Chapman Whitney ‘Streetwalkers’ - their single post-Family, pre-Streetwalkers LP from 1974 is of its time but has some decent songs hampered by a slightly tame production job;
Streetwalkers S/T - but this is much better. In fact, I don’t think Roger Chapman’s chops ever sounded better than here;
Streetwalkers ‘Red Card’ - this stands up really well too. One of those sadly semi-forgotten bands that give the lie to a stale pre-punk scene in the mid-70s. They mightn’t have been the most distinctive band on the block but my, Streetwalkers could rock. This was my first ever coloured vinyl LP (sadly, my copy of ‘Faust’ is on boring black vinyl);
Streetwalkers ‘Vicious But Fair’ - where the rot sets in. A change of rhythm section did the band no favours and the material started to get too predictable;
Sad Cafe S/T - a perfect example of a slickly played and engineered record hampered by its artists’ inability to write a memorable song, at least on this album. In the words of John Peel (albeit in respect of a different band), this is just a waste of electricity;
Bill Nelson ‘Silvertone Fountains’ - more instrumental wonder from this amazingly talented and productive Yorkshireman;
Kevin Coyne & Brendan Croker ‘Life Is Almost Wonderful’ - short but sweet late work by Coyne at his most endearingly sardonic;
Deep Purple ‘Made In Japan’ - I’ve got nearly everything Purple ever released, but this is still THE album for me. In fact, if there’s ever been a better double live rock album than this, I’d love to hear it;
Jethro Tull ‘Stand Up’ - in its first - untampered with - mix, this was (no pun intended) a seriously heavy album, punctuated by some irresistibly jovial and/or pastoral moments. Part two of Tull’s near-faultless holy trinity (plus one!) from ‘This Was’ to ‘Aqualung’. It couldn’t, and didn’t, last;
Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’ - there’s been a lot of revisionist thinking about Dexys’ third album over the years but it remains what it’s always been to me: a decent but underwhelming record. It's the first of its three incarnations that sounds the best to me, but with all of them I get frustrated by the conversational elements that sound anything but spontaneous and cloy upon repeated listening. There are some fine songs going on amidst the pointless chat but the record is ultimately disfigured by Kevin Rowland’s unrestrained posturing and, it has to be said, occasionally off-key vocals. And not enough Big Jimmy;
Patrick Moraz ‘Out In The Sun’ & ‘Patrick Moraz’ - I bought Moraz’ second and third solo albums on CD online at a very reasonable price a few weeks back and they made for enjoyable afternoon listening. ‘Sun’, which I had on LP back in the day, is the better of the two;
Anthrax ’Spreading The Disease’ - this reminds me that maybe the pre-Roses late 80s weren’t as lifeless as I tend to remember. It’s a screamer of an album and still rocks like a rabid bitch today. I really enjoyed this;
Judas Priest ‘British Steel’ - well, everyone needs a dumb-metal fix from time to time;
Cabaret Voltaire ‘Mix Up’ - y’know, I’m convinced that if this came out today, it’d be raved over. I still remember my own reaction when I heard Peel play ‘Expect Nothing’ and playing it 42 years later it still sounds like nothing else I’ve heard before or since. If there was an alternate, Bizarro R&R Hall Of Fame I’d nominate Messrs Mallinder, Kirk and Watson in an instant;
David Sylvian ‘Gone To Earth’ - with special emphasis on the excellent Low/Heroesesque instrumental second disc, featuring inspirational contributions from the aforementioned Bill Nelson as well as (natch) Robert Fripp. The sublime, song-based first record is however better still, and (in its very different way from the Anthrax LP mentioned above) a self-reminder that it wasn’t just The Smiths that distracted me from the classical and jazz racks in the mid to late eighties. Sacrilegious as it may sound, I’m starting to think that Sylvian took over Bowie’s torch after ‘Scary Monsters’. Consider the dude’s output from ‘Polaroids’ onwards and see what you think. One of very few artists (Cope included) who matured rather than stagnated in the 1980s;
Shakin’ Stevens ‘Take One!’ - smirk if you like, but Shaky’s first Epic LP from 1979 is a rock and roll (in the original sense of that term) gem;
Keith Jarrett ‘Hourglass’ (from ‘Staircase/Hourglass/Sundial/Sand’) - I played this last week, but it demanded a couple of plays this week too. Lovely music to stroll to;
Keith Jarrett ’No End’ - wherein Jarrett leaves his primary instrument behind to indulge in two hours of low-fi, Garcia-esque guitar noodling - and emerges with surprisingly listenable results, albeit a little one-dimensional. This has grown on me in the seven years or so since it was first belatedly released;
David Holland & Derek Bailey ‘Improvisations for Cello & Guitar’ - surprisingly listenable free jazz from two masters of that craft;
Jon Christensen ‘Rarum XX Selected Recordings’ - this fine, sadly departed drummer left no albums in his own name, but more than left his mark on others’, as this excellent ECM comp confirms;
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1 (Krystian Zimerman/LSO/Simon Rattle) - online taster of forthcoming, lockdown-recorded concerto cycle is reasonably promising. Orchestrally it’s excellent but I think Zimerman was subtler and more lyrical in his self-led VPO recording;
Hoddinott: Variants for Orchestra, Op.47 (LSO/Norman del Mar) - distinctive piece staying just the right side of atonality;
Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition (Chicago SO/Rafael Kubelik) - incredible to think that this staggeringly good recording was made nearly 70 years ago. Still my favourite version;
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante, K364 & Schubert: String Quintet (London Mozart Players/Harry Blech/Amadeus Quartet & William Pleeth) - lovely Testament remastering of two great early examples of the art of the Amadeus Quartet. Their 1952 take on Schubert’s sublime String Quintet is a truly wondrous thing;
Messiaen: Livre d’Orgue (Gillian Weir) - from her 1994 complete Messiaen cycle, this is as near-definitive as it gets;
Mozart: Rondo in C, K 373 (Henryk Szeryng/New Philh/Sir Alexander Gibson - delightful mini violin concerto in one movement;
Haydn: String Quartets Op.50 nos.1 & 2 (Kodaly Quartet) - snowy morning music;
Bach: Oboe Concerto BWV 1055 (COE/Douglas Boyd) - beautiful music, sensitively played on modern instruments;
Haydn: Symphonies 83 & 86 (Paris Chamber O/Douglas Boyd) - new recording of two ‘Paris’ symphonies beautifully revealing the inner voices of Haydn’s writing;
Haydn: Symphony no.96 (Detroit SO/Paul Paray) - energetic rendition of the so-called ‘Miracle’ symphony;
Haydn: Symphonies 103 & 104 (Concertgebouw/Nikolaus Harnoncourt) - serious, teutonic flavoured readings, superbly played and conducted;
Sibelius: Symphony no.3 (LPO/Owain Arwel Hughes) - well played new recording of Sibelius’ first truly distinctive symphony, if a little too measured for my taste.
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