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Soundtracks To Our Lives W/E 18/1/03
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Fitter Stoke
Fitter Stoke
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Re: Soundtracks To Our Lives W/E 18/1/03
Jan 19, 2003, 15:10
A great week for the old lugholes, this. Treats were:

Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments 'A Meal You Can Shake Hands With In The Dark' - one listen to this off-the-wall gem is enough to convince anyone of the presence of another great unsung and eccentric genius. This one deserves a full review and will get one soon if I find the time. Suffice to say it's a terrific mish-mash of left-field poetry, jazz, folky elements and hard, hard rock, featuring a young Chris Spedding, future Gong drummer Laurie Allen, 'Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard' sax fiend George Khan, and a lyricist/vocalist who sounds like Roger Chapman with no sense of tuning. Included is a version of 'Politian' that is somewhat removed from the Cream version! The album is totally lacking in discipline or direction and is all the better for it. Those nice people at BGO Records deserve full credit for rescuing this from behind collectors' closed doors (original Harvest vinyls fetch £100!);

Quatermass 'Quatermass' - another Harvest delight, this time courtesy of Joolio. An extremely ambitious and accomplished debut album from a band that sound as if they could have achieved so much more. 'Gemini' is a classic piece of powerhouse rock. Bassist John Gustavson (later of Roxy Music) has a vocal sound very reminiscent of Glenn Hughes methinks;

Coldplay 'A Rush Of Blood To The Head' - a slow grower this, but for all their obvious influences there's no getting away from the fact that Coldplay have some mean songs up their sleeves. The title track and 'Politik' in particular are big, wonderful epics that I can't get through the day without at the moment;

Van Morrison 'Hymns To The Silence' - continuing my Van The Man phase, this is one of those double albums that really should have been a single one, but that said, there's some excellent and vehement Morrison compositions here. And the spoken, not sung, 'On Hyndford Street' is worth the price of admission alone;

Van Morrison 'Saint Dominic's Preview' - 'Astral Weeks' might get all the plaudits, and deservedly, but this is the album that gives the most pleasure. The title track may just be Van's greatest ever song;

Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis 'You Win Again' - ugh; next...

Warhorse 'Warhorse' - again courtesy of Joolio, this album from Nick Simper's post-Purple band offers no surprises in that it sounds just like Deep Purple. That's not meant as a criticism: the record is choc-full of quality hard rock and deserves to be in all Purple fans' collections. Joolio's review says it all about this one really;

Roger Chapman 'Live In Berlin' - spurred by the almost identical sounding Pete Brown as above, I dragged this short and sweet live album from the mothballs. Features the great Geoff Whitehorn on searing lead guitar and a version of Oldfield's 'Shadow On The Wall' that makes the original seem somewhat tame;

Deep Purple 'Purpendicular' - their first post-Blackmore album since the 1984 renaissance, and a radical improvement on its immediate predecessors which suffered from the Lorna Doone author's descent into AOR-dom. Fine record, the band given a fresh lease of life by ex-Kansas man Steve Morse;

The Streets 'Original Pirate Material' - I reluctantly concede that this record is getting to me. God knows I hated it on first play, and I still think Mike Skinner is an arrogant sounding git. But I gotta admire his gall. Expert social commentary, Parkinsons-inducing beats and a remarkable production for an album crafted in a council house bedroom. Good album gets Brit nomination shock!

Alltold, a right good week. And if there are some similarities with Joolio's list, well that's his fault for sending me some fine music!
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