This week’s aural cornucopia:
Can ‘Tago Mago’ and ‘Soundtracks’ - specifically ‘Mother Sky’ and ‘Halleluwah’ which I’ve had on virtual repeat for days. It’s funny how these half century old tantric grooves seem to sound more modern on every hearing. Talking of ‘Mother Sky’…
Julian Cope ‘England Expectorates’ - this is growing on me more every time I hear it. I’ve already spun it more times than the Drude’s last couple of records put together. Cho93’s comparison with ‘20 Mothers’ is apposite, I think;
The Velvet Underground ‘Squeeze’ - ok, hardly a VU album in any realistic sense but this is a very decent, mid-period Dead like, pop-rock album on its own terms. Had ‘Squeeze’ come out under Doug Yule’s own name - as it should - it’d probably be better regarded;
Snow Patrol ‘The Fireside Sessions’ EP - on the strength of this, Snow Patrol should make all their records with their fans’ input. This is rather good. Really;
Mike Oldfield ‘Hergest Ridge’ - which, in its original 1974 mix, remains my go-to Oldfield album. The eerie-cum-soothing first theme is as hypnotic as any music I know, and the whole work is much more thematically unified than its illustrious predecessor, great though that is;
John Illsley ‘Streets Of Heaven’ - John hasn’t strayed far from his old band’s sound but that’s alright with me;
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Godbluff’ - the first of the mighty triumvirate of LPs VdGG released in 1975/76 is so good, it’s incredible to think that its successors are even finer. IMHO anyway;
Sham 69 ‘Tell Us The Truth’ - I’m seventeen again;
Porcupine Tree ‘Closure/Continuation’ - as good as rock music gets these days, which in this case is pretty effing good;
CVS ‘Give Us A Job’/‘Kill A Pop Star’ - I mention this low-fi, proto-Oi! tape from 1983 safe in the knowledge that few people here will ever have heard it. All you need to know is that I reckon the Sleaford Mods subliminally ripped ‘em off thirty years later;
Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Jazz Impressions Of Japan’ - which has some of Brubeck’s most toe-tapping tunes alongside some of his loveliest melodies, thankfully not tainted by faux-oriental cliches. The quartet, and Paul Desmond in particular, were caught in top form. This makes a delightfully distracting 40 minute listen;
Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘At Carnegie Hall’ - the first truly great- live double LP, captured nearly a decade before ‘Made In Japan’. This is a jazz record that - in its swinging way - really rocks. Skin heads will flip at Joe Morello’s unbelievable 5/4 solo on ‘Castilian Drums’;
Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Time Out’ - their iconic release, like the contemporaneous ‘Kind Of Blue’, seems to yield new pleasures even after decades of familiarity. I’ve known much of its contents since childhood yet still get a rush every time I play it;
Brahms: Academic Festival Ov/Mozart: Symphony no.39/Chausson: Symphony/Hindemith: Harmony of the World (all NYPO/Mitropoulos) - from a newly released big box of Mitropoulos’ live performances where sheer, visceral impact overcomes the aged, grainy sound, especially in the Hindemith. Wow;
Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2 and 4 (Malmo SO/Trevino) - there’s lots of vim and imagination in Robert Trevino’s interpretations, even if not everything convinces. I’ll take this over many recent, bigger name sets of these indefinable masterpieces any day;
Beethoven: Symphony no.4 (LSO/Jochum) - this, however, is in a different league. Eugen Jochum was one of THE great German kapellmeisters and his late Seventies Beethoven cycle has no weak points;
Sibelius: Tapiola (BBC Nat Orch Wales/Bancroft) - interesting 2022 live take on Sibelius’ final tone poem revealing orchestral detail I’d hitherto never heard;
Tabakova: Tectonic (BBC Concert Orch/Tovey) - exciting, rhythmic piece from the same current BBC Music cover CD as the last named.
Enjoy your week
Dave x
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