There’s no use crying over milk that’s spilt:
The Pointer Sisters S/T - veering between funk and swing, this is a mighty stimulating listen, if a million miles from the pop hits that made their 80s fortune;
Tangerine Dream: Dominion Theatre, Nov 1982 - the Tangs had moved well away from the abstraction of their 70s concerts by the time of this performance, which sounds fully formed and quite lyrical. Nice though this is, I prefer their atonal stuff;
Gruff Rhys ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’ - another of Rhys’ understated melodic masterpieces. If I was Welsh I’d consider him a national treasure;
Blodwyn Pig ‘Ahead Rings Out’ - jazzy, bluesy, rocking and wondrous;
Iron Maiden ‘Brave New World’ - Bruce Dickinson’s return in 2000 saw a revitalised Maiden and their finest album since ‘Number Of The Beast’ by my reckoning. This still sounds mint fresh even now;
Bob Dylan ‘At Budokan’ - I haven’t felt inclined to invest in the ludicrously overpriced expended edition of this, especially as a few of these reimagined arrangements get on my thrupennies. But when it’s good, it’s good;
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Pawn Hearts’ - where calm and chaos cohabit contentedly across three chaotic continents of sound;
Mogwai ‘Young Team’ - as radical now as it was 27 years ago. 27 years! Much as I still love them, I don’t think they’ve ever surpassed their debut;
Mogwai ‘Happy Songs For Happy People’ - Mogwai’s pop album. Not;
Slint ‘Spiderland’ - another epochal post rock epic (though I’ve always thought it owes loads to Sonic Youth);
Elton John ‘Honky Chateau’ - one of those early 70s albums that never seems to date. If Reg had retired in 1975 I’d laud him as a legend. Many do anyway;
The Fall ‘Perverted By Language’ - I don’t need advice about eating, thank you Mark. I do it all too regularly. But I still enjoy your lo-fi vibes more than ever;
Anti-Pasti ‘The Last Call’ - punk’s second wave produced more genuinely punk - in the primal sense - music than the first. This is a good example. More rehearsal might have made a tighter album, but I like the naive approach apparent here;
Jokleba ‘Outland’ - pithy free improvisations that provoke, console and sometimes irritate across a very individual album;
Schumann: Symphony no.1 (Concertgebouw/Bernard Haitink) - Schumann was not Haitink’s natural composer but his interpretation has power and insight;
Schumann: Papillons, Op.2 (Alfred Cortot) - it’s been said that Cortot’s wrong notes were more musical than most pianists' right ones. I think I can hear what that means;
Elgar: In The South (Alassio) (VPO/John Eliot Gardiner) - great to hear the Vienna Phil play Elgar. Shame the interpretation is so clunky.
What course is there left but to live?
Happy trails
Dave x
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