This week’s spins:
Van Morrison ‘Moving On Skiffle’ - a somewhat treadmill run through of 23 blues, country and traditional songs by Van the Man, best listened to in four or five track bursts to avoid boredom. Like his ‘Latest Record Project’ of a couple of years back, there’s too much music here and not everything comes up to scratch. But when it’s good, it’s good;
UB40 ‘Signing Off’ - this takes me back to my student years. UB40 were so vital an element of the early 80s zeitgeist that their subsequent selling out to the mainstream seems more unforgivable than most of their contemporaries, to me anyway. Remember them this way;
Sleaford Mods ‘UK Grim’ - Jason’s in a bad mood again, and don’t we just love it;
Wire ‘Chairs Missing’ - post punk while punk was still ongoing; simultaneously tight yet delightfully shambolic. Nothing and no-one sounded like this;
Traffic ‘When The Eagle Flies’ - this has grown on me over the years, to the point where I think it worthy to rank alongside Traffic’s first two albums artistically. Having a dedicated bass player in Rosko Gee adds immeasurably to the record’s appeal, and ‘Dream Gerrard’ is a measured, unsung epic;
Steve Winwood ‘About Time’ - the earliest of just two albums of new material that Winwood’s put out in the 21st century has an appealing latin feel with the main man’s voice and mighty Hammond on stellar form;
Cinerama ‘Valentina’ - alternative version of the Weddoes’ 2012 album with a MOR feel. I prefer the original, but Gedge’s songs can more than withstand what are sometimes OTT arrangements;
Stray Cats ‘Rant n Rave With The Stray Cats’ - their third album was their rockinest. Teenage rebels rule ok;
Bruce Springsteen ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’ - fifty years on, this remains an auspicious debut. He’s in much richer voice in his old age but these early songs still define his greatness IMHO;
Sweet ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’ - classy 70s metal is all. (The) Sweet were a much heavier band than their cheesy early 45s suggested and this, their second album, rocks hard, loud, and distinctly around a brief pop core;
Pat Benatar ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ - Pat’s early albums exhibited a fine, wide ranging rock voice allied to some decent hard rocking songs. Her debut remains her best, I think;
Nala Sinephro ‘Space 1.8’ - mesmerising ambient jazz (though not everything here is quiet) covering a whole world of sound and moods;
Joe Henderson ‘In ‘n Out’ - classic early Blue Note session with an ace quintet including Coltrane moonlighters McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones;
Marc Johnson ‘Overpass’ - I’m in awe of anyone who can make a whole album of just double bass sound vital and interesting. In the past, Dave Holland and Gary Peacock did it and so now, for the same label, has Marc Johnson. This is the most intriguing music I’ve played this week;
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1 (Eschenbach/BPO/Karajan) - unashamedly old school, leisurely and romantic approach to LVB’s C major concerto, from a sadly long-gone era when the Berlin Phil was truly awesome;
Bruckner: Symphony no.9 (VPO/Mehta) - one of Zubin Mehta’s earliest records, featuring another once legendary orchestra at its peak. The symphony is given a steady, romantic airing, lacking some of the monumentalism of the finest accounts, but highly engrossing nonetheless;
Wagner: Rienzi Overture/Mozart: Piano Concerto no.26 (w. Alicia de Larrocha)/Shostakovich: Symphony no.15 (VPO or COE or CSO all cond. Solti) - Solti’s posthumous reputation is unfairly biased towards his Wagner Ring, but he was an equally fine conductor of orchestral music. His Shost 15, one of Solti’s very last recordings, makes a stronger case for this strange work than any other I know. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing these records;
Shostakovich: Symphony no.10 (BPO/Karajan) - so strong is Karajan’s conception of this mighty symphony it’s a shame that he never recorded any of the other fourteen. This is the earlier, and best, of his two recordings;
Beethoven: Piano Trio no.7, ‘Archduke’ (Beaux Arts Trio) - one of those records where everything just seems right: music, performance, recording. Life is good;
Haydn: String Quartet Op.9 no.6 (Festetics Quartet) - idiomatic and thoroughly satisfying take on one of Haydn’s earliest quartet masterpieces, played on period strings without sourness. I’ve just ordered the Festetics’ complete Haydn quartets box on the strength of this.
Too hip, gotta go.
May your week go sweetly
Dave x
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