John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

What can I say about this album? I think it’s the finest piece of music ever recorded.

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#Vinyl
#JohnColtrane
#ALoveSupreme
#Jazz
#Music

Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Zuma

This album was first released 50 years ago yesterday.

It always makes me think of Zumba, which is a very different thing.

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#Vinyl
#NeilYoung
#NeilYoungAndCrazyHorse
#Zuma
#Rock
#Music

The Roots - Things Fall Apart

There’s an episode of Questlove Supreme podcast where Jill Scott is the guest.

The subject of You Got Me comes up. Turns out Scott, who co-wrote the tune and recorded it with The Roots, was walking past a hair salon and heard the tune on their radio. She was surprised to hear that Erykah Badu was singing her part. No-one had got round to telling her she'd been replaced.

The band then took her on tour to sing her part, and put her up in a halfway house in Paris whilst they stayed in the hotel across the road. They abandoned her there.

It’s quite an uncomfortable listen.

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#[url=https://friendica.world/search?tag=Vinyl]Vinyl
#TheRoots
#ThingsFallApart
#HipHop
#Music

Squarepusher X Z-Machines - Music For Robots

There’s never a dull moment in the world of Squarepusher.

This could so easily have sounded like a 1970s stereo demonstration LP – it’s those kind of sounds, but, because of Jenkinson’s need to push it until it’s a bit uncomfortable, it doesn’t

Similar to those 70’s LPs, this sounds almost as if it’s from a simpler bygone age where technology would be used to enhance the life of humans with, I dunno, a 32-fingered guitarist robot or whatever, rather than being the e-shackles that billionaire oligarchs will use to harvest our organs.

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#Vinyl
#SquarepusherXZMachines
#MusicForRobots
#Electronic
#Music

The B-52's - Mesopotamia

This was the situation The B-52’s found themselves in when they were recording this mini-album.

The whole thing was a catalogue of errors, including it being downgraded to a 12” instead of an album, because – basically – everything went to shit and they didn’t record enough music. My version, the UK first pressing, gets the guernsey as a mini-album, because they mistakenly issued it with the longer demo versions of the second side’s tracks. Fine by me.

I was surprised to read that this was a generally poorly received album, because I really like it.

I reckon I picked this up at a massive car boot sale in Devon.

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#Vinyl
#TheB52s
#Mesopotamia
#Pop
#Rock
#Music

Paul Brady - True For You

This is the second of the Paul Brady albums I bought.

There’s not really any trace of folk left here – it’s an entirely eighties rock-pop album. Not bad in itself. I had to screw on the pair of ears I use to listen to Robert Palmer’s Clues or The Colourfield.

One of the songs was covered by Tina Turner, on the Private Dancer album, no less. That must’ve kept him in coddle.

Big shout out to the most eighties sleeve ever.

Problem is: where do I file it? With the rest of Brady’s work in the folk section, or on its own in the rock/pop section?

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#Vinyl
#PaulBrady
#TrueForYou
#Irish
#Rock
#Music

Paul Brady - Hard Station

I watched a Planxty documentary on YouTube last week, which sent me down a Paul Brady rabbit hole.

I don’t know why I hadn’t done this earlier as I’ve long been a fan of his trad stuff. The live version of Arthur McBride is one of my favourite tunes. Such a unique voice and such an amazing guitarist.

So, turns out that down at the end of the rabbit hole was a discogs seller with two Irish Polydor pressings of two of his early eighties albums, going for a song. It’d be churlish not to

Hard Station really should be a much more famous album than it is. It’s choc-full of proper songs, folk-tinged rock delivered in a slightly over-marinaded eighties style, and Brady's open-tuned hybrid-picking guitar playing.

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#Vinyl
#PaulBrady
#HardStation
#Irish
#FolkRock
#Music

Daymé Arocena - Sonocardiogram

This is another of those great 2019 albums.

It’s a beautifully produced Afro-Cuban vocal jazz album, with a simple-but-complex trio of piano, bass and drums laying the foundation for her vocals.

Sadly, her next album was a bit of a pop let-down for me.

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#Vinyl
#DayméArocena
#Sonocardiogram
#Cuban
#Jazz
#Music

Sex Mad - Nomeansno

I was lucky enough to see them live in 1994 (according to my extensive internet research). Fuck, they were good.

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#Vinyl
#Nomeansno
#SexMad
#Punk
#Music

Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction To Your Mind

This was the first Swamp Dogg LP I bought. Picked up from the second hand department upstairs at Downtown Records in Romford, where I got so many great records, on the strength of the sleeve photo, I went back and bought the bulk of my Swamp Dogg collection at the next available opportunity.

This was his debut LP after assuming the Swamp Dogg identity. It’s the most (Southern) soulful - musically, at least - of his albums, and my favourite. The title track is one of my all-time favourite tunes.

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#Vinyl
#SwampDogg
#TotalDestructionToYourMind
#Soul
#Music

Coke Escovedo - Comin' At Ya!

This is one of those albums that I’ve only ever played one track of before.

It kind of goes without saying that that track is I Wouldn’t Change A Thing – Escovedo’s over-caffeinated version of Johnny Bristol’s YOLO anthem. A dancefloor-filling, toe-tapping, singalong, funky-latin-groove classic. A ten. More than a ten.

The rest of the album is a directionless disappointment, which has very very occasional moments of promise, but never quite focuses long enough in any direction to make an impression.

This is why you’ve probably never heard of any other Coke Escovedo tune.

Also, it has a ‘side A’ and ‘side one’. That’s neither big nor clever.

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#Vinyl
#CokeEscovedo
#CominAtYa
#LatinSoul
#Music

Teena Marie - Irons In The Fire

I bought this album as a cut-out at the first Rockley Sands Soul Weekender. You Make Love Like Springtime was a massive tune on that scene at that time, as was Portuguese Love (from It Must Be Magic, which I also bought whilst I was at it).

In 1991, me and a couple of mates went to the Hammersmith Odeon to see her live, when she was touring to promote Ivory. When the show started, there was this amazing voice, but where was Teena? The voice was coming out of a very different-looking older woman in a blue-satin jump-suit and baseball cap, playing guitar. Turns out Teena had been using old photos on her record sleeves for years.

She was fucking great though.

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#Vinyl
#TeenaMarie
#IronsInTheFire
#RockleySandsSoulWeekender
#Soul
#Music

Eryka Badu - Worldwide Underground

I fully intended to make a World Vegan Day post this year, but had quite a busy weekend what with one thing and another (eating alfalfa sprouts and picking through my lentils for stones), so didn’t get round to it.

Here we have Badu’s third album (and, I reckon, my favourite). Funky neo-soul, with a slew of the finest of R&B and hip-hop guests.

Powered by plants.

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#Vinyl
#ErykahBadu
#WorldwideUnderground
#NeoSoul
#Soul
#WorldVeganDay
#Vegan
#Music

Bobby Womack - Someday We'll All Be Free

A recent post set me off trying to think of my top five soul albums. The top four is easy. And three out of the four are on Beverly Glen.

This isn’t going to be in anyone’s top five. It’s an album of tracks swept up from the cutting room floor after the recording of The Poet and The Poet II albums and released by Otis Smith without Womack’s consent.

Despite that, it’s not a bad album. It’s certainly better than some of the stuff he released in the next few years.

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#Vinyl
#BobbyWomack
#SomedayWellAllBeFree
#BeverlyGlenMusic
#Soul
#Music

Swamp Dogg - Have You Heard This Story??

An album firmly rooted in rhythm & blues, which still displays Swamp Dogg’s usual eccentricity and bile.

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#Vinyl
#SwampDogg
#HaveYouHeardThisStory
#RhythmAndBlues
#Music

Steeleye Span - Below The Salt

English folk, with a focus on the mediaeval, and everything on overdrive a bit. Gadzooks – it’s fucking great!

And...Gaudete.

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#Vinyl
#SteeleyeSpan
#BelowTheSalt
#Folk
#EnglishFolk
#FolkRock
#AlanPartridge
#Music

Vin Garbutt - Little Innocents

If I described this 1983 album to you, thematically, you’ll see what I mean. It has a cover which is the painting called The Slaughter of the Innocents which shows children being massacred by troops, and has songs about American cultural imperialism, spina bifida and the rights of the disabled, domestic violence, homelessness/alcoholism, unemployment, pollution, and civil rights.

Suck my folky dick, Conflict.

Anyway, the album ends with a big, all encompassing, song about all the wrongs of the world. Think From The Cradle To The Grave which turns everything into a pro-life argument. Fuck. Got that wrong. Haven't been that wrong about a song since I thought Abortion by Black Uhuru was pro-choice!

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#Vinyl
#VinGarbutt
#LittleInnocents
#Folk
#EnglishFolk
#FolkRock
#Music

Steeleye Span - Parcel Of Rogues

Someone really needed to reign in the guitarists during the recording of this. Oh, and they’ve brought the drummer back.

I’m a sucker for Hares On The Mountain, and this album contains my least favourite version yet.

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#Vinyl
#SteeleyeSpan
#ParcelOfRogues
#Folk
#EnglishFolk
#FolkRock
#Music

Steeleye Span - Ten Man Mop Or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again

I remember, years ago, I was driving home from work in a Mitsubishi Mirage with an unnecessarily loud stereo, playing a ripped CD of Steeleye Span tunes with no track listing. It struck me that musically, the song Gower Wassail, which kicks off this album, could be NoMeansNo, with its taut stabs. Think, It's Catching Up.

I’ve pondered this now and then over the intervening years, but have never known which particular Steeleye Span tune it was. Now I know.

This has made me want to listen to NoMeansNo.

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#Vinyl
#SteeleyeSpan
#TenManMopOrMrReservoirButlerRidesAgain
#Folk
#EnglishFolk
#FolkRock
#NoMeansNo
#Music

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall

2019 was a great year for music, and when this came out I thought it was truly amazing. I raved about it. Even in such a strong field, it stood out – it sounded so fresh and exciting.

Listening to it today, whilst it has its moments, it’s not an album I play often. And that’s because it just doesn’t sound as good as it did then. Let me think why that is. Perhaps it was just of its time (and there's nothing wrong with that.) Certainly, it all sounds a bit long-winded.

You know, in 2019, there was a tendency for albums to sprawl over four sides of 180g vinyl. If there's one thing prog-rock has taught us: more isn't necessarily more. Now, vinyl is made of oil, and oil is much more expensive. Hopefully, as a result, artists will be forced to employ a bit more economy in their work.

Maybe it’ll come into its own again in another few years.

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#Vinyl
#ChristianScottaTundeAdjuah
#AncestralRecall
#Jazz
#Music

Richard Dawson - 2020

Richard Dawson is one of those people who I listen to and have no idea how they do any of it: his process, his lyrics, his playing style...none of it.

Because I've spent so much time playing the last couple of albums, I've neglected the earlier ones. I'd forgotten how good this is.

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#Vinyl
#RichardDawson
#2020
#AvantGardeFolk
#Music

Rick James - Cold Blooded

Old mate Rick had become somewhat formulaic by this, his seventh album. I still find that formula quite agreeable though.

The album features guests like Smokey Robinson, Grandmaster Flash and actor Billy Dee Williams (you’ll now him when you see him).

When the album was written, James was in a relationship with actress Linda Blair, who had a termination of pregnancy without telling him. The title track sees James having a sook about that, or some might say, exorcising his demons.

Also, TIL Linda Blair's a vegan🥦✊.

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#Vinyl
#RickJames
#ColdBlooded
#Funk
#LindaBlair
#Music

Steeleye Span - Please To See The King

When they recorded the first album, Steeleye Span all lived in the same house, like a proper band. This, rather predictably, ended in tears and bitter acrimony and a corporate re-structuring.

The most noticeable changes on this, the second album, are the absence of a drummer and the presence of the then emerging English folk ledge Martin Carthy, whose presence is immediately apparent.

I wouldn’t mind betting that Planxty were listening to this, pointing at the record player and exclaiming “That!”

I feel like I’m going to have to buy the next album now.

The sleeve of this album is a hessian effect. This sent me down a rabbit hole trying to remember which 90’s Scottish punk band released an album with a real hessian sleeve. Found it.

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#Vinyl
#SteeleyeSpan
#PleaseToSeeTheKing
#MartinCarthy
#FolkRock
#EnglishFolk
#Folk
#Sedition
#Music

Airto - I'm Fine, How Are You?

I put this on so I could play along with Celebration Suite on children's percussion instruments with my granddaughter.

It’s not until you try to play along with it that you realise just how complex a tune it is.

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#Vinyl
#Airto
#airtomoreira
#ImFineHowAreYou
#CelebrationSuite
#Brazilian
#JazzFusion
#Music

Bobby Womack - The Poet II

It’s a good indication that a record is one of your foundation tunes, if you can remember being stopped in your tracks the first time you heard it.

I was working overtime on a Saturday morning in 1984. My boss used to go home and leave me to it and I’d change the radio station from Radio 2 (which was even worse on Saturdays than the rest of the week) on to Radio London to hear Robbie Vincent. I remember standing there, completely blown away by Surprise, Surprise.

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#Vinyl
#BobbyWomack
#ThePoetII
#Soul
#Music

Steeleye Span - Hark! The Village Wait

A 1970s take on English folk, with a version of The Blacksmith and Blackleg Miner.

Maddy Prior has a wonderful voice.

Their wikipedia page actually says, 'Not to be confused with Steely Dan.'

Also, shout out to the shittiest, most low-effort record sleeve ever. Jesus.

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#Vinyl
#SteeleyeSpan
#HarkTheVillageWait
#Folk
#Music

John Coltrane - Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album

My favourite Coltrane playing is when he’s on the soprano saxophone, and there’s lots of it to be had here.

The fact that this recording sat in someone’s cupboard, unreleased for 40 years is just incredible, as is the fact that the record label destroyed the masters to make some room. Can you imagine?

“It’s looking a bit cluttered in here.”
“Yeah, throw those unreleased John Coltrane master tapes in the skip.”

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#Vinyl
#JohnColtrane
#BothDirectionsAtOnce
#Jazz
#Music

D'Angelo - Brown Sugar

I was genuinely saddened to hear of the death of D’Angelo earlier this week. He was such a talent.

His three albums are all wonderful. He managed to cover a lot of ground within so few releases. This, his debut, was the most traditional and melodic of the three.

Rest in peace.

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#Vinyl
#DAngelo
#BrownSugar
#NeoSoul
#Music

McCarthy - Banking, Violence and the Inner Life Today

We kept a bottle of champagne in our fridge for years, ready to pop it open when Thatcher died. When it finally happened, we woke up in the middle of the night in Australia, popped that fucking cork and danced around the kitchen.

This album would easily be in my all time top ten, despite it opening with a sample of Thatcher’s nasty, shrill voice, which always sets my teeth on edge.

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#Vinyl
#McCarthy
#Indie
#BankingViolenceAndTheInnerLifeToday
#Music

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused

I got this in 2014 when it came out. I was the father of teenage kids at that time, and the house was sometimes like a teenagers’ doss-house. It’s all well and good being the house where the kids and their mates choose to hang out, but fucking hell, you wish they’d all fuck off somewhere else sometimes.

In order to clear the house of kids, I’d just play this.

Now they've grown up and left home, I’ve found that the empty-nester version of this is upsetting the dogs. Whilst I’ve been playing this, they’ve both had a good bark at the front door and are prowling round on high alert. I don’t know of another record that has this effect on them.

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#Vinyl
#ScottWalkerandSunnO)))
#Soused
#ScottWalker
#SunnO)))
#Music