Bin messin’ round the Messipotamia:
Catherine Wheel ‘Ferment’ - incredible that music sounding as fresh and invigorating as this is now over 30 years old. I wasn’t exactly young when I first this but, whatever;
Rory Gallagher S/T - his first, and still to my mind best, solo album. Always lifts me when I’m low;
Frazey Ford ‘Indian Ocean’ - bittersweet songs from a honey-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter who deserves greater recognition;
DouBt ‘Never Pet A Burning Dog’ - featuring the archbishop of the Canterbury Scene, Richard Sinclair, on three tracks: appropriate for what comes across like a supercharged Hatfields;
Byrds ‘The Notorious Byrd Brothers’ - I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only just heard this for the first time this week and my, how fab it is. These guys sound like old men looking back - but they weren’t. Unlike me. Seriously, this sounds to me like the birth of country rock… well, alongside ‘Sweetheart of the Rodeo’ anyway;
Patto ‘Roll’em, Smoke’em, Put Another Line Out’ - a melee of super-funky vibes, some well-dodgy humour and one of the heaviest rock tracks ever to hit plastic - well, up to 1972 anyway;
Brian Eno ‘Thursday Afternoon’ - perfect background music for a, er, Thursday afternoon;
Steve Hillage ‘Live Herald’ - specifically the four studio tracks on Side 4, which to my mind he’s never bettered;
Julian Cope ‘Cope’s Notes #5: The Modern Antiquarian’ - which is threatening to become not only the best Cope’s Notes yet, but also my favourite Cope album… yes, really;
Miles Davis ‘Filles de Kilimanjaro’ - Miles’ first steps into electronic lands featured enough straight jazz to keep the purists happy, and loadsa great soloing: in fact, I don’t think his technique was ever stronger than here. Wayne Shorter cooks too;
Chick Corea, David Holland & Barry Alschul ‘A.R.C.’ - a free jazz riot with just enough lyricism to sustain interest;
Britten: String Quartet in D & Phantasy Quartet, Op.2 (Gabrieli Quartet) - I’m a little ambivalent about Britten, much of whose vocal music I find difficult, but whose instrumental music usually brings pleasure. These are two excellent examples of the latter;
Ireland: Violin Sonata no.2 & Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata, Op.18 (Tasmin Little & Piers Lane) - suitably emotive renditions of two unsung chamber works;
Beethoven: String Quartet no.1, Op.18 no.1 (Doric String Quartet) - with the Chiaroscuros, there are now two ongoing Beethoven Quartet cycles by excellent young ensembles with very different approaches. The Dorics play modern instruments with period bows and minimal vibrato, to great effect;
George Lloyd: Symphony no.1 (Albany SO/George Lloyd) - totally undemanding, pleasant music - and that’s meant as praise, not indifference. I’ve just heard (from the George Lloyd Society) that Lloyd’s catalogue will be reissued en masse in 2024/25, which is great news for admirers of his muse - like me;
Haydn: Symphony no.95 (New Philharmonia/Otto Klemperer) - Haydn doesn’t get played like this any more, which some consider just as well. I don’t. It’s so much easier to appreciate his art with a serious approach, much as I acknowledge the “authentic” stylings of the present day;
Suppe: Beautiful Galatea Overture/Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.2 (w.Serkin)/Tchaikovsky: Capriccio italien/Sibelius: Symphony no.4 (all Philadelphia/Eugene Ormandy) - these 1953-54 recordings demonstrate one of the world’s most virtuosic orchestras at their peak under the underrated (at least in the UK) Ormandy. The Tchaikovsky is the most viscerally exciting account of the score I’ve ever heard;
As above (BPO/Herbert von Karajan) - another sublime orchestra/conductor combo, this time in stereo recordings from the 60s and 70s. Comparisons? Weissenberg and Karajan make unnecessarily heavy weather of the Beethoven concerto, but otherwise it’s pretty close. Karajan’s Sibelius 4 is much slower and darker than Ormandy’s, to that most sombre of work’s advantage. But Ormandy takes the mantle for me in the Tchaikovsky and - marginally - the Suppe. What the hell, I dug ‘em both;
Think on.
Best to all
Dave x
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