The kids want a little action:
Julian Cope ‘Cope’s Notes #5: The Modern Antiquarian’ - highly entertaining CD featuring Julian part-talking and part-singing his learned megalithic musings over some particularly fine, sometimes eerily sparse or lo-fi, music. Loadsa juicy mellotron vibes and some excellent drumming. Lovely, colourful and informative booklet too. A list of the musicians involved would’ve been nice but hey, a little mystery keeps the inquisitive mind active, don’it?
Edgar Froese ‘Epsilon In Malaysian Pale’ - two exquisite, 17 minute slabs of synthesised wonderment. And that’s all you need. With Edgar and TD, less was more;
Steven Wilson ‘The Harmony Codex’ - as I suspected, this is really starting to get under my skin. There’s so much going on in this record it’s impossible to grasp it in just a couple of hearings. But I can’t help notice the melodic similarity of ‘What Life Brings’ to Paul Weller’s ‘More’ from:
Paul Weller ‘On Sunset’ - Weller’s recent output sees him at the peak of his creativity, I think. This 2020 release is a case in point: great songs, beautifully executed. The dude’s taken too much for granted by all but the faithful;
The Band ‘Stage Struck’ - which I consider much the equal to the two more acclaimed albums before it. Sure, The Band got patchy thereafter, but not here;
MC5 ‘Back In The USA’ - Rob Tyner’s the star here, his voice emoting angst, attitude and desire, often all at the same time. And only one easily skipped clunker to deal with across the whole, short and sweet, platter. Yeah, it should’ve had a punchier sound in the wake of its legendary live predecessor, but ‘Back In The USA’ still has enough power to thrill;
The Rolling Stones ‘Hackney Diamonds’ - better than I was expecting after the meh ‘Angry’ teaser. Although I could do without the long and dreary Lady Ga Ga track (what IS her appeal?) there are some prime Stones rockers here, especially ‘Bite My Head Off’ which is up there with their best (just dig Macca’s fuzz bass!). I look forward to hearing this more over the next few weeks;
The Normal ‘TVOD’/‘Warm Leatherette’ 45 - this is an anomaly of a record in that it, for all it’s dated tech, still sounds fresh - to my jaded ears anyway. Ever infectious and disturbing;
Free ‘Fire and Water’ - which I enjoyed immensely until THAT final track, which I’ve heard way too many times - my separate post refers;
Pink Floyd ‘1965: Their First Recordings’ EP - on the evidence of these six tracks, Floyd’s garage band days were a hoot. There’s something quite moving about Syd singing to the “girlies”. And he’s well OTT on ‘Remember Me’: in fact, try playing that blind to someone and see how far they get guessing the vocalist;
Carla Bley ‘Escalator Over The Hill’ - amidst a large and varied discography, it’ll always be this that defines Carla Bley. Completely unclassifiable, wacky, irritating and invigorating in equal measure, and surely the weirdest project Linda Ronstadt was ever involved with. Rock and roll - well, in part. A very small part;
Gary Peacock ‘Voice From The Past - Paradigm’ - one of those typically autumnal ECM records that never ages, year after year, decade after decade. Jan Garbarek is on particularly good form. This perfectly encapsulates the season;
Lefty Frizzell ‘Saginaw Michigan’ - classy, old-school C&W from arguably its greatest vocal exponent;
Stephen Cleobury ‘Great European Organs 1: King’s College, Cambridge’ - this first issue exemplifies the high technical standards of Priory Records’ epic 100 volume series of the best pipe organs across the continent. Great, largely unsung, music too. RIP Stephen;
Beethoven: Symphony no.3 ‘Eroica’ (VPO/Wilhelm Furtwaengler) - Furtwaengler’s 1952 studio recording is less incendiary than his live readings, but still incandescent. Not everyone’s ideal of how this music should be played, but it left this listener fulfilled;
Beethoven: Symphony no.5 (LAPO/Esa Pekka Salonen) - superbly judged live recording from 2005, which I bought as a DG download way back when and forgot all about it until I refreshed my iTunes purchases the other week. This is deserving of an all-format release;
Beethoven: Symphony no.8 (Orch del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Zubin Mehta) - rather lazy performance of Beethoven’s “little one”, lacking the vitality the score demands;
Bax: Symphony no.2 (LPO/Myer Fredman) - Bax’s seven symphonies are dramatic and individual, a million miles from what Vaughan Williams called English “cow pat” music. This is late romanticism at its best, superbly captured on this old Lyrita LP;
Beethoven: Violin Sonata no.6, Op.30 no.1 (Wolfgang Schneiderhan & Wilhelm Kempff) - music for rainy mornings: this week anyway.
Oh, you don’t know the shape I’m in.
Have a great week
Dave x
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