Day in day out day in day out:
Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ - sometimes you can know an album so well that you take it for granted and stop actively listening. That’s what I’d done with WYWH for decades. This week I (soberly) put it on my deck and it fucking blew my mind;
Joy Division ‘Heart and Soul’ - as did this. Am I alone in finding their non-album tracks even more satisfying than the albums themselves? Whatever, there’s a consistency and quality here that far outreaches just ‘Unknown Pleasures’ and ‘Closer’, classics though they are;
Bruce Springsteen ‘Devils & Dust’ - The Boss gets much deeper and introspective when devoid of his E-Street chums, as here;
Patti Smith Group ‘Radio Ethiopia’ - Patti’s second album is my favourite, capturing her muse at its most intense;
Pink Floyd ‘Animals’ - which, unlike WYWH, I’ve grown to love gradually over the years. Their nastiest, most rocking album and the last of theirs that I truly rate;
Ian Hunter ‘Defiance Part 1’ - the dude sounds old (well of course he does) but my, the attitude’s still there. And he’s got a few minor talents supporting him;
Marillion ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ - my favourite album of 2022. How this band remains a cult - albeit a sizeable one - is a mystery to me;
The Saints ‘(I’m) Stranded’ - first wave punk glory from Australia. As unique as the Ramones but without their critical kudos;
The Jolt s/t - too late for punk and too early for the mod revival, The Jolt made a decent and distinctive power pop LP with well-good songs. A lost gem from 1978;
Bruce Springsteen ‘The Wild, The Innocent And The E-Street Shuffle’ - there’s a freshness in Springsteen’s early work that transcends five decades. Whilst I love his recent work - and I don’t believe he’s ever sung better than now - the seven long songs on this record sound so goddamn good it’s easy to feel that he ever bettered them. The man was - and is - a legend;
Dream Theater ‘Distance Over Time’ - they’ve got less impactful over the years - especially since Mike Portnoy departed - but can still deliver inventive, highly melodic hard rock as here;
Robert Plant ‘The Principle Of Moments’ - it’s hard to believe that this still fresh sounding record is now 40 years old. Percy kept the vocal histrionics in check on his sophomore album, with a band that was similarly restrained, yet bang on the money;
Faces ‘Pool Hall Richard’ 45 - this is one seriously raunchy seven inch. The best Stones song the Stones never wrote? Discuss;
Keith Jarrett: Nagoya, November 12, 1976 (from ‘Sun Bear Concerts’) - this great man turned 78 last week and, whilst poor health has meant it’s highly unlikely we’ll get anything new from him, he’s at least left a massive legacy of fine recordings to enjoy. This is as good an example as any of his lyrical, improvisational art. Listen and drift away;
Jan Garbarek Group ‘It’s OK To Listen To The Gray Voice’ - one of those marvellous European jazz records that Garbarek made annually in the 70s and 80s, always with stellar back up from his ECM label mates. Eberhard Weber is on particularly fine form here;
Lucia Popp: Opera Arias (Munich RSO/Kurt Eichhorn) - lovely 1982 recital from the much missed soprano. Her ‘Song To The Moon’ is a wonder to behold;
Haydn: 3 String Quartets, Op.74 (Endellion Quartet) - straight laced performances from 30-odd years ago. So what? The music is beautifully served;
Haydn: String Quartet in G, Op.76 no.1 (Chiaroscuro Quartet) - a very different, analytical approach to Haydn, expertly played on gut strings without tears;
Haydn: 2 String Quartets, Op.77 (London Haydn Quartet) - more gut strings, this time played ultra sensitively, to the great benefit of Haydn’s sublime slow movements;
Haydn: String Quartet in D minor, Op.103 (Tatrai Quartet) - only two movements were completed of Haydn’s last string quartet but they still fulfil admirably in this fine rendition. Much as I’m enjoying the Festetics and London Haydn Quartets’ complete Haydn quartet surveys it’s the Tatrais’ much longer gestating series that remains my first choice;
Haydn: Symphony no.62 in D (Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood) - any of Haydn’s hundred plus symphonies can put a smile on even the most jaded face. This did mine;
Wouldn’t it be great if we ran out of hate?
Have a great week, all
Dave x
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