I fight with the handle of my little brown broom:
Saxon ‘Lionheart’ - so I like ‘em: so what? Saxon rock;
Pip Pyle’s Bash! ‘Belle Illusion’ - excellent late outing by Pip’s last combo. Essential listening for Canterbury heads;
Eels ‘The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett’ - E’s self confessional album. As are all his others. Good, I say;
Eels ‘Wonderful, Glorious’ - a little more uptempo than the above, but just as beautifully neurotic;
Led Zeppelin ‘Presence’ - their heaviest and funkiest album. Kicks my ass harder than any of their others;
Deep Purple ‘+1’ - still digging this new album with an energy belying the age of its creators;
Gruff Rhys ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’ - already my album of the year, and likely to stay that way unless something perfect is waiting in the wings. This dude should be a megastar. But then, I said the same thing about the Drude forty years ago;
Family ‘In My Own Time’ - one of the catchiest rock 45s ever, despite an extremely uncommercial Chappo opening vocal that could wake the dead;
Lew Lewis ‘Boogie On The Street’/‘Caravan Man’ - no greater pub rock 45 exists than this 48 year old gem, soaked in reverb and the sweat of its one-off inspiration. Remember dear Lew, the Canvey legends backing him, and the nascent Stiff label, this way;
Eloy ‘Silent Cries And Empty Echoes’ - despite Frank Bornemann’s iffy lyrics and enunciation (well, English isn’t his mother tongue) and obvious musical influences, I rather dig Eloy. This excellently produced 1979 album is one of their best. Camel and 70s Floyd fans will dig;
David Bowie ‘Rock and Roll Star’ - still on heavy rotation chez moi. “The Spiders were the greatest English rock band ever”. Discuss. Nah, don’t bother, cos I know I’m right;
Kiss ‘Love Gun’ - tacky and fabulous;
Robert Wyatt ‘Rock Bottom’ - Perfection. No further comment, nor any other music, necessary. That this hasn’t had a half century deluxe edition is an unforgivable injustice. The record industry sucks;
Elton Dean ‘Just Us’ - pretty much a Soft Machine album in all but name. Maybe ‘Fourth and a Half’ would be a more apposite title, because that’s how it sounds to me;
Herbie Hancock ‘Man-Child’ - Herbie’s Seventies jazz funk experiments like this have dated far less than his Eighties electro stuff. This has soul; ‘Rockit’ definitely doesn’t;
Lefty Frizzell ‘Life’s Like Poetry’ (selections) - no country artist - not even Hank - moves me like Lefty. His voice epitomised all that was fresh and original about the country scene of the fifties. And his records still offer real entertainment;
Apostel: String Quartet no.1 (LaSalle Quartet) - proof that serialism can be lyrical and enjoyable;
Haydn: String Quartets, Op.50 nos.5 & 6 (Tokyo Quartet) - long unavailable early outing by the Tokyos, where everything seems paced and pointed just right;
Schubert: Rosamunde Incidental Music (VPO/Rudolf Kempe) - Schubert at his most appealingly tuneful, especially in Kempe’s tender hands;
Sibelius: Four Legends, Op.22 (Philadelphia Orch/Eugene Ormandy) - a symphony in all but name, and up there with Sibelius’ best music IMHO. This is its finest recording;
Sibelius: Finlandia & Karelia Suite (Halle/Sir John Barbirolli) - another venerable old LP that still packs a punch;
Sibelius: Violin Concerto (Christian Ferras/BPO/Herbert von Karajan) - great version of this, tender and exciting by turn;
Bruckner: Symphony no.7 & Smetana: Vltava (VPO/Wilhelm Furtwaengler) - the greatest conductor ever in my humble opinion, whose greatness shines even through aged mono records like these. After Furtwaengler, other kapellmeisters sound tepid and predictable. They play the notes. Wilhelm played behind the notes;
Beethoven: Overture ‘Coriolan’, Op.62 - I played three very different recordings of this wonderfully dramatic overture and found unique elements in each. Antal Dorati in 1953 is tense and fleet, Herbert von Karajan in 1966 moody and reflective, and - best of all - Wilhelm Furtwaengler in 1943 dark yet determined to the very end. That all three conductors were playing exactly the same music showed their unique art and talents;
Strauss: Salome (VSO/Rudolf Moralt) - this 1952 set was the first complete studio set of Strauss’ first great opera, bringing out all of its macabre, gory glory. Great to heart it again even if it gave me the heebie-jeebies so close to bedtime!
Can’t you see them?
Take care out there, my friends
Dave x
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