My Sunday feeling’s coming on over me:
Gong ‘Paris - Bataclan Live, 20 May 1973’ - fabbo mixing desk recording of a complete Gong gig caught betwixt ‘Flying Teapot’ and ‘Angels Egg’, revealing just what a tight and unique band they were in their pomp. Great fun too. And to think that ‘You’ was still to come;
Gong ‘Flying Teapot’ - sounding resplendent in its latest Virgin remaster - just like the original LP, in fact - and remarkably youthful for its near 50 years of age;
Marillion ‘Yule Be Glad’ - superb live recording from November 2021 encompassing the whole Hogarth era from ‘Seasons End’ to their latest epic. Talking of which:
Marillion ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ - okay, I’ve made my decision: this perfectly realised and executed record is my album of the year (assuming Santa won’t bring me a better one). If you don’t already know it, and have but a smidgeon of interest in the wide gamut of contemporary prog, I beg you to try this. I’m of the humble opinion that Marillion rival Radiohead as the most
creative band currently performing. There, I’ve said it;
David Sylvian ‘Dead Bees On A Cake’ - Sylvian’s last “regular” album is a mish-mash of styles with only his sublime baritone as a unifying factor. There are many good things here (‘Krishna Blues’ is, for me, a career highlight), but I prefer the more abstract road he’s taken thereafter;
Can ‘Saw Delight’ - even when uncool, Can were cool. Dig Michael Karoli’s magic on ‘Call Me’ then try to argue;
Jethro Tull ‘This Was’ - sounds little like anything released under the Tull name afterwards, but remains one hell of a debut LP, in whatever mix you choose to play. I also love the attendant single tracks and rarities included in the album’s 50th anniversary box set. I wonder how they’d have progressed had Mick Abrahams remained. Perhaps something like:
Blodwyn Pig ‘Ahead Rings Out’ and ‘Getting To This’ - my affection for which remain as per my ancient reviews in the Unsung section;
The Good, The Bad and The Queen ‘Merrie Land’ - poignant and morose vignettes for a country which, at the time of their creation, was still to get so much worse;
Calvin Harris ‘Ready For The Weekend’ - well this is just sheer fun, innit;
Uriah Heep ‘Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble’ - another ace debut from so long ago from what should have been every Mk II Purple fan’s second fave band;
Fairport Convention S/T - like ‘This Was’, an atypical 1968 debut but a very decent one: a delightfully North London take on Americana. Ian Matthews comes across like a choirboy Art Garfunkel, and Richard Thompson’s tense lead guitar is fully formed from the start. Judy Dyble (RIP) almost outsings Joni on a great version of ‘Chelsea Morning’;
Wigwam ‘Titan’s Wheel’ - 2002 comeback album by Finland’s finest, not up to their peak years perhaps but welcome anyway. Jim Pembroke RIP;
Peter Warren ‘Bass Is’ - fascinating free jazz session from 1970 featuring four bass pig virtuosi - often all at once - and other luminaries like Chick Corea and John Surman. Rewards repeated listening;
Arild Andersen ‘A Molde Concert’ - vibrant 1981 date driven by Alphonse Mouzon on drums;
Arild Andersen ‘Affirmation’ - which is much more introspective in a typical ECM way. The man’s still got it at 77;
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op.2 no.1 and Op.26 (Maurizio Pollini) - effortless playing, beautifully realised, of two early LvB keyboard masterpieces;
Mozart: Prussian String Quartets (Chiaroscuro Quartet) - having read lots of rave reports of this young quartet I took a punt on this. There’s real subtlety and taste here, but I’m a little troubled by the leader’s intonation;
Schubert: Symphony no.8 ‘Unfinished’ (Le Concert des Nations/Savall) - which, given an unusually brief reading of its second movement, seems particularly unfinished here. Mighty fine, though;
Messiaen: La Nativite du Seigneur (Olivier Latry) - the current issue of BBC Music proclaims this as the top recording of Messiaen’s anything-but-festive masterpiece. I’m not so sure. Latry tends toward a lyrical rather than spectacular approach which works well most of the time but lacks real muscle when the music requires it, the work’s epic concluding movement excepted. For all the wonders of the Notre Dame organ displayed here, I prefer Hans Ola Ericsson or Gillian Weir’s more powerful and incisive readings, both of which I also played this week. Whatever, this is music that trounces Slade, Wizzard, Shakin’ Stevens and George Michael in my personal Now! chr**tm*s reckoning. Look to the future now with THIS mother;
Anthony Hammond ‘Une Nuit de Noel’ - excellent recital of seasonal Parisian organ music from across the centuries;
Schoenberg: Three Piano Pieces, Op.11 (Maurizio Pollini) - Schoenberg caught at the cusp between romanticism and atonality but, all technical categorisation aside, great music;
Francis Jackson: Three Carols for Advent, Op.73 (Exon Singers/Matthew Owens) - festive music without cliche or tedium from the pen of one of our most distinguished church music composers who we lost in January at just 104 years of age.
Do what you feel what you need to do.
Jolly vibes to all
Dave x
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