Cinerama ‘Torino’ (Gedge’s finest hour. No question)
Elton John ‘Deep Cuts’ (from the 4LP selection of the same name that Elton’s putting out this November as part of his ’Jewel Box’. I streamed this from the man’s extensive back catalogue and found it to be a most satisfying evening’s listening. Fans will dig, but like me are likely to have most of these tracks anyway)
Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Too Rye Ay’ (not a patch on the first album, but ‘Let’s Make This Precious’ might just be their best song IMHO)
Gang of Four ‘Entertainment!’ (This has worn very well indeed)
Neil Young ‘Will To Love’ (standalone, home-recorded track from ‘American Stars’n’Bars’, this is probably my favourite Shakey ballad. Quietly stoned and delightfully twee)
Sham 69 ‘I Don’t Wanna’ EP (reminding me of simpler, happier, teenage days. Yet there’s something here that still resonates. Jimmy Pursey really was a voice of the common man: discuss!)
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Pawn Hearts’ (One more haggered DROWNED MAN!!)
Pat Travers Band ‘Makin’ Magic’ (good old fashioned mid-70s guitar rock at its best, with a strong funk influence)
Joan As Police Woman ‘The Classic’ (how she manages to sound hard and vulnerable at the same time always intrigues me)
The Who ‘Live At Leeds’ (which I’ve always dug, but which has become something of an obsession this last few weeks. “You can have the magic bus for one hundred English pounds” - yeah!)
Hatfield and the North S/T (the superb 2009 Esoteric remaster of this Canterbury classic is about to be re-released. If you haven’t got it, don’t hesitate. Includes the simply divine ‘Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut’/‘Oh What A Lonely Lifetime’ from the 1975 ‘V’ sampler - the reason I fell in love with the Hatfields in the first place - that had hitherto remained unreleased on CD)
PiL ‘First Issue’ (am I alone in thinking that ‘Theme’ sounds like a krauty Black Sabbath? And that this is even more innovative and incredible than ‘Metal Box’? There’s nothing more intense in Lydon’s back catalogue than ‘Religion’ IMHO)
Black Flag ’Nervous Breakdown’ and ’Six Pack’ EPs (Raw, primitive, wondrous)
Simple Minds ‘Empires and Dance’ (caught at their hungriest and most inventive, here is the sound of a fine band pre-commercial success and eventual artistic ruin)
Sleaford Mods ‘All That Glue’ (Total control racIIIINNNGG)
Grateful Dead ‘Dick’s Picks 34’ (brought for me by someone very dear and much missed, this 1977 Rochester show has become one of my fave Dead live recordings)
Grateful Dead ‘Dick’s Picks 2’ (Columbus ‘71, for the best ever ‘Dark Star’, I think...)
New Order ‘Ceremony’ (orig mix)/‘In A Lonely Place’ - they never bettered this amazing first 45)
The Beat ‘Too Nice To Talk To’/‘Psychedelic Rockers’ 12” (I just adore David Steele’s ever-wandering bass line on the latter)
Thom Yorke ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ (catchy this is not, but it doesn’t half give your subwoofers a workout.)
Brian Eno & Jah Wobble ‘Spinner’ (patchy and in truth a little disappointing, but when it’s good, it’s great)
Brian Eno ‘Sisters’ (free mp3 included with ‘Reflection’ app, sharing the same beautiful, random vibe as the album of that name)
The Wailers ‘Burnin’ (so much more edge from the pre-fame lineup)
Maynard Ferguson ’New Vintage’ (Very 1977 jazz-funk, very cheesy, very excellent. Thanks, Dad!)
Buddy Rich ’Strike It Rich’ (for the drumming, natch, but also the unsung trumpet genius that was Harry ’Sweets’ Edison)
Lee Morgan ‘The Sidewinder’ (More great trumpet. Who couldn’t love this?)
Gary Peacock ‘Tales of Another’ (one of the first ECM LPs I ever bought, and still one of the best. This was the first meeting of what became known as Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio, here focusing on six Peacock compositions so lovely that even Jarrett’s nasal vocalisations can’t spoil them)
Talking of whom…
Keith Jarrett ‘No End’ (now who knew that Keith Jarrett could play guitar, let alone put two CDs worth of guitar improvisations onto tape? Fact is, he’s a competent axeman, no more - but there’s something over and beyond ordinary going down on this mid-80’s solo session. I find myself liking this more than I really want to. Like Anthony Braxton’s piano explorations, there’s something strangely theraputic about hearing a virtuoso veering onto an alien instrument)
Dave Holland Quintet ‘Prime Directive’ (straight modern jazz, beautifully performed and recorded. Nice...)
Urs Leimgruber ‘Lines’ (sublime free jazz trio led by underrated Swiss reed man)
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides (LSO/Abbado) (good, not great, version)
- Ditto (BPO/Karajan) (better)
- Ditto (Israel PO/Bernstein) (best)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no.5 (Israel PO/Bernstein)
Beethoven: Symphony no.1 (BPO/Karajan) (serious and teutonic 1985 reading, far removed from the more authentic approach prevalent thereafter, but none the worse for it)
Beethoven: Symphony no.2 (Philh/van Beinum) (great live recording from 1958)
Beethoven: Symphony no.3 (Concertgebouw/E Kleiber 1950)(taught and exciting)
Beethoven: Symphony no.4 (BPO/Abbado 2001) (rather routine interpretation and recording)
Beethoven: Symphony no.5 (La Chambre Philharmonique/Krivine) (exciting, but the slow movement lacks feeling here)
- Ditto (Les Siecles/Roth) (new period recording, similar in approach but with a little more subtlety. Unusual chord emphases in finale)
Beethoven: Symphony no.8 (NBC SO/Toscanini 1953)
Brahms: Symphony no.3 (Staatskapelle Dresden/Barenboim) (measured and emotive)
Messiaen: Offrandes au Saint Sacrement (Andrew Canning)
Franck: Trois Chorals (Eric Lebrun)
Bach: Fantastia & Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 & Prelude & Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 (Hans Fagius)
Verdi: Rigoletto (VPO/Giulini) - extracts
Wagner: Tannhauser (Philh/Sinopoli) - extracts
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