This week, the quiet sanctity of my front room was invaded by:
Joy Division ‘Unknown Pleasures’ - the progression from ‘An Ideal For Living’ to this epic debut LP seems incredible with hindsight. Doubtless Martin Hannett played a major role, but these songs still speak for themselves;
Dream Theater ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ - Mike Portnoy’s final DT album remains their best: awesomely hard, tight and exhilarating. And its limited covers disc is a gas: a truly blistering take on ‘Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Part II’ for example;
Peter Hammill ‘Roaring Forties’ - atypically hard rocking opus from Hammill;
Edgar Froese ‘Aqua’ - when I listen to synthesiser music from the early 70s, I’m struck by how inventive its protagonists were given the limitations of their tech. ‘Aqua’ is a good example of maximum creativity and imagination that still, to my ears at least, sounds great. As does
Peter Baumann ‘Romance ‘76’ - at times a bit too TV science programme themeish perhaps, but very easy on the ear;
Southern Empire ‘Another World’ - mightily impressive new album by these Aussie prog masters;
Julian Cope ‘Fried’ - not many 1984 albums sound as fresh as this nearly four decades on;
Led Zeppelin ‘The Song Remains The Same’ (orig 1976 movie) - which still gives me the same full on rush it gave me as a fifteen year old. For all its faults, rock’n’roll films never came better. Not a bad band, either;
The Who ‘Live At Leeds’ - still one of the most powerful live records of all time. I wan’it, I wan’it, I wan’it, I wan’it, I waaaan’it… ;
Soft Machine ‘Other Doors’ - a potential album of the year? Maybe;
The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ - which has become so ubiquitous over the decades that its originality is easily ignored. Listening to it now (and I mean listening) I’m flabbergasted at how much was created from the primitive tech of the time. Of course, this wouldn’t matter if the songs had been substandard. That certainly wasn’t the case here;
Neil Young ‘Arc’ - Shakey’s easier listening cover of Lou’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ (well, maybe) is just as effective for causing mayhem on digital juke boxes. Clear bars in seconds with this;
Neil Young at Farm Aid 2023 - just one man and four songs rendered perfectly. Don’t miss this;
Boz Scaggs ‘Fade Into Light’ - classy blue-eyed soul from a master of the craft;
XTC ‘A Coat Of Many Cupboards’ - specifically the first disc with all the ace ‘White Music’ and ‘Go 2’ outtakes on it. Let’s have fun;
Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Newport 1958’ - when I’m feeling blue, I reach out for brew - sorry, Bru. This keeps me (just about) sane;
Tony Bennett & Dave Brubeck ‘The White House Sessions’ - well, if you dig either of these icons as much as I do, you’ll dig this;
Pat Metheny Group ‘Travels’ - it’s hard to believe that forty years have passed since I first heard this, still the definitive Metheny album for me. Rock? Naah. Jazz? Sorta, but… in truth, unclassifiable. Let’s just call it… excellent;
Sonny Rollins ‘Volume Two’ - the one with the sleeve that Joe Jackson ripped off, and when a LP sounds this good it’s easy to see the urge to imitate;
Charlie Rich ‘Behind Closed Doors’ - the sheer class of Rich’s vocal delivery outweighs any blandness of his late period material. Rich indeed;
Schoenberg: Variations on a Recitative, Op.40 (Martin Souter) - powerful - surprisingly tonal -.work by Schoenberg, performed on the very Princetown organ which inspired it. A fine memorial to Souter, one of Britain’s greatest organists;
Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas Overture/Mozart: Piano Concerto no.20 (w.Rudolf Serkin)/Brahms: Symphony no.4 (all LSO/Claudio Abbado) - before succeeding Karajan at the Berlin Phil, Abbado had a fruitful relationship with the LSO. These fine DG recordings exemplify their symbiosis;
Mozart: Symphonies 39 & 40 (Norwegian Radio Orch/Petr Popelka) - invigorating new recording that brings all the innovations of these sublime late Mozart works to the forefront. I can’t recall a recording of no.39 that made me smile as much. And believe me, little does these days;
Schubert: Rosamunde Overture/ Liszt: Piano Concerto no.1 (w.Ringeissen)/Beethoven: Symphony no.8 (all Dresden PO/Kurt Masur) - prime charity shop find, this. The Liszt is especially well done;
Beethoven: Symphony no.1 (Orch del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Zubin Mehta) - oh dear. One of the dullest recordings of Ludwig’s First I’ve ever heard. I hope the rest of the set’s better or I’ve just wasted twenty-odd quid;
Stop press: Beethoven: Symphony no.4 (as above) - this is better, especially the tenderly rendered Adagio. The Fiorentino orchestra isn’t the most refined ensemble but they play this from the heart;
Dvorak: Requiem (Soloists/Prague Phil Choir/Czech PO/Karel Ancerl) - benchmark recording of one of the greatest choral works in all music. Ancerl experienced more than his fair share of tragedy in his relatively short lifetime and you can’t help feel him uniquely qualified to interpret a fellow countryman’s emotions as convincingly as this.
Does anybody remember laughter?
Toodle-pip
Dave x
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