This week’s spins:
Georgie Fame ‘Swan Songs’ - Fame’s last album from 2015 is as fine a record as he’s made throughout his long career: skilful R&B with a touch of humour thrown in;
Julian Cope & The Teardrop Explodes ‘Cold War Psychedelia’ - I must admit to a suspicion of barrel scraping the first time I heard about this. I was wrong. This is a highly entertaining record, for fans anyway;
Simple Minds ‘Live In The City Of Light’ - live summary of the start of the Minds’ artistic decline, with more verve than soul in evidence;
Scritti Politti ‘Cupid & Psyche 85’ - hearing this again for the first time in 35 years was a real mind trip back to my twenties. Even the glitzy 80s production doesn’t mar the joy of these songs - well, not too much anyway. Unlike
The Monkees ‘Pool It’ - where, as Flash noted last week, the dated production really does get in the way. A shame, because there’s a similar feel good vibe running through most of these songs and Dolenz is on particularly good vocal form;
Opeth ‘Pale Communion’ - Opeth’s 2014 album is less heavy than most of its predecessors but still hits hard with a wider range of instrumental colour and melody. Intelligent hard rock is all;
Brian Eno ‘Another Green World’ - a lovely blend of songs and sonorities done as only Eno can. Possibly the coolest ever LP to feature Phil Collins?
Steely Dan ‘Aja’ - proof that you can’t work too hard to make a great record. Technical perfection is hard to achieve: to add warmth as well is even harder. The Dan never made a better album. And I’m struggling to think of anyone else who did;
Deniece Williams ‘This Is Niecy’ - her first album from 1976 is a classy set of songs showing her amazing vocal range;
Charley Pride ‘Back To The Country’ - one of Pride’s last RCA albums, short and sweet if a little dated in its 80s crossover way;
Waylon Jennings ‘Turn The Page’ and ‘Sweet Mother Texas’ - 1985/6 releases by Waylon, still in fine voice but few self-penned songs;
Paul Desmond ‘Glad To Be Unhappy’ - Desmond’s smoky tone captured to perfection on this 1965 LP, also featuring Jim Hall on guitar;
Sun Ra ‘Lanquidity’ - Stuart Maconie’s featured album from last week’s Freakzone is a belter, one of the great Saturnian’s most accessible albums. Newly reissued and ordered without delay by me;
Beethoven: Symphony no.4 (BPO/Herbert von Karajan) - Karajan’s 1977 recording of Beethoven’s most lyrical symphony is less incendiary than his 1962 account but still superb, especially in the Adagio second movement;
Beethoven: Fidelio Overture and Symphony no.3 (LPO/Klaus Tennstedt) - earnest, teutonic readings by a troubled conductor who found fame too late in life. There was so much more to Tennstedt’s art than Mahler;
Beethoven: Symphony no.8 (Concertgebouw/Bernard Haitink) - the earliest of four recorded B8s from Haitink is still his best: vibrant and powerful with attention to the work’s inner detail and humour;
Schumann: Symphony no.3 (VPO/Sir Georg Solti) - well played but nondescript rendering of Schumann’s Rhenish;
Bach: Partita no.3 in A minor (Trevor Pinnock) - how anyone can play this at all, let alone as well as this, amazes me.

Each night I go to bed, I pray like Aretha Franklin.

Sweet vibes to all

Dave x