This week’s plays:
Metallica ‘Garage Inc’ - my love for which maybe indicates I dig this band for their covers more than their own material. How to find a common thread between Queen, Discharge, Budgie and The Misfits? Whatever else they’ve done, they’ve done that. Blistering;
The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ - words can’t say;
Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Too Rye Ay (As It Should Have Sounded)’ - like most remixes, this doesn’t really improve on the original, which still sounds pretty good to my ears. But it’s good to revisit it anyway;
Roddy Frame ‘Surf’ - Roddy’s ‘Pink Moon’ moment, and that’s meant with all due deference. This is THAT good;
David Sylvian ‘Gone To Earth’ - specifically the instrumental second disc which is as beautiful as anything I’ve heard in the ‘ambient’ genre. We need you back, David;
U2 ‘An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart’ (live) - I’ve raved about this uncommonly fine U2 cut so many times I’ve run out of things to say about it. Suffice to say, if I - as no fan of the band - love this, you might do too. You’ll need to track down the 1982 NME ‘Dancin’ Master’ tape to hear it, mind;
The Beat ‘I Just Can’t Stop It’ - this always sounds fresh as a daisy to me. The Beat had a unique edge that stood them out from other ska-influenced bands of the time, e.g.
Bad Manners ‘Ska & B’ - … but it doesn’t all have to be great art to be enjoyable, does it?;
The Kinks ‘Part 1: Lola Vs. Powerman And The Underground’ - maybe patchier than the mighty ‘Arthur’, but a decent album nonetheless;
Alison Sudal ‘Still Come The Night’ - I wanted to like this. I don’t. It sounds too cold and clinical;
UFO ‘The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent’ - on their ninth album UFO produced a sophisticated blend of hard rock and particularly strong melodies, with a few ace orchestral passages actually adding to the pleasure quotient. No Schenker? No matter;
Haydn: Symphonies 94 & 96/Grieg: Holberg Suite/Mozart: Piano Concerto no.27 (w.Brendel)/Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia/Stravinsky: Apollo (all ASMF/Marriner) - lovely programme of Argo and Philips recordings demonstrating the 70s peak of England’s finest chamber orchestra and their ever-consistent conductor;
Vaughan Williams: Symphony no.8 (BBC SO/Brabbins) - convincing performance of one of VW’s lesser played symphonies;
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no.4 (VPO/Abbado) - one of Abbado’s most viscerally exciting records; in fact this comes close to Mravinsky for intensity, and that’s saying something;
Dvorak: Symphony no.9 ‘From The New World’ (Columbia SO/Walter) - and this is pretty arresting as well;
Mozart: Piano Concerto no.12 (Serkin/LSO/Abbado) - from Rudolf Serkin’s DG indian summer comes this delightful rendering of an early Mozart concerto. I can hear the old man grunting along in places;
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no.2 (Ashkenazy/Concertgebouw/Haitink) - a curious performance that only really comes to life in the final movement - and how;
Respighi: Ancient Dances & Airs For Lute, Suite no.1 (Philh Hungarica/Dorati) - subtle performance of one of Respighi’s neo-classical niceties;
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit (Vladimir Ashkenazy) - Ravel’s eerie epic played just right;
Bach: English Suite no.3, BWV 808 (Wilhelm Kempff) - where artistry trumps anachronism with ease.
Enjoy your week, everyone.
Dave x
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