There have been some fantastic CD boxed sets released in the past few years. Often they are great value and can fill a hole in the collection. Well, that’s my justification. The plan is to share some of these in mid-week posts. This first artist doesn’t need any introduction at all, but I’ll reproduce the text […]
25 NICK DRAKE — PINK MOON A short album of brief songs—some barely more than sketches—somehow Pink Moon has all the depth of a midnight lake. Famous for bringing posthumous fame to the songwriter after it was skilfully deployed in an American TV ad, the title song exemplifies the sparse beauty of Drake’s final album. […]
30 GENTLE GIANT — OCTOPUS There’s no doubt that some progressive bands (or albums) require effort to get into. England’s Gentle Giant are one of those. With scintillating playing, complex compositional structures (featuring changes of time, key, and instrumentation) and melody lines that puzzle on first acquaintance, this is not a band that gives up […]
35 CHICAGO — LIVE IN JAPAN Coming out the year after their epic four LP set Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall, this is a far superior document of the brass-driven outfit in concert. The playing is energetic and powerful while the recording is much, much better than the tinny sound of the 1971 release. The […]
40 PINK FLOYD — OBSCURED BY CLOUDS Falling between Meddle (1971) and Dark Side Of The Moon (1973), Pink Floyd’s soundtrack music for the Barbet Schroeder film La Vallée tends to be only ever mentioned in passing. Showing their more straight ahead rock side and capacity for focus, Obscured By Clouds is an excellent, understated record […]
As a warm-up to a possible resumption of play in the 72 FROM ’72 countdown, here is a summary of the posts and albums so far. GREEN AND SUBMARINE kicked things off in mid-January. Summer Downunder is a time for thinking about beaches and oceans and spinning one of my favourite film soundtracks ever. It […]
When Paul McCartney released his first post-Beatles album in 1970, he was about to turn twenty-eight years old. The self-titled debut came out half a year after Abbey Road and a month before the Beatles swan song, Let It Be. Since then, McCartney has given us a slew of live recordings and seventeen studio albums, […]
It is difficult to imagine a world without John’s song “Imagine”. From the time it appeared on the album of the same name in September 1971—and then as a single a month later—it has become an anthem and a lullaby, a protest and a non-religious prayer, a campfire sing-along and a manifesto for dreamers. It […]
RSD 2022 saw a welcome re-issue of power pop legend Nick Lowe’s first solo album, originally released in 1978. Filled with catchy songs evoking all the bands you would hope for—Beatles, Badfinger, Kinks—it is infectiously entertaining and great fun. But why is it called Wireless World? And why does the hype sticker mysteriously refer to it […]
At first glance, it looks fairly straightforward. After conquering the earth with Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd were shadowed by understandable anxiety regarding their follow-up album. Eventually, they found inspiration in the things they knew. Their own history An industry slavering at the door, demanding to be fed. The result was an album […]
8.5 hours duration, a full night’s repose. 31 sections explore variations on five themes. Scored for piano, cello, viola, violin, organ, voice (soprano), synthesisers and electronics. The opus took years to complete; during its creation the composer consulted a neuroscientist. It has been performed live in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London, and the Sydney Opera House. […]
I generally don’t last long in Facebook groups. Someone will say something offensive and/or ignorant I’ll hurriedly hit “Leave Group”. Sometimes, which is far worse, I’ll respond/react only to then see the thing collapse into a foetid swamp as my stomach sinks at roughly the same rate. And that’s just the music groups. Nevertheless, one […]
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