Steve Davis 38 Years Apart

In 1981 my friend and I were lucky enough to meet Steve Davis backstage at the Crucible Theatre on the weekend that he won the snooker world title for the first time. Tonight I'm off to see him as part of progtronica trio The Utopia Strong. Maybe I'll ask for his autograph again, now that my spelling had improved.

OMD on the Phone

Manchester Apollo
1/11/19

STUMM433

58 artists from Mute Records' 40 year history each cover John Cage's 4'33". Not a lot happens, but everything happens.

Wilder

It's national album day. In this impatient era of steaming songs, today's the day to remind ourselves of the brilliance of the long playing format. I've chosen an underrated gem to listen to this evening. Wilder was the second album by The Teardrop Explodes which, afterone minor hit it sank without a trace, proof that the record buying public can sometimes be idiots. Their debut might have been packed with non-stop awesome pop songs, but this holds together much better as an album. Plus, it has Passionate Friend on it. Here are my two copies of it.

One of my favourite Julian Cope albums.

Richard Hawley on the Phone

Manchester Albert Hall

7/10/19

Sort Furry Animals Album by Album

Coincidentally, the day the new Gruff Rhys album arrives I'm closing in on the end of the S section of my records and about to start listening to Super Furry Animals. First up and still fizzing with energy like the first time I heard it in 1996 is their debut album.

 Soy super bien. Their finest hour.

SFA OK.

More SFA. The biggest selling Welsh language album ever.

At the midpoint of SFA albums now. This is the major label big budget album, featuring Paul McCartney and John Cale. Side three plays inside out and the bonus 7" is simply a lock groove sample of the song "All the Shit U Do".

A slight disappointment after their first 5 albums, but it still contains the majestic opener, Hello Sunshine.

Every band has to have a worst album, even if it's still pretty good.

Every now and again a band presses the reset button on their career, often after they've ended up in a creative cul-de-sac or have experienced a level of public indifference or a backlash about their music (REM with Accelerate and U2 with All That You Can't Leave Behind spring to mind). The band return with a back to basics album doing what they do best. I think this is what happened here. It's an enjoyable, and relatively brief, album.

If this is their final album then it's a wonderful way to end things.

Old Suede / New Suede

I absolutely loved Suede when they first started. Loved in a "buy everything they released" kind of way, from the Drowners right up to the singles from Coming Up. Those first three albums got a lot of plays. It went a bit quite good to average for a while after that as they started to sound tired of being Suede and, although they didn't release anything bad, there was a distinct feeling of having dialed it in for their last album. I was quite relieved when they packed it in, leaving some fond memories rather that tarnish things with ever decreasing quality with their output.

When the band reformed I was prepared for them to go through the motions and play a few arena gigs, but instead they sounded like a band reinvigorated. Bloodsports was a solid album, almost as if it was there to set the record straight and keep their legacy intact. What came next was a revelation. Night Thoughts and The Blue Hour have both been absolute cinematic stunners - two of their finest -  full of the pomp of and swagger of early Suede, but with an added mature and elegance.

Flaming Lips On The Phone

Manchester Academy
6/9/19

Philip Glass - The Photographer

I first heard this album when I borrowed cassettes of it and Klaus Schulze's "Dig It" from the Manchester Central Library at some point in the early 90s. I've just picked up a vinyl copy in great condition and, although it's by no means his greatest work, it's still an excellent and hypnotic album. It's only now that I've got to see the album insert, which tells the story behind The Photographer. I'll let Mr Glass explain...

My Favourite Squarepusher Album

There's some strong contenders, but right now, after having a Squarepusher-heavy week, I'd have to say it's Hello Everything. 

It's his most consistently brilliant release - still full of invention, but with some of the rough edges smoothed and much of the jazz experimentation reigned in and focussed into some great tunes. Even then, there's still time for the very wonderfully daft "try every sound" insanity that is The Modern Bass Guitar.

Stereolab Overdose

Stereolab on the Phone

Albert Hall
31/7/19

Morton Subotnick - Until Spring

I've just bought this record and am giving it a second listen. It's probably one of less well known (well known? It's all relative) Morton Subotnick recordings, from 1976.

Light on melody, but instead consisting primarily of some incredibly dense electronic percussion and textures, this could easily pass as a long lost Autechre album.

I love the diagram on the back sleeve too.

Wrangler On The Phone

Soup Kitchen
6/7/19

Margerine Eclipse

I was supposed to be seeing Stereolab at the Albert Hall tonight, but they've had to postpone due to ill health, so I'm at home listening to latter day classic Margerine Eclipse - one of their finest, but most overlooked albums.

It demands your full attention and has a slightly bonkers sound thanks to it being recorded in "Dual-Mono", which sends your head into a spin and makes concentrating on anything else almost impossible -  I had to write this post twice as I managed to somehow delete my initial one. This is the first spin the album has had since I upgraded my turntable cartridge and it sounds even more intense and immersive than I recall.

Margerine Eclipse was the first Stereolab album since Mary Hansen was killed in a cycling accident. It's a fitting tribute and touchingly signs off with the inner sleeve message "we will love you till the end". This still makes me a bit sad.

Thursday: A 7" Sorting Kind of Day

12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2... Inches

Every inch from 2 to 12 on vinyl.

Records chosen:
12" AFX - Analord 10 (picture disc)
11" Wagon Christ - London is a Country (glow in the dark ginyl)
10" Julian Cope - China Doll (picture disc)
9" Nine Inch Nails - Sin
8" Electronic Audio Research - Falling / Tail Chaser (picture disc)
7" Ultravox - Visions in Blue (picture disc)
6" Jona Lewie - Big Shot Momentarily
5" Squeeze - If I Didn't Love You
4" The Happenings - Go Away Little Girl
3" Foo Fighters - Big Me
2" Various Artists - Pea Brian Presents the ADHD EP

Selected Ambient Works Volume II

I can't "casually" listen to this album, simply allowing it to drift in the background whilst I get on with something else. It belies the "aural wallpaper" idea of ambient music - there's just too much going on and each track and, rather than becoming part of the the background, it creates it's own ambience that invites you in.

It's one of those rare albums that, even 25 years later, I can STILL hear new things in each time I listen to it. There's a remarkable depth and complexity for something so minimal.

Roxy Music

This the true Glamorous Rock - the perfect melding of pop, rock, prog and (plastic) soul, there's very few bands that can match the run of albums that Roxy Music put out. They look and sound in equal parts stunning and ridiculous, from their learning-on-the-job debut through to the sonic perfection of Avalon, they rarely put a foot wrong. I love every one of these albums.

I've always claimed that, with Remake/Remodel, the opening track from Roxy Music, the band said more in 5 minutes than most bands say in their entire career. They could've quit then and the music world would already have been in a better place, but then we wouldn't have the (to choose a song from each subsequent album) In Every Dream Home a Heartache, Mother of Pearl, Out of The Blue, Love is the Drug, Dance Away, The Same of Scene or More Than This. And especially, we wouldn't have Virginia Plain.

Ian McNabb - Star Smile Strong

Just arrived today, here's the long awaited double vinyl edition of Star Smile Strong, with new artwork and a signed print.

I've already given this two spins and it really is a stunning pressing. I knew and enjoyed the album from the original 2017 CD release, but there's a much fuller sound audible here, with the two discs allowing the tracks to breathe and really come to life. The new artwork is also much improved from the original (sorry, but I was never a fan of the original sleeve design) and we're also treated to the song lyrics on the inner sleeves.

Clarabella, the 13 minute closing opus, deservedly gets a side to itself. As requested on the inner sleeve, I cranked up the volume for this one.

Already a good Ian McNabb album, with this pressing it's just got better. A highlight in a career of highlights.

Rick Wakeman - Rock N' Roll Prophet

I've just picked up this album from Hurley Books in Mevagissey (a great selection of records), sold by the cover, allmusic review (the fans give it 1.5 out of 5) and the text on the back sleeve:
"It takes an album of music such as this to really know who your friends are...".

It's apparently a Buggles spoofing synthpop album with Rick singing on it. He didn't want it released under this name and has since gone on record to say he thinks it is "a little ahead of its time [and] a little off the wall".

I mean, how bad can it be? I'll have to wait until I'm home tomorrow to find out.

Monday Morning Easy Listening

Heaven 17 - Bigger Than America RSD 2019

I must confess that, despite calling myself a fan, I'd never listened to this album before. After the brilliance of the first three albums, there was a noticeable drop in quality with subsequent releases - sure, 'Pleasure One' and 'Teddy Bear, Duke and Psycho' had their moments, but I found them more miss than hit.

But then sometimes you just can't resist the lure of translucent orange vinyl and so this debut vinyl pressing ended up in my bag as a last minute decision on record store day. It doesn't disappoint. Expecting another Temptation, Fascist Groove Thang or Let Me Go is a bit much (for ANY artist), but there's enough quality over these 12 tracks to draw me in - the band ditching their quest for a more "authentic' soulful sound over the previous two albums and instead offering up a more polished take on the electronic Penthouse side of Penthouse and Pavement.

ABC on the Phone

Bridgewater Hall
12/4/19

My Thoughts on The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker

I was shocked to hear the sad, sad news that Scott Walker has passed away. It's strange how these things - the news that someone over 70 - can still shock us, but such is the nature of artists who make music that will stay forever young in our memories.

Some things that I will forever link with my rediscovery and love of Scott Walker
1. Julian Cope. Although he briefly dismissed him in Reposessed, saying that he "sucked existential shite", JC was still a massive Scott fan and, if his vocal performance on China Girl (amongst others) wasn't enough, then the Fire Escapes In The Sky album that he compiled was a bit of a give away.

2. The Alan Rickman/Juliet Stevenson performance of The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore in Truly, Madly Deeply reinforced, and reminded me of, the fact that it is one of THE great songs and a true desert island disc.

3. The Crooning On Venus edition of David Toop's Oceans of Sound compilations, featuring a host of pioneering vocalists - one of the standout moments was Scott singing The Dealer, from his 1984 album Climate of Hunter - his sole album from the 1980s and an album that planted the seeds for his avant garde renaissance from the 90s onwards.

4. David Bowie. That bit on the radio where he is lost for words after hearing a happy birthday message from Scott Walker. And all those vocal performances where there was an undeniable Scott influence.

5. Loving Midge Ure's cover of No Regrets in 1982 without knowing the original and then discovering years later that Ultravox cited the Walker Brothers' track The Electrician as a key influence on Vienna.

6. Pulp (again, you can hear the Scott influence in much of Jarvis's singing) getting Scott Walker to produce their final album - a great understated sound with some exquisite sonic moments - and then, on one track (Bad Cover Version), complain that the second side of Scott's album 'Til The Band Comes In isn't much cop.

7. The video footage from 30th Century Man of him instructing someone on how best to punch a side of meat to get the right sound effect for the track Clara.

8. Montague Terrace in Blue and The Old Man's Back Again, amongst other songs.

Isaac Hayes - Black Moses

A holy grail finally found at an affordable price. I've been looking for this since the days of Our Price records (where I first tried to order a copy). So here is Black Moses by Isaac Hayes in its full fold out glory.

It's also introduced me to Dynaflex records - a format started by RCA records in 1969, promising vinyl that is "superior in many ways to any other you have ever  known" - thinner (it does feel remarkably thin), lighter, bendier, longer lasting and freer of imperfections. From what I've heard so far it does sound very good, as if it was new - impressive for something that is almost 48 years old.