Rumer - Boys Don't Cry (Special Edition)
What's this TV advertised major label BRIT-fodder doing here you might ask? Well. I liked the sound of her last record, the tunes were strong and her voice has enough Carpenter / Joni silk and Bonnie Raitt / Ann Peebles grit in it to keep things interesting but over time the lyrics were a bit of a let down. However, like the great divas of yore, she is a fantastic interpreter of other people's songs as is proven on this new all-covers album. The song choices are brilliant and unlikely (Townes, Ronnie Lane, Terry Reid etc), the production is close and personal and, like the best Dusty records, the playing offers the perfect frame without being MOR-bland. If you have a soft spot for Karen Carpenter, Jimmy Webb or "Dusty In Memphis" then you really should own this. Might even be my record of the year come December.
This week's story about the value of recorded music relative to its historical retail cost
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120606value#ilQg9YtZDmqNZwDbS5yrHA
had me going back to some old bargains ....
VDGG - 68-71
Young Persons Guide To King Crimson
Genesis - Live
History of Fairport Convention
Four budget vinyl purchases from my early-mid teens in 74/76 ish. Nothing from "Pawn Hearts" on the VdGG record and no "21st Century Schizoid Man" on the Crimson. In terms of sounding the least of its time it is probably the very oddness of the Van der Graaf compilation that means it fares best of the four after 36 years though going straight from this to "World Record" was a confusing jump in 1976. The Crimson was far and away the best package which went a long way towards drawing me into the world of Fripp and setting the stage for "Exposure" a couple of years later. Genesis "Live" is a horrible sounding artefact, absolutely bereft of subtlety and is a bit of a mess in every way though at the time it felt like £1.99 (the equivalent of £13.50 today) well spent. The performances are no where near as good as the music on the Sheperton film or the Rainbow recording from the SEBTP era. Or the Bruford-era bootlegs for that matter.The Fairports record was a huge influence on me at the time but, with the benefit of hindsight and greater familiarily with the source albums, some of the song choices seem beyond bizarre. Still, it got me into English traditional music in a big way and if I had never heard Swarb and Thompson dueling it out on this then I probably wouldn't have got into "Marquee Moon".
Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Big Moon Ritual
Speaking of budget I am not sure if the pricing of this (under a fiver) is a mistake or a piece of marketing. Either way this is the first studio recording from CR's new country-psych-soul-ish combo. The influence of CR's many guest appearances with Phil Lesh is easy to spot. The songs are long and never really get to a point but it is much better than the live recordings that have filtered out over the last year might have suggested. The individual band members don't really have an identity yet (at least not on record) and it is kind of hard to listen to this without thinking "what would Rich be playing right now?" but there is a lot here for for lovers of "American Beauty" / "Workingman's Dead" / "Live In Europe" era GD or the last Robert Plant band and album. If your tastes swing that way or if you liked either the Crowes unplugged best of record from last year or the one recorded at Levon Helm's the year before then there are very many worse ways of spending a £4.49. All it lacks is the Crowes two-pronged guitar lift-off and a memorable chorus or two.
Leno clip here
http://theaudioperv.com/2012/06/06/chris-robinson-brotherhood-rosalee-65-leno/
Gil Shaham & Goran Sollscher - Paganini For Two
Alban Berg Quartett - The Late Beethoven String Quartets
Bezerkley Chartbusters Vol 1
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