Spirit and Randy's echoplex have dominated this week and the patched up cassette recording of the entire Rainbow show from 78 (released as "Two Sides of a Rainbow") has turned out to be the retro buy of the year. Squid, you really have to have this if you don't already.
The Remains - s/t
What appears to be the entire recorded output of any significance by my second favourite band on the original vinyl version of "Nuggets". Not at all bad stab at an album of Brit Invasion knock offs with a bit of a Motown feel and not a scooter or Paisley shirt in sight. In a just world the Stone Roses might owe them a few quid.
An Introduction To Big Bill Broonzy
I am not the world's biggest Billy Bragg fan but his version of "Black, Brown And White" at the Hal Willner Freedon Riders show at RFH last Sunday was a live music highlight of the year. Nona Hendryx's "Strange Fruit" was also pretty special as was a ten minute excerpt from Roland Kirk's "Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle". Anyway, even if you find old blues records generally a bit of a yawn there is enough humour and an unmmistakable pop sensibility in this bite size album of Broozny classics to get any Post Punker away from his or her Beefheart. Play this back to back with Eugene Chadbourne's country/bebop masterpiece "There Will Be No Tears Tonight".
Karen Vourc'h & Susan Manoff - Til Solveig
On the classical front Karen Vourc'h is my new favourite young singer after her Proms appearance as Melisande and this is the only album of hers I can find. Songs by Grieg, Sibelius and Debussy. Swoonsome as they used to say in Smash Hits. Probably.
Herbie Hancock - River
Herbie (and friends) play Joni. Gorgeous summer record if you like HH as a straight up piano player though it does reveal how similar a lot of her melodies were. Some of it is jaw dropping (Tina Turner in particular). Corrine Bailey Rae not so much.
David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name....
Good to get a reminder about this. Are these Jerry Garcia's greatest studio performances as a guitar player? I think so. Worth every penny for the Joni bv's on "Laughing" alone. A fine piece of hippie self-indulgence made by the Californian folk-rock elite at a time when the drugs were just about still working for them rather than against them. "Traction in the Rain" is my personal favourite in that it sounds like an odd amalgam of Chick Corea, Tim Buckley and Johnny Mathis (which is a really good thing) and the whole album proves that Crosby was the best harmony singer (and certainly the most inventive one) on that scene by some distance.
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - Rossini: Complete Overtures
Pulled this out after watching the last (and stunning) episode of Sherlock again. Rossini can be a bit of a ham sandwich but the overture to La Gazza Ladra is a must-own. Especially in the hands of Sir Neville and co.
Noosign - The Film Will Not Finish
A brilliant tribute to Chris Marker and maverick genius narrative mashers everywhere. Well worth leaving on a loop and just letting it absorb you (sorry I haven't bought it yet Stray, the quality of the streaming is the one big downside of Bandcamp in that it makes it all too easy to put off buying anything but I will!)
Glowpeople's "Things ..."
Hard to describe without reaching for the lazy critic's book of festie band cliches but, to try and do it justice, this is a bit like a much more loose and Miles-y version of the first Dunes line up. The sort of thing that can be really tedious in the wrong hands but this is good stuff all around and makes me think that KC and his glowshine band are something I should see live to get the full effect.
Also got to play favourite bits from ...
Peter Hammill - Roaring Forties
Rumer - Boys Don't Cry (Special Edition)
Grateful Dead - GD Movie Soundtrack
Miles - Circle In The Round
Fairports - Unhalfbricking
Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
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