Slade – Hammersmith Odeon 1981

I have absolutely no idea quite why I agreed to go and see Slade all the way down in London, but I did. I can’t even remember who I went with at the moment and I’m having a bit of a guess at the date because there were three gigs there in ’81 but I’m very sure that I remember how weird it was that they played Merry Xmas Everybody so far from Christmas, so it wasn’t the January or December gig, must have been the March gig. Noddy Holder came on in a Santa suit, which was actually a lowlight of the gig for me.

There were a number of things that were highlights, such as Dave Hill’s guitar playing, he was really bloody good, although I never have and never will understand the haircuts, and the fiddle playing of Jim Lea was also really good and unexpected, by me at least.

As usual, after all these years have past, memories are hazy, so I found a set list from the gig before the one I was at as I couldn’t find the actual one, but it was pretty much the same as far as I remember.

1. Rock and Roll Preacher
2. When I’m Dancin’ I Ain’t Fightin’
3. Take Me Bak ‘Ome
4. Till Deaf Do Us Part
5. M’Hat, M’Coat
6. Everyday
7. A Night to Remember
8. Lock Up Your Daughters
9. Gudbuy T’Jane
10. We’ll Bring the House Down
11. Get Down and Get With It
    Encore:
12. Mama Weer All Crazee Now
13. Merry Xmas Everybody
14. I’m a Rocker
15. Born to Be Wild

Slade were having a resurgence in 1981, having actual hits, in the actual charts with ‘We’ll Bring the House Down’ and ‘Lock up your daughters’

My mate Dave and I had our own lyrics for this, “Let’s have a party, woh oh oh oh oh, jelly and blancmange, sausages on sticks etc’ at 14 it was bloody hilarious.

I found this review, which may have been the gig I was at, or may not, but it was of the same period at least:

If you need to remind yourself or have no idea who the hell Slade were then here is a big chunk of songs to help you out.

Blackfoot – Hammersmith Odeon 1982

I read a post here by 80smetalman and it reminded me of seeing Blackfoot at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1982. It was one of only three visits I ever made to the venue, but I would read Melody Maker or Sounds every week and see ads for bands playing there and desperately want to go, but I was a kid with no source of income, hence only those three visits.

Blackfoot were quite the thing at the time at school, there was a lot of people into them but only two of us went, myself and guy called Andy who I haven’t seen or spoken to for 35 years, so I have to go on my own recollections. We had seats in the balcony but still had an excellent view and everybody stood up when the band came on, which seemed weird as I thought that would be the sort of thing the people downstairs would do as we actually had a better view sitting down, but it was a rock concert of course so everybody should stand up, I was young and inexperienced, I didn’t know these things.

Rickey Medlocke – Hammersmith Odeon 1982

The gig that night was amazing, the band were tight and seemingly had boundless energy. I believe the Live album they released, ‘Highway Song Live’ contained some of the tracks form this gig, it was recorded on a 1982 UK tour so it is very likely. As far as I know the track list on the night was:

01 Gimme gimme gimme
02 On the run
03 Wishin well
04 Dry county
05 Lady turn on a red light
06 Rollin’ and tumblin’
07 Fly away
08 Good mornin’
09 Too hard to handle
10 Road fever
11 Train train
12 Highway song

This sounds about right but I can’t be sure.

There are videos on youtube labelled as Hammersmith 82 but I think, from the comments, that  they may actually be from 1980 as I don’t remember seeing any cameras at the gig. They do, however look very familiar, especially the knee length denim coat worn by Rickey Medlocke. The ticket below isn’t mine but I do have this very vague recollection that the gig was postponed for some reason, hence the date being re-written in pen, but it was a long time ago so the memory is hazy.

Not my actual ticket

I bought a sweatshirt at the gig and I think I wore it home on the train afterewards, unfortunately, about  a year later, it went ‘Missing’ off the washing line and I never saw it again. This was the image on the front of it, I think it had tour dates on the back:

T-Shirt Design

I think we should have a look at those videos (which aren’t great image quality) that purport to be Hammersmith ’82, and some others from the same year.

From 1979 to 1982 Blackfoot released a trilogy of almost perfect Southern Rock albums, and finished up with a live album that incorporated the best of their output and their live performances.

• Strikes (1979)
  
• Tomcattin’ (1980)
  
• Marauder (1981)
  
• Highway Song Live (1982)
  

I still have my copies of the middle two albums, but I’d probably say that Marauder was my favourite of all their albums, though there are plenty of great tracks on the others. It was all killer and no filler:

Tracklist

Good Morning 3:34
Payin’ For It 3:35
Diary Of A Workingman 5:33
Too Hard To Handle 4:00
Fly Away 2:56
Dry County 3:42
Fire Of The Dragon 4:03
Rattlesnake Rock ‘N’ Roller 4:00
Searchin’ 5:34

In 1982 I had to choose which albums I bought very carefully as I had no money at all, being 15 years old, and choosing to buy Marauder was a big thing. I bought Tomcattin later, even though it was released earlier and never bought Strikes. I’m pretty sure I had a copy of the live album at some point but I’ve no idea what happened to it. So the cost of going to the gig and buying a swetshirt as well as a programme (I think so anyway, I recognise it) had to be quite a considered thing.

As a result of eveything above I’ve been listening to Marauder again today and it brings back all sorts of memory snippets, nothing worth writing down, just general fragments of nostalgia. Above all though it reminds me what a bloody good band they were.

Your F***ing Sunny Day (Episode 35)

Claude Lombard

The August ‘That Special Record’ offering is the self titled album by Claude Lombard. As usual, I was completely in the dark about this and, to be honest, having read the blurb I didn’t have high hopes as it felt like a long way outside the sort of music I would listen to. I bit the bullet so to speak and really quite enjoyed side 1 and then read a post at Dereks Music Blog, this post in fact, which says everything I could possibly say and more, so go and read it. Side 2 was just as enjoyable and I surprised myself somewhat by liking it. I included a track in Show 5 of 33 1/3 Radio, along with some other bits and pieces it led me on to listen to that I probably wouldn’t have normally.

Here is a sample for you:

 

 

33 1/3 Radio Show 5 Now live

It’s over there on the right, or you could go here:

33 1/3 Radio

Voigt/465 ‎– Slights Still Unspoken

This post is also available as an audio version:

July’s offering from ‘That Special Record’, Voigt/465 ‎with ‘Slights Still Unspoken’. I don’t think much of it to be honest. It sounds like 1 of 1000 bands that were about in the late 70’s and early eighties that I’ve heard and liked, but that was then and I can’t see myself starting to like this retrospectively. The bands I like from that era are because I liked them at the time, there are loads of bands that were probably great but I didn’t like them or maybe know of them at the time so that is that. I can’t be nostalgic for something I never knew. That is not to say that this album isn’t any good, I just can’t see myself giving it more than the couple of plays I’ve already given it. Having said that, I’ve been wrong before.

Wiki: Voigt/465 were an Australian post-punk band based in Sydney. They were a feature of the Sydney inner-city music-scene during the late 1970s and their music was critically acclaimed. Their sound was influenced by Krautrock and has been described by a band-member as an “unsettling mixture of song-driven rock elements and free-noise experimentation”. Voigt/465 recorded an album, Slights Unspoken, before they disbanded in late 1979. With their self-funded recordings and determinedly uncompromising music Voigt/465 epitomised the do-it-yourself ethic of the alternative music scene of the late 1970s.

Here’s a taste of the album so you can make your own mind up:

Tracklist

A1	State
A2	Voices A Drama
A3	A Welcome Mystery
A4	Red Lock On Sea Steal
A5	Imprint
A6	Many Risk
B1	A Secret West
B2	Is New Is
B3	4 Hours
B4	P
B5	F1
B6	Winchsoul

Your F***ing Sunny Day (Episode 34)

Jonas Reinhardt, Jürgen Müller ‎– The Encyclopedia Of Civilizations Vol. 1: Egypt

A monthly selection from ‘That Special Record’, I’m a little behind so this was probably for the month of July, I’ll catch up soon as I have a couple of others to talk about. I’ve never heard of either of the contributors who share a side each of this album but it is a fascinating listen. The album is also available from Bandcamp, so reproduced below is the blurb that accompanied the release and before that, you can set it playing via Soundcloud.

The LP is the first volume on “The Encyclopedia of Civilizations”, a collection of split LP’s just started at Abstrakce where selected artists offer their own insight into fascinating ancient cultures. In this volume music is inspired by ancient Egypt and comes with a 10-page booklet with images and texts explaining historic facts. The texts written by Juan Ruiz -an Spanish archeologist and researcher- in a half scientific/half poetic way rounds the music and transports you to the Ancient Egypt to get the whole listening experience. The careful design of the edition also helps: Egyptian colors (sand, electric blue, gold) and a sleeve printed in the old way, letterpressed with metal movable type as Gutemberg used to do it. 

Jürgen Müller is the pseudonym previously used by Norm Chambers (aka Panabrite) for the album “Science of the sea”, presented as an archival find by Digitalis Recordings in 2011. The album was supposed to be a reissue of early 80’s songs recorded by a a self-taught composer who was studying oceanic science and playing some music on his houseboat, dreaming to sell the compositions to film and TV companies. Now Jürgen comes back and this time there’s no romantic misterious story to tell, just some astonishing modular ambient songs influenced by library music, kosmische, minimalism or new age. Songs that refer to artists such as Mort Garson or contemporaries as M. Geddes Gengras or Jonathan Fitoussi.

Jonas Reinhardt is a Brooklyn based musician with releases in labels such as Not Not Fun, Kranky, The great pop supplement, Further or VCO records. His side is also influenced by kosmische but in a different code, more trippy and psychedelic. Deeper and darker atmospheres that remind to musicians such as Klaus Schulze, Steve Hauschildt or synthetist Steve Moore. Songs full of synth arpeggios and reverbered sound waves that create Egyptian dream visions.

Artwork by Israel Pinilla & Guillermo Cerdá. Printed at Obsolete Letterpress.

The artwork is really quite lovely. I did some letterpress many year ago and getting it as good as this is really difficult, I never managed anything even close.

If you want your own copy then you can get it here.

 

 

My Beatles Black Album

The Black Album is an unofficial compilation album of solo material by members of the Beatles. It was created by the actor Ethan Hawke, and was used in the 2014 film Boyhood in which he starred for 12 years as it charted the life of his son from age of 6 to 18.  Hawke originally compiled the record to give to his daughter on her 13th birthday in 2011, it was then incorporated into Boyhood in scenes shot later that year, with Hawke’s character giving it to his son as a birthday present.

The dialogue from the film is:

“Mason, I wanted to give you something for your birthday that money couldn’t buy, something that only a father could give a son, like a family heirloom. This is the best I could do.”

— Mason Sr. explains The Black Album

I’ve never seen the film but had heard about it so I will definitely be seeking it out. I also made my own Black album, for myself as though it had been presented to me, by me, a future older me to my younger self. Narcissistic or what?!

 

Some video highlights:

Here is the orginal track list from the film:

Disc 1:

1. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Band on the Run”

2. George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord”

3. John Lennon feat. The Flux Fiddlers & the Plastic Ono Band, “Jealous Guy”

4. Ringo Starr, “Photograph”

5. John Lennon, “How?”

6. Paul McCartney, “Every Night”

7. George Harrison, “Blow Away”

8. Paul McCartney, “Maybe I’m Amazed”

9. John Lennon, “Woman”

10.Paul McCartney & Wings, “Jet”

11. John Lennon, “Stand by Me”

12. Ringo Starr, “No No Song”

13. Paul McCartney, “Junk”

14. John Lennon, “Love”

15. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “The Back Seat of My Car”

16. John Lennon, “Watching the Wheels”

17. John Lennon, “Mind Games”

18. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Bluebird”

19. John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”

20. George Harrison, “What Is Life”

Disc 2:

1. John Lennon, “God”

2. Wings, “Listen to What the Man Said”

3. John Lennon, “Crippled Inside”

4. Ringo Starr, “You’re Sixteen You’re Beautiful (And You’re Mine)”

5. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Let Me Roll It”

6. John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, “Power to the People”

7. Paul McCartney, “Another Day”

8. George Harrison, “If Not For You (2001 Digital Remaster)”

9. John Lennon, “(Just Like) Starting Over”

10. Wings, “Let ‘Em In”

11. John Lennon, “Mother”

12. Paul McCartney & Wings, “Helen Wheels”

13. John Lennon, “I Found Out”

14. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey”

15. John Lennon, Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band, “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)”

15. George Harrison, “Not Guilty (2004 Digital Remaster)”

16. Paul McCartney & Linda McCartney, “Heart of the Country”

17. John Lennon, “Oh Yoko!”

18. Wings, “Mull of Kintyre”

19. Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy”

Disc 3:

1. John Lennon, “Grow Old With Me (2010 Remaster)”

2. Wings, “Silly Love Songs”

3. The Beatles, “Real Love”

4. Paul McCartney & Wings, “My Love”

5. John Lennon, “Oh My Love”

6. George Harrison, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”

7. Paul McCartney, “Pipes of Peace”

8. John Lennon, “Imagine”

9. Paul McCartney, “Here Today”

10. George Harrison, “All Things Must Pass”

11. Paul McCartney, “And I Love Her (Live on MTV Unplugged)”

 

Francis Albert Sinatra

There’s not a great deal I can say about Sinatra that people don’t already know, in fact, there’s nothing really. There are loads of books out there and documentaries, some paint him in a good light and some in a bad light, but like everybody, he was most likely a mix of both.

I was just browsing around the internet and stumbled across 8 Sinatra albums for sale for £10. That’s £1.25 each, so not exactly a big investment risk. I bough them. It was, in truth, a bit of an impulse buy but that’s ok. They arrived and were in varying conditions, some were really good, some really bad, about 50/50, although I think most of the bad can be saved with a good clean. Here are the first four:

The majority of the tracks on the first album, ‘ Sinatra’s Swingin’ Session! ‘  were cut on August 22nd & 23rd 1960, and this is a digitally enhanced re-release from 1984. The other three are ‘Sinatra for the Sophisticated’, a compilation album from 1966, ‘Nice ‘N’ Easy’, originally 1960 but this is 1972, ‘Sunday and Every Day’,  from 1969, which is an interesting one when considering everything else that was going on musically in ’69. It’s a compilation, and there have been a lot of those, released in the same year as the first two Led Zeppelin albums, the first King Crimson, ‘Let it Bleed’ by the Rolling Stones and lots of others of note, making this album a release for ‘Old Folks’ pretty much, or so it seems. Track 4, ‘Close to you’ was recorded in 1943, imagine this amongst everything else that was going on:

So 24 years had passed between the original release and 1969, and a hell of a lot had happened in music, but Sinatra’s appeal always endured somehow. He had a loyal fan base and was still acquiring new fans, seemingly on a ten year cycle, having had comeback after comeback.

The other four albums are these:

I’m listening to ‘Songs for swinging lovers’ right now, which opens with ‘You make me feel so young’, a good start.

Here is the album on Apple Music:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/songs-for-swingin-lovers-remastered/id1075566378

or Spotify right here if you prefer:

Sometimes I like a bit of Sinatra, so these will be played now and again, my bet is it will be a Sunday afternoon accompanied by a gin and tonic, which is a very pleasant way indeed to spend some time.

 

Top 50 Gary Numan

As I previously mentioned I saw Gary Numan again a couple of weekends ago and, because I seem to enjoy punishing myself, I did yet another list. These lists are hard and I will want to change it as soon as I publish it, but a line has to be drawn somewhere so here goes.

There are many reasons for the inclusions and exclusions, and where they appear in the list, and all of those reasons are mine, so I have no doubt that somebody will see something as glaringly omitted or ridiculously included. Please feel to question the list, I’ll probably agree with you to be honest as this is one of the most difficult I’ve done, partly due to the number of tracks and both the difference in quality (Mid Period Numan is difficult for me) and the difference in styles.

POS.	TITLE	ALBUM/YEAR
50	Bombers	(Tubeway Army – 1978)
49	Listen To The Sirens	(Tubeway Army – 1978)
48	I Dream of Wires	(Telekon – 1980)
47	She’s Got Claws	(Dance – 1981)
46	What God Intended	(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
45	White Boys And Heroes	(I, Assasin – 1982)
44	Telekon	(Telekon – 1980)
43	Music for Chameleons	(I, Assasin – 1982)
42	I, Assassin	(I, Assasin – 1982)
41	Pray	(Sacrifice – 1994)
40	Dark	(Exile – 1997)
39	Pray For The Pain You Serve	(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
38	Ghost Nation	(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
37	Dominion Day	(Exile – 1997)
36	It Must Have Been Years	(Replicas – 1979)
35	This Wreckage	(Telekon – 1980)
34	Remember I Was Vapour	(Telekon – 1980)
33	We Take Mystery (To Bed)	(I, Assasin – 1982)
32	Praying to the Aliens	(Replicas – 1979)
31	Rip	(Pure – 2000)
30	Absolution	(Exile – 1997)
29	Dead Heaven	(Exile – 1997)
28	A Prayer for the Unborn	(Pure – 2000)
27	Splinter	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
26	Mercy	(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
25	When the Sky Bleeds, He Will Come	(Dead Son Rising – 2011)
24	Dead Sun Rising	(Dead Son Rising – 2011)
23	Jagged	(Jagged – 2006)
22	My Name Is Ruin	(Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – 2017)
21	Haunted	(Jagged – 2006)
20	We are Glass	(Single – 1980)
19	In a Dark Place	(Jagged – 2006)
18	Here in the Black	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
17	Complex	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
16	We’re the Unforgiven	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
15	Halo	(Jagged – 2006)
14	M.E.	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
13	Airlane	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
12	I Am Dust	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
11	Metal	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
10	Everything Comes Down to This	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
9	Love Hurt Bleed	(Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) – 2013)
8	I Die: You Die	(Single – 1980)
7	Me! I Disconnect from You	(Replicas – 1979)
6	Films	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
5	Engineers	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
4	Down in the Park	(Replicas – 1979)
3	Pure	(Pure – 2000)
2	Cars	(The Pleasure Principle – 1979)
1	Are ‘Friends’ Electric?	(Replicas – 1979)

Here is my Top 10

You may well be asking yourself how on earth ‘Pure’ ended up where it did? Well, it was the song that I first heard after a long hiatus that made me first think that Numan had more to offer and wasn’t just a late 70’s, early 80’s pop star living off old hits.

Your F***ing Sunny Day (Episode 33)

Public Service Broadcasting – Every Valley

My word, I’ve read some scathing reviews of ‘Every Valley’, the new release from Public Service Broadcasting, and they are all entitled to their opinion, even if their opinion is crap. In fairness, I’ve read some good ones as well. I heard the track ‘They gave me a lamp’ on BBC Radio 6 several times over the last few weeks and really liked it, so much so I played it on the radio show, so it was inevitable that I would eventually buy a copy of the album.

The album chronicles the rise and demise of the Welsh coal mining industry in South Wales, which is where I’m from, and where my Grandfather worked in a mine and lost his leg when the mine shaft collapsed.

The album has historical narratives, from Richard Burton as an example who describes “the arrogant strut of the lords of the coalface” and an advert for coal mining Fromm the 1970’s where  prospective employees are encouraged to apply with the words “Come on, be a miner! There’s money and security”, if only they knew.

They Gave Me A Lamp

I would say that listening to this album has given me a greater understanding of exactly what my Grandfather and others from his generation went through and listening to it was at times quite an emotional experience.

The Beaufort male choir add their v voices to the track ” Take Me Home” and James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers and Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell add vocals elsewhere, so it’s not entirely samples of over music which adds some light and shade to the album as a whole. One of the criticisms I read was that the album doesn’t warrant listening to more than once because vocal samples aren’t as interesting as sung lyrics, which just isn’t true, take Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’, it was a huge success (and also included Richard Burton).

Progress

I really loved this album, and I have the 180g clear vinyl version, which is a nice thing. It’s been played at least 10 times since I got it so, in my house at least, it is well worth repeated listenings.

Tracklist 

1. EVERY VALLEY

Contains samples from: Every Valley, licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved; and the Dick Cavett Show, courtesy of Daphne Productions

2. THE PIT

Contains samples from Plan For Coal, New Power In Their Hands, Modern Wales & Every Valley, all licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved

3. PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS NEED COAL

Contains samples from A Job In Coal, People Will Always Need Coal, Mining Review 3rd Year No. 7, Modern Wales and Big Job, all licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved

4. PROGRESS

Contains samples from Modern Wales, Plan For Coal and New Power In Their Hands, all licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved

5. GO TO THE ROAD

Contains samples from Above Us The Earth, licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved; and The Welsh Miner, Artsmagic Ltd and used with kind permission

6. ALL OUT

Contains samples of: All Out, University of Bristol and used with kind permission; Smiling And Splendid Women, used by kind permission of The South Wales Miners’ Library, Swansea University; Swansea Women’s Group / Jazz Heritage Wales; and The Welsh Miner, Artsmagic Ltd and used with kind permission

7. TURN NO MORE

Words by Idris Davies, adapted from the poem Gwalia Deserta, used with kind permission of Gomer Press

8. THEY GAVE ME A LAMP

Contains samples from: interviews with Margaret Donovan and Christine Powell, used by kind permission of the South Wales Miners’ Library, Swansea University; Margaret Donovan; Christine Powell; and All Out, University of Bristol and used with kind permission

Title taken from Phyllis Jones’ They Gave Me a Lamp: Reminiscences of a Colliery Nursing Officer, used by the kind permission of Patricia Mee

9. YOU + ME

10. MOTHER OF THE VILLAGE

Contains samples from: The Welsh Miner, Artsmagic Ltd and used with kind permission; interview with Ron Stoate, recorded by J. Willgoose, Esq. and used with kind permission; and samples from recorded interview with Christine Powell, used by kind permission of The South Wales Miners’ Library, Swansea University; Christine Powell

11. TAKE ME HOME

Performed by the Beaufort Male Choir

Contains a sample from Every Valley, licensed by the BFI, all rights reserved.

Mix Tape: Volume 4: Side 1 & 2

This is a mix tape that I put together in 2010 and listened to a lot at the time, I called it ‘Dreamstate’ and made an image for the cover:

The tracks are split for a C90 cassette, so up to 45 minutes a side. I’ve used youtube this time, although they videos are mostly irrelevant, it’s not for watching but for listening.

SIDE 1:

1. Moonlit Sailor – Sunbeams (5:29)
2. Stafrænn Hákon – Járn (8:30)
3. Balmorhea – Bowspirit (5:17)
4. Audrey – Carving and Searching (3:19)
5. Ioseb – When The Bomb Hit The House Next Door (9:53)
6. God Is An Astronaut – Fall From The Stars (4:27)
7. Phantogram – You Are The Ocean (5:49)

SIDE2:

 

1. The Album Leaf – Eastern Glow (6:06)
2. 65daysofstatic – I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood (5:27)
3. Efterklang – Horseback Tenors (5:48)
4. Harmonia – Veterano (4:00)
5. Mew – White Lips Kissed (6:45)
6. Sigur Rós – Glosoli (6:18)
7. Sufjan Stevens – The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders (7:02)

Apple Music Link:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/playlist/dreamstate/idpl.u-mJy8DerI6zdbq

 

Your F***ing Sunny Day (Episode 32)

Lamb Live At Manchester Cathedral

Lamb will make their hometown return to Manchester Cathedral on 16th October 2017.

The whole concert is being recorded by the Live Here Now team for release as Lamb, Live At Manchester Cathedral across 2 x CD, 3 x LP, and bundle formats.

Expected CD Release Date October 19th
Due to the unavoidable production time necessary, the 3 x LP will follow the CD and Download and be released in early 2018.

So I ordered the triple vinyl via Pledge Music a couple of weeks ago because I really rather like Lamb and have most of their albums on CD, and just one on vinyl, 2001’s ‘What Sound’, but I’ll pick up more as I find them.

Tonight I was listening to a live version of the track ‘Goreki’ (below) and thought I’d write up this post to just quickly mention the album. Then I had a thought, and this thought was, “I wonder if there are any tickets for the Manchester Cathedral gig left,” so I had a look and, much to my delight, there were some left and I got two. To have a triple vinyl of a gig I am attending is just marvellous, I’m delighted.

As far as I can tell the Cathedral holds about 1100 people and it will look rather like the image below:

New Bjork Album announced

A new album by Bjork was announced on my newsfeed with a link to pre-order, so I thought I’d do the as I have all her others and all of the Sugarcubes, I am a bit of a fan boy without doubt. There is absolutely no information on the Bjork site, The vinyl is £23.99 plus postage and this is the image:

I’d actually rather like it if it was completely white with no writing whatsoever, but I doubt it will be.

You can pre-order here if you would like your own copy.

Apparently Bjork has referred to this as her ‘Tinder’ album, with ‘Vulnicurna’ having been her break up album and the video director who looks to be working on Images for the new album, Andrew Thomas Huang, has said “This album is gonna be really future facing, I a hopeful way that I think is needed right now.”

There is no release date for the album, to teaser tracks, images, nothing, just the more above. In many ways it matters not, it’s a new Bjork album and I would buy it regardless as, having seen her live, almost 30 years after I first heard her as I walked into a record shop in 1988, I am as captivated as ever.

Death & Vanilla – Vampyr

There are certain things that make me interested in a record which are often related to a good back story, amongst other things. ‘Vampyr’ by Death and Vanilla has things that interest me in abundance. I have their eponymous 2012 album and like it very much, not least because I paid very little for it, but also because I liked the aesthetic of the music, this is what first drew me to this album. Here in list form are the reasons why I was so interested in it.

1. I knew the band already, which is always a plus
2. It’s a soundtrack, and I like soundtracks.
3. It’s a soundtrack to a 1932 film by Danish director Carl Theodor, which In itself means not a lot to me but I do like a silent film.
   
4. It was recorded live as the film played.
5. The packaging is lovely as is the grey marbled vinyl. 
6. It has moogs and mellotrons.
7. The entire original film along with the original soundtrack is available on youtube
   
8. I plan to see if I can overlay the Death and Vanilla over the actual film and see what happens.

It is a really interesting soundtrack that I’ve already listened to several times just as a piece of music, in 4 parts, and really enjoyed.

If you’d like to know more about the band then here it is, taken directly from http://www.firerecords.com/death-and-vanilla/

Formed in Malmö, Sweden by Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson, Death and Vanilla utilise vintage musical equipment such as vibraphone, organ, mellotron, tremolo guitar and moog, to emulate the sounds of 60s/70s soundtracks, library music, German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych. They revel in the warmth of older analogue instruments to create a more organic sound, each loose wire and off-kilter noise adding to the rich atmosphere.

After a handful of successful releases including a debut EP in 2010, their self-titled LP in 2012 – which sold out on pre-order – and a beautifully designed 7” single, the experimental pop duo were invited to compose a live soundtrack for the classic horror film, Vampyr (1932), for the Lund Fantastisk Film festival in Lund. In 2015, newly signed to Fire, the band returned with a new, full length album ‘To Where The Wild Things Are.’ Named after the Maurice Sendak children’s book, the album is comprised of pop music with a wild, dreamy and experimental edge, celebrating imagination and the ability to travel to stranger recesses of the mind.

Next came the ‘California Owls’ 12″ coloured EP. Opulent and timeless, ‘California Owls’ is a reverb soaked spectral-pop song drenched in 60s-psych while the dark and swirling melodies of ‘Follow The Light’ has a ‘Walk Away Renee pace’ (Guardian). Creating deliciously enticing soundscapes, full of moody moogs and breathless vocals, their influences are as diverse as their music.

Following a run of UK successful live dates in Spring 2015 including Rough Trade East, Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, Levitation Psych Fest (France) and Incubate (Netherlands), Watch this space for more live date announcements from the formidable trio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mercury Music Prize – Comment

 

alt-j – ‘Relaxer’ – Maybe
I quite liked this and it probably deserves a place on this shortlist, however, points off for including a version of ‘House of the rising son’. Why? Filler.

Blossoms – ‘Blossoms’
This is bollocks.

Dinosaur – ‘Together, As One’
This is great and a real find as I’d never heard of it. Jazz with some electronic flourishes, nice arrangements, not too much dissonance. I might buy this one.

Ed Sheeran – ‘÷’
I have no idea what this is doing here, it’s just Ed Sheeran being Ed Sheeran isn’t it? Yes, it sold bucket loads, but according to the prize itself: The main objectives of the Prize are to recognise and celebrate artistic achievement, provide a snapshot of the year in music and to help introduce new albums from a range of music genres to a wider audience. Now it does fall into the first two of those categories but not the last, and to be honest, I listened to it and I will be quite happy to live the rest of my life and never hear it again.

Glass Animals – ‘How to Be a Human Being’
This is OK, quite pleasant I suppose, not particularly ground breaking but it’s quite listenable.

J Hus – ‘Common Sense’
This is really very good, I like it. There’s autotune and then there’s creative autotune and where it’s used here it’s the latter, which I can live with. There’s some really good backing tracks and some good angry bits as well as plenty of melody. Yup, it’s good.


Kate Tempest – ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’
Nope nope nope. I saw her Glastonbury set and didn’t like it. This is poetry put to music and it hardly ever really works, certainly doesn’t here. Best of luck to her but it’s of not for me.

Loyle Carner – ‘Yesterday’s Gone’
This is very good, and there is an argument that can be made that this is also poetry over music in places as well, except that is a crap argument as this is an MC not a poet. I’d definitely recommend giving this a listen.

Sampha – ‘Process’
I heard some of this album on a car journey at the weekend and it wasn’t what I was expecting at all, I’d assumed it was Hip Hop, my bad, it’s not that at all. Sampha has a really interesting voice and I guess if you had to file in a genre you could easily go for Electronic.

Stormzy – ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’
So this is Grime, or that’s what I read. It’s actually pretty good, a bit angry in places but that’s ok. ‘Blinded by your grace’ is a beautiful thing and ‘Big For Your Boots’ is good.

The Big Moon – ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’
Pretty good. I don’t particularly feel there’s anything here that I haven’t heard before, but if you like indie pop, then you’ll find this to be a very good addition to your listening.

The xx – ‘I See You’
I’ve been unsure about The XX for a while, I sort of don’t know what they are, but listening to this album makes it clearer for me.  I can now be sure that it is not something I am a big fan of, but I can see the appeal.

If it were me then I would drop 6 of these at least, so for completeness I have to replace them. So this would be my list:
alt-j – ‘Relaxer’ – Maybe
Dinosaur – ‘Together, As One’
J Hus – ‘Common Sense’
Loyle Carner – ‘Yesterday’s Gone’
Sampha – ‘Process’
Stormzy – ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’
Kelly Lee Owens ‎– Kelly Lee Owens
Forest Swords ‎– Compassion
Slowdive – Slowdive
Roger Goula ‎– Overview Effect
Max Richter – Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works
Public Service Broadcasting – Every Valley

I’ll be playing a track from each of these on the radio show 5 when I get around to recording it.