Plastic Mermaids

Just wanted to post this photo of Plastic Mermaids at Low Four Studio tonight.

 

Joni Mitchell - Hejira

Another blisteringly hot day, but it's feeling that little bit cooler and relaxed thanks to this masterpiece of sprawling tunes.

Brilliant Live Adventures

I didn't buy the box to house the records, but I did make sure I was online the minute some of these went on sale. #mug 

Field Lines Cartographer - Dreamtides

My new favourite Castles In Space release

Described by the artist as bring an album that "demands a lot of the listener. It's long and requires patience and stillness to get the best from it". in essence, 80+ minutes of blissful melodies and unsettling drones. It sounds as beautiful as it looks.

Roxy At 50

Roxy Music's debut album was released on the same day as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. What a monumental day. Out of the two, this is my favourite.

Prog pop at it's finest - they say more on the first two tracks of this album than most bands manage in their entire career.

Looking at the band photos on the gatefold sleeve you can see why Graham Simpson didn't make it to album number 2.

Ziggy At 50

Bookended by 5 Years and Rock'n'Roll Suicide, two tracks guaranteed to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck whenever I hear them, Ziggy Stardust is 50 years old today and is ageing much better than I am.

On a good day and when I'm in a "song" mood, this 9/10 album might scrape it into my Bowie top 3. It's certainly hitting the spot today.

Vinyl geeks - this is my early 80s bright-and-punchy black label pressing.

7" Singles - L

7" singles - From LCD Soundsystem to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Lots of LCD Soundsystem. My favourite items have to be Lemon Jelly's Rolled Oats single in a hessian sleeve and Soft Rock in a denim sleeve (with a condom hidden in the jeans pocket).

7" Singles - K

7" singles - the letter K.

From The KLF to Kula Shaker.

Paul King wearing a vest shorts and red DMs, also a beautiful coloured vinyl version of Kraftwerk's Pocket Calculator.

Sparks on the Phone

Albert Hall

14/4/22

7" Singles - J

From the long forgotten Jack to the Euros Childs/Norman Blake collaboration that was Jonny.

Not TOO many for me to listen to, so I was done with them in a morning. Plenty of singles by The Jam and Paul Jones doing easy listening covers of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker and Pretty Vacant.

There's also this lost classic, which was a massive hit in a parallel universe.

7" Singles - I

From Sheffield's I Monster (featuring a great cover version of Tina Turner's The Best) to It Bites' Prog-pop classic, Calling All The Heroes.

Winners? The 19 INXS singles, including some dodgy artwork that gave very little indication of their future stadium filling potential.

Self Esteem on the Phone

Manchester Cathedral

23/3/22

Tangerine Dream on the Phone

RNCM

5/3/22

7" Singles - H

Starting and ending with songs that are guaranteed to raise a smile - Haircut 100's Fantastic Day and Humanoid's Stakker Humanoid.

It's probably no real surprise which H artist I have most singles by - as a ten year old growing up in Sheffield in 1981, The Human League were the first bad I truly loved. Current count for number of copies of Being Boiled:l on 7": 4 (2 as a single, 2 on the Holiday 80 EP).

7" Singles - G

Been taking a break from my singles for a couple of months, but now they're back. Back! BACK!

From Ride's Mark Gardiner being remixed by Ulrich Schnauss, to Guns N' Roses getting all soppy.

36 singles of which ⅓ are by the same artist.

This pile also includes the wonderfully obscure Competition by Rabbi Joseph Gordan, AKA Julian Cope.