This week’s spins:
The Jam ‘In The City’ - what you get when you add extra attitude, energy and testosterone to a Who and early Feelgoods obsession. And my, does it still blister nearly 46 years later;
The Jam ‘This Is The Modern World’ - I once considered this the epitome of “rushed follow-up” syndrome but, notwithstanding the stellar development that was to be ‘All Mod Cons’, the stroppier ‘TITMW’ is still a decent LP in its own right;
George Harrison ‘All Things Must Pass’ - with no overt disrespect to Macca, ‘All Things Must Pass’ is artistically so far ahead of ‘McCartney’ as a debut song-based album that it’s embarrassing. Lennon came close with ‘Plastic Ono Band’ but the quiet one easily won 1970 in the solo Fab stakes. That ‘ATMP’ was a double (I don’t count the dreary ‘Apple Jam’) makes Hari’s achievement even more impressive;
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Pawn Hearts’ - what remains a contender for Peter Hammill’s wildest vocal performance (‘A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers’) sounds even more rabid on the sparser 2021 remix. Either way, this is one helluva record;
Moby Grape S/T - the least “West Coast” sounding of all the ‘67 San Fran debuts still packs a punch for me, especially its occasional Stax vocal stylings;
Julian Cope ‘Saint Julian’ - my lifelong music obsession has resulted in an unreasonably large record collection, much of which I’ll never hear again. This isn’t because I’ve lost interest in it, but because (a) I can only listen to one record at a time; (b) I’m running out of lifespan; (c) I have other things to do and (d) still hunger for new music to enlighten and entertain myself. So when I pull out a long unspun LP such as this and it literally lifts my day - as this did - I know I’m justified in reserving so much of my living space to inanimate objects I acquired so much earlier in my life. In the present instance, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed ‘Saint Julian’ as much as I do now. It’s time-locked and fresh as a daisy at the same time, the perfect encapsulation of Copey’s poppiest muse, with not a mundane moment over two sides of thin black 80s vinyl. I’m lucky enough to have it with the promo interview record on which a much younger Julian is as erudite and interesting as he’s ever sounded. A tedious day transformed: thank you, Drude;
Elvis Presley ‘The Great Performances’ - like most Elvis fans I bought this somewhat ramshackle selection of tracks back in 1990 to acquire his then hitherto unavailable debut recording ‘My Happiness’. Playing it again many years later, I’m struck by what a strong record it is, encompassing the King’s entire career using both obvious and less lauded cuts. Certainly relieved a rotten, cold-ridden Tuesday afternoon round my place;
John Martyn ‘Live at the Town Hall, Sydney, Australia 1977’ - capturing the flawed genius at his solo peak with just a Martin acoustic, an Echoplex and a shedload of effects pedals for company, on a night when he was more Cockney than Glaswegian;
Lulu ‘Don’t Take Love For Granted’ - long forgotten album from 1978 which is no lost classic but contains a couple of, er, guilty pleasures on it, not least ‘I Love To Boogie’ - no, not a Bolan cover but a disco track so tacky that it’s good;
Bobby Naughton ‘The Haunt’ - 1976 free jazz gig for vibes, trumpet and clarinet that is inventive and interesting, trust me;
Keith Jarrett ‘Live At The Blue Note’ - I have just the one disc version documenting the June 4 1994 First Set but, having been totally sent by it, am seriously thinking of shelling out on the full monty 6 CD box. The chemistry between Jarrett and his Standards Trio compadres was something else;
Jack DeJohnette ‘New Directions’ - the Standard Trio’s stalwart drummer earlier led a great combo with Lester Bowie, John Abercrombie and Eddie Gomez, great talents all, and their first studio outing from 1978 is still as fine as I’d dare to expect. Don’t be put off by the cheesy cover photo;
Arild Andersen ‘Green Shading Into Blue’ - Andersen’s third album as a leader dates from around the same time as the last named but is inevitably more “european” in feel;
Stravinsky: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra (Osbourne/BBC Scottish SO/Volkov) - delightful disc covering areas of this ever interesting composer’s work from faux-classical to serial atonality, consistently well realised by soloist, conductor and orchestra. I nabbed this for only £5 from Hyperion’s website. Highly recommended;
Haydn: String Quartet in D, Op.17 no.6 (Tatrai Quartet) - every time I dip into the Tatrais’ much underrated Haydn survey I walk away happy. This is as good an example as any.
Long live the weekend, the weekend is dead.
Dave x
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