I start to shiver and shake:
Waylon Jennings ‘Waylon’ - short & sweet 1970 album with the great man on fine vocal and geetar pickin’ form. His take on Chuck Berry’s ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ - which he performed with relish on The Johnny Cash Show - is a real hoot;
Peter Hammill ‘Sitting Targets’ - I used to think of this as something of a disappointment after Hammill’s glorious run of Charisma albums but, like its self-made predecessor ‘A Black Box’, its charms are now quite evident to my jaded ears - though it’d be better still had Guy Evans featured. Those primitive electronic drums can really grate - and date;
Talk Talk ‘The Colour Of Spring’ - the last fully approachable album that the much missed Mark Hollis made, with subtle hints of the abstraction to come. One of 1986’s few releases that have stood my personal test of time;
Wire ‘Chairs Missing’ - so many subsequent acts have sounded like Wire did that this almost seems like a current release. Except, of course, that no-one now sounds as good;
Wigwam ‘Nuclear Nightclub’ - by 1975 Wigwam had become a vehicle for Hull-born Jim Pembroke’s ascerbic yet melodic muse, and really should have made a bigger splash in the rock pool than they did. This is an excellent album that doesn’t sound its near half century age;’
Bad Company ‘Straight Shooter’ - because everybody needs a shot of 70s cock rock from time to time;
James Gang ‘Miami’ - my previous comments refer. Tommy Bolin shone on all the myriad records he played on in his all too brief lifetime, and this is as good as any;
The Cars ‘Candy O’ - still cock rocky I suppose, but with pop chops. Good, but not great;
The Beach Boys ‘Sunflower’ - which I personally rate higher than its critically overpraised follow up ‘Surf’s Up’. Not that the latter is a bad album - far from it - but ‘Sunflower’ has songs which appeal to me more, and not just from Brian Wilson’s shaky pen;
Viv Albertine ‘The Vermilion Border’ - very decent 2012 solo album from The Slits’ former guitarist, heavy on beats and attitude. High time for a follow up, Viv;
Mogwai ‘Central Belters’ - there aren’t many anthologies I’d class as definitive, but this comes pretty damned close. Great value too;
Joy Division ‘Substance’ - another decent compilation, capturing their essence without touching either of their proper albums. Very useful, in other words;
Kansas ‘The Prelude Implicit’ - despite many lineup changes, Kansas have kept their patent prog cogs oiled over more than half a century. This 2016 album is as good as the records that defined them back in the 70s and boasts much better sound than any of them;
Hatfield and the North S/T - for no valid reason I hadn’t played this in at least a year and well, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Life’s too short to deny myself my favourite band this long. Fol de rol;
Humble Pie ‘Thunderbox’ - proving that the Pie could rock as hard and funky as the best of them, and with a sublime vocalist to boot. I don’t ‘alf miss you, Steve;
John Coltrane ‘A Love Supreme’ - Coltrane’s most lauded record is one that I like rather than love, but yields new subtleties every time I play it. Maybe that’s the key to its greatness;
Herbie Hancock ‘Secrets’ - post-Miles and pre-Rockit LP that is jazzy yet funky with no fusion blandness;
Joy S/T - new reissue of 1976 one-off album by this ace multi-cultural jazz collective. AEC fans like me will dig;
Black Dyke Mills Band/Roy Newsome ‘The Champions’ - played on what would have been my dear dad’s 88th birthday. He loved brass bands, and especially this one, caught in stellar form back in 1968. God bless you, Dad;
Honegger: Symphony no.4 (Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Tamas Vasary) - the most lyrical of Honegger’s five symphonies, delightfully rendered here;
Beethoven: Three Piano Sonatas, Op.10, Op.31 no.1, Op.57 ‘Appassionata’ and Op.78 (Louis Lortie) - three prime early Beethoven sonatas played with appropriately classical poise by the underrated Lortie. His ‘Appassionata’ and the short Op.78 are similarly precise in feel and tempo. Others may project more of their own personalities into this music but, listening to this, I just hear Beethoven. And isn’t that the way it should be?
Try to sing a sober song after all that din.
Best to all
Dave x
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