There are no words to describe the wonder within.
2. Atmos - A Winged Victory for the Sullen (2014).
3. Voice - Capability Brown (1974).
Skip side one which is standard fare, it's side two which is
interesting, one track, 20 minutes and 43 seconds of Circumstances (In
Love, Past, Present, Future Meet). Available on Spotify.
4. Advance Base Battery Life - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (2009).
A collection of three years of singles, EPs etc released just before the
"new" album. I had other versions of many of these songs before this
was released, so they were very familiar and much loved. Worth checking
out Owen's Australian live set (Bandcamp) I prefer the version of White Corolla on there, for example.
5. Live - Modern Lovers (1972).
I saw them live at this time (I think some of the London recordings were
included here). At first the crowd were arsy, well they wanted
Roadrunner and Jonathan said there was no way they were playing any of
that stuff, happy songs only; there was a bad atmosphere. But because
Jonathan is charming and his humour infectious he soon brought everyone
round for a truly memorable experience. Listen to Ice Cream Man, you'll
get the idea.
6. Extrapolation - John McLaughlin (1969).
Some of the best guitar playing you'll ever hear.
7. Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint - The Kronos Quartet / Pat Metheny (1989). Composed by Steve Reich.
Purportedly, during World War II, Reich made train journeys between New
York and Los Angeles to visit his parents, who had separated. Years
later, he pondered the fact that, as a Jew, had he been in Europe
instead of the United States at that time, he might have been travelling
on different trains.
8. Live from the Wetlands Preserve, NY, Nov 7th 1992 - Country Joe McDonald.
I've only come across this recently but it fully deserves a place in my 104.
9. Diamond Mine - King Creosote and Jon Hopkins (2011).
This was nominated for a Mercury Prize so is a quite well known album.
That Might Well Be It Darling is a more typical solo work (and may
feature later in this list) and Kenny's soundtrack to the film From
Scotland With Love is well worth checking out, ideally with the visuals.
I saw him play solo recently, he was a bit grumpy (Louise wasn't
impressed), but I enjoyed the gig hugely.
10. Elegy - The Nice (1971).
The original fusion album? Keith Emerson at his extraordinary best. A
significant influence on my future musical tastes. And that is a
glorious album sleeve.
I think I heard Short Sharp Shocked first and that, maybe, will turn up
later in this list. Originally recorded on a portable tape recorder,
this album is less obviously political than Short Sharp Shocked. I
originally owned it on cassette tape. Subsequently released as an
original and a reworked "properly" recorded record. Difficult to get
hold of these days, try Discogs, and apparently not available on Spotify
(although the web version claims it is), worth the effort for sure.
16. Bleeds - Roots Manuva (2015).
12. Have Moicy - Michael Hurley The UnHoly Modal Rounders Jefferey Fredericks & The Clamtones (1976).
Country Music can be wonderfully bonkers at times and this may be the
greatest example ever. Wonderful tunes, marvellous playing and entirely
unhinged, love it. (Yes you can find it on Spotify.)
13. What Up Dog? - Was (Not Was) (1988).
There are well known songs on this album, hits even, but it deserves a
place here for it's cranky edge. Most of the songs can be found online
but if you want the album it's a Discogs visit.
14. The Colorblind James Experience - The Colorblind James Experience (1987).
No "hits" on this one, I don't understand that "A Different Bob" and
"Fledgling Circus" are clearly Top of the Pops material. I saw them
once, at The Adelphi in Hull. I have a feeling that was the night TC got
clobbered in the mosh pit, but I might have just made that up.
15. It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through - Jeffrey Lewis with Jack Lewis and Anders Griffen (2003).
If you linger at the end of the gig you'll end up with Jeff and the band sleeping on your living room floor...
A man with an interesting turn of phrase and a tendancy to include
surprising foods in his songs (cheese on toast, Witness (I Hope). Yes, I
know some songs are really quite popular, the afore mentioned Witness,
and songs like Fighting For are pretty mainstream, but in my mind Rodney
Smith's output is well worthy of a Freak Zone mention, and anyway I
like what he does, a lot.
17. Arab Strap - Arab Strap (2016).
A compilation from 2016 is cheating really but that's the album I first
came across so it's the one that ends up on the list. Very Scots, very
brilliant.
18. Patrol - Steve Martland (1994).
The second "classical" album in the list, but it's just music. It sits
somewhere between classical and jazz, maybe, jazz without the
improvisation. It has the feeling of being tightly composed and played,
it is music full of emotion. When I dug it out this evening and put it
in the CD player, having spent the previous hours listening to (mostly)
Captain Beefheart, and not having listened to it for a long time, I was
reminded of just how powerful this unique, tight sound is. Steve died,
unexpectedly in 2013 at the age of 58. This album is available to buy
(but not to stream), treat yourself.
21. We're New Here - Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx (2011).
19. Arkology - Lee Scratch Perry (1997).
This huge compilation covers the period of The Black Ark studios in
Kingston, Jamaica during the 70s. It was a period which ended when, it
is said that, Perry burnt his studio down. Whether that is true, or it
was destroyed by others is unclear but certainly, at the time, Perry was
a troubled man. Is this the best dub sound you will ever hear,
probably. The production is exemplorary, play it loud and the bass will
shake the foundations of the Earth.
20. Fiere - Twelfth Day (2012).
This beautiful album was Twelfth Day's third (not the first as listed by
Discogs). On this album Catriona Price (fiddle and vocals) and Esther
Swift (harp and vocals) are joined by Joy Dunlop (vocals). Fiere means
friend or companion in translation. The album is a collection of poems
by female Scots poets put to music, some are sung in Gaelic, some in
Scots and some in English. Catriona used to live just up the road (well,
up the track and along the road) from us here in Orkney (where Gaelic
is not spoken), the local language is called Orcadian (and you'll be
coming across that later in this list if you persevere). The band toured
this album with Joy Dunlop (who these days reads the weather on BBC
Scotland amongst other presenting roles) and we enjoyed a live
performance along the way in the Sandwick Hall around this time. The new
album Face to Face (2019) is well worth exploring, very different and equally as deserving of a place in this list.
I've been listening to Gil Scott-Heron for a long time, and very much
like the xx but the re-imagining of Gil Scott-Heron's 2010 album I'm New
Here by Jamie Smith seemed unlikely to work. It does work and
brilliantly and is one of my favourite things on this list. Sadly Gil
died shortly after the release of this album when he was perhaps poised
to begin another creative phase of music making.
22. Vini Reilly - The Durutti Column (1989).
Very difficult to choose which Durutti Column album to include in this
list, this is probably my favourite, but tomorrow it might not be.
Confusingly the album is named after the musician who is The Durutti
Column. An immediately identifiable guitar sound is a characteristic of
all Vini's work but there are some surprises here.
23. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass (2015).
You are kidding, Freak Zone? Because, this is a truly extraordinary
record, a bunch of love songs (or love-lost songs) underpinned by
Spacebomb's huge house band and brilliant arrangement and production by
Matthew E White and Trey Pollard. At times it sounds like 1940s film
music, at others Phil Spector's "wall of sound" comes to mind. One of my
top ten albums ever? Quite possibly.
24. Spirit of 76 - Spirit (1976).
I bought this shortly after it was released based on Max Bell's NME
review. I was not disappointed. IMHO there are three great Dylan covers
and two of them are on this album with Like a Rolling Stone being my
favourite. Just rebought the album, 2nd hand CD (I sold all my vinyl a
long while back, and I don't think this is available to stream). I
haven't heard it in a very long time, I'd almost forgotten the general
hippy wackiness of it all. There is religous mysticism, there's fuzzy
guitar and whispered vocals, odd sounds interjecting, a game of
ping-pong, reverb aplenty and a simple brilliance. As Alan Robinson says
in the 2003 sleeve notes of the edition I now own, "Truly, a thing of
beauty is a joy forever."
31. Awake, But Always Dreaming - Hannah Peel (2011).
33. Debris - Keeley Forsyth (2019).
34. In the Court of the Crimson King (an observation by King Crimson) - King Crimson (1969).
36. Fibs - Anna Meredith (2019).
37. Dandruff - Ivor Cutler (1974).
25. The Four Seasons Recomposed -
Conducted by André de Ridder, performed by Daniel Hope and the
Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Max Richter / Vivaldi - composers
(2012).
So here is an especially nuts thing to do. Take an iconic piece of
music, a piece that is embedded in the soul of European culture. Next,
throw three quarters of it away, mix what remains up with all sorts of
modern influences, glue the thing back together, find a conductor and an
orchestra prepared and able to play it, press record. I'm not sure why
or how but what came out of the process certainly an achievement,
whether you like it or not perhaps depends on your attitude to messing
with what in theory is unmessablewith. There is a full version live on Vimeo which I like very much.
26. Ummagumma - Pink Floyd (1969).
Syd had left, Dave Gilmour replaced him, the first album for the Harvest
label and the band start to stretch out. A double album with the first
LP live, four songs, and believe me these were the business live (yes,
I'm that old). Part two is a studio album, it is quirky and eccentric
but contains the gem of Granchester Meadows as well as stuff that is, to
be honest, barely listenable. Nevertheless, everyone needs a song
called, Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict.
27. Slapp Happy (also called Casablanca Moon) - Slapp Happy (1974).
The earworm of my life, song 5. "Dawn" -
Dawn he's in a postcard of the dawn
Where the knives of light
Have left the dark night tattered & torn.....
Where the knives of light
Have left the dark night tattered & torn.....
Faust were the backing band. Unfortunately, I no longer have the
original but have a CD with Desperate Straights a later album made with
Henry Cow. I do dislike this fad of adding extra tracks or merging
albums together with re-releases, but better than nowt. Mention of Faust
and Henry Cow might lead you to expect avant garde difficult music, but
no these are snappy tunes, a tad eccentric with interesting
arrangements agreed, but definite hit material in my alternative musical
universe.
28. HQ - Roy Harper (1975).
Trembling Bells for the 70s, folk songs given the heavy treatment, well
side one is like that. Things change as you progress, until, at the very
end, there is a song that almost defines a certain Englishness,
nostalgic for something that, perhaps, never actually existed, brass
band included.
29. Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis (1960).
Frances had been to Spain and been
captivated by flamenco. She dragged an unwilling Miles to a flamenco
performance and the next day he was buying every flamenco and Spanish
influenced album he could find. Presumably amongst them was Jaoquin
Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. In contrast to Steve Martland's Patrol
(well, actually Danceworks) which is classical music using jazz this is
jazz using classical, as if that matters, but I like the symmetry.
30. I Grow Tired But I Dare Not Fall Asleep - Ghostpoet (2020).
From the earliest release in the list to the latest in one small step, May this year and
Obaro Ejimiwe releases this album that has quickly become a favourite. Concrete Pony.
The difficult decision was which Hannah Peel album, and Chalk Hill Blue
was always a possibility but this is the most varied, beginning with
another top of my pops entry but gradually becoming something very
different. And anyway I had to have two albums with titles relating to
sleep next to each other. Chalk Hill Blue.
32. The Heavy Steps of Dreaming - Minor Pieces (2019).
Or even three. From Vancouver come Minor
Pieces a new project for Ian William Craig, who may feature again in
this list, known for composing with operatic voices and low-fi
electronica. This is easier listening but still features voice,
electronics and broken tape decks. On this album Ian is working with
Missy Donaldson and the tracks have a more traditional format.The Heavy Steps of Dreaming.
No relation, to my knowledge anyway. Start
Again would be in my chart topping collection and is easily the most
accessible track, but this is an altogether lovely album. DEBRIS.
It
astonishes me that this record was released nearly fifty-one years ago
now and when I put on side one it still sounds as fresh and radical as
it did all that time ago, prophetic perhaps as well. Greg Lake's voice
works so well, especially on Wind, and then there is that flute... But
suddenly it is Epitaph and "I fear tomorrow I'll be crying..." One of my
favourite album sleeves ever.
35. ..........for the ghosts within - Wyatt / Atzmon / Stephen (2010).
Arguably I
shouldn't include this album as Gilad Atzmon is widely considered to be
an anti-semite, Hope Not Hate (an organisation I support) have written
about him in those terms. However, he is Jewish and served in the
Israeli army before retreating to the UK to live. That does not excuse
some of the things he may have said recently, nor some of the
intellectual (?) company that he keeps; many Palestinian supporting
organisations now consider him personna non grata. I saw Gilad play live
in about 2007 at the Whitby world music festival and have this memory
of him wandering over to a stall buying an Irish whistle and then a few
minutes later incorporating it into the set. He is one of the great
soprano sax players. (Advice Atzmon, play the saxophone and STFU.) And
this album is not all Atzmon, Ros Stephen's musicianship and
arrangements create depth and complexity and Robert Wyatt's so
distinctive voice is centre-stage. The album closes, perhaps ironically,
with What a Wonderful World. This is the first album in this list to
feature whistling (Robert Wyatt) so that will keep John Peel's ghost
quiet.The film about the making of this album can be found here: The Muse Within.
In Hannah Peel territory perhaps. Mercury Prize contender. Interestingly orchestral.
Where would I be without the various editions of Life in a Scotch Sitting Room? And of course I Love Bugs.
38. I, Gemini - Let's Eat, Grandma (2016).
I have a
personal connection to this band as I've known Rosa's dad since we were
teenagers, a connection that was renewed when I studied and lived in
Norwich for a time in the late eighties, and coincidentally went to
college with her mum. This is the first album, released when Rosa was
17, I think. I can hear many of the musical influences that my
generation grew up with, and passed on. The album makes the list
entirely on its own merits. Their's was my favourite set at Latitude
last year, the only band I've watched where the band members lie on the
floor mid song (drummer excepted). Deep Six Textbook is probably my
favourite song, Eat Shiitake Mushrooms is a hit in my parallel musical
universe. LET'S EAT GRANDMA.
39. I'm New Here - Gil Scott-Heron (2010).
A second appearance in the list for Gil, this the original album. Listen.
Stephen
Black is a Welsh song writer and multi-instrumentalist, well that's what
his biog says. All I can say is that this collection of quirky love
songs is a great favourite, put it on in the car and bounce along to
your destination. Sweet Baboo.
I discovered
Mike Vass through attending a live performance during the Orkney Folk
Festival at the Birsay Hall. So I bought this quite remarkable album
which is now in my list of favourite albums ever. Mike was in hospital
recovering from Lyme's Disease (something you can catch from tick
bites). He began reading Neil Gunn's "Off in a Boat", the story of a
civil servant, who became one of Scotland's most acclaimed writers, who
sold up, bought a wreck of a yacht and with his partner sailed around
Scotland. Mike was taken by the story and composed and made this album.
Where Miles Davies brought jazz to classical Mike does something similar
with folk. Like most of my favourite folk albums there's a fair bit
electronic interference, the overall effect though is to capture the
essence of our coast, our islands, our seas. Find out more
There used to be a website about the album, but it has gone, however, a bit more info here.
Formally of
The Verve, Gawain Erland Cooper is an Orcadian who now makes music
inspired by his roots in Orkney. This is the first of a trilogy of
albums which has just been completed with Hether Blether. Within you can
hear the earlier promised Orcadian language. Here's an excellent piece
of film to go with the title track, explore more.... Solan Goose.
43. Midnight and Closedown - Lau (2019).
From
Shetland, but I won't hold that against them. Music that makes a
powerful emotional connection. Lau performed in the St Magnus Cathedral,
Kirkwall in May 2019, an Orkney Folk Festival event. We'd somehow
forgotten to get tickets and squeezed in by the skin of our teeth,
terrble seats, couldn't really see, (the cathedral has huge pillars all
over the place holding the roof up, so required), except for the 10% of
the gig when the band stepped forward and played at the front of the
stage, then we had the best seats. Also memorable for their huge
electronic box of tricks, which was coaxed and cajoled throughout. https://www.lau-music.co.uk/
44. Disco Jazz - Rupa (1982).
Reputedly
made whilst she was on a family holiday to Canada this became a cult
classic and copies changed hands for considerable sums, can now be found
on Spotify.
45. Woodstock, music from the original soundtrack and more - Various Artists (1970).
I used to
listen to this a lot when I was at school, but never owned a copy
(despite what is written on the cover above). Amongst the stage
annoucements and the general mayhem there is some great music.
46. Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest - Bill Callahan (2019).
The
difficult umpteenth album, including those recorded as Smog. Similar, to
what has gone before but sparsely rendered. Lyrically, always
interesting, puzzling and beguiling. Themes are wildlife, horses and
farming, building things (usually from wood), flying and love. Bill is
one of my favourite artists and this album is no disappointment, explore
the latest and the back catalogue -
47. Phaedra Tangerine Dream (1974).
One of the
most memoral gigs from my time in Liverpool when I was working as a
student microbiologist based in a margarine factory on the docks.
Liverpool Stadium was the venue. I could have chosen the live album
Rubicon but I still play this quite regularly, something that has
endured a life time.
48. Future Days - Can (1973).
I no longer
have a physical copy of this album and I had to listen again to recall
anything much about it. Included because it is something I once owned
and it is included in Stuart McConie's Freak Zone list. A German trio of
records (Spotify).
It
cost 69p, at the time I think albums generally cost around £3, I'll
have to look that up. Being into this kind of thing I snapped it up. A
very early Virgin Records release and a bit of a gimmick. I still have
one or two of the tunes floating around my head. £10.69 to buy it on
Amazon now (CD) and not available to stream as a whole (parts available
on Amazon as a download). A second appearance for Faust in this list and
deservedly so.
It
had to be something special for No. 50 and this is a very special
album. I'm listening as I type. 1982, the year the album was recorded,
Reagan and Thatcher were in power, Brezhnev died in office. Argentina
invaded the Falklands and set up Thatcher's assault on working class
institutions. The Left under seige. The year Thriller was released and
Dutch Elm disease did for 20 million Elms in the UK. And what of the
music? Influenced by the Spanish Civil War and struggles against the
right in Central and South America the album follows the first LMO album
from 1969, and has a strong Spanish feel and tone, Don Cherry's trumpet
playing and the brass arrangements accentuating those emotive settings
for anyone on the Left at the time. Powerful stuff that sounds as
radical and relevant today as it was 37 years ago. Visit Carla Bley's
label website - interesting.
51. Pain Olympics - Crack Cloud (2020).
A
collective, a band with shifting and changing personnel. From Vancouver
and involved in various ways with drug addiction, poverty, art, mental
health recovery. Challenging and inspiring music.
This
is an album I've listened to regularly since it was released, thirty
seven years ago (and is playing now). Samples of bird song, a creaking
gate (indeed the one to the garden itself) and a donkey (called Lilac)
all combine with a certain beautiful simplicity of piano, voice, wind
instruments and some electronics. Chaffinch and Robin to begin with,
dawn; to Tawny Owl at dusk. For me it stirs the nostalgia of my Sussex
teenage years, hot afternoons, ennui that was in some strange way
pleasurable. Themes of dreaming revisited. More like classical and
ambient than folk music. Sadly to listen is expensive, as the album is
no longer available, although occasionally some kind person may place it
on Youtube.
Two
recordings of the same Bach pieces, one made in the year of my birth,
the other a few months before the artist's death, and a third CD of
interview. The 1955 recording is the work that made Glenn famous, oddly
(and thankfully) his humming and sub-vocalisations are included, not
edited away. 1981 and he completes his life with a recording often
considered to be amongst his best. Four months later he was gone.
One
of the first albums I was really aware of that had been made in a
bedroom just using electronica and recorded (purportedly) on a casette
deck damaged by a cat. I used to use it frequently in my work, not sure
if my students enjoyed it but it certainly helped me. A thing of its
time for sure, groundbreaking and referencing some albums listed above
from a yet earlier age.
Chaotic superstar album. It's really rather good.
The
Sunday Times album of the year and as the reviewer wrote at the time,
from the sticker on my copy "It's beautifully simple and simply
beautiful."
I've
had a few copies of this record, it is amongst my favourites of all
time but I had to hum and ha about including it here. (And of humming,
the singing is the only weakness, but there's not a lot of it anyway.)
It is so familiar that I find it hard to work out whether it is unusual
music or mainstream. This is a guitar album driven by percussion and the
playing is extraordinary. It is also the beginning, musically, of a
journey travelled spiritually by Carlos Santana. Everytime I listen this
music stirs the soul, beginning with cicadas in the dawn, ending with
Every Step of the Way's guitar motif and driving drums into the night.
"The
bugger in the short sleeves fucked my wife, did it quick and split."
The opening lyric from Guts, a murderous song. The album includes a
tribute to the Beach Boys, Mr Wilson; and an extraordinary cover of
Heartbreak Hotel; followed by the oddly upbeat Ski Patrol and a Rungdren
like torch song I'm Not the Loving Kind. Eno, Phil Manzanera and Andy
Mackay (ie. most of Roxy Music) form a significant part of the band. And
in the end, in the end, in the end, in the end, in the end, in the end;
The Jeweller.
Two in a row by the same artist, I believe I stated I wouldn't do that, but fuck it, it's John Cale.
I've
liked Ryuchi's music for some time but I might have bought this for the
cover and case originally. I couldn't find this version of the
packaging on Discogs so I had to take my own photo. Be aware, this isn't
Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence....
61. More Arriving - Sarathy Korwar (2019).
At
least 52% of the UK population will not like this album (indeed perhaps
rather a lot more than that according to the pollsters). Listen to Bol
(and the 9.20 version is the one preferred) you'll get the picture. A
shame, this is powerful, brilliant music.
Click image.
Click words.
Something
by Pete Hammill had to be included and this is the iconic album of its
time, topical too as for me it is an album about "state of mind". A
Plague of Lighthouse Keepers is the track that swims around my brain,
another lifelong earworm. If you've never heard it, shut yourself in a
room, turn the volume up and let it blow your mind, man.
63. Peasant - Richard Dawson (2017).
The
first album of Richard's I bought and listened to, extraordinary is not
an exaggeration. Lyrically astute, musically complex, vocally (the
afore description of) extraordinary. Loved his performance at the
Barbican recently, voice and guitar, that's all.
I
was given a sampler or maybe a pre-release version of this by JMcL at
Musicport, I used to live near Whitby. I think there was supposed to be a
gig but I don't remember it so maybe it was cancelled. Anyway, this
album was released after I'd moved northwards. It is a very English
album, English folk with an electronic twist.
I
have the 2004 release of this album (with this cover). I can't remember
how I came across it, perhaps it was reviewed and re-released. The best
known song, "A dog's life" puts the singer in the being of a dog, a bit
ASD, a bit brilliant.
66. Thembi - Pharoah Sanders (1971).
I'll
be honest, I've only very recently heard Pharoah Sanders, a huge miss
in my musical education. It's only taken forty nine years for me to
catch up. Now I can't stop listening. I've not explored many albums but I
love the opening track here "Astral Travelling" and the following "Red,
Black & Green is appropriately challenging listening. Carlos
Santana was familiar with "Astral Travelling" and chose to honour it in
the opening of Caravanserai (No 57), travelling there through the
influence of Santana drummer Michael Shrieve. Subsequently, Carlos and
Pharoah played together and the resulting music is available on Youtube
but I can't find it elsewhere online, you'll have to buy the LP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjUkN-VnAPw
Angus
Fairbairn under his nom de plume. Works with other artists on this
list, I especially like the first and last tracks on this album. If you
mosy over to Bandcamp you can buy the CD with a live CD bonus. Click the
album cover for the link.
68. Good Soundz for Bad People - Drab City (2020).
Great music, I also like their mixtape on Spotify, check it out. Click the cover for art work and more.
I
used to listen to this and the 80/81 album all the time. And then I
stopped. I probably stopped listening when I got rid of all my vinyl (I
really wish I hadn't done that). I'd forgotten all about Pat Metheny
until Stuart McConie played September Fifteenth (a tribute to Bill
Evans) on his 6 Music show the other Sunday (the Advent Calendar
programme). Subsequently, I've been driving the family mad with it. It
has certainly stood the test of time. September Fifteenth is a good
place to start indeed. Thirty plus years on Pat, and you're back on the
playlist!
 |
| 70. Flood - They Might be Giants (1990). |
I've written about this album previously, here - https://themanydays.blogspot.com/2021/10/martyn-bennett.html but that won't stop me mentioning it again. There is a Scottish bias to this list, why wouldn't there be? Martyn was trying to fuse all sorts of musical ideas, but perhaps especially techno, with traditional Scottish music. It meanders all over the place and belongs securely in The Freak Zone.
Dance music, a huge electronic sound. An imaginary friend grown out of a boy needing an imaginary friend. From Helsinki, Finland. In your kitchen; move your feet, and your body and your mind.
Buy your fix here -
The album, his first, won the 2015 Mercury Prize. But you've all forgotten it now. Listen again, I advise.
Made popular because of the hit single O Superman (for Massenet). I bought the album not the single. Thanks to the 6Music FB group for reminding me of O Superman, and so setting me off exploring this album again. I remember I used to play it a lot, the title track is especially good. There is an interesting review of the 2007 re-release by Pitchfork, here - https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10455-big-science/
This stunning collabaration was listed for the Mercury Prize, deservedly so as it is brilliant. Sam Shepherd with Pharoah Sanders (see 66.) and backed by the LSO have unexpectedly merged their many talents to produce something heart-warming, emotionally charged and musically challenging.
No comments:
Post a Comment