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

I can't remember when this was recommended to me, but regular readers will know I'm a recent discoverer of the world of Wilson and...

Across to Newquay, and another raid on a charity shop netting me another half dozen discs for a quid each, including this 1984 Bunnymen...

A short holiday to Cornwall a couple of weeks ago was an excuse to plunder some new charity shops for their CD sections. There's a huge...

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Final purchase from the bloke at the boot fair a couple of weeks ago was this 2016 release from the reformed Pixies, an album I wasn't...

There was a point to this blog - it was meant to get me to listen to every one of my CDs, and to thin them out by getting rid of ones I...

My second purchase from Rock On Records in Stamford was The Fall's 1982 follow up to the hugely praised and groundbreaking Hex Enduction...