This week’s end of my tether grooves:
George Harrison ‘Dark Horse’ - never a lauded album, but I kinda like it anyway;
John Illsley ‘Testing The Water’ - which sounds like a Dire Straits album. Who’d have thought it? Well, I’m not complaining, apart from the short playing time;
Paul Weller ‘Wake Up The Nation’ (2020 remix) and ‘True Meanings’ - two opposites of Weller’s muse, the former being in-yer-face, upbeat indie rock, the latter reflecting the Modfather’s (to my mind more appealing) introspective, acoustic side. The new 2020 remix of the earlier album is a little extravagant and unnecessary, but fun nonetheless;
Phil Manzanera ‘Diamond Head’ - fab 1975 LP by Roxy axeman, featuring most of his bandmates, and one of Robert Wyatt’s best cameos. This is a strong and varied album, well up to the Roxy standards of the time. Plenty for Eno fans to dig, and a fine memorial to John Wetton too;
Pat Benatar ‘Precious Time’ - quality AOR (which IS possible) from a fine US vocalist in her early 80s pomp;
Rush ‘Counterparts’ - continuing my journey through Rush’s post-80s oeuvre, I thoroughly enjoyed this album of still modern sounding hard rock;
The Who ‘Who’s Next’ - well, what’s there left to say about this, except that if you don’t care for this you just don’t dig rock;
Kevin Ayers ‘First Show In The Appearance Business’ - fun collection of BBC sessions by Herne Bay’s laziest genius. Features a beautiful solo version of ‘Lady Rachel’;
Captain Beefheart ‘Bluejeans & Moonbeams’ - ever derided by the critical masse, I’ve always rather liked this LP. Don had a fine voice and it’s good to hear him in relatively conventional music. I feel an Unsung review coming on;
Daryl Hall ‘Three Hearts In The Happy Ending Machine’ - oh dear. The mid 80s, a producer from the freakin’ Eurythmics and big, tinny drums. Even Daryl’s golden larynx can’t rescue this. Gimme ‘Sacred Songs’ (thank you, RF & BE) any day;
Wishbone Ash ‘Illuminations’ - the most consistently melodic record issued under this band’s name since ‘Argus’ IMHO. It’s a shame this mid-90s line up lasted for just one album;
Siouxsie and the Banshees ‘The Scream’ - another classic debut album from 1978 (last week’s post refers) which sounds as fresh as if it was recorded yesterday. John McKay had a fabulous metallic edge to his guitar sound that was entirely his own. I wonder what became of him and Kenny Morris?
The Lurkers ‘Fulham Fallout’ - and here’s another one. Dumb punk at its best: Jeez, I’m 17 again. I wonder what became of Howard Wall?
The Doors ‘Strange Days’ - where Jim Morrison’s voice reached its peak;
John Lennon ‘Plastic Ono Band’ - raw, harrowing, minimalist classic. He never made a better solo album;
Moody Blues ‘A Question Of Balance’ - another great album from 1970. Why the Moodies aren’t venerated now is a mystery to me;
Peter Hammill ‘Sonix’ - this mostly instrumental album of bits & pieces composed for film and dance projects contains some fine music. Hammill is an underrated guitarist with a unique technique superbly illustrated on a couple of tracks. And the long, piano dominated ‘Labyrinthine Dreams’ has one of his loveliest songs at its core;
Jerry Lee Lewis ‘Would You Take Another Chance On Me?’ - from the Killer’s C&W years, this shows the sheer strength of his voice if nothing else;
Shakatak ‘Night Birds’ - I’m almost ashamed to list this here, but it’s quality Brit funk which reminds me of a happier time in my life. So no excuses;
Collin Walcott ‘Cloud Dance’ - sitar works in a jazz context even better than a rock one, or so this lovely record would seem to prove;
Keith Jarrett ‘In The Light’ - pleasing collection of Jarrett’s earliest excursions into non-jazz music. ‘Metamorphosis’ is a lovely, French sounding piece for strings and flute, and his string quartet holds its own with many other 20th century works for that combination;
Chick Corea ‘Piano Improvisations Vol.1’ - played this in the great man’s memory. On the evidence of this lovely record, his solo piano extemporisations were every bit as good as his fellow Miles band member Keith Jarrett;
Circle ‘Paris Concert’ - from the same year as the last named LP, this shows Corea’s solid free jazz credentials. Anthony Braxton shines too;
Ken Hyder’s Talisker ‘Land Of Stone’ - there aren’t many successful fusions of modern jazz and Scottish folk music. This is one of them;
Gary Peacock ‘Shift In The Wind’ - in which the late, great bassist is ably partnered by Art Lande;
Bartok: String Quartet no.5 (Hagen Quartet) - all of Bartok’s lyrical and rhythmic quirkiness captured in this fine rendition;
Haydn: String Quartets, Op.2 nos.2, 4 & 6 (Aeolian Quartet) - early works, full of nice tunes;
Schubert: Symphony no.5 (Chicago SO/Fritz Reiner) - fleet but sensitive take on a charming work;
Beethoven: Piano Concertos 4 & 5 (Walter Gieseking/Philharmonia/Alceo Galliera) - classic pairing of two of the greatest piano concertos ever written, superbly played and conducted. Gieseking’s cadenza choices are eccentric but it doesn’t matter;
James MacMillan: Organ Works (Stephen Farr) - excellent recent album demonstrating the wide range of styles and tone colours of one of our foremost living composers;
Maximiliano Martin ‘Caprices & Laments’ - stunning new recordings of three very different 20th century works for clarinet and orchestra by Copland, Nielsen and MacMillan;
Vaughan Williams: Job -A Masque for Dancing (BBC SO/Sir Adrian Boult) - premier recording of VW’s masterwork, definitively conducted by its dedicatee;
Hindemith: Symphony in E flat (LPO/Sir Adrian Boult) - more Boult magic, this time with an under-appreciated German work;
Beethoven: Symphony no.7 (WDR SO/Marek Janowski) - straight, unaffected reading of one of Beethoven’s brightest utterances;
Brahms: Symphony no.1 (NDR SO/Gunter Wand) - a particularly exciting concert recording of a dark, yet evergreen, masterpiece;
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1 (Ashkenazy) and Brahms: Symphony no.4 (Chicago SO/Sir Georg Solti) - Solti isn’t “in” with the fickle classical media, but these fine 1970s recordings prove that he was so much more than a Wagner conductor.
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