We met in a psychiatric unit:
Matthews Southern Comfort ‘Later That Same Year’ - the third and final LP released under MSC’s name in 1970 is the best; very US west coast in feel and sound and blessed by Ian Matthews’ angelic vocal;
Cinerama ‘Va Va Voom’ - much as I love The Wedding Present, the wonderful records that David Gedge crafted under the Cinerama moniker are the real deal for me. This was the first one, a quarter century old and still sounding as fresh as a daisy. More people need to hear these thoroughly melodic and memorable tunes, their fabulous arrangements and Gedge’s spot-on summaries of love, lust and loss. They really do;
Matching Mole S/T - in some ways the quintessential Canterbury LP, moving from the plaintive subtlety of ‘O Caroline’ to the jazzy experimentation of ‘Part Of The Dance’ and all of Side 2;
Magazine ‘Secondhand Daylight’ - yeah, two weeks running, the best post-punk album there ever was;
Black Sabbath ‘Master of Reality’ - their third, and last great, album;
Opeth ‘Garden Of The Titans’ - awesome live recording by the masters of some seriously heavy shit;
Cirkus ‘One’ - mega-collectable Geordie progressive rock gem from 1973. (N.B. I only have it on an unofficial CD reissue should anyone feel tempted into breaking into my billet to nab it!) Kind of BJH-meets-Moodies-meets-Crimson in its mellotron rich sound. Although a bit sixth form lyrically, the music is excellently grandiose melodic rock with some no expense spared string arrangements. There are many more acclaimed records of this genre that can’t hold a candle to this;
Judas Priest ‘Rocka Rolla’ - for me, Priest were far finer a hard rock band than a metal one. Their debut is an unsung belter if you’re not welded to their big selling leather and studs era;
Boz Scaggs ‘Moments’ - early Scaggs outing with an appealing white soul meets country and pop vibe;
Rodney Crowell ‘But What Will The Neighbors Think’ - Crowell’s second solo effort from 1980 has more of a US new wave feel than his traditional country style, but stands up well. I like this;
Keith Jarrett ‘Book Of Ways’ - baroque keyboards never sounded like this. Not many artists would get the chance to make a double album of clavichord improvisations and if they did, I doubt they’d resemble this. Newly reissued, this is one of the most left field records in Jarrett’s vast back catalogue and one of the most fascinating, to my ears anyway;
Erroll Garner ‘Up In Erroll’s Room’ - in my humble opinion Garner is the most underrated pianist in jazz: entirely self taught with a technique that most concert pianists would envy, even though he couldn’t read a note of music. And his avant garde intros always raise a laugh. This relatively late record exemplifies his style perfectly;
Miles Davis ‘E.S.P.’ - the earliest of Miles’ second great quintet’s LPs reveals a group already at its symbiotic peak. There’s a uniquely misty feel to this record that I find most appealing. Wayne Shorter RIP;
John Coltrane ‘Ballads’ - ideal listening for a sossled Saturday night;
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A, D959 (Garrick Ohlssohn) - the second of the three late great sonatas composed by the dying Schubert, expertly realised in this ace new recording. The coupled earlier sonata in A minor (D537) - with which it shares a melody - is almost as fine;
Mozart: String Quartet no.21 in D, K 575 (Chiaroscuro Quartet) - subtle and tasteful performance of Mozart’s third last quartet. The Chiaroscuros’ period sound didn’t appeal to me at first, but the sheer class of their playing has won me round. I shall explore more of their recordings;
Brahms: Symphony no.4 (Boston SO/Nelsons) - I can’t get away with Andris Nelsons’ rather ordinary take on Beethoven, but his Brahms is much more convincing. This is as convincingly judged a Brahms Fourth as I’ve heard in many years, and is superbly recorded. I wonder if I’d have enjoyed Nelsons’ Beethoven cycle more had he recorded it in Boston rather than Vienna;
(Qualifying note re the above, for any who may be interested: I’ve been disillusioned with both the VPO and BPO for several years, as “authentic” practitioners have gradually nullified their distinctive sounds to render them sterile and undernourished at times. Their best years seem sadly behind them, whilst Munich (BRSO and MPO), Bamberg, the Czech PO, Oslo, and most of the acclaimed American orchestras have upped their game. Our own LSO, LPO, Halle, RLPO and BBC SO are also world class. IMHO of course.)
I just get numb when you are hard to find.
Sweet days and eves to all
Dave x
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