Listen my friends:
Marillion ‘Seasons End’ - ahead of getting the new expanded, remixed edition of this album, I played the 1989 original this week. It remains an excellent debut for Steve Hogarth, Marillion’s new boy of 34 years standing;
How We Live ‘Dry Land’ - what that new boy did during Marillion’s piscatorial phase. Typically overproduced 80s pop saved by h’s angelic tenor. It’s telling how similar the title track sounds to Marillion’s later cover version;
Sparks ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ - Russell and Ron are in their mid and late seventies respectively. Yes, really. Yet I’d struggle to find anything sounding more contemporary in my local HMV. Music this fresh makes the mega-selling pretenders dominating the album charts sound so old school it’s unbelievable. Good on yer, guys;
Paul Simon ‘Seven Psalms’ - unlike the aforesaid, Paul’s sounding his age these days, but his creativity thrives onward. This delightfully low-key song cycle is the best thing he’s produced for decades;
Yusuf/Cat Stevens ‘King Of A Land’ - another old hand back on form. These songs may not have the edge of his best work but there’s no denying their simple, tuneful charm;
Nine Horses ‘Snow Borne Sorrow’ - David Sylvian’s most accessible release of this century is an unsung masterpiece, the man’s closely miked vocal perfectly enhanced by Burnt Friedman and Steve Jansen’s melodic atmospherics. I hope it’ll become re-available outside of the upcoming Samahdisound box set;
The Answer ‘Sundowners’ - belts & braces rock’n’roll performed as therapy after some serious personal shit. These dudes needed to rock, and haven’t they just;
Mogwai ‘Central Belters’ - all the Mogwai I’ll ever need (yeah, right) over three beautifully sequenced CDs;
Moby Grape S/T - one of THE great legacies of the Sixties San Francisco scene: supreme pop music played and sung with infectious verve;
Lifesigns S/T and ‘Cartington’ - John Young’s Lifesigns project has thus far yielded three beautifully crafted and inventive rock albums, touched - but not defined - by prog elements. These are the first two;
Rick Danko S/T - Danko’s only solo album proper is good, not great, but nicely enlivened by the man’s plaintive vocals. Easily my favourite Band singer, and that’s saying something;
Mahavishnu Orchestra ‘Birds Of Fire’ - manic fusion wonderment that, for all its over-indulgence, still thrills fifty years on;
Keith Jarrett ‘Death and the Flower’ - 1974 Impulse! outing for Jarrett’s American Quartet, exhibiting a more estoteric side than their ECM releases. Not as well produced, though;
Beethoven: Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn & Bassoon, Op.16 (Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble) - definitive take on this charming early work, recorded just days before Dennis Brain’s fatal car crash. Was there ever a finer horn player?
Nielsen: Symphony no.3 ‘Espansiva’ (Danish RSO/Fabio Luisi) - this new Nielsen symphony cycle has been well received by the classical press and, if this is anything to go by, deservedly so. What an invigorating and fresh sounding work this is;
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto no.1 (Pogorelich/LSO/Abbado) - very pointed 1986 take on this old war horse, a little over-precious for my taste, but enjoyable nonetheless;
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Orch de Paris/Klaus Makela) - I’m surprised by Makela’s over-measured approach to Stravinsky’s rhythmic masterpiece which, to my ears, robs the music of much of its impact. I remain faithful to my treasured recordings of Dorati, Markevitch, Bernstein and Colin Davis where the Rite is concerned;
Ireland: Concertino Pastorale (LPO/Sir Adrian Boult); A Downland Suite (Sinfonia of London/John Wilson); A London Overture (LSO/Sir John Barbirolli) - John Ireland’s orchestral music remains underrated next to Elgar, Holst, Britten and Vaughan Williams but his musical personality is every bit as distinctive, as these fine recordings testify;
Sibelius: Symphony no.4 (BPO/Herbert von Karajan) - the second of Herbie’s three recordings of Sibelius 4 is the best, finding just enough light amidst the prevailing gloom of the work.
Everybody in the whole of the world is the same inside.
Have a great week.
Dave x
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