Here’s what rattled my woofers and tweeters this week:
John Lennon ‘Walls and Bridges’ - Lennon’s “lost weekend” album is his most vibrant self-penned release and (almost) worth mentioning in the same breath as ‘Plastic Ono Band’;
Saxon ‘Carpe Diem’ - there’s still a place in my heart for straight to the gut metal, and this is a damn fine example;
Nazareth ‘No Jive’ - post Manny and Darrell, Naz went more metal than hard rock, as exhibited in this very Leppardesque release from 1991. What rescued them was the razorblade larynx of Dan McCafferty. RIP;
The Proclaimers ‘Like Comedy’ - 2012 album with a slightly slicker feel than the Reids’ other albums, not always to its advantage. But the wit, and the tunes, remain rampant;
Marillion ‘Holidays In Eden’ - which has risen in my affections so much in recent weeks that it’s rivalling their (very different) latest album as my go-to Marillion long player. Prog pop? Right on;
ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’ - that rare thing, an 80s rock album devoid of big drums and overproduction. And how it does rock;
ZZ Top ‘Deguello’ - oh yeah;
The Kinks ‘Arthur’ - my fave Kinks album by some distance;
Bruce Springsteen ‘Only The Strong Survive’ - this could’ve been meh but isn’t, despite these covers being relatively untampered with. It’s just a pleasure to hear Springsteen’s still amazing voice on songs he clearly covets as his own;
Devo ‘Hot Potatoes’ - pretty much definitive comp, though I prefer the Booji Boy versions of the early songs;
Schubert: Early Sonatas (Paul Lewis) - Lewis completes his long term Schubert survey with this masterful take on three of the master’s youthful piano sonatas. Can’t fault it;
Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole & La valse (Detroit SO/Paray) - high octane renderings of two of Ravel’s most evocative scores;
Strauss: Don Juan/Hindemith: Harmony of the World/Schubert: Symphony no.9 (VPO/Furtwaengler) - an atypically vibrant performance of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major Symphony capped a typically ethereal 1953 concert by this legendary conductor;
Vaughan Williams: Symphony no.5 & Norfolk Rhapsody no.1 (LPO/Haitink) - interesting to hear a Dutchman’s take on such overtly English music. I like it, a lot;
Haydn: String Quartet Op.20 no.1 (Salomon Quartet) - period playing without sourness in this civilised rendition of one of Haydn’s first great quartets;
Matthew Martin ‘Great European Organs no.86’ - another of those fine Priory recordings, this time demonstrating the unique tonal colours of the London Oratory organ,
Mendelssohn: Organ Sonatas 1-3, Op.65 (James Lancelot) - intense and melodic late Mendelssohn pieces powerfully rendered on the Durham Cathedral organ;
Rheinberger: Organ Sonata no.12 (Wolfgang Ruebsam) - late romantic organ music with a more overtly Teutonic edge than the last named;
Debussy: Jeux (LPO/Baudo) - Baudo’s direct approach denies some of the ethereality of this magical score, but offers lots of interesting orchestral detail in compensation.
Are we not men?
Best
Dave x
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