My other purchase from Reckless Records in Berwick St, Soho, last week was this 1972 album from Gil Scott-Heron. On the original vinyl release side one was songs, and side two poetry - this 2014 re-release as a Flying Dutchman Jazz classic doesn't make this differentiation, although preserves the original running order, as well as eleven bous tracks, pretty much repeating the album with alternate versions. First song is the lively and interesting Free Will, with a hypnotic ba

I picked this up from Soho's Reckless Records on a trip to London to meet old friends, last week. Coincidentally I've just started reading David Stubbs history of Krautrock, Future Days. The whole German experimental scene of the 1970s passed me by, with me not even following up my purchase of Camembert Electrique by buying The Faust Tapes , even though both were Virgin's "an album for the price of a single". This is an album I've heard many times, so was delighted to find it

It's always interesting to hear a collaboration between two artists that you've enjoyed in completely different contexts. Peter Blegvad is an Anglo-American songwriter whom I first encountered with Slapp Happy, in their way-out collaboration with Henry Cow, Desperate Straights, one of my favourite albums when at school. Andy Partridge was, of course, one of the driving forces behind XTC, and their main songwriter, and I've written much of my love for XTC during university yea

The final Manics' purchase from last month's Cornwall holiday is this 2021 release. I ran out of vaguely interesting things to say about the Manic Street Preachers long ago, so let's crack on. It's what you'd expect - a series of upbeat, politically charged songs, if anything brighter and more accessible than earlier releases. Not-a-hit single Orwellian is the most interesting of the early songs here, and The Secret He Had Missed with guest vocalist Julia Cumming is catchy,

Last one of the Newquay haul is this 1982 album. Mostly repetitive themes with spoken words over the top, it's a puzzle why New York City based conceptual artist Laurie Anderson decided to copy what Mark E Smith and The Fall were doing back in England, but it did provide her with a massive hit single in UK (and a minor hit in parts of Europe). I've come into this knowing only the hit single, so let's have a quick scoot through the works (I don't think conceptual artists have

On my bike ride round the reservoir this morning, I listened to a podcast with XTC's Andy Partridge, in which this album featured heavily, having recently been given the Steven Wilson treatment, in Atmos and 5.1 mixes (typed as if I know what that means) and re-released. I was given this as a Christmas present on vinyl on release by my brother (who I suspect also wanted to hear it himself) so it's a very familiar listen. Beginning with the clanky chords of Colin Moulding's Wa

I picked this up in HMV sale, not realising it was a compilation. I tend to avoid compilations on the basis that I generally plan on picking up all the original albums at some point, although some compilations quickly disabuse me of that idea. This is annotated with an introduction to the more accessible side of Steven Wilson", which seems a reasonable suggestion. This contains 14 tracks, all relatively short (4-6 minutes is short for prog) from the five albums released betwe

Another day, another Manics' album, this time their 2018 release, bought as a job lot in Falmouth last month. And initial impressions are that it certainly has the Manics' sound, and that while there's nothing awful, there's nothing outstanding either. But let's take a deeper dive. It opens with a couple of rock bangers, People Give In  and International Blue, the former stronger, but to me the strings intrude rather than enhance. Distant Colours and  Vivian, share a similar

A recent charity shop purchase (aren't they all) was this the final album from Pink Floyd (I assume they're now in the past tense), put together by Dave Gilmour and friends from unreleased keyboard pieces by the late (died in 2008) Richard Wright. So, as you might expect, this is mostly instrumental, nominally 18 tracks, but in reality four pieces of mostly gentle, ambient music. The first opens with an Enoesque soundscape which melds into a piece very reminiscent of the seco

Penultimate selection from the Newquay charity shop raid is this 1975 release by Welsh maestro and ' fifty years later still a living legend ', John Cale. Opening with Mr Wilson, a gentle and lovely tribute to Brian Wilson, followed b y Talking It All Away, a listenable, but nondescript song. Dirty-Ass Rock'n'Roll is exactly what it says, and Darling I Need You is a pleasant easy to listen to song. Rollaroll flies by without exciting this listener, before Cale's bizarre and

I picked this up recently in a sale in HMV, nearly completing my Tom Waits section. It's a collection of songs and music Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan wrote for the play The Black Rider, itself based on the William S Burroughs book. The thing with soundtrack music is that it is intended to enhance and complement a visual performance, so doesn't have to stand up on its own. As such, this doesn't feel as strong as the studio albums that precede and follow it. There's lots

I was sad to hear this week, that musician Bob Andrews died earlier this year. Probably best known as keyboard player with 1970s pub rock outfit Brinsley Schwarz, with Nick Lowe, he later formed The Rumour, with bandmate Schwartz. While the band had little success on their own, they had three top ten album hits with Graham Parker, before Andrew went into production, with hit hits including Jona Lewie's Stop The Cavalry, The BlueBells' Young At Heart and the Las' There She Goe

Next one up is another from the Newquay 'CDs for a pound' haul, The Raincoats' eponymous debut album from 1979. I knew nothing of this other than having heard the name of the band at time of release, and it was apparently a favourite album of Kurt Cobain. Now, 46 years, what might have sounded cute and lo-fi, now, to me sounds ham fisted and amateurish, and while comparisons might be trite (I don't know why, the sound isn't dissimilar) there's nothing here that The Slits hadn

I'm sure that I've mentioned that my interest in Pink Floyd waned after Animals , was non-existent by the issue of The Wall, and this album really wasn't on my radar by 1994. But, as is the mantra on this blog, for a couple of quid in a charity shop, I'll give it a go. The penultimate Floyd album of original material, it's clearly now driven by Dave Gilmour. Dealing with themes around communication (a coded message to the estranged Roger Waters?), it came out to mixed reviews

The third one of the Manics' haul from a Falmouth charity shop is their 2010 release, described by the band at the time as "one last shot at mass communication". They're still going strong. I'm running out of things to say about the band, so straight to the music. I'm feeling a strong start, with two solid rock tracks, the low charting single (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love and Postcards From A Young Man , the lyrics and feel are uplifting, until those awful strings kick

While I'm a huge fan of being able to stream anything I want to hear, it's no substitute for a physical copy of an album. Similarly, the easy access of information via the internet has removed a lot of the mystique that browsing for music had half a century ago. Never again am I likely to head into a music store and find something by a favourite band, which I had no idea existed, since everything available is so well documented. So, charity shops are more fun, not just for t

More Richard Hawley picked up in a local charity shop, this one being his 6th studio album from 2009. I've grown to admire Hawley's songwriting and performance, although at times the country and western influence hasn't worked for me. This album seems more introspective than some others and I've found myself enjoying it more with each listening We open with As The Dawn Breaks, a dreamy flowing intro (Thomas Bloch on cristal baschet and glass harmonica), which continues its ha

Another one that cost a pound in a charity shop raid, this is a 1998 concert that Robinson gave at Abbey Road to celebrate the first birthday of the Merlin Network One, a short lived worldwide 24 hours entertainment broadcast net on short wave. Now an avuncular 6 Music elder statesman DJ, it's forgotten that Robinson was once an angry young man, particularly pioneering gay rights, and continues to campaign in many areas. I had seen Tom Robinson Band, almost twenty years earli

This is the second of the Manics' albums picked up in Falmouth a couple of weeks ago, their 2013 release, intended as a more sedate, acoustic offering. By all accounts it was well received at the time, let's see how it's held up. I want to like the Manics, really I do. They hail from my wife's home town of Blackwood, I'm completely in sympathy with their political stance on most things, and I'm delighted to hear them shout it loud. When they get it right (to my untrained ears

This one was another holiday purchase, from a charity shop in Penzance, who seemed to have recently received the entire back catalogue of the Dave Matthews Band, with whom I'm unfamiliar, but have many preconceived ideas. You'd be forgiven for thinking that I spend my entire time scouring charity shops searching for CDs to enhance my collection, but that's simply not the case. Sometimes, as in Rugby today, I buy books instead. This, though, felt like a win, rather than a punt