It’s cold gin time again:
The Teardrop Explodes ‘Culture Bunker 1978-1982’ - here at last. I’ve only had time to play the first two discs, most of which I know from earlier releases, but it’s great to hear them as a sequence as here. If they were all we had, we’d still be lauding Julian as a giant. Can’t wait to hear the rest;
Yes ‘Going For The One’ - Yes’ last truly satisfying album was released, somewhat ironically, in the year that punk was fully embraced by a weary UK. The twee ‘Wondrous Stories’ aside, it’s a belter. Did they ever record a more arresting opening track, let alone the church organ driven blast that is ‘Parallels’?
Joe Jackson ‘Body & Soul’ - over-loud drums aside (well, such was 1984), this is one magnificently melodic record. ‘Be My Number Two’ is one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard;
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Godbluff’ - VdGG re-emerged in the mid-Seventies with a near faultless triumvirate of albums of which this was just the first. There’s a hymn-like quality to these songs (and of course, their vocal delivery) that makes them feel truly epic with only basic keyboards, reeds and drums. What a band;
Cabaret Voltaire ‘Mix-Up’ - I still get a rush from the first Cabs LP which sounded like nothing else I’d heard on its release - and still doesn’t;
Alice Cooper ‘Love It To Death’ - the final track excepted (and about which the least said the better), this - like its prompt follow up - is one helluva garage rock classic. I’m eighteen and I like it. (I wish!)
The Lurkers ‘Fulham Fallout’ - never mentioned in lists of great punk debut LPs but, in its primal naïveté and sheer clout, as arresting and entertaining as most. Whither Howard Wall these days?
Saxon ‘Carpe Diem’ - I used to consider Saxon a guilty pleasure, but no more. On this, their latest album of self-penned material, they exhibit a heft and attitude that puts most current metal pretenders to shame. Seize the day indeed;
Wings ‘Red Rose Speedway’ - Macca’s second album under the Wings moniker hits 50 this year. It’s no classic, but has enough good tracks to stand way above the sub-mediocre ‘Wild Life’ that preceded it;
Kansas ‘Another Fork In The Road’ - useful 3CD summary of Kansas’ recorded career to date. They’ve mined a quite unique path for an American band, having clear UK prog rock influences throughout their half century existence (a dodgy big hair metal phase in the mid-80s excepted). I dig ‘em, and I’m not ashamed;
Kiss ‘Alive!’ & ‘Alive II’ - there seems to be a glut of Kiss live albums out there these days but I can’t get further than their first two, irrespective of how truly “live” they may - or may not - have been. Eternal clunker ‘Beth’ aside, the songs just rock and the excitement is visceral. Remember them this way;
Vaughan Williams: A Pastoral Symphony (Halle/Sir Mark Elder) - Elder has inherited some of his great Halle predecessor Barbirolli’s special way with VW;
Brahms: Symphony no.4 (Boston SO/Andris Nelsons) - I was underwhelmed by Nelsons’ DG VPO Beethoven cycle but his earlier Brahms series with the Boston SO is much better. In fact, this Brahms Fourth is up there with Giulini, Karajan and Skrowaczewski in the finest I know. Superb recorded sound too;
Haydn: String Quartets, Op.76 nos.4-6 (Chiaroscuro Quartet) - this competes with the Doric Quartet’s recordings of the same works that I so enjoyed a couple of weeks ago. The Chiaroscuros use period strings which sound more angst ridden in the slow movements than their rivals but otherwise, honours are shared with the Dorics. Both deserve a hearing;
Ligeti: String Quartet no.2 (LaSalle Quartet) - taking the string quartet format to its limit, so much so that it’s hard to believe that these are the same instruments that Haydn wrote for so lyrically. Much of the time there’s barely an awareness of what player is producing what sound. Yet the overall effect remains beautiful;
Ligeti: Cello Concerto (Queyras/Ensemble InterContemporain/Boulez) - quite unlike any other cello concerto I’ve ever heard: in fact, I hear more in common with the opening movement of Tangerine Dream’s ‘Zeit’ than any other “classical” music out there. Only a quarter of an hour long with a minimal, meditative first movement. I’ve neglected the music of this fine, innovative composer for too long;
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no.5 (Philharmonia/Herbert von Karajan) - the earliest of Herbie’s six commercial recordings of this work has restricted mono sound, but has Dennis Brain’s unparalleled horn playing to compensate. His ethereal solo in the second movement is simply heart stopping. I have an elderly friend who heard these artists in this work at the Edinburgh Festival back in the day and considers it one of the finest music experiences of his life. I’m jealous;
Balakirev: Symphony no.1 (Philharmonia/Karajan) - another classic recording from the same era as the above, this time of a lesser known (but excellent) Russian symphony and the only time Karajan recorded it. Was there a finer orchestra in the world in the early fifties than the Philharmonia? On recorded evidence, I doubt it.
Expect nothing.
Sweet vibes to all
Dave x
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