Journey Through The Past : Lloyd Cole and the Commotions : Rattlesnakes

Rattlesnakes was released in NZ in 1984.  It was preceded by the single Forest Fire, the video of which played extensively on TV.

I bought the LP early and find that it is one album from the period that I still play regularly.  It is packed with wry observant songs and was/is simply a tremendous debut album.  I have a few other albums by Cole but none to me have the same consistency.

From the opening Perfect Skin, through Down on Mission St, Charlotte Street, 2CV and Four Flights Up Cole and the band hardly put a foot wrong.

Great stuff!!

I do not know much about Jazz but I like ......... Nina Simone's Nina at Town Hall

I have a few Nina CDs and records including this one At Town Hall. A presumably short extract from a longer show but it certainly gets some great tracks out.

I was originally drawn to it because of her (original) version of Wild Is The Wind a song Bowie made his own on his Station to Station Album. However she makes songs like Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair and Summertime her own as well.

Sublime

Journey Through The Past : Elvis Presley Sun Sessions

I am not a big Elvis Fan.  To me he was a star who burnt brightly and then became dull and even a parody of himself.  I have explored his music a few times, have a few greatest hits and each time I come to  the same conclusion.  That little of what he recorded after returning from the Army was either innovative or particularly interesting.  There were exceptions of course but that is how he engaged with me.

However the album I never tire of, and which captures that burst of innovation and a moment in music history, is this one The Sun Sessions.

Released in 1976 it supposedly collected all the tracks Elvis recorded at Sun together (but was outdone later by the Sunrise Collection  which added a few extra takes and some contemporary live recordings from the Louisiana Hayride.  Whether it be the stuttering That's Alright Mama, Baby Let's Play House, I'm Left You're Right, She's Gone or Mystery Train.

I really enjoyed going to Sun Studios when I was in Memphis, apparently it is unchanged from  when these were recorded in 1955.  Got the spine tingles and got the real sense of history.

That is what you get when you listen to these songs as well.

Favourites : Tindersticks - Can Our Love

I only bought Can Our Love because I read such an enthusiastic review in, I think, Q Magazine.  It referred to Tindersticks as being the greatest band in the UK at the time.  Somehow until this release they had passed me by and I was so intrigued by the claim that I picked up the album (at the St Leonards Railway Station - back when railway Stations had music stores).  While I am not sure that I can completely agree with the claim, I can certainly relate to people making it.

The album has a distinctive soulful feeling tipping its hat to early 70's soul however it brings a distinctive British and European feel.  Check out Dying Slowly, Can Our Love, Sweet Release, and the gentle groove of Chilite Time.

Recent Additions : The Delines : Colfax

I had been meaning to check out The Delines' Colfax since it was released last year but it was always hard to find.  I finally found a CD of it that was not prohibitively priced on my last trip to Christchurch.  I was not disappointed, other than I had waited to long to hear it.

The Delines are the next installment in the artistic development of Willy Vlautin. I first became aware of Vlautin and his music with the track Calm on the Loose Records Collection New Sounds of the Old West.  However I did not  really become enthralled by his muse and music until the much trumpeted album Post to Wire, by his original band Richmond Fontaine.

Vlautin and Richmond Fontaine's albums are like mini-plays - his lyrics achieve a balance of personal, evocative and cinematic all at the same time. At the same time he was producing a series of great albums he also started a career as a novelist and has since written 4 novels that explore the dark side of life and are populated by losers, murderers and gamblers.

In 2014 this album appeared on the scene, familiar sounding characters and themes but presented with Amy Boone presenting more soulful vocals than  Vlautin's rasp.  The result is nothing short of stunning. One of the best "total albums" I have heard in a long time. This live radio/tv session gives some idea of the power and depth of the album.  A favourite track already is The Oil Rigs at Night.

Journey Through The Past : Willie Nelson : Red Headed Stranger

I am listening to Red Headed Stranger as I write this.  I do quite often -  it's a great album. From today's perspective it is easy to forget just how innovative Willie was in the early 70s and how much this album differed from what was Country at the time.  A concept album (his third of three including Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages - both also worth checking out) and simple acoustic arrangements rather than the collections of lushly recorded songs that Nashville was known for at the time.

I did not listen to this until after hearing snippets in a recurring motif within the 1985 mini series Edge of Darkness.  The main character would listen to the album on his missing daughter's record player as he tried to both work our what happened to her and also connect and understand her motivations.

While it does have the hit Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain the album needs to be heard as whole........From the first note of It was the time of the preacher.....to the instrumental closeout on Bandera.

The start of my true appreciation for all things Willie! 

Junk Shop and Sale Bin Finds : Nat King Cole : Unforgetable

Some of my earliest musical memories are of the family sitting around the table on a Sunday having the Sunday Roast.  We invariably had the radio tuned to 2ZB and Bas Tubert's Sunday Request  show.  Looking back it was interesting how uninteresting that music show was.  How many songs were played every week at the same time.  There was Max Bygraves, Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves - all those great artists that end up in the junk shop bins that I wrote about here.

Another regular was Nat King Cole - although truth be told I can only remember two songs of his that were played - Ramblin' Rose - every fucking week!!  and Mona Lisa.  Anyway I have not seen as many Nat King Cole Records as the other suspects and I have managed to pick two in  excellent condition.  My favourite is this Mono recording of Unforgettable from 1954 (yep 60 years old) in excellent condition.  It plays almost perfectly and has some of those songs that are now quite literally unforgettable. Too Young (before it was squawked by Donny Osmond), Mona Lisa, For Sentimental Reasons and Unforgettable.