Oh, why didn’t you say… like Stevie Wonder:
Peter Gabriel ‘I/O’ - when a dude’s spent two decades on one album, it should show - and indeed it does. One hearing (of the so-called ‘Bright Side Mix’) reveals not just an immaculately crafted set, but one where there’s real emotion - and some wonderful matching visual artwork - too. I think this is going to grow on me;
Bob Dylan ‘Fallen Angels’ - beautifully played American istandards compromised by closely-miked, croaky and sometimes off key vocals. Only three sobs at Edinburgh Fopp last week, which seems fair enough;
McDonald & Giles S/T - first time I’ve played this in years, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Giles’ beautifully clipped drum style aside, it’s not always easy to associate this with early Crimson. There’s a lovely pastoral edge to proceedings which puts a big smile on my wrinkly face;
David Sylvian ‘Manafon’ - what remains Sylvian’s last collection of “songs” is a beautiful, yet challenging, listen - its only melodic content emanating from the man’s close-miked vocals, whilst all manner of random sounds resonate around them. The list of collaborators reads like a who’s who of contemporary free music;
Peter Hammill ‘Nadir’s Big Chance’ - Hammill’s punk-predicting masterpiece sees him surfing the waters of anything but prog. Amazing to think that ‘Godbluff’ (see below) is contemporary with this;
Peter Hammill ‘In Camera’ - as different a precursor to the above as could be imagined. In a vast catalogue of distinction, ‘Gog’/‘Magog’ reigns supreme: Hammill at his most manic, unleashed and experimental;
Van der Graaf Generator ‘Godbluff’ - Hammill on more familiar ground, not that that means normality. These four songs exhibit anything but. And what a band;
Slowdive ‘Everything Is Alive’ - this has slowly grown inside my psyche to the point where I think it’ll remain special until the end of my days. Any MBV comparisons from the past can be safely put aside, as Slowdive are now much, much better. By the way, I’d now like to replace the Black Star Riders album with this in my 2023 Top Five (I thought early November would be too soon to make lists anyway) and I predict further amendments before the year is out;
Steve Winwood ‘Roll With It’ - I’d love to hear this - and ‘Back In The High Life’ for that matter - in a mix that did away with that awful 80s treble and big drums overkill, because underneath all that bollocks are some decent songs screaming to be loved;
Tangerine Dream ‘Sorcerer’ - a useful way to sample TD’s post-Ohr seventies style in short bursts. It’s a little bitty for my liking but there’s some great music here. Never seen the film;
Eagles ‘One Of These Nights’ - I’ve long since considered this lot Radio 2 fodder, but they do have some edgier deep cuts like ‘Too Many Hands’, ‘Visions’ and ‘Journey To The Sorcerer’ here. Much remains dull, however;
Radiohead ‘Bishop’s Robes’ - there are at least two great compilations that could be made from the myriad non-album single sides, one-offs and live stuff that Radiohead have released over the last thirty years. This ‘Bends’ era gem is typical of their quality;
Tom Verlaine ‘Dreamtime’ - Tom’s second solo LP from 1981 stands up well, with his tortured vocal and angular guitar well highlighted. He’s a big miss;
Alice Cooper ‘Killer’ - all the Alice I really need, much as I dig all of the original band’s LPs. This one’s the keeper;
Marshall Tucker Band S/T - their first, and best, album. Flute adds so much colour to Southern boogie, don’it;
Urs Leimgruber, Jacques Demierre & Barre Phillips ‘Last Concert In Europe At The Space Lucerne’ - two improvised sets of alto, piano and bass encompassing a full gamut of moods from serenity to horror and all points in between. Not exactly wallpaper music;
Arild Andersen ‘The Triangle’ - fairly standard piano jazz enlivened by Andersen’s distinctive bass picking. Good to hear Softs drum master John Marshall (RIP) too;
Miles Davis ‘Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet’ - Miles’ Prestige records were more straight jazz than his more experimental Columbia discs, but they were mightily entertaining. Exhibit A, with still-junkie John Coltrane on fire in ‘Airegin’. Talking of whom:
John Coltrane ‘Coltrane’ - his first album as leader, from the same year as the above. Good, but not yet great;
Mick Goodrick ‘In Pas(s)ing’ - low key but absorbing set by the late lamented Goodrick, featuring John Surman on reeds;
Schubert: Winterreise (Hans Hotter & Michael Raucheisen) - Schubert’s dark paean to loneliness here given its due seriousness by the young Hotter in 1942;
As above (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau & Gerald Moore) - F-D caught at arguably his technical peak in 1962. Gerald Moore’s accompaniment is so much more prominent than Raucheisen’s here - as it should be;
Brahms: Symphony no.2 (Philadelphia/Eugene Ormandy) - Ormandy’s 1953 recording, properly vibrant where most conductors are not in this work;
Sibelius: Symphony no.5 (Halle/Sir John Barbirolli) - Jean Sibelius’ birthday fell on Dec 8 and I commemorated it by playing my favourite recording of his awesome Fifth Symphony, made by Barbirolli and the Halle in 1966. The build up of power towards the end of the third movement - here played dead slowly - is overwhelming beyond comparison.
Haydn: Symphonies 76 & 77 (Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood) - there’s nothing like a good Haydn every now and then, like these two unsung gems from his modest symphonic oeuvre in near-ideal performances;
Beethoven: Symphony no.5 (Pittsburgh SO/William Steinberg) - the first Beethoven Fifth I ever heard, played on the family radiogram pictured alongside my nom-de-plume above (and yes, that’s yours truly 54 years ago), remains right up there in my top ten from the 200 plus versions I now own. That fast, fiery, and once obscenely cheap MFP LP is now available through Deutsche Grammophon.
If the guitar don’t get ya, the drums will.
Watch it out there, friends
Dave x
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