There are some artists you just feel you ought to like, and Father John Misty is one of these. I'd liked what I'd heard on the radio, and had been delighted when he was the special guest, when daughter took me to a recording of Stephen Colbert's Late Show, while we were in New York a couple of years ago. I bought three of his albums a couple of years ago in an HMV sale, based on the previous exposure, and was lukewarm, while seeing the depth, about this album's predecessor, I

I guess I picked this up in a sale round about 2000, along with a couple of other Doors albums. They passed me by at the time, and even by the end of teenage years, I was probably only aware of Riders On The Storm , and barely aware of Morrison's dead pop star cult hero status. So, what of the band's 1967 debut, which started the legend? In case you didn't know, it's a great album. It hits you between the eyes from the beginning, with the powerful Break On Through, it has the

This is certainly the first Elvis Costello album I bought on CD, rather than vinyl, possibly one of the earliest CDs I bought, and it has a special place as an album that always seemed to be in the background at the time our son was born (3 months after the album's release). It was also the last Costello release I bought automatically on release, and the only new release in the 5 years from 1986-91. The songs on the album are all familiar old friends, perhaps now lacking the

I remember picking this up in a boot fair for a quid or so, about twenty years ago, thinking I'd found the Julian Cope Holy Grail. I'd heard of the legendary Skellington but had never heard the album. This 1993 CD reissue brings together the original 1989 album with Skellington 2 , its follow up. So here's the tale. Disillusioned with the process of record making after the interminable sessions for My Nation Underground , Cope took mates Donald Ross Skinner (guitars, keyboar

Possibly the least played of the early Bad Seeds albums and the only one not to chart in UK, it's easy to see why this album isn't a go-to when one fancies a dose of Nick Cave. I bought this about 25 years ago, when in the depth of my Nick Cave obsession, determined to collect everything the band had done. Perhaps its status as the forgotten album is underserved. Certainly, it's deep in 'the heroin years' and the darkness of the album makes it an uneasy listen, but there's c

Was Captain Beefheart a spent force by the late 1970s? Certainly, this and subsequent albums are referred to as a "late resurgence". This album, released in USA in 1978, but not until the following year in UK (I own the 1986 CD re-release), doesn't get taken from the shelves that much, so we'll let it have its place. I often feel that if you get / like a Beefheart album on the first listening, you haven't really listened. There's a Beefheart way of doing things which takes a

The only addition to the CD racks from Santa this year, was the debut album from Steven Wilson, my most recent obsession. I also received Wilson's book, which is a reasonable read, but he's a far better musician and composer than writer! This album was meant to be a diversion from his band, Porcupine Tree, where he didn't have to consider other band members' input, a decade earlier Porcupine Tree itself being a diversion from No-Man, his band with The Album Years podcast col

At 26 minutes, this is on the cusp of "is it a single or an album?" territory, but I'm counting it as the latter. While the whole concert was later released on CD after Buckley's untimely death in 1997, this is the original four track release. It's very much a solo performance, with a couple of songs to appear on Grace a year later. Mojo Pin is strong, sounding very much like you'd expect a solo version to sound, knowing the band version from the album, and it's followed by

For 40 years now, I've been (mostly) at one with Billy Bragg politically and musically, and this 1991, perhaps one of my favourites, arguably marks a change from lone troubadour to band leader. The CD has 16 songs, and was released just as we transitioned from vinyl to CD, hence the 60 minutes of music for the price of a single album boast. And it's packed with music biz chums like REM, Kirsty MacColl, Johnny Marr and old mate Wiggy, so let's crack on. I've long contended tha

This was picked up for next to nothing despite my ambivalence about Afro Celt Sound System 1, and has only had rare outings, for reasons which become apparent after a couple of listenings. The fusion of traditional Celtic music / African beats and 90s dance sounds interesting on paper, and when this works, it really works, but too much just doesn't work for me. Opener Release has the sublime voice of Sinead O'Connor holding it aloft, and it's a decent song, spoiled only for

This album, picked up second hand long ago, claims to be an EP, but as it weighs in at something over half an hour, it's not the shortest thing considered here, so it's an album to me. I've long enjoyed Barry Adamson's work, right from his Magazine and Bad Seed days, and I've picked up a lot of his solo stuff, and some is very good indeed. One features among the 5* ratings on this blog, which regular readers will know, aren't handed out lightly (I think it's only 29 out of th

This is a bit of an odd one. I had heard the first single, I'm not sure where, because I don't tend to listen to radio stations playing chart sounds, then saw this album, just released, in a boot fair sale for a quid. I picked it up, listened, quite liked it, then put it away for over twenty years until now. My minimal research (and looking at the cover) tells me they're still going, and at the time, were a 25 piece band, 10 of whom just sang, giving the band their big choral

More tales from the depths of the Canterbury rabbit hole. In the early 1990s. all four participants in this album had their own bands, and were struggling to get work. They had approached the organiser of the Le Mans Jazz Festival, who broached the idea of putting together this 'all star' band, which he felt would attract interest. So it's a short lived, one tour project featuring Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine) on bass, Phil Miller (Hatfield and the North and National Health) on

This album was 50 years old a couple of months ago, and to celebrate / commemorate / screw a few more quid out of it, a deluxe box set of the original album with remixes, demos and much other merch was released. Full deluxe 4 LP plus 2 CD plus videos, replica 7" single, tour programme, hardback book and poster, a mere £215. My version is the first release CD from 1984, picked up second hand long, long ago. This is an album I've had with me one way or another since its first r

I suspect this was a Christmas present a few years ago, which hasn't seen much action since it was received. That's a pity because while I might have most of the songs elsewhere, they're different enough on the Peel Sessions to make things interesting. The first session from October 1979 has the band as a four piece, with early versions of Ha Ha I'm Drowning , a thumping bass taking the attention rather than the more familiar brass, Went Crazy , and Brave Boys Keep Their Prom

Never a man over-protective about his back catalogue, Mark E Smith gave permission for many, many compilations of Fall material to be released, including this 2000 compilation, an "Eagle Elite" edition 3CD box set. It was, I suspect, a sale purchase many moons ago. So, what to expect. Well, firstly, nothing that hadn't already been released, and it's allegedly remastered from inferior CD reissues, although I hadn't noticed a massive issue with quality on my ancient CD player.

A recent late night Ebay trawl yielded this album, King Crimson's last release of original music (so far). I hadn't previously heard this, so I've no history with this one. And while this isn't going to be remembered as a KC classic, nor featuring in arguments about favourite Crim albums, contained within are some very welcome sounds. The four parts of The Power To Believe are the head, spine and tail of the album, but they aren't the stand out. That's Level Five , the most

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my dad was something of a classical music buff, a taste which I have not inherited. His disdain for 'modern' classical music was summed up in his frequent quoting of Sir Thomas Beecham, on being asked if he'd conducted any Stockhausen replied " No, but I once trod in some ". I don't know what he made of Reich, but I can imagine. So, it's an album by a noted minimalist composer, it's called Drumming, what to expect? Yes, exactly that. Part I

This was a charity shop find last week, an album I wasn't previously aware of. Lou Reed's final solo album before his 2013 death wasn't some biting satire on US politics, nor some reflection of New York low life, it was this album of ambient meditation music. Apparently, Reed needed some music to accompany his Tai-Chi and meditation, so composed it for himself. Friends asked for copies, and eventually he issued it. The sounds are pretty much as you'd expect, very relaxing, an

A recent charity shop visit unearthed the next trio, this one probably the most mundane, accessible (and cheapest) of the three. It's REM's 1988, sixth studio album, the one before they became world megastars (7 of their next 8 albums were no 1 in UK), and the earliest one I've heard. On first listening, I was unimpressed, and went in search of various "REM albums ranked" pages online, only to find that my reticence was shared by many other listeners, the album rarely featuri