This week’s aural stimulants:

Paul Weller ‘Will Of The People’ - Weller’s given his fans a real seasonal treat with this box of rarities, featuring outtakes of consistently high invention alongside revelatory remixes;
John Martyn ‘Grace And Danger’ - the album that should have made Martyn a star: radio friendly with just enough edge to appeal to his long term fanbase. Sadly - or perhaps thankfully - it didn’t;
Jimi Hendrix ‘Band Of Gypsys’ - far funkier than the Experience, I often wonder how this combo would have developed had Hendrix lived longer. This is one of the most blistering live albums in the entire rock canon and, to my ears at least, the finest album released in the man’s lifetime;
Aztec Camera ‘Stray’ - where Roddy went rocky. He’d made - and was still to make - much better records;
The Smile ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’ - another year with no new Radiohead album is partially rescued by this. In fact, had it been released under the R name I think I’d have been none the wiser, and I mean that as a compliment to its creators;
Anti-Pasti ‘Four Sore Points’ EP - I’m increasingly of the opinion that punk’s second wave was at least as radical as its first. Imagine grunge without this. Raw as owt;
Brian Eno ‘Foreverandevernomore’ - not bowled over on first hearing, though to be honest I’ve always struggled with Eno’s nasal voice, maturer though it sounds now. I’ll need more time with this;
Marillion ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’ - although there’s still a bit of December left, this is odds-on favourite to be my album of 2022;
Peter Hammill ‘Fool’s Mate’ - some of Hammill’s early songs sound a bit twee compared with what was to follow, but his ability to write catchy tunes might surprise those only familiar with his VdGG excesses. I really enjoyed hearing this again after several years;
Gong ‘Camembert Electrique’ - one of those records that seems to yield new delights every time I hear it and, in my case, that’s hundreds of times, having first purchased it in 1974 for 59p. The latest Charly remaster (at a somewhat higher price) brings its weird joys into pure daylight;
John Illsley ‘VIII’ - Illsley’s albums sound more like (make that JUST like) Dire Straits these days but, being a fan (yeah, I know), I’m not complaining;
Barre Phillips & Gyorgy Kurtag Jr ‘Face a Face’ - short but sweet collection of abstract, double bass-treated atmospherics; one of those records that, as Julian says about ‘Zeit’, becomes the room it’s being played in;
Bernstein: West Side Story (Bernstein) - using opera singers in principal roles makes this sound a little arty-farty in places, but having the composer himself on the rostrum more than compensates, and the ensemble players rock;
Mahler: Symphony no.9 (VPO/Rattle) - Rattle’s first recording of this sublime work only really comes to life in the third movement. After that it’s first rate, the finale’s coda gossamer still;
Beethoven: Symphony no.6 (Cologne CO/Mueller-Bruehl) - satisfying, straight down the middle interpretation from a cheapo Naxos download;
Wagner: Siegfried Idyll/Haydn: Symphony no.93/Ravel: Daphis et Chloe Suite no.2/Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture/Brahms: Symphony no.3 (all cond. Guido Cantelli) - despite being mostly mono, the clarity and precision of these masterly readings is quite astonishing. Cantelli’s tragic early death in 1956 robbed us of a supreme talent almost comparable to that of his mentor Toscanini;
Haydn: String Quartet in G minor, Op.20 no.3 (Salomon Quartet) - featuring a slow movement as poignant as anything the composer wrote in later life, this is one of Haydn’s earliest chamber masterpieces. Period strings add real bite to this reading;
Schubert: Piano Sonatas in D, D 664 & D 850 (Alfred Brendel) - “engrossing” is the word here, for both the music and the playing.

The angels of this world are not on the walls of churches.

Dib dib

Dave x

Bridget St John - Ask Me No Questions

John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

Windy & Carl - Portal
Windy & Carl - Drawing Of Sound
Windy & Carl - Antarctica
Windy & Carl - Depths

Bee Gees - Odessa

Pet Shop Boys - Very
Pet Shop Boys - Relentless

The Human League - Reproduction
The Human League - Travelogue
The Human League - Dare
The Human League - Fascination

Low - Ones & Sixes
Low - Double Negative
Low - Hey What

Stina Nordenstam - Dynamite
Stina Nordenstam - People Are Strange

Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Scott Walker & Sunn O))) - Soused

Cardiacs - Sing To God

The Beach Boys - Sunflower

Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones

Boards Of Canada - The Campfire Headphase / Tomorrow's Harvest

Kate Bush - The Dreaming / Hounds Of Love

Can - Monster Movie / Delay 1968 / Soundtracks / Cannabilism III

Cocteau Twins - EPs: Peppermint Pig / Sunburst & Snowblind / Tiny Dynamine / Echoes In A Shallow Bay

Miles Davis - Agharta / Pangaea

Gong (& related) - Gong Est Mort ... Vive Gong / Gongmaison / Shapeshifter / She Made The World Magenta (Mother Gong) / Electric Shiatsu (Goddess T) / I Am Your Egg (Gilli Smith, Daevid Allen & Orlando Allen)

Peter Hammill - The Future Now / pH7 / A Black Box

Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia / Deluxe / Documents 1975

Kraftwerk - S/t / Autobahn

La Dusseldorf - S/t / Viva / La Individuellos

The Last Poets - This Is Madness

My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything / Loveless / mbv

The Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band - Flowers Never Cry

Bill Nelson - Sound-on-Sound (Red Noise) / After The Satellite Sings

Shelleyan Orphan - Helleborine

Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies / Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space bonus cds SP50 & SP60 / Royal Albert Hall

Nana Vasconcelos - Contaminacao

V/A - Come & Get It: The Best Of Apple Records

Blyth Power - Alnwick & Tyne. The jolliest voice from the anarcho punk scene

Blyth Power - The Guns Of Castle Cary

Joolz - Hex

Fun Boy Three / The Colourfield – The Singles

HGich.T - a good old catch up on these entertaining Germans' latest few videos. Favourite from this lot:
'teddy lebt 2'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugCx4j9RNk : D
and 'Geistig am Start'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj8dqzfGUTw

Robert Wyatt - EPs

COB - Moyshe McStiff And The Tartan Lancers Of The Sacred Heart

Sergey Kuryokhin - Sparrow Oratorium

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - The Best Years Of Our Lives

The Ilk - The Old Straight Track. Another fantastic offering by someone from around these parts. As someone who struggles to be patient enough to have even a thirty second intro, I love the long build ups characteristic of The Ilk's works. Reminiscent of his Brigg Fair, the title track features such a build up. With tones and colours which suit me very nicely, I even saw a giant Professor Quatermass (his face, at least) amongst the visions in the sky ;-) And hats off to the collaborating musicians...
https://theilk1.bandcamp.com/releases

Ramones- Road To Ruin
Pat Benatar- In The Heat Of The Night
Medicine Head- Best of
Byrds, Steppenwolf etc. - Candy OST
Bowie, Kinks, Sandie Shaw etc. - Anthology of British Rock
MAP 71- Blood Fruit

Miles Davis- Kind Of Blue
Miles Davis- Sketches of Spain
Ornette Coleman- Tomorrow Is The Question
Ornette Coleman- The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Charles Mingus- Mingus Ah Um