Tag Archives: Record Collecting

THE DAY THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT DIED

Walking down the corridor between the Counselling Service and Student Housing it was not uncommon to encounter a colleague. Greetings were exchanged and sometimes a brief chat ensued, before each continued on their journey. Over time you got to know each other a little better, making life easier when it came to the end-of-year lunch. […]

ALBUM COVERS | PG+

Peter Gabriel. PG. Left Genesis after The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, telling his bandmates of his decision during the extensive tour for that album. Spent a couple of years largely out of the spotlight, before releasing his first solo album, Peter Gabriel, in 1977. The album cover was created by Hipgnosis. Just over a […]

FEEDBACK

“Most of you won’t like this, and I don’t blame you at all” – Lou Reed, cover notes to Metal Machine Music, released July 1975 “An appalling rip-off” – Critic William Howard in the Boston Globe, 1975 “Worst album by a human being” – Rolling Stone 1975 end-of-year poll “Anybody who got off on The […]

DAVID, STEPHEN AND GRAHAM

On 28th June 1969 the self-titled album by Crosby, Stills & Nash entered the US charts. It reached #6 and stayed around for an impressive 100 weeks. Two singles were released—Nash’s jaunty ‘Marrakesh Express’ and Stills’ extended ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’—both reaching the Top 30. So much for the data. What makes this album so […]

LISTENING ROOM

I’ve been dabbling in Bluesky (as mentioned previously). Thought it would be fun to share a selection of recent posts as they give an insight into what my ears have been seduced by in the listening room. As always, love to hear responses to any of these. * When some Matthew Sweet vinyl re-issues appeared […]

UP ON THE ROOF

Despite rock and roll having been around for half-a-dozen decades, inter-generational collaborations have been far from common. Sure, a young gun will be invited onto the stage at a celebration for some venerable rocker, or an odd couple (say, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett) will put out an LP, but generally the invisible borders between […]

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE | PART ONE

Scrolling Bluesky in search of vinyl thrills, a post caught my eye. It was a book, its rectangular profile standing out amongst square LP covers and rotating records. Nothing flashy about the cover, but an instant spark of interest in the name: Fountains of Wayne. Such a hip little band, one that should have been […]

ALBUMS COVERS | WOMEN IN MUSIC

As mentioned previously, I’ve been transitioning from IG to Bluesky. A March “Vinyl Challenge” caught my eye. Using the grammatically clunky (but instructive) hashtag #31GreatWomenMusicians, the idea is to post one artist a day for the month. It has been such fun delving into the Vinyl Connection Collection that I thought I’d share a few, […]

GOOD LUCK

Rock behemoths Pink Floyd cast a long shadow across popular music, from the 60s to the 80s and beyond. Perhaps that is why Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has produced just five studio albums in a six decade career; the band that bought him fame, fortune and friction has tended to dominate his creative life. Luck […]

BOB BRINGS IT BACK

A few days ago we escaped a summer scorcher by retreating to the coolth of an air-conditioned cinema. The film was James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, the newly released biopic of the early career of Bob Dylan. Featuring a riveting performance by Timothée Chalamet, the film tracks Dylan’s career from his arrival in New York […]

ALBUM COVERS | BLUESKY MINE

With the madness coursing through America’s veins, I’ve become increasingly unwilling to have any intersection between President Pumpkin’s oligarchs and my life. So, like a couple of other friends, I am transitioning from IG to Bluesky for posting records. Do I think the dead fish tech bosses will notice? Of course not. But tens of […]

KID REMEMBERS

Sonically daring and lyrically challenging, Radiohead’s follow-up to the hugely successful OK Computer was the result of much suffering. Thom Yorke endured a psycho-emotional crisis during the extensive world tour following OK Computer’s success while the whole band agonised about their ‘direction’. Yet somehow they managed to both renew their sound and create an album […]