This week’s (not very) festive playlist:
Snow Patrol ‘Final Straw’ - Snow Patrol’s major label breakthrough album remains their best for me: decent songs with plenty of bite;
Phil Miller In Cahoots ‘Out Of The Blue’ - exemplary music from the jazzier end of the Canterbury Scene. RIP Phil, Pip and Elton;
Mark Hollis S/T - I recall an old ECM ad describing that label’s music as “the most beautiful sound next to silence”, an analogy that equally applies to this quiet masterpiece;
Streetwalkers ‘Downtown Flyers’ - proof that not all immediately pre-punk music was dour and dull. This - mostly - rocks;
Saxon ‘Carpe Diem’ - my metal album of the year, not that I’ve heard many others;
Sandy Denny ‘Rendezvous’ - Sandy’s last proper album could have been so much better had it not been so over-produced and cover heavy (inexplicably, three of her own songs were dropped from the final cut). As it is, it’s just an okay record. Sandy deserved a better swan song, not that she knew it at the time;
Rick Danko S/T - long forgotten solo debut by The Band’s long-gone bassist and occasional singer. No lost classic, but highly enjoyable anyway;
Marillion ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ - their latest - and greatest - studio album which I’m running out of superlatives to describe;
Mick Goodrick ‘In Pas(s)ing’ - Goodrick’s 1979 album, the first under his own name, is a quiet classic and one of my favourite ECM releases. He sadly left us last month after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. RIP, Mick;
Marc Johnson ‘Bass Desires’ - another fine ECM date featuring one of the best jazz bassists of modern times and some ace axe interplay between Bill Frisell and John Scofield, though the (very 80s) guitar synths are a little overused;
Marc Johnson ‘Overpass’ - Johnson’s most recent album is that rare thing: an album of solo bass that never drags. In fact, his inventiveness is astounding. Makes a fascinating comparison with
Gary Peacock ‘December Poems’ - another impressive bass album with a distinctively icy feel, especially the brace of tracks with Jan Garbarek;
Vince Guaraldi Trio ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ - just lovely;
Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Time In’ - the last of the classic Brubeck quartet’s time themed albums is also its most lyrical;
Schoenberg: String Trio, Op.45 (Juilliard Quartet) - following this outwardly austere late work with a miniature score reveals its subtleties, intensity, beauty and humour;
Gillian Weir ‘French Virtuoso Organ Music’ - jeez, there’re some speaker busting moments in this. Not all of this is great music but my, it’s exciting;
Alexander Eadon ‘Advent to Epiphany’ - another wide-ranging recording of seasonal music played on the colourful Oundle School Chapel organ;
Messiaen: La Nativite du Seigneur (Marie-Claire Alain) - the fourth version of this awesome festive masterpiece I’ve recently heard is one of the most powerful, played on the suitably massive organ of Lucerne’s Hofkirche.
Greetings to all.
Dave x
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