Erasure The Innocents

Erasure The Innocents

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Having built up a strong fan base and back catalogue in just a couple of years, Erasure turned into a full-blown pop phenomenon thanks to The Innocents, winning the British equivalent of the Grammy for album of the year and spawning a big American hit single, "Chains of Love." Stephen Hague took over as producer from Flood, perhaps smoothing out some points for a more general mainstream appeal but otherwise letting the strengths of the songs speak for themselves. It begins with another single and stone-cold classic, "A Little Respect," with a charging beat/acoustic guitar/synth arrangement and a flat-out fantastic performance from Bell, especially on the ascending chorus. Guest performances help flesh out a number of songs quite well. Wheeler and others reappear on "Yahoo!," a gospel-touched (musically and lyrically) number, while noted session performers the Kick Horns add just that to the "please come back" punch of "Heart of Stone." On their own, though, the duo continues in the same general vein of earlier releases while the Erasure formula of dance/synth/soul was now clearly established through and through, thankfully the combination of slight variety and overall performance prevents the album from dragging. The Innocents' ballads are perhaps a touch prettier than the lyrics would make them out to be, but if the sheen of songs like "Hallowed Ground" cuts away from the sometimes blunt images of poverty and hopelessness Bell calls up, the music still has a solid power. The CD version adds a fine original, "When I Needed You," and a fun cover of the Phil Spector/Ike and Tina Turner classic "River Deep, Mountain High."

Killing Joke The Peel Sessions 1979 - 1981

Killing Joke The Peel Sessions 1979 - 1981

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A dream release for the Killing Joke faithful, this 2008 compilation collects the first four sessions the band did for the legendary BBC Radio DJ John Peel plus a bonus session recorded for Richard Skinner's program. The years covered are 1979 to 1981, so this isn't the usual career-spanning Peel comp, but it does follow the band as they evolve from a tribal post-punk unit that could have been signed to the esoteric Factory to an apocalyptic metal group that often landed in the pages of metal mag Kerrang!. Raw versions of the big, important numbers from the time -- "Wardance," "Complication," "The Fall of Because," and "Tension" -- are all here to illustrate the change. These under-produced alternatives either equal or better their official album counterparts but what's revelatory are the rare numbers like "Malicious Boogie" where the band play cowbell-driven, no wave funk as if they were Medium Medium or Liquid Liquid. Liner notes from Alex Paterson, who was a Killing Joke roadie before he was the Orb, speak to these experimental years with stories of guitarist Geordie's Wall of Sound and bassist Youth playing the "Rapper's Delight" 12" repeatedly. While it's a sliver of the longstanding band's history, anyone with a taste for their early years will be thrilled by this thorough, well-presented set.

Thomas Dolby The Golden Age Of Wireless [Collector's Edition]

Thomas Dolby The Golden Age Of Wireless [Collector's Edition]

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Talk to anyone who was the right age in the early '80s for both pop radio and the dawn of MTV, and "She Blinded Me with Science" will inevitably come up. The most famous song from the reissued version of the album, it's a defiantly quirky, strange number that mixes its pop hooks with unusual keyboard melodies pitched very low and a recurrent spoken word interjection ("Science!") from guest vocalist/video star Magnus Pike. To Thomas Dolby's credit, the rest of the album isn't simply that song over and over again, making The Golden Age of Wireless an intriguing and often very entertaining curio from the glory days of synth pop. Part of the album's overall appeal is the range of participating musicians, no doubt thanks in part to Dolby's own considerable range of musical work elsewhere. "She Blinded Me with Science" itself features Kevin Armstrong on guitar, Matthew Seligman on bass, mega-producer Robert "Mutt" Lange on backing vocals, and co-production with Tim Friese-Greene. Elsewhere, Andy Partridge contributes harmonica, Mute Records founding genius Daniel Miller adds keyboards, and Lene Lovich adds some vocals of her own. The overall result is still first and foremost Dolby's, with echoes of David Bowie's and Bryan Ferry's elegantly wasted late-'70s personas setting the stage. If anything, The Golden Age of Wireless is the friendlier, peppier flip side of fellow Bowie obsessive Gary Numan's work, where the melancholy is gentle instead of harrowing. Dolby's melodies are sprightly without being annoyingly perky, his singing warm, and his overall performance a pleasant gem. Especially fine numbers include the amusing romp "Europa and the Pirate Twins" and the nostalgia-touched, just mysterious enough "One of Our Submarines.

The Sugargliders A Nest With A View

The Sugargliders A Nest With A View

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One of the more prolific bands in the second wave to appear on the seminal U.K. indie pop label Sarah Records, the Sugargliders were two brothers (Josh and Joel Meadows) who hailed from Australia and blanketed the shops with an impressive run of singles. Filled with witty and heartfelt lyrics, catchy minor-key melodies, and Josh’s achingly pure vocals, the duo’s songs fit in perfectly with the Sarah esthetic but also added twists like the occasionally danceable beat and a sometimes very forceful and direct lyrical/vocal delivery. This collection gathers up songs from the six singles they released for Sarah between 1992 and 1994, and adds a few from the singles done for Australian label Summershine in 1990-1991 and the U.K. label Marineville in 1991. While completists may have wished for a double-disc collection that had everything the band put out during this time span, the 20 tracks selected do a fine job of summing up the thoughtful, heart-rending pop charms the duo unfailingly displayed throughout their short career.

Spring Heel Jack Disappeared

Spring Heel Jack Disappeared 

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Disappeared is the sound of drum'n'bass dissected, blended with a spy movie score, and given the acidic, demonic twist of a carnival sideshow. It's also Spring Heel Jack's best album. It's no surprise that the album draws comparisons to John Barry film scores, as Spring Heel Jack seems to consist of card-carrying members of a 007 fan club, but they pull out all the stops here, producing muscular spy movie music that seems extracted from Hades itself. Devastating, bleak, and intensely powerful melodies wail and storm, jazzy fuzz-box jungle notes twist in the air, and trumpets seem to assert that the forces of darkness have been let loose. Ambient noodlings and screeches cause tension and chills. "Mit Wut" is ominous and fierce big-band electronica. Sci-fi alarms ring out on "Galina." One wonders if the music is meant to be industrial-dance-jazz or meant to conjure a techno-spy-stompfest. Unlike the music of spy aficionado Squarepusher, there's little whimsy in these 11 songs. While big beat leanings occasionally crop up, as on "I Undid Myself," the tone of the album remains relentlessly, compellingly bleak. There are moments when the duo seems to strive for chill-out vibes and when evocative violins inject grace and beauty, but the album never gives up the tinkered madness at its base. "Wolfing" concludes the album perfectly, raging aggressively like a massive steam train headed toward oblivion. Noisy, stark, and brimming with inventive, confused electronics, Disappeared is Spring Heel Jack's masterwork.

A

Blue Orchids The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain)

Blue Orchids The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain)

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As a debut album, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain), is a kaleidoscopic assemble of emotional nuances, cathartic clear-outs and encriptive scriptures of the soul. As an album, it is hermetically hallucinogenic, which day-trips into a lucid dream, whilst alternating between different realms of consciousness. As a front man, Bramah, epitomises all things mysterious, modest and emotionally driven and through his many incarnations has maintained a compelling mystique. From the unadulterated punk delivery, to the melancholic musings, to the chimerical crooning, Brannah has a voice which resonates and streams a whole spectrum of emotions. A diverse guitarist and accomplished songwriter, it is through his collaborations with Baines that The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) is emotionally enriched and unconventionally pitched. A free-spirit and forward thinking artist, Baines is a keyboard whizz, whose swirls, whirls and neon trails add so much magic and ethereal beauty to this delightfully dark piece of art. What could be a cosmic cousin of The Monochrome Set, The Stranglers, The Velvet Underground, Television and The Stooges, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) is criminally underrated, but somehow belongs in an esoteric cult or should be kept in a vault with all things sacred or secretly influential. It’s an album which sees the reunion of Bramah and Bains ignite a rebirth, and whose combatant spirit is strengthened through the creative collective of Blue Orchids. It is also an album which resides in its own age of enlightenment, amongst the pagan poets, misfits and new-wave nomads. Where 1982 was a year of defined Indie records, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) was of no fixed abode and whose fluidity of post-punk, neo-psychedelia, garage art-rock, Proto-Punk, ethereal new wave and token industrial rock, created an incandescent, emotionally raw album which was ahead of its time

The Streets Original Pirate Material

The Streets Original Pirate Material

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When Streets tracks first appeared in DJ sets and on garage mix albums circa 2000, they made for an interesting change of pace; instead of hyper-speed ragga chatting or candy-coated divas (or both), listeners heard banging tracks hosted by a strangely conversational bloke with a mock cockney accent and a half-singing, half-rapping delivery. It was Mike Skinner, producer and MC, the half-clued-up, half-clueless voice behind club hits "Has It Come to This?" and "Let's Push Things Forward." Facing an entire full-length of Streets tracks hardly sounded like a pleasant prospect, but Skinner's debut, Original Pirate Material, is an excellent listen -- much better than the heavy-handed hype would make you think. Unlike most garage LPs, it's certainly not a substitute for a night out; it's more a statement on modern-day British youth, complete with all the references to Playstations, Indian takeaway, and copious amounts of cannabis you'd expect. Skinner also has a refreshing way of writing songs, not tracks, that immediately distinguishes him from most in the garage scene. True, describing his delivery as rapping would be giving an undeserved compliment (you surely wouldn't hear any American rappers dropping bombs like this line: "I wholeheartedly agree with your viewpoint"). Still, nearly every song here succeeds wildly, first place (after the hits) going to "The Irony of It All," on which Skinner and a stereotypical British lout go back and forth "debating" the merits of weed and lager, respectively (Skinner's meek, agreeable commentary increasingly, and hilariously, causes "Terry" to go off the edge). The production is also excellent; "Let's Push Things Forward" is all lurching ragga flow, with a one-note organ line and drunken trumpets barely pushing the chorus forward. "Sharp Darts" and "Too Much Brandy" have short, brutal tech lines driving them, and really don't need any more for maximum impact. Though club-phobic listeners may find it difficult placing Skinner as just the latest dot along a line connecting quintessentially British musicians/humorists/social critics Nöel Coward, the Kinks, Ian Dury, the Jam, the Specials, and Happy Mondays, Original Pirate Material is a rare garage album: that is, one with a shelf life beyond six months.

Richard Thompson Rumor And Sigh

Richard Thompson Rumor And Sigh

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While Richard Thompson's devotees will tell you the man is a triple-threat genius -- passionate vocalist, compelling songwriter, and sterling guitarist -- even his most loyal supporters will concede that the dour nature of his songs and the no-frills production of many of his albums make the bulk of his catalog tough sledding for the uninitiated. Given this, 1991's Rumor and Sigh is arguably the best album for those wanting to sample Thompson's work for the first time. It captures Thompson at the top of his form on all fronts, but also gives his songs just enough polish to make them approachable for the unconverted, and though it's several shades darker than the average adult-contemporary album, it honors Thompson's obsession with romantic despair and the less pleasant quirks of fate without sounding depressing in the process. Producer Mitchell Froom tricked up Thompson's sound a bit, but his approach added to the material rather than interfering with it; the topsy-turvy keyboards and sharp, snapping drum sound on "Gray Walls" and "You Dream Too Much" actually add to their narrative drama, and Froom coaxed some of Thompson's most soulful vocals on "Why Must I Plead" and "I Misunderstood." Thompson actually gets funny on "Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands" and the darkly hilarious "Psycho Street," and Thompson fans who like his work straight with no chaser will be knocked flat by "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," perhaps the best traditional-style number in his songbook, and the harrowing "God Loves A Drunk," an unnerving tale of several kinds of addiction. While Rumor and Sigh is quite slick by Thompson's standards, its clean lines and bright mix serve both the songs and the bandleader quite well, and make Thompson's tunes sound like the radio hits they've always deserved to be.

The Afghan Whigs Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs Gentlemen

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The Afghan Whigs' sound was growing larger by the release during the days on Sub Pop, so the fact that Gentlemen turned out the way it did wasn't all that surprising as a result ("cinematic" was certainly the word the band was aiming for, what with credits describing the recording process as being "shot on location" at Ardent Studios). While Gentlemen is no monolith, it is very much of a piece at the start. While "If I Were Going" opens things on a slightly moodier tip, it's the crunch of "Gentlemen," "Be Sweet," and "Debonair" that really stands out, each of which features a tightly wound R&B punch that rocks out as much as it grooves, if not more so. Greg Dulli's lyrics immediately set about the task of emotional self-evisceration at the same time, with lines like "Ladies, let me tell you about myself -- I got a dick for a brain" being among the calmer points. The album truly comes into its own with "When We Two Parted," though, as sad countryish guitars chime over a slow crawling rhythm and Dulli's quiet-then-anguished detailing of an exploding relationship. From there on in, things surge from strength to greater strength, sometimes due to the subtlest of touches -- the string arrangement on "Fountain and Fairfax" or the unexpected, resigned lead vocal from Scrawl's Marcy Mays on "My Curse," for instance. Other times, it's all the much more upfront, as "What Jail Is Like," with its heartbroken-and-fierce combination of piano, feedback, and drive building to an explosive chorus. Dulli's blend of utter abnegation and masculine swagger may be a crutch, but when everything connects, as it does more often than not on Gentlemen, both he and his band are unstoppable. 

 

Japan Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Japan Gentlemen Take Polaroids

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The last album with Rob Dean, Gentlemen Take Polaroids was also unquestionably the album in which Japan truly found its own unique voice and aesthetic approach. The glam influences still hung heavy, particularly from Roxy Music, but now the band found itself starting to affect others in turn. Even the back cover photo says as much -- looking cool in glossy, elegant nightwear, the quintet had a clear impact on Duran Duran, to the point where Nick Rhodes obviously was trying to be Sylvian in appearance. Musically, meanwhile, the swooning, hyper elegant Euro-disco sheen of Quiet Life was polished to an even finer edge throughout, the title track and the obvious descendant of "Quiet Life" itself, "Methods of Dance," in particular sheer standouts. Sylvian's sighing, luscious croon is in full effect on both, and the arrangements are astonishing, Karn's fretless purring between Jansen's crisp, inventive, and varied drumming, Barbieri's icy keyboards filling out the corners. What makes Gentlemen Take Polaroids even more of a success is how the group, having reached such a polished peak, kept driving behind it, transforming their exquisite pop into something even more artistic and unique. "Swing," in particular, is an astounding showcase for the Karn/Jansen team; snaky funk at once dramatic and precisely chilled, brass section blasts adding just enough wry, precise sleaze, Sylvian delivering with focus and intensity while not raising his voice at all. "Nightporter," meanwhile, is a hyper ballad and then some; a slow-paced semi-waltz with Barbieri's piano taking the lead throughout with wonderful results. Further hints of the future come with the album closing "Taking Islands In Africa," which Sylvian co-wrote with future regular collaborator Ryuchi Sakamato, and which wraps up the whole experience with a gliding, supple grace.

Back In October

Hello Everyone I Be Back On The 3th Of October

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The Monochrome Set Eligible Bachelors

The Monochrome Set Eligible Bachelors 

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One of the classic albums of the early '80s by a band that doesn't get the love it should, the Monochrome Set's Eligible Bachelors from 1982 is a tour de force of wit and musical imagination. This was their first album for their new label, Cherry Red, and they certainly made the most of their opportunity. Songwriter and vocalist Bid turned in a set of witty, urbane, and hooky tunes that fulfilled the promise of the quartet's earlier recordings, guitarist Lester Square showed himself to be a master off catchy riffs and perfect fills, and the rhythm section of bassist Andy Warren and drummer Lexington Crane kept things light and swinging. Bustling through 11 songs so sharp and intelligent that it's easy to listen to the album multiple times without getting bored, the band and Bid are at the absolute top of their game, a game that others like Haircut 100 and Orange Juice were also playing. The Set and their ilk merged jangling guitars, jazz-influenced chord changes, painfully arch lyrics, deadpan vocals, and jumpy rhythms into something shiny and fun, quite often with a dark undercurrent. Eligible Bachelors is certainly the equal of Pelican West or Rip It Up; the surplus of songs that sounded like hit singles everyone forgot to buy ("Fun for All the Family," "I'll Scry Instead"), trenchant bits of social commentary set to a jittering dance beat ("The Jet Set Junta," "The Ruling Class"), and pretty pop tunes ("Cloud 10") see to that. Unlike those albums, it didn't catch fire with the general public, and left the Set pondering just what they had to do to break through. If creating their masterpiece couldn't get the job done, what was left for them to do? Luckily for fans of Bid and his band, they didn't give up, but even if they had, Eligible Bachelors would stand up as a definitive work of the post-punk/new wave era. [Though the album had been reissued a few times in the intervening years, it wasn't until 2018 that Cherry Red gave Eligible Bachelors the expanded reissue treatment it deserved. Along with remastered sound and a nice booklet, the album is expanded to three discs. Along with the album proper, the first disc adds 15 singles released between 1978 and 1983, including the one song that actually became something of a hit in 1979, "He's Frank (Slight Return)." Disc two includes a treasure trove of radio sessions; a snappy demo for "The Ruling Class"; and a batch of fun rarities. All the rarities had been released previously in different places, but it's good to have them together under one roof. The final disc comprises Fin, the live album released by Cherry Red in 1986 featuring recordings made at various venues between 1979 and 1985; a solo demo made by Bid in 1986; and the three-track single he released in 1986 for Él Records, a label run by Mike Alway, who had initially signed the Monochrome Set to Cherry Red. The extras are all well chosen and really give an incisive and fun look at the band around the time leading up to and after the release of Eligible Bachelors.]

Colin Newman Bastard

Colin Newman Bastard

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Although he doesn't cop to it on the accompanying literature for Bastard, Colin Newman's seventh record since the dissolution of Wire is heavily influenced by contemporary pioneers of trance/dance like Orb and Aphex Twin. But Newman goes at it in a brash, singular and typically erudite fashion: After recording several of Bastard's tracks with his vocals—Newman was Wire's primary singer—he made a conscious decision to remove them. As such, the record shows a less obvious personality than his sung material. But there's still a sense of humor: Newman's take on drum 'n' bass, the skittish "Slowfast (Falling Down The Stairs With A Drum Kit)," is so dizzyingly fast it'd be virtually impossible to dance to. Other tracks, especially "Sticky" and "Spaced-In," vibrate with an almost robotic funkiness. Unlike late-period Wire (or Wir, as it were), Bastard's grooves are not coldly antiseptic and numbly detached; a thick mix of insistent guitar and pointedly plucked electric bass on "May," and the spiraling "Spiked," show Newman's musical ideas to be as flexibly coherent as ever. Through his Swim~ label, Newman has been releasing an interesting slew of esoteric and ambient music in various permutations—usually electronic. But this time, he seems to have purged much of those minimalist/house elements, and has wisely avoided saddling these songs with too much technology. Bastard represents his first rock-oriented material in a long time, and while Newman claims to have been interested in (and unsatisfied by) recent similarly inclined music, his album ends up owing nothing to anything but itself. It's an impressively visionary, futuristic record from a musician who's still important.

Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream

Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream

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Porcupine Tree's first album for K-Scope/Snapper starts out with a definite bang -- "Even Less," with some of the quartet's biggest, blasting rock epic music yet, yet also shot through with the gentler, acoustic side that makes Porcupine Tree so intimate and lovely. The net result easily calls Yes to mind, but Steven Wilson's not so high-pitched as Jon Anderson and Richard Barbieri completely avoids Rick Wakeman's extreme idiocies -- prog that knows when less is more. With that as a fine signal for the album as a whole, Stupid Dream takes it from there -- Wilson as a songwriter and singer both sounds recharged and more ambitious, while the group collectively pours it on. The loud passages feel truly sky-smashing, the calmer ones perfectly close, and the overall sense of build and drama -- "A Smart Kid" is a fine example spot-on. Strings from the East of England Orchestra and guest work on Wilson's sometime Bass Communion partner Theo Travis add even lusher atmospheres without swamping the tunes. As always, the group isn't afraid to experiment where others merely re-create check out the funky breaks Colin Edwin and Chris Maitland lay down on "Slave Called Shiver," not to mention Wilson's catchy piano figure and Barbieri's Hammond organ fills. Lyrically, Wilson comes up with some of his best work yet. "Piano Lessons" looks back on past musical learning and a doubtful teacher as a spur to trying harder, while "Pure Narcotic" offers up a romantic scenario and tip of the hat to Radiohead all at once: "You keep me hating/You keep me listening to The Bends." There's actually a musical hint or two of the Oxford quintet as well -- the acoustic guitar/drum intro to "This Is No Rehearsal" is a good example -- but leave it to Porcupine Tree to drop in some fully plugged in metal, as well

Autechre Tri Repetae

Autechre Tri Repetae

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Starting with the snarling, slow machine-funk of "Dael," Tri Repetae fully confirms Autechre's evolution into electronic noise kings. If not as immediately experimental as the fractured work by the likes of Merzbow, Tri Repetae expertly harnesses the need for a beat to perfectly balance out the resolutely fierce, crunching samples and busy arrangements, turning from being inspired by Aphex Twin to being equally inspiring in itself. "Rotar" does a particularly fine job on this front, with high-pitched sounds against low, distorted bass blasts -- and this only forms part of the percussion arrangement. The basic combination of soft melody and harsh beats are here as well, coming fully to the fore and resulting in such fine songs as the synth-string/organ wheeze laden "Leterel" and the quirky, sweet "Gnit." Nearly every track has a particular edge or element to it, making it eminently listenable and distinct. "Stud," for all of its macho connotations, actually takes a gentler path than most of the album's tunes, with a flowing synth wash at the center of a stripped-down but sharp digital-drum punch; by the end of the song, the synth loops float freely in an uneasy, ambient wave. With the drowsy pulse of "Overand" and the echoing beats of "Radio" (perhaps not so ironically, the most straightforward of the album's songs) to close things out, Tri Repetae stands as a varied, accomplished album, clear evidence of Autechre's unique genius around sound

Adam F Colours

Adam F Colours

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Too many drum'n'bass artists rely on obvious clichés, leading critics to dismiss the genre on the whole as repetitive. Like Roni Size before him, Adam F hopes to change all that, adding some intriguing spice to the typical, skittering breakbeats-meet-bottomless basslines sonic stew. Opening with the blaxploitation funk of "73" -- chunky wah-wah guitar, bopping congas, rollicking drumbeats and all -- Adam F makes his desire for diversity clear right from the get-go. Drum'n'bass is merely the template from which he launches his heady sonic excursions, flowing seamlessly from the straightforward jungle of "Metropolis" into the brilliantly accessible soul of "Music in My Mind," which boasts dreamy keyboards and a vocoder melody Midnight Starr would kill for. The rest of the album is similarly diverse, from the ambient atmospheres of "Mother Earth" to the strangely gorgeous pop of "The Tree Knows Everything," which features vocals by Everything But the Girl's Tracey Thorn. For purists, there's also a Grooverider remix of "Dirty Harry" and Size's reworking of "Circles," but Colours offers something to please just about every techno fan.

Cabaret Voltaire #7885 Electropunk To Technopop 1078-1985

Cabaret Voltaire #7885 Electropunk To Technopop 1078-1985

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Until this 2014 set from Mute, Cabaret Voltaire's periods with Rough Trade (1978-1982) and Some Bizzare/Virgin (1983-1985) were anthologized separately, as presented on The Original Sound of Sheffield '78/'82 and The Original Sound of Sheffield '83/'87. These discs also drew a greater distinction between CV's output with and without founding member Chris Watson, who departed after the final Rough Trade release, 1982's 2X45. Compiled by the group's Richard H. Kirk, this squeezes 19 of CV's finest 1978-1985 moments on one disc and also provides a service to more serious fans by including 7" versions of several Some Bizzare-era singles. (The 1983/1987 disc used the 12" versions.) Smart selections make this the best and handiest introduction to a group crucial to the development of industrial, post-punk, and dance music, from the confrontational screamer "Nag Nag Nag" to the more accessible and no less brilliant electro cut-up "Sensoria." There's much more to explore through the EPs and albums, recirculated through an extensive reissue campaign overseen by Kirk. Additionally, the one-offs for Factory and Crépuscule aren't represented here. The booklet, featuring essays from Kirk and the Mute label's Daniel Miller, is an extra enticement.

Michael Head & The Strands The Magical World Of The Strands

Michael Head & The Strands The Magical World Of The Strands

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Michael Head, former frontman of the Pale Fountains and current co-leader along with his brother John -- who is also a Strand -- of Brit pop outfit Shack, turns in a stellar chamber pop performance with Magical World of the Strands. Head, who is no stranger to either classy, baroque pop or neo-psychedelia, has composed an album of gorgeously illustrated songs that are lushly orchestrated by a standard rock quartet augmented by a flutist (Leslie Roberts) and a string quartet. The result is an album that, while little known, is a classic, a masterpiece of modern chamber pop. Released in 1997, this disc walks the line between the deep, darkly expressionistic chamber work of the Tindersticks and the airy, classically augmented breeze-laden pop of Nick Drake à la Five Leaves Left -- long before the millennial obsession with the latter's work was revived due to a Volkswagen commercial. The disc's first two tracks, "Queen Matilda" and "Something Like You," are striking in their seductive, velvety tenderness. The ghost of Drake is everywhere, floating in and hovering above the strings. In the refrain to "Something Like You," one can even hear his voice in Head's phrasing. The difference, however, is in how Head composes lyrics: he's more economical; he merely illustrates the essence of what he's communicating--be it image or emotion--and leaves the listener to fill in the blanks. The other huge influence on Head and the Strands is Pentangle, with slippery modal folk and rock. This music could have been recorded in the early '70s, but what it conveys is timeless. What reverberates through this album on every track is musical savvy. It's in the lyrical reverie of "X Hits the Spot," with jangling guitars and subtle backbeat. "It's Harvest Time," recalls Dave Cousins and Strawbs with open, ringing 12 strings, and piping, echoplexed flute. The electric-acoustic guitar tradeoff between Michael and James in "Fontilan," contains a melancholic theme inside a spacious mix colored by swelling strings. Throughout this gem showcases compositional class and an aesthetic sensibility at once artful yet completely accessible to anyone with an interest in well-written, -played, -produced, and -sung pop.

Brave Captain Advertisements For Myself

Brave Captain Advertisements For Myself

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With Advertisements for Myself, Martin Carr steers his Brave Captain project firmly away from the 1960s psychedelia of his earlier albums and back toward the over-the-top fuzz pop of his former band the Boo Radleys. Fans of the Boo Radleys should be beside themselves with pleasure, as "Stand Up and Fight," "I Was a Teenage Death Squad," "This Weight That You Have Found," "Betsi's Beads," "Mobilise," and "My Mind Pictures" are every bit as charming and as stormingly melodic as anything in Carr's back catalog. During these sprightly numbers, Carr returns to the mix of horns, acoustic guitars, fuzzy sound effects, catchy hooks, and emotional choruses that were the Boo Radleys' bread and butter. When Carr is firing on all cylinders here, he comes across like a mad hybrid of Ian Brown, the Charlatans, and surprisingly, the Pet Shop Boys. While Advertisements for Myself is by no means a glam techno affair, its pulse is decidedly electronic, and sometimes it's not a good thing. Carr litters the otherwise superb album with a number of juvenile IDM tracks that serve little purpose other than to jar a listener away from the pop gems. When the beats mingle with other instruments and with Carr's voice, the effect is really quite magical, especially on the crunchy, off-kilter gem "Betsi's Beads." Those looking for a continuation of the jagged Fingertip Sessions will be satiated by the album's lo-fi textures and otherworldly glisten, but this one stomps all over earlier Brave Captain albums and returns Carr to the lo-fi power pop at which he excels.

Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92

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One of the indisputable classics of electronica, and a defining document for ambient music in particular, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is Richard D. James' earliest and most fully realized achievement. Reputedly created on homemade equipment deconstructed from standard synthesizers, the music within takes its cue from club beats and the techno rhythms of rave and acid-house culture. Upon these foundations, however, Aphex Twin weaves melodic tapestries of great subtlety, beauty, and atmospheric texture. "Tha," for example, contains a muted bass-drum pulse that becomes the center for evolving patterns of sound -- a kind of aural mandala. The more driving rhythm of "Heliosphan" also gives rise to the ethereal play of melody. Several tracks, such as "Schottkey 7th Path" and "Hedphelym," have a tense, telescoping ambience that evokes paranoia and a sense of gravity-free floating at once. Other selections show Aphex Twin working more firmly in the techno-dance idiom, but even these display a complexity, elegance, and delicacy rarely heard in the genre. This landmark recording is one of the essential building blocks of any electronica collection.

Four Tet Dialogue

Four Tet Dialogue

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Some people might think it's easy to explain Fourtet: "It's electronica." It might be easiest to wince at these people and concede, "Yes, well sort of." Fourtet, the one-man DJ project of Fridge's Kieran Hebden, doesn't fit so easily into any one category. True, there are beats, samples, and other aspects of turntablism to his music, but there are also live instruments and very real sounding drum tracks -- "organic electronic" might be one way to describe it. Dialogue is Fourtet's first proper album (a slew of remixes and 12-inches have come before and after). Sometimes the record is jazzy: Heavy acoustic bass and scattered drums, but alternately, tabla and sitar, are the key focus of the final track. It seems that Hebden is quite happy in any musical setting he creates. None of the album sounds contrived, and there's an underlying earnestness that provides real credibility. Some of the record sounds, at times, like the more sampled passages of Fridge, but not as austere. If you're feeling fed up with stale, predictable electronica, or feeling ready to brave the shores of the electro-isle, this is an excellent album.

Coming Back Soon

Hello Everyone Welcome and One Man Are Coming Back On July 4 With A Scaled Down Format I'll Be Posting On Welcome On Tuesdays & Thursdays & One Man On Saturdays 

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Welcome To Ali

Hello Everyone Last Thursday We Adopt Ali 

He Was Left Behide In A Caravan Park

He Was In A Foster Home But Couldn't Get On With Other Pets In The House

So We Offered Ali A New Forever Home & 1 Week On Ali Is Settle In His New Home

He's Full Of Affection & Head Rubs & Running The House Having Fun

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Thank You For Your Kindness

Hello Everyone Thank You For Your Kind Messages About Albie

We Miss Him So Much & Hope He's Having A Great Time In Rainbow Bridge

As For Me & The Blog I Hopefully Be Back Soon

Just Being Busy With DIY Work Around The House & Garden

Hope To Hear From You's And All Soon

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Albie 2011-2023

 Albie 2011-2023

Hello Everybody

Since Yesterday Morning We Are Utterly Heartbroken And Devastated Of The Passing Of A Beloved Are Darling Sweet Boy Albie

Back July 2011 Albie Came Into Your Driveway Looking For Food. After About Two Weeks Trying To Fine Out If He Have A Hone

We Took Him In His New Forever Home.

He Was So Warm & Friendly & Fun Boy.

But Back October 2022 We Found Out He Have All Sorts Of Tumors

But After Medical Special Treatments He Was Losing The Fight To Carry On &

Unfortunately He Had Put Him To Sleep

For Now We Are So Broken With Pain & Sorrow For Your Lost

And For Now  I Must Take Time Out & Grieve For My Beloved Albie

A Message To Albie

Thank You So Much For A Being A Wonderful Pet 

We Will Always Remember & Never Forget You 

So Much LOVE

MUMMY & DADDY

Gary Numan Down In The Park The Alternative Anthology

Gary Numan Down In The Park The Alternative Anthology

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The early 21st century has seen a new legion of rock groups emerge, that have obviously studied the electronic/robotic new wave sounds of the late '70s and early '80s. As a result, an appreciation for such artists as Gary Numan has been rekindled. While Numan did issue his share of classic albums (especially 1979's one-two punch, Replicas and Pleasure Principle), many of his subsequent albums were spotty, inconsistent affairs. Which is where a set like the double-disc Down in the Park: The Alternative Anthology comes in handy. Featuring 31 tracks total from throughout Numan's career, there's something for everyone here -- new and old fans a like. However, Numan's early work is still by far his best, as evidenced by such new wave gems as "I Die: You Die," "Down in the Park," and "Cars," as well as tracks that are often overlooked on single-disc Numan collections, tops being "Me! I Disconnect From You." For a more extensive than usual Numan compilation, Down in the Park: The Alternative Anthology is recommended.

The Associates The Affectionate Punch

The Associates The Affectionate Punch

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All ten songs on The Affectionate Punch are nearly swollen with ambition and swagger, yet those attributes are confronted with high levels of anxiety and confusion, the sound of prowess and hormones converging head-on. It's not always pretty, but it's unflaggingly sensational, even when it slows down. Having debuted with a brazen reduction of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" to a spindly rumble, multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine and vocalist Billy Mackenzie ensured instant attention and set forward with this, their first album. Mackenzie's exotic swoops cover four octaves, from the kind of isolated swagger heard in Bowie's "Secret Life of Arabia" to a falsetto more commonly heard in an opera house than a bar. (Dude sounds like a diva, so proceed with caution if you'd much rather hear a voice in line with PiL's John Lydon or Magazine's Howard Devoto.) Though the subject matter of the duo's songs would later veer into the completely inscrutable, there's some abstract wordplay here that scans like vocal exercises or Scott Walker at his most surreal: "Stenciled doubts spin the spine, Logan time, Logan time"; "If I threw myself from the ninth story, would I levitate back to three"; "His jawline's not perfect but that can be altered." Meaningful or not, there's always a sense of great weight. When Mackenzie runs through the alphabet in "A," he could be singing in code about the butterflies of love. Rankine, with help from drummer Nigel Glockler and a background appearance from then labelmate Robert Smith, covers most of the other stuff, specializing in spare arrangements that can simultaneously slither and jump, crosscut with guitars that release weary chimes and caustic stabs, as well as the occasional racing xylophone. Two years later -- a year after the genius run of bizarre singles collected on Fourth Drawer Down and the same year as the high-drama overdrive of Sulk -- Rankine and Mackenzie partially re-recorded and completely remixed this album to spectacularly layered and glossy effect. Get both versions. [The CD was re-released in 2016 and added 12 bonus tracks, most of them remixes.]  

 

The Loft Magpie Eyes 1982-85

The Loft Magpie Eyes 1982-85

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Magpie Eyes 1982-1985 is an excellent compilation that gathers this short-lived group's output. The Loft never quite got the attention they deserved as a guitar pop band. The fact that they were on Creation Records and later turned into the Weather Prophets seemed to often overshadow the band's music. The complete, stumbling, perfect imperfections of "Why Did the Rain" highlight the group's strong points, with distinct, melodic guitar leads over a jangling rhythm section. Tracks like this one helped set the stage for the direction of indie pop over the next 20 years. The warm production emphasizes a classic structure that draws from the Velvet Underground, Television, and the Byrds. A crisper production follows on the rest of the tracks, but this short collection never falters in song quality. "Skeleton Staircase" lightly drones and jangles as Pete Astor croons is his faltering, song-speak way. Andy Strickland's clean guitar work balances out the uneven moments. "Winter" is another fine track, with the vocals and guitar raised to the very front of the track as the muffled drums carry the back. It could easily be mistaken for something off of the Flying Nun roster. "Up the Hill and Down the Slope" is the group's swan song -- endemic of their entire output -- a seemingly tangled mess of guitars and crooked melodies, but structured to perfection. The collection improves upon 1989's Once Around the Fair by adding four live tracks including a great version of "Up the Hill and Down the Slope".

Blueboy If Wishes Were Horses

Blueboy If Wishes Were Horses

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A gorgeous slice of pastoral English pop, the debut album from Reading, England's Blueboy is one of those charmed releases that make you understand the obsessions of indie rock collectors. Clocking in at under 30 minutes, the disc is nevertheless packed with gentle gems, beginning with "Candy Bracelet," a melancholic meditation that soars on a bed of shimmering, echoing guitars and turns on a deceptively simple harmony vocal from Gemma Townlet. Serving as the group's cellist as well, she takes a prominent role on "Cloud Babies" and "Fondette," adding a mournful undercurrent to the delicate fingerpicking. The quintet shows a bit of versatility with a pair of breezy bossa nova-tinged numbers ("Too Good To Be True" and "Clear Skies") which are also delightful, but it's on "Sea Horses" and "Amoroso" that the group really shines, re-creating the Johnny Marr-style jangle that so many post-Smiths groups have copied, and matching it to the hooks that so few others have managed. While the group turned in more complex (and certainly lengthier) outings on its final two releases, If Wishes Were Horses wound up Blueboy's best statement of intent, a fleeting and irresistible pleasure.

The Hit Parade The Sound Of The Hit Parade

The Hit Parade The Sound Of The Hit Parade

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The last album by the Hit Parade, by this time officially a duo of singer/songwriter Julian Henry and programmer/producer Raymond Watts, with various guests including their Sarah Records labelmate Harvey Williams on guitar and legendary ligger Cath Carroll on vocals, is fairly relentlessly bleak. The occasional mopery of the duo's earlier records is a fully-fledged worldview on The Sound of the Hit Parade. The song titles tell the whole story: "As I Lay Dying," "Farewell My Lido," "She Won't Come Back," "Crying." Henry even makes the move of Sarah Records' home office from Bristol to London in "House of Sarah" sound like an ominous portent. (The again, the label did close less than two years later...). The temptation to tell Henry to have a drink and pull himself together is a little overwhelming at times, but Watts' clean and sparkly, but not antiseptic, production makes this the Hit Parade's best-sounding record ever, and it's melodically richer than before.This is the Hit Parade at their best.