Edwin Collins ‘Badbea’ - thoroughly enjoyable album from last year. Despite his ailments he’s still got his chops and songwriting skills aplenty. Check out the untitled hidden track for evidence;
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets ‘Live At The Roundhouse’ - well worth a listen for pre-Dark Side Floyd fans, but not for repeated hearing methinks. Maybe I had to have been there, but it all sounds a bit too tribute band for my liking - which I guess is what it is;
The Delgados ‘Peel Sessions’ - Scotland’s answer to Sonic Youth always sounded better in session than on record for me, not that I didn’t dig them anyway;
UFO ‘Phenomenon’ - the Schenker era began with this fine hard rock album from 1974;
Iggy and the Stooges ‘Raw Power’ - my all-time favourite pure rock album exists in two very different mixes, both of which appeal to me depending on my mood. This week I favour the everything-in-the-red Iggy mix, if only to hear the end of ‘Death Trip’ denied to us by Bowie. Isn’t it weird that, after all these years, this (in whatever mix) rocks harder and louder than anything else before or since:
John & Beverley Martyn ’Stormbringer!’ - the first of only two collaborative albums (though there’s little actual collaboration between them) by Martyn and his first wife is a distracting, but hardly essential, release. In fact, I much prefer Beverley’s songs here;
John Martyn ‘Bless The Weather’ & ‘Solid Air’ - much more like it. Here Martyn starts on his own no-genre path with style. Two of his best albums, I think;
Paul Siebel ‘Woodsmoke and Oranges’ - kickin’ early country rock (albeit more the former than the latter) from a long-unsung singer songwriter. Think of Nashville-era Bob Dylan spiced with a little Michael Nesmith and you’ll get the picture. He only made two LPs (newly reissued) at the start of the 70s before going into the shadows;
Yusuf Cat Stevens ‘Tea For The Tillerman 2’ - only one question: Why did he bother? Not a patch on the original. Even more redundant than a covers album, this is the epitome of exhausted creativity. Then again, Robert Plant issuing a second “career spanning” solo comp within a few years is even more so…;
Tangerine Dream ‘Phaedra’ - say what you like about their four Ohr LPs (which I really like), this is the high point of this band’s output as far as I’m concerned. The bit where the sequencer goes apeshit ten minutes into the title track is beyond amazing. What’s more, the outtakes make an amazing album in themselves;
Vangelis ‘Invisible Connections’ - this atypically abstract album from the mid-80’s becomes surprisingly listenable with patience. I like this much more than the song-orientated and soundtrack music for which Vangelis is better known. Certainly rocks the foundations in places with some deep, deep bass notes;
11nd Street Dreads (Keith Hudson) ‘Pick A Dub’ - one of the earliest dub LPs, also with truly subterranean bass;
Various ‘Island Presents Dub’ and ‘The Front Line’ - yet more woofer abuse!
The Wailers ‘Catch A Fire’ - their breakthrough album’s a pleasant enough listen but not as fine as the harder ‘Burnin’’ that followed;
Lou Reed ‘Metal Machine Music’ -well, just part 1 to be honest. I started with a strong ambition to make it through all 64 minutes but unlike Seth, I couldn’t stand to hear any more. The feeling of blissful relief when the first side ended was palpable. One day, though, I’ll get brave and venture further. Maybe;
Van Morrison ‘Born To Be Free’ - one of the man’s much publicised new anti-lockdown songs breaks no new ground musically but is eminently listenable, boding well for the new album;
Earth Wind & Fire ‘Raise!’ - some would call this 1981 LP a guilty pleasure. I feel no guilt at all in loving this, a lot more now than I did at the time to be honest;
Weather Report ‘Mysterious Traveller’ - fourth WR outing with a funkier vibe than the departing Vitous (see below) could stand. Some of Zawinul’s keyboards sound a bit cheesy in places, but it’s a fun listen anyway;
Miroslav Vitous ‘Journey’s End’ - post-WR solo venture with a fine ECM combo featuring the great John Surman on reeds. A bit wan in places, but highly atmospheric;
Keith Jarrett ‘Spirits’ - where he gets all spontaneous and translates his muse into a plethora of non-keyboard instruments over four sides of vinyl. The Penguin Guide To Jazz called this “preposterous”, and I can see their point at times, but at its best (about half of it) it sounds like fairly involving world music. Probably be another twenty years before I play it again, mind;
Keith Jarrett ‘Vienna Concert’ - much more what we’d expect. This 1991 solo piano gig isn’t quite as celestial as his somewhat immodest sleeve notes suggest, but it does grip in places;
Chick Corea & Gary Burton ‘Crystal Silence’ - one of the subtlest and sweet sounding ECM records, this captures both fine artists at the peak of their form and artistry. Simply lovely;
Lester Bowie ‘Avant Pop’ - patchy yet catchy album from a late trumpet maestro usually associated with much freer sounds. The sort of thing for which Maynard Ferguson was critically slated a few years earlier, but I think he did the jazz funk thing so much better;
William Mathias: I Will Celebrate (Christ Church Cathedral Choir/Darlington) - typically lyrical and imaginative choral writing from one of Wales’ finest composers. Fab organ lines too;
Beethoven: Piano Concertos 2 & 5 (Helmchen/Berlin RSO/Manze) - traditional performances, beautifully played and recorded;
Weinberg: Symphony no.21 (CBSO/Grazinyte-Tyla) - part of Gramophone’s Orchestral Record of the Year, this is a fabulous modern symphony, riddled with anguish and doffing its cap to both Mahler and Shostakovich, along with clear Chopin quotations. Features a lovely vocal performance from the conductor (!) in the last movement. The CBSO (plus Gidon Kremer’s ensemble) play their hearts out and for once a new classical record lives up to its hype. Do try this;
Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia (Philh/Karajan) - stunningly moving rendition of one of the finest English orchestral works, despite sounding distinctly Germanic here. The parallels with Strauss’ ‘Metamorphosen’ are uncanny under a teutonic conductor;
Mozart: The Magic Flute (BPO/Karajan) - another digital first (apparently the first ever digital recording of an opera). Yet the same conductor’s mono recording from 1950 sounds better balanced to my ears, as well as being a far more vital and well-sung performance;
Schubert: Fantasy in F minor, D 940 (Elena & Emil Gilels) - profound and intense late Schubert performed to near-perfection by a master Russian pianist and his talented daughter;
Schubert: Klavierstuecke D 946 nos.1 & 2 (Jean-Rudolphe Kars) - more late Schubert, spiritually rendered by a fine Franco-Indian pianist who retired far too early.
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