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Soundtracks Of Our Lives w/e 25 October 2009 CE
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thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat
6200 posts

Re: Soundtracks Of Our Lives w/e 25 October 2009 CE
Oct 31, 2009, 00:43
Was away last week and tried to concentrate on catching up with 2009 while it's still with us, so:

Bad Lieutenant - Never Cry Another Tear. Well, it's okay in a sub-Doves kind of way. Not really taking Barney anywhere he needs to go imho.

Client - Command. Pretty good, taking the line that if it ain't broke, etc.

Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe. Mediocre album, repeated plays are not really doing anything to help.

The Durutti Column - Love In The Time of Recession; A Paean To Wilson. The former has the brilliant "Lockdown", the latter is heading towards being my favourite album this year (although SXXV are still there at the moment).

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Fountain. 2009 really hasn't been kind to many of my old favourites. This is without doubt the worst E&TB album ever, from the AOR sound to the even worse than usual lyrical dumbness (still better than Slideling though). Mac's voice still sounds great though.

Editors - In This Light And On This Evening. Another disappointment, their new "electro" direction reminds me of Ure-period Ultravox fronted by a mumbling Jim Kerr circa 1985. Stop now, please.

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. This one is growing on me. Not many news tricks tune-wise, but the arrangements are much more intriguing, with a subtle electronic edge that Editors would obviously kill for.

Madness - The Liberty of Norton Folgate. Each play makes this sound better and better. Still a few patchy tracks ("Dust Devil"), but some real crackers too, especially "Africa".

New Model Army - Today Is A Good Day. Possibly a little bit "rock" to these ears, not matching up to the last couple of albums but still not a bad effort.

George Pringle - Salon des Refuses. I think this is great, but unlikely that a posh girl talking bollocks over well-constructed electro is going to be to everyone's taste. Check out "Physical Education" or "Carte Postale" if you're interested.

Section 25 - Nature + Degree. Still my favourite album this year.

David Sylvian - Manafon. The criticism this got in the Wire seems unfounded. It's Blemish taken on a step, and played over crappy speakers in a Cornish cottage with the noise of waves lapping coming through the window it sounded wonderful. Actually, the music is very muted so I can see what the Wire review was getting at, I just don't see it as a problem. It's billed as a Sylvian album, not a Tin Machine style democracy.

Jah Wobble & The Chinese Dub Orchestra - Chinese Dub. Still getting used to this, the Chinese singing is still a bit out of my usual listening zone. The Dub versions are great though.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz. Another one that's being rewarded by repeat plays.

Black Sheep - The Unruly Imagination; KMSA2; (with Christophe F -) Heathern Frontiers In Sound; Brain Donor - Wasted Fuzz Excessive. There's been so much Cope "product" this year it's been hard to keep up and none of these have had much play so far. All have their moments, but there's too much of the ranter about it for me generally.

John Foxx & Robin Guthrie - Mirrorball. Pretty much what you'd expect an album from these two to sound like, not a million miles from Foxx's Cathedral Oceans albums.

PJ Harvey and John Parish - A Man A Women Walked By. Another serious grower, not perhaps as intoxicating as Dance Hall At Louse Point was though.

They also served - Morrissey - Years of Refusal; Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers; Pet Shop Boys - yes/etc.; Tim Freise-Green - 10 Sketches For Piano Trio.

Normal service being resumed this week!
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