You can watch rafferty turn into a serial:
David Gilmour ‘Luck and Strange’ - I enjoyed this a lot more than I did the last three albums bearing the Pink Floyd name. Freed from such shackles, there’s more humanity in the old dude’s music and - whisper it - better TUNES. Gotta mention the 14 minute bonus jam that forms the basis of the title track: a reminder of how cool a keyboard player Rick Wright was;
Mink Deville ‘Cabretta’ - ‘Spanish Stroll’ aside, I never realised the true quality of Willy’s debut until much later. Sorta low grade Van Morrison on steroids, but I don’t mean that as a negative. Gagging for a reissue, this;
Big Big Train ‘The Likes Of Us’ - everything I’ve heard from this ever-changing band sounds like it could have been recorded fifty years ago, yet still sounds fresh and new. Had all English prog rock been this sheerly tuneful I doubt it’d ever have been so uncool. As it stands, it’s state of the art intelligent rock music. Going to see them in concert next week;
Catherine Wheel ‘Ferment’ - listening to this thirty year old record, I’m not sure that music has moved significantly further since. Someone please convince me otherwise;
Nikki Sudden ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’ - the 2021 revision of Nikki’s last album is the version to own, the instruments in better balance and the man’s beautifully limited vocal dead centre in the mix. And he never wrote a finer song than ‘Green Shield Stamps’. Brings a tear to my eye, it does;
Blur ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ - this has grown on me this last year, it truly has. Made me want to look back to my fave Blur effort, which is:
Blur ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ - separated at birth: ‘Colin Zeal’ verse melody and ‘Sleeping Gas’ whole melody? Discuss;
The Teardrop Explodes ‘Kilimanjaro’ - well, after a prompter like the above, I just had to… didn’t I? Not a wasted second throughout;
Jim Capaldi ‘Fierce Heart’ & ‘One Man Mission’ - dated 1980s production notwithstanding, there are some good songs on these records. Jim had a decent voice and a fab way with words;
Kiss ‘Hotter Than Hell’ - American dumb rock at its worst or, depending on your perspective, best. Got to choose, indeed. I know which side of the fence I’m on;
Jimi Hendrix Experience ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ - well, what’s the point of words when the music says everything;
Derek and the Dominos ‘Layla’ - like most double albums, take away the filler and there’s a killer single one in hiding. And I don’t think Clapton ever wrote a better song than ‘I Looked Away’, the 45 that never was;
OM ‘Kirikuki’ - the Swiss quartet’s first LP from 1976 is one helluva opening salvo. Each member’s ability to sound as if they’re constantly soloing while maintaining a group perspective amazes me. High time this had a CD release;
Miles Davis ‘In Europe’ - always my fave Miles live LP, soon to be given the expanded box set treatment in Columbia’s Bootleg Series. I can’t wait;
Globe Unity ‘Improvisations’ - free form big band session that soothes and grates in unequal measure. That third track is guaranteed to scatter any party;
Robin Kenyatta ‘Girl From Martinique’ - early ECM outing of interest to Wolfgang Dauner fans like me, not least because he has at least as much to say as the impressive Kenyatta;
Art Lande & Jan Garbarek ‘Red Lanta’ - gentle paeans for piano and reeds, beautifully rendered;
Ralph Towner & Glen Moore ‘Trios Solos’ - Oregon offshoot with all the instrumental imagination of that band paired down to its bare essentials. A semi-forgotten jazz gem;
Bach: Violin Sonatas & Partitas (Yehudi Menuhin) - talking about bare essentials, they don’t come barer or more essential than this. How anyone can play such complex, multi voiced music on one small acoustic instrument is beyond me;
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1 (Rudolf Serkin/Philadelphia/Eugene Ormandy) - unusual cadenzas aside, this is a faithful rendition of a fine concerto;
Dvorak: Carnival Overture (Philadelphia/Ormandy) - riotously fast and exciting;
Mozart: Symphony no.40 (LPO/Sir Thomas Beecham) - Beecham’s pre-war recordings have a drive largely missing from his more elegant RPO years. His unique musical charm is common to both eras, however: just listen to this;
Bruckner: Symphony no.9 (BPO/Herbert von Karajan) - Jeez. There are moments in this 1966 recording that are intense beyond belief. All those critics trotting out that tired cliche of Karajan “beautifying” the music need exposure to this simply phenomenal record;
Brahms: Double Concerto (Mutter/Meneses/BPO/Karajan) - I was saddened to read of Antonio Meneses’ passing. His exemplary cello technique shone on this record;
Bach: Organ Works (Bernard Foccroulle) - I’ve recently acquired Foccroulle’s big box of Bach’s complete surviving organ works and, dipping in at random, have no complaints about pacing, emphasis or choice of registration. Played like this, Bach’s organ music ticks all my boxes and so far, I’m purring.
It’s just like a cartoon by AAP.
Love and kisses
Dave x
|
