2023 Re-view

Some things I liked in 2023....

Four albums of modular perfection from FLC

Hamish Hawk live at Gorilla (and album). By far the most passionate and moving gig I've been to in a long time.

Johnny3snares. Harnessing the fun side of Aphex Twin

Adult DVD. Sandman Mancave was one of my tunes of the year.

This book

Jockstrap LP. An album from 2022, that I didn't get to spend much time with until 2023.

Cope's notes #5. The story of The Modern Antiquarian, complete with a set of new songs inspired by the book.

Teardrop Explodes boxset. A near definitive copendium of familiar, rare and unreleased tracks, spread over 7LPs or 5CDs.

Eno and Eno. Seeing their live at the Acropolis performance at the cinema was wonderful.

SMS reissue.

Ian McNabb channelling his inner Scott Walker on Hamilton Square.

Aphex Twin. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f made a strong case for Song/EP/App of the year.

The (final?) return of OMD

Ultravox's Quartet box set. Another high quality exhaustive box set.

Blur. Making a case for their finest album. 

They've moved on and so should we - there's no point in wanting another Parklife when you can just listen to Parklife.

British Electric Foundation - Music For Stowaways

When Sony released the original Walkman portable cassette player (the TPS-L2) in the UK, they named it the “Stowaway”. Although the name didn’t last it does serve as a nice introduction to talk about Music For Stowaways, the first (were there others?) album designed to be listened to on the device.

In 1980, after being dismissed from the Human League, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh formed British Electric Foundation – not a band as such, but a “production company” that planned to oversee a variety of releases they were involved in.

The first products from B.E.F. came out within a few weeks of one another -  one being Heaven 17’s debut single, (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang on 6 March 1981, with the second being its companion piece, an album by B.E.F. called Music For Stowaways (which included an instrumental version of Fascist Groove Thang) on 31 March.

Initially released in limited amounts, this was a cassette only album to be played on the new Sony “Stowaway” – the music was therefore intended to be listened to in solitude through headphones and possibly whilst on the move. A handful of promotional copies were pressed on vinyl, with text on the runout groove hammering home the point: “Put your cans on and take off” on side 1 and “TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND LISTEN AGAIN” on side 2. There is therefore a certain amount of irony in the album now, in 2023, getting a full vinyl release for people to listen to whilst tied to their expensive hi fi setups with floor standing speakers.

You get the impression from the early Heaven 17 releases that they were never intended to be a long term prospect, just one in a number of projects by B.E.F. with no long term plans. The songwriting credits on their early release were even credited to “BEF/Gregory”, making it clear that these were very much a B.E.F. thang, with Glenn Gregory (H17 singer) collaborating on this project. The Fascist Groove Thang and Height of the Fighting singles even had b-sides that were solely by B.E.F. and the inner sleeve of the first two Heaven 17 albums were used to advertise past, present and proposed B.E.F. releases (as well as a handful of the Human League MK1 releases).

   

Anyway, back to Music For Stowaways. The album contained 8 tracks (plus an uncredited track, B.E.F. Ident) and was split between an "Uptown" side and a "Downtown" side - I don't know if their intention was for you to listen to the music in those places, but "Uptempo" and "Downtempo" would start to give you some indication of what to expect from the respective sides. Although it was a cassette only release, some of the tracks did later get a vinyl release under the title “Music For Listening To”, which was intended as an export release for fans outside the UK. Containing 5 of the 8 tracks from Stowaways along with an exclusive track called A Baby Called Billy.

Fast forward to 2023, exactly 42 years from it's oroginal release, this new vinyl issue brings together the original album tracks and the accompanying pieces released in different places around the same time – A Baby Called Billy from Music For Listening To along with Honeymoon in New York from Heaven 17’s Height of the Fighting single. The album, no longer defined by Uptown and Downtown sides, is now bookended by identical version of the B.E.F. Ident – great as they are, this baffles me. There is an uncredited alternative version of this track featured on both the Fascist Groove Thang and I'm Your Money 12" singles that would have made a much better case for being included at the end of the album.

Gripe aside, the album is still an essential listen for anyone who has an interest in the history of electronic music. It was the first solely instrumental album I ever bought, thanks to those adverts on the inner sleeves of Penthouse and Pavement and The Luxury Gap. As an impressionable 12 year old pop fan anything by my favourite pop bands was, to my ears, still pop music, no matter how out-there it might have been. As an owner of a vast amount of instrumental and electronic music I often wonder where those seeds might have been planted and this is certainly one of them. Bands should never underestimate the power they have to change someone's life. 

Orbital on the Phone Again Again

Albert Hall

30/3/23

New John Foxx album just arrived

The Great White Sea Eagle

And they're off....

First new album of 2023 for me. James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra. Her out of The Cardigans and him out of James Yorkston.

It even comes with a free flexi disc, which seems to be a thing at the moment. Lovely.

2022 Vinyl Beauty Contest

Nine contenders from my collection for best looking record of 2022. To be honest, I could've filled this solely with records release by the Castles In Space label.

Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B

We all love an end of year chart. Even those of us who claim not to get a secret kick out of discrediting the choices and ordering of such charts. but at the same time they do have a massive plot hole don't they?

Case in point is my own list from 31 December. The following day I got I Love You Jennifer B by Jockstrap. It's a fantastic album, which I've played repeatedly over the last 4 days. It may well be a contender for my favourite album released in 2022, but I didn't hear it until 2023. Already my best albums of 2022 list is in tatters.

Next time I'll do a best albums I've heard during the year chart. This might just make it in there.

Bringing It All Back Home

An online conversation with my friend Ron, who is a massive Dylan fan...

"A confession. Other than compilations I have never owned a Bob Dylan album. I've changed that today - £5 from Sifters."

"That is a good start into the new year. Imagine that, the second side of the album was practically recorded in one take. Not bad, isn’t it: four out of four classics in one stoned moment "

"That's quite impressive. He'll go far."

2022 Re-view

Another year, another huge amount of great music. Top ten? Well heres 12 albums I've loved listening to in 2022, in no particular order. A healthy blend of electonics, guitars, blokes shouting, perfect pop,  great songs and some science lessons.

Yard Act - The Overload

Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band - Dear Scott

Confidence Man - Tilt

Brian Eno - FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE

Arctic Monkeys - The Car

Field Lines Cartographer - Dreamtides

Oliver Sim - Hideous Bastard

Suede - Autofiction

TVAM - High Art Life

The Sound of Science - The Sound of Science

Working Men's Club - Fear Fear

Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan - Districts Roads Open Spaces

On a different day it would be a different 12 albums.

Oh and here's a photo of some record spines.