Playing my old records, hoping that they’ll never stop:

Arcade Fire ‘Funeral’ - a good friend of mine has a theory that even artists you don’t particularly like (or worse) have a right to make one record that cuts through to you. This is one such record for me;

Opeth ‘The Last Will & Testament’ - almost a natural follow up to the aforesaid, conceptually if not musically. HEAVEEE;

The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ - there was a time in my life when I dishonestly claimed this album to be overrated. What bollocks. I now think it beyond ANY criticism, the ever-godawful ‘Sloop John B’ excepted. Hey, even ‘Revolver’ has ‘Yellow Submarine’ to spoil it. At least being at the end, or start, of their respective vinyl sides, they’re easy to skip;

Manic Street Preachers ‘Rewind The Film’ - the title track of which might just be my favourite song of the century;

Paul Weller ‘66’ - Paul’s upcoming release is a covers album, which is a shame. Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure it’ll be a good record. It’s just that his own material has been stronger than ever in recent years, this one in particular;

The Rolling Stones ‘Sticky Fingers’ - the sublime ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ alone makes this a classic. And it hasn’t even the best riff on the album. Anyone who thinks the Stones overrated needs to be force fed with this;

John Foxx ‘Avenham’ - typifying the harmonic quality of Foxx’s instrumental work, this is true mindfulness music;

The Cure ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ - returning to this after a few months off has reinforced its measured greatness. Do I need the new remix album? Will it improve on the original? I doubt it;

Any Trouble ‘Where Are All The Nice Girls?’ - Elvis Costello inspired a whole wave of copycat acts at the turn of the Eighties. This was the best one, and they got better - and more distinctive - later. But their debut remains a gas;

Klaus Schulze ‘Blackdance’ - you can’t go wrong with any of Klaus’ Seventies records, which pretty much define krautrock for me. This was the first I ever heard back in 1974 and remains one of my favourites;

Ian Carr’s Nucleus ‘Solar Plexus’ - somewhat more “composed” than the first two Nucleus albums, but none the worse for that. Must have sounded amazing in 1971;

Maynard Ferguson ‘New Vintage’ - Maynard’s jazz funk phase was critically panned, but I’ve always rather dug its cheesy dexterity. The take on Rimsky Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’ is a gas;

Keith Jarrett ‘New Vienna’ - newly released 2016 solo concert of nine improvised pieces and one standard, varying from the baffling to the sublime. Once past the awkward opening salvo it’s mostly plain sailing. Fans will dig;

Chick Corea, David Holland & Barry Alschul ‘A.R.C.’ - this has the feel of having been composed on the spot, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve played this record regularly since I bought it around 35 years ago, yet every time I hear new things;

Pharoah Sanders ‘Karma’ - a kind of follow up to Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’, part of which is referenced in the half hour epic that is ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’. Goes utter apeshit two thirds in. Invigorating;

Anthony Braxton ‘Charlie Parker Project 1993’ - where free jazz meets bebop. Not as horrendous as that sounds, believe me;

The Jazz Composers Orchestra S/T - a veritable who’s who of the late Sixties’ free jazz scene in composed pieces that sound anything but. In fact, this remains one seriously hard nut to crack and, some 40 years after I first heard it, I still can’t listen to more than a couple of movements at a time. But I wouldn’t be without it;

Sviatoslav Richter ‘The Lost Tapes’ - stunningly individual live takes on four Beethoven sonatas, unheard for sixty years. No one since has sounded like this. Whether or not you agree with Richter’s often exaggerated mannerisms, he compels you to listen;

Liszt: Annees de Pelerinage, Book II (Alfred Brendel) - we lost our finest living pianist this week. Brendel’s vast recorded legacy is our blessing, and for me he never sung more sweetly than in these early Seventies recordings of Liszt. RIP, great man;

Beethoven: Symphony no.4 (BPO/Sir Simon Rattle) - the surprises continue. I had no idea Rattle had it in him to conduct Beethoven as distinctively as this;

Beethoven: Cello Sonata in E flat, Op.64 (Maria Kliegel & Nina Tichman) - an arrangement of Beethoven’s much earlier Op.3 String Trio which I prefer to the original, especially in this happy reading;

Haydn: String Quartets Op.33 nos.4-6 (Chiaroscuro Quartet) - a change of second violinist hasn’t compromised the Chiaroscuros’ precision and musicality in this glorious music. Every day is better after a good Haydn!

Let me hide under the sheets and celebrate the boredom.

Enjoy the sunshine

Dave x