

One of my favourite bands of the 00's. Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett were on creative fire for a few years and they never really got the appreciation they deserved, I don't think, probably because they drifted between genres a bit, and people like to like what they like, you know?

This album was their swansong, released just before the split. I remember HATING The Moneymaker at the time, but it doesn't sound so bad now.

We saw them live in Birmingham when they were promoting this album, and they were really good.

I see they've recently reunited and are touring again.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#RiloKiley
#UnderTheBlacklight

Eastfield Derailed - Songs From The Scrapyard

I love Eastfield.

Every time I see one of South Australia's big trains, I think, "Ooh, Jessi'd like that."

This was their slightly more acoustic side-project, CD. Although it's really not very acoustic at all.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#EastfieldDerailed

Culture Shock - Go Wild + All The Time

In between Subhumans and Citizen Fish was Culture Shock.

Two mid-eighties UK ska-punk classics on one CD - some of Dick Lucas' best lyrical work. I know every word and note of Go Wild; All The Time less-so.

I listened to this whilst eating a Linda McCartney sausage sandwich this morning. Which is a bit of synchronicity for ya.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#CultureShock
#GoWild
#AllTheTime

Kokoro Disco-San - Isla Fantasia 12"

Decent little slab of Spanish disco fodder from 2019.

I played this to have a bit of a dance with my granddaughter.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#Disco

Charlie Parr - Roustabout

In the 2020s I developed a massive guitar crush on Charlie Parr. Man, that Piedmont-style picking was just what I was into at the time. I bought the whole back catalogue.

Went to see him a couple of times, at the Grace Emily and The Gov. He was an unassuming but extremely charismatic live performer.

Then I kind of forgot about him.

It was quite the joy re-playing this CD today. Midnight Has Come and Gone is one hell of a tune.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#CharlieParr
#Roustabout

Goldfrapp -Supernature

It's amazing how often Ooh La La pops up as incidental music on television programmes or adverts or whatever. It must've generated a fair few quid for them over the years. I think that speaks to the fact that this album still sounds pretty un-ravaged by time. Or has its sound just come back into fashion? Or was it super way ahead of its time? I dunno.

There's tunes on here that I'd forgotten that I really love, like Fly Me Away for example.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#Goldfrapp
#Supernature

P J Harvey - 4-Track Demos

Our little dog, Ginger, is very licky. After I've been for a run, she will drive me nuts by following me round, getting under my feet, determined to fill her boots (paws?) with the salty tang of my leg sweat. I mean, who can blame her? Always makes me sing Rid Of Me, though. Ginger never gets the reference, but she wasn't around in the 90s.

This album is made up of the demos for Dry. Apparently Steve Albini, who produced the album liked the demos so much he encouraged Peej to release them. It's fascinating to hear the raw threads which were woven into that album.

With PJ Harvey, less is more I think, and this is even less, and therefore, even more. If you get what I mean.

The sticker on the front of the case shows where I bought this. I never liked that shop much because the owner was a snotty, know-it-all cunt. Now, I've spent a lot of time in record shops and have met a few snotty, know-it-all cunts, but this one took the biscuit. I'm glad to see they're still open though.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#PJHarvey
#4-TrackDemos
#SteveAlbini

The All Seeing I - Pickled Eggs & Sherbert

One of my favourite albums of the last century. I love the production (which hasn't aged too badly considering), the guest vocalists (Tony Christie, Philip Oakey, Jarvis Cocker, Stephen Jones), the songs (and the variety of the music), and especially the artwork, which is outstanding, in a time of boring CD artwork. It was their only album.

A couple of years ago, I kept getting algo'd some young bloke on insta reels who was showing off because he had added a beat to the same Buddy Rich sample used on Beat Goes On, essentially re-making it. The comments were all "Look up The All Seeing I, you dumb fuck". Not from me, of course. I liked them though.

On the front of this CD is a Tower Records price sticker. Fourteen pounds forty nine pence. In 1999. Fucking hell, the robbing bastards! (The record company and Tower Records, that is - I'm sure the band never saw much of that.) That equates to AU$76.04 in today's money.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#TheAllSeeingI
#PickledEggs&Sherbert
#PhilipOakey
#JarvisCocker
#TonyChristie
#StephenJones
#BigBeat

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

Walker's final solo work.

I haven't played this for years. Oof! Its an incredible album. Sonically brilliant and challenging, managing to be melodically engaging and difficult at the same time.

The world's a worse place without Scott Walker.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#ScottWalker
#BishBosch
#4AD

Culture - Two Sevens Clash

Having a dig in the boxes of CDs for a bit of a change this week.

I rinsed my sister's copy of this LP in the seventies. Interesting how an album, so deeply roots, and dealing with Rasta doomsday prophesy and the like, could appeal so deeply to a 13 year old boy on a Romford council estate. It remains probably my favourite reggae album, from what was a golden age for reggae.

Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson at the controls, Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare (on guitar for a change), Tommy McCook...some heavy hitters right there.

This is the 1988 reissue, with the running order fucked around with and shittified artwork.

I found an original copy of the LP in a $5 box once, but it had a fucking great scratch across one side.

#NowPlaying
#CD
#Culture
#TwoSevensClash
#RootsReggae

Leroy Hutson - Closer To The Source

I was trying to find a different record when I re-discovered this on my shelf. Haven't played it for ages.

Hutson does that mid-tempo soul thing so well. On this album you get two of his biggies: Get To This (You'll Get To Me) and the title track. There's also a very cheeky rip-off of What's Going On in Where Did Our Love Go, which - if it were recorded nowadays - would need a 'contains elements of' tag. But no. Nothing.

I just need to acknowledge Hutson's slip-on, rope-soled, wedge shoes in taupe. The perfect shoe to wear with a cream three piece suit with flared trouser legs and white socks. Worn with panache on the front and back of the sleeve.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#LeroyHutson

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

One of the hangovers from the clocks going back at the weekend, is that I wake up an hour early. Whilst this sucks on a workday, today it's given me an hour to listen to this album whilst I make soy milk.

There's really nothing new to say about this album. It's a work of genius of staggering proportions.

On the sleeve notes, Cannonball Adderley is referred to by his real name, Julian. I never knew he was called Julian.

Also, this is never not funny:

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#MilesDavis
#KindOfBlue
#CannonballAdderley

Charles Mingus - Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden

The other day, I watched this film of Mingus live in 1964. I was struck by how cheerful he was, contrary to everything I'd ever read about him being a grumpy bugger. Anyway, it made me resolve to sit down and listen to this five album box set, recorded in 1973.

I bought this when it was released in 2018, and I haven't played it much, because it's not something you can just dip into, and committing to five LPs is a bit much. Still, the clocks went back last night, so I've got an extra hour on my hands.

It's a very different Mingus quintet on this album, recorded live for the local radio station, and a very different Mingus, coming out of a six year hiatus, due to poor financial, mental and physical health.

I wonder with these recordings, how they just sit there for decades without being released, and how many more are tucked away, gathering dust, or being chucked into a skip when they clear a house after the owner dies.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#CharlesMingus
#JazzInDetroit

Frank Zappa - Broadway The Hard Way

I took a bit of a lucky dip into the record shelves and this came out. I think someone left this behind in a room in our house when they fucked off owing rent and leaving us with all their junk and a dog with a septic paw.

This album is made up of live recordings from the 1988 tour. A lot of the references and the humour have dated a bit.

There's some of Zappa's work that I really like. There's a lot that leaves me cold and makes me think I should like it more. I think it's the more theatrical-sounding stuff that I like the least, and that's what this album is, basically.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#FrankZappa
#BroadwayTheHardWay

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

An album which contains three of my favourite Bowie songs: Changes, Kooks, and Queen Bitch. The rest of it's pretty decent too.

When I was in a band, the bass player's vocal mic soundcheck was Oh You Pretty Things, so it always reminds me of him, because I've heard that version far more than the original, even though he rarely got further than "...coffee-e-e."

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#DavidBowie
#HunkyDory

Richard Dawson - End Of The Middle

Richard Dawson wrote the lyrics for this album in the shed on his allotment.

He has the incredible talent of being able to capture the finest detail of life, kind of like a lyrical ASMR - he gets right in there - and applies that to the bigger picture.

Whilst not exactly a more mainstream album, there's more of those melodic flourishes which pop up and make you go, "Ooh that's a good tune" before quickly disappearing again.

This album is greatly enhanced by occasional squawking jazz clarinet.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#RichardDawson
#EndOfTheMiddle

Gavin Bryars - The Sinking Of The Titanic

On the first side of this LP, the title track, Bryars cheers us all up with his exploration of the tunes that were being played by the band who went down with RMS Titanic, and how the vibrations of the music would have travelled through the water.

However, I bought this for the B side - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, in which a recording of a homeless man singing is looped over a musical background. Years ahead of its time. Probably would be seen as a bit exploitative nowadays, but blimey, what a banger. Or, according to my wife, it's basically I Know A Song That'll Get On Your Nerves and I've just bought it to annoy her.

I heard Alexei Sayle say once that he chose this piece to be played before one of his shows and it was about 30 minutes until he managed to get a laugh out of the audience.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#GavinBryars
#AlexeiSayle

The Human League - Dare

Me and the Human League had history. My sister had owned the Being Boiled 7" and The Dignity Of Labour 12" and I had acquired the Holiday '80 EP and I'd loved them. When this came out in 1982, I'd have dismissed it as sell-out pop crap.

Years later, during the free download days, I'd nabbed their discography and really got into some of their later stuff via my ipod shuffle (some of their later stuff.)

It really took me picking this LP up on Discogs a few years to realise what a stroke of absolute genius it was. Pop genius...but genius nonetheless.

I like how it contains call-backs to their earlier, gloomier, work, but still has great big smash fucking hit pop songs.

I recently watched some youtuber re-create Don't You Want Me on his vintage synth collection, and that made me appreciate it even more.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#TheHumanLeague
#Dare
#ElectroPop
#Sheffield

Chet Baker - (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen To You

I first heard Baker's Do It The Hard Way on an NME compilation tape in the 80s and loved his woodwind-like voice.

On this album, he opts to play fewer trumpet solos, in favour of scat solos. Fair enough. He did both well.

I picked this up in Clockwork Culture in Adelaide when I was passing a couple of years ago. I've always intended to return, but never have, despite it being tantalisingly near my work.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#ChetBaker
#Jazz
#Scat

Sean Khan presents The Modern Jazz and Folk Ensemble - Volume 1

I received this LP for my birthday last year from a mate who knows I like jazz and knows I like folk.

There's nothing wrong with this album. It just leaves me a little cold and I find it hard to articulate why. I mean, what's not to like? Lovely songs given a jazz glow-up.

Perhaps it all sounds a bit JazzFM? I like it most when Khan stretches out the most (like in the soprano sax solo of Who Knows Where The Time Goes.) Perhaps it's aimed at people who don't dig so deeply into the folk ditch? I dunno.

The fact it's called Volume 1 leads you to think there's going to be a Volume 2. What'll be on there, I wonder? Moondance? Come On Eileen? I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester?

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#Jazz
#Folk
#AcidJazz

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic

"Alright lads, I've got a new song."
"Great! What's the chords?"
"All of them...all the chords. Don't worry too much about learning them though."
"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, who's that bloke with the drum kit over there?
"Ah, don't worry yourself about him."

*

Another of yesterday's purchases.

Recorded in the middle of Becker and Fagen's hostile takeover of the band, just before they gave the rest of the band the elbow, it's a primarily soft-rock affair, but still with all the chords.

Rikki Don't Lose That Number is a genius piece of soft-rock-pop, which robs the intro riff from Horace Siliver's Song For My Father, and has a slightly gaslight-y lyric. I love it. If I was a jazz musician, I'd cover the fuck out of it.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#SteelyDan
#PretzelLogic

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy

One of the things I like most about John Coltrane's music is McCoy Tyner's piano playing (Have a listen to My Favourite Things, as an example): he's got such a taught but unfettered style.

This album was his first after leaving the Coltrane fold, and his Blue Note debut. Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones and (of course) Ron Carter keep him company and match his intensity. This must've sounded fucking wild in 1967.

Alfred Lion, the bloke who started and ran Blue Note, said the album made "...absolutely no concession to commercialism..." - which initially seems like a complement, but - from the label boss - might have been the opposite.

I'd recently promised myself I was going to pick up a few more of those superb quality Blue Note reissues and this is one of them.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#McCoyTyner
#Jazz
#BlueNote

Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy

One of my favourite podcasts is We Buy Records. Each episode, some bloke comes on and reviews loads of new releases, including an in-depth critique of pressing quality etc. For a couple of years, I've listened to him go on about GZ pressings and how good they are. I bought this LP today, it's a GZ pressing, and bloody hell, it's good quality.

I've been on a bit of a Steely Dan tip lately, so had decided to fill a couple of holes in my collection. I'd had Bodhisattva (a spelling challenge) on a compilation tape years ago and liked it.

The jazzy influence is emerging on this album, even though it's still got its feet firmly in the rock-pop ballpark.

This album came out long before ecstasy the drug was widely available, and - in hindsight - the title would make you think it was a compilation of early rave classics.

Also, ecstasy is the hardest word in the world to spell. I get it wrong every time.

#NowPlaying
#Vinyl
#SteelyDan
#CountdownToEcstasy

So that's it. I've moved all my pics over from Insta. Apologies to anyone who has been bothered by my bot-factory level volume of posts.

I've dumped WhatsApp for Signal. Much better.
Insta had become a shitshow anyway, and I've been happier without it, to be honest.
Facebook, I'd left years ago, but had re-joined to get parkrun pics, but it kept suggesting people from my past who I don't like, so that's no loss (apart for the parkrun pics).
Threads was a bit shit anyway.

I can be found on Mastodon, Bluesky, or Pixelfed, if you're interested.

So that's me de-Metafied. Good riddance.