Cult – Love whilst most people would find 4cds to be spreading the Love pretty thinly I can’t find a wasted note here, looking forward to the Electric box
Yardbirds – On Air , and an old vinyl best of double in green & clear vinyl, spent the w/e finding the seemingly simple Train Kept A Rollin riff is in fact a bit of a tricky bugger
Black Tempest – Ex Proxima, Proxima best cds of the year made in a bedroom in suburbia, one of the many problems facing the music industry is all the top stuff is being made without them. As suggested elsewhere the ideal way to play these is back to back, Ex Proxima is a stunning mix of Blade Runner soundtrack meets kraut drone, even the now infamous free jazz section makes perfect sense, it fits perfectly as if you were walking down a street took a short cut through an indoor market and then back onto the street again, nice one squid, my only worry is have you got any ideas left for the 3rd instalment?
A R Rahman – A retrospective purchased on a whim after hearing a doc on Radio4, probably should have done a bit more research, as 3cds covers everything including a great deal of sub continental pop floss and a fair few sting sound-alike amongst it must be said a fair few gems, I really cannot see it appealing to anyone here unless someone has a secret urge to hear an Indian Lloyd –Webber, it’s bit like a collection of all those tunes you get at the end of films thrown together, having said that CD2 track 9 is already on my i-pod and has been played to death, and the Miley Cyrus sings Dead Can Dance track is probably the most outlandish thing I have heard this year
Bowie – Low
MC5 – High Times
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure how can any resist the line ‘Bungalow Ranch Style’ or for that matter a love song to a rubber doll , Bryan may have been a bit short of puff on Jonathan Ross but the line ‘My breath is inside you’ still attracts & disgusts every time
Sam Gopal – Escalator really should get the full facts on this but from what I can gather Lemmy was hired as a session player and then made his own album with a bit of help from Mr Gopal, a lost gem
Mad Season – Above grungeblues, I suspect most of you should avoid this, over wrought Pearl Jam? I like it though
Soundgarden – Bad Motor Finger BIGROCK, still enjoy this as it is at core total Sabbath worship
Isobel Campbell & Marl Lanegan – Ballad Of The Broken Sea was Ms Campbell in the vile Belle & Sebastian? If so Mark Lanegan should be applauded for rescuing her from twee indiedom and given a pat on the back
Patti Smith – Radio Ethiopia a classic, but the remaster has a pointless extra track on the end that whist not ruining it kinda buggers up the end which is a shame
Warrior Soul – Drugs God & The New Republic top quality hair metal [yes such a thing exists] also contains Joy Division fan baiting cover of Interzone.
Stargazers Assistant – The Otherside Of The Island nice bit of darkly ambient noodling, not sure what is on the otherside of the island but I expect it would fuck you & eat you, but not necessarily in that order
Wire – On Returning best of the first 3 LPs, and pretty stunning
