Now when I was a young boy...


Muddy Waters - Profile

Back when I was 16, I was obsessed with blues. I'd just left school and was living in the family home on a council estate in Romford. Heroin had become quite popular at the time, and I was on the top deck of a 294 bus, chatting to one of the local heroin-enthusiasts, who had been in the year above me in school. He was kind enough to give me a blim of Red Leb (a popular type of hash at the time) to try for the first time.

I spent a Saturday afternoon, alone in the house, face down on my bed, absolutely munted, with side A of this album playing over and over again on my Fidelity record player, with the arm up, and having a wonderful time. Happy days.

I got to see Muddy Waters at the Capital Jazz Festival in 1981 and he was fantastic.

I reckon the next time I got stoned was at a football match and I spent the first half of the match sitting down on the crowded terraces like a twat.

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A chimerical bombination in 12 bursts


Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come

There's a lot to love about this album: I love how the title is a nod to Ornette Coleman, I love how they go all angular-drum-&-bass-&-squelchy 303 at times, I love how they nick Sonny Rollins' saxophone melody from Alfie's Theme for the riff of Liberation Frequency, I love the flawless production and use of samples.

It's no surprise that it was too much for a typically conservative punk/hardcore scene when it came out, so went down like the proverbial fart in a spacesuit. But it was a grower, not a show-er, as they say.

I was in the cinema a couple of years ago, watching Triangle of Sadness, and the puking scene used New Noise as its soundtrack. I fucking loved that.

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What do you think of the programme so far?


Carter U.S.M. - Rubbish 12"

Another earworm of 35-odd years' duration has been Rubbish.

The lyrics on this are *chef's kiss*, one of their best.

Carter always chose their cover versions well and one of the tracks on the B-side of this is Rent, which I much prefer to the original.


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Give me some static!


The universe is waiting for you


Angela Bofill - Angie

This was Bofill's debut album, after GRP had taken her under their wing, and features all the GRP regulars plus a nine-piece horn section, a fourteen-piece string section, and nine-piece choir. I'm definitely not suggesting cocaine was involved, but there was a lot around in 1978.

The result is a sort of Nuyorican-soul album that exudes competence and lets Ange show off her clear-as-a-bell vocal chops nicely.

I picked this up for a dollar in a Vinnies in (possibly Newtown) Sydney a few years ago.


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Now that my heart is filled with your sweet inspiration


Randy Brown - Intimately

RIP Randy Brown

Randy Brown was the owner of a superb soul voice. He uses it to its full extent on this 1979 release, which I'd bought on the strength of hearing Dr Bob Jones playing I Was Blessed (The Day I Found You) on an old pirate radio tape I'd dug out.

This album is choc-full of Southern soul bangers, with the whole thing being written and produced by Homer Banks and Chuck Brooks.

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A seething hatred grows


Spitboy - "True Self Revealed"

As a rule, the more metal-influenced punk is, the less I like it. A double-kick pedal is the ultimate-ick for me. Spitboy were about as un-metal as you can get, and I like them a lot.

Raucous, a bit rough round the edges, musically-liberated...they pack a big punk rock punch.

Their lyrics are exceptional: raging, articulate and poetic, and printed in Spanish, French and English in the big thick accompanying booklet.

I also like the big stamp on the dust sleeve.


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