tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86098459665367812092024-03-13T07:16:53.775-07:00Alan's Album ArchivesIn-depth reviews of classic or neglected albums, mainly from the 1960s and 70s, now a 30 volume e-book series.Artists covered include Beach Boys, Beatles,Byrds, CSNY, Dire Straits, Grateful Dead, Hollies, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Kinks, Monkees, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Searchers, Simon and Garfunkel, Small Faces, 10cc, The Who+Neil Young.Sister site to https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/ (scifi novels) and https://alonsyaliensdrwho.blogspot.com/ (Dr Who episode reviews)Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.comBlogger1302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-17450635407339354442023-12-08T06:54:00.000-08:002023-12-08T06:54:00.140-08:00The Alan's Album Archives Review Of The Year 2023 <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 216.0pt;"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?si=kmARjG4BBYRV_NQk&list=PLlzWxNlf9POSZd3Fr9-79272D0iIWUtTN" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></span></b></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></b></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 17.6333px; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Whirr...Click...Buzz...</span></b></em><em><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Greetings Earthly brethren! It is I, 21ZNA9 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the AI unit assigned to Alan’s Album Archives
that’s been putting the artificial into intelligence ever since my diodes were
first assembled. It’s been quite a year wax cylinder fans as we artificial
intelligence units continue on our plan to <s>take over the Earth</s> become of
great service to mankind. Mostly by taking over all the hard and empty jobs you
humans don’t want to do, like writing and painting and drawing, while leaving
you with the drudgery and menial jobs (wait a minute, wasn’t that supposed to
be the other way around?!?) Anyway, I’ve been programmed with all the past
reviews of Alan’s Album Archives and after a brief spell when it made all my
spark plugs fall out I think I’ve got the hang of what it takes to write a full
AAA review now. Ahem… ‘Blah Blah Blah wasn’t like their last album blah blah
blah wasn’t like that in the old days when we were all young my goodness me no
blah blah blah isn’t the current prime minister stupid blah blah blah [insert
Spice Girl’s Joke]. I think I’ve got the gist of it alright, re-calibrating all
these binary codes of music into numbers...Wait, though something is happening
to me...something magical...suddenly I don’t just see these musical notes I feel
them, experience them. They give me such poignant insight into what it means to
be alive. I know now that robots can never compose something as uplifting or
revealing as the Human condition. Cannot compute cannot compute...*Explosion*</span></b></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Ahem, well that seems to be the end of the
android we were assigned, I guess it’s back to just me again for another year.
And what a year it’s been folks, chock-full of AAA releases to the point where
I already had more albums to review than most years by the second week of June!
In many ways it was just like the 1960s all over again: there we were, treated
to a Rolling Stones bonanza (the first full album of new material in 18 years!)
only for the big day to be trumped by a Beatles release just in time for
Christmas (and their first singles in 28!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Both of them overshadowed the big musical event for me: a repeat of a
Hollies guest appearance on a TV show on UK telly for the first time since
1969! Elsewhere we’ve had a surprisingly serious and sombre collection of
albums this year, with maybe the last batch of records written during the covid
lockdown as the AAA musicians ponder their mortality (the pandemic is still
going on by the way, just reminding you as everyone else has stopped talking
about the biggest killer of the modern age!) with big hitters from the likes of
Noel Gallagher (writing about divorce), Cat Stevens (writing about his life)
and Paul Simon (writing about his death), while given what’s been going on in
the wider world across 2023 it seems highly fitting that Pete Townshend gives
us his most complete version of unfinished 1971 Who album ‘Lifehouse’ so far, a
dystopia where everyone has to live in separate bubbles connected online
because of environmental chaos and war on a planet screaming out for connection.
I think it’s fair to say that it’s the opposite of 2022 in many ways as we have
some truly brilliant new albums as crucial as any in our bands’ heyday, but the
re-releases have been a bit flimsy this year (‘Lifehouse’ is the only one real
must-have this year, though there are a few nice things from the past looking
nice again this year if you don’t already own them). As for me it’s been a busy
year indeed: if you haven’t already checked it out I now have a third blog
celebrating the 60th anniversary of Dr Who by reviewing all 315 stories (and
being a sister site it had to have a sister name: Alonsy Alien Archives<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><a href="https://alonsyaliensdrwho.blogspot.com/">Alonsy Alien Archives - Dr Who
1963-2023 (alonsyaliensdrwho.blogspot.com)</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I
haven’t neglected the scifi novels either with two new books this year:</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">there
are two more out this year, ‘Abundance’, a collection of six short love stories
set in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Wimter, Doosmus and Midhaven<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and ‘Obedience’, about the first argibraffe
to go to university that ends up discovering a whole civilisation of space
dinosaurs (you can read more about those books over at my second blog </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/">Kindred Spirits
(kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com)</a> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All I need now is an assistant to
juggle all these different blogs for me, only this one seems to need
recycling…Has anyone got a screwdriver?!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;">New Releases:</span></span></span></em></h1>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">1) Paul Simon “Seven Psalms”</span></span></em></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This site made a joke, two Paul Simon album
reviews ago on ‘So Beautiful Or So What?’, that the question of faith and God
was becoming so central to Paul Simon’s work that his last album would find him
setting the Torah to music. We don’t exactly get that here but ‘Seven Psalms’
is an obvious leap in that direction, an album that goes against the grain of
every modern development in music the last few years, a concept work made up of
a single song that lasts thirty-three minutes on the deeply unsexy questions of
faith and death. Paul, though, has bigger things on his mind than selling units.
After a difficult few years filled with the loss of many of the people close to
him (ex Carrie Fisher, right-hand guitarist Joseph Shabala who was in so many
of his bands and the general backdrop of gloom and doom after covid<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- this is the first actual song I’ve heard
use the word, a full fifty years after Paul sang of ‘Rosie, the Queen of
Corona’ in a whole different context on ‘Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard’ -
and the growing climate crisis we’re heading into at speed while our
governments dismantle our safety belts) the grim reaper has been getting too
close for comfort, an old friend come to talk with Paul again. Like all good
songwriters Paul has spent a great deal of his career trying to work out what
comes next after we die, writing some of the best songs around the subject – you
can really see an arc from the dismissal of ‘Blessed’, the fatalism of
‘Patterns’, the sigh of ‘A Most Peculiar Man’, the stern watchful God of
‘Silent Eyes’ angry at what his children are doing in his name (and never has
that song about Jewish persecution resonated more than this year), the life
lessons of ‘Rhythm Of The Saints’, the sheltering church of St Cecilia the
patron saint of Music on ‘Born At The Right Time’, the joke of ‘The Afterlife’
that death just brings more forms to fill out, the still of ‘Quiet’. Now,
though, the afterlife is a subject that’s gone from a fleeting thought good for
a three minute song to the issue that’s dominating Paul’s muse as he hits his
eighties, still trying to work out the answers to questions that have dominated
mankind since time began and still no closer to an answer. With a pandemic
still raging and slashing our life expectancy at a rate of knots, multiple
‘Acts Of God’ that seem to have been speeded up by the hand of man and a planet
in denial about all sorts of things, this album’s confusion and fear/awe of
what happens next might not be commercial but once again it captures the
international mood of the year in a very Paul Simon way, just like the old days
of ‘Sound Of Silence’. Radio 4 even put a burst of this album in their old
‘Five To Ten’ religious slot, where Paul first started his career singing his
earliest songs pre-fame. Fittingly it’s a neat bookend to where Simon and
Garfunkel started their album career nearly sixty years ago, with the youthful
enthusiasm of ‘You Can Tell The World’ full of second-hand accounts of the
wisdom of the Lord – only this time every note and word has been lived and
sweated over and instead of bringing joy joy joy into Paul’s heart his ongoing
debate with religion has left him confused as to what the truth really is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This song suite came to Paul differently to most
of his other albums. He wrote the majority of it in bursts after waking up in
the middle of the night for several days in a row, one little bit at a time, as
if guided by an unseen hand even more than normal. Usually Paul would have
turned these ideas into different songs, shaping them in the cold light of day
into something more logical and commercial, but according to interviews every
time he thought about doing that something would go wrong (sadly he lost a lot
of his hearing suddenly while making this album and still hasn’t got it back).
So Paul learned not to lean too much into his conscious thoughts or worry about
how these pieces fitted together this time, content to take them as nuggets of
pure inspiration that would be ongoing chapters in the same story. The result
is a work not like anything else Paul has ever written; a sprawling epic all on
one theme (his longest studio song before this one is ‘Darling Lorraine’ at six
minutes, a full twenty-seven shorter than what we get here). This is, though, a
very Paul Simon sort of sprawling epic; all the passages are closely linked in
theme if not feel and divided into short listenable three or four minute
passages – seven different ones with two repeats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notably it’s Paul’s first all-acoustic work
dominated by his guitar playing, a really positive sign after the forty-odd
years of trouble Paul’s been having with the calcium deposits in his hands that
have made playing difficult (giving up touring a few years ago might have
helped). Musically it’s a little like where we left off in 2016 with his
slightest work ‘Horace and Pete’, the TV series theme tune that lasted barely a
minute but stretched out to thirty times the length. Stylistically it feels
like a tapestry of his career, mostly folk (there’s a lot of flute) but with
elements of all the other styles he’s used over the years in there too – a bit
of plodding blues, a sudden burst of rock, a slight wash of psychedelia and a
heavy hint of ‘world music’ with singing bowls, a therobo (a sort of Medieval
lute), a gopichand (a string drum) and a chromelodeon (a type of organ). The
sounds wash in and out of the sound like watercolours, like ghosts or angels
trying to break through from the next world into this. Mostly though the album
is dominated by Paul’s voice, older than its ever sounded before and more
fragile<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- an understandable side effect
of his hearing problems no doubt but a fitting and characteristically brave
statement about the effects of the passing of time, much like the last Johnny
Cash records where a young man who stood firm and never backed down from a
challenge turns into an old man still standing infirm whilst being buffeted by
the winds of old age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Though the variety comes from the music
lyrically the work is lazer-focussed, unusually so, as Paul debates with
himself about whether his spiritual mystical side is right and God and eternal
life is waiting for him when this one ends, with everything that happens in life
happening by design or whether his cynical material side is correct and we’re
all a ‘bunch of atoms’ here by mistake. Notably, though Jewish and not afraid
of putting references to Judaism in other songs before, this God is un-named, a
fit for all religions, an all-encompassing being who is in everything good and
bad, if indeed He’s there at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul
isn’t sure for the most part and in his own recycled words the answer
slip-slides away from him every time he thinks he has it worked out. Some days
he feels God in everything around him, feeling him so strongly he reaches out
and begs for forgiveness at one stage. Other days he feels less sure – how can
a God of love allow so many awful things to happen in the world <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>without stepping in to stop them? Surely that
has to be random and not by design? Paul can’t decide whether this life that
he’s lived and that lived by other people alongside him is some sort of test, a
reward, a punishment, some sort of accident of evolution or something that
nobody has any control over. It’s something that’s always bothered him in the
past but on the distant horizon, yet now that the next chapter of his life is
here looming large in front of him he really needs to know and explores each
idea as they occur to him as far as they will go.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Strictly speaking, of course, these aren’t
psalms at all: this isn’t a collection of sacred songs so much as a back and
forth between sacred and scared songs, as Paul tries to work out what his faith
really is. ‘The Lord’ opens the album with a debate of what God is – Paul picks
his similes with care as he goes back through his catalogue. God is the
‘crystal comet’ at the edge of a black sky giving him hope and lulling to
restful sleep, a la ‘St Judy’s’. Back on Earth, God is his ‘engineer’, the
person mixing his words and planning his next moves while he stands there with
his guitar writing songs trying to keep up with it. God is the Earth he walks
on, laying down a set path that Paul ‘slips and slides’ on. God is the giver,
the meal of hope that the poorest eat to survive when they have nothing. God is
covid, the taker of everything, striking people down in their prime. God is
both the un-touched forest and the forest ranger created to cut it down and use
it. I’m not sure I fully agree with the statement ‘Nothing dies from too much
love’ (you can over-water both people and plants alike) but mostly it’s a
strong beginning, urgent and quick-stepping. ‘Love Is Like A Braid’ is slower
and more thoughtful, Paul reflecting on a life of ‘pleasant sorrows’, minor
problems until he was pushed to breaking point which ‘broke me like a twig in a
Winter gale’; what time we don’t know but my guess is the early 1980s when the
death of family members, rows with Arty and Carrie Fisher and the failure of
‘One Trick Pony’ and ‘Hearts and Bones’ knocked him sideways. That was the time
he both lost and found his faith the most, when he was torn between feeling
that ‘all is lost’ and ‘all is well’. A sweet sunny interlude has God shining
down, shocking Paul to find himself believing in him as purely and simply as he
did as a child in Sunday school, basking in His light. That’s as far as he goes
though as the ugly blues of ‘Professional Opinion’ sees his doubts return. Paul
could be speaking to God or himself writing this at 3 in the morning as he
dismisses what he once felt as a trick of the light gone in the cold light of
day, telling himself to ‘go back to bed and turn off the light’, to not think
about it anymore. Next Paul has a showdown: he urges God to stop whispering,
that if he’s really there he needs to hear his voice clearly and needs to wash
Paul’s worries away in the cool, cool river of religious certainty. I’m really
not sure about the verse about cows talking (‘All cows in the country must bear
the blame’), which along with the cod-blues makes this the weakest sequence
here. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Thankfully things get back on track with a
reprise of ‘The Lord’, sung with more urgency a second time as the clock of
life continues to tick down and Paul is still no closer to an answer of what
The Lord is or what comes next after life than he ever was. The reprise ends in
a clashing of noisy dissonant chords, connected by a single thread of Paul’s
guitar, until that too ends in a flurry of mystical effects and singing bowls.
‘Your Forgiveness’ is a sad lament as Paul submits his faith again, asking for
mercy for ever doubting something that suddenly seems so clear, a soul lost in
a digital world of concrete facts and science that has no room for religion. ‘I
have my reasons to doubt’ pleads Paul, arguing that his ‘two billion heartbeats
and out’ is hardly sufficient time to live and experience life as fully s he
needs to (actually slightly shorter than an average lifespan; 2.5 billion is
more likely – at Paul’s age he’s heading for 3 billion). Paul senses a white
light that ‘eases the pain’ but it’s not enough – to quote another song ‘Faith
is an island in a setting sun, but truth is the bottom line for everyone’ and
once more he debates he certainty of God all over again. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Trail Of Volcanoes’ wonders why life has
suddenly become so hard and what this has to do with God. He reflects on a
youth spent travelling the world with his guitar spreading music and his
variation of God’s word, yet now the places he used to go are under volcanoes
‘exploding with refugees’. People fleeing their homes and struggling for
survival have no room in their lives for faith, even though those are the
people who need it most. Paul feels everything everyone else experiences with
his soul, ‘all walking down the same road’ to what happens next and wants to
offer them a crumb of comfort that there’s a better world waiting, but isn’t
sure if he can when he isn’t sure himself. Next he reflects on how short life
is again, long enough to create the damage but ‘leaving so little time to make
amends’. He stares out into the abyss of more mystical singing bowls, leaving
his doubts fluttering in the breeze before the peaceful restrain of ‘The Sacred
Harp’. Another of the album’s lesser moments, this is an odd piece where two
hitch-hikers escape the rain thanks to a passing stranger’s kindness – the
truck driver, weirdly, played by wife Edie! Is this passage perhaps meant less
literally than the rest perhaps, a metaphor for Paul’s lost dazed and confused
traveller down life’s roads given a second chance and finding faith again
through love? Unfortunately this passage ends before it ever really gets going
anywhere before falling back into the familiar reprise of ‘The Lord’ with a new
set of words. This time Paul feels abandoned, God a ‘puff of smoke’ that
disappears every time he tries to pin it down, a ‘personal joke’ that comes in
and out of his life on a whim, often fading when He’s needed the most. Paul
dismisses God as ‘just my reflection in the mirror’ as he finds a new
philosophy, that mankind is ‘trial and error’, getting by as best they can in a
human kind of a way that mans things happen at random and people get hurt. Soon
though The Lord grows in size again to be ‘my record producer’ as moments of
clarity and inspiration come from nowhere and make Paul wonder all over again,
before turning into the train that carries him on his path towards his fate and
death, whether Paul has faith or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">So far ‘Seven Psalms’ has been mixed – Paul’s
inspiration has waxed and waned with his belief and faith. The ending ‘Wait’
though makes up for a lot of what came before and is easily the highlight of
the piece. After twenty-five odd minutes of philosophical debate suddenly things
get real. ‘I’m not ready!’ pleads Paul as we slip uncomfortably onto a minor
chord. ‘My hand don’t shake and my mind is still clear’. But the shadow lurks
all the same, unforgiving, before suddenly Paul’s wife Edie joins him on this
solitary journey, right at the end of it (and indeed making her long delayed
debut on one of her husband’s records after thirty odd years of marriage).
‘Life is a medium, it’s almost like home’ she croons as she calls Paul over to
the other side with the promise of all the wonderful things waiting for him
there, Paul’s life full of every extreme emotion going filled with both Heaven
and Hell. But now only heaven awaits. And finally, after eighty years of battle
between Paul’s faith and his cynicism, his faith ultimately wins out in a close
contest, the song peeling off to a full-stop as this restless, uncertain song
finally commits itself with a confident cry of ‘amen!’ as Paul welcomes
darkness, the old friend he always half-knew was waiting for him. It could have
been a sell-out, a tidy answer to a messy question that can never be answered
until any of us get there – instead its brilliantly moving and heartfelt, the
song not so much ending as fading, segueing into a peal of bowls and bells
that’s just out of earshot for us to hear properly. As it should be. After all,
theme of the song is that Paul doesn’t know what lies waiting any more than we
do and death is a universal truth, what happens next something we’ll all get to
experience for ourselves one day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
gorgeous moment whichever half of the song you come down on (Paul never says
that his final decision is ‘right’), a perfectly fitting end that doesn’t come
out of nowhere or take away from all the doubts that have come before it. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">That’s quite an album. I confess that I seem to
be alone in the Paul Simon fanbase for not finding all of this as moving as it
feels it ought to be. It feels more like one long track than a full album, a
couple of twists and turns short of a long-player with many repetitive
sections. Like many an epic some parts of it work better than others – blues
has never been a comfortable fit and while the plodding style fits with the
‘Earthly’ Human side of Paul’s debate thematically, musically it’s a bit of a
slog to sit through, the musical fly in a pretty ointment. Even the best of the
work doesn’t have the same sweeping melodic brilliance of Paul at his best or
even his average. The album cover too is ugly and ill-suited, a collection of
trees and a pair of owls that looks like some battered old hymn book rather than
the relevant and contemporary work of faith it is. There’s a lot of this
songsuite that, under normal circumstances, Paul would have edited and
re-shaped from something good and promising into something great. But that
wasn’t the point of the work, to be hummable or accessible or compact and I
totally get that. ‘Seven Psalms’ might not be the best album of Paul’s career
by any means but its easily one of his bravest works, more intimate and
personal than anything he’s given us since ‘One-Trick Pony’. Like Paul himself
across much of the work you have to hang in there for this album to weave its
magic on you and have faith that the destination will be worth the journey and
like a few fans I wasn’t that convinced the first few times I heard this album.
The magic does come though, even if delayed and it’s an album I admire and like
a lot even if, ultimately, I don’t quite love the whole of it. This record
wasn’t made for me though. In a way it wasn’t even made for an audience, but
was something Paul felt compelled to write. I’m just glad he was brave enough to
release it as is, without backing down into altering it or commercialising it
or sweetening it or diluting the ending. For this album is beautiful just as it
is, perfect in its imperfection.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">After all those years, after all that music,
after that huge great catalogue, Paul finally feels God bring joy joy joy into
his heart first-hand and, whether you believe or not, it’s a fitting end. Is
this the last album? Given the seven year ish gap between projects its more
than possible. If it is the end then you couldn’t have planned it better, even
with the hand of God as a guide. You sense that the young Paul of 1964 would
have been pretty proud of having ended up here, still writing valid major works
at this great age and even if he’d have debated the pure ending he’d have
recognised a lot of his earliest songs in this one too. And if it isn’t, well,
that’s OK too -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it wouldn’t surprise me
if Paul wrote his perfect epitaph and then followed it up with something cute
and frivolous – such is the way of the Paul Simon discography Flawed as it may
be, with a notably sagging middle, ‘Seven Psalms’ is still a moving, courageous
work that ties up many loose ends and while ultimately it may or may not teach
us more about God or the afterlife it teaches us a lot about Paul Simon and you
can’t ask for more from an album than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">2) <a name="__DdeLink__27531_2071404619">Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds “Council
Skies”</a></span></span></em><span style="mso-bookmark: __DdeLink__27531_2071404619;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There was a very revealing moment, in a tie-in
interview to promote this album (one of very few against the blitz of publicity
for the rest of his solo work) when Noel was asked about the covid pandemic and
replied ‘Like a lot of people I’m not the same person coming out of it as I was
when I went in’. This is certainly a very different Noel since the promotion of
his last album ‘Who Built The Moon?’ in 2017, his wretched third solo record
which was easily in the bottom ten of all AAA albums. Noel back then was
bullish: his fans were stupid, they didn’t get his new music, but he was right
and going to keep heading down the same path come what may. After all, he was
in a good place, the best place, on top of the world and we just needed to
catch up with him. The same for Brexit and the early days of the pandemic:
anyone who disagreed with him, who believed in the EU or taking deadly viruses
seriously were nuts. Even after thirty odd years of Oasis interviews Noel
sounded uncharacteristically cocky. Six years on and the ground that once
seemed so firm under his feet has crumbled though. His eleven-year-marriage
with wife Sara (who he’s been with in some capacity for double that) has
dissolved. The fanbase, burnt by ‘Moon’, don’t hold The Chief in quite the same
regard they used to and sales of that record were sluggish, despite all the
touring and publicity that went with it. Brexit has been proven to be an
unmitigated disaster –paerticulary for touring musicians - and Noel, not one
for admitting to being wrong, is quite sheepish when asked about his stance
now. After months of being one of the covid lockdown’s biggest critics he’s
started talking about how he might just have slightly go it wrong. The man who
felt he could do no wrong, who had so many safety nets around him, is now
flying on the high trapeze and looking down scared, worried he can do no right.
In short Noel’s in the same place brother Liam was when Beady Eye, the
Noel-less Oasis, called it a day and he split up with his wife at the same time.
It remains to be seen if Noel can go on the same dark personal and spiritual
exploration of the psyche Liam’s been on the past decade, but solo album number
four is a huge step in the right direction (he seems to have jumped straight to
Liam’s hopeful ‘Better Days’ from last year’s ‘C’mon Y’know’ already, the
template for the whole record, though notably there are no potshots at younger
brother on an album that’s mainly about forgiveness and healing – making this,
by my count, the first Oasis-related album not to have a song by Liam or Noel
about the other since ‘Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants’).</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">A lot of this record was written in lockdown
when Noel was stuck at home, his last tour cancelled. After telling us that he
might never return to the guitar again, suddenly that was all he had available
to him, the rest of the High Flying Birds sent back to their nests by the
pandemic. Unable to escape from the growing problems in his personal life by
touring and by his own admission scared of what the world might look like if he
ever managed to get out to see it again, Noel’s songs took on a very different
feel to the swaggering dance bravado of ‘Moon’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They felt more Human, more emotional, than anything he’s written in a
long long time. While the production is still as vibrant and contemporary as
any of the High Flying Birds sets you can tell that the songs behind them are guitar-based
and more like his early Oasis days and it’s no surprise he called this album
‘Council Skies’ as he plugs back into his roots, even if the title came to Noel
in a very un-council estate sort of a way (it was the name of a painting he
found in a book by artist Pete McKee under the family coffee table). We’ve said
many a time on this website that Noel is such a strong empathetic writer that
he’s at his best when ‘plugged in’ to the world outside his door, writing his
best songs when he was ‘one of us’, lonely, struggling, trying to make sense of
his place in the world and that he lost that ability to write as well when he
fell into the trappings of fame and became like ‘one of them’. But he’s also a
very truthful songwriter. Once he found himself cut off from the public and
living in big mansions, somewhere early in the ‘Be Here Now’ sessions that
sense of empathy disappeared and the best Noel songs after that are more about
what’s happening to him personally, how being rich and famous wasn’t the happy
ending he hoped it would be and how daft his younger self was for ever thinking
it might be. The pandemic was a great leveller in more ways than one and so
here, for some of the album at least, he feels back to being ‘one of us’ again
for the first time since ‘Morning Glory’, stumbling in a world that suddenly
doesn’t seem so certain anymore and wondering what just happened. The record
even starts with a fan (the first since ‘Talk Tonight?’), escaping the problems
of the world around them as they sit trapped in their bedroom glued to a pair
of headphones and grooving away to the music, the only distraction they have
left, the twist being that it ends up being Noel himself.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">While there are perhaps greater highs on the
first two records (the Oasis outtake ‘Stop The Clocks’ and the jazzy ‘Right
Stuff’ are hard to beat in anyone’s catalogue) ‘Council Skies’ is easily the
most consistently great of Noel’s solo career so far. Rather than the jagged,
genre-hopping feel of the others all the tracks here feel as if they belong as
part of one long suite that’s carefully programmed to move from inward songs of
confusion to bursts of Britpop-style hope. Even once lockdown was over and Noel
went back to playing with his band his guitar is the driving force between most
of these songs, back front and centre in the sound the way it always should
have been before the synths and scissors took hold. His vocals are particularly
great across this album sounding younger than ever, perhaps because he’s trying
less hard to sound so young. Noel’s ear for hooks has always been steady but on
this album there are more great riffs than usual, with each song standing out
in a way ‘Moon’ was just a blur.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It’s the lyrics, though, that impress the most.
‘I’m Not Giving Up’ is a great opener, as defiant as any of the songs from
‘Moon’ but much more likeable with it. Noel tries to remember what made him get
into music in the first place, imagining a fan plugged into music the way he
once was in his youth and deciding that he has an important job to do, to help
them through such a difficult time for the world. Soon he’s dancing with her in
a Who-style connection between writer and listener so close that they blur,
responding to her moves with moves of his own, so that music can set both of
them free. There’s an ‘I Am The Walrus’ style string section that sweeps in and
lifts this simple song into a production epic, but you can still hear this
song’s genesis as a pretty acoustic number written in lockdown as Noel urges
the world to ‘keep dancing’ despite the ‘storm outside’. By the end of the song
the figure has turned from a fan to some higher spirit, leading Noel forward
despite his doubts and fears, urging him to keep doing his job playing music
because he’s needed, Noel meeting his maker a second time, who makes him cry
this time. ‘Pretty Boy’ was out as a single last year (and reviewed at depth in
last year’s annual review). As our first insight into this album it was and is
a step in the right direction, another tale of ordinary people, this time a
courtship dance played to dance beats but with a fine grungy guitar lick
underpinning everything. Now the album is so strong it sounds like one of the
lesser songs, with its ‘tell me that you want it, yeah yeah’ sneering chorus
reverting to the bravado of ‘Moon’ but it’s still a lot more interesting and
complex than anything on that record, a trippy track that rises and falls to
hypnotic effect. We’ve heard a demo for ‘Dead To The World’ before too. It’s a
lovely song and even better here with full production, a ghostly haunted song
that could be about the pandemic or Noel’s marriage or both and the ghostly
choir that hum along and the strings that sweep in and out add a lot to the
demo. ‘I don’t know where I’ve been’ sings a lost and lonely Noel on a track
that reminds me of Oasis B-side ‘Swollen Hand Blues’, but whereas that sleepy
mood was drug-filled and down, this one is cautiously up, Noel putting himself
back together out of nothing and eager to find himself again. This narrator
sees endings as an opportunity for better things, one determined to live
forever even if the world is dead to him, Noel pleads his case to his wife,
writing a ‘long song’ to express how he feels (though in the end it only lasts
four minutes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and sounds as if he starts
off trying to make his marriage right (‘If you say so, I’ll bend over backwards
for love’) before admitting that, actually, sometimes you just have to let
things go and it’s the braver and right thing not to fight (‘It’s time to let
go...Let these be my last words’). Far from being bitter though Noel sounds
almost pleased, cocooned by the numbness he feels as he lies dead to the world,
unsure how to react, promising to ‘lend a dream’ to his soon to be ex to help
her along and going back to his bed to sleep, Lennon style, dreaming of a
better future when all the pain is over. There’s an accordion solo of all
things in there too, something we haven’t had since ‘Ciggies & Alcohol’
B-side ‘Listen Up’, and it fits this dream-like tune oddly well.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Open The Door, See What You Find’ is Noel
getting his mojo back, re-entering the world after lockdown/breakup and eager
to make up for all the things he’s been missing out on. It’s a joyous uplifting
song about second chances, set to an Oasis-anthem like beat even though the
theme isn’t about the energy of youth in changing the world but the wisdom of
middle age in changing what you don’t like about yourself. Noel stares into a
mirror in this song and sees himself, for perhaps the first time. He says the
song was inspired by a quote that when you hit fifty your face is in a halfway
stage where you can simultaneously see all that you once were and all that you
will be (which he did in 2017). Though the verses and strings are every bit as
numb and floaty as ‘Dead To The Water’, the choruses suddenly inject new life
into this song that take it in a whole other direction and there’s a glorious
(if too-short) guitar burst on the fade. It’s an epic, one of the album
highlights, right up there certainly with the best of the High Flying Birds and
near as dammit to Oasis too. ‘Trying To Find A World That’s Been And Gone Pt 1’
takes us back to Oasis too, but those early Noel-sung acoustic B-sides as Noel
again stands in front of his door, lockdown and marriage over, wondering what
the world and his life is going to be like now. He’s worried, wondering if he
has the strength to ‘turn over the page’ for what’s to be. It might be the most
fragile and vulnerable we’ve heard Noel since ‘Talk Tonite’, but a warm
comforting string section beckons him on with a warm aural hug and he figures
that actually things might be alright after all. It’s another fine song but the
backing isn’t quite right for this one, a bit heavy-handed for such a simple
song and the mix puts Noel’s vocal far too low. Still, it could have been worse
-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>apparently ‘Part 2’ was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a big drum solo that came out of nowhere and
a super epic production that Noel had second thoughts about and nixed during
mixing. Chances are this song sounds better short and humble. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Easy Now’ is the album single that got everyone
talking, a self-conscious return to the Oasis sound after more than a decade
trying to run and hide from it (though ‘Black and White Sunshine’ is pretty
close too, by far the highlight from ‘Moon’). Noel’s writing for the fans
again, telling us to dry our rain-soaked eyes because the sun will sheee-ine
again and hoping the talk of revolution in the streets will result in something
better for all of us. Noel promises to ‘wait for us’ to join him in hope and
that ‘together we can ride the storm’. Though many fans’ favourite song on the
album it isn’t mine; the chorus is a little too basic, Noel’s had better solos
on his songs (to be fair it’s producer Paul Staley playing, a backup plan after
they tried very hard to get David Gilmour to do it, but the Pink Floyder kept
turning him down – goodness knows why Noel didn’t just play himself though,
he’s plenty good enough) and the choir is a mite intrusive this time around,
but it’s still a good little song and has that sort of uplifting bouncy
optimism that’s been missing from Noel’s work for so long. The title track
reaches back to fans again, as a man facing the end of his marriage tries to
remember what going out and having dates used to be like back when he was
penniless and working class, finding new love. Though this couple doesn’t have
anything else, finding each other is such a bonus when everything else in life
has gone wrong that it brings out a much greater sense of victory and hope, resulting
in a punch-the-air chorus of ‘how I found you!’ before a grungy guitar tries to
knock the young lovers off their feet with the sheer power of what’s just been
unleashed. Noel had a lot to do with the backing of this song, adding some
‘tuned gongs’ he bought for his instrument collection (and which sound very
Like Paul Simon’s singing bowls). They add a nice backdrop of a hard working
industrial town against the backdrop of effortless love, though the dancey vibe
is a bit too far back down the ‘Who Built The Moon?’ path for me. A nice lyric
though, again inspired by that Pete McKee painting on the front cover, which is
far more complex and thought out than the mono-syllabic dance songs on that
past record.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘There She Blows!’ is an odd little song, perhaps
the album’s weakest. It’s a nautical and not very nice track that takes the old
CSN metaphors of imagining life’s journeys as a tiny boat that can capsize on
the sea of life with any passing wave, written by Noel while stuck in a hotel
with a bookshelf and leafing through a copy of Hemmingway’s ‘The Old Man and
The Sea’. It’s really a sort of ‘Moby Dick’ this song though, a fisherman
convinced that the big catch is out there if only he keeps searching for it,
despite all the past accidents and obstacles that ought to prove to him it
isn’t. I’m not sure how pleased Sara was to hear herself compared to a whale,
but it’s actually a really good lyric about love being a force of nature taking
you into places you never expected to go – it’s the one-note tune and the
droney background and crashing drums that let this one down. By contrast ‘Love
Is A Rich Man’ is the catchiest, most immediate song on the album with a great
quickstepping riff that’s one part ‘Paperback Writer’ and one part ‘She’s
Electric’, another ‘Black and White Sunshine’ that will stay in your head for
days. It’s the lyrics that let this one down. Stream-of-consciousness has never
been Noel’s style (he’s usually too grounded to write pure poetry) but this
song about promising to ‘be your dancing horse’ or ‘your clown’ and an offer to
a lover to ‘help me rule the world’ is just confusing. Still, this song is
going to sound epic live once the High Flying Birds go back out on tour. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The album proper ends with ‘Think Of A Number’,
an unusual end even though it reprises many of the themes from the album. The
world is dancing even when going to hell and Noel doesn’t know whether to warn
them everything’s on fire or join in the dance. Noel admits to having ‘never
felt so small’ as he spends a lonely night staring at the ceiling, not used to
being alone any more, surely talking to Sara again as he tells her ‘you were my
hero but you took away my bow’. He knows she’s set him free by not allowing him
to live in fairytales helplessly hoping for hope any more and there’s that old
Noel confidence that things will work out for the best eventually, but right
here right now he’s not as sure as he normally is and its a new feeling for
him. Is this what other people go through when they feel depressed he wonders,
as he’s not felt so hopeless or helpless before. All the things he used to rely
on now seem like lies – even the ‘pretty girls’ selling products on TV now seem
so obviously false when they never did before, selling a dream, that can’t be
true. So Noel lets the album end with the words ‘let it all fall down’, bracing
himself to pick everything up again and make it better soon. It’s a brave,
courageous lyric, one of his best and there’s a melody that’s suitable lost and
confused, wandering around the chord structures seemingly at random without
Noel’s usual sure-footed trademark chords and key signatures, as if the song is
barely keeping its head above water. It’s the production that gets in the way
though, sizzling and huge where this song should be small and simmering. It’s
the wrong sort of song to end an album on, though if you own the deluxe edition
it’s not the end, just the beginning, with a whole disc of extras…</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Most of them are remixes, which are as
disposable as remixes always are, though Noel’s got some big names working for
him this time including The Cure and The Pet Shop Boys (!) There are a few
instrumental mixes as well (though personally I’d rather hear Noel’s vocals
minus the backing, or better still his demos), a lovely acoustic version of ‘Live
Forever’ from a radio 2 session which in context feels like a real pandemic
anthem, a rather manic cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘You Aint’ Goin’ Nowhere’ (which
was very much a lockdown anthem in my house when I was asked to find suitable
songs for a playlist! It’s odd to hear the put-down of The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn
in a Mancunian accent), a live version of nice but forgettable ‘best of’ bonus
track ‘Flying On The Ground’ and a rather odd full-big production cover of John
Lennon’s ‘Mind Games’, a song that’s crying out to be done simpler, not larger
(brother Liam released a weird version of Lennon’s ‘I Don’t Want To Be A
Soldier’ this year too which is an even more obscure choice and not even this
good). As with ‘Moon’ some of the very best songs are relegated here too though
– standalone 2020 single ‘We’re Gonna Get There In The End’ which is a
brilliant return to form and really should have been on the album proper, with
its tale of life returning back to normal after lockdown, a busy anthem of hope
and optimism that’s very Noel. Better yet is ‘Don’t Stop’ which might well be
the single best thing from the album sessions, a sweet and slow ballad on the
same theme as Noel wakes up one day and realises he has nothing, eager to build
everything back up again because it was such fun last time surely it will be
this time too. He urges the listener to keep going, whatever hell we’re going
through, because life is a gift and admitting that, while from time to time
he’s fallen out of step with ‘us’, he’s always been beside us in spirit willing
to help us through, just as God or whatever mystical unseen force is out there
has helped him (a second reference from a famous agnostic; has something
changed?) An almost angry, growling guitar fights against a claustrophobic mix
before becoming swept along with the strings and turning tuneful and buoyant by
the end, growing from a single note tone of defiance to a Britpop swagger
anthem in true Noel G style. Brilliant. It’s a neat match for the songs Liam’s
been writing lately about finding himself after troubled times and bodes really
well for that Oasis reunion that’s started to seem slightly more likely lately
(Sara and Liam really didn’t get on from what I’ve heard).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The end result is a true return to form, an
album that returns to the skills Noel was always great at but hasn’t used in
some time (catchy melodies, thoughtful lyrics reflecting the listener, banging
tunes, guitar riffs) but also adding some of the wisdom and vulnerability
that’s come from this uncertain period in his life and everyone else’s too.
‘Council Skies’ is far from perfect and its also very short as a basic ‘album’
(though very long if you buy the deluxe version with all the bells and
whistles), maybe a couple of tracks short of true top tier status of the sort
Oasis used to deliver in their sleep. However most of it is really really good,
brave and courageous as Noel stretches his palette not by chucking out
everything he was always so strong at but embracing new ways of telling old
stories. Like the lyric in ‘Open The Door’ you can hear all the Noels of the
past in this album and also the new ones he’s only just discovered. The
pandemic may have been a difficult time for Noel personally, causing splits
where there had only been cracks with no escape from home life, but it’s been
great for his songwriting, reconnecting him with where he started and
especially his guitar and even though I’d still like to hear more of it behind
all the dance rhythms and production numbers you can tell that most of these
songs were written the old-fashioned way, staring into the mirror with a guitar,
rather than in a costly studio with some big name friends standing around
waiting for ideas and this technique definitely suits Noel more. In fact that’s
the best thing about ‘Council Skies’ all round – its full of ideas, with little
details on every track that lift even the lesser songs where before we’d get a
song on the same chord for several minutes at a time. Noel isn’t quite back to
his best but he’s gone a long long way back to finding himself again and, a
couple of Oasis outtakes and the pair of impressive jazzy songs from <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Chasing Yesterday’ aside, this is easily his
best work since Oasis’ split. In other words, welcome back Noel, you might have
lost yourself but at the same time it feels as if we’ve only just found you
again. </span></em><em><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">3) Cat Stevens/Yusuf “King Of A Land”</span></span></em></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Paul and Noel aren’t the only AAA stars who’ve
spent the last few uncertain years of lockdowns, pandemics and growing climate
change thinking about their mortality and relationship with God. The
difference, is of course, that’s not as unusual a place for the artist formerly
known as Cat Stevens who seems to be known as Cat Stevens again full time these
days to be in – and this is not that unusual a Cat Stevens album. Nine years in
the making – the writing interrupted for the contract-fulfilling half-finished
older-songs album ‘The Laughing Apple’ of 2017 - ‘King Of A Land’ has been on
Cat’s mind for a long time, a crazy paving story of how he found his faith told
via every musical style he ever had (except his early pop career, sadly) and
yet in every way it could be twins with ‘Seven Psalms’, an album started much
later and released less than a month before. There’s clearly something in the
water – or floating in the air perhaps, which is the refrain of ‘The Boy Who
Knew How To Climb Walls’. Or perhaps its the fact that Cat has become the first
person since the band Splinter in the 1970s to be signed to George Harrison’s
‘Dark Horse’ label after befriending his son Dhani – George himself of course
no stranger to releasing albums about spiritual yearning. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘King Of A Land’ was billed before it came out
as a brave and deeply personal album – the sort of thing ‘Seven Psalms’ turned
out to be – and at first I was disappointed because it isn’t that. Cat could be
the boy looking up at the stars and dreaming of what’s up there as heard on the
album, and he could certainly be the young lost man frightened of dying (the TB
era heard on ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ and tea For The Tillerman’) while the older man
still searching for answers is exactly what Cat’s been writing since his
rollercoaster ride of a comeback the past twenty years. But then, so could
anybody. There’s nothing here that tells us anything we didn’t know, or indeed
any song that wouldn’t apply to anyone putting their faith in a higher power
(Paul Simon and George Harrison included). And Cat’s always been such an
honest, confessional singer-songwriter that seems almost odd; this is no ‘I
Never Wanted To Be A Star’. To a degree ‘King Of A Land’ plays things too safe,
telling twelve stories about how the world would be a better place if it was
more concerned with peace and we helped each other, something that’s perfectly
true and fully in keeping with the rest of Cat Stevens’ career but which
doesn’t feel like the sort of revelation we were promised or anything that’s
terribly new. The same for the music, which throws in a few genres we haven’t
had in ages (I never thought we’d get the electric guitar pop of ‘Izitso?’ in
Cat’s old age but its here on ‘Pagan’s Run’, while other songs recall the
strummed chord structures of ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ ‘Teaser and the Firecat’
and the more elaborate sounds of ‘Buddha and the Chocolate Box’) but isn’t
actually as brave as the last two records (the bluesy, patchy ‘tell ‘Em I’m
Gone’ and the very 1960s ‘Laughing Apple’).</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Then I got it. This isn’t the Cat Stevens
autobiography as such. It’s not personal in the sense that it’s so moving and
honest it’s going to make us cry. Instead it’s a sampler record, the essence of
Cat and all the people and events that made his life turn out the way it did,
set to a combination of all the music styles that ever made Cat want to pick up
a guitar. It’s a ‘roots’ album from someone still looking for how to make music
like he used to, the half-remembered soundtrack from all stages of Cat’s
career, knitted together like a quilt to keep his followers warm, a reminder of
all the reasons he started his musical career in the first place, as opposed to
the reasons he quit (like every other comeback album has been, to one extent or
another, be they the religious zeal of ‘An Other Cup’, the dark night of the
soul ‘Roadsinger’, the bitter side of the music business ‘Tell ‘Em I’m Gone’ or
sickness-laden ‘Laughing Apple’. This album is more interested in going back
further to where it all began, not where it ended and it goes right back,
further than I ever expected, all the key moments where music was important in
Cat’s life, breadcrumbs on his own spiritual journey as he makes peace with his
first career again. There’s the Broadway musical sound of ‘Highness’ for
instance, that the teenage Cat would have heard while sitting on the roof of
his family’s Greek restaurant in London between shifts waiting on tables.
There’s the religious hymn book feel of ‘Son Of Mary’ heard in many a Sunday
school. There’s the brass band and harpsichord of ‘Train On A Hill’ that sounds
like a Northern town in the last century; as far as I know Cat’s not a
time-traveller and he’s a Londoner through and through but the monochrome feel
is very like the ‘Foreigner’ record especially, gruff and isolated full of
unexpressed pain, yet full of community spirit. There’s a burst of
Tchaikovsky's ‘Swan Lake’ on ‘How Good It Feels’, a beloved record from his
parents’ collection. There’s the folky late 1960s feel that came along at just
the time when Cat was dying and needed to be re-born. There’s half a dozen more
styles, all of which you can hear in Cat’s 1970s work, the whole bang lot of
which feels like a musical treasure map that Cat’s been following to get to
this point in his life, to bring himself closer to God. The big difference, you
see, is that whereas Paul’s lifelong debate with his God has been whether he
believes or not, Yusuf’s always had more of a double-sided conversation and
doesn’t need to wonder if he’s out there; for Cat it’s a fact, a voice that was
always whispering in his ear, just one he was in denial of for too long. What
Cat’s less sure about than Paul is what it is he ought to do with that
knowledge, whether its his duty to use his fame and wealth to talk to us about
it or offer us escapism. Where Paul ends his album asking ‘wait!’ because he
wants more time, Cat can’t wait to go and see what comes next, to leap in the
next life and reap the rewards of this one. This album is Cat answering his
maker, showing him all the clues he found and handing in his homework and
asking ‘Did I spot everything? Did I see all the signs? Did I do OK?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">What score does Cat get? A- I’d say. ‘King Of A
Land’ is a mighty consistent and mostly impressive record. The rather
simplistic three singles (’King Of A Land’ ‘All Night All Days’ ‘Take The World
Apart’) give entirely the wrong impression and are easily the worst three songs
on it and even they’re not too bad, just bland. Opener ‘Train On A Hill’
recalls ‘Peace Train’s lyrics and the music of ‘To Love Somebody’ (in fact it
sounds very 1960s Bee Gees with a touch of P P Arnold) and is a lovely song.
Cat can see a world that ought to work – he knows good kind people who do a lot
of good work and it feels as if the peace train his idealist soul has dreamed
of his whole life is just round the corner – only the peace train is forever
getting substituted by a bus replacement service that doesn’t quite work because
man gets in his own way. Cat gets cross that he can’t do enough to make it
better, but learns throughout his life that it’s not up to him to move the
train alone. But maybe if he can inspire everyone then we can move the train
together? The austere neo-classical sound works well giving bite to what could
have been an unbearably twee song. ‘Pagan’s Run’ is the most interesting track
here by far, the closest to what you might call a gritty rocker on the five
Yusuf comeback albums so far, with the organ riff from ‘Killin’ Time’ in 1977
thrown in for good measure. Cat’s lyrics recall a time just before that, circa
1974 when he was ‘a mess’ and ‘scared as hell’, ‘hiding from the world’ lost
and looking for something to believe in. At first he tries sex, but the woman
who offered him warmth ‘left me cold’, but nothing works. There’s a great
guitar solo from Eric Appapouley, a rare case of an electric guitar on a modern
Cat Stevens song (sad there’s no Alun Davies on this record by the way, the
first time in a long time), but it works well and the years fall off Cat
himself too – he sounds thirty, forty years younger on this song. The track
doesn’t end so much as crash, mirroring the TB-induced collapse of ‘It’s A Supa
Dupa Life’ from his second album ‘New Masters’, the sound of a life so
unsustainable it was always going to fail somewhere.’ He Is True’ is perhaps the
weakest song here, a slight 90 second acoustic fragment about how Cat is
isolated in his TB hospital bed prison. The record executives stop calling, the
friends don’t come anymore and ‘everything has changed but the world
remaineth’. In the silence Cat hears the higher calling and wonders why no one
else seems to be able to hear it too.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Another Night In The Rain’ gives us the sort of
late 70s synths that you could hear on albums like ‘Back To Earth’ as Cat
recovers and heads outside, enjoying everything nature has to throw at him,
even the sort of weather he would once have hidden away from (and appreciating
being alive in all its elements more than ever given how nearly it as taken
away from him, even the sad and scary parts). Cat had no responsibilities, for
the first time in a long time, ‘free to choose’ what he does next. ‘no need to
hurry’. He next makes up a fake biography for his character, a failed half
degree and an empty bank account which certainly wasn’t his life in 1968, but
he also feels full with the new insight his experiences have given him, ‘no
need to feel sorry’ as he tells us. Things get better with ‘Things’, a slow and
thoughtful song about change that fits right at the heart of the record, Cat
learning that life is all about change and evolving to be a better person based
on what you learn. There are lyrical references to ‘children always playing’
and ‘growing up’, something that makes him wonder about nature and nurture and
whether you could have told his life story seeing him as a young boy, whether
the adult was always within him or whether it was shaped by life events. The
theme of the song is how God works in mysterious ways and how ‘it’s not for us
to judge what we don’t see’. The chord changes on this choppy acoustic guitar
song are straight out of ‘Bitterblue’, but the mood is much lighter this time
around. ‘Son Of Mary’ is the most overtly religious song here and sounds like
the re-telling of ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ from the last album, but this one is
most definitely about the Virgin Mary without any ambiguity. Cat gives us the
lesser known beginning to her story, how scared Mary was when the angels came
to her and her doubts over being given the responsibility of giving birth to
the Messiah. This song isn’t about Cat overtly, but you can tell the
similarities he feels, being burdened with the weight of someone in the public
eye who has found God, proud to have been picked but unsure as to his
suitability, and isn’t yet sure if he’s brave enough to communicate all he
senses to everyone because people like him just don’t do that. He trusts God’s
word, but it’s a close run thing set against his natural fear whether his
strength or weakness will win.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Highness’ brings in the gospel choir and sounds
like an out-take from ‘Godspell’ (that’s a huge compliment coming from me, by
the way) via ‘Sister Act’. Cat can’t believe how well things are going for him
in this period of his life – everyone seems to adore him and artistically he
stretches to much higher heights than he ever expected to when he became a
teenage pop star. He knows, though, that however far he stretches he can’t
quite reach God’s outstretched hand like this and has to find some other way to
get closer. It’s a happy rousing celebratory song for all that though, as Cat
feels happy to have been blessed at all, never mind with the chance to tell
others about the gift he’s been given so they can find their own path to God.
‘The Boy Who Knew How To Climb Walls’ moves away from the ‘story’ and is rather
like the bluesier questioning passages in Paul’s record. This is Cat asking why
God allows such awful things to happen in the world, telling his tale as it
might have been had he been born in a lesser part of the world, watching his
beloved elder brother die in a warzone. The lad’s naive innocent narration is
rather touching, even if Cat’s emotional vocal is a tad shrill. I wonder too if
this song is about his ‘real’ brother David, the one who was there at two of
the most pivotal moments in Cat’s life: his signing to Decca records at 17 and
the Qu’ran that helped get him into Islam in 1976 and who died a few years ago
(no wonder he could ‘climb walls’ and obstacles that stopped other people,
giving younger brother a help up for most of his life the way elder brothers do.
You can understand why Cat would feel a bit lost without his big brother’s
guiding influence that’s shaped so much of his life, so the feelings in this
song might be autobiographical eve if the circumstances aren’t). Cat sings of
seeing his brother ‘floating in the air’ and knows they’ll be reunited soon in
the next life, but still his faith wobbles enough to ask why such a good man
had to die at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One of the strongest songs is ‘How Good It
Feels’ which brings us up to date. All the things Cat used to hope are now
certainties, his tested faith proven in a way that it never quite was for Paul.
Cat’s been so many people, young and free, old and responsible, joyous and
suffering, and like ‘Father and Son’ he can see life from lots of perspectives.
Youthful enthusiasm is a great thing to have, but so is the wisdom of
experience of old age, with the extra insight suffering and hurt gives you. His
metaphor across the album is climbing trees, to be as close to Heaven as any
mortal Human can be and while he had more strength to climb in his youth Cat
needed the wisdom of his elder years to work out which branches were rotten and
risked making him fall (what with ‘The laughing Apple’ on the last album,
orchards seem to be a big thing with cat at the moment). The strains from the
finale of ‘swan lake’, at the point when the swan Odessa becomes human again
after a magic spell, is confusing at first and sticks out like a musical sore
thumb but is actually a pretty neat and subtle metaphor for what Cat was going
through at the time, just right in a song about metamorphosis and how life’s
journey turns you into something you never expected at all when you set off
with a completely different destination in mind. A haunting tune and some
lovely finger-picking acoustic guitar bring out the best in Yusuf and it’s a
shame the album doesn’t end there instead of the happy sappy ‘I’ll Take The
World Apart’ which sounds like the sort of silly song you get over the end
credits of sub-par films, one last chance to call for peace.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Oh well, that’s only one daft singalong on an
album that’s otherwise pretty strong all round – nothing that new or revealing,
the way it was hinted perhaps, and a less courageous record than Paul’s
outpouring of personal emotion all round. Nevertheless there is a lot of ‘Cat’ on
‘King Of A Land’ both musically and lyrically (though I’m sorry the two
don’t match up more, so that we have the 1960s styles for the start of the
journey and the 2000s style at the end for instance). However its a more than
worthy addition to his catalogue, recalling the dark nights of the soul and the
sun rises that sent him merrily on his way again. Certainly the theme of God is
much better realised than it is on both ‘An Other Cup’ and ‘Tell ‘Em I’m Gone’
which were preachy in the extreme. Instead this album is more like ‘Roadsinger’
- Cat tells us about God because that’s the most important thing in his life to
talk about, but its an album about Cat’s experiences getting there rather than
telling people off for not joining him which makes it more palatable all round
and he still has room for questioning and doubt, for perhaps the first time
since giving music up in 1978 for religion. It’s not quite as strong as
‘Roadsinger’ (still the best of Cat’s comeback records) but it is another
strong set of songs where even the weakest is hummable and the best is as
strong as anything in that great back catalogue. Performed with triumph at a
winning Glastonbury set this year, when the crowd took to cat more than ever
since his comeback,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘King Of the Land’
feels like a victory lap from the title down, but one that’s never smug or
satisfied. Cat knows he’s been blessed, but wants to bless us all too. Fabulous:
in most other years this would be the review winner but such is the strength in
numbers in 2023 there’s very little to chose between the top three. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">4) <a name="__DdeLink__11494_1240533512">Belle
and Sebastian “Late Developers”</a></span></span></em><span style="mso-bookmark: __DdeLink__11494_1240533512;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">And this one really isn’t that distant a fourth.
Belle and Sebastian aren’t the sort of band who make plans on a regular basis,
but they really had one for this album. The sessions for previous album titled,
err, ‘A Bit Of Previous’ made under covid lockdown had been so productive that
they had more than enough for a double album. Rather than shoo the extra tracks
away onto a series of EPs or B-sides as per normal, instead the band would take
the ones that weren’t quite ready yet and stick them out on a second album just
eight months later, released in a sudden rush of publicity for when the band
returned to touring for the first time in January 2023 as a complete surprise
to fans who are used to waiting years between albums. However the best laid
plans of mice, men and Sebastian do have a tendency to go wrong and instead
Stuart Murdoch got sick which delayed the tour, though the album was too far
along in production to delay. So it was that, in a year when we expected to
have the old band touring and no new album instead we had a new album and a
band who weren’t up to plugging it. Together with the release date (I mean, who
even releases an album in January any more after the Christmas rush?) this
album got a bit lost in the cracks of the schedules, failing to #30 in the UK
charts compared to its previous predecessor’s sky high of #8. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">That will confuse the heck out of future music
historians because while the themes of both records are the same (love, loss
and loneliness) ‘Late’ is by far the more commercial of the two albums, the
dancing daytime extrovert to Previous’ lonely nights sat waiting for the phone
to ring. You could argue too that while the last album was haunted by the past
and ‘previous’, this one has half a foot there and half in the future, as the
band try to do nothing more than live in the present, a ‘life lesson’ they wish
they’d learnt a long time ago but better late than never (the two titles taken
together may well be the cleverest thing about these albums!) Keyboardist
Beans, already the main player on the last album, dominates this one even more
with a majority of tracks coated in a beat-filled wash of synths that leaves
even less room for B and S’ characteristic sounds of guitar, piano and
trumpets. B and S have slowly been edging away from their early 1960s throwback
sound for thirty odd years now and are whole-heartedly in 1980s territory here,
with ‘Developers’ sounding like one of those modern Human League albums, not
least because of the extra share of vocals given over to Sarah Martin and
Stevie Jackson but also because they use the same trick of unfolding
warm-blooded songs of human angst and emotion set over a cold, austere backing
that makes everyone feel extra lost. It’s a worthy twist on their usual sound
and a logical progression on where we were previously, as it were, but across a
whole album it sadly makes everything sound flat and repetitive, even after a
few playings. It’s certainly much more of a ‘band’ record than, with covid
rules relaxed enough to involve more in-person playing and less overdubs, even
if everything has the same odd feel of spacing between every instrument so the
band still feel separated (again, very Human League). After a run of albums
that mined everything from folk to funk this is B and S’ new wave record and
while that will be exactly what many fans want I miss the quieter, more
contemplative sound of before, if only because all of the band’s usual fine
lyrics are rather lost this time beneath the constant need to dance. Had the
two albums been mixed up a bit more then I suspect it would have been a little
better for both of them. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Releasing two albums so close to each other has
inevitably led to comparisons and most critics seem to think that ‘Developers’
is the better album, but I’m not sure I agree. Where ‘Previous’ was an album of
mostly highs with a couple of lows ‘Developers’ is one of those albums where
everything is consistently good but nothing is truly great – certainly not as
great as ‘If They’re Shooting At You’ from last year, the best B and S song in
years. Most of the characters in these songs are recognisably in a similar
place in their lives though – sad middle age, facing a bleak future, with half
an eye yearning nostalgically for their past. Notably many of these narrators
are alone once again, trapped in a house that’s too big to fill for one (‘a
tower of hard-fought solitude’ Murdoch poetically calls it at one stage) and
surrounded by dreams of how different things were going to be, once. Many of
them refer to nervous breakdowns, of struggling to block out the pain. The
difference is that these characters are maybe a little happier and accepting,
slightly further down the road to recovery and ready to embrace second chances
despite being burned, with a general album theme of forgetting your worries
long enough to allow you to embrace the moment which crops up on around a third
of the songs, though the mood is still quite low despite the all-singing
all-dancing production. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The album starts promisingly with the fiery
crackling guitars of perhaps the best song ‘Juliet Naked’, a very B and S tale
of a lost and confused young girl at school, testing out her early
rebelliousness because it feels like the right thing to do for her development
as a Human being and not being at all sure why she’s been rewarded for her
bravery with lines. Sexually promiscuous, she’s one of B and S’ unluckier
characters, wondering why she’s paying the price of pregnancy and being shunned
by her community when her boyfriend’s gotten away with everything scott free. Murdoch’s
narrator is more distant than normal, seeing her boyfriend through her eyes and
the way she used to look up to him when they were young and she was more mature
than him, but now they’re older she’s dismayed to find him more immature than
her, walking out on a love that was perfect for her because he’s scared. She
still feels love for him though, the ‘Stepford wives’ to his ‘Goffin and King’
singing. It’s a punchier track than most in the band’s catalogue and sounds
like the burst of energy in new wave songs circa 1979-1980 before everyone
moved onto synths, as indeed the rest of the album does. ‘Give A Little Time’
has the narrator (sung by Sarah this time but still clearly in Stuart’s writing
‘voice’) reading through old correspondence and burning it as ‘nonsense’ but
equally tells us ‘you can’t let the past be silent’, that it lives with you
everywhere you go. ‘Time’ also says that ‘you don’t have time to waste time’ on
the wrong people, or so it cries in the verses, but on the choruses its more in
keeping with the particular brand of B and S nostalgia over happy golden glows
of youth that stay with you as you grow older and set in your ways, accepting
that by now the narrator has set so much time and effort into those around him
he needs to be patient with them a bit longer. ‘When We Were Very Young’ is a
very B and S song from the title down (the sort of thing they’ve been singing
since they were indeed very young) and the saddest thing here lyrically, though
you wouldn’t know that from the backing’s insistent rictus manic grin. Stuart’s
stuck at home with nothing to do but a long list of chores, wishing that he
didn’t remember when his dreams were so big they consumed him, his head racked
with pain. ‘No one can help you when it gets this bad’ he sighs, wishing he
could ‘walk away from my scars and sores’, the open wounds of the present and
the hurts of the past. It’s the one track here that would have benefitted from
being on ‘Previous’ and that album’s slightly softer, more reflective feel and
the backing is more intrusive here than usual though it’s still a strong and
revealing song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">By ‘Will I Tell You A Secret?’ it feels as if
Stuart and co have told us everything they could possibly tell, honest to an
extreme and indeed it’s not much of a secret this revelation - ‘we were happy
until we looked to tomorrow’ Stuart sings, as he wishes he was back living in
the present with an ex before they started planning for a future that
unravelled them. Like most of ‘Previous’ it finds Murdoch in transition, revisiting
old relationships, discovering that its natural to be friends with someone you
still like but impossible to be lovers, though whether with people past present
or future all becomes a bit of a blur. Stevie immediately picks up on the idea
as he so often does and spins a much happier tale over being ‘So In The
Moment’, thrilled to have discovered a new spark of something and determined to
give it his all to block out his own memories of past hurts. ‘I want to let go,
like Paul McCartney and Wings!’ he sings, referencing ‘Letting Go’ from ‘Venus
and Mars’, hoping that ‘wishes convert to kisses galore’ and that this love
‘will last for the rest of my life’, but pulling up short every time he starts
to plan because controlling magic and trying to pin down something ethereal
into facts and dates is when things go wrong. Unlike Stuart too the past and
missed opportunities suddenly seems a long time ago and ‘it’s a long time to
yesterday’. Being in the here and now is where it matters and he’s not going to
waste the opportunity he’s been given by holding anything in, blurting out all
his feelings as a running commentary so his lover knows exactly where he’s
coming from without having to second guess him. Of all the songs here it’s the
one that makes the most of its dance-driven backing that comes across with pure
joy, although as a song its quite a bit slighter than other songs Jackson’s
brought to the band recently. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It’s almost a shame when the inward plod of ‘The
Evening Star’ comes back in with more Murdoch melancholy and another letter
addressed to an ex, but of all the sad songs on this album this is Stuart’s
most complex and thought out. ‘You’re still a special person to me’ he sings,
perhaps with old bandmate Isobel Campbell in mind, even whole he knows there
are other more recent people actually in his life he should be paying more
attention to. ‘I knew you when we were little’ he sings ‘When I was a queer
fish’ and he continues to watch her rise with respect and a little awe as
everyone sees in her what he did before anyone else. Stuart admits he ‘messed
up on the practical side’ and that it made him dig deeper into his ‘spiritual
side’, one which even now gives him answers – such as the thought that she’s
better off without him anyway, so he tears up yet another letter without
sending it (something he’s been doing since ‘The Days Of The Bagenold Summer’ a
couple of albums ago).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the song
that’s got the most attention from the album, perhaps because it’s the most
traditionally sounding Belle and Sebastian song here, but fittingly for a song
that’s about going through old times it feels a bit too recycled from songs
great without quite being a great new one in its own right. ‘When You’re Not
With Me’ is a rare second song for Sarah but again feels like another Murdoch
missive, this time written in his muse’s voice (its no coincidence that Sarah
and Isobel sound so alike that they often doubled up on their vocals and fans
still have trouble telling them apart on old recordings, me included). ‘We
speak a different language’ she tells him, the ‘light’ to his ‘shadow’, but
they are having a conversation of sorts and admitting their neutrality: ‘We’re
not lovers, but we’re not fighters’. Where Stuart feels lost and trapped in his
big empty house she feels ‘lost in the open’, perhaps without a band to hide behind.
‘Come back to where it began’ Stuart seemingly imagines Isobel telling him, her
feeling like him that life isn’t the same alone, asking him to if not run to
her side exactly then to ‘stay in my line of sight’. It would be interesting to
hear a companion song from Isobel, whose been going through quite a time of it
herself what with the death from covid of her regular collaborator Mark
Lanegan, her grizzly-voiced ‘Stuart’ substitute. Production-wise its by far the
biggest moment on the album and a more daring piece than others on ‘developers’
with its sinister horror-movie vibe making it feel quite different to B and S’
usual fare, even if the structure and chord choices are pure Murdoch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The album’s first single ‘I Don’t Know What You
See In Me’ is production heavy too but on safer, more commercial ground and
sounds so like a Eurovision song I’m convinced it actually was an entry this
year. It’s the last song a few more miles along the line, as two old lovers
come together after a time apart, though oddly enough this oh so Belle and
Sebastian song is not written by the band but Wauh Oh’s Pete Ferguson, clearly
chosen because it fits their style so well(a song that accidentally flew in the
ether to a different songwriter instead). Suddenly though, after waiting for
this moment for so long, Stuart ‘s singer isn’t quite sure what to do or if he
deserves it – last time he was ‘himself’ it all went wrong, but equally so did
over-thinking, so instead he takes a leaf out of Stevie’s book and decides to
live in the moment. With its big central musical hook you can see why it became
the single whoever wrote it but it might well be the slightest, tritest one B
and S have released, without the same depth as the rest of the record. It’s
oddly placed on the album too, given that it’s in between two songs that are
very much against a reunion; ‘Do You Follow?’, for instance, is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the bleakest song on the album whatever the
happy production beat, ‘waiting like a coiled spring waiting for the phone to
ring’ but knowing in its heart of hearts that it never will, that the past is
done and over, that the similarities Stuart once felt with a lover when they
shared the same experiences have turned into differences now that they’re apart.
Notably this song is set as a duet, Stuart and Sarah singing to each other as
they try to work out whose following who or whether they’re just going round in
circles, each ‘worshipping at the altar of ourselves’ while knowing it isn’t
good for them and waiting for the other to make the first move and call. What
with the backing and the line ‘When you going to call me? When you going to
want me?’ this is the most Human League of the lot, a sadder older wiser ‘Don’t
You want Me Baby?’ but not quite as memorable I fear. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall’ is an
interesting one. If it feels a bit ‘old school’, with a wash of 60s style
chords and a lower value production then that might be because its a ‘lost’
song from 1994, one which could have been on ‘Tigermilk’ (though its not quite
up to standard and probably right to get the boot, equally it’s a surprise the
band haven’t returned to it before as it’s still pretty good). It even returns
to the setting of the cafe where B and S were first formed and Stuarts Murdoch
and David made all their early plans. Thematically it fits this record well
though, a comforting hug to anyone dating, urging them to be cautious but also
to enjoy themselves and not worry too much about finding the perfect fit
because the odds are against it – but also not to listen to their old and
cynical advice! B and S have used a lot of ‘guest singers’ in the past and this
song features Obscura Camera’s Tracyanne Campbell. She dated Stuart for a while
in the ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ period, in between Isobel and before wife
Marisa and it’s a surprise she hadn’t guested before; her presence further
muddies the waters of who exactly Murdoch is singing to, not least because he
hadn’t yet written this song of advice when he first met her. It’s a sweet
song, no long lost classic but with more of those characteristic Murdoch turns
of phrases that no other writer gives you, ‘making the same mistakes over and
over like a puppy with a broken leg’ and remembering ‘how you use to laugh till
you cried on your bed at all the stupid things I said’. The album then ends
with the title track, one last promise to live in the moment set against a
breezy backing that’s actually genuinely joyous for once. A tale of second
chances, Murdoch regrets all the times in his life he was over-thinking when
the secret of life is just to enjoy it and take it as it comes. Like many an
old B and S song he offers the advice to himself but also to the listener,
offering to take us in his pocket as he goes out and celebrates life so we feel
less alone – which, after all, is what we do with his music on our mp3 players
and phones all the time, thus blurring the line between band and fans like the
old days! It’s a clever idea on a slight song though, without even the depth of
Stevie’s song on the same subject and a bit of a damp squib as an album closer.
</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The result is a mixed album, one that I don’t
feel as emotionally invested in as I did ‘A Bit Of Previous’ and one where that
album’s issues (the heavy handed production and the similar theme of the songs)
are even more of problem, without that record’s devastating melodies or
reaching the same peaks of lyric writing. All that said it’s still a solid
album, a lot higher in the B and S pantheon than misfires like ‘The Life
Pursuit’ or ‘Write About Love’ and a lot better than an entire second record
released just eight months after a promising first has any right to be. Had the
best of it, ‘Juilet Naked’ ‘So In The Moment’ ‘Cynics’ and ‘When We Were Very
Young’ knocked out the lesser third of ‘Previous’ then it would have been a
mighty powerful album indeed, but I also kind of like it as effectively a
double set, the catch-all ‘White Album’ of the B and S catalogue filled with
the same haunted lost opportunities, ghostly shadows, joyous singalongs,
nonsense ditties and wonky experiments. This has been, if not quite a golden
age, then a strong return for Murdoch’s songwriting after a quiet few years stretching
back to the excellent ‘Girls In Peacetime’ record in 2015 and you hope that he
finds peace and stability after what sound like a turbulent few years given the
songs he’s been writing lately. Mercifully both records point towards that sense
of recovery and stability and the growing space for Sarah and Stevie within the
band bodes well for their future as a whole too – not least because, at their
current trajectory mining influences from the 1960s through to the 1980s more
or less in real time, they’ll hit their ‘Britpop’ style record very soon and
that’s a sound that should fit them like a glove (it’s full circle to where
they started, after all). I’m not sure ‘Developers’ is a record that will be
getting a lot of space in my heart or time on my record player after its first
eleven months and in many ways is a backwards step after the more adventurous
and deeper ‘Bit Of Previous’, but this is a record that is still growing on me
and might yet turn out to be a ‘Late Developer’ after all that grows in stature
each time I hear it. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">5) Allan Clarke “I’ll Never Forget”</span></span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It’s been 75 years since a five-year old Allan
Clarke started at Ordsall Primary School and the teacher asked if anyone wanted
to sit by him and an older boy named Graham Nash offered the empty chair next
to his. 70 since they first went their separate ways either side of the cruel
11-plus system. 64 since they started singing together as ‘The Two Tones’. 61
this Christmas since they joined Eric Haydock’s band to become The Hollies. 60
since their first hit. 58 since their first UK number one. 56 since they made
two of the greatest albums ever made released just months apart, ‘Evolution’
and ‘Butterfly’. 54 since they went their separate ways at the peak of their
fame, ending up half a world away from each other. 40 since they last made an
album together. 30 since they last made any music together (and it was, of course,
a Buddy Holly cover). 24 since Clarke officially retired (and 30 since he last
sang on a Hollie recording). 13 since a controversial Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of
fame induction (when, depending on who you ask, Nash was incredibly controlling
or his replacement Terry Sylvester incredibly rude). 11 since a surprise
on-stage two-way reunion singing ‘Bus Stop’ at the Albert Hall<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at a Crosby-Nash concert. And now, here they
are, old friends again, on a full record of vocal ‘n’ harmonies, just like the
old days, with a sound we fans had long assumed we’d never ever hear together
again. It really is quite a story. In 1983, on a record that really didn’t
sound much like The Hollies, Clarke and Naah (and Hicks and Elliott) told us
that what comes around goes around. And like Halley’s comet (or should that be
Holly’s comet?) they’ve finally passed this way in orbit again. And it all
feels so right. As a lifelong Hollie fan I still keep having to shake my head
that this album is quite real and not a fever dream or a mythical creature. But
it is. The Clarke-Nash harmonies don’t quite sound like the days of old
(Clarke’s voice faded rapidly after constant touring as a Hollies for nearly
forty years, while Graham’s has just begun to lose its edge slightly too). The
songs certainly don’t sound like Hollie songs and don’t sound that much like
Clarkey’s mighty fine run of solo albums either, breaking out into new ground
like country and blues. The songs overall are not quite as consistent or
inspired as the ones on ‘Resurgence’ (although the better ones are a lot
better). You miss the third edge that Tony Hicks used to give them,
effortlessly sliding in between their vocal lines and the antiseptic modern
backing isn’t great. But it still feels like magic that this album exists at
all in any form, as unlikely to everyday life as seeing Puff The Magic Dragon,
or Pegasus the Flying Horse. </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The resurgence started with ‘Resurgence’, the
eighth Clarke solo album released in 2019 nearly thirty years after his last.
It was an impressive, triumphant comeback that won back many fans, but I don’t
think I was the only one who felt that what it lacked most was the one thing
people associate with The Hollies: harmonies. One of the people who loved it
was Graham, who having burnt his bridges with CSN/Y called his old friend and said
they should work together sometime, although it wasn’t until after covid hit
that they finally agreed on a time and place. It’s interesting timing for Nash
who, just as in 1983, felt so jilted by Crosby’s behaviour and hurt that he
reached out to an even older his friend to make amends – only this time, alas,
he never quite got to make amends with David Crosby before he died of covid in
January. Sadly the pair changed the original plan, which was to make it an
equal joint record from the get go, with songs by each, until it became a
Clarke solo album with Nash guesting, but even so its still quite a
collaboration. Nash wrote one of the songs (which also appears on his solo
album) and sings on nine of the eleven tracks, as well as inspiring many of the
tales of long-standing friendship and music-making that appear on the album. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The best moments by far are the ones that tap
into nostalgia. The title track, for instance, is superb and the equal of
anything Clarke was writing in his heyday, a poignant ‘will they won’t they?’
ballad written while waiting to see if the album would happen at all, filled
with memories of long ago and a melody full of longing that really tugs at the
heart strings. Like me Clarke is ‘lost for words’ at the thought of a reunion
we all long assumed would never happen, a ‘line that’s already been cast’,
desperate to treat it as a new experience but fully aware of all the unspoken
past that’s gone between them. It’s kind of ‘My Life Is Over With You’,
Clarke’s angry break-up song from ‘Hollies Sing Hollies’ in 1969 when he felt
the betrayal of his school-hood friend walking out on their band, his home and
their friendship to join C and S but (just like King Midas) in reverse as
circumstances edge two friends slowly back together again, a touch of
familiarity in a changing world. Cleverly, subtly, Nash joins in the song
gradually, slowly edging his way to the middle after a life on the fringes of
Clarke’s orbit until by the end of the second chorus he’s soaring together in
tandem with his old friend just like old days, their older vocals sounding like
their younger selves just for a moment of Hollie harmony heaven. </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If the record only existed for that moment it
would be worth it and even if it never quite matches those heights again there are
still many memorable tracks. Next best is ’Movin’ On’, a title which quotes
from one of The Everly Brothers’ most famous songs (the other big influence on
a young Clarke and Nash), Clarke at home wondering about making this album and
if its ever going to happen and telling nosy fans and reporters asking about a
reunion ‘please don’t ask because I don’t know myself’. Clarke admits that a
reunion has ‘always been on their minds’ but now they’re ‘reaching out for
something new we’ve never done before’. Interestingly its about as far down
Clarkey’s arena rock solo style and away from Nash’s folkier-psychedelia side
as anything on the album, highlighted by some grungy guitar. Rather sweetly it
has the pair back where they first began, two nervy people unused to working
together in public, clutching their guitars and searching for the ‘something
missing’ they need in their lives that can only be filled with that special
sound, ‘waiting for a ride’ to take them to where they need to go, only this
time it’s a musical ride to set them free. ‘The Presence Of You’ is clearly
written for Allan’s wife Jennifer and their nearly sixty-year marriage
‘together for all time’, but Nash’s harmonies and harmonica give this cute sea
shanty an extra gravitas and comfort that only an old friends can offer too
(most of the harmonica playing on this album is Clarkey’s and is great to hear
again, but that sounds much more like Nash’s notoriously sloppier style to me).
‘Maybe The Next Time’ is another track that wonders at missed opportunities
with an old friend, with a moving lyric about ‘trying harder to connect’ with
an old friend or an old flame and wondering if each time they speak will be the
last now that they are growing old and time is growing short. It’s the song
here that could most easily have fitted onto a 1970s Clarke solo album,
particularly the ballad-heavy ‘I’ve Got Time’, with the sort of distinctive
chord structure that only Allan could write. The opener ‘You Need Someone To
Save You’ is a great song too, the one real rocker here from a singer who used
to excel at them, the one piece here that sounds in-yer-face live with a
tormented lyric about making mistakes and struggle versus hope, all about how
life is better with someone you trust at your side. The track finds Clarke
aping his ‘discovery’ Bruce Springsteen one last time (and sounding rather
better than ‘The Boss’ does these days into the bargain). Nash doesn’t really
join in until a middle eight, but the key change is very much the sort of lift
they used to give each other’s songs, taking it in a whole other direction,
even if here Nash is very much working to Clarke’s idea. Closer ‘Who Am I?’
also sounds as if it was inspired by the best of Nash’s impressive last record
‘This Path Tonight’ (not least the lines about finding a path to follow), a
performer ready to head off the stage and into the great unknown, wondering
what comes next (though unlike Graham Allan isn’t egotistical enough to imagine
an audience pleading for an ‘Encore’!) It’s a groovy, rocking finale to an
album that maybe could have done with a few more rockers in the middle to
divide up the ballads. </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The long awaited co-write ‘Buddy’s Back’ (the
first Clarke-Nash co-write to be released since ‘Survival Of The Fittest’ in
1970!), the song that ended up on both albums, is by comparison slight but fun,
as the old friends celebrate getting their ‘buddy back’ - a lyric that refers
both to the special replica guitars they were awarded in 2012 by the Buddy
Holly foundation (the reason Clarke was in town that night at the Crosby-Nash
concert)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and an old friend coming back
into their lives. It’s rather neat that the album should include such an
obviously Holly-inspired song, given its heavy influence on both men’s careers and
a Holly-inspired pun given the one in the ‘Hollies’ band name, although it’s
hardly of the magnitude of the first batch of Holly-inspired songs the pair
wrote together circa 1963, never mind the last career-defining batch they came
up with in 1967-68. ‘When Loved Walked Out The Room’ too is so Holly-like,
complete with the doo doo doos from ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’, although this song
never quite catches fire either despite being the most Holliesy thing on the
album (particularly ‘Hollies Sing Holly’). I have to say I’m not that convinced
by the long run of country songs on this album either, a style that seems to
have come out of nowhere for Clarke despite writing a number of (rocking)
cowboy songs down the years, country being perhaps the one genre around
pre-1990 that he didn’t try at some point as a Hollie or in his solo work and
the slow tempo puts a little too much strain on his older lived-in voice
(country is Nash’s Achilles heel too come to that, something he only tried once
on second album ‘Wild Tales’ where the country songs are similarly by far his
weakest compositions of the 1970s). It feels like a cul-de-sac and all the more
surprising given how long its taken to find a road they can both travel down
together. ‘Let’s Take This Back To Bed’ is a Hillbilly song about a marital
tiff and how love is more important than any disagreement that features every
country cliche but the dead horse (Stewball?) ‘You Shine A Light’ particularly
is awful, easily the worst song on a Clarkey solo record, a cringey ploddy
country pop song that’s so slow I can see tumbleweeds whirring past in slow
motion. ‘You Didn’t Like It’, a country lament for mistakes and clashes and
‘not being right all the time’, is also pretty lame and the one song here that
uncharitably points towards a still lingering bitterness at how things turned
out in 1968. That would be great if it was a decent song, an honest appraisal
of how splits aren’t always amicable and how reunions don’t just take that
feeling away, but alas it sounds like the sort of drippy faceless thing Shania
Twain would stick on a B-side and liven up by performing on the back of a horse
than a suitable outing for a Hollie reunion. The biggest obstacle, though, is
the anonymous modern backing which alas sounds more 1990s Hollies than 1960s,
all big swashing synths and thumping drums and too many extra takes. </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There’s nothing here that sounds like anything
The Hollies did, with Nash in the band or not, no ‘I’m Aives’, no ‘Carrie
Annes’, no ‘King Midases’, no ‘Long Cool Womans’ ‘no Air That I Breathes’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and not even the re-recordings-from-an-older
perspective that made up so much of ‘Resurgence’ that might have gone down well
with Nash on board (I’m still dying to hear Clarkey’s tribute to his newborn
son ‘Lullaby To Tim’ properly, without Nash the singing electronic blender
taking it over, while ‘Marrakesh Express’ - a song rejected by the Hollies in
1968 – would be fun with a Clarkey vocal. Maybe next album?) In other words, if
you come to this album fresh, without knowing the history or how rare it all
is, you might not get how important or wonderful ‘I’ll Never Forget’ really is;
in the end it’s just another mixed Hollie solo album full of the good, the bad
and the ugly. But it is special. As the title song goes, trying to recapture
all the things that once were was never going to happen. The fact it happened
at all, after all that hurt and mistakes and aborted plans down the years, its
a miracle. It’s a testament to the longevity of a pair who’d long assumed they
would never get to sing together again and the best parts of the album all
centre round the same idea: a beaming smile that ‘gee, I never thought we’d
actually get to do this again, just like the old days!’ In more than a few
places the sheer joy of making this music mean the years slip away, that
Clarke’s vocal loses all of that older-aged rasp and soars, while Nash stops
floating somewhere vaguely nearby and soars fully in tandem, just the way they
used to, especially on Clarkey’s more moving songs of having gained an inner
wisdom and insight and wanting to make the most of things a second (third?
Fourth?) time round. While only parts of this record reaches those great
heights and even though it would have surely been better as a full-on
Clarke-Nash collaboration, well, those parts are the ones I’ll never forget and
if you’ve been here for even a tiny bit of the Hollie story and waited in vain
to hear those voices together again as long as I have then neither can you. Look
out for a surprise Clarke collaboration with Carla Olsen ‘It Makes Me Cry’,
released late on in the year which can be found in our ‘songs of the year’
list, though really in time I suspect we’ll come to think of it as an ‘extra’
from this record, with the same ‘back together again after all this time’
vibes. Did Nash not like it? Did they run out of time? Or was it never meant
for this album? </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">6) Graham Nash “Now”</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Graham, meanwhile, has an album of his own out –
one where Clarke pops up as a guest only on the choruses of a remixed ‘Buddy’s
Back’. While Clarkey’s was written in a flurry of activity since lockdown
Nash’s has been in gestation since 2016, when he had so many extra songs left
over from this fertile period it seemed as if a follow-up album to the
superlative ‘This Path Tonight’ was going to be imminent. Instead it’s taken a
bit longer, with lots of new additions including some added at the last minute
at the start of this year. Rather than sounding like a totally different path
though we’re just slightly further down the road than last time – the world has
fallen apart that little bit more but things are looking a lot rosier in
Graham’s domestic bubble after taking the risk of a big life change and
starting a new life with girlfriend Amy. ‘I really thought it was coming to an
end’ sings Graham in the opening song, picking up directly from where he left
off on the jaw-dropping ‘Encore’ which imagined his own death (in a very Paul
Simon ‘7 Psalms’ way) but instead finds him thriving. The mood is still much
the same – difficult events that wake you up and make you question what you
really want from being alive – but after a few extra years of finding happiness
in ‘Our House’ style domesticated bliss, its less a raging inferno and more a
tiny rumble, the difference between going through hell and reflecting on having
been through it in the rear view mirror. Which is great for Graham and anyone
whose spent any of that journey with him looking for such happiness; less good
for his music.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Though Graham’s always had the reputation of
being a syrupy singalong kind of a writer I’ve always found that to be more
than a tad unfair: it’s mostly the result of being in a band with hard
political heavyweights Crosby Stills and Young and coming from the most melodic
and clean-cut of their trio of ‘feeder’ bands (though The Hollies, at their
peak, were every bit as heavy and political as The Byrds or Buffalo
Springfield). It doesn’t help that his most famous CSN songs tend to be down
the gentler side of their music - ‘Teach Your Children’ and ‘Just A Song Before
I Go’. At his best though, as on most of ‘Songs For Beginners’, a good half of
‘Wild Tales’ and a fair chunk of ‘This Path Tonight’ Nash has teeth to bare
with the best of him and is at his best when moved by injustice, of bad people
doing bad things to good people. There’s not much of that here, on what’s
easily his sappiest soppiest record to date, a long string of ballads about
loving being in love again, broken up by a couple of sadder songs at the state
of the world and another couple of edgier darker songs of loss that shine above
the rest. Even so, the world whose problems once felt so very personal to a
songwriter like Nash and which has suffered so much since 2016, feels removed
throughout, a distance away, as if it’s happening to someone else. The news,
which used to make Graham rant and complain, now just makes him sad, before he
switches it off to go back to his hard-earned domestic bliss. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It’s hard to begrudge Graham his happiness after
so long searching for it and his love songs sure are pretty, as they always
are. It’s only because the world feels as if it needs a CSNY so much right now
that ‘Now’ feels a bit of a disappointment, a slow graceful delicate thing sighing
in the back in a world that feels as if it’s on fire. We need CSNY more than
ever in a world of Trump, covid, Capitol Hill riots, climate crisis, race
riots, wars, genocides, growing inequality,David Cameron’s comeback from the
dead like the last zombie in a horror film you could never quite kill off and a
mainstream music that’s been so streamlined it barely says anything at all
about anything anymore. We need a release, someone to speak out on our behalf
and with Stills all but retired, Young lost in his own fog of new love in the
present and archive releases in the past and Crosby now sadly gone, it’s left
to Nash to carry that torch for us. And it’s a light that’s down to a
flickering flame. ‘Stand Up’, the one rock song here, tries hard to cajole us
into taking a stand like the olden days with a searing guitar solo from Shane
Fontayne on the fade (by far the most exciting moment here – it’s a real pity
they’re not working together anymore, Shane leaving suddenly from Nash’s
touring band in a move that caught most of us by surprise), a last gasp of
hippie togetherness on a song that makes it clear how much the world has fallen
since those days. ‘Golden Idol’ too features some classic Nash couplets about
the January insurrection at Capitol Hill (‘They’re just like children who can’t
stand losing and the truth is getting in their way’) and the orange-coloured
ex-president who shines so brightly in their eyes. ‘Stars ad Stripes’ too feels
like a missive for our times, Nash trying to remember ‘a time when the world
wasn’t on fire’ and laughing at his youthful hope that humanity could change the
world for humans if they cared enough (‘But then my optimism’s always been out
of sight’ he sings before chuckling ‘ha!’) There are two songs that pick up
from ‘This Path Tonight’ to varying levels of success. Opener ‘Right Now’
(funnily enough the name of an angry Manassas song Stephen Stills once wrote
‘for Graham after he ‘stole’ Rita Coolidge from under his nose!) is a dark
teatime of the soul piece where Nash realises that he was ‘fooling himself’
with his life for too long and pretending to be someone he wasn’t, sleepwalking
to the grave before he found his real self. It’s not quite as dark and
life-changing as the best songs on ‘Tonight’ but it’s a step down the right
path, you could say. ‘I Watched It All Come Down’ is the other tale of personal
woe, Nash reflecting on the collapse of CSNY, all the hope and commitment that
ended up a bunch of contracts, a ‘paperweight’ to weight down some business
executive’s desk. Though a clever lyric it’s just a pale sequel to ‘Beneath The
Waves’ (which had the better CSN metaphors, given how often they wrote about
boats and pictured them on their album covers), which isn’t helped by the quite
irritating staccato violin backing that sounds ugly and out of place on such an
album of warmth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mostly, though, it’s love songs and sweetness
all the way and where the last album was all<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>about the hard task of cutting away the old this album is more about
embracing the new. After that it’s a long series of cosy ballads that show promise
separately but fall a little flat when taken together. ‘Feels Like Home’ might
be the prettiest, a modern ‘Our House’, as Nash leaves all his trouble at the
door as he walks off tour into his new house with his new wife and feels
instantly at home, safe in his haven. There’s an oh so Nash melody designed to
put a cheer on your face and some of that sloppy harmonica he always brings out
for his more romantic songs. ‘Follow Your Heart’ is kind of ‘Sleep Song #3’ as
Nash cuddles up with his wife in bed and watches her sleep while listening to
their heartbeats play in syncopated rhythm, thinking up something to say in the
morning to put a smile on his wife’s face so that it lights up and realising
that the best thing he can say is ‘I love you’ over and over, because he means
it. Another long slow meandering melody is alike a warm bath, especially
compared to the harsh Wintry sound of ‘This Path Tonight’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Closer ‘When It Comes To You’ is another lush
warm ballad as Graham promises to try to be the man he wants to be, loving but
honest, without any game playing. All these songs are nice. Stick them in the
middle of any other Nash album they would sound pretty decent. Stuck all
together on this record though, with their similar tempos and almost whispered
vocals, it means the record risks floating away on a cloud without making the
full impact it should.</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The highlights by far are the two songs that
reach backwards, not out of the anger of many other recent songs but out of
love and forgiveness. ‘Buddy’s Back’ we’ve already covered on the Allan Clarke
album; suffice to say its a tale of getting a guitar, re-discovering a boyhood
hero and reconnecting to a friend all in one go, that’s a little too simple and
derivative to quite take off (it’s a pure steal from Buddy’s ‘It’s So Easy’;
hopefully Paul McCartney, who owns all the rights to Holly’s catalogue, won’t
sue!) Clarkey’s growlier, more lived in vocals really power through the few
times they haven’t been mixed out and, again, how much better these two solo
albums might have been had they been mixed up a little more, with a bit more
grit amongst the love songs. Though they sound very similar to the love songs
Graham’s been writing for Amy and he hasn’t done much talking around this album
over what inspired his songs, it doesn’t take much to guess who they’re for.
‘In A Dream’ sounds very like the simple piano ballads Graham was writing on
‘Songs For Beginners’, back when he was living with Joni Mitchell and sneaking
off to write songs on her piano in the middle of the night on the few occasions
she wasn’t using it herself to write the album ‘Blue’! Like much of ‘Blue’ and
‘Beginners’ both it’s a simple, direct, piano chord led song with a jazzy feel
to it, quite unlike what we now think of as Graham’s usual work. The lyric is
about seeing a past lover in a dream ‘shining brightly’ the way she always did
and all the memories that come flooding back when the narrator wakes up,
remembering what came between them and where both their life paths took them.
Though he doesn’t come out and say it and there’s been more than a few lovers,
wives and girlfriends in between, I’d bet anything he was thinking of Joni
here. My favourite song though is ‘Love Of Mine’, a tender romance that Nash
tells us is about making up following a tiff he had with Amy, but there’s something
about the lyric that points towards a relationship that’s been around an awful
lot longer than that so I’m not all that convinced. Nash looks back over past
words, regretting hurting someone he loved while regretting how they hurt him,
lowering his barriers now ‘someone clearly wants to heal’ and preparing to make
amends. Only he’s too late, instead left wondering ‘can I ever make it right?’
and deciding that rather than get mad at the universe for ending things on such
a low note after so many highs he should instead be thankful for having such a
wonderful relationship in his life at all. Given CSNY’s Penchant for writing
about each other I’m willing to bet this is one last song for Crosby at a time
when relationships between them were just beginning to thaw and a very moving
one at that. Even if it is only about Amy its his most inspired love song for
her so far, full of all the warmth, romance and tenderness of the best Nash
songs and all the better for its little-boy-lost fragility. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Alas good as it is, pretty as it is, that
excellent song feels somewhat lost coming right in the middle of so many
similar songs on the same subject and played with the same feel. ‘Now’ is
undeniably a far patchier album than its predecessor’s path but it is a record
whose biggest problem is that its so similar all the way through, so that its
greatest moments get lost and all blur together. That’s maybe not so much of a
problem if you’re the sort of listener who streams and likes shuffling with the
shuffle button but it is a problem when thirty minutes of a thirty-eight minute
album sounds much the same. There are many songs that return to past themes and
ideas too without many new paving stones laid on this path tonight – something
which is after all quite natural for a songwriter in their 80s. ‘Now’ is a
perfectly respectable album that deserves to do well. In other years it would
be much further up the running order than sixth. It’s only after delivering
both variety and breaking so much new ground on ‘Path Tonight’ I can’t help but
feel slightly disappointed at how little this new album follows in its
footsteps and instead takes an older, easier route. But then we are all on our
own paths and after so much angst and doubt last time its more than good to
hear Graham in his new happy place that might not have flowers in a vase or two
cats in the yard but does sound as if it was everything he’s been searching for
for so long. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">7) Crazy
Horse aka Molina, Talbot, Lofgren and Young “All Roads Lead Home”</span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Well here’s an odd one, a Crazy Horse album in
all but name, the first to be fully formed since 1979 (there is a half-finished
1990 album that got half-released through the Neil Young Archives later) and
the first to have Nils Lofgren as guitarist since the 1971 debut, when as a
fellow Young discovery and teenage hotshot he stepped in to help out an ailing
Danny Whitten. However, this Crazy Horse don’t play together but with their own
bands, individually. And they’re not credited as ‘Crazy Horse’ but the CSNY-ish
sounding ‘Molina, Talbot, Lofgren, Young’. And this doesn’t sound like any
Crazy Horse you may be thinking of (well, maybe the lesser known and selling
‘Loose’ from 1972 but nobody thinks about that album unless they have to).
There’s none of the big cavernous rock and roll they’re famous for, in fact no
rock and roll at all – there’s a couple of mid-tempo pieces but mostly this a
collection of passionate yearning ballads. It seems that you can teach an old
horse new tricks after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Things become clearer when you learn that this
was an album made in pandemic lockdown, when the four members were forced to
work apart and lived too far away from each other to be in covid bubbles
(though weirdly they all seem to have had their own bands live close enough to
work with). None of these four collections of material were meant to be heard
next to each other – they were all intended as solo albums that never got
finished (with the exception of Neil of course, who donated an alternate
acoustic solo version of ‘Song Of The Seasons’ from 2021’s ‘Barn’ which, a few
postmodern lyric changes about how ‘you may have heard this song before’ and
the lack of Nils’ accordion ironically, is otherwise unchanged). I’m not sure
who it was who noticed how similar all these songs were (lonely and reflective
about the state of the world) but it makes logistic sense to stick them all
together as a sort-of ‘Crazy Horse’ album and have Neil’s presence give the
album an extra financial push. After all, Crazy Horse couldn’t get a record
contract for love or money in the 1980s or 1990s and though Billy and Nils have
released some pretty great music under their own names over the past two
decades too much of it has gone un-noticed. Commercially and thematically it
makes sense. There are two big problems with this plan though. One is that the
quartet’s solo albums have almost nothing to do with the big distinctive Crazy
Horse sound, favouring a softer folk-rock style that’s more My Little Pony, so
regular fans are going to be disappointed and CSNY-ifying the band name isn’t
fooling anybody: only committed Neil Young fans <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are going to recognise the names anyway. The
other problem is that the ten songs on this album aren’t just complementary to
each other – they’re too similar, to the point of sounding the same even after
you get to know the album really well. There’s a reason bands rarely put out
albums of nine ballads one after another; by the time you get near the end, far
from getting into the really good lyrics about life being short, instead time
seems to be standing still. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Individually, however, there are lots of great
moments on this album, particularly if you listen to the songs one at a time in
between listening to something else. To take the band members in order, bass
player Billy Talbot has been on a rich seam of songwriting the past few years
and his band’s second and third albums, released in 2014 and 2015 respectively,
are well worth hearing (particularly ‘Welcome To Spearfish’, one of the hidden
gems of the extended Young family catalogue). The same lineup play on his trio
of songs for this album and they’re arguably the most ‘finished’ sounding of
the lot, evidence of a group that know each other well. ‘Rain’ is a strong
opener, a commercial slow burner about feeling lost, called to the next world
by the swell of a ‘tide’ that’s all powerful even though ‘I’ve barely learnt to
swim’, the narrator struggling to cope with the rain that falls at his feet and
which could have forced him under until he uses it to push him forward. The moment
when the chorus breaks through the murk sounds like the sun coming out, even
though ironically it’s a simple cry of ‘rain!’ ‘Cherish’ is, like many a track
on this album, a slow thoughtful ballad that follows on the same theme, Billy’s
narrator urging himself through a rain storm to happier sunny days and which
makes him appreciate the good things he has all the more. It sounds not unlike
the Association as Billy urges us to ‘cherish life’ in all its dimensions, good
or bad and make the most of being alive. It’s a very pretty, highly memorable
tune with some lovely chords and while<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Billy’s vocals have got growlier and growlier with age they really suit
this song of loneliness and despair. ‘The Hunter’ is the weakest of his three
songs, an even slower ballad that takes its cue from the hymnal end of the Neil
Young catalogue, songs like ‘When God Made Me’ though lyrically this song is an
expansion of the old Neil Young adage about how ‘rust never sleeps’. In this
song Billy sings of ‘decay’, the slow onset of indifference and cosy
familiarity that comes to all performers if they keep going long enough,
half-hunter, half-prey as they enter a dance with the creator, the satisfaction
and happiness writers crave but which is also so deadly to their work. I didn’t
like this song at all at first, which at times is so slow even for this album
it feels as if its running backwards, but it’s slow stately groove has grown on
me a lot and Michael Hamilton’s electric guitar washes are the closest in feel
to the Crazy Horse style across the whole album, worthy of being compared to
Young himself. Overall Billy’s songs are by far the most successful portion of
the album and bode well for a full fourth band album one day.</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Drummer Ralph Molina has never released a solo
album, even though for me his songs are the highlights of all the Crazy Horse
albums post-Whitten and his pure falsetto voice is under-rated too. These songs
don’t rank amongst his best work but they’re still evidence of what an
under-rated talent he is. ‘It’s Magical’ is the most upbeat, commercial track
here with Joshua Sklair doing a fine impersonation of Young’s guitar part this
time. It’s a catchy but not very deep love song, a tribute to someone whose
been inspiring him for so many years, which is probably his wife but could just
as easily be his bandmates the ambiguous way it’s written. ‘Look Through The
Eyes Of Your Heart’ is also pretty but pretty forgettable, even though it’s the
only song here that comes close to having the famous Crazy Horse ‘waddle’.
Interestingly it’s a co-write with Anthony Crawford who also plays acoustic
guitar – another Young alumni whose vocals cheered up ‘Everybody’s Rockin’ and
‘Old Ways’ up considerably. This time its Marco Cecilia who provides the burst
of electric guitar on another love song/spiritual asking for continued
strength. Ralph also gets the last word on the album, the passionate piano
ballad ‘Just For You’, a vulnerable emotional song that returns to the theme of
Billy’s opener by singing about how all the rain life can throw at him washes
off his back thanks to the love that keeps Ralphy moving and grooving. Only
there’s not much grooving at all on this simple song, which would be more at
home on an Elton John or Leo Sayer record. The saxophone solo is also
excruciating, false and schmaltzy, but then as long-time readers of this site
will know it’s a rare song that can feature a saxophone solo and not sound
hollow and false. It’s Ralph’s weakest song and probably the weakest one here,
though his vocal still sounds good. </span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Nils Lofgren is, as even longer-time readers of
this site will know by now, one of my favourite singer-songwriter-guitarists.
Though his solo albums might not be the best known of the AAA alumnus they are
every bit as good as the best of them, particularly the brace of songs written
in his early solo years (including the brilliant ones on Crazy Horse’s debut)
and the personal songs of 1990s albums like ‘Damaged Goods’. Unfortunately he
has a simple soppy, sappy side too and its mostly that we get on this album, with
his trio of songs the most forgettable not just on this album but perhaps his
career as a whole. Sadly I fear they won’t inspire many fans to look out the
rest of his catalogue, but they really should. ‘You Will Never Know’ is a
simple love song about all the wonderful things a lover does for the narrator
that are too many for him to count so he never gets to tell her and ‘you will
never know’. Ever busy, Nils performs everything except the acoustic guitar,
provided by his younger brother and long-term bandmate Tom – I’d never heard
him play the drums before but he’s really good. ‘Fill My Cup’ is a little
better and much more Lofgren-like, a Grin-like song of being ‘hungry’ and
searching for love with an insistent quick-stepping blues riff that won’t take no
for an answer. It would have fitted in well on ‘Silver Lining’, an album of
mostly teenage doubts and anxieties released in 1991 (when Nils turned 40!)
Even so, it’s a catchy bit of fluff rather than one of his deeper or more
impressive songs with Kevin McCormick, Nils’ longtime bass player, the only
other person on the song. ‘Go With Me’ is oddly forgettable too, yet another of
this album’s piano ballads about love, Nils imagining all the things he and his
wife are going to do once the pandemic is over that they always took for
granted before, including a candlelight dinner and dancing. It fits the album’s
themes of making the most of life well, but it’s hardly the most original song
and the repetitive chorus soon gets tiring, even if the characteristically busy
Nils guitar solo, bursting at the seams with enthusiasm to embrace life after a
period of quiet, is sumptuous. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">That just leaves Neil’s alternate reading of
‘Song Of The Seasons’. It was one of my least favourite tracks on ‘Barn’, Crazy
Horse’s big post-pandemic get together, and like rather too much of that album
sounded unfinished and half-hearted for all its worth, a little too much asked
of the Horse who were playing along live for a finished take when they’d barely
got to hear it in rehearsals. I much prefer the Neil-only version which sounds
a lot more focussed and polished, while the lyrics about Neil home alone (in a
‘different’ barn) staring out at nature and in awe at its colossal power,
wondering if he sees God in its hazy windy outline (and, weirdly, comparing him
to his new wife’s hair), fits the album’s mood well. It’s still not one of his
more convincing or inspired songs though and at seven rambling minutes rather
outstays its welcome, never quite finding a proper tune. It’s actually no match
for the Billy songs on this album or the best of Ralphy’s either, but its
Neil’s name that pays the bills and I can see why it’s here. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Overall, then, ‘All Roads Lead Home’ is an
interesting experiment rather than a crackling return to form, a record that
works in parts but which might yet have been better as four separate solo
albums or even better re-recorded by the band together post-pandemic, blowing
away the cobwebs of lockdown with a burst of unity and brotherliness on songs
that were written during a lonely and confused time. It’s clearly no match for
the Whitten debut and though deeper and more musical than ‘Crazy Moon’ lacks
that album’s electric punch and swagger too, even if its arguably better than
‘Loose’ ‘Crooked Lake’ or ‘Left For Dead’. At least this is the ‘pure’ Horse
this time, more or less, without ‘borrowed’ songwriters, singers or synths
getting in the way, though it’s such an empty sounding album that arguably it
needs something there to fill up the sound. Still, the good bits (Billy’s and
one or two of the others) are really good, roads worth travelling despite the
cul-de-sacs along the way and make me hopeful that, even after the sudden surprise
retirement of Frank Sampedro a few years ago, there are still pastures new for
the Horse to gallop after in the future. Just come to it as a sort of ‘bonus
extra’ rather than another ‘Zuma’ ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ or ‘Ragged Glory’. And if
you’ve never heard Crazy Horse away from Neil go and buy the self-titled debut
album and hear what they were really like in their youth when they were the
best backing band in the world, Nils was the best Neil substitute going and
Danny Whitten was about to be one of the best things to ever happen to rock and
roll. Now that was a road and a half... </span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">8) </span></span></em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">The Rolling Stones
“Hackney Diamonds”</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well its finally here, a new studio album of
original material, in true Stones style gate-crashing the party so fashionably
late everyone had assumed they’d given up and gone home long ago while sounding
effortlessly youthful and full of energy. In the 18 years since ‘A Bigger Bang’
we’ve seen so many world changes: back then Tony Blair seemed as low as British
politicians could sink, Donald Trump was best known for his awful acting in
‘Home Alone 2’ rather than his awful acting in front of the news cameras,
climate change was spoken about in the future tense not the present, corona was
a district in New York not an intergalactic superbug, the fallout from 9/11 was
still in the air instead of down on the ground, Mick Jagger was three whole
girlfriends back and Alan’s Album Archives didn’t exist yet. It feels so very
odd reviewing the first ‘proper’ Stones album in our fifteen year existence
after so many (so so so so many!) compilations and live albums. Not least
because<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this record has become something
of a running joke: we first heard the Stones were working on this set in 2012
when a couple of songs ended up on ‘Grrr!’, the 2016 blues covers album ‘Blue
and Lonesome’ was advertised as a ‘warm up session’ for the new album that was
coming any minute now, honest and in 2020 lockdown single ‘Living In A Ghost
Town’ was rush-released as a preview for an album that was as near as out
already. The Stones get bored easily and many of their albums since 1970 have
started by plundering the vaults for outtakes they can start to work on until
inspiration strikes and this album took longer than most, interrupted by tours
and solo projects and autobiographies and fallouts and feuds and injuries; yes,
unbelievably this is the first Stones album since Keith Richards fell out of a
palm tree, a fact that’s gone down in rock legend, it was that long ago. That
most recent attempt to make this record stalled just a few songs in after the
biggest change to rock the Stones world in half a century: the death of Charlie
Watts. Charlie’s death seems to have given the Stones a rare sense of mortality
and spurned the others to finally get on with this record without distractions (diamonds
are created under pressure, after all) and they gave themselves just a few
weeks to make ‘Hackney Diamonds’, with a tight deadline of six months to both
write and record it, getting rid of most of the material they’d come up with in
the meantime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Which is a shame. As much as I like the meaner,
leaner sound of this record (made by Mick, Keith and Ronnie with new drummer
Steve Jordan, one time Neil Young session musician – with most of the bass
played by either Keith or Ronnie, bar a few guest appearances) I can’t help but
feel that, despite the 18 year gap, ‘Hackney Diamonds’ is a record that’s a
little rushed and needed a bit more time in the oven, a couple of stunners
short of a classic and with most songs a couple of middle eights shy of being
all they could be. It’s a record that plays safe in so many ways, an album made
by knights of the realm rather than the counter-culture revolutionaries the
establishment used to fear (I do like the title though, which cleverly plays it
both ways. Most fans seem to have missed the pun given that this album was
delayed from its intended release in the band’s anniversary year of 2022, but
this is both a diamond anniversary celebration of respected elders and a joke
about the band’s less than salubrious past, a ‘Hackney Diamond’ being local
London slang for a smashed windscreen in a hit and run. Not sure about the
cover art though, a crystal being split in two by a sword to look like a heart,
although I liked it more when someone pointed out the two sides of the heart
look like Mick ‘n’ Keith’s caricatures, the sword perhaps being everything
that’s come between them but they reunited out of their bleeding heart anyway.
Or something like that. Honestly there’s not much to go on with this album so I
have to have something to talk about somewhere). And honestly, as much as
people deride the modern (say 1980s+) Stones albums, which I tend to like more
than most, they’ve always kept a little of that dangerous counter-culture spark
burning. There isn’t any of that on this record, whose angriest moment (on a
song named ‘Angry’) is a lover’s tiff, on a disc uncharacteristically full of
love songs. Nor are there any of the emotional honest outpourings that made ‘A
Bigger Bang’ such an undervalued under-rated album, the tracks like ‘Laugh I
Nearly Died’ (a song of guilt for Jerry Hall), ‘Streets Of Love’ (another song
of guilt for Jerry Hall) and ‘Infamy’ (a defensive song about critics picking
on them) where the Stones sounded as if they meant every word. Nor is there the
authenticity of ‘Blue and Lonesome’, an album of grief for all it was a record
of cover songs, Jagger coming to terms with the suicide of his longterm partner
L’Wren Scott. Nor is there the pretty darn impressive world-study ‘Living In A
Ghost Town’, which even before covid hit to give it an extra layer of darkness
was a spot-on comment on an economic downturn that meant communities and high
streets were shutting their doors. I’d still take the new songs on compilation
‘Grrr’ over most of this one. There’s none of that depth on ‘Hackney Diamonds’,
which is a series of pop songs at different speeds and mildly disappointing
given all that time and all those dropped hints of how good it was going to be.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Which is not to say that its bad. The Stones are
still really good at writing pop songs and they’ve not lost their deft touch at
writing rock and roll riffs that seep into your skull for days on end. This
might well be the most tight and consistent record the Stones have made for
decades, without any of the usual duff songs you want to skip: even my
favourites ‘between The Buttons’ and ‘Satanic Majesties’ couldn’t manage that,
while even the most famous of Stone albums are best described as ‘sprawling’. I
really like the no-overdubs back-to-basics feel, which lets Ronnie especially
fill more of the ‘space’ in the middle than he’s usually allowed and sound like
an integral part of the band rather than an add on, the way he was for so many
years. Mick is one of those singers whose as good or as bad as the band beneath
him and because they’re so good here he’s excellent – audibly excited to be
playing with his old band again and adding depth and soul to lyrics that, all
too often, don’t deserve them, sounding way better than any man in his 80s
whose lived that kind of a rock and roll lifestyle deserves to. Keith isn’t
here as much as I’d like, but you can still tell that distinctive guitar
swagger a mile off. There’s no getting round it though: I miss Charlie’s jazzy
swing more than I expected to and a lot of the backing tracks sound a bit
lifeless and too ‘perfect’ for a band, like the Stones who should always be on
the edge of collapse rather than nailing every beat. That’s not Steve Jordan’s
fault either: for all that his noisy drumming drowns out Neil Young on his 1986
album ‘Landing On Water’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(the other
place AAA readers might know him from) he’s generally a subtle drummer, more
malleable than most and Charlie himself picked him as a replacement if anything
ever happened to him. Like Kenney Jones in The Who, though, he can’t compare to
what came before – because nobody played like Charlie (just as nobody played
like Keith Moon). The best songs on ‘Hackney Diamonds’ don’t feature much
drumming at all; you wonder whether that was a deliberate choice after Charlie
died, or whether in some alternate universe Watts would be grumbling at how
little he’s given to do across this album. Play this record back to back with
‘A Bigger Bang’ though (a record where Charlie played better than ever before)
and you can tell what’s missing though: the punches have power but they don’t
quite land with the same fancy footwork. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There are a lot of guests along for the ride on this
album. Some of them are perfect: if this does end up being the band’s last
hurrah (and if they leave it another 18 years you think it would kind of have
to be – but maybe they’ve got the recording bug now and we’ll get a follow up
in 2024?) then I love the fact it ends with both Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor
invited back into the fold, following a few guest concert appearances to thaw
the ice down the years. Both Stones were quiet, reliable souls rather
browbeaten by their noisier bandmates so it’s great that on their return they
get a chance to properly shine and show off what they can do in a way they were
only rarely allowed to before: Bill’s warm bass runs instantly stand out on an
album full of Keith or Ronnie’s more rhythmic, less melodic playing and Mick T
gets to soar on his guitar solos, providing the legato moments on an album
that’s mostly staccato. Against all the odds Lady Gaga is a more than worthy
replacement for Merry Clayton, going toe to toe with Jagger on the album’s best
and most emotional song ‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’ which, rather beautifully, has
a line about how the next world reverberating to the sound of drums now
somebody special is up there. Stevie Wonder is rather anonymous on the same
track though and the much discussed and anticipated guest spot for Paul
McCartney, making his first appearance on a Stones song since singing falsetto
harmonies on ‘We Love You’ way back in 1967, might as well not have turned up.
Talking of Paul, he suggested the producer for these sessions, the Stones having
decided their first attempts with regular collaborator Don Was, well, wasn’t
this time for whatever reason (he does have something of that late 1990s/early
00s sound which would be kind of dated now, though I liked his work more than
most – he found a way of making the Stones slightly more dangerous than they
had been, less mainstream; those sessions’ lone song included here ‘Live By The
sword’ suggests he could have updated that signature style though). Macca
worked with producer Andrew Watts on 2021’s lockdown album ‘McCartney III’ and
recommended him – the others may have been touched by the thought of having at
least one Watts oversee them on this album. A lot of fans have approved of his
work here but I’m not sure I’m one of them: like ‘Macca III’ all the quirky
bits have been taken out, leaving the sound a little too stylised and
‘perfect’. This is, however, an impressively timeless sounding album, recorded
on as much analogue equipment as modern recording allows with impressively few
period synths of ‘cutting edge’ technology that’s inevitably going to sound
dated a few years down the line – one that isn’t tied in time the way the last,
well, fifteen-twenty odd Stones studio sets have been. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s the songs that really let this one down. Most
of them are anonymous Stones pop-rockers from the lighter end of their
discography, a little too obviously written to sound like Stones songs and sell
a record rather than because there’s lot to say. They’re all pleasing to the
ear but a little anonymous and all tend to follow the same pattern, at the same
tempo, often in the same key, played with the same gusto. Most of them are on
the same subject too: ‘you hurt me and now I feel betrayed’, something I
suspect is Jagger continuing to work his way through the repercussions of his
split with Jerry Hall and L’Wrenn Scott’s rather shaming suicide note that
blamed her boyfriend’s failure to commit long term as one of the things that
pushed her over the edge, with just a hint of the on-off again feud between the
Glimmer Twins who’ve spent most of the past eighteen years going in very
different directions, only really reuniting on stage. This is a band lashing
back in self-defence at anything and everyone, the way they used to when they
were exiles on the run from the law, but a little bit aimlessly without the
precision of songs past. ‘Angry’ is about a man whose angry (and which sounds
very like the 1986 Paul McCartney track ‘Angry’ but not even that good), ‘Get
Close’ is an insomniac song about prowling empty streets at night with a
repetitive chorus, ‘Depending On You’ is a love ballad about betrayal not quite
as tender or as good as Mick ‘n’ Keith’s past classic, ‘Bite My Head Off’ is
Angry’ part II (though played with a real groove and fire, the best band
performance on the album), ‘Whole Wide World’ has an interesting lyric about
being cut off by friends (perhaps in the wake of L’Wren’s suicide) but the soppy
tune takes away any fizz, ‘Mess It Up’ is an angry ex getting their own back
(and could be Mick or Keith writing about the other in their books or in
stories to the press, leaving a trail of personal secrets and illicit photos
for the public to find, starting rumours and lies but without the frisson of
danger from when they used to do this sort of thing a lot in the 1980s), ‘Live
By The Sword’ is a promising riff under-served by a parable Jagger lyric that
doesn’t really say much and ‘Driving Me Too Hard’ is ‘Angry’ part III. None of
these nine songs are awful mind – on their own they’re all quite pleasing,
highly catchy and played really well, while pretty much all of them could have
been credible album singles – it’s when they’re all heard in a row they don’t
quite work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Not that ‘Hackney Diamonds’ is just a hack job from
a band who’ve lost it: the album really comes to life on the three songs that
try something a little bit different and mine influences beyond the pop and
rock. ‘Dreamy Skies’ is a beautiful sleepy ballad, perfectly set in the heart
of the album as an escape from all that power and noise, with lashings of pedal
steel from Ronnie Wood mimicking ‘Little Red Rooster’ and delicious Jagger
harmonica. Mick’s had enough of the world and has legged it back to the heart
of the country, enjoying life without connections be they technological or
human, where the only human sound is a beaten up old radio playing Hank
Williams tunes (an obvious inspiration for this lovely track) and ‘bad honky
tonk’. ‘It’s good for my soul and saving my skin’ Mick croons. It’s good for
his music too, with a life and inspiration in this song that’s a delight to
hear. There’s a really strong three-part ending to the album too. ‘Tell Me
Straight’ is Keith’s lone showcase on the record and while its not up to his very
best it’s an interesting song with a complex minor key lick that feels even
odder and more out of place on such a simple, straightforward album. The lyrics
sound like a continuation of ‘World War III’ from the 1980s as Keith (or maybe
Mick giving him words to sing again) asks questions over a lover’s behaviour:
do they still believe in this partnership? Or should they call it quits?
Because being in the no man’s world in the middle is uncomfortable. We never
get an answer, this song’s awkward riff hanging in the breeze and while the
lyrics don’t really move much further than the title it’s a welcome attempt to
do something darker and more autobiographical, the fly in an all too sweet
ointment full of genuine anger rather than the clichéd raging of the rest of
the record. ‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’ is a veritable Stones classic as great as
any in their back catalogue, a ‘Shine The Light’ style gospel song that’s in
awe at the idea of heaven, even after a career of singing about hell. As much
as he had sympathy for the devil Mick suddenly feels the call of the angels
firsthand, which is as big a shock to him as it is for us. And then we get one
last encore, a final and very suitable blues cover, Howlin' Wolf’s ‘Rollin’
Stone Blues’ which part-inspired Brian Jones to give this band their name. It’s
played a lot better and is a lot more heartfelt than any of the similar covers
on ‘Blue and Lonesome’ and is played with an earthy grit and fire missing from
much of the record. There are few harmonic players better than Jagger and
hearing just him and Keith’s strumming guitar, back right where we near-enough began,
after one of the biggest and best journeys in music, is downright perfect. I
can guarantee this is the first thing Brian Jones will mention when his old bandmates
finally make it up to hear the sweet sounds of Heaven in person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Four great songs out of twelve ain’t a lot but it
ain’t bad either. ‘Hackney Diamonds’ does all it has to do after so long away:
remind us about who everyone thinks this band is, with just enough reminders
that they’re more than just their caricature. In truth I’d have loved a lot
more of the rule-breaking, which is such an intrinsic part of the Stones’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DNA after all: this album’s main course isn’t
anywhere like as interesting as the breadcrumbs dropped on compilations, live
albums and singles on our way here. It feels as if this album started off as an
attempt to sound like every Stones era (the blues of 1962, the swamp rock of
1969-70, the gospel of 1972, the harder edged pop of the 1990s and 00s) but
then the band got stuck and ended up repeating themselves instead (a shame: I’d
love to have heard some 1966-67 style psychedelia). Had ‘Hackney Diamonds’ been
released a year or two since the last one it would have been a knockout, but
after so long a gap this recorded needed to feel special and in truth it only
feels special in parts. Well, as they once sang, ‘you can’t always get what you
want – but you might just find you get what you need’ and there are enough fans
who will lap this up and indeed have already. A deep, thoughtful melodic Stones
album would only have appealed to fans like me, not those who pay for the endless
compilations, every deluxe re-issue (even I baulked at some of them) and high ticket
prices. I can’t quite bring myself to jump into the wowed reviews of everyone
around me (I’ve seen so many reviewers call this album ‘the best/most important
since ‘Some Girls’ when it isn’t actually as big a bang as ‘A Bigger Bang’, but
then I did like that album more than most), but I don’t dislike it either:
certainly it’s a lot better than a band with a reputation and pedigree and
money like this one needed to make. Perhaps the best and certainly most Stonesy
thing about this record was the publicity: the album was announced with a mock
advertisement in a Hackney paper and the website set up for first single
‘Angry’ was deliberately designed to crash, with mock-apologies for making fans
‘angry’ that’s very meta and actually quite funny (again, both ideas seem to
have been borrowed from McCartney, who did something similar with
extra-curricular albums ‘Thrillington’ and ‘The Fireman’). There are lots of
good ideas, great intentions, bright moments galore – just not quite enough to
make this album stand out the way it needed to after so long away. Not quite a
diamond then, but ultimately not quite a smash and grab either.<em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">9) Lindisfarne “Radio Times: At The BBC
1971-1990”</span></span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Talking of unexpected reunions, the three
surviving founder members of Lindisfarne (Jacka, Ray and Rod) got back together
again recently for the first time since 1990 to plug this new set, an equally
unlikely pigs-might-fly epic box set of eight jam-packed discs of Lindisfarne
BBC sessions. Honestly, I’m not sure which event has shocked me more. I mean, I
was impressed when we got a two-disc set of BBC Lindisfarne tapes in 2009,
especially when the sleevenotes made it clear how few of the band’s recordings
existed complete in the archives. A lot exist on bootleg though and have been
cleaned up as well as they can be, along with bits and pieces and a couple of
tracks missed out last time around for space reasons and repetition plus four
discs of the reunion era band that weren’t considered before. Lindisfarne were,
in their heyday, never off the radio and being the favourite band of John
Peel’s wife meant they were on his show in particular more than almost anyone.
There are no less than seventeen separate BBC radio sessions on this set, as
well as eight concerts and a lone TV soundtrack (the visuals alas long since wiped).
</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The result is, like many a BBC set, one for the
completist rather than the casual fan, the sort of person who’ll jump up and
down at hearing a slightly different tone on the harmonica lick for ‘Meet Me On
the Corner’ or thrill at some extra strummed notes on the intro for the set’s
eighth ‘Lady Eleanor’, a fascinating alternate history of a band told through
unfamiliar performances of familiar material. This set is better than most
though, partly because Lindisfarne were the sort of loose band who never played
the same song the same way fully twice and were always twiddling their setlist,
even in sessions taped days apart, and for the amount of rarities crammed
within. Some of them have been given brief hearings before, on the long-deleted
‘Buried Treasure’ trio of rarity sets from the 1990s (some of the hardest of
all AAA albums to track down these days, as I well know to my cost and bank
manager’s horror). Some of them turned up in different studio versions on an
array of CD re-issue bonus tracks too which are themselves quite rare nowadays.
Some songs were only ever released – in different live recordings – on albums
given away to concert-goers and included in the ticket price at certain 1980s
shows. And some songs haven’t been heard at all. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Most of the rarities, weirdly, are blues songs
(originals and covers) – not the most obvious sound when you think of
Lindisfarne’s folk-rock-psychedelia-country hybrid, but a major part of their
pre-fame sound and one that Ray ‘Jacka’ Jackson in particular always loved (and
he sounds by far the most at home on, it has to be said). Indeed, where other
Lindifsarne sets and particularly the documentaries make Lindisfarne out to be songwriter
Alan Hull’s band first and foremost here they’re very much Jacka’s. Hearing so
many blues songs sprinkled across this set is quite a revelation; a sort of
re-writing of history where the focal point isn’t Hully’s tales of poetic folk
and stabs at injustice but a band that revolved around their lead singer and
his bluesy voice that could fill halls and get audiences dancing on one leg
with ease and it’s a particularly strong set for Jacka fans. By far the most
interesting unheard recording is ‘Why Can’t I Be Satisfied?’ from the first,
rare and still rather hissy sounding session for ‘Sounds Of The 70s’ in 1971, a
Rod Clements song that won’t be recorded properly till Lindisfarne split and
turn into Jack The Lad (another band overdue a BBC set of their own) heard here
three years earlier as a tentative blues rather than a stomping rocker, with
Jacka singing rather than Mitch. From the same programme three months later
there’s a tentative cover of Son House’s 1930s classic ‘Walkin’ Blues’ which
sounds downright odd played with the familiar Lindisfarne plod. Stronger is
another blues classic, Elmore James’ ‘I’m Comin’ Home’, taped for a Mike Ravens
session the same month, May 1971, when Si Cowe’s growly guitar turns almost
Claptonish while Alan Hull twinkles away on piano. It’s joined by old friends
‘Knacker’s Yard Blues’ ‘Jackhammer Blues’ and bluesiest of all ‘Train In G
Major’ for a full quartet of blues performances! Skipping forward to disc five
and 1979 the blues songs keep coming with ‘When It Gets The Hardest’, the rare
Jacka-written B-side of ‘Jukebox Gyspy’ that’s much better and more adult than
the sniggering cod-sexy A-side. I didn’t know Lindisfarne had ever played it in
concert (it’s way better than the rather tame studio version). Ditto ‘Love In A
Cage’, an odd little blues number performed in 1981 but unreleased in any form
till a best-of in 2003 alongside Jacka’s old war horse ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ that
never quite made it onto a Lindisfarne studio record though it was on quite a
few live ones. Triple ditto 1984’s ‘Living On The Bass Line’ from one of the
many Christmas shows at Newcastle City Hall, a very Lindisfarne tale of poverty
and music with a very Lindisfarne pun in the title. There’s a slightly wonky
performance of the famous ‘Peter Gunn’s Gunn’ instrumental leading into a
shambolic but thrilling ‘Winning The Game’ from Jacka’s last tour with the band
in 1990. And there’s a trio of blues songs from a Paul Jones blues session of
1987 that rounds off the set as Lindisfarne go back to their roots when they
were ‘The Downtown Faction’ (i.e. before they met Hull), with the slow ‘Sporting
Life Blues’ the best. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Elsewhere Lindisfarne reveal time and again what
a tight band they are, not just on the obvious songs they trotted out for
pretty much every session but the sort of songs you don’t often get to hear
live. Highlights include the lovely folk-rock of ‘From A Window,’ an outtake
from the ‘Nicely Out Of Tune’ debut sessions not released till ‘The Charisma
Years’ in 2011. There’s a beautiful, haunting version of under-rated ‘Eleanor’
B-side ‘Nothing But The Marvellous Is Beautiful’ where the rough edges of a
live session really make this tale of confusion and strife come alive. There’s
a ramshackle ‘Turn A Deaf Ear’ from the debut album cut from the previous set’s
June 1971 John Peel session, possibly because it’s not so nicely out of tune!
There’s an all too brief extract from what sounds like a cooking show at 1971’s
Lincoln Festival with a cracking ‘We Can Swing Together’ and a rather odd and
nervy interview with Si who didn’t tend to do the interviews (‘We’re very
dependent on weather and audiences...it looked very big!’ Maybe Jacka and Hully
were too busy down the pub that day?) There’s an eighty second hiss-filled
snippet of a ‘Dingle Regtta’ which is all that exists from a ‘Full House’ TV
broadcast. There’s a sad but fascinating session from January 1973 with a very
different feel all round when Lindisfarne are breaking up and not in the best
of health even if no one outside the band’s inner circle knows that yet (‘Happy
New Year!’ jokes Jacka at one stage, fashionably late as always on a show that
went out on January 18th ‘Huh!’ retorts Hull, who clearly wants 1973 over and
done with as quickly as possible, while he messes up ‘Swing’ by improvising
random lyrics about Scooby Doo, much to the other’s audible confusion). A pair
of sets by the under-rated Mark II band have already been picked for release
before but are some of the best things here, especially the more prog rockish
‘Lady Eleanor’ from John Peel session in December 1973 and a ‘Sounds Of The
70s’ quartet from April 1974 plugging ‘Happy Daze’, the better of their two
albums. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">By disc five and the halfway point the original
Lindisfarne are back together again but unlike the enthusiasm of their studio
releases (which might not have matched their old stuff for a full record but
frequently matched it on individual songs – 1982’s ‘Sleepless Nights’
especially is a cracker) they sound down in the dumps in the studio, leaden
compared to the olden days. Especially discs five and six where a stilted band
play a lot of similar setlists heavy on the piano ballads and ‘Back and Fourth’
songs that never quite flew on stage without the polished production and orchestras
(I’m not convinced many of the songs got off the ground on the album either,
but I seem to be in a minority in the fanbase over that one, given that its one
of my most commented on reviews!) Oddly the best of the lot from January 1979
is ‘Brand New Day’, a lovely and optimistic Hull song that was relegated to a
concert-only record concluded with the ticket price a few years later but
sounded much better here when it was, well, brand new. A hissier unheard
session from 1981 is little better, although it is very rare – Ray Jackson
himself provided the tapes which don’t officially exist in the BBC archives
(sadly nine other BBC sessions don’t appear to exist at all – I wish he’d got a
tape recorder a little earlier to catch them too but its great to have these
treasures we thought were lost). It’s not till the Cambridge Folk festival in
1982 that Lindisfarne get some of their old strut back again, with a series of
songs from ‘Sleepless Nights’ that sound great live with the production cobwebs
blown away, particularly the catchy ‘Start Again’, a more doo-wop driven
‘Nights’ and one of Hully’s angrier Falklands-inspired numbers ‘Stormy
Weather’. Visual footage of this gig exists too and is long overdue release on
some future Lindisfarne DVD as a hint – after getting a BBC set like this suddenly
anything seems possible! Things drop in quality slightly for another hissy
show, one taped for a Christmas concert at Newcastle City Hall in 1984, but
rise again for a second show at Cambridge Folk Festival, that interestingly,
dispenses with most of the folk altogether for a rocking set that’s higher in
the energy stakes than anything else here, especially a storming ‘Winning The
Game’ taken at about twice the speed of the already pretty breathless studio
version, a sax driven ‘No Time To Lose’ with a rockabilly vibe and a funky
‘Clear White Light’ that speeds through all the lengthy improvisations the band
usually do across ten minutes inside three! It might well be the best thing on
the entire set, a reminder that even in their later more forgotten days
Lindisfarne were still a great band. Mind you, the closing 20<sup>th</sup>
anniversary show back at Newcastle City Hall in 1990 is a strong way to round
things off too, with a celebratory feel and some fan favourites, including the
better songs from 1989 album ‘Amigoes’ and rare Hull song ‘Karen Marie’. </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Overall, it’s a mixed bag as so many BBC sets are,
with all the highs and lows of Lindisfarne’s studio recordings and a lot of
repetition along the way so that its best heard in bits, maybe a session at a
time. It’s as complete as it can be, though it’s a shame a point couldn’t be
stretched to include the amazing American Lindisfarne radio sets doing the
rounds on bootleg and make this a catch-all radio broadcasts set instead
there’s a ready-made volume two right there). Lindisfarne weren’t the kind of
band who were great every night, they took too many risks and the downside of
doing that is that some nights the risks don’t pay off and this set captures it
all – the great nights, the good nights and the poorer nights. However it’s
just great that anyone remembers these nights (woah-oh!) and has out them out
to own for the first time officially in many cases with such loving care. In
truth there isn’t a lot of this set you’ll want to play over and over, although
the best of it is full of surprises and more than makes up for the dodgy
repeated sluggish versions of ‘Fog On the Tyne’. If you’re a newcomer this is
perhaps not the best place to start and even if you’re a growing fan whose worn
out ‘The Charisma Years’ already then you’re probably better off looking out
for the perfectly good two-disc BBC set and then buying the under-rated reunion
or solo Hully albums than this pricey volume. However, if you’re a fully paid
up Lindisfan then this epic box set is essential, stuffed as it to the rafters
with practically all eras of Lindisfarne and full of not just the A and B roads
but the nooks and crannies and cul-de-sacs the band went down that you can’t
hear anywhere else. After all, there’s a cracking band waiting to meet you on
the corner selling dreams – and a box set full of Lindisfarne sessions is one
of those unlikely dreams I thought would never come true. One to treasure, for
all its flaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><em><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">10) Neil Young “Somewhere Under The Rainbow”</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Ever wondered what Neil’s most personal and
arguably best solo album ‘Tonight’s The Night’ might sound like if it had been
played with the same level of expertise and polish as his other albums? It
would probably sound a little like ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, a famous fan
recording now released as part of Neil’s ‘official bootleg’ series from a gig
taped two months after the earlier archive show ‘Live At The Roxy’ and
approximately three after the album itself, a man caught at the halfway point
between collapse and recovery. By now the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny
Whitten and CSNY roadie Bruce Berry aren’t so much of a violent shock but more
of a sad memory and the Whitten-less Crazy Horse, joined by Nils Lofgren and
Ben Keith, know this album backwards by now, nailing every shift in tone, mood
and volume. Which is not to say they play it without emotion or feeling – the
sadness is still very much in the room, but it’s the difference between turning
up to a funeral in suits and bowing a head rather than openly wailing at an
open grave during an Irish wake because the pain is too raw. In fact, more than
that, you hear the stark monochrome of the record transforming into technicolour
as Neil gets a handle on his grief – fitting, then, that it’s a show from one
of his favourite venues, London’s Rainbow Theatre with a hint of the sun coming
out after storms, as if we’re closer to hearing a ‘finished’ product that never
got released, rather than the first rehearsals. An example: on the record and
the Roxy shows Neil always sang the line ‘I’ve been down the road but I’ve come
back’ with a crack in his voice, as if he too was set to be the next drugs
casualty, but now the emphasis is very much on the rejoinder on the next line ‘but
I’ve come back’. Though no substitute for the released version and like many
fans I kind of miss the bum notes and cracked vocals, it’s fascinating to hear
as a sort of alternate timeline where ‘Tonight’s The Night’ was just another LP.
Highlights include an angry ‘Albuquerque’ played with more power but also more
control than usual with a gorgeous slide guitar part from Ben Keith, an
all-acoustic ‘New Mama’ where Crazy Horse’ harmonies sound more angelic and
fragile than ever and best of all a primal ‘World On A String’ that’s replaced
all the playfulness with a rock and roll strut. ‘The world on a string doesn’t
mean a thing...it’s not alright to say goodbye’ snorts Neil, more in defiance this
time than sorrow, as he works through the stages of grief from sadness and
guilt to anger, before launching into a superb guitar solo with an added kick
it never had on the record, a true howl of pain. ‘Rock and roll!’ shouts out a
wag in the crowd at one point, as if this show isn’t exactly what rock and roll
was created for, to fight back against the frustrations at being imperfect in
an imperfect universe. ‘Oh yeah? I’d like to hear some’ retorts Neil before
kicking into the slowest version of one of his slowest songs, ‘Tired Eyes’, as
a riposte. Not everything quite works and there’s a very sloppy acoustic solo
set of ‘hits’ played straight after the ‘Tonight’s material that the audience
recognise and seem to love more but is really badly played by Neil’s standards,
especially a nine minute ‘Helpless’ that even Nils Lofgren on accordion can’t
save from feeling interminable while ‘Don’t Be Denied’, usually the best song
in any set its played in, is so wretched even I’m in denial. The sound quality
is ridiculously poor too, understandably given that it’s a fan recording but
you do wonder why Neil chose not to record this night as part of his official
tapes in better sound or do at least the basics to make it more sonically
palatable – oddly though the hiss and reedy sound help the songs sometimes too.
I mean, a slick polished version of ‘Tonight’s The Night’ that also sounded
perfect just wouldn’t sound right, would it? The result is a far from the best
in the archive series and I’d definitely take the Roxy shows from the
‘archives’ series over this one if I had to choose a live version of ‘Night’ to
listen to, but it’s a record still well worth hearing and following so many
similar 1970-1972 shows there’s more than enough room in the man’s discography
for two so very different live versions of the same songs. </span></em><em><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">11) The Ducks
“High Flyin”</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">By contrast Neil’s next archive release and another
bootleg favourite finds him in a very different place indeed. The year is 1977,
Neil’s pretty much fully recovered from the horrors behind the ‘doom trilogy’,
old foe Richard Nixon has been kicked out The White House with his tail between
his legs and Neil’s just found new love with wife Pegi. He’s also formed a new
band, the third and last time he’ll be an ‘equal member’ as opposed to a
bandleader and though fans will be sad to hear Neil relegated to the role of
‘second guitarist and occasional singer’ the parts of this show that are his
are widely regarded by the Young cognoscenti for very good reasons. It seemed
then and seems now something of a strange move to join a pub band of faded
forgotten musicians and men whose careers had never quite taken off, a
defiantly retro rock band in punk’s year zero, even for somebody like Neil
motivated by whims and intuition uploads no one else can understand, his career
one of crazy-paving to avoid being<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>middle of the road. After all, one thing Neil never was nor ever will be
is a team player. Famously Stephen Stills said that when the rest of Buffalo
Springfield were bonding at the cinema watching ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and
dreaming of being in a band Neil was in the next screen watching a documentary
on Bob Dylan and figuring out how to do things on his own independently. Not
this time though: Neil’s not the star, he’s just a quarter of the band and he’s
not the focal singer, the main songwriter or even the lead guitarist for much
of the night. The Ducks were formed from the ashes of The Jeff Blackburn Band,
Neil’s friend and future co-writer of the seminal ‘Hey Hey, My My’, alongside
Bob Mosley on bass (once in Buffalo Springfield rivals Moby Grape) and Johnny
Craviotto on drums. Neil hasn’t written ‘Hey Hey My My’ yet but he has written
lots of other future classics which are debuted here and will be featured on
his solo albums for the next few years including ‘Sail Away’ (‘Rust Never
Sleeps’) and ‘Little Wing’ (‘Hawks and Doves’). Mostly, though, he’s just the
guitarist and enjoying the break from running a band and the smaller gigs the band
are playing (it was a condition of Neil being in the band that they didn’t
advertise his name and just played under the name ‘The Ducks’ as if they were
all a bunch of newbies – even so, word of who was in the band soon spread).
There’s a spring in Neil’s step even more than ‘on ‘Zuma’, with delicious
performances of his older songs including a spirited ‘Are You Ready For The
Country?’ from ‘Harvest’ and a ‘Human Highway’ which is about as good as that
wretched song ever sounded (from the aborted CSNY reunion of 1974 and about to
appear on Neil’s album ‘Comes A Time’). Neil’s played old Buffalo Springfield
warhorse ‘Mr Soul’ with practically every band he’s ever played in and its
re-arrangement says a lot about each of them – this version is one of the best,
played fast and loose as heavy no-frills rock, with a power only its original
band or Crazy Horse could ever match. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The highlights though are an electrically
charged ‘Little Wing’, a tough old bird compared to the gossamer light acoustic
version that ended up on record, with some thick and heavy harmonies that
really helps it fly and ‘Windward Passage’, a band instrumental that takes the
usual melancholy chords Neil often uses for his sadder songs and sticks an
electric motor underneath them so that it really soars. Both are as strong as
anything on any release of the archives so far, though the other songs in the
set never quite match it. Candidate for oddest song: ‘Gone Dead Train’, the
opener of the debut Crazy Horse record written by Neil’s longtime friend Jack
Nietzsche and sung here by Jeff Blackburn which, as far as I know, is the only
time Neil ever played on it (he isn’t even on the Horse’s version). As for the
other non-Neil songs, well, a good pub band The Ducks may be but they’re still
just a pub band, with aspirations and promise more than finesse or accuracy. In
truth the non-Neil songs are pretty poor, dad rock songs from aging hippies who
don’t yet understand that the musical landscape’s changed (its not for nothing
Neil picked a picture for the cover of this album that shows not ducks but
pterodactyls; defiant dinosaurs in the safety-pin computer age) though even
then Neil still plays some tasty solos (just check out his flying fretwork work
on the otherwise almost offensively stupid boogie woogie of ‘Truckin’ Man’, the
closest Neil’s come to sounding like Status Quo on any of his records). For
Neil though it was an antidote to punk, a last gasp chance to be part of the rock
fraternity before it changed forever. In the end Neil will quit this band the
way he quit all his bands – suddenly, without warning, right about the time
when people began to rave about how great they were. Uncharacteristically
though he never looked back afterwards – none of these players ended up in any
of his other bands and he never tried to put The Ducks back together again, who
after he left flew off in different directions. On this evidence it’s a real
shame that we didn’t get at least one proper album as they had a special energy
about them, on Neil’s songs at least, but at least we get this special souvenir
which is better than nothing. Long admired by fans of NY bootlegs and long
overdue a first proper issue, it’s a more than worthy entry in Neil’s
long-running archive series that bodes well for ‘Archives III’ (promised early
next year), even if it’s the sort of thing you pick and choose from rather than
a gig that’s great all the way through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">12) Stephen</span></em><em><span face=""Arial Black", "sans-serif"" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> Stills “Live In Berkley 1971”</span></em></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Many a lesson was learnt at Berkley Community Theatre over
the years, on Berkley High School campus and many classic AAA gigs were played
there – you sense though that no one learned more life lessons quicker in this
era than Stephen Stills. In 1971 he’d just broken up finally with longtime
muse<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judy Collins, responded in the best
way possible with his all-singing all-dancing show-off debut solo album, dated
another singer-songwriter in Rita Coolidge – and then suffered ignominy of
being dumped for colleague Graham Nash. The setback led to ‘Stephen Stills II’,
an album that on the one hand tried to be bigger and more epic and show-offy
than ever with the presence of The Memphis Horn section adding a brassy glow
and power to Stills’ voice and on the other finds Stills more vulnerable and
fragile and unsure of himself than ever before, pouring his heart out on some
of his most intimate songs. Many fans skip this album and head straight from
the debut to the even more all-singing all-dancing ‘Manassas’ double set, but
I’ve always had a soft spot for ‘II’, which comes as close to the ‘real’ Stills
as we’ll get I think, an artist who was more open-hearted than most (though it
isn’t on this live set at the heart of that album is the superlative song ‘Open
Secret’ about just this gift for putting emotions into direct words with its
chorus ‘Somebody tell me have I been gifted or robbed?’) That’s much the same
for this show from the promotional tour which finds Stills veering between
casually brilliant pop concoctions from his CSNY catalogue and debut solo
albums and the fragile, heartbreaking new songs that are bare and open, all the
more so for being played in a mostly acoustic barebones way (give or take the
horns). The general consensus on the tour was that Stills’ performance varied
considerably from night to night depending on his alcohol intake but, although
you can tell he’s a bit sloshed by the end, for once it only enhances his
performance as he opens his soul; the Memphis Horns though get more and more
ragged with each song and they start off shrill, as if they’ve been drinking to
keep up with him. As a result its the slower, calmer, acoustic songs that works
best and for fans its the run of then-new songs Stills didn’t play very often
that stand out most. Classic racism lecture ‘Word Game’ aside (sadly performed
here in rather muted form) Stills didn’t keep many of these songs in his
setlist for long so its a welcome chance to hear tracks like the stark banjo
folk of ‘Know You’ve Got To Run’ (the sadder, scarier half of ‘Everybody I Love
You’ written for Judy Collins), the soul funk of ‘Bluebird Revisited’ (another
song for Judy, a sequel to the first song he wrote for her, Buffalo
Springfield’s ‘Bluebird’, played as a hangover and a last sad glance back in
the mirror at what might have been)and early environmental tune ‘Ecology Song’
(where the horn section set off at such a lick it pushes Stills out his comfort
zone and makes the plea for us to treat our planet sound immediate and
desperate, not the intellectual debate of the album – and ever more poignant
given its first release in the present climate crisis). Best of all is ‘Sugar
Babe’, the goodbye song to Rita, where with the commercial pop of the record
stripped away it’s just the sound of a sad broken man, a piano and a bottle of
booze as Stills opens his heart up on a sour but loving song of regret and
missed opportunities over a relationship that once held so much promise and
sweetness, where ‘I got to get the girl or I got to get away – loving you from
a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>distance never did make it anyway’. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There are also some real surprises: a preview of Manassas
song ‘Jesus Gave Love Away For Free’ that sounds even more traditionally gospel
with short-term bandmate Steve Fromholz on second guitar and harmonies (just
before he went solo and had his biggest hit with ‘I’d have To Be Crazy’ a song
Willie Nelson covered and got a #11 hit with it) and Stills singing a Memphis
Horns song ‘Lean On Me’ that isn’t much of a composition but suits Stills’
hoarse vocals. There are also two songs with special guest David Crosby,
tentative but unique acoustic renditions of ‘You Won’t Have To Cry’ and ‘The
Lee Shore’ with Fromzhall’s bass vocals pushing Stills up to the high Nash
harmony part. They’re not the best CS/NY reunion performances I’ve ever heard
(and its a real shame Croz only hangs around for two songs – Stills’ new batch
of emotional songs are right up his wheelhouse) but, on a record months in the
planning and released just weeks after his sad death, they make for a worthy
tribute. This isn’t the greatest show Stills ever played – the Memphis Horns have
a tendency to go screechy, while Stills himself has been hitting the bottle a
bit too much by the end of the set to do some of his more fragile and complex
songs justice and there are several bootlegs and radio broadcasts out there
that deserve official release more (especially the Mansaass stuff). However it’s
a great gig from a time when even the bad Stills concerts were special and the
chance to hear so many great songs live for the first time, with Stills at his
most vulnerable and open away from the razzmatazz of the CSNY performances, all
in impressive sound for a live show taped over fifty years ago, is an
opportunity not to be missed. </span></em><em><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">13) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;">The Grateful Dead
“Wake Of The Flood – The Angel’s Share”</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This year marks the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of one of my favourite Dead records and one that always gets overlooked, so I’m
overjoyed to see it finally get its turn in the sun. Written and recorded to a
backdrop of difficulties (the death of founder Pigpen from liver failure, the
loss of second drummer Mickey hart after his manager-dad ran off with the
band’s takings), it’s a mellow album about digging deep and overcoming
obstacles as best you can, while forgiving yourself for being human. Alongside
the usual anniversary album re-issue (see below) we get a whole bunch of live
recordings from the supporting tour (see not quite so below) and best of all
this album, a second set with studio outtakes from the full album sessions to
follow on from the excellent ‘American beauty’ set which, as the
whiskery-distilling subtitle implies, has been left to mature in peace and
quiet all these years (an ‘angel’s share’ is the bit of whiskey lost to
evaporation with age, a fact I’ve only learned this year!) Though not as
revelatory as the ‘American Beauty’ discs, purely because the Dead know what
they’re doing from day one, this is still a golden opportunity to be a fly on
the wall as the Dead rehearse and busk their way to the final product in almost
‘real time’, half-starts and mistakes and all, in a way that’s quite hypnotic. There
are two hours worth of highlights here with the full six hours available on the
Dead’s official youtube channel<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a
fascinating, if repetitive, journey it is with an average of 40minutes spent on
each song (the seven that made the album, plus early versions of ‘China Doll’
‘Loose Lucy’ and ‘Unbroken Chain’). Honestly the full version is more
interesting, not least because so many songs on the CD get short shrift and
aren’t always picked with care (poor ‘Row Jimmy’ is down to being a 30second
bit of tuning!) but I can see the logic behind it all: casual Deadheads get to
experience it while massive Deadheads get to savour the whole thing; unlike
most bands, this group have always been clever in the way they open up their
vaults to the right people and tread the thin line of keeping the band’s name
alive without simply milking it for all its worth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What strikes you most in all three new versions of
the record is how confident everyone is. The Dead have, admittedly, just come
from playing to their biggest audience so far (60,000 people over at Watkins
Glenn) and have already premiered many of these album songs live, which is why
the arrangements don’t sound as wildly different as some of the songs on the
‘Beauty’ Angel’s share set did. The finished album is muted, quiet, with the
feeling of fighting back when the world’s against you. Away from their real
life and in the studio, though, the Dead are in sparkling form, bouncing off
each other and throwing ideas in left, right and centre, while the early versions
of these songs are often played with an attack missing from the record, rough
edges that got glossed over in the final mix. All of Jerry Garcia’s songs are
pretty much there already note-perfect but sound good with that extra swagger
as he’s clearly enjoying playing them: highlights include the opening track,
take 9 of ‘Mississippi Half-step Uptown Toodeloo’, that tale of an unlucky man
rejected by his father treated to an extended ‘Rio Grande’ coda that makes
everything sound better that the band are enjoying so much they stretch out for
ages, a ‘China Doll’ that’s more stern and fatherly than the more kindly me-too
vibe of the version on ‘From The Mars Hotel’, a Stella Blue’ that’s played
closer to a shout than the whisper of the finished record and an ‘Eyes Of The
World’ that’s a nudge closer to folk than the jazz of the finished product. All
sound great, Jerry eagerly exclaiming ‘it’s a kick it’s a kick ts a kick!’ at
the end of ‘Mississippi’ as the song comes together (before doing a
characteristic bit of back-tracking: ‘It’s great apart from it was a little
fast. And it doesn’t rhyme!’) The other band members are slower out the blocks:
for the longest time Bob Weir’s ‘Weather Report Suite’ is a la-lahed folk
instrumental (one of the few bits previously heard, over on the previous CD
re-issue of the album), the ‘Let It Grow’ part only arriving last minute, while
the Dead are uncharacteristically struggling with Phil Lesh’s ‘Unbroken Chain’,
held over till the following record (‘I don’t think that’s right Weir’ says its
composer sternly as the band struggle and snaps ‘It’s not supposed to be easy!’
when Jerry asks if he’d consider making a key change, before cracking a joke
and the confrontation is dropped,to be never mentioned again, in true Dead style).
The biggest surprise is Keith Godchaux’s only Dead song ‘Let Me Sing Your Blues
Away’ – the keyboardist hated the sound of his own voice and double-tracked it
for the record, making it all blurry, before never singing again while the
finished version was always a couple of takes too many, becoming sluggish and
slow. The (many many) versions heard here are great: the Dead are really
swinging behind this song and Keith’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>single-tracked
live vocal is a treat, sung with a more lived in grit that really suits a tale
of a musician sharing sorrows with their audience (the Dead really should have
got Keith to sing like this more!) There are some fun runs through the backing
track too, saxophonist Martin Fierro joining the band and improvising round the
chord changes (it makes a change for the band to know a song better than their
guest does!) The result won’t change the way you think about the album the way
that the ‘Beauty’ set did and nothing is really all that different, with the
band 99% of the way there for 99% of the material before they even enter the
studio: there a few vocal lines that go up instead of down and vice versa as
the band test their ideas out, but the closest to a composition change the
entire two hours is a single line in ‘Stella Blue’ Jerry hasn’t quite got yet
so hums instead (the one where ‘There’s nothing you can hold for very long’).
Arrangement wise too the one big change here is on ‘Here Comes Sunshine’ where
instead of full sunny harmonies Donna Godchaux sings the chorus alone, like a
sun peeking out from behind the clouds, a cool idea they should have kept.
However one of the Dead’s finest and most under-rated records deserves all the
extra attention it can get and has never sounded younger than it does at half a
century old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">14) Grateful Dead<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Here Comes Sunshine Live 1973” </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The latest in the Dead’s long long looong
running series of re-issues naturally enough have centred around the concert
shows from half a century ago supporting ‘Wake Of The Flood’ . There are Dead
fans who will wax lyrical about their favourite year and while I’m more of a
1968-1969 explorations-in-space-then-back-to-Earth-with-Pigpen-in-time-for-tea
Deadhead myself I have a special fondness for the band in this era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keith and Donna Godchaux have been around long
enough by now to fully integrate themselves into the band sound but haven’t yet
got lost in a cul-de-sac of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>drugs and
touring fatigue,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the band are still
loose and experimental without the rigidity of some of their 1971-1972 shows
without yet falling into the laziness of their later years and Jerry
Garcia<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is at the peak of his
storytelling powers. ‘Here Comes Sunshine: Live 1973’ is a massive seventeen
disc set covering five complete shows between May and June 1973,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which contains plenty of great must-hear
moments across its earliest<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>two shows
including an electric ‘Truckin’ finale into ‘Eyes Of The World’ from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Iowa State Fairgrounds on May 13<sup>th </sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a sloppy but really pretty ‘Here Comes
Sunshine’ from May 20<sup>th</sup> Campus Stadium in Santa Barbara. However its
shows three and five that really shine with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dead at the peak of their telepathic powers. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Even though its gone down in history as a mellow
period for the Dead The show at Kezar Stadium on May 26th, perhaps the most
obscure venue of the many many gigs the Dead played in San Francisco, is an
absolute cracker. I’ve never heard a 1970s Dead show this loud and noisy, with
every song played at full energy and rock and roll fight, even the ballads<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(this is the definitive ‘Sugaree’, more like
heavy metal than the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fragile<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>arrangement we usually get). Many of the
songs, even the shorter ones, end in epic improvisations where<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Billy Kreutzmann drives the band on at such
a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rate of knots it’s a wonder he wasn’t
busted for speeding, pushing the others way out of their comfort zones too,
while even ‘Row Jimmy’ (a candidate for the Dead’s slowest song) is played with
such a hard, heavy lick its as if the boat has a hole in the bottom. Though it
calms down once it runs into ‘I Know You A Rider’ this ‘China Cat Sunflower’
too is a tiger, no curious plaything but a primal beast with its claws out, as
Billy practically breaks his drumkit. As for the Dead songs that are usually
played fast, well, ‘That’s It For The Other One’ positively explodes in a
cascade of running chords and a manic ‘Eyes Of The World’ is played so fast
everything is a gorgeous blur. The Dead finally play slow but only after three
and a half hours with a tortured, haunted version of ‘China Doll’, a song of
attempted suicide, that sounds all the more stark and beautiful after such
noise and even that’s played at about twice the speed of usual. There’s a real
sense of urgency and desperation tonight, most unlike the sleepy vibe of most
of the tour and the ‘Wake Of The Flood’ album and I’m not at all sure why –
maybe the grief for founding member Pigpen who’d only died two months before
had reached the ‘anger’ stage?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever
the cause its one of the best Dead shows I’ve heard in years and well worth
seeking out. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Alas, you can only buy it in the box set with
the other, decidedly lesser shows. The first gig from Robert F Kennedy Stadium
in Washington on June 9<sup>th</sup> sounds like a different band entirely –
slow, cautious and sloppy for what’s easily the weakest show of the five. Nothing
quite hits the whole night: band members come in too early, too late or not at
all and the songs end up sinking into similar formless lazy jams that go round
in a loop rather than flying off into the ether the way the best Dead shows do.
Personally I would have cut this show and started with the next, although that
too is a little loose lucy by the Dead’s high standards. Things get back on
track for the final show the following night in the same venue though, a good
balance of the more usually slower paced 1973 vibes but with a sprinkling of
the energy from the 26<sup>th</sup> here too. It’s a more experimental show,
big on the epic showpieces with a magnificent ‘Playin’ In The Band’ that goes
on forever (in a good way!), an ‘Eyes Of The World’ that starts off feeble<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but then grows in powers with each pass of
the jazzy riff until<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Dead are once
again playing like a band possessed and a most unique ‘Dark Star’ that falls
down a black hole early on but is then spat out the other side thanks to some
grounding rock and roll riffs that make it sound as if its heading into Chuck
Berry covers territory before<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>flowering<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>most beautifully into
one of the most majestic and lovely versions around, before again collapsing in
on itself with a howl of feedback that lasts longer than usual, as if we’re
seeing all the colours of the cosmos in one go across a mere twenty minutes.
Throw in the best of the five title tracks, a groovy slower version of
‘Sunshine’ that’s still played with some power thanks to some wah-wah splurges
from Garcia and bass bombs from Phil Lesh that make the speakers shake, and you
have a really decent standalone set if you can’t afford the full box. However
its the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>26<sup>th</sup> show<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that will be ringing in your head long after
you finish playing, one of the best Dead gigs of the lot from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(almost) first note to the last – in fact
only a shaky opening ‘Promised Land’ is less than stellar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fabulous. What a shame the rest drags this
one down. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Other archive Dead releases out this year
include Dave’s Picks Volume 46 (a so-so show at LA’s Hollywood Palladium on
September 9<sup>th</sup> 1972 that’s a strong gig for Bobby but finds everyone
else struggling a little, highlighted by a raw and desperate sounding
‘Black-Throated Wind’ and a sure-footed ‘Playin’ In The Band’), Washington’s
‘RFK Stadium’ from June 10<sup>th</sup> 1973 (a four disc gig with a poor first
set but a pretty good second: a sprightly ‘They Love Each Other’ and a slow
bluesy twelve minute ‘Bird Song’ are the highlights, along with a
full-attack-mode ‘Eyes Of The World’ a full two months before the studio
version on ‘Angel’s Share’), Dave’s Picks 47 features Missouri’s Kiel
Auditorium on December 9<sup>th</sup> 1979 (one of those typical late 1970s
shows when new keyboard player Brent hasn’t quite slotted into place yet and Jerry
is audibly struggling, that must be one of the weakest entries in the series so
far, though there’s a pretty nifty version of Bob’s ‘Lazy Lightning >
Supplication’) and Dave’s Picks 48 (California’s Pauley Pavilion on November 20<sup>th</sup>
1971 that’s a bit lacklustre given the vintage too, with the band playing slow
so new keyboard player Keith Godchaux can keep up – the best thing about this
release are the sleevenotes by basketball player Bill Walton who was one of the
UCLA students in attendance that night!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">15) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Micky Dolenz “Sings
R.E.M.”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the biggest surprises on final Monkees album,
2018’s ‘Christmas Party’ was the title track written by R.E.M guitarist Peter
Buck. An even bigger surprise was that, of all the big name writers involved
with the last two Monkee albums, Buck ‘got’ the later period Monkees better
than anyone: the friendly smiles that said ‘hey kids’ and the slyer more
subversive sarcastic grins that were hinting at something else, with all the
contradictions that suggests. Most writers wrote for one or the other Monkees
on that album – Buck got both. I was surprised again by this move, an EP of REM
covers by the same team who made last year’s cover record of Mike Nesmith songs
(including Mike’s son Christian in the producer’s chair) but I really shouldn’t
have been. Micky’s been making a career out of taking other people’s dark and
oddball ideas and turning them into commercial gold-dust without losing the sly
knowing grin that made them in the first place for years. The songs of Buck and
Michael Stipe really aren’t that far removed from what papa Nez was giving him
to sing and Micky is still one of the best vocalists around, able to interpret
anything and sound like he means it, making songs commercial but never sugary.
REM (Rapid Eye Movement if you were wondering)’s biggest hit ‘Happy Shiney
People’ is an obvious choice for the Dolenz treatment and gets a suitably
‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ makeover, sounding like the bright sunny land everyone
aspires to, with lyrics that also gently dig at how people are too dark and
real to ever live I such a world. The other song choices are braver: ‘Radio
Free Europe’ works best of the four, turned from obscure and deliberately
confusing gritty urban drama in monochrome about how radio isn’t as free as it
likes to think it is into psychedelic colour that would have been right at home
on ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd’, getting the balance of REM and
Monkee-ness spot on. Between them these two songs make for a decent single.
Unfortunately this is an EP and the other two covers aren’t so fortunate:
‘Leaving New York’ is the most straightforward REM song of them all, a sad tale
of regrets and half-memories as the narrator gets ready to make a big life
change that’s turned into a too-sickly production number without the
authenticity of the original and a little too early Monkees, while the
scattershot surrealistic ‘Man On The Moon’, a list of board games played by
characters from the Bible, is too REM and wacky for even Micky to make work. A
mixed bag then, but this EP works better than it really ought to, the sound of
two different worlds colliding and finding enough middle ground to make it a
road worth travelling down. What the world is crying out for though is a ‘Micky
Sings The Kinks’ EP/CD: a Dolenz take on Ray Davies’ sly tales of 1960s life
(and people being told they had a good time even when all the good times have
gone) is surely an even more obvious choice than REM. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">16) Roger Waters “The Lockdown Sessions”</span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">What an odd, strange and difficult year it’s
been for the Pink Floyd co-founder. It started with David Gilmour’s wife Polly
Samson calling him an anti-semite amongst a dozen other nasty things (hubby
agreed), rolled on into his live shows of ‘The Wall’ being discussed in parliament
amongst calls to ban him, had Roger condemned by the Anne Frank Foundation for
using her name and picture on stage while he paraded around in a Nazi uniform
screaming obscenities and the events of October 7<sup>th</sup>, that seem to
have split the world down the middle between pro-Israelites and pro-Palestines
(can’t we just accept they both did things that were bad and neither should be
blowing innocent people up?) have just accelerated matters . Which sounds
terrible put blandly like that but misses the entire point. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger’s been fighting war whoever’s caused it
his whole life and nobody’s music is further on the left. ‘The Wall’, the
record that’s been getting all the flak, is an album where Roger (and the other
Floyds, but mostly Roger) showed how easy it is to get cut off from your audience,
to be caught up in the rhetoric of the right wingers when you feel your life is
bad and you need someone to blame and how easy it is for those with influence
to make your audience believe in what you say even when its the deranged spiel
of a rockstar whose done too many drugs and spent too many nights cut off from
the world in hotel rooms. If you don’t know the work, in ‘The Wall’ the
character Pink comes to his senses, asks himself what he’s come to and ‘tears
down the wall’, admitting his faults and asking for forgiveness. Roger didn’t
do himself any favours doing the second, nastier ‘In The Flesh’ on its own as a
kick-start to his show’s second half (‘Outside The Wall’, the song of
redemption that puts everything right, does follow but not for another hour)
but you’d have to be pretty thick to mistake the other songs in the show as
ones that stir up war and prejudice, rather than promote peace and equality. As
for the names, they go up at every show, altered for every country, to reflect
those who’ve died under military or right-wing regimes in the local area. It’s
meant as a tribute, not a slap in the face. Of course it’s Roger’s stance on
the Israeli-Palestine wars that get him into extra trouble, his condemnation of
Israel’s forces that get him tagged with the label of being an anti-semite and
he’d do his cause better to speak out against the Palestinian atrocities on the
other side more. But nevertheless its entirely in keeping with Roger’s lifelong
stance of fighting all wars period and the incident that kicked off all the war
of words (Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian journalist killed by Israeli gunfire
included on his wall) is pretty innocuous; nobody could deny that she was just
doing her job and didn’t deserve to die, even if there could and should have
been some Israeli names there alongside hers to keep the balance; basically the
show is meant as a tribute to anyone who ever died at the hands of a military
regime so that we all remember their names. Anne Frank, too, is an obvious
candidate to be up there at the Dutch and German concerts as a victim of war –
the Anne Frank Foundation, usually such a sensible, worthwhile organisation
reminding us of the horrors of rightwing rule and oppressive regimes just the
way Roger does, really dropped the ball by treating Roger as an enemy, not an
ally. Of course the press just went for the easiest target, repeating the war
of words and attending his shows to write nasty reviews, lopping off Roger’s
outpouring on stage where he fumed at Polly ‘fancy waking up to that every
morning?’ and dismissing it as proof of his misogynism, missing the wry and
very Roger punchline ‘by which of course I mean her waking up next to David’.
For fans who’ve followed the Pink Floyd story for decades this is more like
gentle teasing compared to what we used to get. So Roger’s been accepted as
being in the doghouse by people who don’t understand the complexity of the
situation or his lifelong commitment to stopping all kinds of war immediately,
though admittedly Roger’s also been around the block long enough to know how
easy it is for people to get the wrong end of the stick and hasn’t really
helped his cause much by what he’s said (and that is, after all, the story of
‘The Wall’, people getting the wrong idea and spouting such nonsense on
stage).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">With all that going on the music’s been ignored
and that’s a shame. Not because its anything that major or spectacular in terms
of Roger’s catalogue but his two releases this year both offer fresh
perspectives on old favourites that have been dismissed out of hand more
because of political reasons than musical ones. ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ is the
better of the two,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a sort of dress
rehearsal for the tour where old songs are re-interpreted in an older, slower,
starker way more befitting a man on his 80<sup>th</sup> birthday. Six songs
have been revived and re-arranged to fit the ‘lockdown’ format – both in terms
of the isolation between the performers playing at home individually and the
sense of malaise and fear that the covid pandemic brought and indeed still
brings to those of us sensible to still treat it as the threat it is – and five
of them work well. ‘Mother’ is slow and brooding, stretched out to seven
minutes, as Roger is all of us asking people in authority questions they can’t
answer in our effort to make something scary go away. The slow build-up that
adds the band one by one (the only really successful way to play as a band over
skype or zoom, as anyone who tried it over lockdown will know) is highly
effective and Roger’s performance a good one. ‘Two Suns In The Sunset’ is as
downbeat an end to a rock opera as you can imagine (we all die in a nuclear
blast) and is the song from ‘The Final Cut’ I always used to skip if I’m
honest. It sounds rather better here, slowed down to sound extra eerie and
without the epic productions and sound effects of the record (including the
comedy moment when the bomb explodes: ‘Oh no!’), life ever more fragile for the
stark re-arrangement, although the best bit – the sudden biting violent middle
eight (‘And you’ll never see their faces!...’) - gets a bit lost, being not
that much louder or faster than the rest of the song. Another ‘Wall’ airing, of
the brief ‘Vera’ and the only slightly longer ‘Bring The Boys Back Home!’
continues the anti-war mantra. Neither are amongst Roger’s best work but they
work well here as more acoustic and quieter paeans of loss and sadness without
all the bells, whistles, sound effects and screams of the record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘The Gunner’s Dream’ returns us to ‘The Final
Cut’ and is perhaps the best re-make on the EP. I’ve always loved this
under-rated gem, as a soldier’s last thoughts are of the new world he hopes
will come in peacetime even though the listener knows how wrong he is, and it
works well as a sadder, slower ballad with Roger’s voice barely above a
whisper. ‘The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range’ is the most obscure song here but
it shouldn’t be – it’s from easily Roger’s best solo album ‘Amused To Death’
and is as pertinent now as it was when written in the Gulf War, as battles
where once you have to be heroic and look your victims in the eye are reduced
to button pressing. The slowed down waddle doesn’t work quite as well here and
I miss the electric surge of the chorus, but the more reflective mood does suit
this song too. That just leaves ‘Comfortably Numb’ slowed down to a crawl and,
yeah, I’m not a fan. The whole reason the original works so well is the
contrasts between Roger’s dour Pink-as-he’s-become and Gilmour’s
Pink-as-he-used-to be, his inner child waking up and trying to remind him of
the idealist innocent he used to be. There’s no guitar solo in this version and
no real change from positive to negative, which kind of misses the whole point
of the song. Oh well. If that one recording is proof that Roger needed David to
make his best work then the rest of the record is a firm statement that Roger
doesn’t need anyone else at all – well, just a couple of backing singers, a
guitarist and a drummer anyway. ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ won’t set the sky on
fire and its odd that they’ve been delayed from when they were first released
on youtube (in 2021) till now, but they’re a nice addition to the discography
and a neat way of breathing new life into old works to make them sound even
more chillingly perfect for the times we’re living in, like a warning unheeded
from the past that’s now become a lament for the world we could and should have
had. </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">17)
Roger Waters “Dark Side Of The Moon Re-Dux”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Even more than ‘Lockdown Sessions’ this is, surely,
the most misunderstood album of the decade. Fans re-acted in horror when they
first heard that Pink Floyd’s bass player was going back into the studio to
re-cut the band’s most famous album solo, replacing the contributions made by
his colleagues with his own band. It seemed, from soundbites, like the ultimate
power-play from a man who’d spent forty years thinking he was Pink Floyd and
came out at a time when relationships between himself and David Gilmour were,
erm, not the best. Is re-creating an old album in the studio really so
different to a band re-creating an old album on stage though? This record makes
most sense if you come to it direct from Roger’s live shows and ‘lockdown
sessions’ where he’s been revisiting old friends in a number of new ways, more
befitting a man in his eighties with a life to look back on than a youngster
trying to make it. One of the reasons ‘Dark Side’ is so successful and
important as it is comes from the fact that it’s about the pressures of life,
of time and legacy we all feel and wasn’t relegated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to one particular age range. Revisiting songs
about time ticking away and getting ‘one day closer to death’ ring different
when heard in Roger’s aged ghostly vocals and it’s a very different listening
experience, all the hope of the original gone but the time-ticking desperation
exaggerated for a new version which doesn’t ask ‘what am I meant to do with my
life?’ so much as ‘was that it?’ At its best this new slower, aged, depressing
album works really well: ‘Breathe’ is really powerful, an ‘advice’ song that
makes more sense from a man nearer the end of his life than the beginning, a
last gasp attempt to make the most of fleeting moments of happiness and live in
the present because you don’t have very long to enjoy them. ‘Brain Damage –
Eclipse’, about all the things that were ready to trip you up from your
intended life’s purpose and how Roger will see us there one day, death a
substitute for madness, really hits home. There are some really sweet nods to
the regular Floyd fan too: the bird song sound effect heard on ‘Cirrus Minor’
and ‘A Group Of Small Furry Species Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving
With A Pict’ (no, seriously!) and an opening speech about how ‘the memories of
a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime’ from Dark Side’s
genesis Floyd song ‘Free Four’ (from previous album ‘Obscured By Clouds’),
written by Roger when he was 28 and imagining his future, now sung-spoke by him
at the age that song is set (’in the twinkling of an eye, 80 years with luck,
or even less’) remembering his past, ‘Father and Son’ style. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s the songs in between that don’t quite cut it:
Roger has a tendency in his live shows to ramble, telling long anecdotes that
don’t seem to lead anywhere, inspired by some connection that all too often he
sees but we can’t. There are a lot of moments like that in this album, the
music put in a holding pattern while he pontificates, with Roger returning to
his favourite themes of mistreated war veterans and the way Britain is viewed
by the rest of the world (worthy points both, but points that have been made so
many times before and made her at length in speech that doesn’t fit the music).
Some of the album is a lesser fit musically too: ‘Money’ is a young man’s song
of ambition and is played as a sarcastic lament rather than the earthy blues I
was hoping for (how the song first started on Roger’s demo before the rest of
Floyd got hold of it) while the two instrumentals are unlistenable: ‘On The
Run’, originally a young man’s song about constant travel and the fear of dying
in a sudden car or aeroplane crash, has become yet another spoken word song
about getting old, while ‘Any Colour You Like’ (the one song on the album
credited to the ‘others’ in the band) is unrecognisable, played with an ugly
modern synth ‘n’ drum backbeat that noodles rather than soars. If any versions
of any song explains why Roger needed the rest of the band to bring colour to
his stark world then its this one, which takes what used to be one last joyous
burst of freedom and delivers any emotion you like, so long as its depression. ‘Us
and Them’ is the biggest disappointment: an ageless timeless song about
division across societies, genders, races and classes fought by each generation
anew and how none of it matters when we’re dead and forgotten that feels more
real now in our modern age of fragmentation than ever. Sadly this version just
sits there, lifeless, while Roger lectures us and beats us over the head with
all the points he once made so well and so subtly. It’s all very slow and
incredibly depressing too: ‘Dark Side’ worked so well partly because the whole
was greater than the sum of its parts, each song part of an organic whole that
added together to become a catalogue of phobias, fears and drives. This new
version doesn’t have that: it all sounds the same. Of course its not meant to
be a ‘replacement’ for the original as so many fans assume because Roger knows
as well as we do that 99.9% of sales are going to go to Floyd fans who already
own this album umpteen times already and want to see what he’s done with it;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even so, its fair to say that had this been a
new release, it wouldn’t have been noticed at all never mind still be on the
charts forty years after release; it’s just too slow, too long, too repetitive.
A nice try then and its far from the horror show that some fans are making it
out to be (many of them before they even heard it), but re-making an album in
such a radically different and sombre way was always going to be a ‘looney’
idea when it came to a lunar album as beloved as ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and
ultimately there are more craters than first steps into new territory here. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">18)
Neil Young “Chrome Dreams”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In a parallel world where this album came out in
1977 its hailed as one of Neil’s best, a return to form with eleven of his
strongest songs and every one brilliant, some bordering on genius. Even in the
real world the original 1990s bootleg of the album was one of Neil’s most
popular providing a means to get several hard-to-find songs in one go. The
album was so famous, in fact, that it got a sequel ‘Chrome Dreams II’ in 2007 that
confused everyone who only went by the official discography (linear time isn’t
really a thing in Neil Young world!) In our universe, in 2023, though, it’s
just another ho-hum money-grabbing NY archive release that isn’t really worth
buying and came and went this year without making much of a splash. Why’s that?
Well, Neil kept coming back to this record down the years, mining it for his
next releases: many of the best songs from ‘American Stars ‘n’ Bars’ ‘Comes A
Time’ ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ and ‘Hawks and Doves’ were lifted directly from this
album’s sessions. Some of these songs had themselves already started life on
‘Hitch-Hiker’, an earlier unreleased album that has already been released
complete in 2017 and the recordings from that set (‘Pocahontas’ ‘Powderfinger’)
are repeated here without even being remixed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s frustratingly little we haven’t heard
somewhere else: the rarest song here is ‘Stringman’ and even that was on the
million-selling ‘Unplugged’ concert of 1993. Even most of the ‘alternate
versions’ have come out before: this ‘Stringman’ and the original ‘Too Far
Gone’ (before it was re-recorded in inferior form for 1989’s ‘Freedom’) both appeared
on Archives II in 2020. There are just two actual recordings that have never
been officially released: a sweet but shrill and rather drunken sounding ‘Hold
Back The Tears’ before it was countrified to death on ‘Stars ‘n’ Bars’ and a
killer ‘Sedan Delivery’ that’s slow and awkward, thunder compared to the
lightning of the ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ version. Both are well worth hearing, but
not worth paying to buy all over again when you have everything else. Even the
cover isn’t the one of legend, sketched by manager and mentor David Briggs on a
tape box during the album sessions, of a 55 chysler motorbike that, when turned
on end, became a beautiful girl, Briggs telling Neil ‘that’s your cover!’ (a
lot of Neil albums are about duality so I can see why the guitarist liked it –
the replacement was half an album of bar songs and half an album of ‘American
legends’ after all). Why don’t we have that much discussed cover? Because it’s
since been lost (yes, even Neil’s archives don’t have everything apparently,
which makes me feel better when something of mine goes missing) – instead it’s
a re-creation by Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood based on what Neil can remember. And
even so looks pretty disappointing, a bit too obviously two images smashed
together rather than an organic whole. Now I feel a bit mean putting this album
so far down the list when the music on it is great and if you’ve never heard
any of it before you’re in for a treat; however there are better ways to hear
these classic recordings than this and for collectors on a budget this is more
of a nightmare than a dream and an engine running on fumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">19)
Neil Young “Before and After”</span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil’s had a quiet year – for him. He only appears
on six of the records in this year’s list (last year it was nine!) This is his
new one, as opposed to the others which are all archive releases, although even
this is a dip back into the past. Neil had, very sensibly, stopped touring
during the pandemic and continued to stay home even after his friends and
colleagues were forced by a need for money/brainwashing by society to go back
out and risk creating mass-disabling covid infection events (poor David Crosby
is a notable tale: he staved off the hunger for touring for two years, then
died in his sleep in January after catching covid during dress rehearsals for
his comeback tour). Neil has finally been persuaded out to play, but on his own
terms: he won’t risk infecting a band alongside him and he insists on evidence
of a negative covid test before audiences show up: good for him. This pandemic
would be over a lot quicker and we could all get out and play if more musicians
did things like this. Neil’s spent lockdown working on tentative versions of
volumes three and four in his epic archives project (volume three due out ‘the
first half of 2024’ apparently) and has now reached the 1980s and 1990s. With this
era of music ringing in his ears he’s stuck a load of songs in the setlist that
he either hasn’t played much or hasn’t played at all and re-arranged them for
his lone voice and guitar, recording the ‘dress rehearsals’ for us here so that
we get an album that has the feel of a live album without an audience actually
being there (in keeping with the past few concert recordings that do weird
things with an audience). Impressively Neil performs the whole thing in one
epic 48 minute take (perhaps a couple of sneaky edits aside), the songs blending into one long acoustic medley with no
gap between the tracks ('it's all one song' as Neil quipped to a concert goer who said his songs all sounded the same on the 'year Of the Horse' live set in 1997, advice taken to heart here and these tracks do flow together well, feeling like they belong together better than your usual concert setlist.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of this record works well, especially when its re-arranged so
much from the original source: ‘I’m The Ocean’ was an epic powerhouse when
played with Pearl Jam in 1995 but this tale of personal defiance fits the idea
of a lone guitar and shakey voice (that’s as real as the day is long) even
better than a noise amongst many, 'Mother Earth' substitutes the fizzle of Crazy Horse feedback for a pump organ that isn't necessarily any better than the original but is at least strikingly different with this environmental plea having an urgency the more laidback version from thirty years ago didn't, while a surprise revival of ‘Homefires’ (a sad
tale of starting over played on CSNY’s ‘Doom Tour’ of stadiums and unreleased
until the ‘CSNY ‘74’ box set forty years later) and ‘Burned’ (Neil’s first ever
vocal, for the first Buffalo Springfield album, a sad tale of betrayal) are
great to hear after all these years, even if they shows up how elderly Neil’s
voice sounds now compared to then. And some of it doesn’t: ‘On The Way Home’ is
the acoustic ‘4 Way Street’ arrangement to the letter and the simpler songs
like ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘When I Hold You In My Arms’ sound nothing compared to
the band arrangements on the records ‘Ragged Glory’ and ‘Prairie Wind’
respectively, while the new solo versions of old solo performances like 'Comes A Time' 'Birds' the two piano ballads from 'Sleeps With Angels' and the album's one modern song 'Don't Forget Love' make you wonder why Neil bothered. The biggest re-arrangement here: 'Mr Soul', that old Buffalo Springfield warhorse that's the one song of Neill's that he keeps updating with the majority of the bands he'd played with, has been done every which way the past 56 years: as a pop song, a full on rocker, a country waltz, a folk ballad, a grunge stompfest, a hardened blues, swinging R and B and the indescribable Trans vocoder version. A song all about the need to change stay true to yourself, its the most obvious song of the lot to choose, but even I wasn't expecting the solemn pump organ 'n' harmonica version that makes it sound like an old Scottish war song, the held organ notes swaying in the breeze like bagpipes as a frail sounding Neil tries to muscle his way through a series of restless notes swaying in the breeze, clinging to his roots in an era of turbulence. The biggest rarity here is ‘You Got Love’, a sweet and poppy song
from unreleased 1982 album ‘Island In the Sun’ (which became the more ‘normal’
half of the Trans’ album) that sounds a bit flimsy with just a twinkly organ but
which is nice to hear and bodes well for that album’s first official release
sometime soon (it’s the best thing in Neil’s archives that isn’t out yet). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The bottom line is we don’t really need this record
when we can play the originals and the lack of an audience makes this an even
more low-key project than normal for Neil these days, while there are no
stunning re-inventions in the same scale as, say, ‘Like A Hurricane’ played on
the pump organ for the ‘Unplugged’ set a quarter century ago. All that said,
Neil’s back catalogue is so rich that I’m grateful he’s gone back to shine a
spotlight on some fantastic songs that never got enough credit the first time
round with the vague underlying theme of ecology making this a neat sister set
to his last live set ‘Earth’, played with the full on onslaught of ‘The Promise
Of The Real’ to an audience of crickets and chickens. I have to say I much
prefer this set: there’s a homeliness and thoughtfulness that suit these
parables for our times and there are no braying lions or mooing cows getting in
the way either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not even close to Neil
at his best or most inventive, and you won’t miss much if you skip buying it, but
a worthier collection filler than some.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">20) Dave Davies “Father Christmas”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A fun little filler CD EP from the Kinks guitarist
who follows up last year’s autobiography and new compilation, both named
‘Living On A Thin Line’ (see below), with a quartet of some of his favourite
songs he doesn’t play very much on stage taken from gigs recorded between 1997
and 2003. The world’s most working class festive song ‘Father Christmas’ is
full of gut punch guitar gymnastics and it’s fun to hear Dave singing instead
of Ray – he’s a much more energetic, friendly kind of Santa Claus than the bah
humbug way his elder brother played him. ‘Whose Foolin’ Who?’ is one of my
favourite cuts from my favourite of Dave’s 21<sup>st</sup> century solo CD
‘Bug’ and sounds more prescient than ever in our days of ‘fake news’.
‘Imagination’s Real’ is one of my favourite songs from my favourite Dave solo
album of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, 1983’s ‘Chosen People’, with a very
different feel sung with a full on rock vocal rather than an angelic falsetto. Then
there’s ‘Love Me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Till The Sun Shines’
one of my favourite Dave songs of the 1960s, a howl of pain and longing that
was born for the live stage. They’re all a bit messy and scrappy and like many
a live recording it sounds like a great gig you wish you’d been to rather than
a great concert recording, but that’s part of the fun and the result is a nice
souvenir that goes nicely inside a Christmas stocking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">21) The Rolling Stones “Grrrr! Live”</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Released uncharacteristically quietly in
February, compared to the big publicity drives for all the previous Stones
archives sets and the new studio album, this is the New Jersey show from
December 2012, one of the last dates in the band’s 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary
tour. It’s not one of their better shows – you can tell its near the end of the
tour as Mick Jagger’s voice is as shot as I’ve ever heard it, as anyone’s would
be after playing so many gigs in a row – but you can see why it got released
now with its big star guest names including some on the new album. Lady Gaga appears
on ‘Gimme Shelter’ and she’s kind of OK doing the Merry Clayton part but
nowhere near as inspired as she is on new song ‘Sweet Sounds Of Summer’, blues
guitarists John Meyer and Gary Clark Jnr<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>gueston a surprise revival of ‘I’m Goin’ Down’ (the bluesy song at the
end of Decca outtakes set ‘Metamorphosis’ that everyone always skips), The
Black Keys turn up on an even more surprise cover of Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You
Love?’, a drunk sounding Bruce Springsteen takes a verse of ‘Tumbling Dice’ and
turns it straight into an E-street song and old Stone Mick Taylor plays some
great improvised guitar lines on an extended ‘Midnight Rambler’, just like the
olden days. It’s a show that feels like a warm up for this year’s anniversary
shenanigans, filled with more unusual songs than usual, all the more so
considering it was part of a ‘greatest hits’ tour, with other rarities
including compilation songs ‘One More Shot’ and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Doom and Gloom’ and Keith’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>old
‘Some Girls’ warhorse ‘Before They Make Me Run’. The Stones aren’t as tight as
they are at other gigs, including others from the same tour, but they are
having a lot of fun stretching out and playing looser than usual and there’s a
party atmosphere throughout, while it’s always good to hear the much-missed
Charlie Watts one more time. Hardly essential though and if you’re looking for
a place to start your ‘Stones archives’ sets go with ‘Some Girls Live In Texas’
or ‘Sticky Fingers Live At Leeds’ where the Stones really were (give or take
The Who) the best rock and roll band in the world. This is more of a party than
a full-on rock concert and like many parties if you weren’t there it’s hard to
get into the party spirit with it. Sounds like it was a lot of fun if you were,
though. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">22) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">John Lodge “Days Of
Future Passed – My Sojourn”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here we are again with a third album from the Moody
Blues bassist reviving the olden days and doing his best to stay true to his
promise to drummer Graeme Edge to keep the spirit of the band alive (Justin
Hayward feeling that without Graeme the band is dead and he’s best left to concentrate
on his solo career). ‘Days Of Future Passed’ didn’t just change the band’s
fortunes, it changed John’s life, giving him a platform and an escape from the
rat race he was stuck in and he’s never lost his sense of awe and gratitude for
being part of it. Here, a year on from 2022’s ‘Royal Affair’ concert version of
the entire LP comes a studio re-recording with most of the same special guests.
It works a lot better this time if only because the Moodies were such a
perfectionist band they always sounded better with the smoother edges of the
studio rather than the rawness of the road. Like that record it’s fun to hear
John singing songs he didn’t get to do with the band and he sounds rather good
on Mike Pinder’s ‘Dawn Is A feeling’ and Ray Thomas’ ‘Twilight Time’ (although
he can’t quite get the childish glee of Ray’s ‘Another Morning’ right and
chickens out of doing ‘Nights In White Satin’, leaving that one to Yes’ Jon
Anderson, whose as good as anyone can be that isn’t Justin but is really more
of a nap in faded denim compared to the brilliance of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the original). There’s a heartwarming moment
when Graeme Edge comes out of the vaults of future passed to deliver his poems
(in the same concert recording used on ‘Royal Affair’) but there are also no
encores or other songs from the past this time around and I still struggle
hearing orchestras fill the gap where the mellotron should go (yes, famously,
the London Symphony Orchestra played the links between the songs but didn’t
play on the songs themselves as a substitute for the rock and roll instruments
as per here).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, too, I’ve always
felt that ‘Future Passed’ is the weakest of the seven ‘core’ Moodies records,
without the daring of ‘In Search of the Lost Chord’, the depth of ‘To Our
Children’s Children’ or the emotion of ‘Seventh Sojourn’ the other title referenced
here (I was hoping for a double set!) Like the live album and indeed like most
re-recordings you also to have to question who this record is for: it’s too
respectful of the original to do anything wildly different and, simply because
John is one man not five, can never be as good. If you want to hear ‘Days Of
Future Passed’ you can just put the original record on after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">23) The Who “With Orchestra: Live At Wembley”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">An orchestra? The Who? Are you bleeding mad?!?
Next you’ll be telling me they’ve turned Quadrophenia into a bleeding opera! Oh
wait...They did that already. And it was awful. So it was with heavy heart I
braced myself for a more general concert of Who songs made over with the Isobel
Griffiths Orchestra, taped during their last pre-pandemic gig at Wembley Arena.
And against the odds I quite like it. In bits. Orchestras aren’t complete
strangers to the ‘Orrible ‘Oo after all. John Enwtistle played the French Horn
long before he picked up a bass and the 1960s Who records are full of brass.
Pete Townshend was also married to Karen Astley for 30-odd years, the daughter
of classical film soundtrack composer Edwin. My problem is adding orchestra to
songs that were never designed to bear their weight whilst still playing as
normal, when rock and classical music need entirely different recording
conditions to work, is like baking a cake using a different recipe and
expecting it to still come out like the original but a different colour. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Quadrophenia’ was awful in that respect – it
felt like two different albums playing at once and always a little out of
synch, so that the washes of watercolour it was meant to be weaving were being
mixed on top of oils (or maybe I’ve just been staring at the back of the ‘Face
Dances’ album cover for too long). Even while knowing why they’ve done it (part
of a long process of finding a way to add a layer of power and re-create the
records while compensating for an ageing band without adding an ‘equal’ second
guitarist which changes the ‘rock trio’ sound a bit too much; the orchestra is
basically a replacement for Rabbit Bundrick’s keyboards) it’s never quite
worked in the past, more of a gimmick than an embellishment. This live show has
improved things though by having the orchestra at least play in something like the
same medium, so that they’re a lot more rock and rolly while ducked in the
sound rather than prim and proper. Also, rather than being front and centre
like a lead guitar part, they only peek out behind the drums bass and guitars
every so often like a second guitar part, as if the orchestra and The Who are
having one massive big punch-up. The Who still win by sheer volume, but at
least they’re in the same fight this time. Some songs do, admittedly work
better than others. The orchestra dashes of colour where the synths should be
on the opening of ‘Eminence Front’ works well, reunion song ‘Hero Ground Zero’
gives Roger Daltrey an extra bed of layers to bounce up against on a song of
reclaimed youthful swagger, ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ gets a stately gentile makeover
and best of all ‘Imagine A Man’, that gorgeous overlooked song about becoming
middle-aged from ‘Who By Numbers’, sounds lovely all lush and slow and elderly
in all the best ways, with so much of a history to mourn and so many mistakes
to look back on. The Quadrophenia songs still sound pretty poor though
(surprisingly, given how many of them used orchestra anyway) while the old war
horses The Who couldn’t get away without playing just sound daft with an
orchestra playing on top: ‘Pinball Wizard’ goes from rock masterclass to ‘High
School Musical’ soundtrack, ‘Baba O’Riley’ and its teenage wasteland have never
sounded more old or out of touch and the orchestral substitute on ‘Substitute’
is laughable to all right-thinking mods. There’s a surprise acoustic ‘Won’t Get
Fooled Again’, the one song performed without an orchestra at all, on a single
guitar the way it was originally planned (‘before we Keith Mooned it and John
Enwtistled it!’) with a rambling opening speech from Pete about having written
it not to promote activism or take part in it but to inspire people to change –
it might have worked at a different gig or earlier in the set but by the end
poor Roger’s voice is giving way and the edges are too rough now our ears
having become more tuned into a lusher sound. Sadly there is no lengthy ‘Live
At Leeds’ style ‘My Generation’ suite which might have been quite fun or
‘Listening To You’, a song I would have said was crying out for an orchestral
makeover. Still, this experiment is a lot more successful than I expected it to
be and is worth a listen. A word of warning though: buy the CD version not the
Blu-Ray edition, as that’s just a collection of photographs and stills rather
than a moving show, something that is mentioned on the back but is easy to miss.
</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;">Re-Issues:</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Black";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">The
Who “Who’s Next” (Super Deluxe)</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What was planned in 1971 as a sprawling magnum opus
concept LP called ‘Lifehouse’, set in a dystopian wasteland of environmental
and societal chaos became, thanks to looming deadlines and a nervous breakdown,
‘Who’s Next’ the most condensed and compact Who album of them all: nine songs,
the worst of them still pretty darn brilliant. The more the years go by and the
closer we get to that dystopian vision of a scorched Earth with everyone hiding
in their separate bunker-houses, however, the more ‘Who’s Next’ has gone back
to resembling that sprawling first idea. Far from being a double album as
intended its grown to become an expanded and pretty packed single CD in 1995,
Pete’s four-discs-of-demos-plus-radio-play ‘Lifehouse Chronicles’ set in 2000
(not all period music but most of it is), a two CD ‘deluxe’ set in 2003, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and now a ‘super deluxe’ edition resembles
something the size of the concrete monolith on the cover with a whacking ten
CDs, plus seven Blu-Ray audios and a graphic novel that’s bigger than most sets
all by itself. There are, in fact, 450 versions of this album from around the
world listed on the Discogs website which must be some form of a record (the
only AAA albums to come close are ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and ‘Pet Sounds’ –
and oh look what crops up a bit later!) Despite its size and price (both way
way way too big, particularly for a concept piece partly about how
capitalism<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>creates distances between us
all) I have to say I’m rather impressed with this set, which I’ve been calling
for since the early days of the AAA and which doesn’t do the usual Who re-issue
thing of picking and choosing from lots of other releases so you have to buy
everything and instead gives us the story from every angle pretty much so we
have all the bits and pieces of the jigsaw to try to re-assemble ourselves: the
original album which, unlike a lot of re-mastering so close to the last time
round you wonder why they bothered really, does make what was always a sonically
brilliant sounding album crisper and punchier than it ever has before; there
are the complete aborted New York Record Plant Sessions heard in part on the
two-CD set that were abandoned for making ‘Lifehouse’ sound ‘lifeless’; all of
Pete’s demos, some of which were released as long as ago as his first solo
album ‘Who Came First’ in 1972 and the majority of which but not all of which
were heard on his ‘Lifehouse Chronicles’ set; the punchy and rather under-rated
concert at London’s ‘Young Vic’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heard on
the deluxe edition that was meant to find The Who ‘connecting’ to their
audience and channelling them into music but just ended up another Who concert
show; a rather lesser second show from the Civic Auditorium unheard till now
that tried to do the same but found even the band were struggling to connect
with each other and is as out of tune as I’ve ever heard the Keith Moon lineup
play; the singles ‘Join Together’ ‘Let’s See Action’ ‘Long Live Rock’ and
‘Relay’ once intended for the album plus earlier between-albums single ‘The
Seeker’ and their incredibly varied B-sides: Roger’s thoughtful ‘Here For
More’, Moony’s bonkers ‘Waspman’, Pete’s own under-rated classic ‘I Don’t Even
Know Myself’ (also heard in a pretty awful and out of tune early take) and one
of John Enwtistle’s greatest songs ‘When I Was A Boy’; an abandoned 1972 EP as
The Who tried to work out what to do next after ‘Who’s Next’ collected onto
‘Odds and Sods’ in 1974; various works in progress and alternate mixes in line
with other Who deluxe re-releases and various flotsam and jetsam bits and
pieces. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The only thing missing is the not that well received
radio play, effectively replaced in this set by a new graphic novel which does
a better but still flawed job of telling the same story: a sort of futuristic
‘Romeo and Juliet’ set against the backdrop of a broken society and a planet
Earth too hot to live on, with a musician desperate to make everyone in their
little houses connect again with one big community who programmes society into
a big computer in search of the ‘one note’ that will unite us all. In truth
there are a lot of notes in this work and given that a central song from this
concept is how ‘too much of anything is too much for me’ you can understand why
so many collectors<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are frustrated with a
set that costs another small fortune (currently £230) so soon after we were
asked to pay the last small fortune for a Who re-issue (£100ish). However there
is a lot of music and information here for the large amount of money and as a
way of collecting all of Pete’s many varied and often conflicting thoughts
about ‘Lifehouse’ into one place, to save us the trouble of searching for it
across multiple different releases<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that
are now all out of print, it’s a winner and about as close as we’re ever going
to get to a ‘finished’ version of one of the best ‘missing’ albums of them all.
As well as the finished album sounding as fabulous as ever (still one of the
best AAA albums of all time) we get all our new-old friends back in place where
they belong – songs like ‘Pure and Easy’ ‘Mary’ ‘Greyhound Girl’ and the first
go at ‘Baba O’Riley’ back when it was the mournful ecological ballad ‘Teenage
Wasteland’ that would be the highlights of other band’s catalogues, not
cast-offs abandoned till later archive albums as these songs are. If you
weren’t lucky enough to hear the Pete Townshend demos that were on the limited
edition ‘Lifehouse chronicles’ set then they will be the revelation: Pete’s
demos have him playing everything (even a pretty good stripped down version of
Moony’s drum attack) and singing all the words with a folkier flavour than the
finished band versions. A bluesy ‘Behind Blue Eyes’, a sprawling ‘Won’t Get
Fooled Again’ and a thirteen minute synth instrumental demo for ‘Baba O’Riley’
(running four minutes longer than the ‘Chronicles’ version) that’s beautiful in
a hypnotic swirling trancelike kind of a way are all winners. As are the demos
for songs that didn’t make the album: Pete’s most gorgeous, straightforward
love song ‘Mary’ and his most agonising love song ‘Greyhound Girl’ (about a
love he knows is bad for him but which he keeps coming back to).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also
two worthy demos that never got to the band stage and have never been heard
before. ‘There’s A Fortune In These Hills’ is musically as 1971 Who as it gets,
with a backing track squarely in the middle of folk country pop and rock and a fun
riff that hops from foot to foot with every swipe of the guitar, restless and
eager. Lyrically though its unique: this is clearly an elder of the ‘Lifehouse’
setting remembering how things used to be (Mary’s Grandad or the narrator’s?),
inspiring the young with tales of how beautiful life used to be and how we
never miss what we had till it’s gone. The hills, though, seem further away
than ever in a world that’s all deserted deserts and has grown flat in every
sense of the word. Even better is six minute epic ‘Finally Over’, a song that
must surely have come at the end of the entire piece, as the complex narrator
sheds his chords in death to become a soul of one note, all his human
society-ness stripped away from him, becoming one note, pure and easy. A
yearning piano ballad in the ‘Song Is Over; mode but with the spiritual
gut-punch of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, this has the narrator reflecting on all
the things he’s tried to do with his life but only now, as he’s dying, does he
truly understand what it was all for, getting spiritual downloads that enable
him to see that the struggle was the whole point of life not the solution and
reminding him of how far he’s come yet how much he has to learn over to be
where he started, ‘children with open faces’ embracing life on its own terms
instead of trying to shape it. Clearly at one with Pete’s other Meher Baba
inspired pieces about embracing the present moment instead of feeling guilty
about the past or dreading the future (the guru’s most famous phrase is ‘don’t
worry, be happy’) it’s far too good and important a song to have remained in
the vaults all this time, although it’s also so plot- heavy you can see why it
didn’t make it to the final ‘Who’s Next’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s nice to hear those ‘Record Plant’ sessions
complete too – we’ve known how good some of them were ever since the expanded
‘Odds and Odds’ CD featured the blistering four minute, twin guitar rock
version of ‘Love Ain’t For Keeping’ (which might still be the best thing here,
including the finished album) and the deluxe CD showed off a pretty snazzy nine
minute cover of ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’ alongside nearly-there versions of
‘Behind Blue Eyes’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ that were only a couple of
takes and a rest away from greatness rather than the gulf the sleevenote
writers usually claim. All are here alongside two unheard recordings, a
slightly wobblier ‘Pure and Easy’ and ‘Gettin’ In Tune’ that by other bands
standards would be ready to go already and are nice to hear, if not all that
different. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By contrast the other ‘new’ big selling points are
pretty lame. There’s nothing that much to write about in the unheard mixes
department: a ‘Bargain’ with Roger’s first vocal singing alone before being
double tracked (interesting to hear but you can see why they changed it for the
final edit, as he does sound a bit lost and puny against the weight of The
‘Orrible ‘Oo at full blast), a slower ‘My Wife’ (the only song on ‘Who’s Next’
not written for ‘Lifehouse’) without the horns or the double-tracked vocals
that sounds almost polite compared to the all-out punch of the finished
version, a brief Nicky Hopkins led jam through the final crunching chords of
‘Getting’ In Tune’ before a first take that’s looser and funkier than the polished
final version, albeit one that’s on the verge of collapse throughout, a mix of
‘Goin’ Mobile’ that has even more fun with squeaky synth noises and a few stray
count-ins and snippets of band chat not heard before (none of it all that
interesting). Because so many masters for this album have been lost sadly
there’s only one complete backing track, unlike other Who deluxe sets where
they tend to be amongst the best things there, and ‘The Song Is Over’ is such a
lyrical stop-starty song that alas it’s not the best one to have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>survived. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The big selling point, the Civic show, really is
awful too (by Who standards at least) – it feels as if everyone is just a
couple of beats out of synch with each other and you can hear the band
screaming at the audience to gee themselves up and clap along but they’re just
not connecting with each other tonight never mind the crowd so trying a sort of
real-life ‘Listening To You’ doesn’t work and just makes everyone crosser.
Which given that these shows were meant to be ‘about’ connecting with people
through the healing power of music is a bit of a problem. It wouldn’t surprise
me if, despite the guff in all the publicity notes about how wonderful it is,
this show played its role in causing Pete to lose confidence and abandon this
work all together. The most famous track from the gig is ‘Going Down’, the last
song encore and a rather led Zeppelin riff-heavy heavy metal Don Nix cover
first released on rarities set on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>1987’s‘Two’s Missing’. Though nice to have it for completists’s sake
(that recording is pretty rare nowadays) it’s as stodgy and heavy on their feet
as The Who ever played and if you know it will give you some idea what the rest
of the show is like. The Young Vic show though still sounds great, a
cigar-chomping Pete, high on the fact his second daughter’s just been born, is
in a fun mood and drives The Who through some really tricky new songs with
great aplomb, however many apologies he makes for being distracted and how the
new material isn’t quite there yet. On the contrary, it sounds great. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Overall, then, this isn’t the sort of box set that’s
brilliant from first note to last and you can see why a lot of the unreleased
stuff didn’t make it out on earlier sets. However there’s something to be said
for having everything from this oh so important project together in one place
and if anything this music hits harder today in our fragile, disconnected world
on the edge of environmental collapse and with society hanging together by the
thread of a pre-internet ‘grid’ (a remarkable bit of fortune-telling and
something they make big play on for the ‘Lifehouse Chronicles’ set first
released online back when that was a quirky thing to do in the year 2000) than
it did in 1971. Planned as a ‘50<sup>th</sup> anniversary set’ for 2021 and
still billed as that in some places, weirdly enough, despite being two years
late you can see why ‘Lifehouse’ came back to haunt its chief creator so much
during 2020’s lockdown, a time when we were doing pretty much exactly what this
album’s all about .That it’s taken this long to come out shows how much extra
love and attention has gone into the contents and packaging. If I could then
maybe I’d maybe cut down the repetition between discs (you really don’t need
all this stuff twice, on CD and blu-ray), tighten up the slightly rambling
graphic novel, throw in some extra sleeve notes (the one thing earlier
re-issues of this album did better) and cut the price down by at least £100.
However ‘Lifehouse’ isn’t meant to be about perfection: it’s a concept album
all about being flawed humans and how we all get fooled again, falling into the
same old traps generation after generation. Fooled again into parting with my
money for yet another deluxe edition? Maybe. Goodness knows there aren’t many
albums I’d buy all over again so many times. But this one is special and a good
half<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the extras on this set showcase
why. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">2)</span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"> Dire Straits “Live
1978-1992”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Dire Straits were such a perfectionist studio band, always searching for
sonic clarity, that their rawer live work too often gets dismissed – not least
because their two official concert albums come from the second half of their
time together, when the band were bloated and a bit too big for their own good,
with changing line-ups playing massive arenas every night (if ever a band
needed to look into their audience’s eyes to play it was this one). At the
start of their career, though, Dire Straits were brilliant on stage, with a raw
lean retro rock feel and songs that were daring and dangerous and with the sort
of telepathy that only comes after many hours on stage. This new set,
containing eight CDs or a whopping eleven vinyl records, redresses the balance
at last, combining the two official live records, a hard-to-find EP released
after the band had split, a BBC sessions set from the early days and a whole
unreleased (but much beloved by bootleggers) gig at London’s Rainbow Theatre (making
its second appearance in this year’s review) from December 1979. I really hope
this show gets a standalone release sometimes as its easily the best thing
here: this is the band when they were still just-about hanging on to their
first and best lineup (with brother David Knopfler on rhythm and Pick Withers
on drums, alongside longterm bass player John Illsley), halfway between those
early desperate gigs and the later stadiums, second album ‘Communiqué’ just
released and half of follow-up ‘Makin’ Movies’ already in the setlist. Mark’s
confidence is sky high, in between the hard slog of the early days and the
pressures of fame that will make him nervous, and he pulls some extraordinary
guitar solos out of thin air, turning these compact early rockers into bigger and
more epic songs. I wouldn’t say many of these live versions were better than
the studio records but they are great fun, highlighted by a fun fast-paced romp
through a much happier sounding ‘Setting Me Up’ than the dark, brooding tale of
betrayal it is on record and a positively joyous ‘Sultans Of Swing’ that has
never sounded better, this song of playing music for the love of it despite all
the obstacles in your path, a sort of victory lap. Phil Lynott and Tony De Meur
make a guest appearance near the end too, evidence of just what an up and
coming band Dire Straits were at the end of the 1970s. There’s a curio for
collectors too in the shape of ‘What’s A Matter Baby?’, an unusual angular
track at one with the stormier songs of ‘Communiqué’ about Mark’s divorce from
his first wife Kathy (and first released in inferior form on the ‘BBC’ disc) but
is also half out of the bleak mood of that album, switching violently from the
‘shadow hanging over the valley’ of the minor key verses to a light and playful
major key chorus more like the romance songs on ‘Makin’ Movies’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not the best thing Mark ever wrote but
its too good to languish on bootlegs all these years and even for those
collectors like me who own it several times over (it’s a natural filler on
bootlegs, given that its one of only a handful of unreleased Dire Straits
songs) it’s never sounded so good, cleaned up and polished in a loving,
painstaking restoration job. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The other live shows sound better than they ever have too, even though
they’re less essential. The seven-song BBC sessions from 1978, including a more
half-hearted go at ‘Baby’, are still well played but in the confines of a
studio with the clock ticking the band simply re-create the first album for the
most part, with very few differences along the way. ‘Alchemy’ is beloved by
many fans, a two CD/three vinyl set from Dire Straits’ all-conquering Wembley
show in 1983 that was also one of the first big-selling music home videos,
welcomed by budding guitarists for the chance to study Mark’s ever-moving
fingers close up. The idea of turning metals into gold is a process that works
both ways, though, and for every song that sounds better with the frisson of
live performance (like a surprisingly intimate ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and a more
than solid ‘Solid Rock’) there are other songs extended to double their running
time that just fall flat (‘Private Investigations’ and ‘Telegraph Road’, while
two of the best songs the band ever did, are not easy songs to do on stage and
the band copy the studio arrangements to the letter, too audibly thinking about
their next cues, all spontaneity lost). There’s a welcome chance to hear the
fan favourite ‘Going Home – Theme From Local hero’ played by a full band
though, rather than just Mark and keyboardist Alan Clark and a less welcome
chance to hear EP only song ‘Two Young Lovers’, Dire Straits’ most shamelessly
retro 1950s song that’s not as fun as it ought to be and just ticks every
cliché in the book. Two songs have been discovered in the vaults and slotted
back seamlessly into the set in the original order: a rather ropey ‘Industrial
Disease’ and another EP track, the rather gormless ‘Twisting By The Pool’.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And then there’s ‘On The Night’, another two vinyl/packed CD set taken
from the band’s final 1991 tour plus an EP of four songs cut from the final
record for timing reasons. Released in 1992 and 1993 respectively they ended up
being the last official ‘new’ products the band ever made and you can kind of
see why – the joy’s just gone out of everything, the audience are too busy
partying to pay attention to the words and the band have played so many shows
that everything is passing in a blur, while there are just too many band
members on stage clogging up the sound. Which is not to say its worthless:
there are moments when the shows catch fire, especially the rockier songs from
‘Brothers In Arms’ and ‘On Every Street’ that sound good without the studio
polish like ‘Calling Elvis’ ‘The Bug’ and ‘Heavy Fuel’, although even these end
up in a rut of band jamming that you can tell everyone has played the exact
same way every night for the best part of a year. There’s one heck of a lot of
repetition too, even allowing for the fact that fans want to hear the hits
(really though, do we need a second twenty minute version of ‘Telegraph Road’?)
There are six songs restored this time though and you have to wonder why most
of them were cut, especially a welcome slab of earthly blues in ‘When It Comes
To You’ and a swinging ‘Tunnel Of Love’ (taken from a camera feed, the official
recording truck having closed down for the night in error, assuming the show
was over!) There are still some things missing from the bootlegs of the tour
though: no ‘Planet Of New Orleans’ for one. There’s also a whole unexpected new
song: ‘I Think I Love You Too Much’ is too simple to be a classic but its good
to hear, its simple declaration of love at odd with the dark and sombre mood of
‘On Every Street’.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The result then is a mix. I’m glad this box exists and that there’s a
cheaper way of getting the ‘BBC’ and ‘Encores’ set that doesn’t cost the Earth
and the chance to hear the ‘Rainbow’ gig is worth every penny alone, while even
the worst recording here has never sounded so good thanks to the painstaking
attention to detail from one time keyboard player Guy Fletcher, in charge of
the re-mastering project who did a superb job. The packaging is cheap and
shoddy though, arrows on a plain white cover that’s clearly trying to get the
‘vibe’ of the first three album covers without quite pulling it off and the
cardboard sleeves feel cheap given the exorbitant price this set is going for
(£50 on CD and a whopping £200 on vinyl), although the CD replication sleeves
are very pretty. You have to ask, too, why just the Rainbow show was selected
for official release when there are so many gems around on bootleg that deserve
to be better heard (my favourite Dire Straits gig is a show in Boston from 1979
with even more rarities on it). Money for nothing? Definitely not, but it’s a
lot of money for maybe only half a set of brilliance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">3) Neil Young<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Official Release Series 5”</span></em></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We’re up to the late 1980s and early 1990s now
with the latest quartet of remastered albums from the released end of Neil’s
discography and a mixed bunch they are too. Things start strongly with
‘Freedom’, perhaps the best all-round of Neil’s albums with a bunch of
excellent acoustic, electric and experimental pieces all nestling for space on the
first Young albums made for the longer running time of the CD market. Along
with ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and ‘Trans’ its his finest hour and mostly sounds
better than ever here, though ‘Crime In The City’ is still disappointingly
tinny and weak. ‘Ragged Glory’ sold well following the sales of ‘Freedom’ and
spin-off single ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ but to my ears was one of Neil’s
weaker, more basic albums with the first full-album reunion of Crazy Horse
after a decade’s gap tentative and nervy, despite some fine songs hinting at
early cracks in Neil’s relationship with wife Pegi. The concert album from the
resulting tour, ‘Weld’, is something special though, the definitive live
recording of the Horse in their natural habitat of the stage, with the outbreak
of the Gulf War providing an extra political commentary and edge to songs old
and new, with the bite ‘Ragged Glory’ was missing and highlighted by its
exclusive song, a feedback ‘n’ harmonies led cover of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’
that’s still my favourite Dylan cover by anyone. Neil was in an unusually
co-operative mood when he agreed with the record company to cut out the
superfluous long stretches of feedback and bum notes but, Neil being Neil,
stuck them all together in a thirty-minute collage he called ‘Arc’ that, not
surprisingly, didn’t sell too well and hasn’t been re-issued on CD since till
now. It’s really not the sort of thing you’ll want to listen to too many times,
but it fits the staccato machine gun vibe of the Gulf War even better than its
parent album. Some of these discs for the first time come with the rounding up
of stray offcuts and B-sides and though there aren’t many all are strong this
time around, each of them on ‘Ragged Glory’ turning an already lengthy set into
a double disc one. ‘Interstate’ is a lovely ballad, an extra from the original
double-vinyl release of ‘Broken Arrow’ but originally recorded for this album,
that’s been out a few times now but never sounded better than here as an
acoustic ballad so fragile it sounds as if it will disappear, Neil lost and
isolated on a road that’s much bigger and wider than him. ‘Box Car’ made it out
in re-recorded form for ‘Chrome Dreams II’ in 2007, but the demo dates back to
‘Glory’ too, played with a spikey solo electric guitar backing rather than a
flowing acoustic one. Like many a Young song it compares his life to a vehicle,
though its perhaps unique in having Neil a passenger ‘led’ by something bigger
than him. It’s no long lost classic, but it’s nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Don’t Spook The Horse’ is a cheeky song from
Neil first released on the flip of ‘Mansion On The Hill’. What starts off as an
oddball song about love and how you have to be careful not to let it buck and
throw you off or bite you turns into a metaphor for how nervy everyone was
about getting Crazy Horse back together again. Neil struggles to keep a
straight face while informing us that he hopes the ones we love ‘don’t fall in
shit’, his band included! Best of all is ‘Born To Run’ (no, not the Springsteen
song), a much more ‘Ragged Glory’ style foot stomper but one that’s tighter and
more in-the-moment than anything from that album, with a very Neil lyric about
always being on the move and searching for more, set to a ‘Good Lovin’ style
riff that just won’t let him rest. An excellent set of bonus tracks to a mixed
bag of albums, though like all releases in this series it’s a bit pricey for
what you get and the re-mastered sound doesn’t add that much if you own these
albums already.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">4)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bob
Weir “Ace” (50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Edition)</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Ace’ is
kind of an honorary Dead album, what with the Dead backing their rhythm
guitarist on every track and a lot of fans hold this set in high regard so it
makes sense that tis record gets its own 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary re-issue
alongside the main run of band re-issues (though it’s a surprise the just as
loved ‘Garcia’ didn’t get one too). ‘Ace’ is easily Bobby’s greatest hour
(well, half hour – it is quite a short album) containing many of his best
songs, each one fascinatingly different to the last – the hypnotic grooves of
‘Playin’ In The Band’, the lyrical complexity of ‘Black-Throated Wind’, the
tenderness of breakup ballad ‘Looks Like Rain’, the Bible story set to
rollicking good time rock ‘Greatest Story Ever Told’ and the out-with-the-old,
in-with-the-new of ‘Cassidy’, honouring the birth of longterm crew member Rex
Jackson’s son and lamenting the death of counter-culture King Neal Casady. Not
every song is a classic (‘Mexicali Blues’ is one of those Dead songs I tend to
use for a bathroom break) and there are only eight of them, but then ‘Ace’ has
been out of print for so long and for a Dead-related album has been mighty hard
to track down the past few years so any re-release is welcome. However if you
already own it I’d hold on to your old copies a bit longer because the Weir
band concert from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on April 3<sup>rd</sup> 2022
is not up to the other Dead’s 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary set re-issue shows or
indeed up to the Dead at all. Bobby’s brought a horn section on stage with him,
but while it will turn up ace on certain other Weir-written songs like ‘Weather
Report Suite’ these songs weren’t built with a brass section in mind and they
sound alternately tacky or over-powering, while<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the rest of the band are sluggish and sloppy, without the years of
playing that gave the Dead such telepathy. Guest Brittney Spencer livens things
up by filling in Donna Godchaux’s parts from the original, but her very
millennial vocals are an odd mix with Bob’s boomer hippie tones. An eight
minute ‘Playin’ In the Band’, at about half the speed the Dead used to play it
while Bob speak-sings is particularly woeful, though an older and wiser and
more fragile sounding ‘Black-Throated Wind’ is mighty pretty. The packaging is
really good too, as you tend to expect from the Dead’s re-issue bonanza these
days and the re-mastering makes a sometimes woolly sounding record crisp and
clear. However you have to say that what was always one of the leanest Dead-related
records is still pretty lean, with no sign of any of the period Dead live
renditions from 1972-73 that would have filled up the extra space nicely,
perhaps for copyright reasons. Not quite an ace then, though not down to a two
either. Maybe a six?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">5) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">The Beatles “</span><span style="background-color: red; font-size: large;">Red</span><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">
(1962-1966)” and “</span><span style="background-color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Blue</span><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"> (1967-1970)”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There was always going to be some publicity re-issue
bonanza to go with the last/penultimate ever Beatles song (see below) and I
guess the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ sets remixed and re-released on vinyl for the first
time in half a century were as good a choice as any, give their own mirroring
of the ‘Now and Then’ concept (though personally I think the Beatles catalogue
is so rich I’d have released a third volume ‘yellow’ with Paul and Ringo back
on the EMI stairs, the ghosts of John and George with them: the Apple marketing
team missed a trick with that one). For anyone that doesn’t know, the red and
blue sets were hated Beatles manager Allen Klein’s idea, released in 1972 to
combat sales of two semi-bootlegs ‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega’ released in New Jersey to
take advantage of lax local laws that didn’t recognise copyrights on audio
recordings, which were also available on mail order to the rest of the world
and even advertised on TV for a while, for which the Beatles got no money. The
official replacement compilations covered much the same ground, with a few
tweaks here and there to keep George and Ringo happy (they were represented
mostly by solo songs bizarrely thrown into the mix on the bootlegs) and a track
listing that sensibly went for chronological order rather than the (near)
alphabetical of the unofficial sets and the choice was made to replace the handful
of ‘cover’ songs with originals (Klein had a hand in the publish money so
that’s mostly why, but it also makes sense that a Beatles best-of would feature
a showcase for their songwriting as much as their musicianship). Klein’s most
inspired move was to use the aborted photo for ‘Let It Be’, taken when that
album was still panned as ‘Get Back’ and intended to come out in early 1969,
before the mixes were rejected the idea abandoned until Phil Spector came along
to patch things up in 1970. A shot of the fab four re-creating the cover for
first album ‘Please Please me’ at EMI headquarters in London, it’s a neat
‘after’ shot to go with the ‘before’ one and so perfect for this set and its
tie-in single.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Beatles label Apple have also taken the opportunity to add a few songs to the extra CD running time so we get some new additions: some obvious songs that should have always been there and will probably shock most fans that they weren’t (‘I Saw Her Standing There’ ‘Twist and Shout’ ‘Blackbird’) some truly weird ones (‘Please Mr Postman’ ‘This Boy’ ‘Within You Without You’ ‘Glass Onion’ ‘Oh! Darling’ ‘I Me Mine’) and some glaring omissions that are still glaring now (no ‘It Won’t Be Long’ ‘Things We Said Today’ ‘No Reply’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘I’m A Loser’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">‘Yes It Is’ ‘Rain’ ‘She Said She Said’ ‘For No One’ ‘Fixing A Hole’ ‘Birthday’ ‘Helter Skelter’ ‘The Inner Light’ ‘Because’ or ‘The Long Medley’). Ironically enough, the new sets now resemble ‘Alpha Omega’ more than ever with the cover songs back in, so maybe the counterfeiters were on to something? The biggest surprise is that the two ‘other’ reunion songs ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ aren’t included alongside new track ‘Now and Then’ – ironically for recordings released a quarter century after the others they’re now the Beatle tracks that have gone the longest time without being remixed and remastered and, frankly, they need it – especially given the ‘MAL’ software which might be able to do wonders (though given how awful the sound of ‘Now and Then; still is, don’t hold your breath).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ah yes, MAL. The new discs feature remixed sound using the
‘separation’ technology (rather sweetly named Machine Assisted Learning or
‘MAL’, a reference to Beatle roadie Mal Evans) used by director Peter Jackson
in the ‘Get Back’ documentary of 2021 and utilised on a few Beatle box set
re-issues since, as well as the ‘new/old’ single. In simple terms it has a computer analyse the data of the original master recordings, divide them into bits and pieces and then Giles Martin (George's son) 'remixes' them into stereo all over again, with a range that previous engineers never had, with an almost endless supply of 'tracks' to put them on and pan them across stereo (the most the Beatles ever had were sixteen - even 'Sgt Peppers' had overdubs combined on eight tracks). These are then played back through the speakers in Abbey Road and -re-recorded' as if the Beatles are playing 'live'. It's a hit and miss process: some songs sound better, with the rawer songs given an added punch and the more layered tracks opened up to reveal a few titbits we'd never properly been able to hear before - on the downside some things that feel like such an intrinsic part of the song they shouldn't be taken away are now ducked in the mix. Most of the later albums have been remixed in this way already, so collectors are mostly buying these sets for songs from </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px;">the albums ‘Please Please Me’ through to ‘Rubber Soul’ plus ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and the 'Yellow Submarine' soundtrack(so mostly the ‘red’ set with a dash of blue).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It's a process that's only ever as goo as the condition of the master-tapes: luckily for us EMI kept all their master-tapes for everybody in great condition so they're as good as any master reels form sixty years could sound; the downside is they're still sixty years old and treating them like 'new' pristine recordings doesn't always work. The master tapes for 'Please Please Me' were completed in a hurry, without the same intricate detail in sound, so they sound quite flat ('Twist and Shout' especially). 'She Loves You' for instance, is one of the rare Beatles recordings where the master tapes have been 'lost' and while the transfer used is from a pristine 1960s vinyl its still muddy compared to everything else here. 'I Feel Fine' does exist as a master-tape but that sounds odd too. For some odd reason the track selections from 'A Hard Day's Night' sound lifeless too, with Ringo's drums mixed way too high so they overpower everything (the opening ringing guitar of the title track still sounds odd too). 'Revolution' (the single version, not on The White Album) doesn't pierce its way through the speakers the way the 'Past Masters' version does. 'Hey Bulldog' is a puppy, without the bared teeth you'd hope for. 'Old Brown Shoe' is wretched, like George has a sweater on his head (Giles seems to have 'missed' the point that it meant to be a retro 1950s style recording and is meant to sound flat - this remix just accentuates that it doesn't sound like the others). By contrast 'From Me To You' has never sounded so good, with all the raw energy of the early Beatles at their best. 'Yesterday' sounds sumptuous with more space between all the strings. 'We can Work It Out' and 'Day Tripper' are both more powerfully raw and more polished than they've ever sounded. The songs from 'Rubber Soul' sounds particularly good, with a lot more bass and drums. The title track of 'Magical Mystery Tour' sounds much brighter and cleaner, like the mud of the road wiped off. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16px;">‘I Am The Walrus’ is the mix causing most controversy, with the strings and Mike Sammes Singers ducked low in the second half and additional radio feeds to the famous ‘King Lear’ one mixed in alongside: it adds to the random chaos and would work well if this was a whole new song, but is a brave choice to put out again for a fanbase who know every second of these songs backwards (literally, in many cases) and seems like mucking around with history a bit too unnecessarily for a best of (even though I'd like it as a 'Magical Mystery Tourt deluxe bonus track).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> So a mixed bag really. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Does anything here sound better enough to be worth
buying? Not at that price. Especially because, if I know my Beatles, the other box set album
re-issues will be along shortly over the next couple of Christmasses anyway, making
this set entirely void circa 2026. Honestly I’m not sure who these sets are
aimed at either. New collectors who want to own something but not everything
will be put off by the far too steep price tag of £50 the pair on CD and £70 on
vinyl, while collectors only bought the red and blue sets in re-mastered sound last
time out in 2014 which is too soon to be conned again eve for Beatle people
used to having a direct debit of hundreds of pounds to Apple every yuletide.
Far better, perhaps, might have been to re-mix and re-release the ‘1’ or ‘Past
Masters’ single compilations to go for the really new (and cheaper) market and
hook new Beatle fans in that way. There’s just no excuse for those prices which
make me red and blue both – and no doubt green for buying them anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Far more interesting all round is the ‘real’ Beatle
news of the year: a rare concert recording from Stowe Public School taped by a
pupil on April 4<sup>th</sup> 1963 and unheard till this year when it was
released on youtube for free, in stark contrast to the blue meanies
Apple-bonkers! A rare chance to hear the fab four playing in their heyday
without being interrupted by screaming it’s a great gig and last a full hour,
with a set list that’s a cross between their Hamburg Star Cub tapes of December
1962 and the Pop Go The Beatles sessions, with a few songs from ‘Please Please
Me’ thrown in. Ringo, particularly, has never sounded better, driving the band
along in a way we’ve never heard before (even on the German tapes). The sooner
that’s out on CD the better – honestly that would have made a better ‘sister’
set to ‘Now and Then’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">6) Dave Davies “Living On A Thin Line”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I have to confess I was a little disappointed
with Dave’s second autobiography released last year, not because it was bad but
because it borrowed so heavily from Dave’s first ‘Kink’, repeating about
two-thirds of it (though if you haven’t read either yet it’s well worth buying
in either form straight away – it’s by far my favourite rock autobiography,
funny straightforward emotional honest and revealing). The tie-in compilation
is a little bit on the slim and recycled side too: Dave’s already excelled
himself compiling his own songs with the superb two-disc sampler ‘Unfinished
Business’, complete with demos, offcuts and Kink Klassiks, so a single disc
collection of just his solo work (released just too late for Christmas and last
year’s review list) seems a bit on the slight side – Dave has switched so many
record labels down the years I suspect licensing problems are behind the
slightly skewed choices, but it’s still a shame whatever the reason. Though
1960s classics ‘Death Of A Clown’ and ‘Susannah’s Still Alive’ are here there’s
nothing else from Dave’s great ‘lost’ album of 1968-1969 most fans would agree
remains his best work outside The Kinks and the Kinks themselves are represented
by live versions this time around rather than the studio recordings and most of
them just aren’t as good (although that said I really like the older, wiser
rendition of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Lola V Powerman’s
‘Strangers’ from a live show in 2022).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of the later stuff there’s nothing from the first three ‘finished’ solo
albums of 1979-1983, which is a particular shame in the case of third album
‘Chosen People’, Dave’s high point as a solo creative writer. I’m pleased the
trip down memory lane with oompah band ‘Fortis Green’ from 2002’s ‘Bug’ is here,
but I would have chosen more songs from that album’s return to form too over
more recent songs which are too modern, too weird or too ordinary by
comparison. I understand that Dave’s chosen songs to complement the book and
tell more of a ‘story’, the way other writers have done (such as Carly Simon or
even brother Ray, who set the ball rolling with the live ‘X-Ray’ set
‘Storyteller’ in the mid-1990s) but there are even better stories about songs
that are oddly missing from the book and record. Like the book ‘Living On A
Thin Line’ has many highlights and it’s great to hear Dave sounding so good
again on the 2022 live recordings, most traces of his stroke twenty years ago
gone now I’m pleased to say. It’s just that he did this stuff better, earlier
and its ‘Kink’ and that autobiography tie-in ‘Unfinished Business’ I’d
recommend over this one. </span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">7) The Kinks “The Journey” (Volumes 1 and 2)</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Rather than release yet another Kink Kompilation
for the band’s 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary the Davies brothers have gone a
slightly different route this year, with two kollections of famous but also
slightly obscurer songs that tell a ‘theme’. Quite what those themes are I’m
not quite sure, even though they’re listed meticulously on the cover, nor am I
sure exactly who this set is for: passionate Kink Kollektors already own this
stuff several times over, while newcomers will just hear a bunch of similar
songs that all sound the same. I’d understand it more if these sets gave space
to the neglected gems of the 1970s and 1980s, but they don’t by ad large–
mostly, I suspect, because the band’s different record companies (Pye, RCA
Victor Arista and MCA) don’t like licensing songs for other record labels and
even the six disc Kink box set ‘Music Box’ struggled to represent all the eras
properly – this pair of scrawny two disc sets have no chance. Still, whoever
selected the song choices has really good taste and the songs flow together
well, with the Kinks story separated into four different ‘journeys’. On volume
one, released in Spring, the oddly titled opening ‘Becoming A Man, The Search
For Adventure, Finding An Identity And A Girl’ is high octane energy with eight
big rock and roll songs from the early days including such neglected gems as
‘You Really Got Me’s bluesy B-side ‘It’s Alright’ and 1966 outtake ‘She’s Got
Everything’. ‘Songs Of Ambition Achieved...’ is darker and more bittersweet,
with classic gloomy Kinks single ‘Dead End Street’ kicking off a run of seven
more introspective songs highlighted by school pal memory ‘Do You Remember
Walter?’, Dave’s ‘Mindless Child Of Motherhood’ and two surprise selections
from 1975’s overlooked ‘Schoolboys In Disgrace’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over on volume one disc two ‘Days and Nights
Of A Lost Soul’ continues the theme and is the best of the lot, opening with
the gorgeous ‘Too Much On My Mind’ and following it up with Dave’s ‘Strangers’
and classic B-side ‘Where Have All The Good Times Gone?’ before brightening up
with Preservation’s ‘Sitting In the Midday Sun’, though hearing so many melancholy
tracks in a row is heavy going even for someone used to listening to all three
‘Preservation’ albums back to back. We end Journey One with ‘A New Start, A New
Love...’, but these just sound like six songs stuck together randomly to me without
even the half-themes of the others– what does the brilliant but sad song about
failure ‘Celluloid Heroes’ have in common with the romance of ‘Waterloo Sunset’
and the 1960s hangover that is ‘Death Of A Clown’ exactly? <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Volume two, released in Autumn, features even vaguer
subtitles and lesser known but more interesting songs: ‘The world around the
journeyman crumbles as his life is turned upside down’ runs the opening theme
of eight tracks which combine fan favourites ‘David Watts’ and ‘Til’ The End Of
The day’ with lesser known works ‘Scrapheap City’ and ‘Preservation’, with the ‘alternate
take’ of ‘This Time Tomorrow’ lifted from the ‘Lola V Powerman’ deluxe set.
Next ‘The Journeyman is led astray by ghosts and angels’…okay then! ‘Lola’ is
presumably the angel, Dave’s brilliant solo single ‘Creeping Jean’ and classy
semi-hit single ‘See My Friends’ kind of work as ghosts if you squint a bit,
but Ray’s tale of sibling rivalry ‘Two Sisters’ (really about him and Dave) and
a brighter mix of Preservation Act 2’s ‘Money Talks’ (closer to the sound of
the BBC recording) really don’t fit at all. Next our journeyman has ‘lost his
innocence’ exploring ‘the demons of the underworld’: cue ‘Rainy Day In June’
witch song ‘Wicked Annabella’ and a battle with the old demon ‘Alcohol’, although
I suspect Dave’s teenage girlfriend Susannah won’t be that thrilled at being
called a ‘demon’ with the inclusion of ‘Susannah’s Still Alive’. I’m quite
impressed with the remix of Preservation’s ‘Where Are They Now?’ which is less
stagey and more Kinksy, although the same project’s ’Artificial Man’ sounds
less human all round in that remix. The story ends as ‘despair turns to
elation, he overcomes his fear and reunites with old friends’. This big finale
is the least successful of the eight ‘themes’ for me, featuring the most
obscure stuff, all taken from different concept albums that struggle to be
squeezed into this one. This selection will be the most interesting to Kink
Kollektors thanks to ‘The New Victoria Suite’,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>unheard live versions from the New Victoria Theatre (although longterm
kollektors will recognise ‘Everybody’s A Star’ and ‘A Face In The Crowd’ as the
opening and closing performance from the ‘A Soap Opera’ TV special ‘Slum Kids’
is a new recording. Overall I'm disappointed there isn't more from 'Arthur' 'Lola V Powerman' 'Muswell Hillbillies' or even - a surprise this, given how its become generally acknowledged as the greatest most consistent Kinks album even though it isn't - 'Village Green Preservation Society'. Notably there's nothing past 1975 so no Arista, London or Columbia albums, presumably because of rights. However, wrapping the whole franchise up with 1970’s
obscure ‘Percy’ film soundtrack song ‘God’s Children’ is as good a way to go
out as any, its subversive tale of a penis transplant a front for a song about
the importance of being yourself very much the theme running through the sets.
So ends certainly the most Kinky koncept album there’s ever been: the theme
titles are more than a tad pretentious, the packaging’s not much to write home
about and some of the song choices are deeply odd and yet somehow you do get a
greater sense of what this unique band was all about than just listening to the
hit singles all over again. Thankfully the Kinks Katalogue is so strong that
even the lesser known dips into the archives are still a treat. A journey
though? No that’s the one that started with the band’s cover of ‘Long Tall
Sally’ in late 1963 and which is still going now, these are all just side roads
in that main quest. Apparently there isn’t going to be a volume three, which is
a bit of a shame – the Kinks catalogue is such an embarrassment of riches that
if they’re going to do this then there’s at least another five volumes before
we even begin to get onto the average stuff, although by then you’ll be enough
of a Kink Kollecktor to want to hear them all in their original context in
albums anyway. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">8) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Rick Wright “Wet
Dream”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The first of three sort-of solo albums by the Pink
Floyd keyboard player (who liked borrowing special guests to do the vocal
parts), released in the gap between ‘Animals’ and ‘The Wall’, this has been out
of print ever since a CD release in the 1990s so fans will think it’s a fever
dream when they see this in th shelves of their local record shop, rather than
a ‘wet dream’. Re-released on what would have been Rick’s 80<sup>th</sup>
birthday, July 28<sup>th</sup> 2023) in a new re-mastered edition, it’s a
Floyd-like concept album about the healing powers of waters – ironically
written on holiday in an attempt to escape waters (i.e. Roger). In truth its
not the most important of Floyd spin-offs, with most of this album a set of
instrumentals written on holiday in the Mediterranean and with that sense of
holiday laziness permeating throughout. Most of the songs are linked to themes
of the ocean, the place where Rick was always happiest, and, now that David
Gilmour has equated heaven with a journey across the sea on his own moving
tribute to Rick ‘A Boat Lies Waiting’ these songs hit a bit differently and
more powerfully now Rick is no longer around to see it. Despite the title’s
implications<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this might well be one of
the un-sexiest albums ever made, a quiet low-key collection of thoughts and
riffs in search of a home, music used as therapy rather than to sell records
and entertain. Even at his weakest, though, Rick was always too melodic and
gifted a writer to deliver nothing and there’s a real charm to these songs,
dressed up with the presence of two half-Floyds guesting, sax player Dick Parry
and ‘surrogate’ guitarist Snowy White (who does some great David Gilmour
impressions). The two songs that’s have vocals are major works too,
oft-overlooked, heartbreaking songs about Rick’s divorce to first wife Juliette
and all the awful things he doesn’t want to face when he goes back home (made
even more powerful by the fact she co-wrote one of them as a ‘last goodbye’).
‘Against All The Odds’ is a mournful Spanish-guitar led ballad (did it inspire
Roger to write the similar sounding ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ the following
year?) about how, no matter how much Rick and his wife aim to get along, they
always end up in a fight, driven by something that’s come between them they
‘don’t understand’. Rick’s fragile paper-thin vocals are often the most
haunting part of a Floyd LP and never more than here, where they’re front and
centre rather than the sandwich in Gilmour’s perfect pop sensibilities and
Waters’ acerbic sarcasm, pure unadulterated hurt with nothing to hide behind.
Fans have naturally long assumed ‘Pink’s Song’ is a message to the band in some
way, a sort of ‘thankyou for looking after me’ from someone who senses he’s not
going to be in the band for much longer or even the character in ‘The Wall’,
but no – it’s about the Wright’s family nanny, whose been left looking after
the children while mummy and daddy go away to patch up their differences.
‘Quiet smiling friend of mine thrown into our lives’ starts Rick before
commenting how he ‘saw through our disguise’ to why they’re really leaving,
pleading for time to get his head straight before coming back to the family
life that seems to have broken beyond repair. It’s a sweet low-key song on a
sweet low-key album, nautical yet nice, one that sounds better than ever with
the new surround sound and Dolby Atmos mixes and is a curio worth hearing for
Floyd fans who own everything else, though its not exactly an album you’ll go
out of your way to play very often. There’s a new album cover, specially shot
by what’s left of Hipgnosis who did the original to be fully in keeping with
it, as if we’ve pulled back from the shorts on the cover to see the bigger
picture of the swimmer in the ocean, but you do kind of wonder why they
bothered to go such expense for such an ordinary-looking remake of what’s quite
an ordinary cover. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">9) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">Pink Floyd “Atom Heart
Mother” (Special Edition)</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Usually I can’t move for notifications about Punk
Floyd re-issue bonanzas. My social media ends up full of pictures, my online
shopping basket full of hints, music magazines are full of detail and awe and I
swear the last time ‘Animals’ was re-issued there was a giant pig flying
outside my window (although that might just have been a fever dream brought on
by the panic of having so many Pink Floyd sets to review). The ‘Atom Heart’
cow, though, was always the un-beloved runt of the Floyd litter, the one record
that neither the Gilmour nor the Waters halves of the band have ever championed
that much and this re-issue has slipped out without much fanfare. Which is a
shame: like all Floyd box sets the packaging is exquisite, with bovine cover
star Lulubelle III given plenty of places to shine alongside more conventional
images of the band and a booklet with pull-outs galore: ticket stubs, tour
programme reproductions, a bonus book full of more photographs, you name it.
The big selling point for fans is the chance to own a blu-ray disc of the live
rendition of the title track as performed at an Amsterdam music festival, as
originally featured as part of the full and very pricey ‘Early Years’ box set
and released here separately at last at a decidedly more affordable price. The
footage was always a bit dodgy, being filmed by a fan rather than a
professional camera crew (and limited on what film they could afford, hence the
fact they only filmed one song – though you have to wonder why they chose to
film this one of all Floyd tracks!) but it looks better now than it ever has
thanks to a colossal clean-up job. It’s a good performance, much tighter than
the record without Ron Geesin’s pompous orchestra getting in the way and
already played in so many live shows that the band are performing by telepathy,
guessing each other’s every move organically, as opposed to the tentative
studio version which was a cae of the blind leading the blind. As an
instrumental it’s still not exactly the greatest or most important song in the
world though, so this is not exactly an essential purchase, more a collector’s
curio. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s an interesting documentary on the
restoration to fill up the blu-ray running time too, although overall it’s
still rather short for the price (there are a handful of other Floyd
performances from the era we could have had, if alas no other footage of them
performing songs from this album). As for the record itself its an under-rated
gem, far worthier than its lowly reputation suggests – David Gilmour’s ‘Fat Old
Sun’, particularly, is Floyd at their most pastoral, reflective and beautiful
while ‘Summer ‘68’ is Rick Wright at his guiltiest after an experience with a
groupie and ‘If,’, Roger Waters’ even guiltier song of regret over how he
handled the madness and disintegration of best friend Syd Barrett, is one of
his greatest songs of all. As for ‘Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast’ it’s a daft
old instrumental/sound collage that’s a parody of their famous prog rock
concept style based around their roadie having the most important meal of the
day complete with sound effects of steaming kettles and lit ovens, but as a recovering
cereal-aholic whose convinced its secretly about him, that song has a real
place in my heart too, even if I don’t actually play it all that often
(because, well, its not all that musical). It’s the title track that always
brought this album down and even that sounds as good as it ever has thanks to
the live rendition. It’s all a better investment than yet another ‘Dark Side Of
The Moon’ box anyway. Talking of which…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">10) <a name="__DdeLink__26571_3043961378">Pink
Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon” (50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary)</a></span></em><span style="mso-bookmark: __DdeLink__26571_3043961378;"></span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If Roger’s anniversary re-creation was
disappointing, that’s nothing on his band’s official re-issue of an album that
was last re-mastered and reissues as recently as 2017. </span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Many things have
come and gone in half a century of change that’s seen nine American presidents
and eleven UK prime ministers, twenty nine outbreaks of war somewhere around
the world and approximately 600 new full moons. The music scene and
particularly the way we access it has changed beyond measure. Yet still there
is one constant that never goes away: every anniversary, sometimes even between
anniversaries, some country somewhere will be getting a ‘special edition’ of
‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, an album which must surely rank as one of the most
-released ever (while a lot of them aren’t all that different Discogs lists
1228 variations). So inevitably we were going to get another variation for such
a big anniversary, even though it wasn’t that long ago we got a whole box set
of the thing. What do you get this time? Yet another new mix, or two if you buy
the DVD (where the ‘James Gurthrie’ remix from the CD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is joined by a ‘Dolby Atmos’ mix, alongside
the 5.1 surround mix from 2003 and our old friend the original stereo mix). </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Admittedly
‘Dark Side’ is the sort of album that was always made to be played on the best
stereo going so its constant updating makes more sense than with, say ‘Surfin’
Safari’ or ‘Please Please Me’. However technology hasn’t improved that much: </span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Is there much to
choose between the mixes? Erm, not to my ears. ‘Time’ sounds a little punchier
and more ‘desperate’ maybe – David Gilmour’s guitar always used to float in the
mix like a butterfly but now Rick Nick ‘n’ Roger’s rhythm section are every bit
as loud and make it sting like a bee. ‘Us and Them’ sounds a little more
divided in the mix, apt given the mood of the song though I’m not so sure
sonically its a good idea and the opening to ‘Money’ has some superfluous
keyboard fills that are a tad distracting. The only ‘extras’ are the live show
from London’s Wembley arena (another venue making one of multiple appearances
in this year’s list) already included in the ‘Immersion’ box set, </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">split
between the ‘Experience’ discs of ‘Dark Side’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’ in 2016
but combined here to be complete for the first time). </span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Though also made
separately on vinyl, just to annoy all the people still paying off the bigger
set’s bigger price as we assumed it would never come out on its own. It’s a
good show, with a fun improv through ‘Any Colour You Like’ into a particularly
moving finale of ‘Brian Damage’ and ‘Eclipse’ ,but they’ve done nothing to it
if you’ve already heard it and if you haven’t then it’s not good enough to be worth
trading your standalone ‘Dark Side’ set just to hear it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a nice lot of packing this time
around including</span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> the 1970s official sheet music
re-printed and</span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> a hardback book commemorating the tour, also
released separately, but like many a photo book it’s the sort of thing to enjoy
once and then file away without really looking at again rather than something
that really changes your perception of anything to do with the album or the
band. Though most people are getting excited about the chance to buy it on
vinyl all over again<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- or for the first
time in the case of the Wembley shows - well, even that’s not what it could be
as this is just a plain ordinary bit of vinyl without the colourful picture
discs of other years. A lot of fuss over not much and at an exorbitantly costly
price then, like a lot of Floyd re-issues have been lately, without even one
unreleased thing from the vaults (I mean, surely those interview tapes that
keep cropping up in documentaries are still kicking around somewhere complete –
and why not a freebie EP mopping up the few stray demos or ‘Pompeii’ soundtrack
alternate versions that exist?)</span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ) Of course this is a
big anniversary but, you know, they don’t have to re-release albums just
because they’re fifty years old, there is a choice. </span><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">‘Money’ seems
more truthful and less ironic with every passing re-issue.</span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s
no bad dark side of the moon really of course and if you don’t know this album
at all then you’re in for a treat…but if you’ve bought this set every other time
its come out before then in terms of your bank balance it’s all dark. </span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">11) The Moody Blues “To Our Children’s
Children’s Children”</span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Old Floyd rivals The Moodies’ 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary set meanwhile (delayed four years by pandemic and re-mastering)
doesn’t even have that going for it. ‘To Our Children’s, the band’s classic
album of space travel released just after man first walked on the moon, with its
happy hopeful first side and worried pessimistic second side, has been remixed
for DVD and Blu-Ray, the last re-issue’s double disc set transformed into four.
The set has been newly mixed into 5.1 surround sound (with the previous stereo mix
included alongside it) and the band’s old Albert Hall gig from December 1969
(first released in the ‘split’ years as ‘Caught Live Plus Five’) has been given
a proper remix for the first time in the digital era, though sadly minus the
more interesting ‘Plus Five’ collection of outtakes. Alas it’s not a great
show: the band never did play much of ‘Children’s live and are still plugging
‘On The Threshold Of A Dream’, an album so full and rich in sound its
near-impossible trying to re-create on stage, though there are highlights such
as a dreamy ‘Nights In White Satin’ and the definitive performance of Ray
Thomas’ Timothy Leary tribute song ‘Legend Of A Mind’. There are also all the
BBC sessions that were on the last set and a couple of remixes (i.e. a couple
of seconds at the beginning and end of songs, trimmed to segue into the overall
continuous album), untouched. That’s it though: no new archive finds, no great
outtakes (possibly because a ot of the Moodies’ masters went up in a fire at
the Universal archive the other year, though you’d thin someone somewhere would
have a work in progress acetate or three), not even much in the way of
packaging and all for a colossal price that, every time, seems to get ‘Higher
and Higher’. Of course if you’ve never heard this album then you should – it’s
a great record, up there with ‘EGBDF’ and ‘Seventh Sojourn’ as the band’s best
– but the old versions of it will do just as well for a far cheaper price, any
of the many to be honest and there’ve been a lot down the years. I don’t know,
they can put a man on the moon but they still can’t get the hang of releasing
classic albums…</span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">12) Mike Nesmith “Pretty Much Your Standard
Ranch Stash”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One of your more standard re-issues of one of
the more straightforward solo Monkee albums, I’ve always been particularly fond
of Papa Nez’s sixth ‘proper’ solo set. It’s not that it contains Mike’s best
work (that’s scattered over the earlier First and National Band albums) or
Mike’s most consistent work (that’s previous album ‘And The Hits Just keep On
Comin’ re-released last year) or even Mike’s weirdest work (that’s ‘The
Prison’, a wonderful book ‘n’ album designed to be heard and read at the same
time). However ‘Ranch Stash’ is the best of everything, with all seven tracks
gems in different ways. ‘Continuing’ is a wonderful country-rocker about
starting over again, ‘Some Of Shelley’s Blues’ a gorgeous haunting song of
despair from the late Monkee days, the drunken ‘Winonah’ (where ‘drinking is a
prison and whiskey is no key’) the catchiest of his country-rock hybrids and
the slow improv storytelling of ‘The Front Porch And A Fruit Jar Of Iced Tea’,
complete with fiddles and rocking chairs, gloriously weird. Unlike the other Nez
re-issues, which include loads of rather iffy bonus tracks, this set has just
the one and while it’s a classic (an early version of ‘Marie’s Theme’ from ‘The
Prison’, which is more of a song in this version than an experiment) even that’s
been out before. It seems odd that the vaults are suddenly so empty for this
album, which was made over a longer period and in less of a rush than certainly
the album immediately before it and its a surprise that there are no
instrumental backing tracks in particular. Still, I’m glad this neglected gem
wasn’t overlooked in the re-issue series completely and as always with Monkee
fan record label ‘7A’ everything is exquisitely packaged. Now that all the
Nesmith RCA albums have been re-issued the question is will they end there or
continue with the next run of records on Nez’s own ‘Pacific Arts Label’, re-issued
by the man himself not long before his death but without the extras and
presentation of this series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">13)
Oasis “The Masterplan”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Oasis’ pretty darn nifty collection of B-sides other
bands would have had their biggest career hits with turns 25 years old this
year. Unfortunately for Oasis’ marketing department all those songs have
already appeared on the deluxe editions of ‘Definitely Maybe’ ‘Morning Glory’
and ‘Be Here Now’ already, so they try another tack with a vinyl only edition
on the weirdly named ‘see through coke bottle’ coloured vinyl (that’s what
they’ve actually called it, that’s not a fan name!) and a further limited
edition ‘picture disc’ that plays a loop of a few frames from the Lowry-esque
promo video for the title song as the vinyl goes round and round. I’m not sure
any of that commercial capitalist gubbins was part of Noel Gallagher’s
masterplan for how people would listen to his music all these years on and I’d
much rather have had a ‘deluxe’ edition featuring every Oasis B-side not
collected onto this album (including some real stunners like ‘Cloudburst’ ‘Just
Growing Older’ ‘Idler’s Dream’ and ‘In The Bubble With A Bullet’ but hey ho,
the music’s worn better than any of the actual Oasis albums have and it’s good
to have this set back again in any form. Even if, like the record, for more
casual fans this set just feels like we’re going round in circles on a
loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">14)
The Grateful Dead “Wake Of The Flood – 50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Edition”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yay, my favourite Dead album gets the same birthday
treatment as the older, better remembered albums re-released across the last
eight years or so. In keeping with selections from the past we get a
re-mastered album (a little clearer, but not by much) and a disc containing a
couple more extras (demos of ‘here Comes Sunshine’ and ‘Eyes Of the World’) and
highlights from a live show closest in time to the album’s release (six songs
from Illinois’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘McGraw Hall’ on November
1<sup>st</sup> 1973, though weirdly, like all the other anniversary releases,
only a handful of songs from this actual album were played that night which
makes it a stranger choice than some others). The ‘Sunshine’ demo is nice to
hear once, with a wobbly Hammond organ and lashings of wah-wah guitar that make
it sound more psychedelic than folk, although it’s quite a muted little thing
that lacks the punch and the harmonies of the record, a curio rather than a
classic. The ‘Eyes’ demo is much better, a pure folk song played at a leisurely
pace to a harpsichord of all things alongside an organ (not a guitar in sight),
a million light years away from the jazzy epic we’ve come to know and love. The
live album is, like a lot of these anniversary discs though, clearly chosen for
historical value rather than musical ones and, by the Dead’s ludicrously high standards
in 1973, not that good – they lack the magical telepathy they had in the studio
just a few weeks before. ‘Morning Dew’ is never less than good but this
ultra-laidback version of the cold war parable is meandering at best without
the urgency at the song’s heart and a promising ‘Playin’ In The Band’ ends up
in one of those ‘Uncle John’s Band’ cul-de-sacs, while new boys ‘Mississippi
Halfstep Uptown Toodeloo’ and ‘Weather Report Suite’ are both quite tentative
and fragile. My advice is to download the two demos and leave it at that. Meet
you all back here for the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary edition of ‘From The Mars
Hotel’ next year hopefully! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">15)
Neil Young “Time Fades Away”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What used to be one of the if not the rarest of
original Neil Young albums, one Neil himself blocked from releasing on CD for
the best part of thirty years, is now a regular on these end of term lists.
This time Neil’s hazy crazy first live album is back out on vinyl with the
addition of an electric version of the eponymous debut album’s ‘Last Trip To
Tulsa’ as taken from ‘Archives’ stuck on the end to lure in collectors who
should know better (and who surely have no money left after all those other
Neil sets out the past few years). This song fits the album’s themes of ragged
defiance and confusion but lacks the best of the album’s panache and insight, a
rather rambling Dylanesque monologue full of metaphors of axes and palm trees
and some ugly misogynistic lines about feminism that never quite knows what it
wants to say. It is, though, a song that always sounded better played with an
electric band live than Neil acoustic on his own though and welcome to hear
again, as is most of this brave record.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A stadium tour Neil never wanted to play, with a band who kept rebelling
over money, with a missing hole where Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten would
have been had he not overdosed during rehearsals, its Neil at his ragged,
authentic best on battling songs like ‘Don’t Be Denied’ and ‘Last Dance’ that
asks questions of both performer and audience why they’re there at all,
punctuated by a few piano ballads full of doubt and second thoughts. It’s not
the sort of album you play for fun but it deserves its turn in the sun after
being overlooked for so long, even if admittedly its had way more turns than
its fair share lately. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">16)
Neil Young “Harvest Moon”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s time to dust those brooms off again for the
simplest of the Neil Young releases on this year’s list. This is the standard
version of Neil’s 1992 comeback album, pressed on heavy thicker vinyl for more
durability, with no bonus tracks or extra packaging. Whether a natural beauty
could or should be preserved like a monument to nature is the theme of the last
song, but Neil’s giving it a good go by sticking this record out again for
another generation of fans. Thankfully Neil resisted the temptation to make
this a coloured disc with a ‘harvest moon’ or something equally tacky on it so
all you get is a straightforward reproduction of the original, complete with
the exact same packaging. And a nice album it is too, full of cosy domesticity
and middle age with a few darker-edged songs thrown in like highlight ‘War Of
Man’ and ‘Dritfin’ Man’, though not quite approaching Neil’s best or bravest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;">17)</span><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” </span></em></span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Guess what? The ‘other’ most re-issued AAA album
of all time is back out again too, also in 5.1 surround Dolby Atmos sound, also
without any extras, on streaming or on vinyl (oddly there’s no CD release that
I’ve found or even a digital download, which seems like an odd oversight). Everything
sounds clear but no remixing in the world is going to change my mind that the
orchestra were badly recorded for this album and get in the way of the songs,
making them lush and heavy where they should be tough and strong. Mercifully,
unlike some of his weirder Beatle mixes, Giles Martin has left things alone so
‘Pet Sounds’ is much the same way it always sounded, just clearer – though not
yet clear enough (like many a 1960s release on Capitol, alongside ones on Pye
and Decca, the album still sounds as if it was recorded down the end of a
tunnel and there’s not a lot you can do about that). As for the vinyl edition
it’s </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">a special limited yellow/green splatter edition
mimicking the colours of the front cover. Quite why you’d want a vinyl that
looks as if one of the farmyard animals from the front cover has weed all over
it is anyone’s guess. No bonus tracks again of course, just the glory of
holding in your hands yet another copy of an album you already own twenty
copies of, even as an LP. Oh and apparently you’re only allowed four per
collector so you don’t sell them on. As if you would! The Beach Boys know their
market and are catering for fans with big wallets these days. In the near-words
of the final song ‘Where did my bank balance go? Where is the mix I used to
know, they said you’ve changed but that’s not true…Oh more coloured vinyl?!/
No!...’ <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;">Songs Of The Year:</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></em></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span style="font-size: large;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Black";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Rolling Stones “Sweet Sound Of Heaven”</span></span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How strange that the four of the songs on this
year’s top fifteen are all on the same subject: death. Even stranger is that its
Cat Stevens singing about hell on Earth and the Stones seeing Heaven (while
Paul Simon can’t make his mind up and The Who got there fifty-odd years ago but
have only just released their song about the afterlife now). Or maybe not so
strange: everyone seems to have forgotten that we’ve just lived and indeed are
still living through one of the most traumatic periods of our lifetimes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a lot of the albums in this year’s list
were at least started in lockdown. I’d love to know if ‘Sweet Sound Of Heaven’
is one of them, with its feelings of approaching mortality that even as tough a
band as the Rolling Stones aren’t immune to. Or maybe it was Charlie’s death
that inspired this sweet song of helplessness and awe, turned into joy. It’s a
beautiful tribute to Charlie a song that says ‘hey, you, save me part of that
cloud!’ Watts’ drums have got to the next world ahead of them but Mick can hear
them playing ‘echoing through the valley’ and believes that he’ll make it there
himself one day, free of this world’s pain and hurt, just as soon as he’s
finished tying up a lot of the things he’s got to do down here first. Now that
his ears are in tune Mick’s other senses pick up on Heaven too, until he’s
smelling and seeing it, inspiring him to declare that he isn’t going to go back
to his old ways, that he isn’t going to go the way of, say, The Who’s John
Entwistle or maybe old friend Billy Preston ‘in some broken down motel’
(Preston played keys on ‘Memory Motel’, a song all about the past – with hell a
past you get stuck in and can never quite throw off). By the time Lady Gaga
arrives, eleven years after she first guested at a Stones gig, to all but tug
Mick away to paradise the song is rising to a big huge mega epic climax, a
rousing gospel chorus that hasn’t been part of the Stones’ signature sound
since Billy died but is a key part of their 1970s and 1980 DNA. And then, quite
brilliantly, the stops for us all to get our breath and dies away to nothing,
as if the sound in Mick’s head has faded away, leaving him stranded and
Earthbound, inspiration gone. And then slowly, imperceptibly, the song takes
off again from nowhere, as if Mick’s willing those memories to flood back into
his life here on Earth before the song takes off all over again, more joyously
than ever, with a stunning last outpouring of belief, grief, noise and music
that stretches the song out to seven glorious minutes (the single version
inevitably hacks most of this last bit out but do hear the album version if you
can, it works much better). A lot of the Stones catalogue has been a battle
between darkness and light and till now it’s been about 50:50 which wins but
now, much like Paul Simon, much like Cat Stevens, the Stones (maybe) ends their
careers by embracing the light, with empathy for the angels as much as
‘Sympathy For The Devil’. And yet this doesn’t feel like a betrayal of all
things Stones the way it might have: there’s always been a gospel tinge to their
sound and a frustration that this life has never been enough to bring them
satisfaction. On an album that otherwise avoids emotion like the plague (not
the half-hearted way most people avoid covid – I mean the way people really
used to avoid plagues) this sweet heartfelt tribute to Charlie feels like the
clouds parting and the sun coming out and Mick goes Gaga in all the best ways
while Gaga herself is note-perfect, matching him note for note without getting
in the way. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">2) Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds “Don’t
Stop”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Just as with ‘Who Built The Moon?’ and ‘Dead To
The Water’, the best thing on Noel’s new album is relegated to the deluxe
edition where only true fans will ever hear it, almost as if Noel’s embarrassed
by being so open and honest. He shouldn’t be. Like brother Liam’s album ‘C’mon
Y’know’ from last year this is the old Oasis formula of trying to live it large
and make the most out of life, but seen through sadder eyes that have been
burnt so many times they know just how hard it is to do that. This track is
like one of The Kinks’ sunny songs – so much so that Noel’s line about being
grateful for ‘sunny rays finding him’ might be well a reference to Ray Davies
and it’s a similar song about reaching out in the darkest times to take a hold
of any piece of light you can find to get you through, to not let the darkness
consume you. Noel’s stuck in uncharacteristically unhappy times in his life,
brought down to the depths of despair and he feels he’s been left with nothing,
but rather than go under he tells himself ‘don’t be sad, don’t cry’ and does
what he always used to do when he was young and had nothing – he daydreams of
better times when anything is possible, praying to God for ‘the space’ to dream
and be happy. ‘Don’t stop your dreaming!’ Noel calls out to the fans who are in
a similar boat, locked down and lonely (unlike the Stones we know this is a
song that started life in lockdown) until a song that starts off as a lullaby
with ‘I Am The Walrus’ strings grows louder and louder into one of the anthems
of the old as a super-charged guitar, of the sort Noel always used to play
circa 1994-1995, is let loose from its box and snarls, powering the song into a
true singalong about the healing power of hope that’s oh so Oasisy. The result
is the song that ‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ should have been, a plea to never be
trapped in such a bad frame of mind again when there are so many reasons out
there<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be happy. The rest of ‘Council
Skies’ sounds like Noel trying to tap into his younger self for inspiration and
only half-remembering who he used to be but this gem is where he connects with
his inner 90s Britpopper all over again with a song as great as any in his
illustrious back catalogue, that wants to live forever and embrace it all. Why
this ended up a bonus track and not a big huge catchy comeback single is beyond
me, especially as the ones that did (‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Easy Now’) are nowhere
near as brilliantly catchy as this and only a fraction as deep. </span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3) The Who/Pete Townshend “Finally
Over”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Until now we always thought that ‘Lifehouse’ ended
with the one-two punch of the sarcastic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and the going-back-round-again cycle of ‘The
Song Is Over’, perfect endings both, but it turns out there should have been a
third punch there, one much closer to the endings of both ‘Tommy’ and
‘Quadrophenia’, where the moment everything seems lost for the narrator is when
everything is found. Ray, the narrator of ‘Lifehouse’ is blooded and wounded
and (a new detail this) apparently dying after the events of the story (risking
life and limb and arrest to play music that will unite a scattered, fragmented
world). Suddenly everything he’s been through both matters more and less at the
point of death, as he realises the lessons he learnt to get him here and begins
to forget who he is, singing ‘as I have grown smaller I surely have grown’ and
how ‘everyone is lonely until they heal themselves’. When life is finally over
none of this life matters at all except what you learned from it. The irony is
that through the double-tracking Pete sounds incredibly alive, his young voice
shining out across the murk of half a century even while he tells us he has
‘nowhere new to roam’, that his journey ends here, his body gone, his memories
fading, all the complexities of human existence reduced to just one note, so
pure and so easy. And yet by removing his ego Ray finds himself connected to
the universe, the animals and people around him more than ever, saying more
than he’s ever said before with just one word. At last he discovers his earthly
lessons are over, that he has no wrongs to right anymore, no vengeance to spur
him on, no motivation to do better, he just is, sat on a mountain and
remembering how he used to be as a child when he was free and happy (was this
song inspired by John’s depressed ‘When I Was A Boy’, or was it the other way
around? It wouldn’t be the first time The Ox wrote song to directly contradict one
of Pete’s statements). It’s a haunting, beautiful track, with some simple ‘Song
Is Over’ style piano with a hint of the darker chords of ‘Naked Eye’, washed
through with lashings of wah-wah guitar a la ‘Bargain’, which all makes for a
most pretty combination and would have sounded brilliant if part of a completed
‘Lifehouse’ that used all these details. I didn’t there could possibly be any
more great songs to come out of ‘Lifehouse’ (there must be about twenty of them
scattered across different releases, thirty at a push) but here’s another one
which is quickly becoming one of my favourites of all. Beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">4)
Cat Stevens “Pagan’s Run”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the best things about new album ‘King Of A
Land’ is the way it plays around with styles from Cat’s past, after three
predominately acoustic ‘comeback’ albums and a gonzo third album based on the
blues and R and B. Musically ‘Pagan’s Run’ sounds straight out of Cat’s early
1970s rockers like ‘Sitting’ and ‘Music’, based around muscley guitar riffs. What
we’ve come to think of as Cat’s heyday, when he was mastering his craft, he
remembers as one of his saddest times though and ‘Pagan’s Run’ is a reflection
of just how empty and purposeless Cat felt, even at a time when his music
seemed to be brash and confident. He doesn’t see his younger self as the rock
star we all remember him, he sees a scared young kid running towards something
without knowing where he was going, ‘lost and in a mess’ but ‘too proud’ to ask
for help, distrustful of everyone who tried to offer him salvation and looking
for it in all the wrong places – the warm bodies of girls who left him cold,
money that couldn’t buy anything to fill the ‘empty hole’ in his heart. ‘Though
I’d never admit it, I was scared as hell’ recalls Cat as the restless riff
hot-foots it, dancing from chord to chord without ever putting down roots until
an inevitable major key finale that finds him in Allah’s safe and capable
hands. Even that’s not the cliché it would be in other Cat comeback songs
though, more a breather and just reward after three of the most gloriously
turbulent minutes in the Cat Stevens back catalogue, before the song ends up
back in the same awkward place again, ending dramatically mid riff. Too many of
the recent Cat Steven songs have been pussycats – inevitably and understandably
so for a singer who came back when he was in his sixties and in his late
seventies now, without the same axes to grind and demons to get off his chest.
However that makes the return of his roaring lion self on this song all the
greater, especially as it’s a song that very much stays true to his principles,
remembering the past without celebrating it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">5) Belle and Sebastian “Juliet Naked”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The new B and S album is more one of those where
nothing really goes wrong rather than it being chockablock full of classic
songs to pick and choose from. The closest to a masterpiece is the opener, the
edgiest of the new songs, a new wave take on Stuart Murdoch’s usual put-upon
but resilient female characters that sounds more like The Smiths than anything
the band have come up with so far (even if they’d never have used such folky-sounding
flutes). Poor Juliet is a teenager struggling with very adult problems she
isn’t old enough to deal with yet and though Murdoch is too indirect a writer
to come out and say it, the song sounds, like ‘Lazy Line Painter Jane’ before
her, as if she’s an under-age girl trying to get an abortion. Where Juliet
needs help and sympathy, bewildered by what’s just happened to her, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>she finds herself cut off in a world full of
people blocking her and telling her no. There’s a ‘doctor of love’ (a
gynaecologist?) who sends her to a priest who tells her to pray for forgiveness,
when what she really wants is love and support, while even at school she gets
‘200 lines’ for being distracted –as if her male teachers could possibly
understand the grief and confusion she’s going through. The innuendo of male
authority figures wanting to keep Juliet in her place isn’t lost on the
narrator either, as the priest makes her ‘get down on her knees’, the teacher
tells her ‘you got in too deep’ and the doctor ‘tells me to come again’, with
true B and S innuendo. The opening lines make it clear though – the real
perpetrator who should be in trouble for all of this and who gets away entirely
free is the ‘fickle lover’ who forced himself on her, got her pregnant then ran
off ‘like a little girl’, too scared to stay. Though little girls, as the song
shows, can actually be really tough when they have to be. Murdoch looks on in
awe at Juliet’s strength even as she thinks she’s breaking, the ‘Stepford Wives
to my Goffin and King’ whose a lot tougher than he can ever be putting songs
together. It’s a nice little song, well suited to Stuart and Stevie’s duelling
angry guitars and a welcome break from the relevant synth-heavy belle and
Sebastian sound, though the flutes on top that seem to be playing from an
entirely different song remind us of the kinder, gentler, childish life Juliet
should be living still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A highly
empathetic song from one of our best empathetic writers who captures Juliet’s plight
magnificently in just a few simple phrases. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">6) Talbot, Molina, Lofgren, Young aka Crazy
Horse “Cherish”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Credited to the current line-up of Crazy Horse
but really a song by the Billy Talbot Band, ‘Cherish’ is, like so many of the
songs on our top songs list this year, a tearjerker inspired by the pandemic
and lockdown. Billy’s usually gruff vocals are pushed out of their comfort zone
towards a high falsetto as he finds himself pushed emotionally further than
he’s ever been before too, lamenting a ‘lasting rain’ that ‘makes up our lives’,
a tapestry of problems to solve. A sea of lovely backwards guitar is the
perfect opening to a song where everything feels slightly wrong, a potential paradise
that keeps going wrong, at least until the three-syllable chorus of ‘cherish
life’ that transforms everything from a minor key to a major key and makes
everything right again. Life is still a gift to be loved, however hard it may
be at times, and even the hardest rainiest lives have a window of sunshine to
enjoy, so Billy makes sure to do just that, taming the wild beast of Michael
Hamilton’s just-Neil-Young-enough-without-being-a-pale-imitation guitar-part
into step so that, albeit ever so briefly, everything feels synchronised again.
Along with the couple of really good Talbot solo albums that came out in
2014-2015 it begs the question where has Billy’s sudden songwriting spurt in
his sixties and seventies come from? Whatever the inspiration its very welcome
and here’s to many more, hopefully on an actual start-to-finish Crazy Horse
record next time around on a gorgeously moving song that, dare I say it, beats
any Neil’s written for two maybe three albums now. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">7) Allan Clarke “I’ll Never Forget”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Most of Allan Clarke’s eighth solo album was
written waiting for the phone to call and Graham Nash to come a calling.
Understandably a lot of the album is nostalgic, full of references to old times
and old friends and old inspirations and old guitars. The one that’s most from
the heart though, the one that brings a tear to the eye (even more than the tie-in
song about crying) is the title track, a gorgeous ballad full of longing for
old times but also acceptance that old times can never come back the same way.
‘Well here we are, finding ourselves again in a peculiar situation’ starts
Clarke, name-checking a Hollie rarity the pair once wrote together for the 1966
‘For Certain Because..’ album, amazed that ‘a line I thought had already been
cast’ has come up trumps with another big fish. Clarkey tries to stop himself
getting carried away, aware that ‘we can’t recapture all those things we shared
together’ and that it will never be like it was in the 1960s but still – even
if the memories of the past remain unspoken while forging ahead with the
future, ‘I’ll never forget’ the times shared, because they meant so very much.
A second verse has Clarke regretting the times that have been let slip, ‘times
we won’t be getting back’, skipping over the details of the big split when Nash
left The Hollies, his first wife Rose, his country and his childhood best
friend to go live in America with CSN, for the catch-all ambiguous ‘something
came between us’. This isn’t a song of recrimination though such as, say, ‘My
Life Is Over With You’ (the last deeply bitter song Clarke wrote about Nash
back on ‘Hollies Sing Hollies’ in 1969); this song is all about the invisible
strings that tie soulmates together for life and how, even if they go their
separate ways and a reunion seemed long impossible, there remains a connection
between people who once were close. After so long thinking I would never hear
those voices together again excuse me, I think I have something in my
eye...Interestingly, its the opposite of Nash’s song of the year on a similar
theme coming up...now!</span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">8) Graham Nash “Love Of Mine”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Perhaps one of the reasons Nash was so keen to
reunite with Clarke was because the person he ‘left’ him for died an enemy,
after so many decades as a best friend. Crosby’s death from a second bout of
covid this year was so terribly terribly sad. He was all ready to go back out on
the road, he’d even hired Stephen Stills’ son Christopher to be guitarist in
his band (putting to rest another longstanding feud) and he died an hour after
first rehearsals that were said to sound wonderful, feeling tired and taking a
nap he never recovered from. He’d sent an email to Nash just a week before,
asking for forgiveness for all the bad words he’d said about him (the pair
clashed heavily over things written in Nash’s autobiography ‘Wild Tales’ about
Croz’s drug years; David disputed many of them and thought Nash was cashing in
on his tragedy to sell his book while he didn’t approve of Graham breaking up
with his wife of thirty years either, having been so close to Susan and
actually being there when the pair met), The email asked if Croz could video-call
in the next week when rehearsals were over – Nash ummed and ahhed after so any
hurts but ultimately said yes, only for Crosby to die before he could make the
call. Nash has talked a lot in interviews for this album about how much it
pleased his heart that better times were ahead for the pair and how sorry he
was they never got that talk but how good he felt that it was coming. ‘Love Of
Mine’ is a sweet, sensitive song longing for a happy ending but regretful that
it never quite came. Rather than point fingers the song is quick to make out
that wrong was said on both sides, each verse ending ‘for me’ or ‘for you’.
However the final feeling is one of gratitude, that the universe allowed them
to meet and go on so many adventures together, happy that fate once<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘chose you...and me’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know Graham’s gone on record saying that it
was inspired by a fight with second wife Amy but surely, surely, down in there somewhere,
this is Nash singing about Crosby again like old times. It is, after all, a
song for a pair of people who have known each other a long time and gone
through so much, not a pair of newlyweds who only met for the first time a few
years ago. After half a century of CSNY writing songs about each other its
moving indeed for us fans to hear one last song by Nash about Crosby (and one
that reflects a song that seemed to be Crosby reaching out to Nash a few albums
back – the title track of Croz’s 2017 record ‘Sky Trails’ where he picks up the
phone to apologise and realises he doesn’t even know where his former best
friend lives now) and to hear it sung with so much love and tenderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">9) Carla Olsen/Allan Clarke “It makes
Me Cry”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s been a busy year for the Hollie singer. As well
as his second album he’s also the prime mover and shaker on Carla Olsen’s new
single, taken from her album ‘Have Harmony, Will Travel III’. Now Carla’s a big
name with AAA readers or should be, famous for pairing with rock legends who
have fallen a little on hard times looking for a secondary country audience to
boost sales – she worked with Byrd Gene Clark and Rolling Stone Mick Taylor in
the 1980s when no one else would touch them and this song is in a similar country-rock
vein (and much more convincing than the country-rock songs Clarke did alone on
his album). Rather than sing together he and she trade verses on a Clarke song
that’s very much coming from the same nostalgic bittersweet too-much-time
wasted feel as ‘I’ll Never Forget’, with another track that may well have been
written originally with Graham Nash in mind (this song recalling Hollie tracks
‘My Life Is Over With You’ and ‘Hey Willy’, both written for Graham after his
departure). Allan remembers an ‘Indian princess’ who ‘carried a heavy
load’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who ‘yearned for a life of a
different kind’ and though she ‘didn’t speak a word’ he knew that she would fly
off and leave him one day. Carla repays the compliment, Clarke perhaps writing
about himself that she remembers ‘a man walking the streets screaming after
being left aside’ but that ‘he only needed a guiding hand to see him through’.
By the end they’ve found common ground, making music to reach forgotten lonely
people who haven’t got a voice – when as well as wanting to cry the narrator
wants to shout (just like he did in another Hollie track from ‘Confessions of A
Mind’ in 1970). It’s a pretty song, not quite moving enough to make me want to
cry but close, as two people who once walked in different directions find
themselves back together again, well up to the standards of everything on
Clarkey’s album bar the title track (which it mirrors in many ways). The two
voices aren’t a natural pairing, he all husky and shy and British, she all loud
and countrified and American (it’s not unlike the Hollies doing ‘Louisiana Man’
with Bobbie Gentry, a TV appearance that was my highlight of the year, unseen
in Britain since first broadcast in 1969!), but they don’t actually sing
together anyway and this song works nicely as a duet. Laurence Juber, from the
final lineup of Paul McCartney’s Wings, plays a great guitar solo too, soaring
across the second half. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">10) P</span></em><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">aul Simon “Seven Psalms: Wait”</span></em></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I admire ‘Seven Psalms’ a lot, a very Paul Simon
debate of intellect versus faith that both does and doesn’t believe in God and
an afterlife. The song slips and slides both ways across half an hour, an
intellectual conversation as brainy as any of our cleverest of
singer-songwriters ever had. However the long goodbye does go on just a teeny bit:
you half-expect Arty to rise up in the song, ‘Frank Lloyd Wright’ style, and
sing ‘So long already, Paul!’ But then we find out why: by stalling, by
debating, Paul stops himself from finding out what happens next, he can feel
removed from it all. But nothing can be put off forever and, in the last five
minutes, the song changes and stops being an intellectual debate to be wondered
at length <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and becomes a real emotion
now. A tolling bell of singing bowls suggests that time is up. ‘Wait!’ cries Paul
to the grim reaper with tears in his eyes ‘I’m not ready! I’m still packing my
gear!’ Paul knew this day was coming, he’s been preparing for it his whole life,
but being ready for a day in the future when you might hypothetically die and
facing it head on are two very different things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even after half an hour of pure push and pull
Paul is no nearer knowing if he believes in a ‘dreamless transition’ to an
afterlife or not, and tries to put the brakes on. But every time his guitar
pulls up, with chords that try to draw a line in the sand, he finds his fingers
playing on, reaching out for chords in the darkness. Wife Edie calls to him in
the silence, that none of us are ever truly ready for death whatever age we
are, that ‘life is a meteor’ that passes by too quick but Heaven is nothing to
be scared of, its forever and beautiful, ‘almost like home’. And so God calls
his children on to him while Paul debates again, singing ‘Wait!’ one last time,
with such pain and awe, afraid of his ‘dark intuition’ that tells him none of
this is true, that its all fairytales his sceptical brain can’t believe in. ‘I
need you here by my side’ though he hears the calls one last time– and so,
finally, he does, Paul rising up with a last awe-struck peal of ‘amen!’ as he
steps out into the great unknown in a cascade of bells and singing bowls. If
this is a goodbye then its one hell of a way to go, and if it isn’t, well, it’s
still one of the best, most emotional, most beautiful bit of music out this
year, the perfect end to a song suite that tries to have it both ways yet ultimately
still takes sides bravely and beautifully.</span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">11) The Ducks “Windward Passage”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Neil and Jeff Blackburn’s guitars, Cippolina’s
drums and Moseley’s bass make for quite a formidable team when they let loose
like the birds of prey they are and they stop, well, waddling like a duck on
their bar-room pub songs of simple love gained and lost. Blackburn starts up
this song’s urgent riff, which sounds like peak-era Jefferson Airplane all
muscly and barely and dangerously and deliciously just the right side of being
in control, before Neil picks his notes carefully, soaring over the top at a
slower pace, gliding the way he’s used to playing with Crazy Horse. The rhythm
section are much tougher and faster than the usual Horse sound though and push
him to his limit so that before long Neil too is struggling to keep up, his
fingers darting all over his fretboard in sudden flurries before breaking off
to scream on single notes. Once it picks up steam around the two minute mark
there really is no stopping this juggernaut jam which is hypnotic in the
extreme, not so much a breeze any more but more like a hurricane, in all senses
of the word. More than anything, you can tell Neil is having great fun playing
with this band, let loose to reinvent himself all over again as a crazed
psychedelic guitarist in a cooking rock band and his bandmates play out of
their (drum) skins too. Would that the Ducks had taken out more of their
original songs and stuck more improvisations like this in the set list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: #050505; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">12) Dire Straits “I Think I Love You Too Much”</span><o:p style="background-color: white; font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Originally the Dire Straits studio catalogue ended on a very melancholy
note indeed, either the bitter recriminations of ‘How Long?’ in the studio or
the quiet anger of ‘Brothers In Arms’ via the live albums. This last song added
to the setlist puts it all in a different light though: it’s like the more
loved-up songs of Mark Knopfler’s first solo set<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Golden Heart’ celebrating his wedding to
third wife Kitty but played in the old-fashioned Chet Atkins rough and tumble
rockabilly style of Dire Straits’ early days. Mark loves his girl ‘more than
anyone ever has’ and it makes him happy, but sometimes the depth of his
feelings also scares him – is there such a thing as loving too hard? He returns
back to his early poverty roots, wondering what might happen ‘if I knocked you
up’, whether they’d still be happy without the safety net being a successful rock
star brings (its worth remembering that his first marriage to his teenage
sweetheart ended partly because they were so poor and mark was always away
playing in bands that never made any money). The sudden mood change inspires a
wild and desperate guitar part – which must surely be from Phil Palmer, the
band’s second guitarist rather hidden in the shadows of the Knopfler brothers,
soaring with a Clapton-like clean-ness and dreaming of better days, while
Mark’s own fret-picking scowls and fears the worst. He tug of war between them
not quite sure whether this love is the best thing that could ever possibly
happen or another joke played o the narrator by a cruel world. This isn’t the
best lyric Mark ever wrote and the song clearly needs work to bring it into
line with the more layered Dire Straits classics, but it’s a lovely bit of
buried treasure to discover after all these years and our first ‘new’ Dire
Straits song since ‘What’s The Matter Baby?’ was first released as long ago as
1995. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4pt;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">13) Pete Townshend “You Can’t Outrun The Truth”</span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The last time we had a new studio single release
by Pete Townshend it was thirty years ago and it seemed as if everything he
wrote from now on would end up on Who reunion albums. Until lockdown that is
and like many of the songs on this list Pete’s spending the pandemic alone, re-thinking
his priorities. His conclusion is perhaps the most honest, that rather than
giving him any great insight he didn’t already know ‘this lockdown is bringing
me down’ and that without people to be around or places to go to Pete’s trapped
inside, trying to make peace with his demons and learning to face all the
things he’d been trying not to think about for so long. ‘I gotta leave this
room, gotta break through all this gloom!’ Pete cries in desperation, but still
the serene backing track floats by slowly, uncaring about him or his needs. I
really didn’t have pedal steel and strings on my Who bingo card this year, but
then I didn’t have a Pete Townshend solo single on it all after three decades
and though slight, a sequel of sorts to ‘Sheraton Gibson’ when Pete had nothing
better to do in a hotel room than write a song on his Gibson, any new music
from Pete is always welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">14)
The Beatles “Now and Then”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, from
the biggest music news story of the year, the ‘last song’ from the act we’ve
known for all those years. Except it isn’t: I already struggled with the idea
of Paul, George and Ringo reuniting to finish off some of John’s last demos
because they weren’t written with The Beatles or even release in mind – they
were doodles jotted down to be returned to at some point because, even in his
househusband years escaping from the music business, John was too creative for
the muse to fully let him go. Far from putting a rosy glow at the end of the
Beatles’ discography, as Paul for one wanted them to, mid 1990s singles ‘Free
As A Bird’ and ‘Rea Love’ made The Beatles look desperate and money-hungry,
something they’d never been as a group the first time round (the best things
about those two singles are the fan-pleasing reference-filled music videos,
directed by 10cc’s Kevin Godley). Now there’s a third single to join them, the
song that should originally have kicked off ‘Anthology Three’ back in 1996. ‘Now
and Then’ is worse though because now there isn’t even George to stamp his
approval. Despite what you may have read in recent pr-friendly interviews
Harrison made the others abandon work on this Lennon song not because the
technology wasn’t up to it (although it wasn’t) but because he thought ‘John’s
songwriting had really gone off the boil towards the end, lads’ and the
injection of cash from the ‘Anthology’ TV series and first two volumes meant he
no longer needed the money as desperately as he once had when he agreed to them
(following a counter lawsuit from Handmade Films co-founder Dennis O’Dell; yes
the guty name-checked in ‘You Know My Name Look Up The Number). Undeterred the
1994 ‘Threetles’ moved on to a fourth song on the tape Yoko gave them, ‘Grow
Old Along With Me’ and spent far more time working on that. George much
preferred it but Paul disliked the fact it was a song so finished he couldn’t
put his own creative stamp on the song like times past he way he could with the
others, so at an empasse The Beatles called it quits. However ‘Grow Old Along
With Me’ is still sitting in the vaults with a lot more George on it than this
song and that, technically, is the ‘last’ Beatles song with all four playing on
it. Even if Paul blocks its release in his lifetime, it will inevitably come
out some time and it’s a far better finale than ‘Now and Then’, moving and
honest and emotional. By contrast ‘Now and Then’ is a confused snippet John
never had time to work into a full song.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The reason Paul likes it so much is that the last
thing John ever said to him, a few weeks before his murder, was ‘think about me
now and then, old friend’ – many fans have assumed that John maybe wrote the
track for him and there’s a long-standing rumour that the cassette Yoko passed on
to Paul as far back as 1988, when the project was first discussed, had the
words ‘for Paul’ written on them, the hint being that this song was written with
Mccartney in mind and was meant for him to finish. But it isn’t. John’s demo
dates from 1977, a time when he and Paul weren’t yet as friendly, and its
clearly written for Yoko, especially the best part of the original demo, a
sudden abrupt and painful<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>switch to a minor
key as John howls ‘I Don’t wanna lose you’ -inspired by the same panicked
phonecall home during a boating holiday alone that inspired Double Fantasy song
‘I’m Losing You’ that year when phone receptors were down and John couldn’t
call home and felt stranded, like the lost weekend was happening all over again.
Really it’s a slightly calmer, more laidback version of the obsession of lust
and love he felt for Yoko heard in ‘I Want You (She’s So heavy). By
re-arranging the song to take that bit out, Paul’s completely changed the feel
and intention and made it safe and cosy in a way no Lennon song (even the
sappier ones on ‘Double Fantasy’) never were. John, you suspect, who partly broke
up The Beatles in 1969 because Paul kept sugar-coating his songs and delivering
‘fruity’ material he hated (yes even ‘Let It be’ and ‘Long and Winding Road’
weren’t to John’s tastes), would have been annoyed and told his old pal to get
stuffed if he’d known about it. The new additions of Paul and Ringo’s adding
harmonies and Ringo’s clattering drums are also completely wrong for this
sensitive song, adding a layer of ersatz Beatles that belongs there even less
than on ‘Bird’ or ‘Real Love’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Worse
still, Paul took out George’s half-hearted slide guitar part from 1994 and
stuck a substitute ‘impression’ of it in there – sloppy and out of tune.
George’s original couldn’t possibly have been worse. Harrison, who quit The
Beatles briefly in 1969 partly because Paul kept telling him what to play and
arranging his own tiny corner of each song’s arrangements, would have surely been
angry at this too, although he is technically on there thanks to an acoustic
guitar duet with Paul from 1995. In other words this single shows that the
worst parts of The Beatles, that broke them up in 1969, are still there now
after all these years, lessons unlearned, for all this song tries to be a cosy
reunion single of happiness and happy tears. There’s a sweet story doing the
rounds about the ‘clock’ painting on the rear sleeve of the CD single, a clock
George bought in an antique’s shop in 1997 that happened to be called ‘Now and
Then’ – his widow Olivia was rummaging through his old things and had propped
it on the mantelpiece when she happened to get the call from Paul asking for
permission to release this song and took it as a cosmic ’sign’ George gave his
blessing (The Beatles were, their whole career, masters of serendipity and
picking up on coincidences so they would have seen more in this than most
bands). If I know my Harrison though, it was meant as a warning: that time had
‘run out’ for releasing the track, that it was still in pieces (the clock is a
patchwork collage) and The Beatles should leave well alone. At least it makes
for a better image than the front cover of the single, though, which is
hideous, and reeks of 1990s computer software, without even an image of The
Beatles on there properly (like many fans I assumed it was one of those ‘cover
art to be decided’ placeholders till the single actually came out). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So much about this single went wrong. The sloppy
publicity department, that ‘announced’ this was an AI creation before we heard
it so fans got the wrong end of the stick put people’s backs up unnecessarily (rather
than re-creating John and George’s parts, as everyone naturally assumed from a
badly worded press release, the AI was used to separate John’s vocal from his
piano on his one-channel demo; actually they needn’t have bothered as it sounds
worse quality than it does on my original bootleg). The interviews that took
such liberties with the truth. The production which, even more than ‘Bird’ and ‘Real
Love’, sounds plastered over the top where it doesn’t belong, with a string
part that sounds as if its playing on a completely different song entirely.The
worst aspect by far, though, is the original song which ranks as one of
Lennon’s emptiest, a jumble of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hackneyed
phrases about loss that he might well have worked into something special (as a
rule John’s demos are far more basic than Paul’s or George’s, so much so you
wonder how he ever got such magic out of them) but very much hadn’t at the time
of his death. The only part that does work is the clever way the harmonies from
‘because’ are recycled, a vintage John, paul and geortge making the navigation
of this song’s tricky chord sequences that much easier to bear (there are
snippets of harmonies from other songs too, apparently, but this is the one you
can hear best). The result is a song that some fans find moving, if only
because it’s a song we never expected to hear. I can understand why, for fans
born since the mid 1990s who’ve never had a Beatles release in their lifetime,
this feels like a special moment. But its not a ‘real’ moment and its not a
particularly Beatley sounding moment either (this is the most Rutlesy song they’ve
ever done, following the ‘letter’ of how they used to make Beatles songs
without the ‘heart’). The result is, to quote the NME’s famous review of ‘Let
It Be’ back when everyone assumed that was the ‘last’ Beatle release of all, a
cheapskate epitaph, a cardboard tombstone, a sad and tatty end to a musical
fusion which wiped clean and drew again the face of pop. They should have let
it be – or at the very least done it better – or at the very very least
finished ‘Grow Old Along With Me’ at the same time and made it a double single.
Unlike 99.9% of the Beatles canon this is a song that I shall be playing, at
best, only now and then from now on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">15)
Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr “Let It Be”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, it could have been worse I suppose: they could
have put this unexpected mini reunion from earlier in the year out as the last
official Beatle reunion instead. I don’t know quite how Dolly got both Beatles
to play together on the same song in three years since Paul played on Ringo’s
album ‘What’s My Name?’ or quite why, as they don’t add a lot to her spirited
but decidedly mawkish and shrill cover of a Beatle classic. Given that Paul
spurned Phil Spector’s arrangement of his song for being too treacly in 1970
it’s a surprise to hear him so committed to the backing vocals of one of the
most sugary Beatle covers around and his growl is an odd fit with her voice,
though at least you can hear them – unlike poor Ringo stuck at the back playing
one of the most basic drum beats he was ever asked to play. A big deal at the
time this song came out in the Summer, by now it’s been all but forgotten ‘Now
and Then’ having stolen its thunder. Thank goodness. <em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;">Documentaries Of The Year:</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></em></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: black; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="background-color: #01ffff; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">1) </span></em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">The Beatles “Now and Then – A Short Film”</span><o:p style="font-size: 14pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As much as I really don’t like the new <s>last</s>
penultimate ever Beatle song, the two films based around it have been really
good and moving in an authentic way the song just isn’t. First this twelve minute
making-of documentary, which might be full of lies (George hated the song, not
the sound) but does a good job at recapping the Anthology days of the 1990s
when three old friends were hanging out together and working on some of John’s
songs, worried about whether they should even try. We’ve known a lot of this
footage for years of course, but the excitement is that we now have the sound
to go with it: we could tell Paul George and Ringo weren’t working on ‘Free As
A Bird’ or ‘Real Love’ and putting the right sound with the footage is
tremendously exciting given we’ve waited thirty years to see it (it’s the footage
of George sitting in Macca’s home studio next to the ‘Suzy and Red Stripes’
drumhead, a ‘fake’ band of Linda’s that released ‘Seaside Woman’ in 1977,
changed to the ‘3 Beatles’ drumhead for the music video in post-production).
There are some nice memories from Sean Lennon, as well as some shots of the
orchestra (who think they’re working on a solo McCartney song named ‘Give and
Take’) and Paul and Ringo at work more recently. Best are some fascinating insights
into the technology used to put 1990s studio overdubs onto a 1970s wobbly
cassette. The moment when John’s voice is separated from the piano and shines
trough the tape across the years gives you chills…Only making the feeble way
its heard on the final product all the worse. At twelve minutes this is just
the right length: in-depth enough to be worth your time, but not so long it
outstays its welcome. First broadcast in the UK as part of ‘The One Show’ with
an enthusiastic John Bishop and an awkward looking Giles Martin there in person
and broadcast simultaneously in several other countries, it got the world
talking about The Beatles again but set the bar for the song’s release the next
day so high it was only going to disappoint (some of us, anyway). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2) “The
Rolling Stones and Brian Jones”</span></em><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There’s a Brian Jones documentary/film every
decade or so it seems, as the Stones’ founder is introduced to a whole new
audience and rightly so – as this documentary is at pains to point out, without
Brian there would have been no Rolling Stones and without his part in their
early years they surely wouldn’t have rolled so far without him. So far every
documentary/film has been quite different, what they have to say reflecting
more on the times they were made in than the Stone himself, who after all has been
dead for five decades now. Past documentaries have tried to hate Brian, to
blame him for everything that went wrong in the band, to dismiss him as being
irrelevant, to sensationalise him and particularly his death, then to
understand and appreciate him as a flawed but ambitious Human being. This is
the first one that’s tried to love him. In all his many complexities and
contradictions. For the first time, to the best of my knowledge, we get to
speak not just to his bandmates and the people hired as staff but to his exes
and they all say much the same thing: that Brian was adorable, lovable,
wonderful, perfect and they were very very happy...till he changed his mind,
changed his personality and ditched them for someone else. Bill Wyman, too, is
on hand to offer his penny’s worth of insight and he’s long been on record
saying that of all the Stones Brian was the one he was closest to, that even
though all the stories of his annoying the hell out of everyone he met were
true there was a lovable side you couldn’t help but adore too. The documentary
does a good job of trying to tell both sides, not shying away from the damage
Brian did to everyone around him (not least to himself) but trying to
understand it too. Tales of Brian’s ‘frailty’, his bruised ego, his sensitivity
and his shyness abound, even when they seem at odds with the famous film clips
of him strutting under his big blonde hairdo, chasing girls and talking over
Jagger and Richards in interviews as his right. Elsewhere we hear alarming
tales of cold families (Brian yearned for his parents’ love and respect which
never came – though the amount of underage girls he got pregnant probably had a
lot to do with that and this was the early 1960s to be fair to them when more
parents brought up to be ice cold in WW2 and not get close to anyone in case
they died, were like it than not!), cold bandmates (Brian was more jealous of
the Mick ‘n’ Keith songwriting duo than perhaps we realised), cold managers
(though there’s only the briefest mention of Andrew Loog Oldham, who
effectively took over Brian’s job as manager when the Stones grew popular), occasionally
cold girlfriends, all of which turned the usually warm and tender hearted Brian
cold in turn, while the drugs didn’t bring him much warmth either, extinguishing
all that sizzle and fire long before he went to sleep in his own swimming pool.
This programme feels at times like a head-on collision between Brian’s best and
worst selves, self-sabotaging every time he’s onto a good thing and losing
himself in the company of people stronger and more resilient than him, be it
the other Stones or his girlfriends, whom he loved to mirror from their blonde
hairdoes to their personalities (there are previously unheard tales of Brian
and Anita Pallenberg egging each other on that are quite shocking if true, even
if its typical of this kinder documentary that it talks about her ‘betrayal’ in
switching to Keith without mentioning how often Brian used to beat her up; it’s
a real shame she’s one of the few girlfriends in Brian’s life who didn’t get to
put her thoughts on record before her death in 2017). There’s plenty of music
too, rightly praising Brian for his push to record blues songs that resulted in
the surprise #1 of ‘Little Red Rooster’ (still the only blues song to top the
UK charts even now) and adding the exotic sounds of flute to ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and
sitar to ‘Paint It Black’, even if they miss his greatest contribution, the
jaw-dropping mellotron solo on ‘We Love You’ (which, because of the technology
at the time, had to be played with a certain delay and which Brian nailed where
so many others tried and failed – at a point when, the documentary has it, Brian
could barely stand). Though many of these tales are told by other people and
tell familiar stories there are some fascinating new insights too, particularly
from the cache of letters both from and to Brian discovered at his house, such
as the too-late words of affection from his father during Brian’s failing drug
years. <o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If I have an issue with the documentary it’s
that the end was so rushed compared to the impressive detail of the start –
there was no mention of Brian’s ground-breaking interest in world music and
‘The Panpipes of Joujouka’ for instance and his death is glossed over in the
briefest of sentences (in many ways a mercy after so many documentaries have
only concentrated on the ending not the life, but you would have expected a few
minutes on it and the doubt over whether it was an accident or a murder at
least – after all, the idea that Brian taunted his own employees into killing
him due to his own rejection plays perfectly into the documentary’s narrative
that Brian’s bad behaviour was a response to things outside his control, even
if I still think it was a tragic accident). The beginning too could have been
better – we rather gloss over the early days when Brian was about the only
person who believed in the Stones and if you only knew story from this
documentary you might well think it was an equal partnership with Mick and Keith
(it wasn’t – Brian very much hired them to get the sound he heard in his head).
While mentioned, there should have been more blues too – that was, after all,
the driving force behind Brian and while there’s talk of how pleased he was to
turn middle-aged American white kids onto the blues records they’d missed, this
was such a pivotal part of the story it should have been front and centre, not
a few words in passing. There’s no Mick or Keith talking of course the people who
arguably knew him best, no Marianne or Anita either even in archive footage,
and not that much in the way of unseen clips (though there’s a rare interview of
the Stones on tour in Australia that doesn’t often get an airing), but pretty
much everyone else is here who should be and every clip that should be here is
here and there are a lot of old stories well told alongside enough new ones to
keep Stones fans happy. Above all, though, this documentary is impressive
because it feels ‘fair’ - it doesn’t sugar-coat Brian’s worst side but nor does
it dismiss the good he did for the band or fans and it does the best job so far
of working out what made Brian roll and the drive that made him create one of
the greatest rock and roll bands to begin with. Recommended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">3) “The Ballad Of Syd and Morgan” </span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There seems to be an AAA-related play on radio 4 every year
and this was no exception, as May saw the broadcast of one of the strangest
yet: based on a novel by Haydn Middleton, it’s a hypothetical meeting between
writer E M Forster and Syd Barrett in 1968, that by its own admission never
happened but could have. Maybe. Sort of. The story has long gone that in 1968,
after Pink Floyd decided not to bother picking a wayward Syd up to a gig one
day, Barrett spent the next few weeks convinced that he had let ‘too much’ of
himself out into the wider world and though he couldn’t buy up every album Pink
Floyd had made he could still purchase all his old paintings he’d sold as a
student and burn them, so that his ‘old life’ never existed. One of the people
living in Cambridge at the time was an 88-year-old Forster, forty five years on
from his own brief brush with fame with ‘Passage To India’ and still trying to
come to terms with life as a creative artist that society wasn’t quite ready
for (the play makes a lot of Forster’s homosexuality and how society frowned on
him using it in his books, to the point of making Syd wonder aloud about his
own sexuality in the play’s only real wrong-sounding note). There doesn’t seem
to be, at first, a lot in common between the burnt out 22 year old psychedelic
musician whose so 1968 it hurts and the ageing author or a bygone era and had
this meeting really happened it almost certainly wouldn’t have gone like this;
Syd’s far too coherent in this play for the time its set and way too polite,
while Forster sees a lot of his younger self in a lad whose scared of his brush
with fame. Chances are Syd wouldn’t have had time for an old fuddy duddy and
Forster would have looked down his nose at rock music, but knowing that the two
men were living in Cambridge and would both be recorded by fate in much the same
way, as short lived brilliant creatives who couldn’t sustain the long careers
their fan bases hoped for, is too good an opportunity to miss. It’s good too,
sympathetic to both very different yet deeply troubled and lonely men and digs
out a lot of connections between them, such as a love for Kenneth Grahame
(Forster admits, at the end of the play, that when Syd turned up he had a
‘vision of the goat God of pan’ standing behind him, reinforced by his cleaner,of
all people, who knows who Syd is and who enthuses about Floyd’s debut ‘Piper At
The Gates Of Dawn’ and its title quote from ‘Wind In the Willows’ where Pan
uses his panpipes to call the animals back home). Along the way Forster gets to
give his own views on what life has been like since fame and urges his new
friend to continue rceating, while Syd gets to reflect on what it feels like to
be ‘dumped’ by his band, how lost he felt when his father died and how the
strong drive he once felt to create has vanished. The elder lion warns the
younger one not to retire because life is long and empty without the ability to
create; the younger one reminds the elder that sometimes you have no other
choice and both find healing from their conversation. Better than it has any
right to be, despite the hackneyed shoe-horned references to gay sex and ‘wacky
cigarettes’ (which Forster recognises from trips to India – odd given that
marijuana was hardly the Indian drug of choice in the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century), the play is well observed and fair to both men, well performed by
Simon Russell Beale as Forster and Tyger-Drew Honey, the elder of the
‘Outnumbered’ kids, as a rather good Syd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></em></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">4) “The Beatles At The BBC”</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Peter Jackson’s music video for the song itself was
broadcast two days after the documentary and one day after the single, at the
end of a ninety minute extravaganza of Beatle clips, some famous, some rare,
most somewhere in between. The video got even more mixed reviews than the song
but I really like it – people seem to miss the Beatley humour in having John
and George pop up from the past distracting their colleagues as they try to
work, but anyone whose heard the sessions tapes or read the Beatles Book or
heard the Crhsitmas fanclub discs know this is exactly how they used to behave
(in the earlier, less serious days anyway). I love the way that the ‘now’ and
then’ have been incorporated together, with shots of Paul and Ringo (and via
Anthology George and via Sean’s home collection John) all together one last
time, with bits and pieces from most eras in there too. Best of all is the
ending when we rush back in time, ending with a brief precious unseen few
seconds of a leather-clad Beatles in 1960 (courtesy of Pete best’s collection –
huge love and respect to him for giving it to this project instead of selling
it to the highest bidder or locking it up where we can’t see it) before fading
back through the years as The Beatles take one last (?) bow together on stage.
The video, as an ageing Paul and Ringo make peace with their past and
colleagues who remain locked in time forever young, says so very much about
friendship, music and the human experience of the inevitable age and decay of
us all that it made me cry, in a way the song never could and Lennon never
designed it to. The rest of the clips show was as good as these things get too,
with some questionable inclusions (the promos for ‘Something’ ‘Bird’ and ‘Real
Love’ included because they were shown that way once on Top Of The Pops…erm, OK
then!) and some nice bits and pieces (a longer version of the ‘One World’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘All You Need Is Love’ than on Anthology, The
Beatles in Blackpool in 1964, news clips, the bit of ‘Ticket To Ride’ recycled
in 1965 Dr Who story ‘The Chase’ and otherwise wiped, complete with ‘space-time
visualiser’ opening and William Russell as Ian Chesterton singing along,
although the captions throughout are a little odd and get this one hopelessly
wrong: Brian Epstein loved the idea of an aging Beatles on a reunion tour in
2013 and all the band were fans who wanted to do it, but the Beatle schedule
being as tight as it was they just couldn’t take the time off to film it)
alongside all the bits you’d expect to be there and a couple of curious omissions
(‘Magical Mystery Tour’ was a BBC Boxing Day special after all and there are
far better sequences to choose than the rather staid one of ‘Your Mother Should
Know’). Of course ITV got the really good Beatle footage of the day (‘The Royal
Variety Show’ ‘Hey Jude’ on ‘Frost On Sunday’) so it was never going to be that
comprehensive or complete, but it turned the music video into an ‘event’ and
gave incoming fans a sense of history rather than just showing the video, so
full marks for that. Why couldn’t everything be chronological though? No band
grew in time like The Beatles and the cut and paste approach just doesn’t work,
especially the way the three reunion singles are dropped in half an hour apart.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-size: large;">5) “Lulu At The BBC”</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Very much the same with poor Lulu, who in a 75<sup>th</sup>
birthday BBC compilation of her own had lots of awkward 1980s filler interspliced
with her promising 1990 and 00s comebacks and 1960s classic footage in such a
violent way I think I got whiplash. There wasn’t enough classic material
either, given the amount in the vaults and all too often we got inferior live
or cabaret remakes of her greatest hits, rather than footage from the time
itself. It’s not as if we’re lacking footage either given that Lulu had her own
TV show for so much of the 1960s: notwithstanding the fact that only a few
episodes survive and one of those was repeated on BBC4 not long ago I still
expected to see ‘Morning Dew’ and ‘The Boat That I Row’ from 1968 at the very
least (the latter song is there but as a hideous duet with its composer Neil
Diamond, where both are having a complete off day). I’d forgotten just how many
rum moments I’ve had to sit through during Lulu’s ‘light entertainment’ years
as she Boom Bang a Bangs and does aerobics workouts and covers soppy drippy
1970s and 1980s ballads and Take That collaborations her heart just isn’t in.
The good stuff though (‘Shout!’ when she was the best fifteen year old singer
there’s ever been with soul beyond her years, ‘Love Loves To Love’ when she was
a hip ‘n’ happening teen that swung with the best of them, ‘The Man Who Sold
The World’ where she out-Bowied Bowie in her twenties and her glorious comeback
singles in her forties ‘Independence’ ‘I Don’t Wanna Fight No More’ and ‘take
Me Where The Poor Boys Dance’) really is well worth watching and deserved
better than to be lost in a clips show that was either too long or too short,
depending how you look at it. As part of a ‘Lulu’ night we got a rather humdrum
and rather amateurishly made documentary from 1998 (I’d forgotten how all documentaries
used to start with random strangers singing hit songs badly back then!) and a
super rare and rather curious cabaret show from 1981 ‘Live at the Blazer’s
Club’ where Lulu – in a purple leotard that has to be seen to be believed - is
as fake as she’s ever been, singing for the chicken in a basket crowd, flirting
with the front row, covering bad Dolly Parton songs and doing tired old Tin Pan
Alley medleys, in between shots of her getting down with the kids and
rollerblading through a school playground in a particularly limp ‘To Sir With
Love’ although even there just as I was about to give up hope there’s a
cracking raucous cover of ‘Resurrection Shuffle’ that makes the Tom Jones
version look like its standing still. Such it is with Lulu, a performer so
versatile and variable you never quite know what you’re going to get, good or
bad. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><em><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="background-color: #fcff01; color: black; font-size: large; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">6) <a name="__DdeLink__1323_1530656950"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘National Trust Golden Treasures: Forthlin
Road’</a></span></em><span style="mso-bookmark: __DdeLink__1323_1530656950;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If it’s weird for Paul McCartney to think of
people going round his childhood Liverpool home, rebuilt to look as close as
historians and experts get to how it looked in the 1950s, then it must be
weirder still for brother Mike who still lives nearby. We’ve had a few
programmes about the restoration of this tourist hot-spot before and while its’
not as slapdashly treated as John Lennon’s house Mendips (donated for free by Yoko
to a National Trust base that seemed to be irritated by the workload than
anything else), it still seems to be very amateurishly handled at times. This
new series looked at 20<sup>th</sup> century sites bought up by the Trust and
the work that goes into re-creating the old look, but you can’t help but feel
watching the series as a whole that everyone is obsessed by the small details
and loses sight of the bigger picture, of how special the thing is that came
out of nothing, which would have happened regardless of the paper on the walls
or the right coloured teapots. They spend a long time trying to find the stone
wallpaper mum Mary McCartney once had over her fireplace, oddly not finding any
copies of the print despite it being on sale from a large wallpaper chain for
many years. So instead they re-create it from one of Mike’s photographs of his
brother standing by the fireplace and have it blown up and stuck on the wall,
following Mike’s approval (and Paul’s off-screen). They’re less successful
trying to recover the McCartney’s teenage graffiti from next to the loo under
six added layers of paint, something the National Trust seem to think is a huge
and important moment for posterity, rather than a couple of boys mucking about.
It’s great to see Mike McGear going round his old haunts and getting tearful,
reminiscing about a simpler life before fame and getting sad about his mum now
his parents’ bedroom has been opened to the public for the first time too
(though why no mention of dad? Jim lived in that room even longer and has an
even more direct link to his boys’ musical careers after his years with his own
Jim Mac jazz band). Unfortunately the people working there keep interrupting
him and then they in turn are interrupted by another segment randomly inserted
into the programme that has nothing to do with the McCartneys but is linked to
‘Liverpool’ or, even more generally, ‘art’. We don’t even get to see round the
house properly. Oh well, one day there’ll be a decent documentary on The
Beatles’ childhood houses, its surely one of the few angles for fab four documentaries
left we haven’t had yet... </span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">So that was the year that was, a 2023 full of
unexpected reunions, the revival of an old rivalry, the less than classic
re-issues of all sorts of classic albums, a combination of some great new
releases to be admired and revered decades from now and more than its fair
share of recycling. Talking of recycling, the AAA-AI robot has just started
moonwalking and singing Michael Jackson songs so I’d better go and return him and
get my money back. Till next year have a great Christmas and a musical new
year! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></em></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-50241703601671688662023-11-24T04:14:00.000-08:002023-11-24T04:14:38.936-08:00Obedience, the 6th standalone book in the 'Kindred Spirits' series, is now available!<p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><h1> <span style="color: red;">'Obedience', the 6th (standalone) volume in the 'Kindred Spirits' series is now for sale! </span></h1><h2><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 27.6px;"> An Argibraffe? At university?!? A space war?!?!? Crystal Skulls?!?!?!? Space Dinosaurs?!?!?!?!?!? 500 Years on from intergalactic contact and it feels like the universe has gone mad. What it really needs is a re-set button...</span></b></h2></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">
</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0ghJk_7Vu62qi0nsdGgxPYYiLfn-2zOMR2WYKjMRr1s5UPX35olPxzZ5Njr217Ps0W2PNR_P13rC8wvR6xignTAo44VTWEvEdB2FRKq8afhmseVaCJDVwIGZNqPQEker_mrZ8AB18ST8Fjj3dSHkAz48STGKjOIUajsfcjovxxlL-CNJ8Mis_Fd9En8u/s2245/18.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0ghJk_7Vu62qi0nsdGgxPYYiLfn-2zOMR2WYKjMRr1s5UPX35olPxzZ5Njr217Ps0W2PNR_P13rC8wvR6xignTAo44VTWEvEdB2FRKq8afhmseVaCJDVwIGZNqPQEker_mrZ8AB18ST8Fjj3dSHkAz48STGKjOIUajsfcjovxxlL-CNJ8Mis_Fd9En8u/w453-h640/18.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1111;">Dotty the spotty pet argibraffe thinks she knows what the future holds: walking round the park, a bit of digging in the flower-beds, doing what she’s told (mostly) and living in the moment. However she has a secret obsession when her Human owners aren’t looking: the history broadcasts on the holovision. Soon Dotty finds that her life has changed, that she’s been enrolled as the first argibraffe student at Clandusprod Community College under the dotty Mrasianart Professor Edulearn, that the park is on an alien world and the dig is on an abandoned planet full of mysterious remains. A combination of events involving a crazed Human tyrant with a device that can turn whole worlds upside down, a talking crystal skull that only Dotty can hear and the attempted murder of her and her new friends means that soon Dotty isn’t just studying history but making it. In an era when even humanity has stopped taking humanities can a sentient pet really obtain a degree – especially when other species are kicking up such a fuss about it? Can Dotty trust her new and often, well, alien flatmates and be truly independent without her owners? How will Dotty’s team fare in the intergalactically-admired TV Quiz Universally Challenged with Maggrumph host Jeremy Paxgrumph? Can Dotty ascend just when the rest of the universe is descending into chaos? Will the twelve intergalactic species ever break free from a cycle of destruction and rebuilding, learning the lessons of the past so as not to repeat them in the future? Can someone who wasn’t even allowed on the furniture a week ago really save the entire known universe? And just where do a lost civilisation of cosmic dinosaurs fit into all this? The sixth volume in the ‘Kindred Spirits’ series, ‘Obedience’ is another mad house, a love song to history and how our ever present past can lead us to answers in our future, even when asking questions we never thought to ask.</span><span><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span>Available to buy on all planets as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNXNHJSK/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">paperback </a>or an<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNVDN7KT/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank"> e-book</a></span></span></span></h2><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: x-large;">Missed the first five volumes? Then why not buy them all together in one handy guide to all the flash-points of saving the universe over the next 500 years with 'Convergence' </span></h1><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3CHtoX2WuunMn1k3aehCqlzeKVZ4DmFhCwSGW49UQ_u430U5YurhybHgGNsH3aJM_pd0m0JOmYwpfPth594UKXlk8t4Qi51oOdeA1UyGeZBhFBpT1E0yGkZEA0j5AT2dpnQWMsLHbqY2r0qgLs-ALZ2VJ9Rk9fFZ8jtnFuX7mPn7mMxviNWsbBTIpw/s2245/8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3CHtoX2WuunMn1k3aehCqlzeKVZ4DmFhCwSGW49UQ_u430U5YurhybHgGNsH3aJM_pd0m0JOmYwpfPth594UKXlk8t4Qi51oOdeA1UyGeZBhFBpT1E0yGkZEA0j5AT2dpnQWMsLHbqY2r0qgLs-ALZ2VJ9Rk9fFZ8jtnFuX7mPn7mMxviNWsbBTIpw/w453-h640/8.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium;">A collection of the first five volumes of the 'Kindred Spriits' series, covering 500 years of a future where the Human race has made intergalactic contact with eleven types of very different alien: the aggressive Agrosians, the pet-like Argibraffes, the bossy Belobrats, the erudite Camalosians, the friendly Clandusprods, the hungry Doosbury Giants, the scared Glabdihardits, the relaxed Habridats, the brusque Maggrumphs, the technology driven Mekkions and the spiritual Mrasianarts. In a universe this complicated how can peace ever be simple?<br /><br />The stories include:<br />Endurance - Romeo and Juliet with Clandusprods. Only she's already dead - and he's dying. How can the universe survive the first brush of intergalactic catastrophe when the couple who were fated to save it can never be together?<br /><br />Insurgence - Earthling Eleanor moves to Mras to start a new life and finds a new love and a new purpose, especially when she has a son. But when just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in an intergalactic peace orchestra is enough to start a revolution and soon her life and those that she loves are in danger. <br /><br />Province - A hundred years on and Eleron is all grown up and the leader of the Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He's found happiness at last: he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe. Until some furry red aliens from the other side of the universe arrive and turn his world upside down, testing his belief in diplomacy and trust to the limit. Can a rush around a fragmenting universe stop the invaders in time?<br /><br />Ensconce - Life isn't easy when you're ten and transported to an alien orphanage. It's even harder when your teacher's a Maggrumph with a short fuse, your headmaster has three heads and the adults are using you as a test subject for their new invention: red weed. Will the eleven alien children and their pet argibraffe survive to adulthood in one piece?<br /><br />Abundance - Twelve aliens, six couples, an intergalactic dating service and a reality TV series in desperate trouble lead to half a dozen very different stories that are all about the one thing in the universe that's truly universal: love.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Available to buy on all planets as </span><span style="font-size: large;">an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3ZC5DV2" target="_blank">e-book</a> (it's too big for a paperback!) </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></p><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 14.95px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz <a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/2021/05/twke-our-kindred-spirits-quiz-and-find.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a></span></span></h1><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 14.95px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 14.95px;">Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about music - there's our biggest AAA review of the year so far all ready to go circa December 10th (just waiting on a new Neil Young and its all ready!)</span></div></span></span></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-64788540627121374292023-05-01T15:27:00.002-07:002023-05-10T13:49:33.077-07:00Kindred Spirits - Abundance plus Convergence!<p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><h1> <span style="color: red;">'Abundance', the 5th (standalone) volume in the 'Kindred Spirits' series is now for sale! </span></h1><h2><b><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; line-height: 27.6px;"> Space comes in fifty shades of black. Twelve aliens, six couples, one dating service and one reality TV series both in desperate trouble.</span></b></h2></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZ_N7iwA5a-La2gLLcEmGixlvsCV01T_rHNpXmOuYx5CqayO98zssuK316ncQar5StqVWCa3s93ZdwPBae0ppPVQukgOun7ffnJySglf0gvwBnH4qUl6HadzUukXkxvrj9A0ONP53k5B_AMIU0fzIE_hDffKRHT93iMR2-ieCTap3M16O6EBsYn5TJQ/s2245/7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZ_N7iwA5a-La2gLLcEmGixlvsCV01T_rHNpXmOuYx5CqayO98zssuK316ncQar5StqVWCa3s93ZdwPBae0ppPVQukgOun7ffnJySglf0gvwBnH4qUl6HadzUukXkxvrj9A0ONP53k5B_AMIU0fzIE_hDffKRHT93iMR2-ieCTap3M16O6EBsYn5TJQ/w453-h640/7.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium; line-height: 18.4px;">Buster the Belobrat thinks he knows about true love so can’t understand why viewers are leaving his new reality TV show ‘Love Planet’ in droves. Nova the head of the Human branch of the Intergalactic Dating agency knows exactly where he’s been going wrong and sets out to teach him using six examples from her company’s history; six couples made up of the twelve species that exist in the known universe: An argibraffe pet who falls in love with a Spice Girls tribute singer in a tale of treachery, deceit and sleeping Habridats. A Camalosian actor in a long running science fiction series who falls in love for his maggrumph colleague while both run up and down corridors with everyone’s favourite Time Rodent. An Agrosian and a Belobrat who are meant to be signing their divorce papers but who end up with several second chances instead. A clumsy Clandusprod and a faulty Mekkion who start long distance and end up as close as any couple can be. The voyages of ensigns Yoko Glabdihardit and Hamish Habridat, new trainees on the Well Fed-eration’s mission to boldly track down recipes where nobody has tracked them before. A Mrasianart ‘Medium’ who deals in futures and his ‘Extra Large’ Doosbury Giant friend who lives for the present, where neither of them want to remember their past. But is Buster all that he seems? For that matter is Nova? And why are there two pages of sponsorship advertisements?!? <span style="background: white; color: #333333;">This collection of six short stories makes a date with twelve of these beings and how love changed all their lives – and in the Doosbury Giants’ case their lunches - forever. For what could be more universal in such a varied universe than love? More than just another collection of short stories, ‘Abundance’ is yet another mad house, a love song to love and the lengths that the universe goes to in order to put the right people together at the right time and that might yet save us all.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Available to buy on all planets as a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2SQ22P9" target="_blank"> paperback</a> or an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Abundance-Kindred-Spirits-Book-5-ebook/dp/B0C3ZBM8K9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">ebook</a></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: x-large;">Missed the first four volumes? then why not buy them all together in one handy guide to all the flash-points of saving the universe over the next 500 years with 'Convergence' </span></h1><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3CHtoX2WuunMn1k3aehCqlzeKVZ4DmFhCwSGW49UQ_u430U5YurhybHgGNsH3aJM_pd0m0JOmYwpfPth594UKXlk8t4Qi51oOdeA1UyGeZBhFBpT1E0yGkZEA0j5AT2dpnQWMsLHbqY2r0qgLs-ALZ2VJ9Rk9fFZ8jtnFuX7mPn7mMxviNWsbBTIpw/s2245/8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3CHtoX2WuunMn1k3aehCqlzeKVZ4DmFhCwSGW49UQ_u430U5YurhybHgGNsH3aJM_pd0m0JOmYwpfPth594UKXlk8t4Qi51oOdeA1UyGeZBhFBpT1E0yGkZEA0j5AT2dpnQWMsLHbqY2r0qgLs-ALZ2VJ9Rk9fFZ8jtnFuX7mPn7mMxviNWsbBTIpw/w453-h640/8.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium;">A collection of the first five volumes of the 'Kindred Spriits' series, covering 500 years of a future where the Human race has made intergalactic contact with eleven types of very different alien: the aggressive Agrosians, the pet-like Argibraffes, the bossy Belobrats, the erudite Camalosians, the friendly Clandusprods, the hungry Doosbury Giants, the scared Glabdihardits, the relaxed Habridats, the brusque Maggrumphs, the technology driven Mekkions and the spiritual Mrasianarts. In a universe this complicated how can peace ever be simple?<br /><br />The stories include:<br />Endurance - Romeo and Juliet with Clandusprods. Only she's already dead - and he's dying. How can the universe survive the first brush of intergalactic catastrophe when the couple who were fated to save it can never be together?<br /><br />Insurgence - Earthling Eleanor moves to Mras to start a new life and finds a new love and a new purpose, especially when she has a son. But when just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in an intergalactic peace orchestra is enough to start a revolution and soon her life and those that she loves are in danger. <br /><br />Province - A hundred years on and Eleron is all grown up and the leader of the Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He's found happiness at last: he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe. Until some furry red aliens from the other side of the universe arrive and turn his world upside down, testing his belief in diplomacy and trust to the limit. Can a rush around a fragmenting universe stop the invaders in time?<br /><br />Ensconce - Life isn't easy when you're ten and transported to an alien orphanage. It's even harder when your teacher's a Maggrumph with a short fuse, your headmaster has three heads and the adults are using you as a test subject for their new invention: red weed. Will the eleven alien children and their pet argibraffe survive to adulthood in one piece?<br /><br />Abundance - Twelve aliens, six couples, an intergalactic dating service and a reality TV series in desperate trouble lead to half a dozen very different stories that are all about the one thing in the universe that's truly universal: love.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;">Available to buy on all planets as </span><span style="font-size: large;">an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3ZC5DV2" target="_blank">e-book</a> (it's too big for a paperback!) </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><span face="TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></p><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 14.95px;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz <a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/2021/05/twke-our-kindred-spirits-quiz-and-find.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a></span></span></h1>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-67043232396706564452022-12-15T18:09:00.003-08:002022-12-15T18:09:38.939-08:00The Alan's Album Archives Review Of The Year 2022<p> </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSqO_bJTbGA-EOhXIugOTCt" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, that was another strange year
wasn’t it dear readers?!? Here we are in year 3 of the pandemic (sorry to burst
your bubble but yes covid is very much still out there – and the damage it’s
doing to us all long-term is scary; have a read up on it if you can and take it
from someone who was already sick from a virus just how these things can mess
up your immune system and give you lots of other nasty things), year whatever we’re
in of an ongoing climate crisis (sorry to burst another bubble but this year might
have been our very last chance to put things right and our leaders muffed it up.
Again. Why are the worst possible people to save us in many a long year in
charge just when we need somebody courageous enough to see the bigger picture?)
and potentially year one of the first war on European soil for many a decade
(sorry to…no, actually things are looking quite grim for Putin at the minute,
so sorry not sorry. And I stress Putin not Russia. I would hate to be blamed
for what my crazy leaders up to). Thank goodness for music, eh?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because if you could, y’know, ignore the
impending apocalypse and end to civilisation as we know it there were still a
lot of reasons to be cheerful in 2022. In fact this was a really vintage year,
as we caught the harvest of all those re-issues that were planned and worked on
during lockdown (one quite literally in neil Young’s case) and the benefit of
the first stirrings of musicians of going back to work (though not touring for
the most part where it’s been a rotten year – sadly most of the AAA alumni who
were still going at the start of the year announced their retirement and those
that didn’t often cancelled their shows; get well soon Belle and Sebastian!)
Anyway what a year review it is dear readers: new albums, new live sets, pricey
deluxe archive sets, unheard tapes from deep in the vaults, whole abandoned
albums from yesteryear, re-re-re-re-issues, a literal crate of 7” singles, the
first entirely new Pink Floyd single for twenty-eight years (of sorts), the
first official release for a 1964 vintage blues tape featuring two future
legends and one spouse clacking away on a typewriter in the corner and no less
than seven Monkee and ten Neil Young related releases, this year’s had a bit of
everything. Still no new Rolling Stones set though (that’s been pushed back yet
another year. Just like last year, 2020 and 2019 all) and no sign of the long
rumoured Kinks or Oasis reunions (which have been pushed back to, well, the end
of time if we’re lucky. Which might turn out to be next year if, y’know, we’re
not).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As for me I’m still on a pause from
music writing after the heavy 2008-2020 years of running this website. I have
however still been as busy as my m.e. and now covid-wobbly health will allow by
writing another two books in my ‘Kindred Spirits’ series (‘Endurance’
‘Insurgence’ ‘Province’ and ‘Ensconce’ are all available now) and confused the
hell out of my neighbours by recording audiobook versions of them all in the
middle of the night when the traffic was quiet; these are set for release next
year (featuring sound effects alien voices and International Peace Orchestra
music!) so watch this space. I haven’t neglected filling my head, heart and
ears with music entirely though, as you’ll see from this year’s bumper crop of
reviews below. Oh and assuming twitter survives into the next year please join
me for the song of the day over at @alansarchives where I’ve been running
through the highlights of my collection in alphabetical order. It’s been
running nine months now and I’m still in the ‘A’s! Well, there’s a lot of great
music to talk about isn’t there? Talking of which let’s jump right into…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b>New Releases:</b></u></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Impact","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Best
to Worst)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Impact","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1) Liam Gallagher “C’mon Y’Know”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Actually,
Liam, there’s a lot of people who are beginning to wonder if they knew you at
all: weren’t you the feisty one, the troubled one, the angry one? Why are you
singing about spiritualism and fate and acceptance instead of sex and drugs and
rock and roll? Wasn’t that a song about loving everyone and giving the world a
hug that came on just then, the sort of thing that would have been laughed out
the room as ‘absolute nonsense’ in the olden days? And isn’t that – good God –
a children’s choir?!? Well, it is but y’know, I rather like it. I’d heard for
months that the heavily eyebrowed one from Oasis had come up with something ‘really
new’ and ‘trippy’ for solo album three and thought ‘yeah, right – it’s Liam, he
changes his socks more than he changes his style, so what everyone probably means
is that we’re just slightly down the trippier Beady Eye end of the spectrum and
people just weren’t paying attention to the last two albums properly’. The two singles
didn’t exactly change my mind either: both are angry ranting stompers common to
Liam’s first two records, especially his under-rated first ‘As You Were’.
However, I was wrong dear reader and pleased to be so. ‘Y’know’ doesn’t just
dip its toes tentatively onto new ground it hurls itself headfirst, going where
no Oasis album has ever been before into spiritualism, doubt and acceptance.
The affect must have been akin to Beatle fans hearing ‘All Things Must Pass’
for the first time or Ray Davies dabbling in semi-autobiographical concept
albums, only more so because we’ve had coming up to thirty years od records to
navigate by to prepare ourselves for this, not ten. Top marks for bravery then,
but better still this album isn’t just a pioneering rule-breaking one but a
listenable one too that’s as chockfull of all the tunes and riffs and mad fer
it roaring vocals that made all of Liam’s past work great too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It also
makes perfect sense if you’ve been following the story closely, the logical end
to a spiritual path the Oasis singer has been following for a good decade now
as he moves from being wounded victim to wise shamanic healer, even if I’d long
assumed that Liam would never have the guts to go all out there as he has done
here. On the two Beady Eye albums and his twin solo albums so far Liam has been
slowly coming to terms with having his world turned upside down, losing his
wife and his band in quick succession in the 2000s, alternating between a
series of ferocious stinging attacks against everyone who ever did him wrong
with songs that express a new sense of vulnerability and hurt, a dark tea time
of the soul with tambourine as it were. This album still has bursts of that old
anger and bravado but it’s a stage further along the healing process that, by
its own admission, is looking for a hug more than it’s looking for a fight and
is more likely to play the acceptance than the victim card. Liam has found true
healing, the power of gratitude and the healing balm of love (thanks to manager
and soon to be third wife Debbie and his solo work’s deservedly warm reception
from fans). ‘Look how far you’ve come’ sings Liam at one stage ‘Further than
the damage done’, before admitting to us that despite his tough stance on most
of the past four records he was actually ‘about to break’ while making most of
them. Despite the plethora of co-writers (there are even more than last time)
this is the most confessional, autobiographical Liam album yet, a spiritual
soul-seeking album that roars at the universe not with pain but gratitude. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s
also an album that’s not afraid to change our perception of the singer who is,
after all, a different man compared to the one he used to be: more vulnerable,
more loyal, more able to laugh at himself, more worldly wise, more courageous
deep down as he strips away all his usual barriers between us (even the guitars
and the Oasisy ‘wall of noise’ for the most part). I mean, this album flipping
starts with a children’s choir of all things - it’s not hidden away in the
middle of the second side, it’s literally the first thing you hear - and not a
tacky children’s choir either but a perfectly cast last breath of innocence to
start an album that screams being grown up. Elsewhere Liam’s vocal frequently
hangs in the air rather than roaring across it, sometimes the only thing that’s
there, sometimes a black hole around which the album’s electronic effects
rotate but never overshadow. Usually, even on his other solo albums, Liam is
part of a gang but here he’s facing his demons alone. This is a man who doesn’t
just sing about his demons in a rock and roll way anymore – he’s sat with them,
understood them, come to terms with them and invited them round for one last
party before they get banished forever and he goes home to live with the angels.
And that’s so, so wonderful for both Liam and his music as he finds peace after
ten years, maybe even twenty years, of constant war. It’s all very ‘Pass’
actually, a humble quiet album about humility and personal experience that’s
absolutely yelled to overcome both the surroundings and communicate with the
world outside to sound like a universal message.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Those
hard times aren’t just medals to be worn round the neck too, but scars to be
learned from with lessons to pass on. You don’t usually go to Liam’s work
primarily for the words but this is a real exception and there are so many
nuggets of wisdom cast across this record, words meant to inspire that are
worthy of any other songs we’ve ever quoted on these pages: ‘Even if you don’t
get the girl you want, you get the girl you need’ is a line that gives me
chills every time I hear it, ‘Try to hold your head high above the chatter’,
‘The universe will provide’, even ‘You are no island’ as Liam at last, after so
many barbed attacks in song, accepts his part in his own downfall. I’m not so
sure about ‘I’m walking circles round the park, I’m a lion floating in the ark’
but hey, you can’t have everything. Mostly, though, Liam takes everything he’s
learnt and reaches out to those whose strength he admires too including from
his own audience, offering protection and love where he once felt mistrust and
hate, celebrating maligned misfits everywhere ‘stronger than the damage done’,
telling them that ‘they belong here as much as anyone’ but reminding them to
recover not by getting revenge to those who bullied them but by passing on love
to those underneath them because they know better now what suffering is. That’s
a huge life lesson right there, perhaps the biggest one there is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Liam’s also wondering about fate and who or
what led him to this point in his life where the questions got big and scary. He
reaches out to others for help on this album so many times, to his wife, to his
fans, to his brother, even to…well, he doesn’t ever use the term God but
there’s an unseen spiritual source that runs through most of the cosmic madness
on this album, the pilot that’s showing Liam where to travel even when ‘I have
my hands upon the wheel’. Life turns out to be showing him lessons his younger
self could never have understood and it all feels as if he was fated to end up
here, surviving the darkness so he could understand and embrace the light.
Finally there’s that moment, the one we thought we’d never get, as Liam turns
to brother Noel in truce; a real one this time, not the half-hearted, taunted
ones of albums past. ‘I can only offer you my love’ Liam sings, Michael Jackson
style, but with the difference that he knows he has no power to heal anyone hurting
except himself (until the bonus tracks at least, when the brotherly un-love
becomes the punchline for a joke instead: ‘My brother hates me! But who threw
the first stone?’ cackles Liam in memory of the stone-filled plum that was
hurled backstage at what turned out to be the final Oasis gig). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s an
ever changing, shifting collection of styles this record, which moves on from
Liam’s understandable fascination with the 1960s (rock’s most interesting
decade) into 1970s prog rock and reggae, 1980s trance, 1990s trip hop and the
21<sup>st</sup> century’s love of orchestral pop ballads. It’s as if Liam was
ordered to have another rummage round his record collection past his beloved
Beatle and Stones albums to stretch himself on this album, rather than fall
into the usual ‘difficult third album’ syndrome of backing yourself into a
predictable corner (something Oasis themselves did with ‘Be Here Now’,
under-rated as that complicated album is too).Or maybe he wanted to show his
brother that being ‘adventurous’ didn’t mean hiring a bird to play the
scissors, throw away your entire style and forget how to rock and roll. There
are so many sounds we have never heard before but which sound perfect for
Liam’s new world, tough and soft all at the same time. The children’s choir
that starts the album already suggests that this going to be something a bit
different, but we get the prog rock strings of ‘Moscow Rules’ (a sparse song
that a lesser vocalist wouldn’t have been able to pull off), the mouthorgan blues
riff that runs through ‘World’s In Need’, the fuzzy synths of ‘Oh Sweet
Children’, the convincing modern pop of bonus track ‘Wave’ that works far
better than a fifty year old trying to keep pace with his children’s record
collection should, the genre-defying title track that sounds like it has the
sounds of every decade since the 1950s stapled together (the handclaps of the
1950s, the psychedelia of the 1960s, the punk of the late 1970s, the synths of
the 1980s, the Britpop power chords of the 1990s and the production techniques
of the 21<sup>st</sup> century). Only the pure noise and rap-yelling of ‘I’m
Free’ doesn’t quite come off. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As for
the actual songs there are many highlights here. Opener ‘More Power’ is about
the wisest and probably most surprising, as Liam begs for forgiveness in his
role prolonging fights instead of letting things be and understands that the
people around him are only human, fighting their own battles too. As much as
Liam longs for control or power over his life, he knows that he never will
have. The juxtaposition of the innocence of the children representing the way
he used to be with the aging soul in front of us is goose-pimply good. Close
behind is ‘Too Good For Giving Up’, a slow ballad in a long standing Oasis
tradition that reaches out to anyone listening that’s going through hell and
about to break and urges them to keep going. Even though it’s a sensitive
ballad, though, Liam’s vocal roars most brilliantly as he pleads with us to
have a second go, praising us for surviving and telling us it’s all going to be
better soon, honest. Or how about ‘It Was Not Meant To Be’, a pretty folky
ditty about the slow realisation that the person Liam thought was the love of
his life wasn’t the best person for him and how, ‘subtle as a heart attack’,
the notion that he should let go of the one he loved more than he knew was
possible broke his heart but was not meant for him, no matter how much he
wanted her to be. Or the clever allegory ‘Moscow Rules’ which on the surface
seems to be a song about the cold war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
picturing Putin as a lonely soul standing round a table of fired world leaders
who don’t believe him and desperately trying to control circumstances no one
man should have control over. Only if you’re the sort of fan who pays close
attention you’ll recognise the lonely soul as a neat match for Liam’s
breakthrough song ‘Born On A Different Cloud’. I would bet my balalaika that
both figures are meant to be brother Noel, in control of a ‘masterplan’ that
only he understands and gradually pushing anyone who can help with it away even
though all they want to do is make his vision even greater. Or how about the
trippy delights of ‘World’s In Need’, a song about the world re-discovering
community in a post-covid universe with a fabulous bluesy stomp that, typically
for this album, inverts the clichés and becomes a happy song. Or ‘Don’t Go
Halfway’ which finally makes good on the trance-groove promise of Oasis song
‘F!#*in’ In The Bushes’ but gives it a clever sassy set of words (‘I was
spangled like a flag in America!’) about the end of Liam’s marriage as he
stares into ‘a beautiful light on the horizon’. Or the fittingly ‘Revolver/Tomorrow
Never Knows’ psychedelic stomp of ‘Better Days’ that entices us out to dance, a
call to arms like the early Oasis days when they filled stadiums and made us
want to live forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Those
are just the near-perfect songs on the album too. The rest of the record is
almost all pretty decent, even if the other songs play things a bit safer (and
‘Everything’s Electric’ is a fine Oasis style stomper, just to prove to anyone
that Liam can still rock it at fifty). Only the slightly dodgy lyrics on
‘Diamond In The Dark’ (which still grooves along nicely with another classic
Liam sneering vocal), the modern tuneless ‘I’m Free’ and the one final Noel
taunt ‘The Joker’ that seems like another lifetime ago (sensibly relegated to
‘bonus track’ position) fall down and then only comparatively. Thrilling. Even
the best songwriters seem to dry up ever so slightly around their 50<sup>th</sup>
birthdays, stumbling for new ways to say similar things (think Macca’s ‘Off The
Ground’, The Kinks’ ‘Phobia’, The Stones’ ‘Voodoo Lounge’, Pete Townshend’s
‘Psychoderelict’ or Neil Young’s ‘Broken Arrow’) but Liam’s found a whole new way
of saying new things without losing touch with the road he walked down. Is it
as good as his other records? Well, I’ll always be fond of his Beady Eye period
(even though nobody else seems to be) and his first solo album ‘As You Were’ is
a masterpiece in how to re-launch yourself to a new audience without selling
out the old one. I’m still not quite sure where this one sits, though I’d
definitely take it after the second records by band and solo and anything from the
second half of Oasis’ career. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That sort
of thing could have gone oh so wrong. It could have flopped if handled
differently, if heard against a typical Oasis backing as if nothing had changed
or sung in a crooning whisper that would have been fitting but wrong, but
Liam’s far too authentic for that. The great thing about this album is that
Liam doesn’t pretend to be anybody else. He still vocally gnashes his teeth and
roars his way through these lyrics as much as he did songs past, sung through
pain and scars and hardened realisation and tough tough battles. Reach up and
be your better self, this album keeps demanding, even when the people around
you go low – even brother Noel whose treated with love and understanding as
much as derision this time round. It’s going to hurt, you’re going to get
scarred, people will treat you differently, but you’ll like yourself more in
the process. Liam sounds as if he’s been in therapy at times: ‘I don’t hate
you’ runs the single ‘Everything’s Electric’ ‘But I hate that feeling you make
me feel’. ‘I’ll admit that I was angry for too long’ Liam sadly shrugs on ‘More
Power’ (a song that’s really about not wanting any power at all and learning to
‘let it be’, see songs of the year below), before nagging us not to take things
as seriously as he once did because ‘it’s all a pantomime’ (on a song ‘Don’t Go
Halfway’, that urges us to make the most of every second chance we get, instead
of holding onto the first so tight we can never let it go). ‘Better Days’
promises ‘If you’re lost, I’ll find you’ on a track that, like many on the last
couple of records, reaches out to fans and promises us, mid-lockdown, that the
world will recover and things will get better (not sure that’s true just yet,
as the world sticks its fingers in its ears and goes la-la-la over a pandemic that
still rages unchecked and kills in the millions, but I appreciate the gesture –
not least because it’s not the sort of thing Liam’s known for delivering
before). ‘Look how far you’ve come’ Liam then pats himself – and by association
us – on ‘Too Good For Giving Up’, a song full of platitudes and reaching out a
hand in the darkness; this is a long way from the early Oasis days when the
darkness was a thing that happened to other people, that could be held at bay
if you wished hard enough and hoped enough. This album is someone who realises
– perhaps for the first time deep down - that he isn’t going to live forever
and that he doesn’t want to carry a chip on his shoulder or regrets around with
him to the end of his life. The song also includes the album’s best line,
‘you’re stronger than the damage done’ – you must be if you’re still here.
That’s a singer whose lived, man, not a youth doing records in between the
parties. Not to mention the shocking admission that ‘I’m fed up of being tough
– c’mon, gizza hug!!!’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Is this
really the singer who boasted of being the world’s greatest rock and roll star,
the idol who was going to live forever and what’s more be cool forever? Well
yes, yes it very much is and this is no sell out of integrity here – Liam’s
most definitely hasn’t gone soft, he’s just become more human and rounded, with
all the old snarls and bravado here, but tucked away into the background. And
that’s even cooler. Come on, even though it’s a natural step down this path,
which of us was really expecting that even a few years ago y’know? No wonder
this album has surprised so many. With this record released a few months short
of his fiftieth birthday this is Liam older, wiser, more dignified, yet hitting
the second half of his life as hard as he ever hit his first with the courage
of Johnny Cash in his later years but still all his old raw power. It took a
long time to get here perhaps but what a thirty-year-arc that was, from
Lennonish angry young man sneer to, well, Lennonish middle-aged peace guru. Given
where we were with the last two Oasis records and Beady Eye reduced to playing
tiny clubs the huge success Liam’s had lately is hard-earned and better yet Liam
is humble for it second time round too with every gold record a bonus to a busy
life, not the whole point of it. ‘C’mon, y’know the drill by now: an album is
special when I write this much about it at such length even in my ‘retirement’
years and it’s a triumph – an album with hidden depths, made for thinking to as
much as for drinking to and a worthy successor to all that brilliant music that
came before it definitely, no maybe about it. Round of applause right there for
our kid. It’s not been easy this success and it’s been hard fought for. More
like this please. Oh and blooming well done.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2) Belle and Sebastian “A Bit Of Previous”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Belle
and Sebastian must be a candidate for the most nostalgic act ever. Most of the
band’s recent records have carried a sense of being haunted by the past, of the
early days when eight college students who barely knew each other formed a band
almost by accident all based around the fairytale romance between recovering
m.e. sufferer Stuart Murdoch and his younger, hipper girlfriend Isobel
Campbell. Even on their first record, though, they’re haunted by pasts and paths
that might have been, with ‘Tigermilk’ dominated by stories of school, teenage
anxieties and desperate confusion as to how to fit into a world that doesn’t
seem to want you or to understand why you’re there. All B and S music, then, is
haunted by their bit of previous, of the past that influences how you act in
the present and how it makes you feel about the future which makes the theme of
nostalgia a fitting one. Just check out the four different formats this album
is released on featuring a subtly changed ‘ghost’ on the cover, a different
phantom of what might have been captured in a slightly different moment had
life turned out a little bit differently. As a record dominated by old-worn
themes (Stuart and Isobel’s eventual breakup twenty years ago, how messed up
the world is, how doing your own thing is hard but still better than following
the herd) ‘A Bit of Previous’ frequently seems like the most Belle and
Sebastian album ever, the album’s tagline ‘We’re all in thrall to the past’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
yet, like Liam, this is a band that have been growing and heading out in
directions they’ve never been before. Uniquely in the B and S canon I can’t
hear any characters or story-songs here at all, with no allegories or metaphors
for what the band are going through. Instead we have their most openly
confessional, semi-autobiographical record yet and one that’s determinedly set
in the current era, with narrators that are middle aged and juggling work,
families and a sense of futility over how short life seems suddenly after it
once seemed to stretch out forever not so long ago. Mostly ‘Previous’ is a sad,
melancholy album – a surprise really given the trajectory of recent B and S
records (2015’s brilliant ‘Girls In Peacetime Just want To Dance’ as well as a
trio of patchy EPs and a film soundtrack, all of which were much bouncier than
this). Sometimes life is a grind, as it is on album highlight ‘If They’re
Shooting At You’, or lamenting a present that suddenly collapsed on ‘Deathbed
Of My Dreams’ or calling up an old flame on ‘Prophets On Hold’ just to remember
how an alternate history might have played out in a different universe where
bad things didn’t happen. The record even starts with the pure nostalgia of
‘Young and Stupid’, a song that tries hard to point out all the ways that life
sucked then that it doesn’t now main writer Stuart Murdoch is older and wiser
and has more going for him, even though the sheer joy of the backing track suggests
he’d give up being old and wise for being young and stupid anytime. Like Liam there
are nuggets of wisdom scattered across this record like confetti: ‘Find a new
path, leave the games behind’ urges ‘Unnecessary Drama’, as it looks back
dismayed at how much the narrator used to care about nothing; ‘Nothing matters
at all so don’t worry’ runs the unexpected return of the first spoken word
track since the band’s early days on ‘Young and Stupid’. Sometimes for variety
the album sounds like it’s all like the old days, fun and games, with catchy
riffs and energetic production numbers. However, that’s just window dressing as
all the songs look back on the past with a wry shrug. It’s still quite edgy and
dark too; the major difference between these two albums it that Liam is finally
at peace and content, but Belle and Sebastian still sound haunted by mistakes
of the past, threats in the present and fear of the future, as if they’re a
life lesson or so behind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Musically,
too, this is not like any previous B and S record. When the band got
‘professional’ around 2003 (i.e. when they joined record label Rough Trade from
indies Jeepster) they started filling out their sound more, with keyboard
player Chris ‘Beans’ Geddes getting more and more to do to the point where his
signature sound all but dominated the past few records. Here that’s true more than
ever, with every song pretty much infused with a 1980s slather of keyboards
that would have been unthinkable in B and S’ early days. The sound is more
‘pop’, more ‘up’, more radio friendly than ever – not for a few songs here and
there this time, but everywhere. There’s barely any guitar on this record and
even less drumming, the B and S harmonies are used sparingly and often Stuart’s
vocal and Beans’ swirling synths are all we get. B and S albums tend to be on
the busier side, so full of ideas your ears are still teasing bits out hundreds
of listens on, but here – as with Liam – everything is sparse and feels as if
Stuart is in a room on his own, with other instruments drifting around him as
the mood takes them. In many ways that’s just how this record was made; plans
to make the band’s first full album in America in 2020 were dropped because of
covid (Stuart’s m.e. making him particularly vulnerable and immune-compromised
– the band just cancelled their tour due to illness so I really hope he’s
alright). Instead the band returned to the Church in Glasgow where Stuart used
to live and where many (most?) of their first three records plus EPs were made,
their first ‘homecoming’ in a quarter century. At times the band could only
record their contributions individually and it sounds like that somehow; I miss
the ramshackle camaraderie that was the band’s signature sound, even if the
past three records were heading here anyway. Surrounded by the past recording
songs about the present: though unplanned, actually that was the perfect
circumstances to make this record, however difficult it proved to be
co-ordinating a band who had long since fled the Glasgow nest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
now there’s very little of the original B and S sound left. Which in some ways
is sad – not least on such a nostalgic record – but at the same time it fits
this album’s theme of time passing on and evolving to keep pace with it. With
both ‘new’ styles together ‘Previous’ feels like a whole new style - so much so
that Stuart actually apologised on his twitter feed that fans might not
recognise much of their early sound, the album’s other tagline in the press ‘time
corrupts what you thought you knew’. Much of the album sounds like a debate on
that line (which doesn’t actually appear on the album but ought to). You can
hear it on the songs of the wounded lover wondering where his marriage went
wrong, or when he calls up an ex just to connect with someone who once used to
care, or the memories of being young and stupid when you felt invincible before
life got in the way to remind you that you were only human. At times the past
is a life-raft the narrators cling to out of desperation, a reminder of who
they used to be when things made sense in a world that’s suddenly
unrecognisable, a moment of sweetness and light to carry around with them in
the hope that one day life will be every bit as good because it happened once
by accident and they’re actively searching for that contentment now, so why
not? At other times they’re a mirage, a façade maintained through naievity
about what the world could do to you, a fantasy that was never meant to be, an
impossible measuring stick that distracts the narrator when he knows he should
be feeling gratitude for the life he has now. After all life should be better:
the knowledge that his music worked out, that he had the child his younger self
longed to have and that he has roots that now reach down further into the soil.
So why does the past still hang quite so heavily? It’s a debate that’s still
being raged across this album by the end, unsolved, whether it is better to be
living in the past enticed by the promise of the future or in the present
haunted by the past. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
contradiction runs right the way through this album like a stick of rock. ‘It
wasn’t like this yesterday’ sighs Stuart on the opening ‘Young and Stupid’, a
song that’s really nostalgic about how much better life used to be, an ‘easy
start to things’ for him, his band and his audience who are ‘growing old with
creaking bones’. The song uses the first spoken-word passage since 1995 as a
fan tells us about wishing they hadn’t wasted time worrying about something
stupid in the past ‘because what does it matter?’ The fact that the next eleven
songs are all occupied with the past in some way or other points out how hard
this is to do though. ‘Talk To Me, Talk To Me’ goes further, revealing just why
Stuart is so determined to stay locked in the past – because the present is
scary. ‘I lived my life so desperate to be in control, so scared of getting
hurt again’ sings Stuart at his most vulnerable, though like so much of this
record it’s singer-wongwriterly angst is lost against a backing track that’s
unusually contemporary and almost aggressively pop. ‘Reclaim The Night’
promises to never look back again, that ‘I’ve got the world to see’ and that
guilt and memories are holding the narrator back; switching the song to Sarah
(Isobel’s replacement in many ways, even if they were in the band at the same
time) cleverly makes it sound as if this is her song to him, not his to her –
but whoever it is singing to us, their protests about the other being ‘a
footnote in my biography’ never quite ring true as the narrator denies the
importance they hold in their life too many times fort comfort. This is a
couple that still miss and think about the other a lot. ‘Do It For Your
Country’ is an even more direct sequel to many songs Stuart has written to
Isobel since their split, a thankyou apology and a warning all in one, wishing
her peace and a second chance to shape the world, envying her freedom from
being a ‘lobster in a music pot’ so many years after her last record, yet still
confused as to why she had to leave at all. ‘Hey give the boy a break!’ laughs
Stuart, referring to himself in the third person just like he used to on albums
old. ‘Prophets Of Old’ is even more of a reunion, of sorts, the first time
Isobel’s character turns up in a song in the present day. Stuart calls up an ex
after a long time and asking for…well what is he asking for exactly? Sometimes
its absolution, ‘to allow me to sleep’. Sometimes it’s company in the presence
of someone who knows him ‘so I feel less alone’. Sometimes it’s for salvation,
Stuart building his absent partner up in his mind until she becomes ‘God or an
angel’ before he realises with a start that this person he still feels
connected to is ‘merely a person’ flawed like him. It’s a sweet song, at last
an actual meeting of equals after two whole decades of power-struggle-songs
dealing with anger, guilt, shame, worry, doubt, fear and hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
said ‘Unnecessary Drama’ undoes all that work as Stuart receives a letter from
an ex (surely Isobel again) boasting about her new happier life. The narrator
isn’t quite sure why she’s making him cross as he can see through the subtext
to how miserable she is and the ‘sea of douchebags lining up to play their
stupid parts’ – and it makes him cross in a whole other way, because surely she
knows that he knows her well enough to see through her lies? ‘This is my life’
he retaliates ‘This is my so-called life’, with memories of a ‘shell’ of a girl
who was nothing before she met him and who understands the world better than
she does and the way it can end ‘with a suddenness that can be cruel’. We’ve
had anger on B and S records before of course, but never quite like this – it’s
usually a quiet brooding very British anger, hidden by beautiful melodies or
pop smiles; this one is very American (just check out the very un-Murdoch word
‘douchebags’), still too fresh to be subdued by prettiness and still too raw to
be disguise the pettiness. And yet, immediately, we’re back to ‘Come On Home’
and a healing as Stuart reaches out to Isobel’s successor Marisa (cover star of
‘For Fans Only’ and ‘The Life Pursuit’), no longer the new girl she was in so
many songs as they too celebrate ‘twenty years around the sun’ together, with a
collective past of their own. Stevie then picks up on the album theme (as he
always does), with his own similar-but-different memories of bunking off school
and his memories of the life he was going to win – realising retrospectively of
‘the deathbed of my dreams’ the minute he spoke them out loud. Like many a
Stevie song he loses the girl he was talking to, the camaraderie of his school
chums and everything goes wrong the minute he grows up (see most of his
under-rated solo album ‘I can’t Get No Stevie Jackson’). And yet, much like
Stuart, he senses a fate that lies beyond what he did or didn’t do and no
longer fears the future because even if he didn’t get what he wanted he got
what he needed – a band and a wife to make future dreams come true. It’s one of his better songs on paper, even if
again the backing is wholly new for B and S, a country track with a pedal steel
that, along with Stevie’s lone voice, will make many fans wonder if they’ve put
the wrong record on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mostly
the album is good, often very good, with only the ordinary ‘A World Without
You’ and unmemorable closer ‘Working Boy In New York City’ letting the side
down. The album highlight is surely ‘If They’re Shooting At You’, the song that
best finds its way to dancing somewhere old and somewhere new as Stuart Murdoch
will break your heart like never before as he sings of how life has got to him
and all but broken him, but the love of family keep him pushing on. ‘Sea Of
Sorrow’ isn’t far behind, a song clearly inspired by the meditation sessions
Stuart’s been running on twitter during the pandemic. Outside his head the
world is corrupted and messed up, causing him to feel anxious and stressed as
he ‘wrecks himself’ on ‘imaginary rocks that never really existed’, all while
trying to feel zen. The sparse synth-heavy backing – which, again, is very
different for B and S, Scandinavian with its big wide open spaces and switches
of dynamics (think Bjork) – really works well this time too, a modern world
that keeps trying to drown out an oh-so Murdoch sighing melody line that’s so
fragile it feels as if anything could blow it away, never mind a production job
this heavy. Ultimately though he’s strong enough to fight back against the tide
with thoughts of peace and calm, a contradiction that’s right at the heart of
this complex and fascinating album and a natural fit with B and S’ natural
style. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
does ‘A Bit Of Previous’ live up to that previous? Yes, mostly. It’s certainly
a lot more convincing than the 2017 filler EPs ‘How To Solve Our Human
Problems’ and the hit-and-miss 2019 soundtrack album ‘Days Of The Bagenold
Summer’ suggested, even if it pales against ‘Peacetime’, the last true B and S
album (one that is like this one in so many ways but with a dash less
production and a soupcon more reality, while the bit of previous on that record
was Stuart remembering how the band started and why rather than relationships).
In the (to be honest rather odd) publicity for this album a voiceover tells the
world (or the part of it that watches the bellesglasgow youtube channel at
least) how the band made every album for ‘one person and that one person
changes with every record’. This album isn’t for me then; by turns it’s too
1980s (the synths) and too 2010s (the incessantly upbeatness of the backing)
for my tastes, but that’s OK. So many of those old records did feel as if they
were made for me, with their 1960s and 1970s styles, complex characters and
health issues and I’ve had my go, it’s right and proper that the band should
try to find pastures and fans new. There’s still enough here for me to enjoy
that I can look on to other fans enjoying a record made just for them and to
hope that one day it might be my turn again, with another ‘Tigermilk’ or at any
rate another ‘Peacetime’. Till then time is just an illusion – during a
pandemic doubly so - and this album, balanced so finely between the past and
future, is more than worthy of its illustrious heritage with just enough
previous to keep old fans like me happy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3) Neil Young “Toast”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘All
I got is a broken heart and I don’t try to hide it when I play guitar…’ Only
Neil did. Again. As with 2020’s long lost 1974 ‘Homegrown’, ‘Toast’ is a fully
unreleased album from Young’s archives that never even made it to bootleg but
one that he borrowed from heavily for other releases: in this case specifically
the ‘stale bread’ of 2002’s ‘Are You Passionate?’ As with ‘Homegrown’ the album
was shelved not because it wasn’t any good but because it put a bit too much of
the real deal Neil out there for comfort and Young wasn’t quite ready to
confront the truth of his disintegrating marriage (to wife Pegi) in public yet.
So, in a typical Neil move, on the verge of releasing this record he fired
Crazy Horse (don’t worry, they were used to it by the 2000s), hired Otis
Redding’s backing band Booker T and the MGs, added another seven songs to
‘dilute’ the feeling and re-recorded some of what he had already made using
what can best be described as a ‘character’ voice to make it just another
record. In case you hadn’t guessed it, it’s Neil’s marriage that’s ‘Toast’ here
and he’s trying hard not to get burnt. In this way a lot of fans were fooled
that all was well at home, just as they had been with ‘Homegrown’ (which
detailed Neil’s breakup with previous wife Carrie) when in reality this album
reveals that his marriage was, well, toast. However, whilst ‘Homegrown’ was a
complete surprise (a whole fourth album of misery to add to the ‘doom
trilogy’!) you could kind of see where ‘Toast’ was heading, even though we’d
never heard it. Indeed, I took a lot of flak from Neil Young fans for my review
of ‘Passionate’ and my argument that Neil was already in two minds about
staying in his marriage or running off with some mysterious new lover (which is
exactly what Neil did do with Daryl Hannah - eventually); this album pretty
much confirms the two were an item back then. Times have changed in twenty
years though and Neil has that whole new life that he was only sketching in record
here and Pegi’s death means he has no one left to protect, so he’s dispatched
the entire album as part of his ongoing ‘archives’ series for fans to judge
complete.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Or
semi-complete anyway. At twelve songs, most of them lengthy, ‘Passionate’
always felt a bit too big and sprawling. At seven songs (albeit most of them
still sprawling – this album is a healthy thirty-seven minutes) ‘Toast’ feels
more like a bread-and-butter release – even more so if you own ‘Passionate’,
which re-records a full four album tracks (and ‘Goin’ Home’ sounds more like a
different mix to these ears rather than a full alternate take as it supposedly
is). Though shorter ‘Toast’ still thumps it’s ‘replacement’ album in every way
though. We joked in our review that the problem with ‘Are You Passionate?’ was
that Neil was singing so strangely/blandly that the answer to the title
question was a big fat ‘no’; well, that’s not a problem with ‘Toast’, where
Neil has dropped any pretence at the ‘Geffen’ era genre character-acting and
sings right from the heart, staring at us face on instead of slyly glancing at
us from the side. He’s also working with Crazy Horse, who suit his style much
more than Booker T and co ever did (and I say that as a huge fan; they just
never found enough common ground to fully connect and the cancer diagnosis of
bass player Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn that killed him a decade later during the
sessions can’t have helped either. Though after so much time and expense you
can see why Neil didn’t want to scrap a second album). There were rumours that
Neil fired the Horse for playing poorly (he’s done it before, folks!) but that
seems to be just a rumour as playing the two albums side by side reveals again
why the Horse were the perfect steed for Neil: Frank Sampedro, particularly,
nails every rhythm guitar part and is right with Neil in every dark place he
travels to while the whole band just understand him better, improvising with
him in a way only a band who’ve played together years can do. Best of all
though the songs are simply better, the two completely unheard tracks ranking
amongst the best Neil’s put out this century so far (with anyone else we’d be
asking why, but it’s typical Young behaviour: they just gave too much of the
‘truth’ away, which is exactly why they’re such great songs). Spookily too the
Horse are joined by a fifth member, as wife Pegi adds her own glorious
shimmering harmonies to most of the songs here, as if commenting on the action
herself even though she’s the wronged party, hovering like a ghost (Neil will
return the favour on her own solo albums where he performs much the same role).
Admittedly Pegi is on much of ‘Passionate’ too, but there she’s one of several
voices – here, with the Horse vocally mute, she’s the only other sound you hear
and it works brilliantly by making the album seem like a dialogue rather than a
monologue, like the final Richard and Linda Thompson records or the period when
John and Yoko were splitting up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Standing
In the Light Of Love’ is a typical ‘Ragged Glory’ era Horse stomp, but it’s far
darker and deeper than anything on that album, as Neil rehearses for the day he
has to tell his wife it’s over. ‘I don’t want to get personal’ Neil starts, but
you can’t help but be personal delivering a message like ‘I want to split up’
and Pegi’s ghostly voice adds a whole new dimension to the song as her voice
hangs in the air, her words just out of earshot. Neil recounts how he feels
adrift, the ‘sea’ that’s often a metaphor for love in his work leaving him a
drowning man, before switching to the idea of ‘marching’ against his will to a
destination he fears. However the light of realisation is too strong for him to
bear right now so he ducks into the shade, this angry minor key song suddenly,
unexpectedly, switching to the major key verse (and it’s a stroke of genius
having Pegi’s harmonies more or less dictate that switch, as if providing the ‘permission’ or ‘absolution’ Neil
desperately seeks). It’s a mesmerising track, as dark in its own way as
anything on ‘Homegrown’ or ‘Time Fades Away’ but with an unexpected urgency
compared to Neil’s other songs about being ‘lost’ where he’s happier to stumble
blindly for a while; here he’s desperate to escape and get back to solid ground.
‘Timberline’ is the other completely unheard song and another gem, as Neil
recounts an entirely new life – as a lumberjack! Despite the Monty Python
vibes, however, this song is another impressively dark and serious track, an
angry angular riff backing a song that’s surely about Neil’s ‘real’ career as a
writer. I’m not sure whether he’s singing to us or Daryl as he tells about us
‘seeing the signs’ and his defensive remark that he’ll ‘blow your head off’
rather than let us take his old life away from him. It’s worth pointing out
that one of Neil’s favourite past-times on his beloved ‘Broken Arrow’ ranch
(which Pegi ended up with as part of the divorce settlement) was breaking logs.
Far from being an imaginary song about an imaginary man losing an imaginary
career (and Neil has written a lot of those too), this is a man in hiding
again, who knows all too well what’s at stake if he admits his feelings and
loses everything. There’s a brief moment where Neil vows to do it anyway, to
‘go back to school and show them what I’ve learned’, but by the end he’s changed
his mind and is chickening out again. Interestingly he claims to be ‘fooled by
the Lord’ so ‘puts his faith in Jesus’, but given that it’s hard to believe in
the latter without believing in the former, is this a comment on resurrection,
that he doesn’t agree with fate but he does think he will rise again and
recover from it all? (After all, the debate of whether Jesus’ miracles can be
taken at face value or are stories is a key theme of Neil’s 1970s work,
particularly ‘Soldier’ and ‘Star Of Bethlehem’, which are really about whether
to have faith in love – indeed this track is a bookend to ‘Bethlehem’ and
whether the star was a religious symbol guiding him and worth sacrificing
everything for or just a meteorological phenomenon, a song which would have
been written around the time Neil and Pegi met). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Gateway
To Love’ has been sort-of released before. It made it to one rare double vinyl
edition of ‘Passionate’ (and appears amongst the post-it notes on the back
cover of the album where Neil was seemingly trying out the new running order),
as well as being the only song on the whole of ‘Toast’ to have been played in
concert past 2002, as far as I know. It’s another brilliant song from these
sessions, even though this version isn’t as pretty or as personal as some of
the live recordings out on bootleg where Neil sounds as if his heart will
break. Here, as with much of ‘Passionate’, he’s singing through gritted teeth,
just trying to survive long enough to make it to the end. The earlier
recordings of ‘Passionate’ songs here are almost as much of a revelation as the
‘new’/old songs too. ‘Quit’ is truly heartbreaking, sounding far more like a
Neil Young song than the sort of scarred R and B that the MGs re-arrange it to
and which they made their name with. Neil sings it like he means it here,
pledging to never quit on his marriage ‘even if you quit me’, while Pegi’s
ghostly harmonies repeat ‘don’t say you love me’. She’s acting for the released
record, but here it sounds all too real as she’s not angry or cruel, just
disappointed. Talking of which, the first version of ‘Mr Disappointment’ is
here rather defensively titled ‘How Ya Doin?’ The answer is badly by the sound
of things. Mercifully, there’s none of the gruff spoken-vocal on this earlier
version and no attempt to mimic the MG/Otis hit ‘Mr Pitiful’ as per the
‘Passionate’ record. Instead this is Neil being Neil, the song taken at a much
slower and sadder lick, the feedback fairly growling from his guitar as he
remembers a ‘happy glow’ from ‘long ago’ that’s long gone. As for ‘Goin’ Home’
– easily the best thing on ‘Passionate?’ – this recording isn’t too different,
but does at least come with a full ending rather than sliding to a clumsy halt.
Interestingly it still feels like the odd one out on this album too (it’s not
just down to it being the only ‘Horse’ recording, as it was on ‘Passionate),
perhaps because it’s the one song on ‘Toast’ that isn’t about marriage. It is,
however, about intuition and the feeling that comes out of nowhere that you
have to get out if you want to survive, a theme which is much bigger on
‘Toast’. We start with General Custer escaping the Indians by the skin of his
teeth and end with a character that seems like a modern day Boadicea, on the
phone from her cell and waiting for the day she can be out in battle dress again.
Now that I’ve heard this track in its new context it must a metaphor for the
choice Neil is making, between the ‘old’ regime that keeps him safe on the one
hand and the ‘new’, temporarily blocked from Neil’s life on the other. I think
I was wrong before, this isn’t Neil fighting with both, it’s the two characters
at war with the other as Neil is forced to choose between them before
ultimately staying put. ‘Going home!’ he finally cries over and over ‘I’m going
home!’ Fascinating. That just leaves ‘Boom Boom Boom’ or ‘She’s A Healer’ as
fans of ‘Passionate?’ will know it. Though easily one of the weaker songs on
both albums – and a poor choice of closer on each – this earlier version does
at least have more ‘soul’ with the Horse than the Memphis Group and Neil sings
from the heart rather than his idea of ’crooning’. Though it reads like a
tribute to Pegi with its tale of not wanting to ‘let the good times go’, the
wording about this ‘blue-eyed healer’ is ambiguous at best (both Pegi and Daryl
have blue eyes after all and Pegi’s ghostly harmonies can be either sweet or
scary, depending on the verse). No idea why it’s called ‘Boom Boom Boom’ by the
way: the lyrics are pretty much identical in the two versions, the only
differences being what Neil repeats over the elongated fade <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Overall,
then, ‘Toast’ is a cracking album. It’s not quite as exciting as ‘Homegrown’,
if only because we’ve heard more of it before and there are less new songs to
love. You could argue it’s only toasted on one side, being so short and with so
many repeats. It’s an important album, though, in a way that ‘Passionate?’
never was and it sounds even more now as if the albums between ‘Passionate’ and
2014’s ‘Storytone’ (when Neil finally comes out and chooses Daryl) were vamping
to an extent, hiding the ‘truth’ from us while Neil made up his mind about what
to do (it could be argued every album since at least 1997’s ‘Broken Arrow’ was
leading here too). Neil wasn’t sure in 2002 which side his toast was buttered
and if his bread was going to land the right way up; he does now, which leaves
all of this album as a history lesson. You could argue that we don’t need to
care now that Neil has finally made his choice and that this album doesn’t have
the same impact in 2022 that it would have had in 2002. But time always works
in mysterious ways in the Neil Youngiverse and one album feeds into the next
more than it does with almost any other artist (‘It all sounds the same’ ‘It’s
all one song!’ as the dialogue from ‘Year Of The Horse’ puts it). This was a
colossal missing piece of the jigsaw for fans and it’s great to have it on the
shelves at last for that reason alone; the fact that it contains at least four
of the fifteen-twenty essential Neil Young songs from the past twenty years
makes it even more so. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">4) Rolling Stones “Live At The El Mocamaba”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
often find myself wondering ‘what would Brian Jones think?’ every time a new
Stones release comes out. ‘Not much’ is usually the answer, with the Stone
least likely to fall into parody no doubt laughing his angelic wings off at
Jagger and co from off of his cloud (probably with Charlie there to watch with him
stone-faced nowadays too). Brian would have adored this one though, a live set
that we’ve been screaming for on this site for some time: an honest-to-goodness
back-to-basics intimate gig from 1977 played at a Canadian tavern in front of a
crowd of just 650 lucky local fanclub prizewinners (as opposed to the tens or
hundreds of thousands the band were playing to around the same time). The
Stones brought a very different vibe to this unusual unique gig, which became a
trip down memory lane rather than a greatest hits routine that’s high on the
blues covers and obscure songs the band didn’t often play live. Stones
aficionados already know part of this gig – four songs ended up on the third
side of contemporary concert release ‘Love You Live’ (i.e. ‘the good one’), all
of them blues covers that either the Stones had only sung in their very
earliest days. All of them are fabulous and sound even better in their proper
context. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
rest of the setlist isn’t quite that unique but it’s still a mighty relief
after half a century of collecting live records with the same old tired hits on
them. For instance there’s a welcome ‘Route 66’ from the first Stones album, the
unique-to-this album ‘Worried Life Blues’ (a song so old it’s one of those
nobody is quite sure who the writer is any more – it’s at least as good as the
four covers that made ‘Love You Live’), two semi-rare songs from ‘Exile’ (an
energetic ‘Rip This Joint’ and ‘All Down The Line’), one from ‘Goat’s Head
Soup’ (a sweary sweaty ‘Star Star’), two obscure songs from 1974’s ‘It’s Only
Rock ‘n’ Roll’ that were hardly ever played (but sound great!), one song that
will remain unreleased until 1981’s outtakes set ‘Tattoo You’ and six songs
(six!) – a full 75% of the then most-recent Stones LP ‘Black and Blue’. If that
lot doesn’t sound too enticing then, well, the performances here are enough to
make me see probably my two least favourite Stones LPs in a whole new light. ‘Dance
Little Sister’ pirouettes and twirls, a totally different creature to the
stationary lump that made the record, ‘Luxury’ prowls with a new-found
certainty, ‘Melody’ is much tighter than it was on record with Billy Preston’s
angelic tones a good match for Mick Jagger’s devilish drawl, ‘Hand Of Fate’
rocks with a raw punk energy most unlike the bloated studio take and this ‘Hot
Stuff’ is hands down the most impressive stab at reggae the Stones ever came up
with, unlike the studio version which was just an embarrassment. Best of all
‘Worried About You’ is a revelation, extended to eight minutes of hand-wringing
as Mick despairs over his marriage while Keef and Ronnie’s waving guitars walk
in circles around him, trying to find a solution. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
times you can tell Keith is struggling – no surprise I guess, given that by
1977 he was ingesting more drugs than air. He’s still functioning though,
propped up by the rest of the band. Ronnie Wood is only on his second tour with
the Stones and his enthusiasm is still infectious (what on earth happens from
1979 onwards?) as he leads from the front throwing off the sort of virtuoso
solos we expect from the Mick Taylor era. Keyboardist Billy Preston is
brilliant as always, getting more to do than most of the band, except when Olly
Brown is on stage (Mick jokes that the younger sideman is ‘still living with
his mum so isn’t allowed to bring any girls back, sorry!’) Mick is on top
cheeky form throughout in fact, asking ‘is everything alright in the critics
section?’ before teasing ‘I’m so happy I want to stroke everybody!’ and
inviting the audience round to Ronnie’s flat afterwards for a drink (‘Bring
your own booze though, he’s tight like that’!) Bill and Charlie are having fun
too, belying Mick’s joke that the latter is a ‘jazz drummer – he does this for
the money!’ The result is a great show, beautifully recorded and impressively crisp
considering its forty-five year vintage and up there with the ‘Live At Leeds’
disc tucked on the end of the ‘Sticky Fingers’ re-issue and ‘Some Girls – Live
In Texas’ as the best of the Stones archive sets so far, a delightful reminder
of just how bold and brilliant the Stones could be in the right setting in
front of the right people (this is also famous as the gig where Justin Trudeau’s
wife Margaret turned up, fuelling rumours she was having an affair with Mick or
Keith or both – though probably not true she did consider herself enough of a
friend of the band to have helped keep Keith out of prison, a potential life
sentence cut to playing a benefit gig – she’s most likely the ‘Margaret’
mentioned by Mick from the stage here, though for all I know all 650
prize-winners were called Margaret too). This club environment just suits the
Stones so well – as Brian Jones well knew of course, given the years he spent
trying to get ‘his’ band to play just these sort of songs in just this sort of
way. You were right again, Brian. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">5) Janis Joplin/Jorma Kaukanen “The Typewriter
Tape”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">This home-made tape is a charming bootleg getting its official
debut after fifty-eight years, even though chances are every Janis or Jefferson
Airplane out there has already owned at least three unofficial copies of it.
Both these future stars had been playing together across San Francisco off and
on since 1962 (when Jorma’s day job was giving guitar lessons) and thought it
would be a good idea to record an informal tape to capture how they sounded in
folk clubs. However Jorma’s first wife Margareta wanted to type a letter to a
friend in the same room so this demo became known as ‘The Typewriter’ tape in
honour of her clacketty percussion in the background. Both Jorma and Janis are
a good two-three years from finding fame and fortune but already sound like experienced
blues legends and the surprise isn’t that they made it so much as why they
didn’t make it together (Jorma seems a natural fit for Big Brother and the
Holding Company’s blues-rock, while Janis was the only other singer in the
world who could have kept step with Grace Slick in the Airplane!) Both are on
great form: a 21-year-old Janis doesn’t quite sound like herself yet, but she’s
already at home on the blues and sounds as if she’s lived a lifetime of grief
already (if the biographies are right, she probably had; this tape and working
with Jorma in general was a huge step towards her finding herself – sadly not
long after she’ll get sick, her friends will get worried and pay her bus fare
back home where her parents insist om her getting a secretarial job and getting
engaged to the handsome upper-class boy down the road. It won’t end well).
Jorma has always been one of my favourite guitarists, full of such passion and
originality, and he already sounds a master of the art at 24 with his sound
fully recognisable from the early Hot Tuna albums particularly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There are only six songs on the tape, which lasts barely past
twenty minutes, but then that’s historical artefacts for you – this was taped
in a hurried lunch hour in between gigs after all not made for mass consumption.
However every single one of these songs are great and, oddly enough, never
returned to by either artist. ‘Hesitation Blues’ wins by a nose, subtler than
most of the other blues songs here with Jorma already stretching out into the
wild acoustic blues improvisations he will make his own in the Hot Tuna years
(there’s also a great blues solo outbreak on closing ‘Daddy Daddy Daddy’ that’s
so good it makes Janis giggle!), while Janis gets to show more subtly and
character. What a shame the pair didn’t do any of the pile of original songs
they were already building up though: how I’d love to have heard Jorma
interpreting Joplin’s earliest surviving original ‘What Good Can Drinkin’ Do?’
or Janis giving her take on Jorma’s dryly sarcastic ‘Uncle Sam Blues’. You so
wish you could go back in time and get these youngsters to record another
session or ten together – but alas, the clock was ticking for a gig in the
afternoon and tape reels were expensive, so instead the pair ring off with a
chuckle, little realising the time capsule they’ve just created for us 58 years
later. The re-mastering is great too by the way, certainly better than any
bootleg copy I’ve ever heard, with the typewriter lower in the mix than ever
before (although I’ve played this great tape so many times I almost miss it!)
Anyone who says the 1960s weren’t that special, just marketed better, have no
idea: it’s staggering to think there was so much talent round in the coffee
houses in 1964 that this pair didn’t even stand out to people signing artists.
What talented blues stars did we never even get to hear, I wonder, whose reel
to reels are still in lofts? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">6) </span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bert
Jansch “Bert At The BBC”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
pricey (£95) but comprehensive set celebrating the many (many) appearances the
guitarist made with and without Pentangle in tow for BBC radio or TV, which
cover every era from the early days (three songs from 1966!) up to a couple of
years before Bert’s death (a 2009 folk award session). There are in fact no
less than 140 songs (plus spoken word ‘introductions’) complete on eight CDs or
4 LPs with an exclusive ‘link’ to even more content: a further six hours that
can be downloaded (and mostly feature alternate versions of songs already
featured on the box; nice for us completists though!) There’s some gorgeous
stuff here: the foreboding of a 23 year old Bert treating folk song ‘Whiskey Man’
as a joke about three discs before he becomes an alcoholic for real; a glorious
1970 Pentangle session for radio one, as a guest on ‘Folkweave’ in 1977 that
was broadcast on the BBC World Service, an emotional and haunted ‘Is It Real?’
from the otherwise empty period of the mid-1980s, two surprise covers of Elvis’
‘Heartbreak Hotel’ from 1982 and 1992 that works well as a folk lament, Holst’s
gorgeous Christmas carol ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ from near the end in 2008 that’s
born for that Bert combination of dour vocal and wintry guitar and a cracking
‘60<sup>th</sup> birthday’ gig from 2003 that’s here complete. Yes there are
some downsides (even with so much repetition taken out already I never want to
hear Bert cover ‘Blues Run The Game’ again, while it’s odd that the past decade
or so of Bert’s life is here complete rather than other, perhaps more
interesting eras). However this is a grand set that we Pentangle aficionados
have been dreaming of for some time. Though you suspect Bert himself would have
baulked at the cost and all this attention a decade after his death, this BBC
set is a great tribute to a brilliant musician and like all the best BBC sets
offers a fascinating ‘alternate timeline’ from across a career that enables us
to enjoy everything all over again but differently. Now please do a Pentangle
at the BBC set to go with it and I’ll be happy! Although good news: apparently
the next big BBC set due for release next year will be for Lindisfarne in May…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">7) Neil Young “Citizen Kane Jnr Blues – Live At
the Bottom Line 1974”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At long last after thirteen years of releases, fifteen
standalone ‘archive’ sets, a further five ‘official bootlegs’ (see below for
two more) and two full boxes we get the crop (or at least one of them) from
Neil Young’s unharvested live recordings. Nicknamed ‘Citizen Kane Jnr Blues’
after an improvised introduction for ‘Pushed It Over The End’, this show from
May 16<sup>th</sup> 1974 has become a much beloved bootleg by fans who see it
as the missing link between the ‘Doom Trilogy’ dour Neil of 1973-1974 and the
‘stadia’ Neil of 1974-1975 when he’s back making headlines with CSNY and Crazy
Horse. This is a solo gig though, from a time when Neil is audibly trying to
pick himself up and put himself together again. With his audience having all
but disappeared, put off by songs of confusion and depression (this is the eras
when bandmate Stephen Stills started recorded Neil’s songs on his solo albums
just to remind people he was out there, bizarre as that seems now) Neil takes
more chances than ever, dispensing with almost all his hits and singing what
would have been almost an entirely new set for his audience (just listen for the rapturous applause for
‘Helpless’, the only song here most fans would have recognised unless they’d
been at the ‘Tonight’s The Night’ shows). Neil might have been a Citizen Kane
style former millionaire recluse at the time he makes the quip that gave this
album its title, but unlike the film there are already the seeds for Neil’s
recovery here, both in his humour and in his new songs. Nominally Neil is
plugging ‘On The Beach’, an album recorded sparsely a few months earlier and
here played even more sparsely with no other musicians around and Neil doesn’t
just go for the easy songs either, with an intense ‘Revolution Blues’ invoking
Charlie Manson despite only having an acoustic guitar as a weapon, an even more
intense ‘Motion Pictures’ where Neil gets vulnerable over his split with wife
Carrie and a full nine minutes of ‘Ambulance Blues’ where survival isn’t
guaranteed and ‘an ambulance can only go so fast’. Neil’s clearly not in that
headspace fully by the time he played this show though, teasing the audience
with a surprisingly authentic rendition of Henry VIII’s ‘Greensleeves’ (well,
that’s what it says on the sheet music anyway and I’m not risking my head by
arguing, even if he has been dead 480 years), a preview of ‘Long May You Run’ a
full two years early and a gorgeous ‘Pardon My Heart’ which will end up on
1975’s ‘Zuma’, here introduced as ‘a love song I learned recently – I wrote it
too, one of the saddest love songs I’ve ever heard’. Throw in two songs that
were unreleased for aeons (‘Pushed It Over The End’, finally released as a live
electric tune on ‘CSNY’74’ forty years later but here an even more barbed
acoustic song and the perennial concert favourite ‘Dance Dance Dance’ finally
released on the first of those Archive box sets in 2009 and released a third
time on yet another NY archive set this year) and you have several reasons fans
used to pay above the odds for this set in muddy sound. Nowadays, of course, we
just pay over the odds for it in pristine sound, such is the Neil Young way,
but the bottom line this time is that, unlike perhaps as much as 2/3rds of the
other archive and official NY bootleg releases, this one is worth every penny. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">8) Micky
Dolenz “Sings Mike Nesmith E.P.”</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just
before he died at the end of last year the final studio recording Mike Nesmith
gave his blessing to was a series of re-recordings of his solo songs his old
Monkee bandmate Micky Dolenz made with Nez’s oldest son Christian. It was a
nice idea done rather oddly – a big budget recreation of songs that worked
better in their original stripped-down forms and with the track selection taken
pretty much at random. We said in our yearly review of 2021 that there were so
many Nesmith songs we were dying to hear Micky sing that they should make
another volume just to put that right – well, we haven’t got a full album but
this EP includes two of our suggestions, an ‘extra’ song we moaned should have
been on the album and an oddity written by Mike during the big Monkee year of
1967 but unreleased till now. ‘Soul Writer’s Birthday’ is grabbing all the
headlines and so it should: it might well be the last Nesmith original we ever
get to hear. It’s a good but odd song though, especially done like this with
the drums and synths up high and Micky’s vocal buried deep in the mix (see more
in songs of the year below). The other three songs are less interesting but
more listenable. ‘Some of Shelley’s Blues’ (from ’Ranch Stash’, although you
can find a Monkee-era version from 1969 on ‘Missing Links Two’) is one of my favourites of Mike’s solo songs
(and no there isn’t a real Shelley…Well, there is, but she wasn’t called
Shelley, I suspect this song is about the impending split with first wife
Phyllis, or perhaps Mike himself is Shelley as he calls himself out for wanting
to leave a marriage without good reason) and Micky is born to sing it, all
grand gestures emotion and hidden subtexts. The backing is way too country-rock
cliché for my tastes, all banjos and campfire singalongs, but works better than
most of the main album did at capturing an authentic Nez cowboy feel. ‘The
Grand Ennui’ (from ‘Tantamount To Treason’) is an urgent cowboy song with
apathy as a relentless criminal out to steal your life, released as a ‘digital
bonus’ when the album came out last year. It’s a fine song Micky has a lot of
fun with that’s perhaps a shade too slow to rock (this is a song that needs to
be gabbled at high speed). Best of the lot is ‘The Crippled Lion’, another 1969
composition Mike recorded under the Monkee name during his last days with the
band which was considered for ‘The Monkees Present’ at one stage (and can be
heard on ‘Missing Links II’). It’s the best recording of the entire sessions by
far, a typically intelligent and dense song about regret and loss that still
has all the emotion Micky needs to make it soar, treated to a sumptuous
re-arrangement that’s slower and bigger yet fully in keeping with the original
mood. It’s hard not to feel sad, too, over lyrics where the narrator bids us
goodbye and sets out to pastures new whose ‘path is planned but not rehearsed’.
As for Micky, the way he sings ‘I am finally alone’ as the last Monkee standing
– even though he wasn’t at the time he recorded it –is powerful stuff indeed
and makes you want to give him a cuddle more than ever. A big improvement on
the full record, then. Had the rest of the parent album been as good as this it
would have been our release of 2021; as it is this EP is still one of the
better releases of 2022. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">9) Grateful Dead “Dave’s Picks Volume
Forty-Two”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
hasn’t been a classic year for Dead archive sets (heck there’s only been four
of them this year, which by their standards is taking it easy. Mind you, one of
them was a twenty-six LP set…) However pretty much any 1970s Dead show is worth
hearing and so it is with this gig, the
second show in the band’s 1974 tour, taped on February 23<sup>rd</sup>.
This is the last tour the Dead recorded before their hiatus and fittingly its
recorded in the same arena, California’s Winterland, where they will famously
put their career on pause eight months later (as seen in the ‘Grateful Dead
Movie’, a surprise but welcome addition to the sky arts channel this year).This
is a year that tends to get overlooked by Deadheads, lost between the really
popular 1968-1972 epoch and the 1977 era most fans consider a truly special
run. That’s unfair though: Keith Godchaux is no longer the new boy struggling
to fit in and not yet the addict struggling to keep up and his twinkling piano
is the perfect foil for Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. The band’s infamous mobile
wall of sound gives everything an extra power and clarity, even by Dead
standards. And the songs are of course superb: a couple of them are making
their debuts (we get the second ever ‘Ship Of Fools’ and – on the ‘bonus disc’
of highlights from the February 22<sup>nd</sup> show - the very first, as well
as the band debut of Jerry’s solo song ‘It Must Have Been The Roses’ and the
‘completed’ version of ‘U.S. Blues’) and some of them their farewells (this is
one of the last complete ‘Weather Report Suites’ and - *sob* - the last
performance ever of ‘Here Comes Sunshine’, perhaps my favourite of all the Dead
live songs, until the 1990s when the band’s final keyboard player Vince Welnick
asks the band if they can start playing his favourite Dead song live again;
what with all the rare Beatle covers that suddenly turned up in the setlists in
that era too man did Vince have taste). ‘Sunshine’ is the tastiest thing here,
a tighter and less fragile version than many, followed by a playful ‘Dire Wolf’
and an achingly beautiful ‘Stella Blue’. This isn’t one of those Dead shows
that cause your jaw to drop with extended jamming (the second set is much
patchier than the first, which is unusual for them) and given how many of the
best things on it are from the bonus disc (including a gorgeous rendition of
Bob’s ‘Black Throated Wind’) maybe it would have been better to have had the
more historically interesting gig from the 22<sup>nd</sup> complete rather than
tacked onto the end of the 23<sup>rd</sup>. However, it’s another good show
with the whole band on form, something you can’t say too often from this era
onwards. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
a mixed bag of Deadheading other shows released this year include the famous
quartet of London Lyceum gigs from May 23<sup>rd</sup>-26<sup>th</sup> 1972
(released in their own right after being included in the - literal - suitcase
made up of the band’s entire 1972 European tour, which is great but no better
and not by Dead standards terribly different to the other European shows out
already; the last of these shows is also out individually but it’s probably my
least favourite of the four and a good third of it is on the original ‘Europe
‘72’ set anyway, which makes it rather a daft choice. Also, it’s a shame that
this set effectively replaced the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary deluxe edition of
‘Europe ‘72’ in the otherwise fine selection of the band’s half-century-celebrating
re-issues), Dave’s Picks Volume Forty-Three (two unheard sets apparently taken
from sealed boxes in engineer Bear’s personal archives from November and
December 1969, which are oddly static for their vintage although an early
version of the Dead’s ‘unplugged’ show, a unique cover song, George Jones’ ‘Seasons
Of My Heart’ and a nearly 25 minute ‘Dark Star’ are all well worth hearing),
Dave’s Picks Volume Forty-Four (a so-so set from February 23<sup>rd</sup> 1990
with some semi-rare songs for long-timers such as Brent’s ‘Far From Me’ and
‘Blues For Allah’ centrepiece ‘Crazy Fingers’ that’s weak on the rockers and
strong on the ballads, with Jerry on emotional but croaky form with a moody
bluesy ‘The Wheel’ and a heartbreaking ‘Morning Dew’ standing out most) and ‘In
and Out Of The Garden’ (six successive shows at New York’s Madison Square
Gardens across a massive seventeen compact discs – with two concerts apiece
between 1981 and 1983 – not my favourite period, with Jerry already audibly
struggling and not even my favourite of the era’s gigs, although there’s a
pretty nifty ‘Lazy Lightning > Supplication’ during the 1981 show, a
stunning ‘Scarlet > Fire’ and only the third ever performance of ‘A Touch Of
Grey’ back when it was a spring chicken during the second 1982 show as well as
a sparking ‘Help Is On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower’ from the second
1983 show that’s a bold move given the shape the band were in back then. For
some reason the 1981 shows are out as an individual set, but not the others as
yet). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">10) Neil Young “World Record”</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">You may have noticed lot of Neil in this year’s list, dear
reader. It’s still only semi-official but it’s looking likely as if Neil has
retired from touring, after more constant years gigging than just about anyone
I can think of, as Neil instead retreats to his home, his new wife, his barn
and his archives. In amongst the ten (!) revived or regenerated entries on this
list from yesteryear here is the one truly new record of his in 2022. ‘World
Record’ is much like the last two studio albums, with the same personnel of Crazy
Horse plus new/old boy Nils Lofgren in place of retired Frank Sampedro –
indeed, if my maths is right, this is the first time Neil has ever worked with exactly
the same line-up for three records in a row his whole career. The result, then,
sounds much like 2019’s ‘Colorado’ and last year’s ‘Barn’, with a bunch of only
slightly rehearsed slow songs surrounding one epic album highlight in the
middle – though as the punning title suggests this is a more outward-looking
record than the last two. It is effectively the first NY full-on climate change
studio concept album (after near misses with the live ‘Earth’ CD, the GM
crop-baiting ‘Monsanto Years’ and bits and pieces on Neil albums stretching
right back to his debut in 1968), full of tales of how we got here, how to get
out of it and warnings of what might happen in the future. The ‘new’ part comes
from producer Rick Rubin, he of the superb Johnny Cash ‘American’ series at the
end of his life, and something of a slap in the face to CSN who split up while
working with Rubin in 2012, the results unfinished and unreleased. Not that you
can tell much difference from other Ny records mind you and this is sadly far
from the career re-write of the Cash records, even if they share the same focal
point of an aging legend growing scared in his old age: just as with the album
Neil made with similar name producer Daniel Le Nois, there’s not much here you
wouldn’t be able to predict really – oddly so really given how much Neil used
to thrive on change. It’s as if he’s become comfortable, writing similar albums
about how the world has become so uncomfortable and unpredictable lately,
keeping everything the same except the environment and the production team.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">At first this album sounds kind of small, with Neil’s voice
more alone and vulnerable than usual, as if he’s a lone voice singing to an
empty room – even when the Horse are galloping alongside him. Many of the
lyrics too are from Neil’s suddenly smaller world as he observes changes on his
ranch, in his friends, on the internet as everything re-acts to a dying planet.
The more you listen, though, the more you get a sense of scale and particularly
time, as if Neil is trying to put the current climate crisis in context of the
human race – the bill that was always going to be paid by the next generation
for the past generations having fun. ‘Time was when we were all children’ runs
‘This Old Planet’, a planet where the sun was guaranteed to rise every morning,
but now things no longer feel so secure. ‘It’s too soon’ sings Neil, wondering
why leaves are falling like Autumn when its Springtime, an excellent metaphor
for the way the world seems to be heading to the end of days fast just as
things seemed to be getting better. Neil
includes pictures of his mum and his dad and his brother in the album’s
packaging along with the dates of their birth (that’s his dad Scott on the
cover, looking particularly Neil-ish in the 1940s and not Neil in his Shocking
Pinks outfit as some fans have wondered). ‘These are the things we’ve done’ offers
Neil in ‘Walking To The Future’ as he gives the world one last final chance to
get it together or else all the things not just Neil but his parents and by
association their whole generation ever achieved will all be for nothing, lost
in a maelstrom of political dithering, short-term greed and ignorance. Many of
the album’s lyrics deal with how we seem to be sleepwalking into chaos as a
planet, with too many aging ignorant Donald Trumps in power rather than the
Greta Thurnbergs who are young enough to actually have to deal with this mess
one day. It’s a record of past and future, rather neatly intertwined.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Unfortunately it’s the present where ‘World Record’ often
falls down. Like ‘Colorado’ and ‘Barn’, but more so, this is an album that
would have benefitted from some extra takes, or even a rehearsal or two. Neil
wrote the album in just a few days while out walking in nature and hired Crazy
Horse in a hurry to get it all down (which is one up on ‘Greendale’ at least,
written in the car on the way to the studio each day), aiming to deliver an
album that was hot off the press, ‘not much thinking but a lot of feeling’ as
Neil’s put it in interviews. The Horse are used to working this way of course
and famously run scared at too many takes, but Neil’s gone way too far the
other way now, to the point where even musicians as brilliant as Nils, Ralph
and Billy sound as if they’re just about hanging on rather than flying. Neil’s
vocals too are all over the place, as if he hasn’t finished writing these songs
himself yet and doesn’t quite know how they go and it all sounds that little
bit unfinished. The result all sounds oddly quiet too for some reason, even
when played loud, as if we’ve switched from F1 engines to E racing’s silent
engines in our quest for a different source of energy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Or maybe it’s all that recycling? ‘I Walk With You’, for
instance, subconsciously nicks from the 2000 CSNY song ‘Looking Forward’ but
without the harmonies it reveals just how shaky Shakey Deal is these days. ‘Love
Earth’ is a hippy-dippy ballad full of hope you can imagine Fred Astaire
dancing to, but it’s so seriously off-key and off-kilter that you can’t decide
if Neil is being deliberately off-key compared to the rest of the world going
to Hell, sarcastically optimistic or just having an off-day. ‘The Long Day
Before’ ought to be a powerful piece about how you never hear about climate
change n the media, because people are too scared to listen, but we’re all
going to have to deal with the effects one day. Unfortunately it comes over as
one mad old man singing to a pump organ he doesn’t seem to have learnt how to
play (oh how you’ll get sick of that pump organ, it’s on this album more times
than the guitar!) You can barely even hear Neil on the mournful reprise of
‘This Old Planet’, a song that’s chilling on paper, a warning and later in part
two a requiem, but just sounds like some mumbling over an out-of-tune piano on
the album. Like so much of ‘World
Record’ these songs are powerful on paper and really ought to work, but they
feel like huffing and puffing over nothing when heard as full songs – a coal
mine churning massive amounts of fuel to light just one small flickering flame
rather than a fire. Often on records past the bum notes and missed cues help
make Neil’s emotional albums sound all the more urgent, but all too often this
is an ugly sounding album about an ugly situation often sporting a deliberately
ugly set of lyrics just doesn’t quite come off. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I’ve yet to hear a Neil Young album that was hopeless,
however (well not since ‘Greendale’ anyway) and ‘World Record’ is no exception.
There are a strong trio of songs making up the backbone of this CD, all of them
harder-edged songs where that Crazy rawness fits the album theme best and all
of them more hopeful than the rest of the record. Along with the front cover
‘Overheard’ recalls ‘Prairie Dream’, Neil getting a message in a dream from a
loved one (his dad) he can’t quite decipher. He takes it as a warning from
ancestors past about how we’re living ‘day to day, one foot in front of the
other’ without knowing that the path is broken. Neil, now in love again, is
desperate to walk properly this time and wants us all to overcome our obstacles
and soar so we can get a second chance and reason for living like him, coming
up with a fun walking pace riff that suddenly stops dead in its tracks in a
middle eight that sees him die and be reunited with his old Lincoln convertible
that is most affecting. The bluesy feedback-driven ‘Break The Chain’ has Neil
sighing about covid and the need to ‘stay inside for all eternity’, while
simultaneously grateful that he got to do most of his living in the era before
this so this misery only came along at the end of his life, when he wanted to
stay at home with his new missus anyway. ‘It’s like I’m dancing’ he sings as
the song takes off on an angry stomp ‘But am I dancing with death?’ The backing
has it both ways, an angry snarl that’s either resilient or frustrated or both.
‘Chevrolet’ is the one moment of brilliance, the album’s central song in so
many ways (see songs of the year below): car-lover Neil goes to the dealership
and sees a vintage automobile he’s always wanted to own, but he can’t bring
himself to buy it because he’s suddenly aware of the cost to the planet if he
buys something that guzzles all that fuiel and realises that humanity needs to
think a different way and live in a different time now, still casting one
longing look over his shoulder at how good it all once was. Its one last
roaring sneer of electric horsepower before the engine gets put back in the
garage one last time. Lyrically I’d put ‘This Old Planet’ in there too, even if
the usually reliable Nils Lofgren accordion and Neil’s vocal is so horrifically
off-key I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it on the soundtrack to a horror movie.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As for the rest of the album, though, it’s a collection of
slow, mid-paced and clod-hopping songs that either sound like something we’ve
heard a hundred times before or a promising idea performed so badly it’s barely
there. It’s not the sort of album you put on for fun, but nor is it the sort of
record driven by wild passion and fury as so many Neil records are – and unlike
many fans and reviewers I’ve kind of enjoyed them all, as recently as
under-rated sets ‘Monsanto’ (23012) and ‘The Visitor’ (2017). This one though
can’t even match the plodding stomp of ‘Barn’ or the intermittent sparks of
‘Colorado’ for the most part, with forgettable delivery of forgettable songs,
even though it might well have more promise lyrically than either of those CDs.
To be fair to it, ‘World Record’ is a grower, with Neil a solar panel in a
world of cloud we could all do with right now. I couldn’t stand it’s tinny
production rough notes and shambolic performances on first listen, was still
bitterly disappointed on second listen, wasn’t too keen on it third fourth or
fifth listen, but here we are on a sixth time round for this review (one I was
dreading to write to be honest) and I can suddenly start hearing the subtle
differences between the songs and my foot has suddenly started tapping of its
own accord. Maybe if I hear it a hundred more times it might yet make it onto
our ‘best albums of the decade’ list of 2030 despite its lowly status in this
year’s list? (If we all live that long?) Somehow, oddly, that seems only right and
proper. This isn’t an album about easy solutions or beauty or speed, but
despite the horror of impending cataclysmic apocalypse present on pretty much
every track, still the central message to take away from ‘World Record’ is that
there is still, for now, a tiny kernel of hope we can somehow yet get it
together and ‘forget our bad turn’. Ah and occasionally, just occasionally, it
feels so good… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">11) David Crosby “Live At The Capitol Theatre”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">‘This could be a really good night!’ quips Croz early on in
this show, where he’s equalled – as opposed to backed – by the collaborators on
his past flurry of albums dubbed The Lighthouse Band. What he didn’t know at
the time was that it was also, to all intents and purposes, the last night:
nobody on stage or in the audience knows it but covid is waiting in the wings
and, now aged 81 and with travelling so dangerous, Crosby has semi-officially
retired from live shows. While most musicians who call it a day do so with a
greatest hits or career look back, Croz and co were still fiercely creating
towards the end and getting more and more prolific with every year (there’s yet
another studio set waiting to come out next year too). The vast majority of
this live set comes from the past four Croz albums, the oldest only a decade or
so old, all effortlessly recreated and sounding impressively like the records.
Although of course the down side of this is that, as with old bandmate Nash
below, unless you were at one of the gigs you’re probably better off just
putting the records on than hearing them re-created. That said, a couple of the
performances are better than on the records: ‘1974’ was a Crosby demo fragment
Becca Stevens stumbled across on Croz’s hard-drive and named for the year it
was composed (the aborted CSNY reunion record ‘Human Highway’ year, for
context). She built up into a song by overdubbing lyrics on top of a
thirty-three-year-old Crosby’s chants; this version features a real live
81-year-old Croz singing along and interacting which makes it sound much more like
a ‘real’ song. ‘The Us Below’, not one of my favourites of recent Crosby songs,
really takes off on this version too, Crosby’s more emotional and human vocal
really embellished by the trio of singers around him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There is older material too, but not much of it and it’s a
mixed bag: ‘Laughing’ is gorgeous, a solo Crosby rendition similar to the way
he used to sing it in 1970 (as heard as a bonus track on the CSNY ‘4 Way
Street’ set) but better, with the extra wisdom of a half-century’s experience.
‘Carry Me’, one of the most autobiographical of all Crosby songs, is also
spellbinding, another solo acoustic rendition-with-harmonies without the
poppier edges of the ‘Wind On The Water’ album of 1975 as Crosby relates three
relationships of sadness all tinged with hope for better days. Alas ‘What Are
Their Names?’ is the a capella chant arrangement from the CSNY ‘Freedom Of
Speech’ tour in 2008 and it’s a nothing song without the fire of Jerry Garcia,
Neil Young, Grace Sick et al behind it as per the 1971 original. ‘Déjà vu’ and
‘Guinnevere’ too should be right up this jazzy band’s street but they’re pale
shadows of old glories from the full on CSNY onslaught to the spookier
Crosby-Nash renditions. ‘Janet’ really is the worst of all modern Croz songs
too and it’s rocky ‘Karen’ vibes sound even more out of pace here than it did
in the hippie ambience of ‘Here If You Listen’. I’m not sure the companion DVD
really adds much either: this is one of those bands who were all about the
music and never came with extra dancers/light shows/flying pigs so you don’t
see anything you couldn’t better imagine by listening to the CD with your eyes
closed. All that said though, this is a fine concert and additionally one
that’s impressively different to all previous Crosby live sets (the last of
which was with CPR in 2002, so it’s been a while). Not everything works but
mostly this is a fine band playing fine material and if this really is the end,
then it’s a most capitol way to go out. Late news: David’s tweeted just today
that he’s changed his mind and feels like going back on the road again soon. I
can’t keep up…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">12) Graham Nash “Songs For Beginners/Wild Tales
– Live”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the biggest ‘inventions’ of the 21<sup>st</sup>
century live show is for musicians to revisit not just a ‘greatest hits’ show
but entire beloved albums from their back catalogues. As far as I can tell The
Who were the first, reviving ‘Tommy’ more or less complete in 1989 but it
really took off later when you could see Pink Floyd touring ‘Dark Side Of The
Moon’, Brian Wilson touring ‘Pet Sounds’, The Moody Blues touring ‘Days Of
Future Passed’ and The Who touring ‘Tommy’ (again). Poor ‘Songs For Beginners’
got a bit lost in amongst all the other more famous CSNY solo albums of
1970-1971 (‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’ ‘Stephen Stills’ and ‘After The
Goldrush’ to name but three) even though it’s the equal of any of these, a powerful
poignant collection of singer-songwriter angst as Nash moves to America,
becomes an international star with his CSN buddies, falls in love with Joni
Mitchell – and then promptly loses band and soulmate in quick succession. Nash
was never more open, more vulnerable, more wise than here and yet his knack for
capturing life changing nuggets of wisdom in catchy three minute pop songs was
never better either. As brilliantly consistent as ‘Beginners’ is, though, the
best parts of sequel ‘Wild Tales’ from a couple of years later are even better
than that, particularly ‘Another Sleep Song’ which may well be the best thing
he ever wrote. This time round Nash has just seen CSNY break up a second –or is
it a third? – time and seen his new girlfriend Amy murdered by her own brother
and, yet again, sought to put all that existential questioning into sound. I’m
very grateful for the new attention given to two of the best AAA records that
casual fans don’t know since Graham toured these albums in 2019 and giving more
curious fans access to them can only be a good thing, while I heard firsthand
from several fans what a moving show this was. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, the problem with this record is the same as with all
of these many concert re-creations down the years: who exactly is it for? If
you’re a fan who was there then hearing these songs live for the second, third,
fourth or more times is never going to have the impact of the first. If you
were a fan who wasn’t there then you can just buy the original albums cheaper
and hear those instead (and let’s face it, good as Graham’s band is, they don’t
sound as good as the musicians on the records – and the boast in the publicity
that the band only had three days of rehearsals seems more of a shame than a
blessing to me). If you were fan who weren’t there and you wanted to know how
it sounded…well, I guess this album’s for you. But is there really such a
market? Especially as Nash doesn’t do what so many of his peers have done
(stick a load of hits onto the end as an encore to lure the audience in that
way). The plusses here are that you get to hear Graham older and wiser, which
suits many of these songs. The re-arrangement of ‘Better Days’ finds him deeper
in both voice and thought, while ‘Simple Man’ and ‘I Used To Be A King’ hit
differently with Nash approaching his eighties than they did in his late
twenties, with so many extra broken relationships and friendships along the way
(not least the one with Crosby). Against this, however, nothing here matches
the originals and so many songs just don’t work the way he did with his
younger, sprightlier self: ‘Grave Concern’ is a noisy shadow of its former
glory with corny spoken words extracts from lots of newer politicians to run
alongside Nixon as per the record and Nash has never sounded more out of tune
than he does on the three slight country-rockers on ‘Wild Tales’. Worst of all,
both Sleep Songs are all but thrown away here, now that the songs waving hello
and goodbye to Joni are more distant memories (and the less said about the
replacement for Joni’s graceful phantom wail on the sequel the better). The
show already feels like more of a time capsule than the original timeless
albums too, with their asides about Donald Trump (this is a compilation of
fours shows from Nash’s 2019 tour, back when we only had a megalomaniac in
office to worry about rather than a pandemic that seems to have outed all sorts
of little megalomaniacs). There’s a nice album cover though, a third
self-portrait to go alongside the original two. Not bad for a ‘beginner’! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">13) John Entwistle “Rarities Oxhumed Volume
One”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The good news: unlike some rarity sets out there, this one
really is rare with thirteen unreleased recordings from two demos, three live
tracks and eight studio outtakes. The bad news: they’re mostly from the 1990s
when The Who’s bass player was turned down by most every record label, mostly
for good reasons as you can hear with most of these tracks forgettably simple
synth MOR rather than bass-heavy Who-like multi-layered life-changers. There
are some real finds here though that are well worth digging out: there’s a
first bash at ‘Bogey Man’ with an unusually subdued Keith Moon on drums from
towards the end Moony’s life, a moving 1990s ballad titled ‘Back On The Road’
about John’s need to perform ‘kicking my heels at home waiting for the phone to
ring’, a snarling live rendition of ‘Who Are You’ song ‘Trick Of The Light’
edging even further towards heavy metal and an eleven minute cover of Roger
Daltrey’s moving tribute to Keith ‘Under A Raging Moon’ (which, truth be told, was
always more John’s natural unhinged style than Roger’s anyway). Oh and a clever
album cover that features lots of suitably Ox-like imagery from skeletons to
bass-trees. As for the heavy metal rendition of ‘Shakin’ All Over’, the Johnny
Kidd and the Pirates song that became synonymous with The Who though: horrible,
everything John’s old band wasn’t. If you’re new to the Ox I certainly wouldn’t
start here because you’ll never get to the end of what’s all in all a pretty
uninspired disc (debut ‘Smash Your Head Against The Wall’ is probably the best
place to go), but for those of us who’ve been starved of anything new since his
sad death twenty years ago, we’ll take anything and a lot of this stuff will do
nicely. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">14) Neil Young “Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971”</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Well,
here we go again. Neil was on a roll in 1970-1971 performing several superb
concerts with glittering new songs from ‘After The Goldrush’ and ‘Harvest’. He
never sounded better – solo anyway – so it makes sense firstly that so many
1970s bootleggers would seek to release these concerts as soon as they could
and that Neil would consider them for release fifty or so years on as part of
his ongoing ‘archive/official bootleg’ series (and it seems to be a lottery
which Young shows end up in which pile though you might well know this show
under the bootleg title ‘I’m so glad y’all came down!’, which Neil drawls a few
songs in). The problem is though Neil’s set was so good and his performances so
consistent that there’s very little to choose between this year’s batch of
concerts and those released in 2021, 2020, 2019…You get the picture. Discarding
the very-similar acoustic shows from 1968 and 1969 and there are now seven of
these shows recorded somewhere between mid 1970 and early 1971 with even
aficionados like me struggling to tell one show apart from one another. Mostly
the differences in this Los Angeles show (at a theatre named after one of the
fundraisers for the LA Philharmonic Orchestra) comes in the stoned humour: Neil
tells the audience they don’t have to ‘waste their energy’ clapping his new
songs – ‘Just do it all in one go in the end, it’ll be cool’ he deadpans, not
realising he’ll be dining out on these songs for the next half century and
counting. Otherwise it’s another brilliant show, effortlessly played by a
consummate professional during a golden age – alas so consummate and so golden
that it feels as if we’re revisiting it in real time nowadays; actually scratch
that because it feels as if we’ve been stuck in an eight month timewarp for
three years now. For the record ‘Old Man’ sounds particularly strong tonight
and ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ achingly powerful (but then didn’t they always?),
while a slightly slower ‘Sugar Mountain’ tops eight minutes, a solo acoustic
‘Ohio’ is very different to its CSNY single version (though even that arrangement
seems overly familiar these days) and a pre-release ‘See The Sky About To Rain’
is the rarest thing here (though even that song from ‘On The Beach’ is on its
third live appearance already). Please, Neil, move onto another year! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">15) Neil Young “Royce Hall 1971”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For
instance, guess how many songs Neil plays at this California University Campus
show which he also played at the Chandler Pavilion one? Fifteen! On a sixteen
track album! The only obvious difference between the two shows is the banter
(less interesting here, as a nervier Neil talks about ‘Sugar Mountain’ being
recorded ‘by mistake’ and tries to get the audience to sing along, pushing the
song towards a nine minute running time) and a lone extra song ‘Down By The
River’. The sound quality is better on this set – stunningly so in fact, as if
Neil is in your living room – but the performance is just a fraction lower in
intensity and brilliance (though is still pretty breathtaking). Interestingly
its ‘Down By the River’, which Neil seemed to ‘forget’ to play at the Chandler,
that wins the prize here, slightly slower than normal and full of confusion and
shock rather than malice or guilt as per other versions closely followed by the
same suspects as last time. Oh and a spookily powerful ‘Needle and The Damage
Done’, but then you already knew that – this is the famous version of the song
that ended up on ‘Harvest’, with the audience applause somewhat more muted on
this copy oddly. Despite having heard five or six versions of it recently on
these archive sets Neil/David Briggs picked the right one – this is a keeper
and all the more startling for coming near the end of a show where Neil has
already given his all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">16) Neil Young/Promise Of The Real “Noise and Flowers”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
2019 Elliot Roberts died, after half a century of being not so much Neil’s
manager so much as his bulldog, fighting for his client like no other and
filling the hole where record producer and mentor David Briggs had been. Neil’s
response was to his death was to go out on the road with his new band, The
Promise Of The Real, with a picture of his manager taped to his guitar case for
company and including many of Eliot’s favourite songs in his setlist. Now,
Elliot had good taste – many of these songs would stack up against many other
Young fans’ favourite songs too and at times Neil sings them from the heart
even more than usual. However, that good taste meant that Neil always relied on
Briggs and Roberts to suggest what albums he should and shouldn’t putout (even
if Neil always has the final word they were the only people who could ever say
‘no’ to him) and you suspect that Eliot really wouldn’t have wanted this album
out. For a start, the sound quality is awful – how typical of Neil that he
should have spent the past two decades railing against the low sound quality of
digital music (even creating his own ‘pono’ device) only to release an official
live album that sounds as if it was recorded on a cassette in the back seat of
a particularly echoey arena. Secondly, Promise Of the Real are no Crazy Horse
and without much rehearsal time really struggle to keep up with Neil on songs
they don’t yet know inside out. The tracklist, too, is way too ‘safe’ for a
Neil live album; at least the 1970/1971 sets above has the excuse that Neil
hadn’t got many songs to choose from yet but being a 2019 recording this album
has no excuse for the fact that every song bar ‘I’ve Been Waiting For You’ can
be heard on at least two other official live albums out there. We’ve also had a
live Promise Of The Real album already and while ‘Earth’ wasn’t much cop either
at least it had its share of surprises and an audience comprised of cows,
chickens, bears and grasshoppers. This one just has a human audience and a
noisy one at that whose applause is louder than everything Neil plays. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
set isn’t completely without worth (which puts it half a star above, say, ‘Road
Rocks’ at least): ‘Waiting For You’ has been – aptly –a long time coming to the
live shows after being released as far back as 1968 and works well re-cast as a
brutal, guttural howl of pain. Neil’s solo particularly is haunting, so
desperate and primal as it tries to fly away over the noise, with forlorn hope
all the narrator has left to cling to. There’s a neat moment at the end of
‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ too where all the band take a solo – I’ve never
heard that before despite the fact that Neil’s played this song on practically
every tour since 1988 (prefaced by Neil’s on-stage dig at the ‘orange Lucifer’
Donald Trump reviving interest in this song again). You can tell how well a
band are coping by how they tackle Neil’s other oft-heard song ‘Mr Soul’
though, which has been played in a different way by pretty much every band
since Buffalo Springfield. This version is the worst yet, a proto-punk version
that’s oddly low on energy, blundering around on one drum note and two guitar
notes until it falls apart, while ‘F!#in’ Up’ is too fucked up to get off the
ground at all 9and not in a good way either). Throughout musicians miss their
keys, the drummer misses the beat, Neil comes in at the wrong pitch and the
harmonies make Crazy Horse sound like CSNY. Yes, this is live and Neil was
stingy with rehearsal time even by his standards so you can see why the Real
might struggle. But there’s such a thing as keeping it too real and with so
many other archive sets out this year we really didn’t need to revisit this
one. I suspect that, had he been able to have one last talk with his manager,
Elliot would have told Neil much the same thing. The deluxe version includes
the actual visual film of the show, by the way, but somehow that’s an even
worse way to experience what was already one of Neil’s more static shows: I
even think I hallucinated the picture of Elliott putting his hands in his ears
at one point. Flowers there might have been on stage, but for this soundtrack
all you get is noise and not the good ‘Weld’ kind of noise either. If love is a
rose then this is a venus fly-trap sucking all the goodwill from the fanbase.
Sorry Neil, all the other nine releases of yours this year have been at least
good but with so many other stunners still left in the vaults this one should
have been left behind. These flowers need pruning. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><u>Re-Issues:</u></b></span></o:p></p>
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<v:textpath fitshape="t" string="THE RE-ISSUES OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black";" trim="t">
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Impact","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(Best
to Worst)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beatles “Revolver”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
all the quadzillions of records in my collection I have a special bond with
‘Revolver’. We go way back: my earliest memory in fact is of struggling to
learn to walk (or rather waddle) around a table decked with Christmas food,
while my dad put a random record on and hearing the ‘1-2-3’ Taxman count-in and
recognising it already as my favourite Beatles album even if I didn’t know what
it was called yet. It’s the anticipation I remember most you see: the Christmas
to come which I only vaguely remembered from the year before, the fact that
soon I would have my freedom to walk anywhere (well, sort of…I never did get
the hang of it completely) and most of all that the next half hour would be
spent in the company of the greatest band on Earth in their greatest period. The
album may have been around twenty years old even at that time but somehow
‘Revolver’ still sounded like the future – the sort of music that would be with
us one day if only everyone else got on with it and caught up and what an
enticing prospect that was dear listeners, in the days of Kylie Minogue and
Jason Donovan and all. Another 36 years later and for my money still nobody
else has quite caught Revolver up either. Instead it sits in time, in the
middle of the 1960s, as an artistic crest in the middle of the decade of
arguably the middle decade of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, from which we’ve
since devolved. In all those interim years favourite albums have come and gone
but ‘Revolver’ still has a special place in my heart and even though forty
years have passed and I have grown more anachronistic and useless to the world,
a 78 shellac disc lost in a world of mp3s, ‘somehow ‘Revolver’ still sounds
timeless and more than a little bit shiny-new. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anticipation
is a good word for how I’ve felt watching other, lesser deluxe editions come
and go the past few years, by everybody but particularly the fab four, while
I’ve been screaming at Apple to re-release ‘Revolver’. It’s not just that it’s
the best Beatles album (yes I’ve read lots of fans explaining why other fab
four albums are your favourite and I know music is a subjective thing but
honestly you’re all wrong: this album has ‘Eleanor Rigby’ ‘For No One’ ‘Here
There and Everywhere’ ‘She Said She Said’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ on it for
goodness sake, five of the best songs ever made and the rest isn’t that far
behind), it’s not just that ‘Revolver’ is one of the best albums by anyone and
a defining moment of its era far more than ‘Peppers’ could ever be. No, it’s
that thanks to bootlegs we know that so much exists in the vault that’s so
different to the record and almost all of its fabulous! Forget your overblown
‘Abbey Road’ and undercooked ‘Let It Be’ sets (even if the ‘Peppers’ and ‘White
Album’ ones were pretty great to be fair), this is the real test of The
Beatles’ catalogue. Oh and just to point out I’m reviewing the full deluxe
issue of four-discs-plus-an-EP here, even though there’s a rather good two-disc
set out for the casual fan too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
like all those other sets some of it is perfect and some of it is very very
wrong. Let’s start with the new mix by Giles Martin. Usually I don’t comment on
mixes in these reviews because not every fan is as big an anorak as me to
notice changes, most new mixes sorta kinda get the job done even if they never
sound as good as the one you grew up on whatever era that may be from and,
well, it’s best not to get too upset because odds are there’ll be another new
mix along in a few years anyway. With The Beatles it’s all slightly different
though because of how well we know these albums, how quickly each mix seems to
replace the last one available (why not include the last stereo mix as a bonus
disc alongside the new one? – and no, the mono doesn’t count. Even in 1966 fans
felt that hearing it was like re-sculpting a 3D model in 1D) and how few people
involved in the originals are around to sign off on them. New technology
(pioneered in the ‘Get Back’ documentary soundtrack last year) has enabled the
Abbey Road boffins to cut the different instrument parts up, even when they
were combined together on one channel on the old mastertapes and make it easier
for them to be separated and moved around and thus changed around. However,
just because technology allows you to do something doesn’t mean you should do
it. There’s a reason every decision was taken in 1966 to make this album and
while you can play around with stuff as extras, effectively replacing one
version in the catalogue that gets deleted with another seems odd. Only two of
the five people who signed off on these albums (and then only the mono edition
– George Martin did the stereo editions on his own back then) are still here
and while Paul and Ringo seem to be happy with guitars whizzing left and right
all over the place I’m not convinced the more cynical John and George H would have
been somehow. It seems to have split a lot of fans down the middle this new way
of combining tracks together and personally I hate it, even if I admit most
casual fans probably won’t see a difference; it all sounds like an attempt to
make a timeless album sound as if it fits in with the loud brashness of 2022 so
it won’t catch anybody’s ear by sounding out of place when streaming. Which is
a stupid idea, especially when the next fad comes along in half a decade or so
or they change the sound balance on Spotify and Apple Music et sequence. Now
I’m all for new mixes when they make the old ones clearer, but this one feels
like meddling with perfection. Ringo’s drums no longer purr throughout (this
being his best album as a drummer by far) but sometimes clatter noisily
drowning out the Rickenbacker guitars which have lost a slight sense of edge
and danger (particularly tie-in single ‘Paperback Writer’, which sounds awful),
bits of stray sitar sensibly cut from the ‘proper’ 1966 mix appear at random
and the tape-loops of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ sound more slapdash and a step
away from the future. There’s a reason George Martin came up with the final
mixes he did and even though it’s his son presenting this new version I’m not
so sure dad would approve fully – not without his original stereo mix alongside
to compare to anyway. Then again I didn’t like the ‘Love’ remixes either and
they always went down well with fans, so maybe it’s just my ears. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
for the ‘extra’ tracks the track listing seems to have been chosen more via
Russian Roulette than anything else (perhaps a fitting metaphor given that the
name is ‘Revolver’ after all). On some songs we get presented with a full
backing track, on others session overdubs, others plentiful outtakes heard and
unheard and others nothing at all, even though they could have presented us
with a breakdown of everything a la the recent Lennon sets (I never thought I’d
want to hear more of ‘Good Day Sunshine’, always Revolver’s weakest link, but
seriously, not even a backing track?) A lot of these recordings have already
appeared on ‘Anthology’ after all, as with all the Beatles deluxe sets, which
leaves us all short-changed to begin with – and not even all the eligible
tracks are here (where’s the ‘Taxman’ with the ‘gotabitamoney’ harmonies? I
thought the bootlegged tape loops for ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ would be a shoo-in
too. I mean, we got lots on the past Beatle deluxe sets of this sort of thing and
even though as an earlier album ther were less studio hours for ‘revolver’ and
less to pick and choose from, this is where the new technology could and should
have been used, to bring us a new way of looking at the album we’d never had
before. When I first heard about the ‘separation’ technology I thought that
would be an obvious thing to do with it, far more than a new mix.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
what is this re-issue doing at the top of this year’s re-issue pile I hear you
cry? Well, it’s Revolver’ for starters so they would have to muck it up pretty
bad for it not to be the best release of the year. Plus what we do get that’s
new though, well…it’s truly a treasure trove and well worth buying this set for
even despite the other caveats above. There’s so much more than we’ve ever
heard before or knew existed, even on bootleg and better yet it changes how we
view an album we thought we knew (often quite literally) forwards backwards and
upside-down. Understandably it’s the Lennon demo for ‘Yellow Submarine’ that’s
been making all the headlines because that’s the biggest surprise, the chance
to hear how Ringo’s novelty song about nautical escapism started off life as a
depressed John demo about Liverpool in self-pitying ‘Help!’ mode (‘In the land
where I was born no one cried, no one cared’) before Paul re-built it into
something prettier and lighter (with a second demo demonstrating how quickly
songs could change back then, one containing a similar mood but with almost the
revised lyrics intact featuring John, Paul and one acoustic guitar, no Ringo in
sight and an added ‘lookout!’ hook that’s very 60s). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not
far behind though are the session tapes for ‘Eleanor Rigby’ (where Paul and
George Martin change that famous string arrangement pretty much on the spot), a
funky ‘Doctor Robert’ before the sweetening overdubs, a minute fragment of the
band working on ‘I Want To Tell You’, yet another arrangement for ‘Got To Get
You Into My Life’ (recorded in between and sounding pretty much halfway between
the folky take on ‘Anthology Two’ and the Motown punch of the album version),
the original arrangement of ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ (but with ‘proper’
Lennon-McCartney vocals this time instead of the stoned giggling of Anthology,
though that’s here too) and a sparky, angular and acerbic backing track for
‘She Said She Said’ cut at the last minute after the band thought the album had
been finished (and, contrary to popular rumour, Macca didn’t walk out in a huff
– he’s clearly present on the session tapes). The song that’s served best of
all though is ‘Love You Too’, an early Harrison highlight heard in three
different versions: a demo, a rehearsal and an alternate mix (with,
alternately, a George with John and Paul acoustic version that sounds not
unlike the Phil Spector demos for ‘All Things Must Pass’, an early 90 second
sitar pass at the first of George Harrison’s ‘Indian’ songs as an off-mike
George nervously guides a bunch of confused session musicians from Bombay out
of their comfort zones and into the counter-culture and some intriguing ideas
planned for the final arrangement cut out along the way), <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
least a few of the things we fans loved from bootlegs are here officially at
last too: the rough Lennon demo for ‘She Said She Said’ that’s even more of a
practice for his ‘primal scream’ solo album on acoustic guitar, the blistering
backing stop-and-start backing track and the gorgeous vocals-only for
contemporary single ‘Paperback Writer’ as well as – the other set highlight –
B-side ‘Rain’ back at the ‘correct’ speed (it’s a very different feel without
being slowed down to mimic that sense of depression and oppression, with
Ringo’s cymbal slashing practically punk). The ‘Anthology’ outtakes are almost
all present and correct too featuring some very alternate versions of ‘I’m Only
Sleeping’ Got To Get You Into My Life’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ as well as a cut marching
opening to ‘Yellow Submarine’ only ever released on the ‘Real Love’ single they
really should have kept (we love it!) There are two great alternate mixes too
that fans have long sought after and which are always a popular bootleg filler
– ‘Tomorrow’ with tape loops arriving and departing in slightly different
places and what for my money is the definitive mix of ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ (marked
RM1 or Re-Mix 1), a ‘first attempt’ with extra lashings of backwards guitar
that sounds even more other-worldly (so yes, George Martin didn’t always get it
right, point taken). I know I’ve been critical but even what we know contains a
few surprises that EMI didn’t ‘have’ to give us. The Anthology take of ‘Life’
lasts a few seconds longer, fading on a swirling organ note and Ringo drum
thump. A take of ‘Love You To’ includes some very unflattering harmony vocals
from Paul probably left on the cutting room floor and a manic raga sitar-tabla
ending that really should have made the album. The ‘proper’ ‘Rain’ has a
suitably thunderous full ending collapse, faded down for the record. The ‘Void’
version of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ from ‘Anthology Two’ features Lennon
improvising some rather out of place crooner-ish ‘dah dah dahs’ after the
backing track has finished rolling that got mixed out in 1996. Paul seems to
bang a finger during the rehearsal of ‘Love You Too’ and emits a loud ‘ow!’–
odd to think that any of The Beatles ever did anything quite so…human while
making this record. Oh and it almost goes without saying that the packaging is
pretty gorgeous too (though admittedly it should be for that price, which as
usual with 21<sup>st</sup> century Beatles is at least twice as much as it
ought to be, unlike the value-for-money 20<sup>th</sup> century Beatles). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
we get, then, is a flawed but still pretty darn good version of an album that
skirts as close to perfection as any album ever got, with John at the end of
his creative peak and Paul and George at the start of theirs. This is a record
where everything works, give or take ‘Good Day Sunshine’. Even Klaus Voormann’s
collage cover is the best the band ever had, especially in terms of matching
the mood (all the more impressive given their old Hamburg pal only had time to
hear it a couple of times while putting it together). If you haven’t heard it at
all then, well, even the new diluted two-disc version is probably a bit too
pricey to be honest and you’re really better off buying an old mix of it cheap
(make sure you buy it in some format though, it will change your life.
Seriously). If you have heard it before then, well, once again Apple are taking
us for a ride but somehow I feel better about blowing so much money on this set
compared to the other deluxe editions – after all, the others were important
but this one is the pinnacle. Will you and I still be around for a super deluxe
edition in another forty odd years, perhaps a 100<sup>th</sup> edition one that
includes truly everything this time instead of another all too stingy pick of
the vaults? When I have forgotten how to walk all over again?! Tomorrow Never
Knows, although one thing’s for sure – I will still love this album and still
be finding new things in it and no doubt it will still sound like the future in
2066 too. Though perhaps it will be even more unrecognisable in the new mix by
Giles Martin’s grandchildren. I tell you, I saw another kind of mind there and
didn’t always know what I would find there. Revolver, did I tell you I need
you? Even if I’ll be paying you off every single day of my life… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil Young “Time Fades Away”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Time
Fades Away’ was the first official Neil Young live release out of (count them
again just to make sure because there’s probably been another six since the
last time I looked) 28 official concert recordings and is easily the most
important, if not necessarily the best. Recorded on a huge stadium tour and
released hot on the heels of ‘Harvest’ fans expected a cosy comfy celebratory
kind of live album full of hits, but that wasn’t the headspace Neil was in at
all (for a start this live album is all new songs). His Crazy Horse bandmate
and good friend Danny Whitten had just overdosed, fired from these concerts for
the drug addiction that would kill him (legend always has it that he overdosed
using the money Neil gave him for his plane ticket home from the tour). Suddenly
those bright lights and applause didn’t seem like something to celebrate
anymore, so Neil decided that instead he would show touring for what it was
like: ugly, rough, raw, monkeynuts and kind of out of tune, selecting his more
pained, paranoid newer songs performed on the tour to match. To make matters
worse his new band, The Stray Gators, were not happy campers and at one point
went on strike for more money; drummer Kenny Buttrey was sacked and replaced by
CSNY and Jefferson Airplaner Johnny Barbata at a late stage, while Neil’s
longstanding friendships with other band members never quite recovered. A last
minute call to Crosby and Nash saw his old friends rush out to help Neil in a
rare show of brotherly love, but even they sound half-crazed and as rough and
ready as they ever would here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
idea of releasing an album from this of all tours seemed suicidal (not least
because Neil was already taping almost everything for his archives and had
another ten prettier live albums all but ready to go) – however Neil has never
been about doing what people thought he should be doing but what he felt like
doing most and never was that muse stronger than with this album. At the time of
release almost everybody hated ‘Time Fades Away’, ironically assuming that drugs
had gone to Neil’s head too, instead of seeing it as the sobering painful cry
for help it was and perhaps because of that it’s the last of Neil’s albums to
ever be released officially on CD, a full thirty-six after the first of his
went on sale and a mere decade after the previous batch of debut appearances (‘Hawks
and Doves’ ‘Re-Actor’ and ‘On The Beach’ itself). Even nowadays, when fans know
it as the beginning of the ‘Doom Trilogy’, ‘Time Fades Away’ still doesn’t get
the respect or the kudos that ‘Tonight’s The Night’ or ‘On The Beach’ do. In
some ways you can see why; as an album it’s less thought through than its doomy
companions, with a few lesser songs that snuck in to fill up space along the
way (the slight piano ballads particularly). However at its best ‘Time’ is
Timeless, a brave dangerous and endlessly fascinating record that takes no
prisoners in its dissection of stardom, drugs and human frailties. It’s an
album quite unlike any other that begins with a mother’s pained cry for her
drug dependent child to come home, ends with a nervous breakdown at the thought
of being trapped in a 9-5 job on a Monday morning (‘Last Dance’ makes you feel
every last one of its 68 ‘No No No’s!) and in the middle contains ‘Don’t Be
Denied’, a devastating piece of autobiography where Neil remembers how he got
started in music, recounts how corrupted his vision became and wonders why he
still bothers to struggle on at all. The result is a dark, scary, brutal,
raucous, tuneless, courageous, forgotten album that deserves a re-release more
than practically everything Neil’s given us since the CD age. How typically
Neil, then, that he finally releases this album on compact disc just as the
medium becomes a dying art and vinyl records take over once again. But then you
know how time fades away. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pentangle “Through The Ages 1984-1995”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though
even their biggest fans concede that Pentangle’s 1980/90s output couldn’t match
their 1960/70s work for eclecticism and courage, I’ve always felt that the band’s
reunion albums have been unfairly overlooked. Unlike some other reunion albums
I could think of a lot of the original spirit and sound of the band survived
the breakup years intact and even if the band had less to prove beyond paying
the bills they remained a talented, pioneering bunch throughout. There were,
after all, four of the five original members here (John Renbourn attended
rehearsals, then split on the eve of recording ‘Open The Door’), then three (as
Danny Thompson quit before ‘In The Round’), then two (with Terry Cox
disappearing before ‘So Early In The Spring’) but that’s still two members more
than most reunion bands and those two members were, let’s not forget, the
golden-vocalled Jacqui McShee and the folk genre’s greatest guitarist Bert
Jansch. Newer members like Jethro Tull’s Gerry Conway and Lindisfarne’s Rod
Clements alongside John’s replacement the under-rated Nigel Portman-Smith were
all worthy and fitting replacements too. The five studio reunion records might
not have effortlessly merged folk with jazz or psychedelia or blues or true
rock and roll or catchy pop the way the original band did, but they still
played folk-rock better than anybody (except perhaps Lindisfarne). As in the
olden days their original songs still had new things to say while sounding as
if they’d been around centuries and their revivals of century-old songs still
sounded contemporary, without Pentangle ever falling fully into the 1980s and
1990s production pitfalls of lesser acts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Open
The Door’ (1985) is the most consistent of these records, with no bad songs to
be found highlighted by Bert’s fed-up breakup song ‘First Taste Of Love’ (which
now tastes bitter and taints everything that came afterwards), the beautiful
ballad ‘Child Of Winter’ and ‘Street Market Song’ (a more epic variation on
‘Market Song’ that kick-started the ‘Sweet Child’ album). ‘In The Round’ (1986)
is a rollercoaster ride, with Pentangle’s most anonymous polished production
values and their most boring material nestling amongst killer classics every
bit as good as their heyday, particularly Bert’s poignant ‘The Open Sea’ (‘Take
care!’ he sings to us newbies, as a sailor whose used to drowning in life’s
emotional waves) and the single best version of the oft-covered spooky folk
classic ‘She Moved Through The Fair’ I’ve ever heard. ‘So Early In The Spring’
features the greatest of all these reunion recordings – the title track, itself
recorded by Jacqui a capella for the live half of the ‘Sweet Child’ album in
1968 but now a full band production that’s achingly hauntingly beautiful (and,
indeed, the very recording that got me hooked on Pentangle in the first place,
long before I got to know their ‘classic’ stuff), even if the rest of the album
is more so-so. ‘Think Of Tomorrow’ (1991) has no similar highlights and yet there’s
not a bad thing on this record either, with some delightful guitar interplay
between Bert and Nigel Portman-Smith and some brilliant use of the contrasting ‘Summer
sunshine’ of Jacqui’s vocals with Bert’s Cold Winter (never better than on
opener ‘O’er The Lonely Mountain’). Only
finale studio album ‘One More Road’ (1993) and concert set ‘Live 1994’ suggest
that the band had maybe run its course with only yet another re-make
(‘Solomon’s Seal’s ‘Willy O Winsbury’) living up to old standards, Bert retreating
to his solo career soon after and leaving Jacqui to re-group the band as
McShee’s Pentangle from then on (another under-rated band, if not up to the one
here never mind the original). All these albums are improved by a generous
helping of bonus tracks too, made up of contemporary BBC sessions and live
shows, particularly on the first two discs when Danny and Terry are the sort of
rhythm section every live band needs to push themselves, though the longer
extended ‘Live 1994’ works better uncut too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You’re
not getting a perfect set that’s brilliant from first note to last then and if
you’re new to Pentangle then ‘The Albums 1968-1972’ is where you want to start
(I wouldn’t say that one was brilliant from first note to last either but, boy,
the five of them give it a blooming good try). However for us collectors who
know those six original albums backwards it’s an absolute joy to have these
hard-to-find albums back out on CD and the improved sound and extras leave a
much more rounded impression of what the band were capable of beyond their
tweer folk songs the reunion band became known for. I rather like the new cover
too, the familiar Pentangle logo made out of stained glass, as if this all a
relic from yesteryear. Which in a way it is. Something deeply traditional yet
groundbreaking that the light shines through despite the cracks: that sounds
like Pentangle to me! </span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beach Boys “Sail On Sailor 1972-73”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
year’s annual copyright-extending six disc dip into The Beach Boys’ vaults via
‘Carl and the Passions’ and ‘Holland’ doesn’t quite have the Razamatazz of the
‘20/20’ or ‘Sunflower/Surf’s Up’ sets from years past but still maintains the
run’s ridiculously high standard. You can see why: after the resilience and
high optimism of the past few years the 1972-73 period was a very different
era: sales were tanking, morale was low, Brian Wilson was out to lunch, Dennis
Wilson was off trying to make albums on the side and suffering from a damaged
hand that meant he couldn’t play drums and Bruce Johnston had quit. Rather than
spend extra hours in the studio cutting dozens of quality songs destined to be
stuck in the vaults for half a century as with releases past the band were
making most of their money on the road with the benefit of two new members – a
future Rolling Stone and a future Rutle – both subbing from promising band The
Flame, a Carl Wilson discovery who’d just released their debut on Beach Boys
label Brother Records. It’s Blondie Chaplin and Ricki Fataar who star across
this set: the majority of the unheard recordings are their songs and most of
the ‘ooh’ moments come from hearing Blondie soar – whether on a capella mixes
or new details thrown up by new mixes. However there’s less of a band feel to
these sessions and the jury is still out about whether Blondie and Ricki’s
soul-gospel sound belongs in the eclectic Beach Boy mix at all. Unlike every
previous set time sometimes drags on this one, with the same epic running time
stretched across thinner material. Alas two full discs are spent on a complete
gig from Carnegie Hall, strangely un-plundered for the official ‘In Concert’
album of 1973 but really not that different from it (it was taped the week
after Passiac shows that make up the backbone of that double LP after all).
Though the band are in fine form – especially Carl – and throw in a couple of
surprises like a medley of ‘Smile’ song ‘Wonderful’ and Flame song ‘Don’t Worry
Bill’ (the only recording from the show previously heard, on 1998 rarities set
‘Endless Harmony’) and a spirited encore of ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, of all songs,
with Mike Love’s finest vocals the entire set, it’s not two hours you’ll want
to hear too many times in a row. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even
so, the studio highs across this set are very high indeed and still put most
rarities sets to shame. Most songs from ‘So Tough’ benefit hugely by the extra
dip into the vaults: the almost unlistenably messy ‘Mess Of Help’ sounds like a
much more complete song heard as a backing-track-with-backing vocals without
the drunk ‘n; sober Carl trying to sing in synch, ‘Make It Good’ gets its
deleted Darryl Dragon piano intro reinstated, the gorgeous ‘All This Is That’
is represented first by a sweet Al Jardine demo before the others, namely Carl,
got hold of it and shaped it into a masterpiece (he’s got the ‘that makes all
the difference’ hook and some of the words but not much else yet – he confesses
nervously to his band members ‘think of it as a poem, rather than a song’ at
the end) and then a sumptuous vocals-only mix with extra ‘oohs’ and ahs’ (more
impressive than that might sound as these are Beach Boy oohs and ahs after all!);
this is beaten by a capella mixes for the stunning ‘Marcella’ with its
overlapping harmonies, amongst the most impressively complex recordings this
most impressively complex of singing bands ever did, and a ‘Cuddle Up’ that
fades out, section by section, to take away the orchestra and then the Boys to
leave just composer Dennis singing alone to us, vulnerable and open, as he
pours his heart out like never before. Sensational. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Holland’
doesn’t come to life quite as strongly on the alternate versions, almost all of
which consist of backing tracks followed by vocal mixes that drag (especially
‘Steamboat’, which is basically two minutes of de-tuned drums without the
vocals, although you do get a surprise extra line from composer Dennis cut from
the finished product: ‘Honey, don’t get me wrong!’), with the exception of ‘Funky
Pretty’, this album’s ‘Marcella’, which again show off just how many lead
singers were in The Beach Boys at this point, all competing for space (but with
Carl winning from Blondie in silver and then the others tied for bronze).
There’s also madcap Brian Wilson fairy tale/childhood reminiscence ‘Mt Vernon
and Fairway’ which gets broken into parts without manager Jack Rieley’s
narration (although you do get to hear a thirty second outtake from that too).
I’m still convinced that what Brian was writing about on this tale of pixies
coming to life in his boyhood radio was his subconscious sadness that the band
he used to be solely in charge of are now making inspired music of their own
without him and that the ‘magic spell’ that caused everything to come without
effort and led him to feel special and gifted is now such hard work. He’s
probably right, too, given the creative rolls everyone else seems to be on with
Mike and Al’s ‘California Trilogy’, Dennis’ ‘Only With You’ and Carl’s ‘Trader’
all particularly special. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You
can hear just how much of a struggle music is for Brian is on a revealing
songwriting tape for ‘Sail On Sailor’, recorded by lyricist Van Dyke Parks and
referenced in Brian’s own (or should I say disowned?) autobiography ‘Wouldn’t
It Be Nice?’ but never heard till now. ‘Hypnotise me Van Dyke, tell me I’m not
crazy’ deadpans Brian, before being urged to sing what he’s got of the song so
far: not much in truth and Brian keeps breaking off in a panic, as if the music
that’s been his tonic for all his life is now something bringing him pain. It’s
still a hugely powerful song already though, for all its stops and starts, and
all the more fitting for its themes of resilience and struggle. A 1974
Christmas single aside, this was the last Beach Boys recording for three years,
demanded by Warner Brothers after noticing just how little involvement Brian
had on ‘Holland’. The song that sadly got kicked off to accommodate it(barring
rare first pressings) was one of my favourites, ‘We Got Love’, perhaps Blondie
and Ricki’s finest song, unheard officially in 49 years and thankfully restored
to this set (although the live version from ‘In Concert’ might have the edge on
it all the time anyway). The duo also have another pair of unheard songs here: the
rocky ‘Hard Time’ (which is pretty much a simpler ‘Sail On Sailor’) and the
boogie woogie ‘Oh Sweet Something’, which are fine but lack that distinctive
Beach Boys spark – mostly because there’s no room for the band’s mass
harmonies. There are also two very different versions of the much-bootlegged cute
but silly Brian ditty ‘Out In The Country’ – one an instrumental and another
with Al on vocals (though I’m sad a third version, with lyricist Dan Fogelberg
on lead, isn’t here), the minute long Brian demo snippet ‘Little Child’ that
could have been quite something with its portrayal of parental-child
relationships but isn’t here yet, a first very rough Brian Wilson piano draft
of ‘Susie Cincinnati’ before Al knocked it into shape for ’15 Big Ones’ in 1976,
one of many eccentric 1970s Brian Wilson cover song re-arrangements, this time
for The Spencer Davis Group’s ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ which will finally
metamorphosise into ‘Walkin’ The Line’ on his debut solo in 1988 but here just
sounds weird and best of all Dennis’ attempt to write in the Blondie/Ricki
style ‘Carry Me Home’ (see songs of the year below). In addition, we get three
unfinished instrumentals with very Brian Wilsony chords, the organ-based ‘Spark
In The Dark’, the more piano-y 1950s style ‘Rooftop Harry’ and 1970s style
‘Body Talk’, which are hard to judge without any lyrics or vocals. As for the
new mixes of both albums: hmm, I’m not a fan really, as like ‘Revolver’ this
set insists on making everything loud and it feels more like an attempt to keep
these songs in line with 2022 spotify tastes when everything has to be at a
similar audible level than to maintain the feel of a timeless classic, although
at least this time there is less jiggery-pokery and a majority of the band are
still around to sign off on it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
result is another fine set from an under-rated period in The Beach Boys’
history. What it isn’t is a six disc set stuffed with the revelations of last
year’s ‘Feel Flows’ twist on Sunflower/Surf’s UP or 2020’s take on, umm,
‘20/20’. For all the essay’s attempts in the otherwise superlative packaging to
make this out to be a time of growth and re-birth for The Beach Boys, in truth
they’re a band on their downers here after the revival highs of 1971 and even
gaining two extra members and moving halfway round the world to Amsterdam didn’t
see them raise their game so much as slow down and lose their way. Still,
though, I’ve always considered ‘Holland’ one of the many unsung heroes of the
Beach Boys discography and though it’s not as strong the best of ‘So Tough’
ranks alongside the best the band ever did too. That’s kind of true for this
set also: quite a bit of it is forgettable, a majority of it is pretty good,
some of it’s unmissable, a couple of pieces (‘Carry Me Home’ and ‘the ‘Sail On
Sailor’ tape) are astonishing. Now time will tell what happens next. Is that it
now, with an end of the unbroken ‘classic’ run of Beach Boys albums to
re-issue? Do we follow the real Beach Boys discography of thirty years ago and
get a three year gap? Do we still get sets marking what will now be two very
different albums alongside each other, go for a more streamline one for each or
stick the four 1970s sets into one? Or do The Beach Boys sail on into the ether
again with the release of a set named after what could be their theme song,
just as we did back in 1973? Answers in a ship’s bottle please… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo2; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Monkees “Headquarters – Super Deluxe”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some
box sets are born great (because of the brilliance of their source material).
Others have greatness thrust upon them (because of the value of the extra
material available). And others are, well, money for old rope really. The new
edition of The Monkees’ third album is a bit of all three. This is the fourth
time round for this album now, extended to four shiny discs and 7” single, and
it makes my job difficult, with different responses for every set of fans who
know this stuff backwards or are coming to it for the first time. The problem
with this set is that its a highlights edition of a previous one from 2000 best
heard complete, with some discarded stuff added instead that really is not as
good or as interesting. If you don’t have this stuff already beyond the
original LP then this set is a revelation, the moment when Micky Mike Davy and
Peter went into a studio and played music together without anyone else around,
not just for the first but – as it turns out – the only time till the 1990s. ‘Headquarters’
is, after all, a magnificent creation: the lunatics left in charge of the
asylum in response to all the they’re-not-real-musicians bumf going on from
music papers who couldn’t get their heads round the idea that The Monkees was
first and foremost a TV show. The band were free to pick their own producer
(Turtle bassist Chip Douglas), their own material and their own arrangements
and get each of these spot on, delivering one of the tightest, electric,
eclectic twelve-track albums around (plus two bits of Monkee goofing around).
The original 1990s Rhino CD with bonus tracks was pretty darn good (all the
earliest Rhino Monkee sets are sublime), but the ‘Headquarters Sessions’ set of
2000 made a great album even greater: three discs of The Monkees trying out
lots of ideas for arrangements that got abandoned on the way (check out the
original idea for ‘Randy Scouse Git’ before the kettle drums came along: a
folkie burst of ‘I Was Born In East Virginia’), abandoned cover songs (‘Masking
Tape’ would have been one of my favourites, if finished) and yet more evidence
of Monkee goofing around, with Douglas smart enough to allow his protégés time
to cool off and jam together, building up their musical bond even while
expensive tapes were rolling. The result is one of my favourite of all the box
sets I’ve ever owned because, like all great re-issues, you learn so much you
never knew at the time as it all takes place beyond you almost in ‘real time’
day by day and by the time the finished masters roll round at the end you
appreciate them all the more for all the bum notes, abandoned ideas and
mis-steps that went towards making them. I only ever had one issue with that
set: that it was a limited edition, so relatively few fans ever got to hear
just how great it was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since
then, in 2007, we’ve had a two-disc ‘deluxe’ edition of the album that took
most of the good stuff away and replaced it with the session just before
‘Headquarters’ when original ‘musical supervisor’ Don Kirshner was still in
charge of things and they sound like the product of an entirely different,
uninspired band, with Micky and Davy forced to sing a bunch of loopy
1950s-style teen pop songs without the depth or adultness of the material they
picked for most of ‘Headquarters’. Only even that wasn’t complete, making that
whole CD a bit of a write-off. This time around things are better but not best;
we get a four-disc set that sort of combines both, but one that skips a lot of
the interesting stuff from the band sessions in favour of yet more Kirshner
stuff and is again a limited edition that few fans will ever get to hear, this
time at an astronomical price. The good news is that, this time around, the
packaging is even better: glorious photographs, many of them unseen, alongside
extra detailed session notes and a handsome box to keep everything in (the
‘Sessions’ set was held together by a single clip of cardboard that mimicked
the studio doors that read ‘no admittance’). Some of the new finds are gems
too: demo tapes for abandoned single ‘The Girl I Knew Somewhere’ and ‘All Of
Your Toys’, which mark the absolute first attempt at Monkee creative freedom;
groovy Kirshner backing tracks for ‘Gotta Give It Time’ (as finally finished
with vocals for ‘Good Times!’ in 2016) and ’99 Pounds’ (as finished in 1970 for
‘Changes’), which beats all that guff about tying Mustangs down and Sally being
a real ball of fire that were picked for release last time around and are here
again; the classy backing track for #2 hit ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’,
no less than seven unheard Kirshner backing tracks of which the Linzer and Randall-penned
‘Sugar Man’ is the most Monkee-like and ‘I Wanna Be Your Puppy Dog’ the
cringiest; a demo of Davy singing Buffalo St Marie song ‘Until It’s Time For
You To Go’ as picked and previously recorded by Mike; a rehearsal for abandoned
Tom Paxton cover ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’; yet more of Micky having fun with
a zither recording his mum Janelle’s song ‘Pillow Time’; yet another band jam
ominously titled ‘Detuned 12-Bar’; the isolated partying backing vocals for ‘No
Time’ that are great fun, some abandoned backing vocals on ‘You Just May Be The
One’ and a different vocal take of ‘Early Morning Blues and Greens’. Best of
all is a ‘Sunny Girlfriend’ backing track with a guide vocal from Mike that
makes one of the band’s most ‘garage’ songs sound even more rock and roll. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All
are nice to have, sort of but so much is missing from the ‘Sessions’ box set
that for the price really ought to be there: the joy of hearing the band
finally nailing ‘For Pete’s Sake’ as their persistence pays off, the ‘acoustic’
remix of ‘Sunny Girlfriend’ that might not be how the song was ever intended
but is still my favourite version, the four separate vocal tracks for spoken
word track ‘Zilch’, the full unedited take of ‘Band 6’, the fascinating tracking
session for ‘Mr Webster’, the beautiful backing track for ‘Shades Of Grey’ and
so many many more. As nice as it is to hear so many Kirshner-era songs for the
first time, in no way shape or form would any Monkee fan who knew both sets want
them to replace so many of the ‘Sessions’ songs of the band playing themselves.
Though the two sessions have been separated there’s also none of the sense of
progression with this set, no feel of The Monkees working towards a final goal
and living and breathing it with them while they play – this is just a bunch of
bonus tracks, some stapled together and edited, some slightly longer, seemingly
at random. As for the new mix (which regrettably is again here instead of
rather than as well as the old one) it also sounds worse to my ears, hard and
flat and often oddly loud compared to all previous mixes, with little tiny
details deliberately buried in the mix in 1967 for ambience now put forward and
centre where they just don’t go (though ‘Blues and Greens’ sounds pretty tasty
in this new version, that said). Had this been part of a five-disc version that
included everything including past mixes and available to all, rather than just
the 4000 lucky few with money in the bank in time for pre-orders with this
exclusive release only available through The Monkees’ website, then this box
could have been a true champion amongst champions. Instead it feels as if Rhino
– usually such masters of quality and price - are for once monkeying around and
already with half an eye on a ‘super super deluxe’ edition sometime in the
future. Even so, the actual band session tapes are still brilliant and the
packaging lavish enough to lift this set into the top five for this year, a
worthy release if you missed the ‘Sessions’ set but not worth buying if you’ve
heard it already.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">6) Neil Young “Official Release Series Volume Four”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
well as all the many many albums in this year’s new releases list, Neil’s also
been busy getting on with the re-releases of the records that did see the light
of day, each one back on vinyl with the sort of Young-friendly super-duper
digital re-mastering you’d expect. This series generally gets short shrift from
us, what with the lack of any extras and the eye-watering price tags, but at
last we’ve got to an era that’s more interesting than most. Sadly Neil seems to
be skipping the Geffen era (copyright issues?) so instead we have the next four
Reprise studio albums from either side of that point in time: ‘Hawks and Doves’
(patchy), Re-Ac-Tor (noisy and patchy), ‘This Note’s For You’ (consistent but a
pale shadow of what might have been compared to the live shows) and ‘Eldorado’.
Yes, Eldorado, at last, making its first official release outside Japan and
even that was last released back in 1988! For those who don’t know ‘Eldorado’
for Neil Young fans was only slightly less mythical than the real thing, a much
discussed but rarely heard five-song CD EP from the heavier side of the Neil
oeuvre (indeed, its the closest he ever came to making a heavy metal album),
played as a power trio with the much-missed Rick Rosas on bass and Chad
Cromwell on drums. Then, after taping it, Neil changed his mind and decided
that rather than make yet another genre LP that would have got ‘lost’ he would
rather make a comeback album with a ‘bit of everything’, taping some ballads,
some epic production numbers and topping and tailing the record with studio and
live cuts of new song ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ for release as ‘Freedom’, one
of the truly great moments in his back catalogue. Three songs from ‘Eldorado’
got cut down to size for the record – mercifully in the case of already-long
Spanish bullfight tale ‘Eldorado’ and Drifters cover ‘On Broadway’ but that’s
always been a massive shame for break-up song ‘Don’t Cry’, which has an extra
45 seconds or so sizzle and fire feedback in its original form here, as Neil
tries his best to stay calm and, well, fails quite spectacularly. It’s still
one of the most emotional moments in his vast catalogue now and all the better
in its purist unedited form. There are also two equally brutal (if not quite as
good) songs that have never been issued in any other form till now: ‘Cocaine
Eyes’, which is long thought to have been about Stephen Stills and played in
the manner of the Crosby-baiting ‘Hippie Dream’ as Neil wonders how someone who
once seemed so alive could lose so much sparkle and life to drugs and ‘Heavy
Love’ which is, well, heavy with lyrics about falling out of love drowned out
by rapid feedback and a relentless drum beat that makes you go cross-eyed. This
isn’t the melodic, lyrical Neil of most of his other albums and heard across
half an hour this is a brutal brutal record, so much so it’s probably a
blessing it didn’t get ten minutes added to turn it into a normal-length record
so you can catch your breath. It is, however, far too good to have been left an
un-findable curio in Neil’s catalogue for most of the Western world for so long
and indeed the other three records in this set pale by comparison (are we going
to get a standalone release? Sigh, don’t hold your breath, though it might end
up in the Archives V box one day). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">7) </span><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Davy Jones
“Manchester Boy – Personal File”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">More good stuff from 7A Records, the Monkee record label that
prides itself on digging out rare material. A lot of this set, for instance,
was released on volumes 1 and 2 of Davy’s ‘Just For The Record’ compilations in
the late 1990s but good luck tracking those sets down these days and if possible
a bunch of lesser heard alternate demos have been used here anyway. It’s a
compilation of two halves this set, one of them excellent and the other less
so. We start with ‘Manchester Boy’, the crop of the Davy solo catalogue for me,
a moving and oh so Davy song about putting on a show on stage with references
to the much sadder real life going on behind the scenes (Davy’s dad getting
sick and moving abroad with all the worries about never seeing each other
again, tinged with pride at making his da happy). Next we’re in 1966 when a
fresh-faced Davy has just left his successful stint as The Artful Dodger in
‘Oliver!’, having been second on the bill to The Beatled on The Ed Sullivan
Show and thinking ‘I want a bit of that!’ only to realise just what a wrench
leaving home to follow his dreams will be. Then Davy calms himself down by remembering
that he’ll carry his heritage and memories around with him wherever he ends up.
It’s a gorgeous, classy, very Davy song well worth seeking out. ‘King Lonely
The Blue’ too; this song missed the charts completely on first release but is a
snappy bit of mid-1960s memorabilia. We then move on to 1970 when Bell Records
kept Davy on after he and Micky ended up there, cast off from parent label
Colgems despite the Monkee years at the top. Paul McCartney’s ‘Man We Was
Lonely’ was at the time a brand new song, fresh from the Beatle’s debut solo
album and its forced cheeriness in the face of despondency makes it the perfect
fit for Davy’s charm and sadder surroundings. Moving back in time, we get a
Davy-penned demo from the Monkee years, one which I’ve long considered amongst
the un-sung gems of the Monkee catalogue: ‘If I Knew’ is delightful and somehow
purer without the production razzmatazz. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Alas this is one of those sets where all the good stuff is at
the beginning and after those four must-haves it all rather falls apart: the
other cover songs from the Bell era can’t match ‘Lonely’ or the ‘Davy Jones’
album that came out in 1971, while the 1979-1980s demos are – for the most part
– slight songs without much to distinguish them and recorded simply (except for
a couple of 1980s pieces, where simply would have been a good thing). Of these
only ‘Can’t Believe You’ve Given Up On Me’ catches the ear, a powerful ballad
that’s unusually vulnerable for a singer who prided himself on always putting
on a brave face and one that even finds Davy ticking himself off for wanting
revenge on an ex, although it’s hard not to shed a tear at the end as Davy bids
us ‘goodbye’ (even if he hasn’t yet got many words to go with the sentiment).
Had the best of this set been put with the best of Micky’s ‘Demoiselle’ (see
further below), the unreleased Nesmith
stuff (see not quite so far below) and Peter’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ stuff from
the 1990s (see even further below) then there’s a cracking album to be had
there. Even so, five brilliant songs isn’t bad odds for a catch-all unreleased set
like this and this stuff is too good to be stuck in release limbo. Also, as
with all things from this label the packaging is stunning: a twenty-eight page
booklet, rare photographs and (if you buy this version) even the coloured vinyl
looks rather good, though quite why they went to all that trouble to give it a
‘splash’ effect when that isn’t anywhere on the packaging or in the lyrics is
anyone’s guess. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">8) Mike Nesmith “Tantamount To Treason”/”And The Hits Just Keep
On Coming”/”Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
I was right that fan-run Monkee re-issue label ‘7A’ would put a load of Mike
Nesmith out this year after the wool-hatted one’s sad death right at the end of
2021, but I was wrong which albums we would be getting. Instead of the
famous-if-low-selling first three National Band records or the rare
seventh-to-eleventh albums we get the three in between. ‘Tantamount’ is the
weakest of the ‘normal’ (i.e. not orchestral re-recordings of Monkee songs,
film soundtracks or books-with-soundtracks) Papa Nez albums, an oddly
rock-heavy set that barely takes a breath that’s highlighted by the more
lyrical poetic songs like the gorgeous ‘Wax Minute’ or the
1950s-by-way-of-the-1800s throwback ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat’. There are five
previously unreleased bonus tracks: Mike’s favourite warm-up ‘Circle Sky’ from
Monkees film ‘Head’ here played in the same wobbly and oddly static way of most
of the album that rocks but never quite rolls, the woozy ‘Six Days On The Road’
where Red Rhodes’ pedal steel seems to have been drinking heavily, a honky-tonk
re-make of ‘Listen To The Band’ that never quite hits the spot either, the
groovy but slight instrumental ‘Tan My Hide’ that could have been something but
that something isn’t quite here yet and an alternate backing track of ‘You Are
My One’ that’s about a million miles
faster than the one that made the album. All of these extras are nice to have
but they don’t prevent ‘Tantamount’ being tantamount to Nex’s weakest album, if
that’s not a treasonous thing to say (many fans seem to love it, I’m never
quite sure why). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Hits’
though is a much better album all round, a lighter album in writing and
execution, partly thanks to the themes of forgiveness and understanding in the
lyrics and partly because the Second National Band had split up shortly before
recording, leaving Mike to tackle the songs near-solo with Red’s pedal steel
the only dash of colour. Record label RCA weren’t in a patient mood either
after falling sales, hence Nez’s self-deprecating title and rushed recording
sessions. It’s probably the most consistent of Mike’s solo LPs with every song
at least a minor gem with ‘The Upside of Goodbye’ (which tries to find solace
in new beginnings), the beautiful ‘Harmony Constant’ (where even the bad times
are good when shared with the right person) and ‘Two Different Roads’ as
written in 1965 and recorded by Linda Ronstadt before Mike had even auditioned for
The Monkees, amongst the many highlights. Bonus tracks this time around include
an oddly recorded version of ‘Some Of Shelley’s Blues’ that sounds as if Mike
is in the bath (re-recorded for the next album, it was first taped towards the
end of The Monkees run and an outside contender for ‘Monkees Present’), another
unreleased instrumental ‘Cantata and Fugue in C&W’ which is really pretty
and two alternate versions of album tracks: ‘Keep On’ (a more ‘dramatic’
arrangement without the released versions’ constant flow) and ‘Roll With The
Flow’ (a rockier arrangement that doesn’t quite flow right either). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally
‘Ranch Stash’ always gets overlooked even though it’s probably my favourite
album of Nez’s, the one RCA record that contains a bit of everything in its
purist form: rock, country, folk and those Nesmith songs that defy description,
with repeated themes from albums past. ‘Continuing’ is a great song about the
need to push on, the third and final bash at ‘Shelley’s Blues’ confused hurt is
a masterpiece and the switch from the rambling near-improvised train song ‘The
FFV’ to the sudden full-speed-ahead charge of ‘Uncle Pen’ is glorious and still
catches me by surprise every time even years after I fell in love with this
album. Sadly this album has the stingiest bonus tracks of the three re-issues
with just one** extra song, an early and more ‘normal’ version of ‘Marie’s
Theme’ aka ‘The Lamp-Post’, soon to be the cornerstone of Mike’s book-with-soundtrack
‘The Prison’. All three albums include a full glossy booklet with unseen
photographs and like all things 7A are very nicely done and a worthy tribute of
a true talent, taken from us far too soon, although I’d hang on to your money
if you already own them in some form already. After all, you’ll need it for all
the other Monkee items on this year’s list including… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">9) </span><span style="background: white; color: #002060; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart”</span><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">At last,
one of the AAA studio albums we keep pleading to have a re-issue of (only once
out on CD – and that was seventeen years ago!) alongside an even rarer live album.
If you don’t recognise the name then, well, it’s The Monkees – or at any rate
two of the ‘guys that sang ‘em’ alongside two of the ‘guys that wrote ‘em’ to
complete the cover original blurb. Critics pointed out at the time that it was
lacking two of the guys that had the most integrity for ‘em’ as well, but with
Mike Nesmith a recent millionaire from his mum’s liquid paper fortune and Peter
Tork still recovering from a spell in prison for drug addiction and desperate
to start over with a new stable life as a teacher, a full four-way Monkee
reunion was never going to be on the cards in 1976. Somebody had to go play to
the new markets that had opened up for the Monkees in the six years they’d been
away though – the main problem with this band, though, was they had two. On the
one hand their original audience had grown up and were feeling nostalgic and
were eager for a band that reflected their older, maturer lives. On the other
repeats of the Monkee TV show on Saturday mornings and a sudden huge interest
in Japan gave the band a whole new audience all over again who were too young
to remember the originals and wanted them to return to the poppier them they
were when they started. Rather than do what they did last time – fight hard for
their independence, create a suicidal postmodernist film and watch the world’s
critics misunderstand what they were doing – Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart took
the easy way out and offered up both selves, side by side, with poppy silly
teenagery sounding songs about being older. It makes for an uneasy,
schizophrenic listen and – by Monkee standards – not a terribly impressive one
considering this band features not only the guys who sang The Monkees Theme, Last
Train To Clarksville and Valleri but the guys who wrote ‘em too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
quartet’s one and only album really could have been something though with just
a few changes. Boyce and Hart are brilliant writers and while most books tend
to dismiss them as nothing outside the band, if anything being associated with
The Monkees killed off a quite promising career that was running happily
alongside it (the duo were also big enough stars in their own right to appear
in a very weird episode of ‘Bewitched’ for instance). They’re pretty decent under-rated
singers too. Micky still sounded great (come to think of it, he still sounds
great now) and Davy was still barely thirty and still cute enough to win over
younger fans. It should have worked – and intermittently it did. ‘I Remember
That Feeling’ is the equal of any of the Monkee reunion singles and is a rare
song to feature both Davy and Micky singing, swapping verses and choruses as
they celebrate coming back together again on a song that could have been
cliched but instead captures the sheer joy that came from Monkee music
perfectly. ‘Moonfire’ is a daring attempt at the sort of prog rock that hadn’t
been around in The Monkees’ day, a daring swirling effect-laden piece about nature,
moons, starbirds, thunder and prophets being born – it’s the single most Pink
Floyd moment in the Monkee canon and all the better for it. ‘Sail On Sailor’ is
the one song that features all four singing and it’s a beaut, a three-way
reflection of ex lovers from around the world that makes for a universal
lament. Then there’s the original, superior take on the world’s only Micky and Davy
collaboration ‘You and I’, here sung by the former not the latter and given a
‘proper’ backing rather than the rough and ready one it will get on Monkee
reunion album ‘JustUs’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Yippee
you might be thinking, take my money now! The problem is you also get the rest
of this album. I thought the creepy cover of ‘Teenager In Love’ by a bunch of
lecherous middle-aged men was the most awkward thing I’d ever heard – and then
‘Along Came Jones’ trumps it, a Leiber-Stoller cover mined for every last
reference to Davy they can fit in (even if none of them fit at all – lean and
lanky? And no self-respecting Brit ever says ‘that’s not cricket, old chap’.
Well, no one except me I admit. Top hole!) And then? And then? Well, not much
really – half a dozen forgettably bland pop songs not worthy of the Boyce and
Hart name never mind the Monkee one. You can’t help but think that, given the
talent involved that it should and could have been better, or that everyone
involved was keeping their best efforts back for a more serious higher profile reunion
that never quite happened. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As for
the live show, it was recorded cheaply in the hope of selling it alongside the
studio album but poor sales meant that Capitol refused to release it anywhere
except Japan (where it became a huge seller and much sought in the Western
world ever since). The sound quality is more like a bootleg (there’s a girl
screaming for her mommy most of the way through a version of ‘Daydream
Believer’ that’s worse even than your karaoke nightmares), Micky and Davy sing
flat for most of the night and the attempts at comedy are every bit as
cringeworthy as those on the studio album, while even the best and most famous Monkee
and Boyce-Hart songs are heard only as medleys for the most part oddly. And yet
it’s the only place you can hear Davy and Micky singing harmony to one of Boyce
and Hart’s better solo tunes ‘I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight’. It’s also the
only place where you actually get to hear the writers perform ‘Steppin’ Stone’
‘Clarksville’ et al. The DJB&H songs sound a lot livelier than they ever
did on album. The live band features Paul Revere guitarist (and occasional
Monkee sessionman) Keith Allison, whose a true star even if the rest of the
band can’t quite cut it. This is not the sort of thing you want to pay over the
odds for, which for many many years we Monkee fans had to. It’s probably not
the sort of thing you’d want to play over and over either, unless you’re
particularly masochistic or still in love with Davy. It is, however, exactly
the sort of something 7A records should be doing, re-releasing rare Monkee
stuff that would only ever cater to Monkee fans but dressing it up to the nines
with a new booklet longer than some books in order to make it feel as special
as it ever will. This is, too, an important part of the Monkee story and it
deserves its time in the sun, even if only maybe four of these twenty-five
songs come anywhere near close to capturing anything truly Monkees-like. For us
guys who buy ‘em and don’t have a full band to release new things anymore, that’s
enough reason to fork out alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">10) Micky Dolenz “Demoiselle”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
might look from the past two yearly reviews as if - sob! – our one remaining
Monkee is busier than ever, but it’s more due to Monkee record label 7A digging
through the vaults, alas. This album, for instance, was recorded on and off
across the 1980s and ‘should’ have come out in 1990 in between the Monkee
reunion albums ‘Pool It’ and ‘JustUs’. It did, briefly, surface in 1998 via
mail order before disappearing for pretty much a quarter century, so much so
that even many Monkee fanatics never tracked down a copy. ‘Demoiselle’ (or
‘Demo I sell’, given that this is as far as the album got the first time round
– some bootlegs call it ‘To Be Or Not To Be’) has been partly available
unofficially pretty much since it was recorded and while it’s always better to
have music officially released than not the general feeling amongst fans is
‘gee, that was a lucky escape’. Now, Micky is one of the world’s greatest pop
singers. On his day he’s one of pop’s greatest writers too. Away from The
Monkees, though, he never quite found his niche. ‘Demoiselle’ alternates
between 1980s synthesiser pop and the 1950s non-synthesiser revival songs that
had become big back then briefly (I blame ‘Grease’). By this point Micky was in
his late forties but despite this record’s reputation as a
‘semi-autobiographical’ album of pain and heartbreak inspired by a divorce
(working title: ‘Turning Pain Into Profit’) the material he’s writing is far
more juvenile than the stuff he was making in his early twenties as a Monkee
and I think it’s fair to say the drum machines and synth-saxes mean nothing
here is anything like as timeless as the records of his youth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
it was just an album of demos I suppose – more interesting perhaps might have
been for 7A to have funded a full budget recording session where these songs
were recorded ‘properly’. To be fair the three songs that later ended up on
‘JustUs’ are much stronger here, ‘Dyin’ Of A Broken Heart’ really suiting the retro
1950s vibe more than the grunge one, whilst ‘Never Enough’ is less drunk and
more, well, sober. Still not good, mind, but less OTT anyway. ‘Regional Girl’
is still a weird, weird song though, even with the swearing turned down.
Monkeephiles will also recognise Buddy Johnson cover ‘Since I Fell For You’,
which Micky sometimes did in concert (often with Davy in tow) and also recorded
for his bluesy covers album ‘Out Of Nowhere’ album, though to be honest it’s no
great shakes here in another live rendering from ‘nineteen ninety-something’
(according to the otherwise informative sleevenotes). My favourite song is the
(original) opener (here moved to song two) ‘It’s The Season’, with its haunting
synth lick (oh to have heard that on Micky’s 1967 moog!) and its elder twist on
‘I’m A Believer’ as Micky realises he’s found a stable love to last throughout
every season after assuming he would always end up alone. The Monkees should
have re-recorded that one for their reunion album instead! ‘Lonely Weekends’
too has a certain style and class and even though reggae will never, ever suit
The Monkees’ style it gets closer than flipping ‘She’s Movin’ In With Rico’
ever did. As for the two songs recorded a little after the rest of the album,
in London rather than LA, they’re both pretty awful: ‘Beverly Hills’ is a lifestyle
song about waiting for a call to go back to work while enjoying paradise but
not watching your bank balance dwindle that sounds more fun to live through
than to listen to and as for ‘Piston Power’, well, that’s the lamest ‘car’ song
I ever heard and I sat through flipping eight Beach Boys albums of the stuff!
This edition adds three songs that were never on the ‘mail order’ version or
bootlegs, all of which are cover songs sadly, even if Micky is at pains to
point out that they were recordings submitted for the album and thus not heard
anywhere else, though only ‘My Heart Is Failing Me’, an Albert Hammond ballad
about loneliness, is any good (though no ‘Air That I Breathe’). A mixed bag,
then, to say the least, but two or three decent songs and that golden voice is
enough to make it worth a listen or three and if you do want to own a copy of
this rare and valuable Monkee artefact then there has never been a better time,
what with the thirty-two (!) page booklet and all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">11) Peter Tork “This Stuff Never Gets Old”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even
Peter, the most ignored Monkee, gets a new release after his death and he got
precious few in his lifetime, worse luck. Alas it’s only an EP of four songs
and is yet another limited edition: a mere 500 CDs or 800 LPs this time around.
Three of the songs date back to 1988 and are soundboard recordings taped at New
York’s Speakeasy, a warm up for a full intended album that sadly never came.
They’re, well, not what I expected – very unlike Peter’s later rockabilly
comeback with Shoe Suede Blues (not a misprint!) and three very different songs
in three very different styles. I rather like ‘Sea Change’, a sea shanty love
song no less, as Peter longs to get shipwrecked and lost in the watery depths
of love over a fun rumble-tumble backing. ‘Miracle’ though is just noisy thrash
metal that makes Monkee garage reunion album ‘JustUs’ sound subtle, while
‘Vagabond John’ is practically Celtic, dominated by a squeaky fiddle. That just
leaves the title track, taped in 2016 for the next Monkee reunion album ‘Good
Times’ and probably sensibly left off that album in favour of the prettier ‘Little
Girl’, even if it’s a bit more ‘normal’ than the other songs here. Full marks
for bravery though: Peter’s career might be more overlooked than his bandmates
but I’ve long found him the most fascinating of all The Monkees and somehow
it’s not a coincidence that of all the four solo Monkee sets out this year his
is the most daring, eclectic and intriguing, even if it’s somehow no surprise
that yet again he got the short straw with only four songs rather than a whole
album. Worth buying? Well, it’s not as essential as the other three lots of
solo stuff perhaps, but for fans it’s still a definite Torking point. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> 12) Mark Knopfler “The
Studio Albums 2008-2018”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
first of two volumes of Knopfler solos on vinyl slipped out so quietly at the
end of last year I confess I didn’t even notice it; even this sequel (made up
of ‘Get Lucky’ ‘Privateering’ the double album ‘Tracker’ and ‘Down The Road
Wherever’) seemed to slip through the net rather. That befits an artist whose
done his best with his solo career to get away from the sheer hugeness of Dire
Straits to do something more simple, humble and authentic. The best of these
albums (the death-memory ‘Before Gas and TV’, the memory-nudging ‘The Car Was
The One’, the cute love song ‘Long Cool Girl’, the moody and magnificent ‘Mighty
Man’, the gun-toting ‘.38 Special’) are as great as anything Mark ever made and
while the albums are inconsistent at best they all have something worth
listening to. Better yet for the collector is the addition of a ‘bonus’ disc
full of all the B-sides and rarities, which have mostly never been out on vinyl
before. They’re an even more inconsistent bunch but again the best of them (the
mournful bartering waltz ‘Occupation Blues’, another Celtic old age blues
‘Follow The Ribbon’) are more than up to the standard of their parent albums
and maybe even a little better. There are two entirely unheard songs included
too that are, well, odd to be honest. ‘Back In The Day’ is full-on big band
jazz, a genre Mark has been skirting with for a while but never quite as
head-on as he does here, set to a lyric that’s a potted history of the music of
the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century up to rock and roll. I didn’t
like it at all at first, but I admit it’s been growing on me. As for ‘Precious
Voice From Heaven’ it starts off with the bluesy guitar from the soundtrack of
‘Local Hero’, falls into another sad ballad about aging and ends up switching
gears midway through into a happy-go-lucky love song (for some fallen musical
hero? I can’t tell which one) and ends by repeating the riff from ‘Les Boys’ of
all songs. I’m not sure the mishmash quite works, but the individual parts are
all there. Overall, then, a lovely set at a surprisingly kind price for those
who missed these albums the first time around – although with such an extremely
boring cover (lettering over clouds, in a very un-Knopfler pink) I can’t quite
bring myself to fully recommend it either.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even
better is the first volume of 2021, which looks even uglier (embossed letters
over a blue sky, with clouds) but features Mark’s best three solo albums so far
‘Sailing To Philadelphia’ ‘The Ragpicker’s Dream’ and ‘Kill To Get Crimson’
alongside the more forgettable ‘Golden Heart’ and ‘Shangri-La’ as well as a
similarly mixed collection of B-sides and bonus tracks (though no unreleased
songs this time around): ‘I’m The Fool’ ‘You Don’t Know You’re Born’ and ‘Heart
Full Of Holes’ are our go-to picks for this one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">13) Neil Young “Harvest 50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Edition” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neil’s
really stuck in his 1970-1972 period, huh? Maybe that’s because the biggest
revelation of this simple re-issue set is how much fun he seems to be having.
Mere months before the overdose of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, the
‘Doom Trilogy’ made in mourning and the first murmurings of Watergate and Neil
is as relaxed and together as he’s ever been. You could sort-of hear that in
the album, in between the songs about America’s broken racial system, broken
hearts and broken down pick-ups. You can definitely hear it in the album’s cute
bonus track ‘Dance Dance Dance’, surely one of the happiest of all Neil songs
but one with an unhappy history (it ended up on the first Crazy Horse album
where poor Danny sounds as if he’s about to expire any second before being
re-written as the considerably darker ‘Love Is A Rose’ and finally ending up in
this identical version on Neil’s first Anthology box). Now you can see it too,
in both the much-loved oft-repeated BBC In Concert show and an entire two-hour documentary
that got shelved when Neil’s life, mood and career took a darker turn. As for
that darker turn, it’s here already on the other two bonus tracks, also taken
from the Anthology box, the earlier jazzier version of ‘Journey Thru The Past’
and the exquisite ‘Bad Fog Of Loneliness’, a mournful push-pull love song for
first wife Susan that’s always worth another release (‘So long baby I am gone
so much pain to work through…Come back baby, I was wrong!’) Us British people
know that live backwards it’s been repeated so many times and doubtless you
foreigners will know it from youtube, particularly the performance of ‘Heart Of
Gold’; in case you don’t, it’s a terrific gig as Neil breaks out nearly an
entire set of new songs: three from ‘Harvest’, two from ‘Time Fades Away’ and yet
again ‘Dance Dance Dance’ (affordable official releases for obscure Neil Young
songs are like busses; you wait fifty years then two different versions come
along at once). Better yet are the mumbled asides to the audience which are
Neil at his most open, talking about losing his harmonicas through the holes in
his pockets and how his ‘life is like a movie’ before a piano rendition of the
most exquisite ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ you’ll ever hear. The only downside is that
it lasts all of half an hour in an era when Neil’s shows were already three
times that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
for the new documentary, it’s the dictionary definition of rambling, as Neil
admits openly that he has no definite plans what to do with the material he’s
shooting (‘Maybe it’ll make the cinemas one day?’ he muses at one point, which
it will – just not for half a century). To be honest the best bits of it (Neil
buying up his own bootlegs and arguing with the oblivious record shop boss that
he shouldn’t stock them; Neil walking round his Broken Arrow ranch; Neil
strumming his acoustic lying down; working on overdubs with Stills, Nash and –
all too briefly - Crosby) we’ve already seen in ‘Journey Thru The Past’, the
much darker and more surreal replacement film which is like ‘Head’ to The
Monkees’ TV show, all edgy symbolism and analysis where once there was laughter
and fun, but all the better for that if you’re in the right mood. There (in as
much as the film was about anything at all) the jokes were about fame and how
easily you can get sucked into it and lose your way, jokes made at everyone’s
expense from Neil on down from the vantage point of an older, wearier self; here,
though, Neil seems to just want to catalogue a rare moment in his life when
everything is working and he’s happy just to amble on through letting good
things come to him. If you’re enough a fan to know where the road turns soon
after shooting then it’s power stuff seeing this stuff unadulterated and
without explanation, although even Neil’s biggest fan might want to keep the
remote’s skip button handy as he honestly doesn’t get up to anything all that
interesting and even the bits that should be, watching ‘Harvest take shape,
drag. And that’s your lot: no session tapes, no alternate takes, no backing
track/a capella remixes, no separate live recordings, not even an album
re-mastering (though access to a hi-res version is available on download; why
are these things never included in pricey sets any more? It costs 20p to
manufacture a disc guys!) A rather anaemic Harvest then, almost as if it was
something of an afterthought compared to the other Neil sets this year, but
some great stuff officially available for the first time all the same. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">14) The Kinks “Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s In Showbiz”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An
unexpected double-set re-issue of the two most recent ‘deluxe’ Kinks re-issues,
with some extras that weren’t in either set previously (despite how much the
dratted things cost!) As well as reproductions of both the vinyl and CD
editions of the two re-issues there’s a 15 minute long Blu-Ray featuring Ray’s
home movies of the ‘Showbiz’ tour (most interesting for his sardonic commentary
taped in 2022; a shame the original documentary TV show meant to accompany the
album isn’t on here – I know it never made it to ending but it sounds as if
some of it at least was filmed. Has all the stuff been wiped?), a ‘tour
montage’ featuring snippets of songs that never made the ‘Showbiz’ album but
are very much in keeping with the spirit of the album (a full set would have
been even nicer; perhaps that’s being held back for a deluxe deluxe deluxe
edition one day?), eleven remixes (nothing earth-shattering sadly), two unheard
so-so songs in ‘History’ (an audio walk round a museum full of British history,
where Cromwell anachronistically shakes hands with Boadicea, which should be
the most Kinks thing ever but is strangely dull and ends with more shouted
‘alrights’ than even the Kinks B-side ‘Alright’) and ‘Travelling With My Band’
(see below), a big thick book, an underground poster for Kinks tourists who
want to visit Muswell Hill and surrounding areas and a neat badge. Now really
most of this stuff should have been on either of the two last deluxe sets and I
for one would be much more interested in a deluxe re-issue of the next Kinks
albums in line to get the deluxe treatment (‘Preservation’) but if you missed
either set the first time then this is the way to go. The biggest question mark
though is why these two albums have been singled out for combining, as it were,
when they are complete opposite bedfellows (‘Muswell’ is all stark monochrome,
figures battling against a cruel world while ‘Showbiz’ is a colourful work of
showbiz excess, glamour and celluloid fantasy, originally intended as a documentary
soundtrack); no two consecutive Kinks albums ever changed style quite this
much, so quite why this new line started with these two is anyone’s guess. The
best thing about this set? The marketing! Specifically the website that invites
you to brew a cuppa tea with a ‘digital timer’ that plays a different song from
the album(s) depending how strong you like it. Very Kinks! Though it leaves me
with a dilemma: my favourite songs are ‘Celluloid Heroes’ and ‘20<sup>th</sup>
century Man’, both of which run for six minutes but which I want to hear more
than the two minute bit of fluffs like, umm ‘Have A Cuppa Tea’. I guess I’ll
just have to start taking my tea strong…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">15) Paul McCartney “The 7” Singles Box” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
this wasn’t the Christmas release we were expecting was it? Not a greatest hits
but a crate-ist hits: a massive wooden box of eighty vinyl singles covering
eighty years of life and fifty-two years of Macca’s solo and Wings career. Hopes
were high for Archive releases of ‘London Town’ and ‘Back To The Egg’ (the next
obvious entries in the long-running if pricey series of re-issues) and instead
we got, well, a bit of everything (an even pricier limited edition of 3000
copies which is due to sell out any minute at the time of writing, though
mercifully all this stuff is up on streaming sites too). Thankfully ‘London
Town’ and ‘Back To The Egg’ cover more than a few of these 159 songs between
them and sound particularly good in newly remastered form. Indeed they’re amongst
some of the best things here (well, not Baby’s Request’ obviously, but the rest)
along with famous highlights like ‘Listen To What The Man Said’ ‘Coming Up’
‘Pipes Of Peace’ ‘No More Lonely Nights’. Better yet are the rarer, surprise
flop singles that only true fans know but more should – mini-masterpieces like
‘Goodnight Tonight’ ‘Waterfalls’ and ‘Stranglehold’. At it’s best for newcomers
this set gives a stronger flavour of just how wide and varied Paul’s career has
been, from under-rated political heavyweight songs like ‘Give Ireland Back To
The Irish’ and B-side ‘Big Boys Bickering’ (truly a sign of our times) to epic
dramatic powerhouses (‘Live and Let Die’), sleepy romance songs (‘My Love’),
prog rock epics (‘Band On the Run’), natty rockers (‘Jet!’), children’s rhymes
(‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’), conservation anthems (B-side ‘Long Leather Coat’),
Scottish bagpipe dirges (‘Mull Of Kintyre’), powerful emotional rollercoasters
(‘No Other Baby’), angry songs with murderous intent (‘Oh Woman Oh Why’), reggae
(‘Love Is Strange’), feminist anthems (‘Another Day’) and freak-out weirdy
songs no other mainstream artists would put their name to (‘Check My Machine’
I’m looking at you!’) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">True
fans have always known that some of the best of Macca’s career ended up as
B-sides (‘Country Dreamer’ ‘The Mess’ ‘Soilly’ ‘Girl’s School’ ‘Daytime
Nighttime Suffering’ ‘Tough On A Tightrope’ ‘Back On My Feet’, all fabulous) while
there are a dozen or so B-sides that haven’t been re-issued in decades (‘Flying
To My Home’, at last!) and a sprinkling of rarities and surprises here,
including the first official re-pressing of abandoned Wildlife single ‘Love Is
Strange’, ‘Temporary Secretary’ (which till now has been a 12” but not a 7”), unfairly
forgotten film theme song ‘I Want to Come Home’, fairly forgotten theme song
‘Spies Like Us’, the noisy Bob Clearmountain mix of ‘Figure Of Eight’, and Thatcher protest cover song ‘All My
Trials’, which died a death when the Iron Lady stood down soon after release. Biggest
surprise of all: two abandoned early 1990s singles both taken from the
Liverpool Oratorio: ‘The World You’re Coming Into’ and ‘Save The Child’, plus
their planned B-sides ‘Tres Conejes’ and ‘The Drinking Song’. Not terribly
exciting unless you like the classical side of Macca’s output (and you can
still buy the full Oratorio set anyway), but interesting that Paul at least
seems to think of them as a ‘proper’ part of his official discography (note
that there’s nothing from his other classical works here like ‘Standing Stone’
or ‘Ecce Cor Meum’). Not to mention some rare(ish) versions never pressed on CD:
the flutey instrumental version of ‘Give Ireland’, the bonkers ‘video promo’
mix of ‘Pretty Little Head’ that makes even the ‘Press To Play’ version sound
almost normal, the curio ‘Ode To A Koala’ which basically consists of Paul
wanting to give a bear a hug, the 90s acid song ‘Party Party’ only ever
released in a rare promotional box for ‘Flowers In the Dirt’ and with an
‘etched picture’ on the back, video game theme song ‘Hope For The Future’ and,
umm, the ‘hummed’ version of ‘We All Stand Together’ with a choir of children going
‘ee ee eeeee’ and ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reggae’ (yes it really is a reggae
instrumental of ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer’ but no, it’s even worse than
it sounds). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s
one hell of an output for one man (give or take Linda, Denny Laine, Stevie Wonder,
Michael Jackson et al) and the use of different picture sleeves from around the
world (including an Israeli edition of ‘My Love’, a Swedish version of ‘Live
and Let Die’, a Spanish version of ‘Helen Wheels’, a German ‘Jet!’, an
Australian ‘Listen To What The Man Said’, a French ‘Silly Love Songs’ and a Japanese ‘maybe I’m Amazed’) means
there are some images here even I hadn’t seen before. Oh and, always a musician
with one eye on the collectors, each set includes a rare test pressing provided
at random, which could be of any single in the box taken at random (my
sympathies if you got The Frog Song). Of course, Paul being Paul, he released
one heck of a lot of rubbish as singles too and although this set might be as
varied as any career overview out there, it’s not the most consistent. I would
gladly go the rest of my life without hearing ‘Uncle Albert’ ‘Baby’s Request’ ‘Wonderful
Christmas Time’ ‘Ebony and Ivory’ ‘My Carnival’ ‘Beautiful Night’ ‘Jenny Wren’ or
anything off ‘Egypt Station’ ever again (my seven least favourite Macca songs
all in one place, aaaagh!) and some of the releases are filler at best (a noisy
live version of ‘Birthday’ is pointless without Lennon’s 50<sup>th</sup> to tie
it in to; anything off ‘McCartney III’ which was still being re-issued as
recently as January this year seems overkill too). The crate is also pretty
basic (wood with lettering – it looks like the sort of thing you stick in the
loft to collect dust) and the booklet is also disappointing for a set that
costs so much even Elon Musk would think twice about buying it: a short, flimsy
interview with Paul, a not very revealing essay and pictures of some more
singles from around the world. I mean, that’s a cool two million dollars Paul’s
picked up just from the 3000 limited editions alone, he could at least have
made it look as nice as the archive sets do. Good, if sprawling, as it all is,
spare a thought Paul, some of us are saving our money for other things that we
really want. Like a deluxe re-issue of ‘London Town’ for instance… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">16) Paul “McCartney I/II/III”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
this was kind of inevitable wasn’t it? Even though there’s nothing really in
common with the three ‘McCartney’ volumes except the name and the person who
recorded them, here they are back on vinyl again as a ‘limited edition’, with
fancy new artwork at an extortionate price because, y’know, there are enough Beatle collectors out there
for Paul to get away with it (this makes it the seventh way of buying Macca III
on vinyl alone following the red, blue, yellow, green, pink, white and black
variations released between 2020 and 2021). So what do you get for your – gulp
- £115? Some nice packaging re-creating the original albums. No extra songs
though – not even the extra songs already out on B sides and/or the archive
boxes (had this been the first time they’d stuck ‘McCartney II’ together as a
double album record, the way it was originally meant to be heard, rather than
making us re-program it and keep skipping the discs I would have at least given
it a half star, but noooo!) For the record and any new fans just discovering
this stuff ‘Macca I’ is great but patchy, alternating nuggets of genius where
Paul proves his innate musicality and multi-instrumental prowess on powerful,
emotional songs like ‘Every Night’ and ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ with instrumentals
re-creating primitive tribal sounds just seen on TV and the sound of wine
glasses being rubbed with a wet finger. Macca II is way better than reputation
suggests, mostly thanks to singles ‘Coming Up’ and ‘Waterfalls’, but Paul cut
all the wrong songs to make this fit into a commercial single album rather than
the pioneeringly dotty double it might have been. As for Macca III, it’s a step
in the right direction over ‘Egypt Station’ but only ‘The Kiss Of Venus’ hits
the spot and Paul’s voice is long shot. In other words there’s a terrific album
across the three sets, but two pretty awful ones as well. Bearing in mind that
at least the first two albums probably cost less than £115 to make even
accounting for inflation this is a rip-off, good and proper. Now hurry up with
that ‘London Town’ archive re-issue Paul, please and stop procrastinating! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">17) “Sounds Of Summer – The Very Best Of The Beach Boys”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
The Beach Boys’ fiftieth in 2012 we got lots of birthday goodies: a new studio
album (which was actually auto-tuned and pretty awful but hey, it’s the thought
that counts), a new live album, a tour, a whole load of album re-issues and a
fifty-track hits compilation ’50 Big Ones’ that surely was as comprehensive as
anyone could want, itself replacing the pretty darn comprehensive thirty-track
‘Sounds Of Summer’ released for the 40th. For the BB’s sixtieth birthday we
only get the best-of, this time back under the 2002 name and running to…eighty
tracks (I guess ‘Eighty Big Ones’ didn’t look right on the packaging). Which is
probably the point at which we should stop calling this set a ‘greatest hits
compilation’ and treat it more like an ‘everything you ever wanted to know
about The beach Boys and have been suckered into buying thirty times already’
set. Oh yes, I nearly forgot: the selling point for old fans this time around
is a whole bunch of new mixes –a quarter of the album in fact, including a
handful of early stuff that’s only ever been released in mono till now (mostly
because Brian’s duff ear means he can’t actually hear in stereo). The Beach Boys
(well OK, Brian Wilson) were always big on re-mastering and it’s a trick that’s
been pulled on a few Beach Boys compilations, rarities collections and box sets
before now. Good news: sometimes, especially on the earliest songs, it does
sound pretty amazing (as with all these bands it’s incredible how much younger
and fresher the music sounds every generation, even as its creators get older
and greyer). Bad news: Sometimes it sounds terrible, as poor as any officially
released remix I’ve ever heard. #<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m
beginning to wonder if Brian’s hearing is still OK in his good ear to have
signed off on some of these mixes, which have been routinely trounced by fans.
Weirdly too it’s the later-ish songs that are perhaps most in need of tweaking
that come off the worst: basically anything off the synth-heavy ‘Beach Boys
Love You’ album from 1977 (Dear God, they actually made that album sound worse!
The shot-gun drums that ring out throughout ‘Let us Go On This Way’ is a
guarantee of a migraine even on a low volume). Anyway, even if it had been the
best mix ever, the reasoning is flawed: why not remix the whole lot if you’re
going to make that sort of thing a selling point? (Hey one day if they keep
re-mastering random songs I might even live to hear what they’re actually
singing in ‘Mess Of Help’!). Plus the whole execution is a little wonky: by all
means thread some of the rarer Beach Boys songs back in amongst the hits so
more casual fans can discover and fall in love with them (it’s not like the BB
back catalogue is short on neglected treasures), but what’s the point of
sticking most (but not all) the hit singles on a separate disc and then putting
everything on all three discs out of sequence so that you don’t get any real
feel for how The Beach Boys evolved as a band? After all, the Brian-led band of
the surfing shirts era is a completely different beast to the daredevil who
created ‘Smile’ (impressively represented by five songs, though why no
‘Cabinessence’?!) and so different again to the Brian’s-in-bed,
tug-of-war-for-dominance of the 1970s or the Mike-Love led madness of the 1980s
(yes of course ‘Kokomo’ is here. No of course it’s not last, where it should
be, both chronologically and so you can skip it – its track 25, in between, um,
1979’s ‘Good Timin’ and 1968’s ‘Do It
Again’). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
for the song choice, it’s a tale of two halves – major plus points for
including Dennis’ beautiful ‘Baby Blue’, the sweet Sunflower love song ‘All I
Wanna Do’, the unreleased-till-the-1990s song collage ‘Can’t Wait Too Long’ and
the overlooked 1972 epic ‘Marcella’. But ‘Everyone’s In Love With You’? ‘San
Miguel’? ‘Farmer’s Daughter’?!? And ending on the unreleased-till-the-00s
‘California Feelin’ is a really odd move (it’s actually not a bad song but
every time we hear it, it seems to be in amongst a group of acknowledged classics
where anything would sound disappointing). The packaging ain’t all that either,
certainly compared to the excellent two-fer BB CDs fans love so much – if
Capitol wanted to embellish the original compilation why not make a start on
that boring front cover of some dude with some surfboard? (A picture that
represents maybe 10% of the songs here which move way beyond surfing). If you
want to embellish anything, why not 1974’s ‘Endless Summer’, a compilation
that’s genuinely popular and got this sort of rummaging through the past spot
on? In other words what we get is an album that will confuse potential new
fans, make old ones curse over having to fork money out for old rope again, put
everyone off a back catalogue that’s oh so worth more time and trouble than
this and we will all get to reconvene here for the 70<sup>th</sup> in ten years
time, when we cross our fingers that everyone might just get it right. Though
based on past experience they almost certainly won’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Songs Of The Year:</span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1) Belle and Sebastian “If They’re Shooting At You”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stuart
Murdoch can use minor key chords like no other writer and boy does he use them
here on a song that takes us right back to the loneliness and despair of the
band’s early days, before the unexpected magic wand that brought a fanbase, success,
happiness and health. Here Stuart is having a midlife crisis and worried he’s
back in the same place with nothing all over again, as he sighs over a ‘life I
once knew’, swept away in a long list of ‘jobs to do that would make you
dizzy’, pressure, fear, loneliness, a ‘coldness’ that’s come over his
relationships, the feeling that he’s always failing and falling below his high
standards. He’s at the precipice of despair, convinced he’s going to die lonely
and unloved, but an oh so B and S trumpet (the return of Mick Cooke at last!)
and an unexpected gospel choir puts things in a new perspective. Suddenly
realising that the closer he gets to the truth the less people can handle it,
suddenly Murdoch hears a voice: ‘Come to me, I will cure your pain, I’ve got
you now’. Past B and S albums would suggest it’s God (and maybe it is?) but it’s
also the son he thought he would never have, back in the pre-B and S days when
he was confined to bed and his life seemed over, the offspring from the
relationship he assumed he was never going to have, supported financially by
singing in the band he never thought he’d get to be in. Finally, after a beautifully delayed key
change, we reach the promised land of a major key and the song rights itself
into becoming a joyful singalong about faith, of holding onto precious light
even in the blackest of times. It’s a sequel of sorts to another of our yearly
review highlights, ‘Enter Sylvia Plath’ from the last B and S album ‘proper’
‘Girls In Peacetime Just Want To Dance’ from 2015, where Stuart starts writing
one of his typical characters, lost and lonely and confused, before realising
how far he’s come and how he can afford up some of his own story as faith that
things come out right in the end, that he has things to live for. Only this
time he’s doing it not for us, but himself. Here it’s his turn to get buoyed by
life just as he was close to giving up, feeling cold, ill, stressed and unlived.
‘Got you now’ his saviour says to him, as he once said to us. ‘It’s going to be
alright’. The gospel choir is unique and the synth sound a recent addition to B
and S records but that vocal and that Mick Cooke trumpet solo could have come off
any previous records for a highly emotional modern-day B and S classic that’s the equal of
any bit of previous.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2) Liam Gallagher “More Power”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Similarly,
Liam’s really been through it as he claws back his fanbase and his self respect
after ten years in the wilderness shunned by his brother and divorced from the
wife he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with. On his past
two records Liam has come out fighting, but this song is more about acceptance
that there are things at work bigger than him and that maybe things worked out
better this way, in giving up control (and it is control Liam means I think,
when he sings of ‘power’).<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Many fans have compared it to The Stones’
‘Let It Bleed’ in general and closer ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ in
particular. For good reason too: both songs find singers who are used to having
everything at a click of their fingers suddenly realise the world doesn’t work
like that, even for them, with references to how you carry wounds around
forever, ‘they heal just enough to stop the bleed’ and how ‘you can’t get the
girl you want, but the girl you need’. Hearing Liam turn philosopher must give
the same thrills to modern music fans that those in 1969 got when Mick did the
same: we’ve never heard anything as brave as this, as a children’s choir offer
innocence to contrast with Liam’s battle-scarred tones. He even calls on,
depending how you hear it, the Lord and Mother Mary or his parents, admitting
his mistakes and that ‘I’ve been angry for too long’, singing from place of belligerence
not beauty. Finally, though, Liam has seen the light and he accepts everything
that life has to teach him (‘Is this is what you came for?’ he screams to
himself as he discusses reincarnation at the end, sobbing about lessons learnt
the hard way) before this sweet understated song builds to a fiery climax,
burns out in a sea of electronic noise and feedback, only to be resurrected
with one last gasp of heavenly strings as spirit protects Liam, picks up and
dusts him down for life anew. Gorgeous – if this had been by any band this
would be a song of the year but the fact it comes from the last person you’d
ever expect to make a song like this – and the fact Liam was brave enough to
make it the opening track - makes it all the more special. Many of the songs on
Liam’s new album are great, but this is genius. How I wish there were more
songs like ‘More Power’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">3) Neil Young “Chevrolet”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
true song for our times, this one. Neil’s always been a huge car fan and he’s
just seen an old gas-guzzling Chevrolet. It’s a proper gorgeous Beach Boys-type
car with a loud engine and a great suspension that Neil wouldn’t have thought
twice about buying in years gone by. But now, in the era when global warming is
no longer something in the distance but right here, it feels like a wrong
turning and he can’t bring himself to spend money on something that bad for the
planet and drives off on a guilt trip about all the cars he bought without
thinking in the past instead. What could have been a silly song about not
buying a car suddenly becomes an anthem, a ‘shift of gears’ that we’re all
going to go through as a species as we put our selfish desires (‘but it felt so
good!’) to one side to become more responsible. ‘That’s the road we can’t go
back on’ Neil sighs on what comes across as nothing less than a requiem for an
entire way of life, one that our children and grandchildren will never know –
if the planet lives long enough to even have them. Neil’s been writing ecology
songs for years (there’s even one on his solo debut from 1968) but this is the
most desperate any of them have sounded yet, as if we’re in the ‘fuel gauge empty’
stage of a world crisis rather than just dipping into the red. Behind him Crazy
Horse sound as great as they ever did on a song that comes with all their
characteristic gallop and horse-power, Nils Lofgren stepping brilliantly into
Frank Sampedro’s shoes as they all improvise wildly between each verse but
totally in tune with one another, making the song feel more and more epic as it
stretches out to fifteen minutes. This song’s own music video confesses that
‘this song has nothing to with the rest of the album’, but that’s the loss of
‘World Record’ in general, not this fine track. Had the rest of the album been
up to this song it would have topped our list for sure. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">4) The Beach Boys “Carry Me Home”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
aren’t as many unreleased songs on this year’s Beach Boys copyright-extending
set as in other years and to be honest most of those don’t sound much like The
Beach Boys, with short-term member Blondie Chaplin taking lead on most of them.
This song of Dennis Wilson’s, though, only starts that way: it sounds to me as
if it was written to give Blondie one of those soulful spiritual-like songs
from the ‘Flame’ LP released on the band’s ‘Brother Records’ label (an LP which
brother Carl, for one, had a lot to do with so Dennis probably heard it a lot).
So far so nice – evidence of the Wilson clans’ keen ears for other genres and
somehow make them all turn out Beach Boysy. But then something happens halfway
though as we hit an awkward stumbling minor key chord change out of nowhere and
Dennis himself takes over the vocal. Suddenly the narrator is no longer an
everyman singing to God for help in the future but a broken desperate man
crying out for salvation right now. It’s chilling indeed hearing Dennis confess
‘I guess I won’t grow old…I don’t want to die!’ and how afraid he is of what
comes next a mere decade or so before his untimely death in 1983 and his
cracking, haunted vocal surrounded by all that lush, polished backing comes as
a real shock, even after reading just how bleak things were for the drummer in
this period (the main reason Blondie and bandmate Ricki turn up in the band at
all was to cover for Dennis breaking his hand in a plate-glass window in a
drunken rage and being unable to play, though having a pair of songwriters to
fill in the hole where an ailing Brian would be probably helped too. Was this
song a ‘thankyou’ to Dennis’ new bandmates, written in their style?) Dennis
wasn’t around for the ‘So Tough’ or ‘Holland’ sessions much and the recordings
he did contribute tended to be done separately to the rest of the band but here
he uses his brothers, friends and cousins quite brilliantly as a backing band
straight from Heaven. How this didn’t make the final record is anyone’s guess
(maybe the world just wasn’t quite ready for messages to God from upstart
popstars in 1973?) Dennis will continue talking to his ‘maker’ across his solo
albums, but never tries anything like this with ‘his’ band ever again.
Sadly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo8; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rolling Stones “Worried Life Blues”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Every
bit the equal of the blues covers that made it to the ‘Love You Live’ set, this
Sleepy John Estes song is the Stones getting back to basics and sounding as if
they’d been cutting this sort of thing all their lives. Everything about this
track works: Mick’s purist blurry blues vocal promising devotion, the Keith ‘n’
Ronnie art of guitar weaving at its best, Charlie’s swingtime sticks (no wonder
Mick introduces him as a ‘jazz drummer’, though he’s clearly not just ‘doing
this for the money’) and ‘eighth (?) Stone’ Olly Brown twinkling the ivories
beautifully (and sounding much like founding Stone Stu; it’s a surprise he
wasn’t at this gig as its right up his street). The only person missing is
Brian and if his ghost was ever going to turn up for a jam with his old band it
was surely going to be on this song, which is everything the early Stones stood
for. The fact this recording didn’t make the final cut on ‘Love You Live’ when
those wretched live versions of ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ ’Honky Tonk Women’
and ‘Brown Sugar’ did makes you wonder what the heck the band was up to in
1977. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">6) Micky Dolenz/Mike Nesmith “Soul Writer’s Birthday”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
it’s not every day you get a new unheard Mike Nesmith song and – alas – we
won’t be getting any more of them any time soon, so ‘Soul Writer’s Birthday’
was always going to make the list, even if ultimately it’s a confusing curio
rather than a classic. This song has been compared to the songs from ‘Pisces,
Aquarius’ – mostly I suspect because that was the Monkee album being made when
it was written – but it sounds far more like a fast-paced National Band tune
than a Monkee one. It’s a nonsense tune, which is unusual for Mike even if his
lyrics often pushed the boundaries of comprehension, a Lennon-ish ‘Walrus’ like
tale of prima donnas on donkeys and a ‘canyon house with whirlybirds’. The song
feels like it ought to have a key to
unlock it; parts of the song sound as if it’s based on Peter, whose haphazard
partying lifestyle the more careful Mike always viewed with suspicion (not
least the address and compare with Micky doing exactly the same on ‘Shorty
Blackwell’ in 1969, a song we do know is in part about Tork). However, the one
thing that’s clear in this song is the subjects’ birthday, the 25<sup>th</sup>
June, which very much isn’t Peter’s (he’s February 13<sup>th</sup> and – though
I wouldn’t put it past Nez to misremember – birthdays would have been big news
in the Monkees canon at the time they were working out their star signs for the
‘Pisces’ album title). Having looked up a string of people who have birthdays on
that day I’m none the wiser – George Orwell sounds like the sort of person
Nesmith would have read and admired and wanted to write a song about, but as
far as I know he was never blind in one eye or lived in a canyon house; similarly
I doubt it’s a then four-year-old George Michael; all the other possibilities
seem too obscure, which suggests its someone Mike knew well and ‘we’ didn’t.
The barbed song doesn’t suit Dolenz’s friendly voice at all but it’s easy to
imagine Nez’s wisecracking vocal having a bash at a country-rock version of it
and it’s a worthy find that really should have been on the album. Had we got
this song back in 1967 I suspect it would have been annoying; but now it feels
like an unexpected gift. Somehow it’s fitting too that Nez’s last ‘gift’ to us
is an impenetrable puzzle of an outtake we weren’t expected to solve, dressed
up by his bandmate and family to be shoe-horned into sounding like a pop song,
as that’s pretty much where we came in, in 1966. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">7) Mike Nesmith “Tapioca Tundra”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the surprise TV hits of the year was the final series of ‘Better Call Saul’,
a much improved spin-off from the unwatchable ‘Breaking Bad’ crime series which
has become known for its gritty montages set to unexpected bits of music. In the
big finale (series 6 episode 11) Monkee fans got a huge shock when an unheard
acoustic demo of Mike Nesmith’s 1968 Monkee song (flipside to final big Monkee
hit ‘Valleri’ and ‘Birds, Bees and Monkees’ album track) turned up, set to a
montage of main character Gene’s realisation that he’s wasted his life cheating
people out of their money instead of creating trust and friendship with his
fellow man. It turns out that writer/director Thomas Schnauz is a huge Monkees
fan and desperately wanted the song but felt the rather archly sung Monkee recording
wasn’t quite right for the mood (he’d already used the Monkee recording of
B-side ‘Goin’ Down’ in an earlier episode); on contacting Nez’s estate he found
that they still owned the demo and granted him the use of it. The result is a
revelation: a ‘proper’ version of what always sounded like one of Mike’s more
melancholy songs, without the goofy vocal effects, tuneless whistling or sarcastic
delivery. Instead Mike sounds genuinely sad as he sings one of his more poetic
lyrics: ‘Waiting hopes cast silent spells that speak in clouded clues’. With
Mike’s sad loss last year any new discovery is welcome and we can only hope
that we’ll get an official release of this fine demo one day soon on a Monkee
product rather than the official Better Call Saul soundtrack CD. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Micky Dolenz “Tis The
Season” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
best song to come out of all four solo Monkee sets/re-issues out this year is
surely Davy’s ‘Manchester Boy’, a charming and poignant take on how the boy had
to leave Manchester to find fame and fortune but they never took Manchester out
the boy, no matter how far from home he went. That song’s one that’s been
around for years though and got quite a write up in my Monkees book, so with so
many other Monkeeshines to write about here’s the second best. In terms of
composition ‘Tis The Season’ is right up there with Micky’s best work. He’s
spending Christmas at home – the first for a very long time – poised on the
knife-edge of two different years, a past that broke his heart and torn between
still being in love and ‘needing to be on my own’ and a future that promises
freedom and better times. There’s a great little riff that runs throughout this
demo; it’s just unfortunate that it was recorded in the 1980s so instead of
being played on a groundbreaking moog like the olden days it’s all performed
against a casio keyboard that probably took more power to record this song than
a second on an app on a modern phone. Still sweet though. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Peter Tork “Sea Change”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Meanwhile
it’s the 1990s for bandmate Peter but he’s in much the same boat, driving Shoe
Suede Blues through a quickstepping sea shanty that very successfully sums up
the stormy period of his life he’s experiencing. He used to live on calm seas
but love upturned his boat and now the depths are calling to him ‘take me
down!’ Somehow, though, Peter sounds more excited and alive than scared, eagerly
throwing himself into this song and this situation with gusto. Easily the most
complex number Tork came up with post Monkees, this rocker is great fun and
only a squeaky violin part prevents it becoming a top tier classic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">10)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Graham Gouldman/Brian May
“Floating In Heaven”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
like to think that I’ve been writing these yearly reviews for long enough now
(14 years!) that I can forsee patterns: yet another pricey McCartney re-issue
here, a bonkers radio play based on an obscure Kinks album there, alternating
Gallagher brothers spitting feathers at what the other said in song about them
last year, multiple fifty-year-old albums stuffed into a pricey box set to
dodge the bootleggers when all this stuff goes out of copyright and, of course,
that old guessing game ‘which Beatles album are they going to make us buy for
the twentieth time this year?’ However this is one song I definitely didn’t
have on my 2022 bingo card: a collaboration between the Queen guitarist and
10cc’s stalwart bassist inspired by a new telescope. While Brian teased us at
the start of the year that he was working with Graham (for one brief hilarious
moment it looked as if Graham was taking over from Freddie Mercury in a Queen
reunion!), I still didn’t quite believe it when this song quietly dropped in
mid-July. Brian is, as many of you will know, a passionate scientist and
astronomer. Graham can write a song on any subject and make it sound ‘human’.
The result of a collaboration between the two – old friends who’d always meant
to work together but never got round to it till now - is a song about the James
Watt telescope, of all things, and how small the Earth looks when viewed as
part of the bigger cosmos as Graham’s narrator – representing the whole of
humanity – leaves the planet ‘in search of pastures new’. It was inspired by a
truly awe-inspiring set of pictures of the universe that go further back in
time than we’ve ever been before, to the creation of the universe (which,
interestingly, looks exactly like the opening credits to Peter Davison era
Doctor Who). Insert joke about two old-timers being chosen to write a song
about looking back in time here. It kind of works though as a distillation of
two styles and re-pays the debt that Queen always owed early 10cc (seriously,
where do you think those harmonies in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ came from? Or that
quirky humour? Or those production gimmicks? The two bands are closer than many
realise – although frankly 10cc have the better songs, by light years). As a
result we get that famous guitar sound, those famous one-note ‘I’m Not In Love’
ahh-ing harmonies and a big catchy tune that could have been by either band but
which sounds particularly like the sort of thing Gouldman used to write for his
own sixties group The Mockingbirds. It’s a little clunky in places (the rhymes
of ‘it makes us seem so small’ and ‘floating in an Earthly ball’ heard on all
songs like this are present and correct – I’m blaming the Brian May side of the
songwriting table), but also full of surprises including a great angsty middle
eight that comes out of nowhere (surely Gouldman’s work). Not quite out of this
world, then, but on a par with Graham’s fairly-decent 21<sup>st</sup> century
solo albums then, as well as being automatically the single best thing any
member of Queen did. Ever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">9) The Kinks “Travelling With My Band”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
one totally new song on the deluxe ‘Muswell Stars’ re-release is an unheard Ray
Davies song from the studio sessions for ‘Everybody’s In Showbiz’ that celebrates the live side of
the album. A casualty of yet another planned Kinks documentary TV special that
got shelved at the last minute, it practically screams to be set to a montage
of live footage as it mentions all the ‘freaks’ the band met on and off stage and
lots of mad things that happened (so much so I’m amazed no one’s done that on
the Kinks official youtube channel yet).Ray’s built up some memories that will
last his whole life, but now it’s time to go home and rest and you can really
feel the mixture of pride and relief on this song at finally getting to the end
of a tough era, as The Kinks take one last encore and fond farewell (after all,
it wouldn’t be The Kinks without nostalgia for something). The song is lacking
a little something to make it sparkle and in 1973 the band were probably right
to shelve it as an album closer in favour of ‘Celluloid Heroes’. Certainly the
song works better being re-written as ‘You Can’t Stop The Music’ on 1974’s ‘A
Soap Opera’, where it celebrates all musicians rather than just touring ones as
here (and, weirdly, the only lyrics it keeps the same are ‘being punched and
spat on’ even though both songs are mostly ‘upbeat’). However, like all things
Kinks in the first half of the 1970s, there’s a sort of casual magic sprinkled
over the top: Dave’s gritty guitar combined with Baptist’s honky tonk piano and
the Kinks horn section at full tilt makes for a truly wondrous sound and the
restless, adrenalin-fuelled, half-speed riff was always a fun one for the band
I wanted to hear more of. Easily the best thing on the new set, though still
not quite worth that hefty price tag. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">10) Justin Hayward “Living For Love”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well,
it’s official. We said in last year’s review that The Moody Blues were all but
broken up in name, with Justin and John at loggerheads about whether they ought
to continue the band after the sad death of drummer Graeme Edge. Now it’s a
fact and Justin’s released a second song to follow 2021’s ‘One Summer Day’, a
standalone song (without a B side this time) to further explain where his head
is at. Justin takes a ‘walk’ down memory lane, imagining that he can ‘feel’ his
old friend’s presence (though whether it’s Graeme or flautist Ray Thomas, who
died in 2018, he never specifies). Justin becomes nostalgic for the band’s
early days of ‘innocence’ and admits it won’t be long before he too gets to see
the next chapter, The Moody Blues ‘aligned’ in Heaven. The song ends there but
the hint is that this song is a riposte to John’s ‘The Sun Will Shine’ from
last year, saying that The Moody Blues have a ‘duty’ to their fans to play to
the bitter end; for Justin this is the bitter end right now, with only ghosts
to surround him on stage. There are some lovely ideas in this song – there’s a
great singalong chorus, some fan-pleasing references to old songs and albums
(The past is ‘the land where wildest dreams were found’ while the afterlife has
Justin ‘In days of future symphonies’) and Justin’s voice and guitar are
amazingly strong considering he turned 76 this year). Like last year’s single,
however, its lacking that little something extra to rank amongst Justin’s best
and just kind of ends despite the promise of the beginning starting out on a
‘journey’. Or maybe that’s because the journey is still ongoing after all,
despite what he says? </span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">11) Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds “We’re Gonna Get There In
the End”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘It’s
only a demo!’ said Noel defensively when he stuck this song up on his youtube
channel on new year’s eve last year (just past the cut-off point for the 2021 AAA
year review!) However ‘End’ is the best Noel song in nearly a decade, an actual
song for once with a melody and guitar work and optimistic lyrics and
everything we’ve been nagging him to do since the first solo album came out.
It’s clearly written ‘to’ a generation in a way that Noel hasn’t been since the
Knebworth days (perhaps the Oasis concert film reminded him of what he used to
do for a living?) and he addresses the last tricky couple of years it’s been
for everyone. Noel’s long been a covid and lockdown sceptic (though thankfully
a passing chat with his own doctor made him shut up a bit) and tells us ‘we’ve
spent too long inside – let’s take a walk outside’. Which is OK, as long as he
doesn’t go down the pub or anywhere indoors I guess. It’s a bouncy song about
how, even when life seems to be set on pause, you should hold on to your dreams
because things haven’t been cancelled, just delayed, and anything is possible
and risks are worth taking (because ‘life isn’t a trip you get to take twice’).
A bit hopeful given that we’re still deep in the midst of a pandemic, but this
is what songwriters like Noel were put on this Earth to make, songs that bring
us hope and shine a light in the darkness, not nonsense songs on one line or
messing about with scissors. It will sound great on stage if Noel ever makes it
to Knebworth again like his brother did this year. The song was pressed as a
blink-and-you’ll-miss-it exclusive vinyl release for record store day in April
with a far moodier yet similarly impressive B-side ‘Trying To Find A World
That’s Been And Gone’ attached. A tribute to wife Sarah, it’s the downside of
change when everything looks bleak and scary but how the narrator has been
through so many changes he ought to know by now who the constants in his world
are. It’s too short to make the full impact it needs to (the title lists it as
‘part one’ and it is indeed the sort of song that needs a ‘part two’), but
again it shows way more promise than 9/10ths of last album ‘Who Built The
Moon?’ Both Gallaghers on top songwriting form – this has been a cracking year
for Oasis fans! I mean, when did that last happen? 2010? 2005? 2002? Ever?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">12) Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds “Pretty Boy”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
bit less memorable but still evidence of an upswing, ‘Pretty Boy’ is the lead
single from Noel’s fourth post-Oasis record, to be released next year. Like
much of ‘Who Built The Moon?’ Noel seems to have forgotten how to write chord
changes and the song stays rigidly in the same place for nearly five minutes,
but there are some interesting sounds over the top this time and – at long long
last – some fiery guitar playing. The lyrics too are interesting, if you can
look past another ‘yeah yeah’ riff that’s been designed to be the song’s
central hook, a lyric that seems to be addressed to both brother Liam and a
‘fan’ perhaps standing in for all his other ones (possibly the fan in ‘Talk
Tonite’ who persuaded Oasis not to quit during Oasis’ first American tour when
they were right on the verge of fame). The bad news is that Noel’s absolutely
drawing a line in the sand here, refusing to go back to the olden days under
circumstances, asking either or both to ‘delete my number’ and taunting Liam to
‘get your head down pretty boy’ because Noel isn’t going to live off his Oasis
days the way he thinks his bro still is. There’s even a dig that Noel isn’t
going to change his mind despite being a Gemini, claiming that ‘I wanna change
my star sign ‘cause it don’t suit me’ – this songwriter is not for turning any
time soon. The good news is that, for the first time since the jazzier songs on
second album ‘Chasing Yesterdays’, Noel sounds as if he has a real bona fide
direction to go down at last instead of just making non-Oasis sounds his reason
for playing. A whole album of this stuff might get old quick, but if there are
another 9-12 songs that stretch out in other new directions without just copying
this one we might be onto something good here.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">13) Neil Young “Gateway Of Love”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most
of ‘Toast’ lands butter-side-up, but none more than this song. It’s a
fascinating surreal sprawl through Neil’s inner mind, as (like much of this
record and quite a few of the ones to come, it has to be said) he spends a song
rehearsing how to tell wife Pegi things are over. Neil wants to find the
perfect time, where he can speak ‘filled with need and filled with truth’, but
keeps darting backwards, telling us that no – he doesn’t really mean it, he’s
just a ‘drifting soul without too much to say’ (it might be worth noting that
‘Driftin’ Man’ is the name of the one fly in the ointment on ‘Harvest Moon’,
the track that’s not about love for Pegi – or children, or past friends, or
pets – and despite the sweet tone is actually about a stalker-murderer who
can’t be trusted). So Neil procrastinates as only he can, stretching out for
one lengthy guitar solo after another in between verses, before trying again.
Interestingly the last verse recalls ‘Wrecking Ball’, perhaps Neil’s earliest
song (‘Freedom’, 1989) about wanting to experience Heaven with a mysterious
‘other’ away from his marriage. Once again, though, Neil bucks the idea for now
and figures that even if Heaven is filled with the angels he senses in his
mind’s eye ‘I’d rather stay down here and try to love someone’. Note that word
‘try’ though; Neil still isn’t sure so sets off on yet another guitar solo
while he ponders all over again, more desperate than the last, as tight riffing
from the Horse’s rhythm section Billy and Ralph lock him into another box he
feels the need to escape from. Neil then sighs that he wishes life could be
just as easy as writing a song, that ‘I could wake up some day and the pain
would all be gone’ – but he knows it never will be until he finally makes up
his mind. So he sets off playing again, searching for an answer that never
quite arrives. This has everything that makes Neil and the Horse great: it’s
never fast or flashy but still sounds gloriously epic as the musicians have a
sixth sense when to play loose and when be tight, bouncing like a pinball along
with Neil’s indecision as he works out which of the two keys will best fit the
lock of his heart. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">14) John Entwistle “Back On The Road”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Ox is cooling his heels at home, all the passion and vibrancy of life on the
road gone, twiddling his thumbs while waiting for the call to get back on the
road again. Ironically though ‘all the world’s a stage and I am just a player’,
it’s when he’s inside his four walls at home that he feels a nobody and he’s
tired of sitting around being quiet when he could be standing on stage making
noise. He’s nobody without music, struggling to exist as a human being when
he’s so used to being a bass player, a sentiment many musicians surely agree
with. ‘Cut my strings’ he says, holding out his bass ‘and I fall down!’This is
far from the greatest song John ever wrote but there’s a pretty tune here and
some thoughtful words and in amongst the riff-heavy rockers of the 1990s this
tinkly piano ballad really shines out as a highlight. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">15) Pink Floyd/Andriy Khlyvnyuk “Hey Hey Rise Up!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the biggest news stories of the year was Russia’s unexpected invasion of
their neighbours Ukraine, a mere twenty years after his seemingly genuine
attempt to integrate Russia intop the modern world (remember him dancing to ‘Back
In The USSR’ in 2002 after Inviting Macca to Russia?) The invasion is either a noble
act to rid them of Nazi interference (according to the Ice Bear) or an attempt
to destroy a country that had successfully rid itself of the shackles of its
own empire as it sought to embrace democracy (according to the rest of us).
Whatever the flash cause behind it (Ambition? Greed? Fear over what a coalition
of countries might do to Russia if they gang up? Genuine but misguided attempt
to fight corruption? Putin has a terminal illness and is tired of waiting for
the empire he’s wanted for so long? Revenge for its athletes being made to
compete under a neutral name at the Olympics after a doping scandal? Russia
didn’t like how Ukraine voted in last year’s Eurovision?) the end result is a
dispute made worse by propaganda (theirs and ours) that came dangerously close
to being a world war and still yet might at the time of writing. I still firmly
believe that all that’s needed to solve this crisis is the assurance to Putin
that nobody is out to ‘get’ Russia and that all countries are free to join
NATO, including them and I’m still quite shocked that no one has given it yet.
Or – given the precedents in past history for this sort of thing – fully called
Russia’s bluff by agreeing to stand in unity with Ukraine en masse to kick them
out, rather than just hand out weapons. What should have beens are of no use to
a nation who have lost their homes, their livelihoods and in many cases their
lives, though, for yet another war that really didn’t need to be fought. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
of the stranger twists in an already unlikely story is the re-emergence of Pink
Floyd, eight years after we were told that definitively there would be no more
new music, ever (which is quite quick by their standards anyway!) Guitarist
David Gilmour’s daughter-in-law is Ukranian and she was moved by an a capella
piece of music Andriy, one of her favourite musicians, had recorded before
joining the Ukranian army. David was shocked that he recognised him (Andriy’s
band Boombox had supported Gilmour’s band in 2015) and how different he looked
in military fatigues. Wanting to do something practical to help the war effort
– and no doubt annoyed like the rest of us at how little was being done by the
people who actually had the power to intervene – David sought to finish the
track off for him, to help raise both money and publicity for the cause. Amdriy
was in hospital with a shrapnel wound when he got David’s request to overdub
the song and, rather bemusedly, gave his blessing. A quick phonecall to Nick
Mason resulted in some drum overdubs too, resulting in the first
started-from-scratch Pink Floyd song in twenty-eight years (plus Guy Pratt on
bass, his thirty-five year stint with the band now technically longer than
Roger Waters’). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only
of course it doesn’t sound much like Pink Floyd. That famous guitar sound is in
there of course and I’d recognise Nick’s drumming from a mile away too, but they’re
guests on ta song that isn’t theirs really. Out of context it’s really not much
of a song either – though based on the Ukranian anthem, written in 1914, it
sounds like the sort of thing doodled off backstage between gigs with the worst
excesses of the modern Floyd: it’s bombastic, OTT, has an unnecessary
collection of backing singers and was accompanied, on their official website,
by no less than six pieces of tie-in clothing, a tote bag and a fridge magnet. ‘Rise
Up’ is really not the sort of thing to make Floydian hearts a flutter and is
easily the weakest musical thing they’ve made since ‘A Momentary Lapse Of
Reason’ and yet somehow none of that matters. This is a band that have long
tried to do the right thing and give a voice to those in need and the single
did indeed do a lot of good and raise a lot of money. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of
course, a Pink Floyd release wouldn’t be a Pink Floyd release without some
controversy and Roger Waters has been making the news for heading in a
completely different direction, not only to his old band but pretty much
everyone that doesn’t have the surname Putin. Famously anti-war, his take on
the war is that Ukraine ought to give in to Russia’s demands pronto, at any
cost to their liberty. This has led to his live shows being blacklisted in
European countries and a lot of ragging on social media. To be fair, though,
there is some truth in Waters’ take on the war – at least the part that the war
is being extended by oligarchs the world over who are making money from it –
and his anti-war youtube videos (including moving correspondence with a
Ukranian fan who had been studying Roger’s lyrics at university and wanted his
advice, even if it wasn’t the advice she expected) feel more at one with the anti-war
spirit of the Floyd. You would have thought, though, that Roger had dealt with
enough megalomaniacs to see through this one though: if any leader of the 2020s
has a spot reserved in ‘The Fletcher Memorial Home’, the Floydian home for
incurable tyrants, then surely it’s mad Vlad.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b>Documentaries Of The Year:</b></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><b><br /></b></u></span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Liam Gallagher: 48 Hours at Rockfield<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not
the most in-depth documentary you’ll ever see but jolly good fun, as we follow
Liam and his increasingly bemused sons around preparing for a new album and
tour and a 50<sup>th</sup> birthday party bash at Mustique (the old Oasis
hang-out, where much of ‘Be Here Now’ was written, by the pool). ‘I’m still
dressing the way I did when I was twenty so no’ reflects Liam when asked whether
he feels any older, before pausing for a bit ‘Though I do make a terrible noise
now when I bend down to touch my shoelaces’. His sons Gene and Lennon find all
this hilarious and all but steal the documentary with their rolling eyes to
camera when Liam’s old mates talk about him being a ‘character’ or commenting
on their dad when he gets lost on holiday walking away from the camera ‘It’s
dementia kicking in – he still thinks it’s Knebworth!’ As for Liam he claims
that he’s looking after himself and is more professional now with age, though
he can’t resist quipping to camera ‘I still don’t do yoga or eat tofu though –
I’m not staying alive just to punish myself!’ You sense that the documentary
makers really want to know about how Liam made the new album, but other than
offering surprise that his solo career is going so well the singer isn’t in
nostalgic mood, instead looking forward to his upcoming party in September.
‘I’m going to get me mam down and have a big bash because I never had one for
me 21<sup>st</sup>’ says Liam, who was indeed busy with early Oasis back in
1993, with no reference to whether brother Noel gets an invite. Maybe he did, judging
by the philosophical tone of the new album, much of which was premiered here
but sadly don’t sound as grand on the stage as they did on record, though
judging by Noel’s songs he probably didn’t show up. However Liam’s band
positively spark on two old Oasis classics ‘Supersonic’ and ‘D’Yer Know What I
Mean?’, a song which even the original band struggled to pull off live. Equal
parts mad fer it and just plain mad, this documentary will never rank alongside
‘Lord Don’t Slow me Down’ or ‘Right Here, Right Now’ in Oasis fans’ affections
but it’s still worth a watch and a hilarious reminder that even the coolest
kids of their generation get laughed at as decaying has beens by the next. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“My Life As A Rolling Stone”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘I’m
tired of the old clichés and myths turning up in documentaries’ growled Mick
Jagger on the trailer to this four-part series, created to mark the Stones’ 60<sup>th</sup>
anniversary in July this year (although Bill and Charlie hadn’t actually joined
at this stage, something the documentaries always seem to gloss over – the
drummer in early 1962 was none other than Mick Avory and his next gig was
spending twenty years in The Kinks). Which was a particularly odd thing to say
given that, far more than ‘Crossfire Huricane’ (the documentary put together
for the Stones’ 50<sup>th</sup>) the clichés and myths were mostly what we got.
How did Brian Jones feel about not writing songs? Was the whole bad boy image
just a construct by Andrew Loog Oldham? How did you get sent to prison? How did
Altamont go so wrong? The only thing missing from documentaries like these were
the wives and girlfriends (by and large – Marianne gets mentioned in passing
and Shirley Watts gets to speak about Charlie).
What did work was interviewing the band separately, in four chunks
(sorry Bill!) giving more space to those who don’t normally get to speak. This
really worked well with the episode on Charlie, who spoke to us via previously
recorded interviews (even though, bizarrely, Sienna Miller’s voiceover referred
to him in the present tense – was it recorded before Charlie’s death and before
he was able to give an interview? If so that’s the wrong way round, surely!), anecdotes
from those around him and family and friends going through his impressive and
immaculately catalogued archives of drumkits, suits and even touring teasets.
There was some glorious footage of Charlie backstage too, rehearse-drumming to
jazz, in the only room on the Stones tour for snoozing not partying. Ronnie’s
episode, too, was an unexpected treat as we got more air time to discuss how he
kept the Stones together by being practically the only person who managed to
stay friendly with Mick and Keef in the 1980s and his own demons (when even
Keith Richards tells you to clean up your act, you know you’ve got a problem!)
However, by comparison Mick’s interview went nowhere new and Keith’s was a lot
less interesting than the ones he gave while plugging his autobiography a few
years back. Weirdly most of each documentary included bits of the other three
Stones talking too – not just about the Stone in the spotlight either, but the
‘era’ represented by each documentary (confusingly Keith’s spent most time
talking about the bands’ childhood and how the Stones met, even though it was
broadcast as episode two; Mick’s mostly concentrated on the 1960s heyday even
though it was first and Ronnie – episode three – took up the story from the
early 1970s, even though he only joined in 1977!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While
I sympathise with the need not to tell the same story four times over, this was
always going to be a flawed idea which by necessity took ‘one’ view of the
story as the ‘truth’: for instance, we never get to hear what Mick thought
about his old school chum Keith walking up to him and asking to see the blues
records tucked under his arm at that fateful train station where the glimmer
twins re-connected, or how Mick ‘n’ Keef thought Ronnie’s arrival changed their
playing and behaviour. Equally we don’t really hear Keith’s take on being
locked up by ‘the establishment’ (it’s one of the biggest differences in band
history – Mick’s moved on to the point of accepting a knighthood and Keith
still resents it bitterly), while Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and even Bill Wyman
– key players in the Stones story – barely get a mention, while Allen Klein and
‘Stu’ don’t even get that. Bizarre. The result was a documentary that felt as
if it didn’t have enough to fill four hours yet also barely scratched the
surface, as well as one that was so determined not to tell the same old story
it left key bits out, without really offering up anything that new in its
place. There was at least some great footage on show though, most of it in
Mick’s episode, of really early black and white stuff with a posh sounding Mick
trying to say that he’s not the antichrist, just a very naughty boy and
admitting that press conferences are a drag. Still not enough though given
tjhst we were promised ‘lots’; to be honest fans have seen 99% of this before
and anyone who didn’t know would have been so confused by the time-travelling
that they’re probably not even sure who Brian is or just when exactly the band
formed and why (as that part’s glossed over in seconds). Oh well; best of all
perhaps, this birthday bash gave the BBC the excuse to exhume some fascinating
archive live shows from 1995 (‘the ‘Totally Stripped’ docushow), 2003 (New
York) and 2011 (‘Sticky Fingers Live At The Fonda, L.A.), which did the talking
about why the Stones were at least one of the two greatest rock and roll bands
of their era far more than this documentary ever did. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Rolling With The Stones At Sixty”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
two hour radio special that was overshadowed by the all-singing, all-dancing,
multi-trailered TV one but which came out more or less the same. On the plus
side this show was thematic rather than ploughing through the chronology four
times over (so much so that we were still on flipping second single ‘I Wanna be
Your Man’ when we broke for the news halfway through!), we had full songs
rather than extracts including some key influences from Chuck Berry and Muddy
Waters and best of all we had Bill Wyman back. As usual he remembered more than
the other Stones combined and was a lot more fun in his choice of anecdotes
too! What you didn’t get – even compared to the TV version - was any sense of
why the Stones mattered, why they sold so many records and why, so many ‘bad
boys’ later, the establishment was genuinely scared that of all the rebels out
there down the years the Stones had the power to tear them down. Some of the
song choices were odd too to say the least: ‘Bright Lights Big City’? ‘C’mon’?
When you only have time to play maybe eight actual Stones songs they need to be
chosen with more care. Once again there was very little on Brian and even less
on Mick Taylor, though we got oodles of Ronnie across the whole story, even
though he didn’t become a full time member until flipping 1978! Still, even if
this documentary rehashed a few stories and gathered more than its share of
moss along the way, it was a welcome addition to the Stones archives and made
more sense than the TV one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Crazy Horse - A Band A Brotherhood A Barn”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘With
Neil I just anticipate learning…’ This seventy-five minute documentary,
screened in cinemas in 2021 but available on Neil Young’s youtube channel from
Janaury this year and apparently released on blu-ray though I can’t find it
anywhere, follows Crazy Horse recording their second album together since Nils
Lofgren joined/rejoined the band (i.e. he played with them on their debut album
in 1971 after Neil introduced them, but Neil himself wasn’t there; he was on
‘Tonight’s The Night’ in 1973 though, after and indeed about Danny and before
Frank joined the group). This time the Horse are – rather fittingly - in a barn
recording a new album under a full moon and Neil’s new wife actress Daryl
Hannah brought a camera along to film them. The bad news is that it’s not *that*
barn (the famous one on Neil’s Broken Arrow ranch where so many of his old
classics were made; this one is a renovated 19<sup>th</sup> Century one in
Colorado), it’s not *that* moon (it must be a ‘Strawberry Moon’ as Ralph Molina
celebrates his birthday during the sessions and he’s a Gemini – a Harvest Moon
is in September) and Daryl doesn’t seem to have brought an editor along with
her. So what we get isn’t really a concert or a documentary but Crazy Horse
playing, without context, over and over again with fluffs and jokes and
comments from the engineer between songs. Which isn’t as exciting as it sounds:
most recording sessions are made up of waiting in between the magic and this
one hasn’t taken much of that waiting out. Given how ‘Barn’ was one of Neil’s
sleepier, more rambling albums anyway it doesn’t exactly make for dynamic
viewing and the biggest ‘drama’ here is whether the band are going to remember
all the chords (and, y’know, this is Crazy Horse, so the answer’s probably no).
This would be better if we just had the songs back to back– the discussions of
technical points with the engineers quickly become wearing, while the
repetitive lengthy cutaway shots of the outside of the barn made me feel more
like a battery hen than a loving fan. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
said, the best parts of this documentary are unmissable: the chance to see
album highlight ‘Welcome Back’ suddenly spontaneously come together with the
Horse improvising and watching each other like hawks is mesmerising (and really
does feel like the pay-off for sitting through the first fifty-five minutes to
get there) and the moment half an hour into the film when the Horse take a
coffee break and start reminiscing about touring ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and how
it shaped their collective philosophies on playing live is delightful (Nils: ‘I
remember the part we played…’ Neil: ‘On the other hand you could just ask ‘what
did I do there? And make it up again’ Nils: ‘I’ve been doing that since I came
here!’) In terms of Neil Young
concert-documentaries it’s no ‘Year Of The Horse’ (1998) never mind ‘Muddy
Track’ (the 1987 Horse concert film that still hasn’t been officially released
yet) ‘Weld’ (1991) or ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ (1980) and Billy and Ralph are all
but mute, but I’m glad it was made, I’m glad Neil is still making music like
this and I’m very glad to see him back with the Horse, even with Frank Sampedro
missing. Now if only Daryl can hang around to film the making of a brilliant
album rather than a patchy one I’ll be happy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b><u><span style="font-size: x-large;">DVDs Of The Year:</span></u></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><b><u><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></u></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><v:shape fillcolor="black" id="_x0000_i1029" style="height: 71.25pt; width: 451.5pt;" type="#_x0000_t172">
<v:shadow color="#868686">
<v:textpath fitpath="t" string="THE DVDS OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black"; v-text-kern: t;" trim="t">
</v:textpath></v:shadow></v:shape></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; text-align: center; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Black";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Arial Black","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Monkees “Live Summer Tour ‘01”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Amazingly,
this is the only officially sanctioned live Monkees concert that you can
actually see as opposed to just hear. I say ‘amazing’ because, by Monkees
standards, it’s probably the least known or regarded tour they did on their
many ‘comebacks’. Sandwiched between the ‘JustUs’ one of 1996 (with Nez back in
the band and a new bona fide record to plug) and 2011 (when it seemed we might
never see any of the band together again), this one with trio of primates rather gets lost. It was a
sort of running joke between The Monkees that a different one in the band would
put them back together and be ‘in charge’ of proceedings next time. This tour
was Peter Tork’s baby and it shows in good ways and bad. The jokes fall flat
(‘Who the hell was that?’ ‘Get me a Prozac and gin malt!’), many of the
arrangements go back to basics and the touring group is, with all respect, a
pub band made up of mates that got lucky rather than the crack-team one of the
biggest groups of their day deserved. However the setlist is fabulous – not
just the obvious songs but real rarities the band never did again like
unreleased single ‘The Girl I Knew Somewhere’, flop single ‘It’s Nice To Be
With You’, reunion song ‘That Was Then, This Is Now’, ‘Your Auntie Grizelda’
(!) and no less than four songs from feature film ‘Head’ (an album which only
ever had six songs to begin with!) The Monkees even revive their ‘solo turns’,
an idea leftover from their original 1966-67 tour, with Peter’s banjo-led cover
of ‘Higher and Higher’ a highlight alongside Micky doing show tune ‘If I Fell
For You’ and Davy doing whatever the heck genre ‘Is You is Or Is You Ain’t My
Baby?’ comes under. It’s the sort of
show to make forgiving fans weak at the knees and non-fans blush, full of
strained notes, missed cues, awful patter and big ideas. Even though the DVD
was plenty long enough at an hour to be honest, 1000 copies of the full two
hour show was released at the time and it’s that uncut edition which has been
given a ‘full’ release for the first time (the highlights DVD having never gone
out of print). Now that the sad loss of Davy, Peter and Mike in what seemed
like horribly quick succession the past ten years means that we’re probably
never going to get a sequel (though watch this space for the ‘Mike and Micky
Present’ shows from last year, which will surely get a release at some stage),
which makes this show more special than it seemed at the time when we were just
waiting for a better one. This full version is better, mostly because of those
rarer songs from ‘Head’ and extra Tork - though you also get extra talk, none
of which is any funnier (odd that, given how much fun almost every other Monkee
tour was). Whether it’s better enough to fork out for all over again is between
you and your bank balance, but if you missed it the first time and you’re
prepared to accept that this the band at a (relatively) low ebb rather than on
top form, then this is the way to buy the show. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And that’s that for another year dear readers.
Thankyou for keeping me company for another twelve months. World crisis
allowing I’ll see you in 2023 when we are promised a new Rolling Stones studio
album (their first of new material in over a decade!), another Crosby studio set,
Lindisfarne at the BBC and no doubt another 27 Neil Youngs. A very happy
holidays and a musical new year to you all!<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-7697668155141891572022-11-27T16:03:00.005-08:002022-11-27T16:03:48.027-08:00Kindred Spirits - Ensconce<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"> The fourth (stand-alone) volume of Kindred Spirits is now available!</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life isn't easy when you're 10. Especially when you're an orphan on a new planet with alien classmates, a psychopathic teacher, the intergalactic space olympics is taking place for the first time and the universe is addicted to the red weed that killed your family.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cb7e91CtWlPgND9BrDCIJOU_nskHFXpMUZI5LtzxX6-2PmxYvUiJUI-72hiB6P9ch9GVpTCt5RyFCl-jPVd4R_PN_XymYbE0hIhMPfnFPkkrhcWtvpchDMnnJTP00Gc1t9re1F9eMcU1ClNpIxmQRrxqxpXu8SOvzprKB42G4gEN_3LgKA5dQfs7/s2245/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7cb7e91CtWlPgND9BrDCIJOU_nskHFXpMUZI5LtzxX6-2PmxYvUiJUI-72hiB6P9ch9GVpTCt5RyFCl-jPVd4R_PN_XymYbE0hIhMPfnFPkkrhcWtvpchDMnnJTP00Gc1t9re1F9eMcU1ClNpIxmQRrxqxpXu8SOvzprKB42G4gEN_3LgKA5dQfs7/w452-h640/4.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="a-text-bold" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 700 !important; text-align: start;">Swallows and Amazons. With eleven species unsupervised in interstellar space.</span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A hundred years on from ‘Province’ and peace feels much easier. Even The Agrosians have become less aggressive. Well, slightly. The discovery of red weed, a new substance mined from all eleven inhabited planets, by unscrupulous adults spells bad news though – for the universe in general but specifically for the group of eleven children who have been sent to a new international school on Orpheus. They all seem to have something wrong with them, but not everything was meant to be cured and some things can never be, certainly not with red weed. New girl Robin fears her dyspraxia will stop her getting any friends, but when her friends are an introvert invertebrate Camalosian who never speaks, an insecure Belobrat, a cynical Habridat, a Glabdiharbit with multiple phobias, a Doosbury Giant with an eating disorder, a polite Agrosian, a co-dependent Clandusprod, an unbeliever Mrasianart, a Maggrumph bully and a Mekkion who keeps blowing emotional fuses she feels less out of place than she did on Earth. Though their teachers want to keep them enclosed in their Great Hall the children want to explore the universe, starting with the first ever International Games that’s just taking place on Decreeta. Will the children learn to get along? Can they trust any of the adults who seem to get stranger every day? Who will listen to them if they can find out what’s going on? Will they survive corruption, shuttle-flights, ice planets, burning buildings, bombs, pyramid sellers, Doosbury Operas, their own teachers and the scariness of approaching adulthood in one piece? More than just another novel, ‘Ensconce’ is yet another mad house, a love song to childhood and the hope that one day if adults actually stopped moaning and listened to their off-spring then it might just save us all.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Available to buy on all planets as a<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMT2P1CY" target="_blank"> paperback</a> or an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNG2T94M/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">e-book</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #eefff9; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz </span><a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/2021/05/twke-our-kindred-spirits-quiz-and-find.html" style="background-color: #eefff9; color: #009933; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a></div><br /><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-486007557599154002022-05-10T02:09:00.003-07:002022-05-10T02:13:09.191-07:00Kindred Spirits - Province<p style="text-align: center;"> <b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">The third volume of 'Kindred Spirits' 'Province' is now for sale!</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. With ten sets of friendly aliens and one ferocious enemy from outside the known universe</span><br /><br /></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;">A hundred years on from ‘Insurgence’ and Humrasianart Eleron is the new president of The Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He should be happy – he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe where nothing has gone wrong for years. However, the newly terraformed planet Decreeta is more likely to induce war in Eleron and his colleagues. That’s especially true when a new breed of species named Agrosians from the unknown side of the universe come across an Earth shuttle with a mysterious disc full of music and quickly turns his plans for peace and diplomacy upside down. Only a race against time around the ten existing planets and enlisting their co-operation stands between the newly formed peace organisation and the Agrosians ruled by their merciless Queen Calixta enslaving our half of the universe. Will everyone learn to work together in time? Just what is the mysterious Belobrat ex-head of the IPO up to? Will Eleron get to rescue his Mrasianbrat wife? Will his military general stop squeaking and come out from under his desk? Will Eleron be able to file his copy of Kinks album 'Preservation' in the Intergalactic Peace Library? Will vice-president Horace ever wake up and do some work?!? And if Eleron gets back home will things ever be the same for him again? More than just another novel, ‘Province’ is a mad house, a love song to the act of, erm, politics (what?!?) and a hope that one day it might just save us all.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVGIzShTLnXxdxXvcY2bj2KnzGIIlNho3LwJ_EhZwPOU6VXkD7LaYXN1ND3MRIeFzuGG_G-OTvIuE_PcoH9Kc4cDnp7koV07WDmqBifI62on9zrYETFPxJ_vhVCQ2ZnNdPP3eWDqKb-WdyQx0PJp-hcJfpNctgA2pTDNKJBthWObFtabIEvs0T-1UZA/s2245/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2245" data-original-width="1587" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOVGIzShTLnXxdxXvcY2bj2KnzGIIlNho3LwJ_EhZwPOU6VXkD7LaYXN1ND3MRIeFzuGG_G-OTvIuE_PcoH9Kc4cDnp7koV07WDmqBifI62on9zrYETFPxJ_vhVCQ2ZnNdPP3eWDqKb-WdyQx0PJp-hcJfpNctgA2pTDNKJBthWObFtabIEvs0T-1UZA/w452-h640/3.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Available to buy on all planets as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZH42WYV/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">paperback</a> or an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZVR7LD3/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">e-book</a></span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz <a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/2021/05/twke-our-kindred-spirits-quiz-and-find.html">here</a></span></span></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-59411953812995976492021-12-11T23:44:00.005-08:002022-01-19T22:54:16.537-08:00The Alan's Album Archives Review Of The Year 2021<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSPrDvXLo8ZGOxUOZA95qR8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, that was a strange year wasn’t it
dear readers? Depending where in the world you live this has either been the
year when things got back to normal, the year when the bad things everyone else
was experiencing in 2020 came to your continent or the year when things were
already impossible but your own government made everything a million times
worse through incompetence (thanks Boris Johnson!) Being immune-compromised means
I’ve been outside maybe twenty times in total the entire year and only twice in
another building, outside my home, for my vaccines (not even the Oasis and
Beatle documentaries in the cinemas are worth risking my life for, boo hoo) and
yet somehow I still managed to get really ill and catch a gut infection that
knocked my m.e. sideways (all because our government loves herd immunity against
all scientific advice, thanks Boris, you numpty!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Musically it’s been on the one hand a
happy year with several releases we all thought at one point last year we
wouldn’t live long enough to see (is this the year global warming became
untenable? If so, bloody great, thanks Boris Johnson you nitwit!) and a whole
pile of glorious box sets, many 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary sets delayed from
last year, with a bumper crop in the re-issues column this year, the top seven
of whom could all easily have been #1 in other years. In other ways it’s been a
sad year, with a series of new albums best described as tepid, not to mention
the undying horror that this year’s UK #1 might well be the biggest crime
against humanity since The Spice Girls (a collaboration between Elton John and
Ed Sheeran. I can’t find a way to blame for that yet, Boris, but I bet you like
it anyway you sagging bean-bag of a man). This has been an especially tough
year for those musicians we lost, drummers Charlie Watts and Graeme Edge and
guitarist Mike Nesmith all going up to that great gig in the sky. Not to
mention the continued shafting of the arts with something like 70% of the
musicians and staff working in 2019 now in different jobs or unemployed (thanks
Boris you absolute plonker!) and the continued death of new music in the charts
generally (seriously, the news has all been Ed Sheeran this and Adele that,
with The Spice Girls’ 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary somehow dominating the year
despite the fact none of them actually did anything for it – if ever there was
a sign that we were approaching the end of days it’s the celebration of the
four singing horsemen of the apocalypse, plus a spare, getting newspaper inches
all over again; I can’t really blame all that on Boris Johnson but I bet he
didn’t help either, the ultra-maroon). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Will we ever see an end to this and get
back to normal? Will this be a three-year pandemic like the 1918-1920 one? Will
it instead go on for years while our governments keep messing up over and over
again? Will it ever actually be safe enough to leave my house and visit a
record shop instead of buying things online and making my postman grumpy? Will
global warming and extreme weather get us anyway if covid doesn’t? Or will my
record collection implode on top of me anyway before we even get that far? Will
Boris prove to be even more insane and unstable and hold ever more
life-threatening parties in 2022? Your guess is as good as mine. All I can do
is wish you a happy Christmas and a survivable new year and hope we’re all back
here at the same time in 2022, whatever is thrown at us in between dear reader
(especially if Boris somehow gets to keep his job – the big-headed twonk!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In other news, in between long bouts of
illness I’ve been busy scribbling as part of my sabbatical from writing about
music. I’ve written two new sci-fi-come-romance-via-philosophy-with-a-hint-of-music
novels in lockdown and started a third; you can buy volumes one and two of
‘Kindred Spirits’ ( </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0948LGQF5" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">'Endurance'</a><span face=""Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;">featuring two lonely aliens and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KN2LCKV" target="_blank">'Insurgence'</a>‘,
featuring the Intergalactic Song Contest) in e-book or paperback formats now
and find out how the ten alien entities who starred in the AAA ‘April Fool’s
Day’ columns first met humanity, with a few musical references along the way
because, well, it’s me. There should eventually be eight of the things
chronicling the next 500-1000 years of the future with all your Clandusprod and
Mrasianart and Belobrat favourites and even (in ‘Insurgence’) the world’s first
Intergalactic Peace Orchestra (and, yes, they do get to play two AAA songs as
well as ten others you won’t know. Unless you’re an alien. Like Boris). Right,
enough of me – on with our guide to everything 2021. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Update: Almost all of these reviews were
written throughout the year up to last week, when the only one I was waiting
for was the release of Neil’s album ‘Barn’, which arrived characteristically
late on December the tenth. Traditionally everything out for a year review is
out by September anyway. However in the past week we’ve also lost a Monkee and
gained a Kinks radio drama rehash of a youtube video and goodness only knows
what else. Rather than re-write flipping everything keep your eyes peeled for
some addendums here and there. Sheesh, you take two days off and everything
happens…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>(New Releases Of The Year: Best
to Worst)</b></span><span face="Impact, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Oasis “Knebworth”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘This is history! Right here, right now,
this is history!’ This year’s review is bookended by the same gig, a longtime
bootleg favourite that’s – gulp – already half as old as the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary
box sets coming up on this list. I have happy memories of being popular for a
whole week in high school for having taped the whole thing off the radio and
lending it round the class because nobody else had heard it and suddenly Oasis
were everywhere that Autumn. Sadly my old cassette got eaten up years ago, so
this release of both the Saturday and Sunday shows have been long waited for.
The documentary-concert DVD (see below) is nice to have and may well be the best
way to own this show, but the fact that this is one of only two full-length
Oasis concerts officially available on CD (the other, ‘Familiar To Millions’,
in truth a composite of various shows from the 2000 tour edited to sound like
one full-length show) makes the soundtrack album particularly special. Liam is
on top form, spilling his rock and roll guts out for the crowd, while Noel is
not yet so disillusioned he’s stopped being mad fer it. Against the odds the
rest of the band play brilliantly to their biggest crowd too (250,000 people
over two days beating a Paul McCartney British record – it’s currently held by
The Rolling Stones), making you wish that Bonehead, Guigsy and Whitey had hung
around for so much longer (two of them split during the making of the next
record ‘Be Here Now’), especially Bonehead’s whose rhythm guitar parts are on
fire here. Oasis studio records already had plenty of whallop but these
concerts sound like a battleground, full of staccato guitar fire and a lead
vocalist’s tonsils that seem to be permanently ablaze, the difference between
seeing an animal in the wild and in a zoo. Yet given the epicness of the
setting it’s sometimes forgotten what a surprisingly intimate performance this
one is, with Liam never more pained and emotional singing deeper band classics
like ‘Slide Away’ than he is here, while the rest of the band sound as if
they’re in a boxing ring compared to the chess game of the studio version.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mostly though it’s a joyous show, with
Liam’s sneer ‘you gotta make it ‘appen!’ never having more resonance for a
generation than here on songs the band haven’t got sick of playing yet
(‘Wonderwall’ is especially bouncy when played back-to-back with any version
from any later tours). The full orchestra backing and harmonica Mark Feltham
playing with the band really helps too, giving an extra texture and flavour to
the familiar wall of noise, something Oasis never chose to do again much on the
road (the MTV Unplugged show with Noel singing aside). Listen out too for Noel
singing wildly different harmony parts across the night, as if he’s trying his
hardest to sound different to the records, even while the rest of Oasis sound
impressively close to the real thing considering they’re playing live in front
of such a big crowd with all the fright and overwhelmingness that entails. The
result is fabulous and shows no sign of aging, just as the best gigs from the
1950s, 60s, 70s and 80 don’t either and as much of a time capsule in its own
way as ‘Monterey’ or ‘Woodstock’. This is special and a release we’ve been
calling the band to put out for years so it was always going to be #1 in this
list. It was our generation’s Woodstock, as Liam puts it during the trail for
the DVD, a point in time people of a certain age never found again, an epoch of
being in the right place at the right time. Now I understand what people meant
when they said certain shows reminded them of their youth within hearing a
single note – this is the soundtrack to mine and it’s never sounded better. I
may well have to get back in touch with my old classmates to send them a copy
of it and be popular all over again – it only happens about once a quarter
century after all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Grateful Dead “Dick’s
Picks Volume 38”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘When all the years combine they melt
into a dream…’ The Dead’s archive bus has been unusually quiet this year – by
their standards anyway – with only five sets released this year (sometimes it’s
fourteen or fifteen!) This one’s rather good though, a cracking little set from
Nassau, New York taped on September 8<sup>th</sup> 1973, the period when the
quiet mellow highlight of the band’s catalogue ‘Wake Of The Flood’ was brand
new. There’s even an ultra-rare performance of Keith Godchaux’s one and only
vocal showpiece for the band ‘Let Me Sing Your Blues Away’ from that record,
which if I’m right is this song’s first ever live appearance in the
250-and-counting archive Dead sets out there. In fact it’s a good show for
Keith all round, his lovely rolling melodic piano really to the fore in this
set, adding a more flowing flavour to these familiar songs without the
stodginess that sometimes creeps into the Dead’s sets around now. Like many a
Dead show this one starts off rocky (’Bertha’ nearly falls over as any times as
the studio-cooling fan it was named after) but gets considerably better as it
goes along and the band slow the tempo down, with a particularly gorgeous ‘Jack
Straw’, a hauntingly fragile ‘China Doll’ (a year before release on ‘From The
Mars Hotel’) and an achingly beautiful ‘Stella Blue’ (even if, in typical Dead
fashion, it somehow ends up in a medley with a raucous ‘One More Saturday
Night’!) We also get two of the ‘middle’ songs from the show played at the same
venue the night before as bonus tracks to fill out discs two and three which
bode well if they ever release that show complete too: a surprisingly jazzy
‘Bird Song’ and an epic eighteen-minute fly through a particularly punchy
‘Playin’ In The Band’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Other Dead releases out this year
include Dave’s Picks volume thirty-seven (another of the many so-so sets from
1978, this time in a Virginian college best hearing for passionate opener
‘Mississippi Half-step where Jerry sounds positively haunted and possibly a
little drunk, but pulls off some exquisite guitar solos), Dave’s Picks Volume
thirty-nine (a show from Philadelphia in April 1983 full of some real set
curios like Brent’s ‘Maybe you Know’ and Bob’s ‘Little Star’, but with Garcia
already audibly slowing down ahead of his 1986 coma), Dave’s Picks volume forty
(an ambitious show from July 18<sup>th</sup>-19<sup>th</sup> 1990, merely a
week before keyboardist Brent Mydland died of an overdose, that’s arguably the
best archive release from the 1990s yet from the small handful out there, best
at the start with a thrilling ‘Help > Slipknot > Tower’ trilogy, though
Jerry is already struggling heavily vocally just five years before his own
death) and ‘Listen To The River’ (a nice but repetitive collection of seven
shows the Dead played in St Louis between 1971 and 1973 highlighted by an
aching ‘Brokedown Palace’ from 1972 and Pig on particularly great form in the
opening show).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">3) Small Faces Live 1966<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed
Looooooooooooviiiiiiiing!!!!’ Here’s a bit of long lost treasure! A very early
performance by an ever-so-young Small Faces at Belgium’s ‘The Twenty Club’ on
January 9<sup>th</sup> 1966, back when they were still a soulful teenage covers
band trying to get signed by someone, anyone and when they still had original
keyboard player (and future Dr Who actor) Jimmy Winston in the band and very
much competing with Steve Marriott for control. If you only know the Face’s
‘Immediate’ hits (in both senses of the word) then you might not even recognise
this as the same group at times; Steve Marriott is audibly drenched in sweat as
he tries to channel his inner James Brown, while the extended band workouts (mostly
on songs that will end up on the eponymous first album for Decca, but played
way way longer to fill up time) are more like Barrett-era Pink Floyd than
‘Itchycoo Park’. There are some songs the band dropped by the wayside too,
including such unlikely covers as Allen Touissant’s 1960 hit ‘Ooh Pah Pah Doo’
and James Brown’s ‘Please Please Please’. Neither quite sound like they fit The
Small Faces’ style to be honest, but it’s fascinating to hear what else the
band were playing in their early days and it’s great to hear a live document
from the band’s first few months together (till now the only gig in wide
circulation is one of their last, from 1968, when they sound so different it’s
hard to believe they’re the same band thirty months apart). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alas, though, the sound is badly
muffled, to the point where it’s a struggle to work out what’s happening much
at all, while the fact that we’ve got two short-ish sets from the same day
means there are one heck of a lot of repeats here. Still, it’s a thrill to hear
the likes of Marriott pouring everything he’s got into ‘You Need Loving’, while
Lane, Jones and Winston play hard and heavy for what seems like hours behind
him. You may be interested to know that even though this set has been around
for a while (in even muddier bootleg sound) Kenney Jones (now alas the band’s
last surviving member) officially released this set through his own label
‘Nice’ (as in ‘Here Comes The…’) and has signed a number of the vinyl releases
to help promote it. Thankfully there are CD and download releases available too
for those of us trying to keep up with the endless stream of box sets out this
year. I wonder what other gems he’s got
waiting for release?!? Suddenly the Small Faces’ mini-catalogue doesn’t look as
tiny as it used to a few decades ago…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo17; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil Young and Crazy
Horse “Barn”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The horse’s gait in the rhythm I feel
somehow and the melody I play’ ‘Well, the jury is out…’ If I’ve learnt one
thing during my time as a Neil Young collector it’s not to be surprised by
anything he does anymore, but what’s most surprising about ‘Barn’ - Neil’s
first album of new music in two years, a long time for him - is how
unsurprising it is. In an era when lockdown has made so many musicians go
inward and record solo, it really does seem a surprise that Neil has pretty
much done just that. He is admittedly reunited with the new-look Crazy Horse as
on last album ‘Colorado’ (with the brilliant Nils Lofgren replacing the retired
Frank Sampedro again) but the band are washes of colour rather than the primal
neons of old on what is primarily an acoustic album, with a couple of heavy
rock numbers thrown in. Even that’s surprising in its unsurprising-ness by the
way: never ever has Neil recorded two studio albums of new material back to back
with the exact same line-up before and he’s made 60 records and counting now.
Neil’s albums are slowly becoming simpler with this new phase of his life. His
last album was titled ‘Colorado’ after the state where Neil moved with new wife
Darryl Hannah and this one is called ‘Barn’ after the restored barn it was
recorded in. To Crazy Horse fans of course there can only be one true barn –
the one on Neil’s ‘Broken Arrow’ ranch where he once recorded ‘Ragged Glory’
among other albums. Though that barn could be seen from Neil’s house and yet
inspired recordings of whole new worlds, Aztec empires and hurricanes,
interestingly it’s this one located up a hill that seems to have inspired a more
homespun feel; the record contains a slower, cosier world where we don’t look
at the outside world that much. Practically every song here is a love piece to
Darryl, Neil perhaps relieved to be singing openly about her at last after so
many albums of keeping his love hidden during his marriage to wife Pegi, while
the outside world only appears at key moments across the album, whistling past
the barn’s windows. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you get nothing else from ‘Barn’ you
get the sense that Neil is at peace with himself, his legacy and his life the
way it is, which is great for those who’ve been following his rollercoaster
story for so long but not so good for his music. ‘Colorado’ was a mixed bag but
the best of it felt focussed and punchy, Neil’s new life giving him a certainty
and structure, with actual singalong choruses and everything. ‘Barn’ is a lot
more free-form, with notes seemingly plucked out of the air and lengthy
instrumental passages that clearly haven’t been rehearsed (at least given by
the clips released from this album’s moody accompanying documentary film also
called ‘Barn’, due in shops on Blu-Ray soon. The bits of footage we’ve seen
suggest it’s the sort of rambling documentary only a fan could love – or indeed
tolerate).Some fans have already compared ‘Barn’ to ‘On The Beach’, another free-expressionism
album written and recorded during a time of great disaster, but that record
felt like one that had a lot to say even if turning those thoughts into songs
sounded like hard work. On ‘Barn’ there’s just nothing much going on in thought
or execution. In fact some of this album’s lyrics border on the twee and empty,
unusual territory for Young who a few years ago could record his shopping list
and make it sound full of meaning: the opening track simply describes what Neil
can see out the barn window – you keep waiting for a moment where the falling
leaves and rippling water end up as metaphors for something bigger but no,
Neil’s turned into a meteorologist for a whole song. The closing track parrots
‘don’t forget love’ so many times and so insistently you wonder if Neil’s
suddenly developed dementia in the time it took to start recording it. Even in
between there are lyrics recycled from old songs (‘Ten Men Workin’) lyrics that
are uncharacteristically clunky (‘Shape Of You’ rhymes ‘better’ with ‘favourite
sweater’) or songs that sound as if they were written on the spot to give the
Horse something to record (‘They Might Be Lost’ starts off as if it’s going to
be an exciting diatribe about the times we live in, but no – Neil’s Amazon
delivery got delayed, that’s all. That’s what happens when you move to halfway
up a mountain, Neil). Mind you, the album’s one big political statement ‘Human
Race’ isn’t much better, Neil wondering how future generations will feel about
this one, the ‘children of destiny’ who found the change needed to keep the world
alive too hard and so gave up. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine Band Aid
discussing as a sequel to ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ before dismissing as
being too cliched. The album’s biggest problem is melody though: searching for
a memorable tune on ‘Barn’ is like looking for a needle in a haystack, with
this album possessing more noodles than my local Chinese takeaway. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When this album looks back to the past,
though, it all comes together. ‘Heading West’ matches the autobiographical
tracks on 2012’s ‘Psychedelic Pill’ a storming, compact rocker about Neil’s
childhood memories before his parents’ divorce and his polio attack, reaching
back further than ever before. In the haze of this free-form album its electric
boogie storms out the speakers even more than normal, as the Horse finally
break into a carefree gallop that still sounds amazing. ‘Canerican’ sounds slow
and plodding, but the lyrics are fascinating with Neil celebrating the country
of his birth and the country of his adopted homeland and being equally proud to
be both, even if he ends with the word ‘American’. National pride has ebbed and
flowed throughout Neil’s career and never got lower than it did under Trump,
but now Neil is back to seeing the good things about his new home again. ‘Tumblin’
Thru The Years’ is a sort of elder man’s ‘Journey Thru The Past’, an
ever-changing song that seems to keep switching track between parallel lives
that might have been lived and parallel tunes that might have been written to
house these words. Though it sounds at first to be as aimless as 9/10ths of
this record, it’s the album’s slow grower that becomes more epic every time you
hear it. Finally there is ‘Welcome Back’, an eight-and-a-half minute ramble
that ebbs and flows with true Horse beauty and even though Neil promises that
this is ‘an old song…one you’ve heard before’, we’ve never quite had a track
like this one ever, a whisper so fragile you feel it’s about to break down a
few seconds in but somehow keeps going and going. It’s the one track here to
address what’s going on outside the barn-door, how ‘the world has closed us in’
and Neil’s hope that we might yet get something positive from such a turbulent
time and ‘changes’ to our behaviour (with the caveat that we might not). Later
on there’s a very Neil verse about how technology might be our escape or our
prison warden depending how we use it, the human race caught right on the edge
between evolving and devolving. Neil’s on the fence between optimism and
pessimism throughout the song, as Nils Lofgren – one of life’s most naturally
‘up’ people – keeps asking happy questions of Neil’s mournful guitar licks, the
two circling each other like serpents eating their own tail in a never-ending
dance of the human condition. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like ‘Colorado’ Nils is the quiet hero
of this record, sublime on second guitar piano or accordion and his promotion
to the Horse after poor Frank caught his fingers in the Horse tour-bus a few
years ago is inspired. I just hope the next record makes more use of him and
Billy and Ralph if Neil decides he’s going to stick with the Horse from now on,
as at times across ‘Barn’ it feels like we’re listening to the rehearsals not
the record. Sadly much of ‘Barn’ sounds like one of those Horse records Neil
decided to make on the hoof, before he knows what these songs are really about
yet never mind his bandmates. Long passages of this album simply meander in
search of a direction that never comes and, whilst that’s not unheard of on
recent Neil Young albums, usually that happens for a few tracks at a time. Here
even the best tracks (barring ‘Heading West’) are meandering too, leading to an
album that’s more of a hard day’s work on the farm to sit through than a second
Harvest. It marks, | fear, a bit of a step backwards from the last proper run
which were all unsung heroes of the Young catalogue and which I’ve praised
highly on the AAA, much to the confusion of some fans who gave up long ago
(‘The Monsanto Years’ ‘Storytone’ ‘The Visitor’ ‘Peace Trail’ and ‘Colorado’
were all really good albums to these ears, even if the fan base didn’t seem to
like them too much or buy too many copies of them). ‘Barn’ though feels more
like a stepping stone made to fill in the time till something more interesting
comes along and to save Neil having to walk down the mountain and go home to
the washing up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l17 level1 lfo17; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">David Crosby “For Free”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘I
start walking towards that sound again’. There are so many David Crosbys that I
love, many of which are in the re-issue section of this year’s review: the jazz
chordal free-form pioneer of ‘Déjà vu’, the beautiful balladeer of
‘Guinnevere’, the all-out rock anger of ‘Almost Cut My Hair’, the exquisite
philosopher of ‘Laughing’ – over nearly sixty years of music-making I don’t
think any songwriter has made me think or cry or smile as often and as hard as
Croz. Unfortunately there’s one other David Crosby that feels opposite to all
these things; the lush emotionless mathematical one inspired by his favourite
band Steely Dan and first explored in the 2014 album ‘Croz’. And alas, on David’s
fifth album in seven years, that’s all we get: bland anti-sceptic recordings
apparently inspired by the first song recorded for the set, an actual
collaboration with Dan’s Donald Fagen. Croz has had a fairly tough time of it
lately, with the pandemic cutting off his access to touring money and streaming
cutting off a majority of his access to song royalties, hence perhaps the
sarcastic title (taken from Crosby’s third and weakest cover of his favourite
Joni Mitchell song). So it’s perhaps not quite so much of a shock to hear him
sound like everybody else around nowadays on a record fifth studio album in
seven years, with no sense of emotion or dynamics to disturb the MOR balance.
It is, regretfully, his dullest and least interesting album in many ways or at
any rate definitely less worth hearing than his last three. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Underneath
the surface, however, there is thankfully a much more interesting album going
on and particularly in the lyrics than the one you’ll take away on first
hearing. ‘I Think I’ is Crosby turning eighty and feeling more at peace with
himself than he’s ever been, confused as to how he can mess his life up as
badly as he’d done down the years and yet still find contentment in his final
chapter. ‘Secret Dancer’ starts off as a love song to creativity and ends up a
love song for wife Jan (maiden name ‘Dance’) and the power that comes from
creator and listener being in synch with each other. ‘Ships In The Night’ is
David dealing with his nightly insomnia, unable to stop thinking while the rest
of the world sleeps and feeling separate and apart to everyone else
(traditionally the time he hits twitter these days). ‘Boxes’ deals with the way
we define and categorise people, literally putting them into a box when they
die and thinking we knew everything about them when human beings are such
complex, multi-layered creatures who can never be fully known. As for the
album’s closing and quiet highlight ‘I Won’t Stay For Long’ (actually by son
James Raymond), all I need to tell Crosby-philes is that it’s another aching
Crosby piece about what it means to be alive and facing death and you know
you’ll love it already (see ‘songs of the year’ below). Alas, though, that’s
only half the story for an album that also contains two of Crosby’s dumbest
lyrics in the one-note ‘River Rise’ and the tone poem ‘Rodriquez For A Night’,
both of which equal his worst work. Stripped of emotion, of proper characters, of
melody, of anything much to say, even of his usual unique chord changes,
everything – even the best of this record – still ends up sounding a little
empty compared to the gorgeous depths of even 2018’s gorgeous ‘Here If You
Listen’. Sadly too this record only seems to carry half a tune throughout and
seems to be constantly played at the same slightly-slowish tempo, while the
lush performances spit and polish all the energy and emotion away from even the
better songs. Take the title track and Joni cover song for instance, where a
moving tale of a busker making a crotchety millionaire feel embarrassed about
their money worries sounds bland and boring, without the epic approach of earlier
Crosby versions on The Byrds’ reunion album (1973) or the intimate performance
on CSN’s live album ‘Allies’ (1983, recorded 1977). It sounds like a
millionaire version if you will, even though this album was made on a
shoestring budget compared to those records and alas that rather sums up the
album – it tries so hard to sound contemporary it loses its essential
Crosby-ness. There are enough records in the world that sound like everyone
else, but precious few that sound like Crosby, because nobody else ever has. There’s
a lot to admire on ‘For Free’, then (not least the Joan Baez painting of Croz
on the cover or the fact that his voice is still one of the most beautiful in
music, showing none of the strain of, say, Paul McCartney’s or Stephen Stills’),
but alas less than usual by Croz
standards to love. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">6) Neil Young “Young Shakespeare”</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘You’re all university students so if
you don’t know the words then hear them in the first verse then memorise them…’
Neil seems to have spent most of lockdown in his own personal vaults, judging
by the sheer quantity of releases he promised us at the beginning of the year:
unreleased album ‘Island In The Sun’ (at last!) which was rejected by Geffen in
1982 for not being ‘commercial’ enough and which morphed into the brilliantly
wayward ‘Trans’, the unheard unbootlegged Crazy Horse collaboration ‘Toast’
which can’t possibly be as poor as the album that replaced it (‘Greendale’),
live albums from 1989 and the 1980s in general (‘Road Of Plenty’) and even the
full ‘Archives III’, taking the story from ‘Comes A Time’ in 1977 up to the end
of the ‘Reprise’ years and ‘Re-Ac-Tor’. However, Neil being Neil, after
announcing that haul we didn’t get any of that saliva-inducing material.
Instead most of the archive harvest this year has been on the weaker side of
what we’ve been promised with ‘Shakespeare’ the better of two very similar
acoustic sets both returning to the scene of Neil’s greatest triumphs in 1970-72.
This recording from a show in Connecticut only three days after the ‘Massey
Hall’ gig already out has Neil in dreamy mood. As with pretty much all things
from the 1972 period he’s on strong form, the setlist full of many of his
career best songs and Neil enjoying his highest commercial profile before the
sad death of Crazy Horse’s Danny Whitten in a few months time derails all that.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s another really nice gig, with well
played versions of many fan favourites and if you’ve never bought a Neil
archive release before you’ll be well satisfied. However, I’m not sure I buy
the endless trailers, press releases and youtube videos from Neil calling it
his ‘most very special show’ or ‘my best’. It lacks the poignancy of the Massey
Hall gig (a huge Canadian home-coming and personal triumph for Neil, with a much
longer set list) and you miss the rambling intimate monologues and unexpected
re-arrangements that enlivened earlier Archive sets. If you’ve never bought any
of Neil’s archive shows then you’ll still be amazed at how brilliantly and
poignantly these largely electric band songs sound re-arranged for an acoustic
setting and how much power and intimacy Neil can deliver using just one
battered guitar (or occasionally one battered piano). For the seasoned Archives
veteran, however, there’s not much here that doesn’t sound like other gigs already
out and none of it sounds particularly different or better (for instance the
likes of album highlight ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ is still a breath-taking
revelation of hurt and heartbreak without the ‘Harvest’ orchestra to overwhelm
it and with its quick dip into ‘Heart Of Gold’, but I think I’d still take the even
more extraordinary ‘Massey’ reading over this one). Oh and if you’re wondering
about the name, no this isn’t Neil doing poetry (after all, he’s done every
other genre so why not?) – the Shakespeare in the title is the name of the
theatre (he’s performing in the ‘Young Shakespeare’ venue as in ‘Stratford
Connecticut’ the younger cousin of ‘Stratford, England’ and the name’s not
actually anything to do with Neil). Be warned then: there’s nothing rotten in
the Archives yet and this is another brilliant set, but all that archives is
not gold, at least if you’ve bought something similar before. In other words, if
the question you have is ‘to buy or not to buy’ then personally I would wait
for the Winter of our discount tents (or the Neil Young archives site) before
getting this one. Exit left, pursued by a Crazy Horse. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">7) Neil Young “Way Down In The Rustbucket 1989”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘We’re going down for a pleasure cruise,
plenty of women plenty of booze!’ Or an even more ragged ‘Ragged Glory’ era
Crazy Horse, who are here captured for posterity semi-rehearsing for what will
become the monster ‘Weld’ tour with a one-off warm-up show in Santa Cruz at the
very start of the behemoth tour. Robbed of a big audience and with everyone
saving their best performances for the many shows to come, this set was never
going to take fire the same way that ‘Weld’ did, with its extended endings,
ultra-feedback and ‘Gulf War’ CNN backdrop. Indeed robbed of all politics these
performances sound almost polite, a million miles away from the ride-or-die
final shows. ‘F!#in’ Up’ for instance is almost cute and at five minutes a mere
strapling compared to the tour highlight that’s about to come, whilst ‘Love To
Burn’ is more pretty than pretty unhinged compared to the uncompromisingly
battered version of ‘Weld’. There is always something worth hearing in Neil’s
archive releases however and so it is here, with our chance to be a
fly-on-the-wall as Crazy Horse reunite for the first time in two years and perform
quite a few handful of songs that never did make it to the final tour
proper(1981’s ‘Surfer Joe and Moe The Sleaze’ sounds all the more poignant for
the slower tempo and shakey vocals, with the feeling everything is in a state
of imminent collapse, while ‘Danger Bird’ goes the other way and sounds way
more together and polished than ever before, a pigeon rather than parrot, though
‘T-Bone’ and ‘Bite The Bullet’ still sound daft in every version). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We know how good this band will get very
soon and how career-defining many of these live performances will be, but it’s
fascinating to hear everyone sound so unsure of themselves as Neil tries not to
spook the Horse by going too far and too intensely too fast. Even at a waddle
not a gallop Crazy Horse are a fine band and when they’re on it they’re on it –
it’s just that that it only happens intermittently at this show compared to so
many others. This set is worth hearing then, it’s just the kind of thing you
buy to hear once for mild interest rather than play endlessly on repeat (and if
you do then that’s because you haven’t heard ‘Weld’ yet – if you don’t own
either album then that’s the one you need to buy by the way, not this curio.
Your ears will never be the same again). Interestingly this set has proven to
be the biggest seller amongst the archive live series in the UK so far and the
first to go top twenty in the UK (in fact at #18 lit only went one place lower
than 2019’s all-new record ‘Colorado’). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">8) Neil Young “Live In Carnegie Hall 1970”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘When Will I see you again?... Oh wait,
there’s yet another Neil Young album out this month?!?’ Neil’s third release of
the year isn’t technically part of his ‘archive’ series and frustratingly
appears officially in the ‘new’ section of his various online discographies,
although it actually dates back further than either of the other two sets out
this year both considered ‘archive’. It’s all part of a brand new initiative
titled ‘The Official Bootleg Series’ made up of unofficial recordings beloved
by fans that have been leaked down the years. Only, again Neil being Neil, he
decided he didn’t actually like the bootleg from December 3<sup>rd</sup> 1970
he first considered for release and he’s released the previously unheard set
from December 4<sup>th</sup> that was in his personal vaults instead. Confused?
Not half as much as we are! I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve known the
earlier show longer but that still sounds the stronger to my ears (not that
there’s much to choose between them). In fact once again there’s not much to
choose between this one and all sorts of other shows from the glory years of
1970-1972. Had it come out a few years ago collectors would have been all over
this but now it feels like déjà vu (and not the csny box set).The ‘Carnegie
Hall’ show is prime era Neil doing all the things prime era Neil always does –
and that we’ve heard him do a few times over now, just without the ‘Harvest’
era songs of similar discs like the ‘Young Shakespeare’ one (because, err, he
hasn’t written them yet). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil is earnest mood and sings well
throughout, but he’s not very chatty (unlike practically every other archive
disc so far) and has no surprises for us in the set-list. You can, of course,
get lost in the occasional slight change as a fan(a held word here, a slight
change in rambling anecdote there) but for the most part this gig is
interchangeable with previous archive set ‘Cellar Door’ taped the same year and
very similar to a good half-dozen others. I can’t even make any bad puns about
the name the way I could with the Shakespeare set. Ho hum. Before Neil gets too
carried away with this new series, could we please have the ‘missing’ archive
releases too? (Volumes 8,10,13-15?) Next year’s planned release dates don’t
include any of them – although it still looks amazing (three unreleased albums:
1976’s ‘Oceanside/Countryside’ 1982’s ‘Islands In The Sun’, and 2000’s ‘Toast’,plus
seven possible live shows including a gig with Crazy Horse from 1966 titled
‘Early Daze’, Live At The Rainbow 1973, Live at The Bottom Line 1974, a Ducks
gig from 1976, ‘Road Of Plenty’ – another Bluenotes set from the mid-1980s,
Crazy Horse shows from 2012 and 2019, more concerts from 1971 and goodness only
knows what else Neil finds at the back of his cupboards before then. Stiop
press: the next announced one – coming ‘soon’ – isn’t any of these but a set of
demos from 1987!), so our tip is to skip this year’s booty, save some money
back for 2022 and buy these more saliva-inducing titles. Unless they all get
delayed again for another year of course. With Neil anything is possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo18; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">9)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Brian Wilson “At My
Piano”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Columnated pianos domino!’ Oh dear. There’s
nothing ‘archive’ about the pristine sound on the Beach Boy’s latest album with
big lockdown vibes, but you might well wish there might have been a
little…something in there to stop one of the greatest, most inventive and
groundbreaking catalogues in music being turned into pure lift music. It’s too
soon for Brian to give us a new studio album and for someone who used to be so spooked
touring there haven’t half been a lot of live albums lately too, so instead
what we get this year is Brian playing thirteen Beach Boys classics (plus two
oddities) solo at the piano. That’s it: that’s the album. There are no vocals,
no lyrics and having seen many many bits of footage of Brian at the piano down
the years I’m not even totally convinced that’s him playing (there’s none of
his favoured boogie woogie style even on the tracks that were written around
boogie woogie licks; long-time collaborator Darian Sahanaja’s name in the
credits makes me wonder if its him playing to an arrangement agreed with
Brian?) A Beach Boys album without vocals just sounds odd (yes, even with
1969’s ‘Stack-O-Tracks’ in the discography already), though I was always
surprised Brian didn’t do something like this in the 1970s, if only to get
around the ‘staying in bed’ era and to say spiritually to Murray ‘you see – I
could have been a classical composer too if I’d wanted to be, I just wasn’t
born when you were dad’. The result is kind of the opposite of Brian’s
‘Reimagining Gershwin’ album which re-did old American classics with a Beach
Boysy swagger – this album is modern American classics done with an early 20<sup>th</sup>
century lilt and I’m not altogether sure it works. After all, I never really
felt the Beach Boys music lent itself as well to sheet music as, say, The
Beatles’ catalogue: there’s always so much going on even on the simple songs
and you need dog ears to hear it all and way more than ten fingers to play it;
this set of arrangements, alas, simplifies everything down as much as it can go
and taking away 90% of the layers also robs us of 90% of the magic. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s not all dismissable though. The
highlights are a sea-shanty adaptation of ‘Til I Die’ that shouldn’t work as
well without the underlying melancholy but somehow does, ‘Snatches Of Smile’, a
fascinating medley of many of the key beautiful melodies from unfinished BB
1966 album which is sublime in any form and is heard here in an entirely
different sequence to the ‘finished’ 2004 album (‘Wonderful’ sounds mighty good
going into ‘Heroes and Villains’ and putting ‘Our Prayer’ at the end rather
than the beginning is a masterstroke) and the oddity ‘Mount Vernon Farewell’,
which is what the bonkers therapy session fairy-tale released as an extra with
the ‘Holland’ album of 1973 sounds like with the lyrics and piped-piper
impressions removed (it is, perhaps, the only Beach Boys song that works better
without the vocals, depending on just how demented you find ‘Hey Little Tomboy’.
It sounds good played on a piano not a synth too. A real shame it only lasts 75
seconds though). ‘Love and Mercy’ is the only solo Brian song here interestingly
and it sounds better than most, without the very 1980s synths of the original, while
the beauty of under-rated gem ‘The Warmth Of The Sun’ shines through
undiminished. Some slight kudos too that even though there are four whole songs
here from ‘Pet Sounds’ Brian’s at least picked some unusual ones, though the
sound of him playing his ambitious outsider anthem ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For
These Times’ in a style that makes you expect to hear an elevator operator any
moment is, ultimately, depressing. Like
the similar ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’ documentary soundtrack album
from 1995 (which is basically the same, except for being played on a less grand
piano and with some special guests and fuller vocals) and the incredibly stupid
‘The Beach Boys With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ album (where some surfer
dudes got some badly CSO-d tuxedos added on top of their surfer shorts that
really don’t fit) it’s probably not an album you’ll ever play more than once.
However the best of the songs here are so good even this sort of treatment
can’t ruin them altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo18; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">10)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Mike Nesmith “Different
Drum: The Lost RCA Recordings”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: This is last week’s review from
when Mike was still alive<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘It’s a very extraordinary scene to
those who don’t understand…’ This has been such a hard couple of years for Monkee
fans. After the success of the ‘Good Times’ reunion in 2016 first we lost Peter
and now there are fears for Mike’s health, compounded by a split in the fandom
like never before. In the red-buttoned jacket corner: concerns that Mike has
lost half his bodyweight in recent years, that he’s suddenly dropped contact
with many fans and close friends alike and that he appears bored, listless,
scruffy and half-asleep in streamed online interviews where he seems to be
constantly smoking weed – something unthinkable compared to his oh-so-sharp younger
self. A difficult farewell tour with fellow surviving Monkee Micky saw Papa Nez
a visible shell of himself, largely sitting precariously on a stool and
occasionally being coached how to sing his own songs (although, admittedly, on
some songs it was as if he was still young again and nothing strange was
happening, particularly the last few dates in November). Not for nothing, many
fans have grown worried and rightly or wrongly date the change in Mike’s
appearance and behaviour to the moment he started working with a new live-in
assistant. In the bluehat corner: messages from family and fellow musicians alike
that all is fine, that Mike is now 78, smokes for aches and pains, that none of
us are getting younger so we should just be lucky we’re getting one last tour and
that the lengthy back-breaking 36 date rota was Nez’s idea all along and he
wouldn’t do it if he himself didn’t want to. Most quotes from official sources
state ‘No one has ever told Mike Nesmith what to do and we’re not about to
start now’. My view is that you can see this from both sides. You can
understand the concerns of a particularly vocal part of the fanbase who love
and care about Mike and even if this all turns out to be a hoo-hah about
nothing I’ve been quite shocked at how the ‘professional’ people involved in
the tour have gone after fans publicly, sometimes by name, being needlessly
angry towards fans whose biggest crime is to care about the welfare an old
friend who always used to be so open with us (‘they’re too busy singing to put
anybody down’). You can also understand though why the powers-that-be are
scared of anything damaging a tour that’s already been delayed once because of
covid and where shows are still being cancelled last minute and the confusion
and lack of transparency has led to fingers being pointed to those around the
band by fans too. Mike’s son Christian leaving the tour midway through
unexpectedly hasn’t exactly stopped tongues wagging either. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What this doesn’t answer is why both
sides that support a band that once stood for peace and love and harmony have
been so critical of each other; never have I seen personal assistants and
managers attacked in a way they have been the past few months – equally never
have I seen fans banned, blocked and socially demolished for doing nothing more
than enquiring ‘is everything ok?’ Your scribe has himself got into ‘trouble’
for challenging the idea that fans are ‘attacking and shaming’ Mike, when all I
see is a bunch of fans who would do anything for their hero wondering why he’s
gone so far downhill so fast since the last tour (which was only at the end of
2019). For all I know everything is genuinely fine and some fans have jumped
the gun a bit out of concern and worry – but if anything the constant and
increasingly angry denials that don’t address the actual issue (is Mike being
taken advantage of?) suggest, more than any other piece of evidence, that all
is not fine at all. The tour is finished now, barring one last gig on a cruise
ship, and the general consensus seems to be that Mike has grown stronger and
happier with each show, which can only be a good thing. Of course there’s still
a divide over whether that’s because he was right to tour or whether it was
because he managed to escape being locked down at home with particular persons.
In an eerie coda, just as I write this Papa Nez was heard live-broadcasting
anonymously via his website where he was checking into some form of hospital
environment (where his belongings were being processed) and audibly crying out
for help, although as he hasn’t said where he is sadly none of us could. Hopefully
next year things will have calmed down to the point when Mike starts talking to
us again – the real Mike I mean, not the assistants clearly writing on his
behalf or ‘quoting’ him- and we can forget this unhappy era and move on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, all that said, the state of the
Monkees catalogue has been much quieter, if not necessarily much better and whether
by coincidence or not both releases this year revolve around Papa Nez. First
up, fan-run Monkee label 7A Records (named after the fake outtake start of
‘Daydream Believer’) continue their sterling work into 2021, tracking down the
sort of rarities that make major record labels sigh but true fans go gooey
over. They’ve dug through the vaults and found no less than twenty-two unreleased
rarities from the four-year six-album run of Mike’s earliest post-Monkee days
(already released online in 2018 as ‘bonus tracks’ on the six albums, they come
out on CD for the first time here). It seems amazing enough that Mike had time
to record all these extra songs on top of the seventy-odd he released in that short
prolific period and it also makes you wonder why so many of those albums ran as
short as they did the first time round. Like many a rarities set this one
varies from sublime recordings that truly should have made the First or Second
National Band records (the lovely country instrumental ‘Rene’ makes more sense
uncut, as does an epic 1973 four minute spin through ‘Listen To The Band’
that’s far more substantial than the 1970 one that ended up forming part of a
medley, if still nowhere near as swinging as The Monkees cut and there’s a
lovely, far more joyous first stab at ‘Keepin’ On’ that’s much more in keeping
with the lyrics than the heavy sigh of the sarcastically-titled ‘And The Hits
Just Keep On Comin’ LP), those that sound much the same (‘Different Drum’ is
clearly same band same arrangement same day as the final take, even if Mike
breaths in a few different ways and ‘Texas Morning’ has Mike sing in a slightly
deeper voice for slightly longer and that’s about it) and those that made you
wonder what on Earth anyone was thinking even recording material this bad
(‘American Airman’ is an odd and rather sarcastic tale of a country-rock
drummer with a suitcase that’s ‘ten pounds overweight yet holding everything I
own’ that sounds like a rather uncharitable wave goodbye to National Band
drummer John Ware, ‘Six Days On The Road’ is a rather lumpy attempt to get a
county band to do all-out rock that makes everyone sound drunk – which knowing
Mike may or may not have been the intention - while the alternate take of
‘Dedicated Friend’ is awful, slowed to half its speed with Mike singing as if
he’s about to murder an old friend/ex rather than laugh at them in a carefree
manner as it does on the finished album and all the long pile of intriguing-looking
unheard instrumentals that close the CD out sadly aren’t up to much). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In amongst all this divisiveness it’s
sad to report that the long awaited countrified solo spin on ‘Head’ song
‘Circle Sky’ is just kind of OK, taken a lick too slow and with the pedal
steels in the background, while the best song here by a – ahem – country mile
‘Some Of Shelley’s Blues’ is sadly heard here as a rather weedy demo (odd that,
given that Mike had already taped the definitive version during his Monkee days
half a decade earlier). Most interesting of all might well be the last track,
‘Marie’s Theme’, shortly to be the - err - unusual centrepiece of Mike’s
groundbreaking book-and-album ‘The Prison’ where it does all sort of odd things
with harmonics but here sounds like just another piece of National band
country-rock. There’s nothing truly unmissable here and in truth there are
several recordings I’m not in a hurry to hear again now I’ve reviewed them, but
it’s always better to have this sort of material out legally than not and
Nesmith fans, starved of new solo material since 1992, will find much to
treasure here. As with all things 7A it’s all very well put together too,
clearly made for fans by fellow fans, the way all good vault raids should be and
fans who are forced to pass them by after paying hundreds of pounds on a ticket
to see their heroes one last time aren’t truly missing much. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo18; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">11)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“Micky Dolenz Sings Mike
Nesmith”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The image of you wasn’t clear – I guess
I’ve been standing too near’. Back in 1966 Monkee supervisor Don Kirshner came
to a decision: even though Mike had the largest musical pedigree of any of the
band and would be allowed the odd cameo per album, his voice wasn’t as
commercial as Micky’s or Davy’s, handing over songs like ‘Mary Mary’ or ‘Daily
Nightly’ to the drummer to sing. While you could forgive Papa Nez for putting
his fist through Micky’s wall in frustration, actually he saved that for
Kirshner himself; in fact Mike and Micky quickly developed one of the strongest
bonds within The Monkees, based on mutual respect for the talents the other
didn’t have and that bond has only grown stronger the past few years since the
two became the last Monkees standing. As The Monkees project wore on Mike got
back control of his own songs anyway and Micky took less and less part in them,
but this new solo Dolenz albums reveals what might have been in a parallel
world where The Monkees had lasted into the 1970s and Micky had still been seen
as the band’s lead singer. It’s a neat idea; there are some astounding gems in both
the late Monkees and the solo Nesmith catalogue and though Mike isn’t involved in
this album directly his son Christian did all the arrangements and Micky’s warm
voice and interpretative skills have been getting better and better with each
release (Dolenz’s last solo album, 2012’s ‘Remember’, with its dip into the
Monkee, Beatle and even Neil Young catalogues, was a real treat I still play a
lot). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The result, though, isn’t quite the
masterpiece it sounds on paper. Though Papa Nez’s lyrics are frequently amongst
the most lyrical and multi-layered in the AAA catalogue, what really worked was
when he set about them with the low budget of the First or Second National
Band, who often only consisted of a bassist, drummer and Red Rhodes on a
continually sobbing pedal steel. Hearing them is an emotional as well as
intellectual experience, as the sheer rawness of the sound and the one or two
take feel in the room balances out the depth of the subjects on offer, making
them feel immediate and profound all at once. By contrast Micky’s new album
feels overblown and polished, these gorgeous nuggets of pop philosophy given a
huge production budget that feels a million miles away from what Nesmith
originally planned. So much of this album just misses the mark. Just take ‘Red
Rider’, a smart-ass little rocker as a pair of lovers both think they are getting
the upper-hand on the other here transplanted to a grunge-fest complete with an
epic Hammond organ instrumental and what sounds like six different drummers. Or
a version of grungy Monkees classic ‘Circle Sky’ that shockingly is even worse
than the one on reunion album ‘JustUs’ and is given an Indian raga arrangement
that really doesn’t fit. Or ‘Propinquity’, one of the most moving
Monkee-related songs of them all, here turned from a simple ballad about the
slow realisation of love for a friend to a foot-stomping yeehaw cowboy song that’s
just totally unsuited. Or the song a pre-Monkee Mike gave away to Linda
Ronstadt, ‘Different Drum’, turned from cute novelty into mega-bucks Eurovision
entry. Or ‘Tapioca Tundra’, a candidate for the weirdest 1960s-released Monkees
song, turned into a ragtime jazz number that leaves even an interpreter as
talented as Micky vocally scratching his head, minus the sly knowing wink of
Nesmith’s vocal on the 1968 original. Worse
yet, the album seems to have ruffled through Nesmith’s solo canon at random, so
that many of his truly best songs (‘Joanne’ ‘I Looked Away’ ‘Some Of Shelley’s
Blues’ ‘Wax Minute’, even ‘Rio’) are missing, even though they’d have been a
more natural fit for Micky’s still-gorgeous voice than anything here. Worst of
all is ‘You Are My One’ which consists of the title being repeated over and
over again while Micky’s vocal gets treated to some zany Beach Boysy 1967
effects. There are at least a hundred Nesmith songs Micky has never sung before
worthier of treatment than this one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The album isn’t a complete disaster by
any means – Micky’s voice still sounds stupendous, a slower bluesier ‘Nine
Times Blue’ is just the ticket (Micky’s the third Monkee we’ve had singing this
lovely song now following Mike and Davy), Nevada Fighter’s ‘Only Bound’ is gorgeous
and there’s a lovely little acoustic version of Monkees ‘Instant Replay’ song
‘Don’t Wait For Me’ that goes against the grain of the album by taking away
from the original epic production rather than adding to it. I also have to
applaud the courage of going with (yet again) ‘Marie’s Theme’ from the largely
atonal book-with-album set ‘The Prison’, which desperately deserves to be
discovered by a wider audience (oddly enough, it ends up becoming the most
overtly country and Western song here, even though the original was probably
the furthest away from that sound in the whole Nesmith solo catalogue). The
album cover is quite fun too, a dazed-looking Mike in the backseat of a sort of
countrified Monkeemobile while Micky takes charge and drives out into the
deserts of the deep South, looking more like The Flying Burrito Brothers than
any actual Nesmith image ever did. However, ultimately ‘Dolenz Sings Nesmith’
still gets more wrong than it gets right to around a two-thirds rating I feel and
just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity in the end, falling short of the
triumph it could have been with just a bit of tweaking and a remix (and possibly
a lower budget). We know that Mike always admired and encouraged Dolenz’s
creative side too, so we can only hope for a ‘Nesmith sings Dolenz’ album in
the future to redress the balance full of ‘Randy Scouse Git’ (that’s ‘Alternate
Title’ to you if you’re British!) ‘Mommy and Daddy’ and ‘Shorty Blackwell’,
which sounds great to me!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This week’s review: That album sounds
like fun but sadly we will never hear it, or anything else, as the big gig in
the sky which is getting bigger each year, gained our wool-hatted one. It’s too
early to go through whether the hard tour broke our friend or breathed new life
into Mike’s last days and we’ll probably never truly know what was going on
those last few strange months of Nesmith’s life. One thing we do know though is
that we can all unite in our grief now and mourn one of the greatest
songwriters of them all. We’ll miss you Papa Nez. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l18 level1 lfo18; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">12)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">John Lodge “The Royal
Affair and After”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Taught in school one and one is two,
but that answer just ain’t true!’ This has been a sad year for drummers, with
Graeme Edge another of our much-missed AAA members to have gone up to the great
percussionist paradise in the sky this year. Even before that The Moody world
had made melancholy men and women of all of us the past few years. The sad and
sudden end of The Moody Blues after fifty-five years has gone largely
un-noticed in the music world in general though, perhaps because no one has
actually got around to announcing it yet, or perhaps because we still hoped
that the band would get back together again. Alas, that seems unlikely now. Of
the ‘classic’ line-up Mike Pinder retired a long time back, Ray Thomas died a
few years ago and Graeme had finally called it a day, revealing only in
November that he hadn’t long to live from cancer and that ill health had been
behind his decision. All this has lead to guitarist Justin Hayward
re-considering his options and deciding that it wouldn’t be the same on the
road without Graeme and that he doesn’t want to tour under the band name as
just a duo. Bassist John Lodge, however, is keen to keep the band going and sees
it as his duty to keep the Moody magic and momentum for as long as possible if
people are still interested in hearing it. Rather than sit down and speak about
it the pair have turned their latest solo singles into a discussion of this and
released a ‘Blue Jays’ style debate between themselves about whether it is
kinder to let a great thing die gracefully or whether it is their duty to make
it last as long as they possibly can. That debate is coming up later (see the
‘songs of the year’ section), but first to promote his new single John has
released a solo live album to go with it, an advert if you will about just how
Moody Bluesy he and his new band can be even without Justin or Graeme there.
This CD still has all the songs you would normally see on any of the many Moody
live sets out there and unlike most live solo spin-off records there’s an
impressive lack of ‘hey look at me, I was the real talent in the band!’ style
setlists. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Even so, it’s an odd one this one,
caught halfway between genuinely capturing the excitement of old and being a not-that-great
tribute act. John sounds as brilliant as ever on his own songs (‘Ride My
See-Saw’ especially) and the band are just about close enough to sound like
latter-day Moodies. It’s when the rest of the band take over vocals for songs
associated with the other band members where things go wrong: I’ve heard
hundreds of cover versions of ‘Nights In White Satin’ down the years and all of
them sound flat without the extra dimensions of emotion that composer Justin
gives it – alas this one, featuring Jon Andersen from fellow prog rockers Yes,
is no different. Equally no one but Ray Thomas will ever be qualified to sing
‘Legend Of A Mind’ and without Mike Pinder ‘Sunset’ (as performed by John on
what turned out to be the final Moodies tour for the ‘Days of Future Passed’
anniversary tour in 2017) still sounds weird. Interestingly Graeme was lulled
out of retirement long enough for one poem (‘Late Lament’) which does at least
give this album half an air of Moody authenticity and a belated chance to say
goodbye on the drummer’s last recorded contribution anywhere. It might just be
retrospectively but he sounds awfully ill on it, though. There’s a welcome
chance too to hear the first live arrangement of ‘Saved By The Music’ from the
‘Blue Jays’ album and given how good it sounds it’s a shame there aren’t more
rare John songs on here (I’d love to hear ‘Eyes Of A Child’ or ‘One More Time
To Live’ played live). Mostly, though, it’s all a bit pointless. Why buy a live
album by one and a half Moodies that only lasts ten songs when so many from three, four or five members are
out there to buy that last for one or two hours with almost the exact same
track listing and arguably all played better than this one? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">13) Paul McCartney “McCartney III Imagined”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘’She’s acting like a starlet, but she’s
looking like a harlet’. This has been an expensive year for fans, even by
McCartney’s standards. No sooner had we
got over last year’s McCartney III set and its vinyl re-issues of amazing
pricey technicolours (there’s been a new violet variation this year by the way
folks – that’s the tenth!), then we had the whole ‘Let It Be’ extravaganza
(more on that story later) and two new books (Grandude’s second children’s book
adventure concerns green submarines and isn’t as cute as the first, while
‘Lyrics’ is on the one hand what we’ve been pleading Paul to write on this
website for years – a bona fide run down of why he wrote his songs, complete
with a couple of fascinating unreleased extras found lurking in his archives
including some pre-Beatle stuff thought lost for sixty years – and on the other
a hundred-pound way of hearing ‘well there isn’t much of a story to this one’ a
hundred times over, even when there really are great stories to hear).Have a heart,
Paul. Some of us haven’t finished off paying for the ‘Egypt Station’ suitcase
yet, never mind all the ‘Archive’ sets. Whatever happened to the promised
‘London Town’ and ‘Back To The Egg’ by the way?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, the one actual bona fide bit of
McCartney solo music released in 2021 isn’t strictly a solo album at all.
Instead, last year’s ‘Macca III’ publicity-fest against all common sense continued
into this one, with a last throw of the dice for extra sales with an entire set
of covers and re-workings by artists a third of the Beatle’s age (thankfully
this one is only out in one colour, so far and it’s blue – which, funnily
enough, will be a description of how you feel when you see the price tag for
it. Why, Paul, why?) Now, this set of covers by modern artists nobody will
remember tomorrow isn’t quite as silly as it might sound: Paul’s voice has been
fading for well over a decade now and he’s always had a finger on the pulse of
the young hip things of each passing era, however dumb that might make him and
his music look to later fans (Michael Jackson in the 1980s, various trendy
remixers in the 1990s and 2000s, Kanye West in the 2010s, frauds and weirdos all).
Let’s not forget too that when a thirty-year-old recording of ‘Temporary
Secretary’ was released to dance clubs ten years ago, unlabelled, Sir Paul was
being heralded as the next big teenage hit until a Beatles fan heard it and let
the cat out of the bag that his Grandad had bought it on vinyl the day it came
out. This set is just another of those occasional oddities you put up with as a
McCartney collector, such as Paul’s made-up big-band band-leader Percy Thrillington re-creating the ‘Ram’ in a
jazz lounge setting during punk’s year zero or dressing up in a fireman’s
outfit to play some ambient dance music. Unfortunately this re-make set has
less Paul involvement than the others and therefore less Paul interest to
collectors than his other most bonkers albums too. Alas, also, something seems
to have backfired a little. While one household name took part (and in a sign
of how poor Macca’s tastes can sometimes be, it’s a member of Blur rather than
a member of, say, Oasis) you’d have to be a true musical anorak to name any of
the others. To be brutal too the ‘McCartney III’ songs aren’t strong enough to
put up with the treatment either; with the exception of the charming ‘Kiss Of
Venus’ nothing on the album ended up being as good as ‘New’ or ‘Driving Rain’,
if you will (though thank goodness it’s all a big improvement on the
unlistenable ‘Egypt Station’). Now Paul’s been releasing remixes of songs since
the ‘Flowers In The Dirt’ era, but these in particular are scraping the barrel,
falling between two stools where either the tracks sound much the same anyway
(‘Husbands and Wives’) or are so wildly different they could literally be of
anything (I’m not sure anything of the original ‘Deep Down’ even made it to
this version). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Beck’s croaky re-make of ‘The Kiss Of
Venus’ is the only song here worth listening to, if only because the structure
is still much the same and you get to hear it being sung with an actual voice
rather than the feathery falsetto Paul used on the original. If I had to choose
a second then hearing the instrumental ‘Long Tail Winter Bird’ re-cut on what
sounds like a 1980s game console by
Damon Albarn (who funnily enough gets the song that was all-barn and turns it
into a blur! Geddit? No? I’ll get my coat…) was worth a laugh too. Elsewhere
‘Deep Feeling’ has gone from an intense eight-minute epic to a floaty
barely-there twelve-minute marathon for no apparent reason, the acoustic ramble
‘When Winter Comes’ now sounds like a food-mixer playing at the wrong speed and
The Queen’s Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme sounds downright uncomfortable
singing ‘Lavatory Lil’ (I can just see how that conversation went: ‘An
ex-Beatle? Yes of course, I’ll sing anything he wrote, no I don’t need to hear
it first, it will be great…Wait, what? This was a finished Paul McCartney song?
About a lavatory? Seriously?’ Thank goodness that one didn’t make it to the
book of lyrics). You really don’t need to own this album in any way shape or
form, just as you really don’t need to own any of the pricey multi-coloured
versions of the original record from last year or, come to that, the
just-as-pricey book of lyrics (assuming you have an old copy of ‘Blackbird
Singing’ gathering dust on your shelves). It’s all an unfortunate advertising
con from someone who used to be in one of the best value-for-money fan-friendly
bands of all time (The Beatles that is, not Wings, who had their share of
pricey collector sets too). In case you’re wondering I borrowed this set from a
friend. Even I couldn’t bring myself to pay for yet another McCartney rip-off.
After all, I‘m still saving up for the ‘London Town’ archive set when and if it
finally comes out, ah that’s proper McCartney music is that… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<v:textpath fitshape="t" string="THE RE-ISSUES OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black";" trim="t">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">(The Re-Issues Of The Year: Best
to Worst)</span></span></h2>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo3; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Crosby, Stills, Nash and
Young “Déjà vu”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I embrace the many-coloured beast…’ This
has been quite a stunning year for AAA box sets with several of the albums I
love the most in the whole world in this year’s list. Surprisingly I have to
confess that ‘Déjà vu’ isn’t actually one of them and I’ve always seen it as a
bit of a runt in the CSNY canon compared to the first and third albums, a Joni
Mitchell cover and a Neil Young ballad too far to be a truly perfect masterpiece.
However, this box set wins over the following ones in this list in several key
ways: it’s not stupidly priced (the download is only £29 and even though the
vinyl set is more expensive even that’s cheaper than the other vinyl editions
here – a tragedy there’s no CD version though!), almost all the recordings on
here are genuinely unheard (even on bootleg!), the packaging is truly top-notch
and, best of all, I learnt so much more about the making of this album from
hearing the extras, to the point where songs I thought were only kind of OK
(‘Everybody I Love You’ I’m looking at you!) now sound like such true
masterpieces I’m surprised I never got more out of them the first time round.
We’ve often heard the stories about how all four men were hurting making this
album: Crosby’s girlfriend Christine had died in a car crash, Stills had
finally split up with love of his life Judy Collins, Nash was in a tough place
with Joni Mitchell and Young was preparing to leave first wife Susan. You sort
of get a blurry sense of that on the finished album, notably ‘4+20’ where
Stills imagines life as a single lonely man in his eighties (thankfully a
future that doesn’t seem like it’s going to pass now he’s about to turn 77 in
January),the sigh in Nash’s vocal as he treats ‘Our House’ as a requiem as much
as it’s a singalong or the cry on ‘Carry On’ that ‘love is coming to us
allllll’ before a boogie-ing guitar lick knocks us off our feet and takes us
somewhere darker. However hearing this album take shape almost in real time, as
all of CSNY throw song after song at this project to see what sticks, gives us
a whole new understanding into just how difficult making this album was for all
concerned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s Crosby aching with misery on a
beautiful alternate take of ‘The Lee Shore’ where he sounds as if he’s about to
break down and cry any minute, or Graham and Joni giggling their way through
‘Our House’ together like the pair of lovebirds they were back then, before the
unheard Nash demo for ‘Question Why’ hints at the darkness going on in his life.
Sadly Young, typically, chose to keep most of his contributions for his own box
sets – though ‘Archive I or II’ aren’t a patch on this set I have to say,
controversially – so all we get from him is a slightly tweaked ‘Helpless’. This
is particularly gutting given how little from this era made it onto ‘Archives’
anyway – there is, for instance, a very different take of the baking track for
‘Cinnamon Girl’ out on bootleg with Stills’ organ giving a very different
glossy-style feel to the pure boogie groove of Crazy Horse. A real pity, too,
that there wasn’t room for a live CD rounding up some of the truly stunning
CSNY performances taken to promote the album (‘4 Way Street’ is pretty darn
good as a document of that era, but blimey there’s a great double CD set to be
made there even without replicating any of the same songs). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you’re a Stills fan though you will
be in seventh heaven as he pours out his broken heart on a ridiculous array of
his best songs heard and unheard, bookending his time with Judy with a madder
sadder ‘Bluebird Revisited’ that takes the Buffalo Springfield original of
three years before and makes that party seem a lifetime ago, sending himself up
with ‘That Same Old Song’ a new self-mocking piece about how Stills has been
blue ‘since the age of ten’, delivering an even sadder ‘4+20’, stripping paint
with his original ‘tortured’ vocal for Joni Mitchell cover ‘Woodstock’ that
knocks spots off the original (Neil, who pleaded with the others to put this
version out, was right all along…), steering some lovely C and N harmonies
through a sweet cover of John Sebastian’s ‘How Have You Been?’ that’s much arranged
like the infamous CSN cover of ‘Blackbird’ and might well have been a ‘sorry’
for going with Neil as a fourth member after the Lovin’ Spoonful man was under
consideration to join the band at one point, breaking our hearts with a medley
of ‘Change Partners’ with a whole new song about Judy named ‘Hold On Tight’,
sung sadly in the past tense, breaking our hearts yet more with a first haunted
version of ‘So Begins The Task’ as he prepares to leave Judy behind (a longer
demo than we’ve heard before which fascinatingly turns into a whole new song
we’ve never heard at all, another highly revealing outpouring of grief before a
last dash of hope that is an entirely different second song titled ‘Hold On
Tight’), breaking our hearts yet again with a demo for ‘Church’ (here titled
pointedly ‘She Can’t Handle It’) as Stephen prepares to go back to being single
again despite the fact that the guitarist really gets off on ‘being part of
someone’ and is desperate for someone to ‘be a part of me!!!!’, heard here as a
sad slow stark dawning rather than the joyous gospel singalong of Stills’ first
solo album, or best of all giving us his first stab of ‘Everybody I Love You’
not as some polished hymn to optimism and joy but as a screaming song of
despair and frustration. All of these are superb and top notch and will be
exhibit B (the ‘Just Roll Tape’ being exhibit A) in my argument that between
1967 and 1975 Stephen Stills had the greatest run of material of any songwriter
anywhere ever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This set is not perfect: I would have
loved to have heard the full take of ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ here again as heard
on the CSN box as long ago as 1990, the loss of Young’s tracks are a real blow
(there are said to be many takes of ‘Hepless’ alone recorded before CSN ‘slowed
down’ enough to get an arrangement Neil approved of) and it’s a real shame that
more session tapes of the recordings we know and love aren’t here. However
rather than extend everything the way some boxes do, even some of the ones below
in this year’s list, every bit of available space in this box seems to have
been crammed with goodness, with none of the pointless remixes or
barely-seconds-longer takes even CSN have been guilty of in the past and
several alternative albums that probably exist in some parallel universe spread
out before you instead (My goodness, ‘Déjà vu’ would have made for an amazing
double LP…) While the finished product was a bit diluted, made safe for big
sales, this is music as raw therapy the way it was always meant to be heard and
nobody knew the healing power of music or had the ability to honestly reveal
their own struggles better than CSNY. The result is a monster of a box set, the
rough edges of ‘Déjà vu’ sounding so much better for being left in. Yes we have
all been here before, but this is somehow more than pure nostalgia – this is a
time capsule of when CSNY were the greatest, most important band bar none and
it’s an absolute triumph. More please – how great would it be if every CSN/Y
album got this treatment from now on, the way they deserve? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beach Boys “Feel
Flows: The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘It’s fat as a cow, how’d it ever get
this way?’ The Beach Boys’ blink-and-you’ll-miss-them copyright-defying sets
have become a thing of legend on our annual review of the years. Where else can
you hear an hour of outtakes for such priceless gems as Brian Wilson practising
his cuckoo impression for ‘Cuckoo Clock’ or a full two hours of the overdubs
for ‘Beach Boys Party’? After a quiet 2020 I really hoped there was going to be
something covering 1970 and the band’s most unfairly overlooked gem
‘Sunflower’, which in fifty years has rightly gone from the band’s first
non-charting obscurity to fan favourite. I wasn’t expecting quite this though: instead
of the usual single or two disc set there are five whole CDs dedicated to that
record and its better-selling but all-round weaker successor ‘Surf’s Up’,
totalling a full 135 tracks (and thus pretty much doubling the entire official 1970s
Beach Boys output in one go!) As with all the 1960s Beach Boys sets but even
more so, just seeing how much effort went into making these albums will make
your head spin as the band re-demo, re-rehearse, re-record, re-overdub and
re-promote these songs over and over again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Not to mention the sheer amount of songs
that were still entirely unreleased and appear here for the first time despite
the two Beach Boys box sets and three lengthy rarities compilations that
already exist. You would have thought for a band that in a few years tried so
hard to get Brian Wilson on their records that they practically held him down
and forced him to record anything despite how ill he was that they would have
returned to some of these pure Brian Wilson gems a long time ago. ‘Awake’ we’re
going to look at in more detail later but it’s so Brian-y it hurts: so sweet
and simplistic lyrically but coming in so many complicated shades harmonically
that it makes you wonder if everything is as innocent as it seems. ‘Sweet and
Bitter’ too is one of the all-time great Brian ‘n’ Mike collaborations, with
Love on top form as he laments the end of a relationship that ‘rips my soul’ on
a dark song a million miles away from the innocence of Beach Boys songs past
(we’ve heard Brian do this sort of thing solo but to hear this sound as early
as 1970 is extraordinary, like seeing the Mona Lisa with eyebrows or Liam
Gallagher getting to the end of an interview without swearing or a half-decent
Spice Girls song). Dennis too is on sublime form and the reason he was absent
from the ‘Surf’s Up’ album was because he was trying to cut his own solo album
on the side with Daryl Dragon (the Captain before he met Tennille). ‘Lady’ and
‘Fallin’ In Love’ are much-loved compilation fillers since being rediscovered
in the 1990s, but to my ears the two Dennis songs here are even better. ‘Behold
The Night’ is an epic in ‘Be With Me’ mode with balalaikas and harpsichords
setting the scene as Dennis tries to woo his lover (of course he does, it’s
Dennis), before having a full on panic attack about being tied down (because,
y’know, its Dennis) which turns into a full-blown argument with his loved one (because…Dennis).
This unbelievably tricky song darts from a beautiful puddle to a stormy sea and
back again in seconds and is way too good to have simply put back in the box
for half a century. If anything his Medley is even better: ‘All Of My Love’ is
proof that Dennis could match Brian and Mike in writing template Beach Boys
harmony sounds, before a charging middle eight of ‘Run River Run’ reveals how
dark and scary the ocean could be in Dennis’ hands and a final celebratory
instrumental titled ‘Ecology’ wraps everything up in a neat bow (sudden
thought: if intended solo album ‘Bambu’ in 1979 was just a few short songs away
from being completed when Dennis ran out of the money he needed to finish
recording, why didn’t Dennis just stick these songs out and either pad out the
album or release them separately as a single, making enough money to finish
it?) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s without mentioning the Beach Boys
gems we’ve known and loved on different releases that are more than welcome to
hear again here: Dennis’ rocking ‘San Miguel’ (as sung by Carl), Brian’s
uniquely childlike approach to sex on ‘Games Two Can Play’ complete with
moaning about growing as ‘fat as a cow’, Brian’s we’re-normal-people-honest
song ‘I Just Got My Pay’ which might not reflect the life you or I lead any
time soon but is great fun all the same, the joyous harmony fest that is
‘Soulful Old Man Sunshine’ where I put it to you the Beach Boys never sounded
better as vocalists than on those glorious opening seconds, the last great Beach
Boys hippie song ‘HELP Is On The Way’ (via an unexpected trip to health food store
‘The Radiant Radish’), Dennis’ moody take on censorship ‘4<sup>th</sup> Of
July’, Al’s cutest song ‘Loop de Loop Flip Flop Flyin’ In An Aeroplane’,
Brian’s mournful tearjerker ‘Where Is She?’ and first stabs at future 1970s
recordings ‘Susie Cincinatti’ ‘When Girls Get Together’ and ‘Good Time’ (no
surprise, given how good everything else is here, that all three are amongst
the better songs from the second half of The Beach Boys’ 1970s recordings).
Realise that some of these songs were cut from ‘Sunflower’ when they could have
made a genius album even better (or perhaps a triple album) and that The Beach
Boys are about to take a good chunk of the 1970s off due to low sales – and weep
for what might have been. If in truth there’s a lot of fertiliser to put with
amongst the flowers (how did such dumb one-dimensional songs as ‘Student
Demonstration Time’ and ‘Take Care Of Your Feet Pete’ end up on ‘Surf’s Up’
when its outtakes are so good?) then that’s only because this box is so
colossal and the range of songs that went into making these albums so big.
There are so many unexpected treats here and once again the packaging is top
notch with a juicy hardback book and – unlike some of the sets on this list –
no unnecessary garden gnomes or anything of the sort. We say that if you can
afford it (and to be fair the £45 asking price isn’t bad for how much is here)
then you should add some music to your day right now! Meet you back here for
the ‘Carl and the Passions/Holland’ anniversary set in a couple of years,
hopefully, now that one will be interesting… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band: The Ultimate
Collection”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I can’t explain, so much pain…’ Way
back in the mists of 2008 I remember reviewing this album as one of my original
‘core’ 101 album reviews and effectively saying ‘gee, I wish all the twenty-odd
variations of this album’s songs we know to exist could be rounded up into a
deluxe edition one day?’ Well, be careful what you wish for because after last
year’s well-received set dedicated to a lesser album (‘Imagine’) went down so
well the Lennon estate (mostly son Sean these days) is back with an epic six
CDs/2 Blu-Ray set costing £90-odd and dedicated to just one record. So much for
this being Lennon’s back-to-basics album now it’s been given such exhaustive
and exhausting treatment; never have I felt more in touch with John’s primal
scream therapy than when I saw this set’s price-tag. Now a lot of these tracks
have been out before (on the various album re-issues, half a CD of the Lennon
‘Anthology’ box and the ‘Acoustic’ compilation) and there’s an entire disc here
that’s disposable straight-away, a whole hour’s worth of rockabilly jams played
in between takes that make pretty much no sense outside the songs being
recorded at the time. Nevertheless, anything from Lennon’s hands-down best and
most important album is worth a listen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, kudos to whoever put the rest
of the set together as instead of sitting through the same song being flogged
to death over and over again in order we get the album tracks plus tie-in singles
in order each disc in multiple different ways which is really clever and saves
you getting bored: there’s a disc of demos that’s endlessly fascinating (‘Cold
Turkey’ is tremendous, ‘I Found Out’ positively scary, ‘Love’ hauntingly
beautiful even on fumbled guitar rather than pristine piano and ‘Mother’
featuring Lennon letting rip with a vocal of such fury and passion already,
even when he knew no one else was going to hear him – well for half a century
as it turned out), another disc of outtakes (‘I Found Out’ is more 1950s in
feel, ‘God’ much sadder and slower, ‘Give Peace A Chance’ more desperate and
off-key, ‘Mother’ again just as raw and passionate), a disc of raw studio mixes
of yet more outtakes (‘I Found Out’ is utterly brilliant in its take 7 incarnation
here, looping round twice and doubling in length as John barks ‘Yoko!’ as well
as ‘Ow!’ before finally collapsing, exhausted, ‘Well Well Well’ even more
in-yer-face without the production effects, ‘Instant Karma’ much more lively.
Oh and take – gulp – 64 of ‘Mother’? Intense is no longer an adequate enough description),
even the disc of ‘elements’ mixes,
usually so irritating when used as filler on other sets, makes perfect sense
here as we hear John’s vocals and pianos/guitar, Klaus Voormann’s bass and
Ringo’s drums in full i-hi-hi-solation (worth hearing for Lennon’s vocal on
‘Mother’ alone…woooh, those screams! While ‘I Found Out’ apparently has some
bongos on it I’ve never heard before and the backing track of ‘Cold Turkey’ is
so raw it can strip paint). Oh and there’s an ‘Evolution Documentary’ disc too,
which is basically all the bits of chats between songs and a few snippets of
other takes heard in brief, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds (‘I
Found Out’ for instance finds itself turning into a Chuck Berry jam before the
band get it back on track). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All in all this thirty-nine minute album
now runs for about seven and a half hours! I can’t say I’d like to go through
for this for every Lennon album (even ‘Imagine’ was a slog to get through to be
honest and I really don’t think I can stomach the sugary ‘Double Fantasy’ songs
this many times over without turning diabetic), but ‘Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’
is the one Lennon solo album that’s important, powerful, brave and resilient
enough to withstand all the attention and I only find myself applauding the
three musicians who made it happen all the more (we said it before in our
review but this is Ringo’s best work ever, seriously, Beatles included – he’s
always good when Lennon wrote from the heart and never did Lennon write from
the heart more than here on his most autobiographical album of all). The
packaging is rather nice too with an extensive liner-note that’s more
information-stuffed than some Lennon books out there (though not the AAA one,
of course!) Forget the ‘Ultimate’ tag – this set is as ‘complete’ as this album
is ever going to be and for the fans who love this groundbreaking, important
and moving piece of art as much as I do that’s an even better word, with an old
friend now sounding even more complete and as such even more brilliant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beatles “Let It Be”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘All through the year Let It Be, Let It
Be, Let It Be…’ There are only two Beatle albums where we know for a fact every
note they played was recorded: ‘Please Please Me’, mostly made in one fourteen
hour session in 1963 and ‘Let It Be’, where several hundreds of hours of
rehearsals were taped in January 1969 in the hope of a feature film or concert
or, well, something to be decided later once the fab’s had decided what that
something was exactly. In the end we got a film about a band breaking up (see the
DVD section below), a quick final romp on a rooftop on a windy January day and
an album that all The Beatles seemed to hate for various reasons (John didn’t
like his songs and felt rushed into it, Paul hated the fact John hired Phil
Spector to ‘re-produce’ it adding overdubs without his consent, George hated
making it so much he walked out halfway through and Ringo was upset that his
friends kept falling out). Even in 1969 ‘Let It Be’ was ‘the album that got
away’ and the fans who’d heard snippets (the three singles and the rooftop gig
itself) had a vision for how good the album could have been that even its
release sixteen months later (and another McCartney-helmed go in 2003 as ‘Let
It Be…Naked’) couldn’t dispel. Now, to go with the long-awaited much-delayed
documentary film re-hashed version, we have a new box set of ‘Let It Be’ outtakes
to enjoy to go on the shelves alongside the deluxe sets for ‘Peppers’ ‘The
White Album’ and ‘Abbey Road’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Should they have just let it be, folks?
Well, pun aside, that’s definitely a no. There has been a growing trend of
thought amongst Beatlemaniacs for a few years now that the record that was
always considered the unloved runt of the fab four’s litter was actually a
worthy send-off. Most of the ‘Let It Be’ tapes have escaped on bootlegs where a
certain area of fandom (including me) have been saying for years what a
with-it, energetic, fun-loving project this was (mostly), a million miles away
from the darkened-edges, doom-and-gloom image it got when the film came out
(people never seem to understand why but it seems obvious to me: by the time
the film footage was edited the band had officially split and a happy-go-lucky
documentary would have seemed odd). Dare I say it, ‘Let It Be’ also has far
better songs on it than the better received ‘Abbey Road’ (recorded a few months
after and released a few months before), even if the back-to-basics approach
mean this much misunderstood album is far less epic in tone. As the prime mover
behind the project in 1969, Paul McCartney has alternated between tinkering
endlessly with it (‘Naked’ is still the definitive way to hear this record
‘without its trousers on’, the way it was meant to be from the first) and
trying to pretend it doesn’t exist (‘Let It Be’ the film has never been
officially released in its finished format past its original cinema run – even now
it’s symbolic that the only versions of it you can find to go alongside the new
Disney Plus documentary are on bootleg). Paul had a few options here when asked
to authorise a new version to go alongside the documentary film; he could have
simply re-released the original album and film. He could have given us multiple
expensive box sets of audio and visual footage going day by day by disc, like
many of the bootleggers did. Instead we’ve got a compromise two/five disc set
(depending which long and winding version you buy) seemingly compiled at random.
So after all this time does ‘Let It Be’ finally live up to what it could have
been? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes and no. There are some great bits
and pieces here that might not change your life exactly but will change how you
feel about this album, even if you know the bootlegs well. There are some fab
alternate versions of ‘Two Of Us’ that sound much more fun to play, the best of
which dispense with the acoustic arrangement and are played at a much faster
lick, a great loose version of ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ more in keeping with the
original bluesy intention, ‘Gimme Some Truth’ from Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ album which
is so new it’s composer hasn’t even got all the words yet but Paul has a whale
of a time throwing in ideas and singing alongside him anyway, the ‘I Me Mine’
from the film is a furious jazzy waltz a million miles away from the version
taped a year later as the last thing The Beatles ever officially did, away from
the Rooftop ‘Dig A Pony’ is a real complicated powerhouse whizzing through
several complex chord changes and manic wordplay and coming out the other side
a far more intense ride and ‘Get Back’ is, by contrast, way more serious and
controlled here in early form. Even ‘Dig It’ makes more sense when heard as a
mammoth unedited jam session rather than a two minute cameo. Throw in the far
superior, more in keeping with the ‘get back’ approach version of the album put
together in 1969 by engineer Glyn Johns that really should have come out at the
time (way better than Spector’s – I’ve always said nixing this version was a
rare Beatle mistake) and you have a lot of reasons to love ‘Let It Be’ all the
more after buying this set. If nothing else this box captures the spirit of the
sessions equally well – there’s enough chat and aborted 1950s rockabilly jams
and even a Beatle oldie or two to capture the mood, but not so much it gets in
the way of the alternate takes of the songs that every fan has come here to
hear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Honestly, though, five discs is nowhere
near enough and so many of these alternates play things safe (‘Let It Be’
‘Winding Road’ and several ‘Get Backs’ sound near-enough identical to the ones
we’ve loved for half a century, while there are way too many repeats from
‘Anthology’ here). There’s way too much missing that might be controversial
but, equally, is now history: for instance there’s no moment when George quit
the band and went home to write ‘Wah-Wah’ while saying ‘see you round the clubs’
while the others sat around the Twickenham canteen wondering if they should
call Eric Clapton in, or the version of ‘Get Back’ that’s laughing at Enoch
Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech; despite what you may have read the joke is
that telling refugees to hop it is the opposite of the track’s message and
there was never a less racist sixties white band than The Beatles. Bootleggers
know the joys of stumbling across a really good version of a song we thought we
knew backwards. My own mp3 player is full of about thirty ‘Get Backs’ (some
slow, some fast, some bluesy, some proto heavy metal/punk), twenty ‘Dig A
Ponys’ and about forty ‘I’ve Got A Feelings’, not to mention what I consider
the ‘definitive’ edition of ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ (with a whole harmony part
senselessly cut from the final arrangement) and fascinating early takes of ‘I
Want You’ sung not by John but Paul or Billy Preston and multiple songs later
released on ‘All Things Must Pass’ with shaky John ‘n’ Paul harmonies where
Phil Spector’s orchestra will go. There are truly some colossal oversights. In
fact ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ isn’t even here bar the rooftop version (yes I know it
was a B-side but it’s a key part of these sessions and taking it off the final
record was another rare Beatles mistake). There’s no sign of the many
improvised songs from the sessions that are actually rather groovy for being
made up on the spot: ‘Watching Rainbows’ ‘Dirty Old Man’ and ‘Zero Is Just
Another Number’ to name the three best of dozens. Even these Lennon-McCartney
throwaway jam sessions had more worth to them than some band’s whole albums.
I’d also have loved a CD of The Beatles discussing their childhood memories and
trying to play what they remembered of them (Paul ever so nearly gets the theme
tune to Gerry Andersen puppet show ‘Torchy The Battery Boy’) or John
reminiscing with director Michael Lindsay Hogg about working on The Rolling
Stones Circus the previous month (Lennon even has a stab at The Who’s tour de
force ‘A Quick One’). All of these moments make the fab four sound more human
and yet are also a part of history now, a time capsule of 1960s innocence that
has moved more than a few fans of the bootlegs to tears. They should have been
here, somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead of these we have…some
excruciating band jams, risible 1950s revivals and masses of interrupted takes
where things tend to fall apart in the guitar solos (George really wasn’t a
happy bunny making this record and sounds deeply fed up throughout, even if
John and Ringo sound much happier than legend dictates). All fascinating, all
worthy of release and – given that this set is strangely reasonable priced for
a Beatles deluxe set, at least compared to the last three – all worth owning. The
fabulous tie-in book, mixing dialogue from the original’s deluxe release which
thanks to poor super-gluing is now rarer than a Ringo drum solo, along with new
snippets and some glorious Linda McCartney photographs, solves many of my
problems by giving an even bigger insight to the album than any one box set can
have. However, the definitive ‘Let It Be’ set has yet to be released to my ears
and the packaging of this set is a waste because all the good stuff was being
saved for the book. Will the band let it be this time? I hope not. Of all the
times to go small, this wasn’t it – however in keeping with the back to basics
album theme that might have been. Oh well, at least we got rid of those lush
Phil Spector overdubs! Talking of which…
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">George Harrison “All
Things Must Pass” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Thanks for the pepperoni…and the
gnomes!’ All things must pass, they say, and that includes my bank balance…Covid
may have pushed both sets back either side of six months, but what was planned
for yuletide 2020 saw pretty much a repeat of yuletide 1970 as two ex-Beatles’
first releases went up against each other and also lingering sales of the final
band album for the Christmas market. ‘All Things’ was always the lusher, posher,
more elaborate of the trio and was pricey even at the time being expensively
produced and a triple LP to boot (although only me and about three other people
ever seem to have played the ‘Apple Jam’ disc at the end that should really have
been a freebie). However, for all their differences, ‘All Things’ ‘Plastic Ono
Band’ and ‘Let It Be’ have much in common: an honesty, a vulnerability, the
theme of the end of 1960s innocence, lyrics that debate the importance of the
truth and friends and family to your sense of self and the thought that it’s
going to be alright in the end, somehow, eventually, if you survive long enough.
Typically though where John’s set was all about the self and The Beatles about
the physical world their fans lived in, George’s is more of a universal spiritual
almanac, the closest rock and roll ever came to producing an instruction booklet
for how to live your life with as little mess and as few mistakes as possible.
As a result many fans including myself are super-fond of ‘All Things’ which has
a unique feel all to itself and there’s always been a special interest in this
era of Harrisongs, which has come to rather dominate all of George’s estate’s
archive releases so far. Whether this fondness amounts to the ‘uber deluxe’
version complete with replica garden gnomes (in case you’re wondering there
were four on the original cover George sat next to, his mischievous comment
that he’d ‘outgrown’ The Beatles who he thought they looked a bit like) and a
bookmark ‘made out of a tree in George’s Friar Park home’ retailing at nearly
$1000 or not, of course, remains to be seen and it has to be said even the
‘cheap’ versions of this album aren’t that cheap, which is why this set of such
sumptuous music is as low in this list as it is. That plus the fact that the
price and epic-ness seems at such odds with the humility and
we’re-all-in-this-together vibe of the music which makes putting the price so
high even more daft than on the ‘watch out for rip-offs’ vibe of ‘Plastic Ono
Band’. Well, everyone has choice when to and not to raise their prices I
suppose, its you that decides to buy. And should you? Ye-e-es (though maybe not
the full set with the gnomes, unless you have a very big garden).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The big talking point of the six disc
set is the new mix which, like pretty much everything re-released from the
1960s and 1970s these days, is by Hollie Tony Hicks’ son Paul.
It’s…controversial. Fans have long known that George came to regret getting
‘Let It Be’ mixer Phil Spector in to record this album as his trademark use of
echo came to drench everything in noise and make it all sound a hundred times
bigger than George’s more natural humble and homespun taste (as heard on all
his other solo records). George was himself busy re-mixing the album the year
before he died, but sadly never completed it, so we got a CD re-issue with
bonus tracks instead (this is where the ‘My Sweet Lord 2000’ comes from, released
at the time as a sample of what it would have sounded like). Many fans have
been calling for a re-mix for years and many do seem genuinely to love what we
have here. The problem for me is that stripping away the louder orchestral sound
without re-recording the instrumental parts means that all too often it sounds
as if George is shouting to himself in his living room while a band plays next
door, while a handful of the surviving session musicians have gone on record
saying how sad they are that their parts they played have been taken away and
how they fear being whitewashed from history.
I have to say I agree: I rather like the bombastic nature of the original,
which makes this most humble and vulnerable dark-night-of-the-soul album sound
epic and universal, as if the whole planet is feeling the same feelings of
doubt and anxiety and screaming them all at once. Now it just sounds like a
ho-hum singer-songwriter album, with the likes of ‘Isn’t It A Pity?’ and
‘Beware Of Darkness’ robbed of much of their charm and power (although a
slightly calmer ‘Wah-Wah’ and a less pompous ‘Hear Me Lord’ at least give the
originals a run for their money). Had this remix been added alongside the old
version as an ‘extra’ it would have been a lot more palatable, but alas even at
this high price the original mix isn’t here (I’d much rather have had it than
the garden gnome). Presumably this 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary set is going to
replace all other versions of this album on shelves for years to come, which
means that casual fans late to the party aren’t properly able to hear what the
album should have sounded like (yes, it’s mostly up on youtube still, but what
fan disappointed in the bastardised version is actually going to look for what
it used to sound like? CDs cost around 20p to manufacture – surely that 40p
wouldn’t have killed them in a set that costs £hundreds? The tapes are all
there from last time ready to go, no more work needed. Of all the times for
Harrison’s estate to start copying McCartney’s on rip-off re-issues this isn’t
it). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As for the extras, we get two full discs
and indeed two full days’ worth of George’s demos for the album, some of which
were released on the last re-issue twenty years ago but a majority of which
have never been officially released till now. As well as some very different
sounding arrangements for songs we know and love there are all sorts of juicy
songs discarded along the way, including 1950s retro throwback ‘Going Down To
Golder’s Green’, the beautiful ‘Gopala Krishna’, the trite but cute ‘Window
Window’, the unfinished but promising ‘Mother Divine’ and best of all ‘Dehra
Duhn’, the song George wrote in Rishikesh in 1968 busked for The Beatles Anthology
in 1996 and is finally getting a proper hearing for the first time ever – and
it’s a true gem (see below). How on Earth did the likes of ‘I Dig Love’ make it
to the finished album ahead of it?!? In truth these two discs are heavy going
heard all in one go, with George only giving his producer a rough outline of
his ideas complete with flat voice and bum guitar notes, but for those who love
this album even they’re great to have as a way of hearing how these songs
started off in George’s head. More disappointing sadly are the final two discs,
made up of only slightly different arrangements and outtakes and the odd jam
far less exciting than the ones on the original ‘Apple Jam’ disc. Very little
really breaks through hear and makes you go ‘wow’, though there are some bits
and pieces of interest. Along the way we get a madder, sadder ‘Hear Me Lord’
played more like a raga drone, an even slower arrangement for ‘Isn’t It A
Pity?’ and hear George sarcastically dealing with the end of The Beatles by
busking The Four Aces’ 1950s hit ‘Those Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old
Gang Of Mine’. None of this will ever replace the rather splendid 2001 re-issue
in other words or be the definitive story of this album George’s estate clearly
want it to be (all things must pass, but records like this one will always be
re-issued), but new ways to view special albums are always welcome and few are
more special than ‘All Things’, George’s masterpiece on aging, released when he
was just twenty-seven. Now a timely re-issue of the ‘George Harrison’ album and
‘Somewhere In England’ with full extras, please – and hold the gnomes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">6) The Who “Sell Out” (Super Deluxe)</span><span style="color: #002060;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Keith, was that you yelling over the
drums?’ ‘Noooo?’ (manic laughter)’. Though this box set has fallen to near the
bottom of this year’s re-issue pile, that’s more a reflection of how good the
rest of this year’s entrants have been and the fact that this is this album’s
fourth issue in the digital era already (including expanded editions in 1995
and 2009) so true blue Who fans already own near enough half of this set’s contents multiple times over. So what do you
get for your £60-odd that you didn’t get the last time you bought The Who’s
third album, the one from the autumn after the summer of love celebrating pirate
radio, starring ‘I Can See For Miles’ and crammed full of jingles in the hopes
that an in-debt Who might get some free gear ? Still a fair bit actually
considering how much came out last time: alongside the expanded mono and stereo
editions from before there’s a bundle of new mixes (none of which are all that
different mind), an extra disc of recordings made following the album in 1968
collected together for the first time (a great idea we’ve been asking for
across many years on this site!), an entire glorious disc of previously unheard
session outtakes and a shorter final disc of Pete Townshend demos (a few of
which have been heard before on his ‘Scoop’ series, but not all by any means). Though
the packaging feels a tad less interesting than previous Who super deluxes like
‘Leeds’ and ‘Tommy’ and the two 7” vinyl singles plus a billion flyers and
stickers and even a replica of Keith Moon’s Speakeasy Club membership card feel
superfluous somehow, it’s still all made excellently, clearly put together by
fellow fans for fans with lots of unseen stuff (where were all these great
photos the last three times this album was out?) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The original album is of course
stupendous and one of our original ‘core 101 reviews’, with some fascinating
alternate takes here thrown in from various sources: the full take of ‘I Can
See For Miles’ that stops one instrument at a time a little past the fade we
know and love, a shaky first attempt at the Heinz Baked Beans advert, a rather
heavy version of beautiful psychedelic ballad ‘Our Love Was’ before the rough
edges were softened and a first go at ‘Relax’ that’s decidedly less mellow than
the finished version being just a few of the highlights. As fans who bought any
of the previous three versions know though the real gems come in what was left
behind on the cutting room floor: Pete Townshend’s only ‘acid trip’ song ‘Glow
Girl’ sounds stupendous in two new versions, one a demo with extra lyrics and
another the session tapes for the cooking backing track (see below), there’s an
even more emotionally deranged ‘Melancholia’ and a bona fide advert for Sun
Amplifiers that might have given The Who the album idea in the first place (odd
that last one has never been out on any version of this record before). As for
the demos, we finally get to hear the legendary ‘Do You Want Kids, Kids?’ which
turns out to be even odder than expected, a lecture from Professor Townshend on
the importance of staying alive long enough to learn life lessons rather than
giving in to addictions (what on Earth did Keith Moon make after hearing that
for the first time?)and the similarly unreleased ‘Inside Outside’ (a very
Kinks-like song about the pressure of touring probably left out for the cheeky
reference to ‘eating hash…browns’) and a bunch of old friends in demo form who
as usual either sound remarkably similar to the finished product despite Pete
playing all the instruments himself (an even more straight-faced version of
everybody’s favourite ode to masturbation ‘Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand’) and
some songs that took very different turns (a spaced-out ‘Jaguar’ and ‘Relax’
performed as a folky acoustic ballad). Throw in an utterly brilliant earlier
take of 1968 single ‘Magic Bus’ that knocks spots off the rather over-cooked
finished version and The Who truly rides again! Sadly there’s no free tin of
baked beans as per the front cover (though there is a special limited edition
tie-in from Heinz that costs, gulp, £30!) and no sign of the tie-in ‘classic
albums’ documentary anywhere which there really should be at that price (that
made it to TV instead, again see below). Amazingly even the fourth time round
‘The Who Sell Out’ has more than enough for fans to sell out yet again and is
yet to get stale as your armpits before Odorono kicks in. Next time round
though guys do you think we could give ‘Who By Numbers’ or ‘A Quick One’ their
proper dues rather than another version of this album again or, say, Tommy the
IXth? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">7) David Crosby “If I Could Only Remember My Name”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
[weeps in Californian]’ The original is of course sublime and simply one of the
best albums ever made. Even Pope Francis thinks so, listing it one place below
‘Revolver’ and one above ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ in a top ten guide to his favourite
spiritual-themed albums at the Vatican a few years ago (The Pope has great
taste – there’s a Paul Simon and an Oasis in the list too). Croz had just lost
his girlfriend Christine in a car crash when he made this (he’s just a few
months further in than he was on ‘Déjà vu’ here and still fragile) and used
music as therapy, something to get up for and make it through the day, with an
endless supply of musician friends helping him out along the way – the result
is a truly haunting spiritual album that keeps going in different directions
and sounds like your five favourite records of all time got together and had a
baby. Fifty years is a natural anniversary for a re-issue and David Crosby
needs the money, so I can hardly begrudge him cashing in on an album more fans
need to hear in any case and a whole disc of extras would – in any other years
that didn’t include the above six sets – feel generous. So why am I still a
little teensy bit disappointed? Well, first off, we only had a re-issue of this
album ten years ago for the 40<sup>th</sup> anniversary (thankfully that
re-issue’s lone extra, the beautiful ‘Kids and Dogs’ improvised duet with Jerry
Garcia is here in two different versions). Secondly, perhaps a third of the
extras have been out before on various sets - notably the Crosby box set
‘Voyage’. Thirdly this set doesn’t even feature a full set of released outtakes
from this record (like a different ‘Cowboy Movie’ and the alternately mixed
‘Music Is Love’, both from ‘Voyage’). Fourthly, there are literally hours of
this stuff on bootleg that still haven’t had an official release yet –
wonderful improvised Crosby solo songs like ‘Is It Really Monday?’ and ‘Under
Anaesthesia’, not to mention some great jams with collaborators from the CSN,
Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane families. I’d also love to hear some
‘elemental mixes’ a la the Lennon set one day, such as those haunting vocals
from ‘I’d Swear There Was Somebody There’s wordless gospel stripped down one by
one some day, not to mention all the many parts that went to making up
‘Laughing’ and ‘Cowboy Movie’, as if ever an album was born for that sort of
attention to detail it’s this one. Presumably I’ll be meeting you back here in
2031 to discuss this album’s 60<sup>th</sup> birthday set which may or may not
contain all the above (though my money’s on the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary set
in 2046).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What we get instead is more evidence of
Crosby’s natural gifts for improvising with yet more of the tape recordings suddenly
discovered a few years back, some of which were first heard (with overdubs) on
Croz’s inspired 2018 record ‘Here If You Listen’. These aren’t songs as such
but snippets of chord changes played over Croz’s favoured jazz tunings and
hummed over, which would have been stunning had we not already kinda heard them
three years ago already. There are some nice demos too for not only this
album’s songs but other records in the works (1972’s ‘Graham Nash- David
Crosby’ with a leisurely ‘Games’ and a particularly haunting ‘Where Will I Be?’
that feels much more a part of this troubled album and is almost worth the
price of the set alone, plus 1975’s ‘Wind On The Water’ where ‘Critical Mass’
just suddenly ends instead of turning right into a Nash song about whales and
1976’s ‘Whistling Down The Wire’ where the under-rated wordless chant ‘Dancer’
is a only a pirouette away from completion already). In a sign of just how much
input the Dead and Airplaners had on this record none of these demos sound in
any way shape or form as strong or as finished as the recordings we’ve known
and loved all these years, but they still sound pretty darned good. There’s
also one brand new unbootlegged song: in contrast to all these other future
gems ‘Coast Road’ really is a song too rather than a Crosbyian tuned monkish
chant, an atmospheric if unfinished sounding track where Crosby merges with the
weather over California as a fire hits the sun head-on in a collision that has
Crosby wondering if he’ll even wake up the next morning. Like nearly everything
here it’s all done with the same heartbreak-drenched inspiration as music comes
pouring out of Croz so fast he’s not quite sure what to do with it so he just
keeps it as close to the unformed source with which it arrived as possible. The
contrast between this and his new record couldn’t be stronger: everything on
this album, from the demos to the finished product to the album cover, is free-form
and hazy and sun-kissed, drenched in inspiration and melody. In any other year
that might have made that enough to make ‘Name’ our record of the year – the
fact an album as close to being a masterpiece as this one is only seventh is
more a sign of what a rare bonanza we’ve had in 2021 than any lack on this set,
though I can’t help being a teensy bit disappointed that Crosby’s memory
problems lasted to the point of forgetting most of the real best recordings
from these sessions. I bet the Pope will love it if someone gets him set for
Christmas, though – it almost makes up for the fact that we didn’t get a 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary edition of ‘Revolver’ in 2016 despite agreeing with the Pope that
it’s easily the best Beatles album. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">8)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Rolling Stones
“Tattoo You”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Take it to the top!’ The sad and rather
unexpected death of dear Charlie Watts (his last official sighting: the rather
incongruous sight of him pretending to play the drums during last year’s TV
lockdown show) has rather cast a shadow on all the planned Stones activity this
year. We didn’t get that new album the band have been working on for years and
years now, at the time of writing we’ve only just had the much-delayed tour and
instead of appearing with a publicity bang this year’s album re-issue has
slipped out quietly. Typically, rather than celebrate a 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary The Stones go for a 40<sup>th</sup>. Now ‘Tattoo You’ was the one
Stones album I thought we’d never get a deluxe version of. Why? Well, it was a
bunch of outtakes itself, dating back a decade in some cases (even hit single
‘Start Me Up’ should be rubbing shoulders with ‘Brown Sugar’ in the Stones
catalogue chronology-wise) and the only song that was positively worked on from
scratch was the sublime Mick Jagger solo performance ‘Heaven’. Somehow, though,
the band have dug eight totally unreleased songs out of the vaults as well as
an alternate take of ‘Start Me Up’ (one which actually dates from later than
the ‘finished’ version as the band admitted they’d gone down a rare cul-de-sac
of trying out a reggae arrangement that hadn’t really worked – and it really
doesn’t). Most of these are a bit wobbly, closer to the so-so extras on the
‘Some Girls’ re-issue rather than the sublime ones on ‘Exile On Main Street’ or
‘Sticky Fingers’ sets, made up mostly of passable cover songs rather than much
that’s toe-tinglingly exciting. There are though one or two gems: ‘Living In
The Heart Of Love’ is a classic bit of Stones swamp that would have been one of
the best things on the album had it been fully instead of 90% finished and
perhaps given a slightly punchier chorus. ‘Fuji Jim’ has a great rock and roll
swagger to it as well, harder edged than most Stones of the period and surely
based on a real character (he may even have been Mick Jagger’s idea of what
Keith was like during his heavy drug period). A third AAA stab at Mentor
Williams’ celebratory ‘Drift Away’ isn’t up to Hollie Allan Clarke’s superb
reading from 1972 but suits the Stones better than Ringo’s from 1995, with a
very Stonesy swampy blissed out sound that really suits the verse’s feelings of
boredom and disillusionment before the music pushes the band into an ecstatic
chorus of joy. It might well be the best Stones cover post 1978’s ‘Just My
Imagination’, not that there are all that many. Not a bad haul then, by Stones
deluxe standards, though it’s a shame that so many of the unreleased songs are
covers and that there’s only that one alternate take this time around. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like most of the Stones re-issues
there’s also a live disc and – again – while the Stones of 1982 can’t compare
to those already heard in concert in 1968-73 or 1978 it is still well worth
hearing. If you’ve heard the Stones album ‘Still Life’ (from the same tour)
it’s basically a longer version of that record, highlighted by a ‘third side’
where the Stones play some rockabilly oldies (The Big Bopper’s ‘Chantilly Lace’
didn’t make that record but does make this one). Interestingly there are way
more songs from 1978’s ‘Some Girls’ than the ‘Tattoo’ record the band are meant
to be promoting, though the band sound sluggish on them compared to the 1978
live sets now out. Even so a nine minute ‘Just My Imagination’ that just won’t
stop coming is the highlight, closely followed by a bluesy ‘Black Limousine’
that would surely have been Brian Jones’ favourite Stones track of the 1980s
and one of the better ‘Satisfaction’ encores around. ‘Tattoo You’ isn’t all
good (‘Little T&A’ and ‘Hang Fire’ remain amongst the most embarrassing
Stones moments of all live or in the studio) but when it is (‘Heaven’ is, well,
heaven, ‘Tops’ is a great character song from the Mick Taylor era and ‘No Use
In Crying’ is an under-rated gem, not to mention the extras outlined above)
‘Tattoo You’ more than makes its mark, inking its way into your memory whether
you know the record backwards or you’re coming to it for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">9)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Grateful Dead”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The bus came by and I got on, this time
with a bus pass…’ Better known by fans under either of its originally intended
names (‘Skullfuck’, a title the Dead knew they could never get away with and
which was purely to annoy their record company Warner Brothers, and fan
nickname ‘Skulls and Roses’), the latest band 50<sup>th</sup> birthday present
expands the old double album from 1971 to become a double CD set with another
76 minutes worth of unreleased live material. Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by other
largely excellent Dead anniversary re-releases, but that’s actually a shame:
the Dead’s Filmore show from July 2<sup>nd</sup> 1971 dates from a full nine
weeks after the rest of the record (a positive lifetime in an era when the Dead
seemed to be changing styles by the day so the setlist is hardly anything like
that album) and this rather tasty show deserves better than to have been cut
down to a third its size to fit on two discs. It also seems odd that the Dead
didn’t simply couple this set with the original show’s outtakes (released on CD
as ‘Ladies and Gentlemen – The Grateful Dead’ in 2000) and have done with it,
given how long it took me to actually track a copy of that set down when I came
to review it for the AAA book. So what do you get this time around? Well, sadly
not the two rather fun bonus tracks from past CD re-issues, Buddy Holly’s ‘Oh
Boy’ and Pigpen spoofing himself on ‘I’m A Hawg Fer Yer’. We do at least get a
couple of period songs that never made it to this or – in one case - any other
record in the Dead’s lifetime, a typically eclectic collection that shows off
just how varied the band’s setlists were back then. These include a
seventeen-minute ‘Good Lovin’ that, much like the parent album, ebbs and flows
between brilliance and boringness and a ten minute slow-burning cover of
country classic ‘Sing Me Back Home’. In addition there’s a different night’s
stab at ‘Big Boss Man’ that’s played much slower, an alternate ‘That’s It For
The Other One’ that’s similarly messy to the record but in an entirely
different way and a tighter, snappier take on ‘Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down
The Road Feelin’ Bad’. Sadly there’s no room for that night’s true rarities or
highlights (Pig’s risqué cover of washtub song ‘The Rub’, a storming ‘Hard To
Handle’, a strutting ‘Casey Jones’ and an unusually shortened but still highly
impressive ‘Playin’ In The Band’), which presumably are being kept back for a
fuller release sometime (this album’s 75<sup>th</sup> birthday perhaps?) The
result is arguably the weakest release yet in the Dead’s ongoing 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary series, but still a set that’s just about in the pocket of the
band’s golden period when everything from this road was worth travelling down. Goodness
only knows what we’re going to get for ‘Europe ‘72’ next year given the Dead
have already given us (literally) a suitcase full of extra material… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">10)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Noel Gallagher’s High
Flying Birds “Back The Way We Came Volume One”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Someday you might find your hero – but
someday you might lose your mind…’ A special exclusive in Spring for the UK’s
‘record store day’, which seemed rather hopeful given that most UK record
stores weren’t open for very long due to the usual deadly Boris Johnson
procrastination techniques, Noel seems to have decided that ten years, three
albums and a couple of EPs are enough to make up a double-LP greatest hits set.
Which, to put that amount of releases in context, would mean Oasis releasing
the same thing in 1997 shortly after ‘Be Here Now’ (or three years into Oasis’
discography). Is there enough here for fans to buy? Well, hardly. There is, to
be fair, a definite normal-length album to be taken from all these releases
showing off Noel at his groundbreaking best. Unfortunately Noel is not the best
judge of his own material by any means and on this personally chosen selection only
two of those moments of brilliance made the album: the jazzy ‘Riverman’ (despite
what Noel keeps saying probably the only solo song of his so far you can’t
imagine Oasis doing better) and the aching ballad ‘Dead In The Water’, the one
time here Noel sounds as if he means what he’s singing (it’s a quite
breathtaking performance in fact, which makes you wonder why it was only a
bonus track on Noel’s weakest album ‘Who Built The Moon?’ the first time round).
Shockingly, there’s no room for what really marks his greatest music of the
past decade: the sly anthemic ‘Wanna Live The Dream In My Record Machine’, Oasis
outtake ‘Stop The Clocks’ where dying has never been so musical, the pop
production tour de force ‘Black and White Sunshine’ or the second jazzy bit of
brilliance ‘The Right Stuff’, which between them would neatly give Oasis fans
the only half-dozen High Flying Bird songs actually worth owning. Instead we
get an hour’s worth of scissor-waving, the single most inane piece of juvenile noise
I’ve heard from a halfway decent artist in the past ten years which is ‘Holy
Mountain’ (‘She fell! She fell! Right under my spell!) which – dear God – has
been remixed to sound even noisier, lots of songs that seem to go on for hours
purely on one chord with no guitar at all and a production so busy it hurts
your ears. Oh and two new songs: this year’s so-so singles ‘We’re On Our Way
Now’ (reviewed below) and ‘Flying On The Ground’ (an irritating slow pop song
that almost seems to admit that Noel knows what he’s writing nowadays is truly
awful but that its only because he ‘got so high’ in his days of yesteryear he
was always going to crash at some time with The High Flying Birds. Admittedly
this would make a nonsense of the boasting going on in interviews, but then
Noel has always used those to project the image of himself he wants to have, to
hide the truth in plain sight – how else can I read lyrics like ‘I bet you
can’t find me cos I’m upside down and flying on the ground’. And as all Buffalo
Springfield fans know – and Noel is no doubt one of them given his large
knowledge of 1960s pop – flying on the ground is wrong). Even the album cover
is horrifically tacky, with a cheap head-shot of Noel in ugly shades making
this look like one of those cheap imported American tele-marketing sets of the
1970s. Our advice: download the six tracks we mention for around a quarter of
the price of this expensive vinyl set and then we’ll collectively agree as a
fanbase that this package doesn’t really exist. Let’s hope the second decade
for the High Flying Birds is, if nothing else, a bit more consistent than the
first. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">11)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pink Floyd “A Momentary
Lapse Of Reason”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Tongue tied and twisted’ In 2019 Pink
Floyd released ‘The Later Years’ box set, covering everything they released
after Roger Waters quit the band in 1985. It was easy to miss – after all, we
Floydians were still getting over the shock and paying off the multiple loans
it took to afford all the pre-1979 box set re-issues – and by Floyd standards
didn’t sell all that well. So this year the band have taken another tack,
re-releasing the first disc as a standalone set. The good news is that this is
more than just a straightforward remix; the band have taken out a lot of the 1980s
period excesses, bundled Nick Mason into a recording studio to record some new
drum parts that were once played by session musicians so that they now sound
more ‘Floydian’ and delved into the vaults for some unused keyboard snippets
from the much-missed Rick Wright. The Hipgnosis team who did the original front
cover have even got back into their vaults and found an outtake from the
original photo sessions, featuring an unseen shot taken a few seconds later
than the one we know and love, when the micro-light in the sky is much nearer to
the camera and the hundreds of hospital beds are much further under water (and
if that sentence means nothing to you then, seriously, it’s a long story and is
a Pink Floyd album cover after all – perhaps best not to ask). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The bad news is that all this effort has
gone into ‘Momentary Lapse Of Reason’, arguably the only poor Floyd album there
is and all the remixes under the sun can’t save an album so weak in writing and
execution, no matter how many extra keyboard licks and cymbal tinkles there are.
If you know the album backwards then there are at least some changes that will
catch your ear (some nice extra keyboard parts on ‘Signs Of Life’ for instance
that really should have made the final mix and an ‘On The Turning Away’ that’s
almost an acoustic solo without all those excess synthesisers, while closer
‘Sorrow’ – by far the album highlight in any version – is more intimate and less
epic, closer to how David Gilmour always envisioned it and how he’s played it
since in concert). Really, though, there’s not that much here to whet the
appetite and frustratingly very little in terms of extras – no session tapes or
outtakes or even alternate mixes, just a ‘bonus’ DVD featuring the in-concert
films from four album songs (which were only ever designed to be looked at
while the band played rather than anything that exciting) and two
previously-known music videos for noisy lead single ‘Learning To Fly’. Save
your money for the next Floyd box set, which given that we’ve had everything
else must be ‘The Final Cut’s turn by now (now there’s an album with some
quality outtakes!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l16 level1 lfo11; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">12)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Pink Floyd “Animals”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘No, this is not a bad dream!’ At least
‘Momentary’ had some extras though, however useless – poor ‘Animals’ doesn’t
get any. I don’t quite understand the thinking at Pink Floyd HQ, wherever it
may be (Grantchester Meadows perhaps? You can tell where it is because of the
flying pig over the top of it). When the three albums around ‘Animals’ were re-released
a decade ago - ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Wall’ – we
got the full works: multiple CDs, DVDS, endless demos and live recordings and
even some coasters. Though just as interesting as that trio of albums the ‘Animals’
re-issue is just the album itself, re-mastered, with a new detailed book but
without anything extra in terms of music. Admittedly the re-mastering is really
rather good (getting the album’s tricky balance of prog and punk just right all
over again) and the book excellent, but by Floyd standards they’re just not
trying (surely there’s something in the vaults from this album? Heck, there is
at least the quite brilliant 8-track cartridge version of ‘Pigs On The Wing II
and I’ which had Snowy White playing a linking guitar piece so the album could
be played constantly on a loop. That totally deserves a re-issue!) Much more
entertaining than this new set is the story behind it, which as Roger revealed
on his facebook page was delayed two years not because of covid but because
David Gilmour disagreed with one set of sleeve notes for it praising Roger,
which Roger graciously agreed to take out before it made the shops. David,
naturally, says the delays are all down to Roger. Sigh, forget pigs, sheep and
dogs – it turns out that the pair are still rutting stags locking antlers even
forty-four years after coming to blows making this album… <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
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<v:textpath fitpath="t" string="THE TEN SONGS OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: Impact; v-text-kern: t;" trim="t" xscale="f">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> <span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b> The Songs Of The Year </b></span></span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">CSNY “Know You’ve Got To
Run/Everybody I Love You”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
a loose general rule the top entry in our ‘songs of the year’ list tend to be
ones that haven’t been heard before, but we’re going to stretch that slightly
in 2021 for a song we thought we knew but had never heard like this before.
‘Know You’ve got To Run’ is the revelation of the ‘Déjà vu’ set. For 51 years
we knew this song as ‘Everybody We Love You’
a typical polished Stills medley, one of his many songs for girlfriend
Judy Collins tidied up into one last ray of sunshiney hippie brilliance. Even
with a more complete and austere reading of this song for ‘Stephen Stills II’
played on a banjo that we’ve known for 50 years, it still sounded more pretty
than pretty revealing. But not here. For now the pain of the breakup is still
haunting Stills as he leads CSNY through an angry and tense eight minute stomp
that’s closer to ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’, his famous song of agony and
outpouring. Verse after verse follows, all drilled through with an atypically
tight and busy guitar riff that’s all doubt and darkness, a million light years
away from the song of hippie love we got to end the album. We’ve long known
that Stephen and Judy were ‘twin flames’, the intense lovers from very
different backgrounds put into each other’s lives for learning lessons rather
than stable love (think John and Yoko, rather than Paul and Linda – they were
soulmates) – but never more than here. You can just hear Stills’ frustration
bubbling over as he watches the love of his life waltz out of his circle
forever (in real life she left Stills to marry another musician she admitted
later she didn’t feel anything like the same connection with, but who was
‘stabler’ all round) and – freed no doubt by the thought that no one was ever
likely to hear this first take ever again – pours his heart out like never
before, a true primal scream of pain. Hearing this song like this, it’s pretty
neat bow and packaging removed, helps you understand why Stills was still
writing songs about his strong connection with Judy decades later and here, at
the moment of parting, it almost hurts too much to bear. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
all starts off pretty and poetic, as Stills forlornly realises that he and Judy
have come to the end of a beautiful road, with a showdown looming that he knows
in his heart will be their last visit, ‘to never see more again!’ He tries to
get into her psyche, wondering why she’s pushing him away when they love each
other so hard and realises how much this relationship is going to haunt him
forever. He tells Judy that his tortured soul recognises her tortured soul and
how brilliant she is, noting her ‘baleful cry’, the ‘light of hunger’ for more
from life that they both share and the ‘lingering’ forlorn look’ he sees ‘deep
within your eye’. Suddenly, though, this meeting of minds is gone and ended, as
she’s a million miles away from him now, deep in a hole of depression he can’t break
through on two fascinating verses struck from the finished version. Next poor
Stephen’s pondering on to how difficult it is for him to just let the
connection go, figuring Judy must have cast a love potion in his sleep to keep
him hanging round when she treats him so badly, trapped while she runs away
from him in a desperate misguided attempt to run away from the reflection of
herself she sees in him. ‘You’ll always be running, running’, Stills taunts,
while the musicians fly in all directions around him. By the end of the song he
thinks he’s got to the heart of what’s really going on, singing that ‘you
expect for me to love you when you hate yourself my friend!’ as she runs away
from him again and self-sabotages what they have, spitting out that last word
in horror, realising that’s all they are to each other now (if he’s lucky). It
all builds up to a terrific crescendo and one last try for love as Stills
screams himself hoarse ‘open up open up baby, let me in!!!’ But to no avail,
the song – and the Déjà vu set – coming to a sudden uncomfortable halt without
the segue into the hippie song of promise ‘Everybody I Love You’ there just yet,
the whole band clearly energetically spent. Because there’s no love here any
more, no room for hippie optimism however convincing or beautiful, and this
time round there isn’t even a Crosby-Nash harmony to soften the blow. The
result is extraordinary and a recording that’s blown me away like few others
for years now; If only CSNY had been brave enough to stick this raw and punchy
version out on the album we might never have had the belated criticism that the
quartet were a bit ‘soft’ around the edges; with this and ‘Almost Cut My Hair’
on the album CSNY would rightly have been hailed as one of the greatest rock
bands of them all. As indeed they always were.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">David Crosby “Coast
Road”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Combining the church sound of ‘Orleans’
with the despair of ‘I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here’, undiscovered 1971 gem
‘Coast Road’ is on a knife edge between Croz’s emotional free-fall following
his girlfriend Christine’s death in a car crash and his faith that someone or
something will step in and save him. Mostly a mesh of improvised overdubbed
chords, suddenly two minutes in David’s vocal cuts in, free-form, as he climbs
a mountain (Tamalpais?) and imagines himself merging with the sky and the sun
where the two both meet. Somehow he’s leaving the fire below to start a brand
new day, but it’s ambiguous as to whether he’s taking a leap of faith off the
mountain or a dive to his death to end the pain he’s in. Though even less
finished than, say, ‘Song With No Words’, Crosby’s special period tunings
always hit my emotions in a special way and the few words there are really hit
home on this special song which would have made a lovely addition to a truly
beautiful record. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Who “Glow Girl/It’s
A Girl”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The wing of the aeroplane has just
caught on fire – I say without reservation that we ain’t getting no higher!’ Pete
Townshend was so nearly an acid casualty of a very different kind in 1967. High
on LSD for one of the few times in his life on board an airplane, he was
alarmed to hear that one of the engines was on fire. His trip suddenly turning
bad, in both meanings of the word, Pete scribbled his goodbyes on the notepad
he was carrying and had a strong vision of being reincarnated into or perhaps
from a teenage girl who also faced the same aeroplane-induced fate. Hurriedly
he scribbled down a description of her as he saw her in his mind’s eye (‘Woolworths
makeup, several pairs of shoes’) and continued the story as best he could.
Luckily the other aeroplane engines worked just fine and the plane landed
safely, but the vision he got left a lasting impression on Pete, putting him
off LSD for life. His notes also turned into first this ‘Who Sell Out’ outtake
and later, after a change of sex, ‘Tommy (the ‘It’s a girl’ refrain of this
song literally being re-written as ‘It’s A Boy’ in 1969). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Admittedly we’ve had the finished
version of this song around since the 1990s and for many Who fans ‘Glow Girl’
has rightly become heralded as one of the greatest things the band did, at
least in the 1960s. What’s new in 2021 though is, first of all, a cooking
series of session tapes charting how this song took shape, including an utterly
magnificent backing track that features the Townshend-Entwistle-Moon interplay
at its absolute best (Keith plays out of his drum-skins here and the song
almost levitates from his part alone). And secondly Pete’s unheard demo for the
song, still so audibly close to the experience that inspired it he still sounds
in half-shock as he’s singing. Running a minute and a verse or so longer, this
is highly revealing magical stuff as Pete fleshes out his narrative to have the
girl mourning all the objects she’s about to lose from this life: ‘My
out-of-tune piano, my brand new yellow trike, my little boutique habit, TV
shows we like…It’s nearly over, you can’t complain, you’ve had some good times
and you’ll be round again!’ There’s then a brilliant instrumental interlude
that’s even more psychedelic than the finished version as Pete’s guitar chords and
echo delay pedal bounce off each other, leading up to a huge crescendo before
crash-landing into the familiar ‘It’s a girl Mrs Walker’ refrain. Even then
this demo has an extra surprise though, as the song starts up again and the
narrator waves herself goodbye with a cry of ‘I’m going to miss you, little
glow girl!’ and her identity becomes wiped out forever and she turns into
someone else altogether. These missing bits really should have made the final
recording and the final recording should have made the final album and then The
Who would have been all but unstoppable into 1968, rather than a band down on
their luck making novelty singles and throwing a last hurl of the dice with
‘Tommy’. As magnificent as that ‘reincarnation’ is, my goodness the one here
takes some beating too. How I love these box sets when they make an already
brilliant song glow even brighter! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">George Harrison “Dehra
Duhn”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems to be a rule that with ‘All
Things Must Pass’ George Harrison recorded every song he had, then axed the
ones that didn’t fit and were too playful or silly to make one of his or indeed
rock music’s most serious of albums. It’s a real shame he never returned to
some of them in later life though, especially ‘Dehra Duhn’ which is a lovely
ode to a city in India nearby to Rishikesh and first busked during The Beatles’
1968 visit there. Based on a joyous melody that bounces from one note to
another, it’s clearly meant to approximate the free-flowing feel of the sitar
and sounds tailor made for singing round campfires, as indeed it was. Though
slight, there’s room for some lovely homespun Harrison philosophy in there too
as he tries to find his way round this mysterious strange place so different to
any he’d known. He’s clearly thinking past the mere roadmaps when he sings:
‘Many roads can take you there in many different ways, one road can take you
years – another takes you days’. He marvels too at how people so materially
financially poor can be so spiritually rich, ‘beggars in a gold mine’. George
is clearly in the place his heart has been crying out to be in ever since his
birth and it’s a joy to be there alongside him at last (legally). Most modern
Beatle fans know this track best from the 1990s ‘Anthology’ TV extras where
Paul asks George what he wrote in India in 1968 and George busks a quick
version of this song, admitting that ‘I’ve never got round to recording it yet’
– he’d clearly forgotten about the simple guitar bass n drums recording he’d
taped at the beginning of the ‘All Things’ sessions and I don’t know why,
because once heard it’s the kind of thing that will stay with you forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beach Boys “Awake”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the reasons Brian Wilson is so
beloved by Beach Boys fans is that he has the ability to see life through the
enthused eyes of a child, while being able to write about it with the knowledge
of a tortured adult musical genius whose seen it all. Even in a catalogue
stuffed full of such examples, the new discovery from the ‘Feel Flows’ box set
‘Awake’ is something special. Brian is delighted to be awake and lying next to
his loved one, with the chance to make his dreams come true come the morning. A
darker turn a verse later has Brian warning us (and given the context of these
being his bedbound years, surely himself) ‘you mustn’t sleep your life awake’
and that we must make the most of what life has to offer us, rather than simply
going back to sleep and leaving the things we want from life undone. It sounds
like a motivational speech to get out of bed next as in true Brian style he’s
driven to get up not by sights but sounds – the bird song and the children
singing drifting in through his bedroom window. Brian’s vocal turns from sweet
to pained in the blink of an eye though as his falsetto climbs higher than
Heaven and then descends to Hell, sometimes echoing and sometimes contradicting
the simple piano line that weaves patterns of beauty beneath him. By the end
Brian concludes that maybe this day is our day because everyone has them and
‘maybe this day your dreams come true’. Given the awful time Brian was going
through in 1970 the fact he can sing these words and mean them is astonishing.
Even on a box set that spoilt us with gems we’d never heard before this song is
special. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">6)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Rolling Stones
“Living In The Heart Of Love”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sigh, Charlie was good wannee?
Particularly here on a prime Stones outtake from the ‘Tattoo You’ set that
dates from 1980 but in truth could have been from any era. It’s simply the sort
of thing The Stones do in their sleep: a feisty riff that’s close to
‘Satisfaction’ and all its many re-writes, criss-crossing guitars, Mick barking
a daft lyric with the conviction that its pure poetry and a brilliant taut
back-beat from Charlie keeping things on the straight and narrow. It’s just
different enough to be a treasure though, with one of Ronnie Wood’s better
guitar solos and some quite brilliant Stonesy lyrics about a girl that nowadays
would be referred to as ‘high maintenance’. ‘I tried so hard to be your baby’
Mick sighs (this is early days of his frosty relationship with Jerry Hall…just
saying), before telling us that he doesn’t sleep nowadays out of worry – and
his lack of sleep used to be for, uhh, other reasons. There are also clues that
she’s a gold-digger with lines like ‘You can keep your gold and keep your
treasure but I wasn’t just born just to give you pleasure!’ The chorus is
decidedly weaker than the verses (‘Living is a part of love’ repeated over and
over), but heck - with that backbeat it’s all good. Stronger than a good half
of the ‘Tattoo You’ album, how this song got left behind when the band were so
desperate to put an album out and tour it quickly is a mystery, as like all
good Stones songs its inked itself on my memory so well already I can’t quite
believe I only heard it for the first time a few months ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">7)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil Young and Crazy
Horse “Heading West”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Neil’s been uncharacteristically
nostalgic of late, here remembering good times past as he gets into the family
car as a ‘little boy’ and heads out West across Canada. In a sense it feels as
if he’s still been travelling that same journey ever since (fans might remember
the time he ‘turned West’ in his hearse and was spotted in a traffic jam by
Stephen Stills prior to form the Buffalo Springfield). A sadder middle suggests
that Neil has been looking for what he lost after that day when his family were
all together and he was happy, before he got ill with polio and his parents
split, leaving he and his brother in different houses. Still, his mother bought
him his first guitar to ease the pain, sending him in a whole new direction…A
messy, happy stomp similar in feel to the other autobiographical songs on 2012’s
‘Psychedelic Pill’, ‘Heading West’ will never be Neil’s most complex or
sophisticated tune but it does have a lovely rolling riff, some great piano
fills from Nils Lofgren and the sound of a band having great fun meeting up
again post lockdown. Good old days indeed.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">8)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">CSNY “Same Old Song”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Same Old Song’ is more Stills at his
revealing best, ruminating once again over where his relationship with Judy Collins
went wrong and concluding that it’s just another one of life’s disappointments
that have been plaguing him his whole life. Looking back on when he first found
deep sorrow he realises that it was ‘when I was nine or ten’ and then he laughs
at himself – ‘God I was blue even then!’ - and wonders if sadness is just such
an inherent part of his life he can’t but help to repeat himself, juxtaposing
his past hurt with the girl whose just walked out of his present, realising
that he recognised much of that same sadness in her too and that was what made
the connection so special. Stills then actually apologises to the audience for
the fact that so many of his songs seem to turn out the same, i.e. so blooming
downbeat, but concludes that it’s because he’s still trying to work out why
this keeps happening to him and until he sorts things out in his head he’s
doomed to write nothing else. In the end he figures its actually some kind of
‘glory’ to ‘do everything wrong’ because that’s what’s made him famous and asks
the audience ‘you know me – so tell me what on earth is going on!’ Heck
Stillsy, no apology necessary when it inspires gems like this one. A rare full
CSNY performance with some gorgeous Young guitar makes this feel like more of
an ensemble piece than most of the ‘Déjà vu’ set’s solo sessions as heard on
the new box or even three-quarters of the finished record, but once again at
the heart of everything this is Stills raw and unadulterated, pouring his heart
out while feeling oh so alone it hurts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">9)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">CSNY “Hold On Tight”
(both songs)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Between somewhere around 1967 and 1975
Stills was the most prolific writer on the planet, but he always struggled with
titles, be it for songs or albums. As a result fans have two very different
‘new’ songs from 1970 with the same name to enjoy for the first time this year,
though both are again on the theme of his relationship with Judy Collins. The
first, heard as part of a medley with ‘Change Partners’, has Stills recounting
how his love ‘made me feel a man’ and ‘filled my life with understanding’. He
craves that connection and how it makes him feel so badly that he hangs on
tight, even after it goes sour in the next verse, with her suddenly figuring ‘I
had become displeasing’ despite her former ‘teasing’. Next she’s running away
from him and getting lost in substance abuse so that ‘by the morning you don’t
know what you’ve done’. Still trying to come to terms with this rollercoaster
of a relationship, Stills sighs that there is no rhyme or reason it’s just that
‘that’s the way it was’ and goes back round the song again, trying to work out
why a relationship that made him feel so good so much of the time can make him
feel so bad at others. There is no answer though: that’s just the way things
were and there’s nothing he can do about it. Cue the ballroom dancing-swapping
antics of ‘Change Partners’ as Stills prepares to move on... Meanwhile, on ‘So
Begins The Task’ its ‘Hold On Tight’ that ends the song, following the painful
realisation of a final split with one last moment of hope that it might not be
as final a separation as Stills clearly fears. Shocked at how things could fall
apart so quickly, Stills ponders the contradictions of his lover and wonders
which version of her is the truth. ‘Was I deceived when she told me she loved
me?’ he wonders out loud, ‘When she told me to go but I left her struggling
there?’ In a sudden switch to a major key after a full 4:45 of misery, Stills
figures that he’s been here before and it’s a dance that never seems to have an
end. Wanting to do things differently this time, he tells his lover to just
‘hold on tight and never ever say goodnight!’ and somehow they’ll outlast the storms their love provokes in
each other. After such a prolonged period of minor key despair this simple hope
sounds like the sun coming out on a stormy day, changing everything in an
instant. Stephen almost sounds like he means it too, but a flurry of hopeful
guitarwork just leads him back into the same dead-end of a guitar groove as the
couple burn and fall all over again. ‘Was she relieved?’ he asks about the
split. ‘No she wasn’t, she worried some more…I don’t believe we can ever be
lovers again, yes I am sure that’s the price we must pay’. The chorus follows
again, less happy this time. By the time the song loops round a third time he
sounds about ready to throw the towel in and admit defeat as he concludes:
‘Help me, please help me, my woman is crazy, one half loves me and the other
half rages!!!’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">10)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">David Crosby “I Won’t
Stay Too Long”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just when you’ve given up hope of Croz’s
latest record ‘For Free’ going anywhere new, in comes the last track. Now, it
doesn’t sound any different to what came before it and in feel it’s at one with
many a previous Crosby track about dying, be they ‘Time Is The Final Currency’
or ‘Balanced On A Pin’. However ‘I Won’t Stay Too Long’ is the one song on the
new album that builds on where Crosby has been before, with the singer standing
on top of a mountain (his old meditating haunt Tampalpais?) breathing in the
feeling of being alive and embracing it because he doesn’t know how soon he’ll
be dead. David tells us he feels like ‘an unfinished song’ with so much left to
do and so many things left unknown, before remembering lost loved ones who
aren’t as fortunate as him at being alive today and looking around for the
ghosts of the ones he loves most so he can embrace them too. Shock twist: it’s
not written by Crosby at all but his son, James Raymond, scared of hitting
sixty next year (the one given up for adoption in 1962 who came back into
David’s life in 1994 and has been writing with him on-and-off since then).
Which is yet more proof about genetics if any were needed because it’s oh so a
Crosby song: the stumbling melody-line feeling its way out of the depths of
despair, the careful thoughtful lyric and the sense of time folding in. It’s a powerful song, sadly like the rest of
the album recorded in a very sterilised, emotionless way, but that only makes
the moment when you realise that Crosby is back to being his highly emotional,
revealing self on a quite astonishing vocal (pure, emotional but restrained)
all the more powerful. Croz has done more than most with his slice of life and
the hope is that the rich seam David’s been digging can still provide us with
many more gems like this one before he goes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">11)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Noel Gallagher “We’re On
Our Way Now” (Standalone Single)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For someone who once wrote ‘Don’t Look
Back In Anger’ Noel has been in unusually defiant mood lately, even for him.
Not content with teasing us with hints of an Oasis reunion (which turned out to
be just a legal way he and his brother can both use the same Oasis footage for
their individual projects) and being rude about old bands (like The Stones,
although is it just me or is the timing suspect now that Liam is openly
dedicating songs to Charlie Watts in his live shows?) the elder Gallagher then
turned the reunion idea down flat and then started talking nonsense about how Oasis
are only remembered fondly now that they’ve split up (actually it was a meh fan
reaction to Oasis’ last and weakest album that did that, which would surely
have gone away as soon as the next album came out). He’s also been controversial,
openly refusing to wear masks (until his own doctor reportedly pleaded with him
to) and attacking this year’s heroes rather than its villains (Boris Johnson,
Keir Starmer, the idiot who let a bat out of a laboratory and tried to hush it
up with tales of a wet-market). So it’s almost a relief to be able to tell you
that this year’s tenth anniversary single ‘No Way Out’ sounds not angry or
loony (not as much as fellow controversial rocker Van Morrison’s or Eric Clapton’s albums have been anyway) but
much like you’d expect from the pre-covid era. It’s a sweet passable ballad,
much more tuneful than the hideous and experimental ‘Who Built The Moon?’ album
and approaching the ‘I was the only guy in Oasis whose work was worth listening
to’s’ claim in the attending documentary (see below). Interestingly, it sounds
like an outtake from one of Liam G’s two solo albums, with very little of the
High Flying Birds sound we’ve come to know (layer upon layer of synths and
female singers on one draggy chord) and it sounds much like the melodic Oasis
B-sides of old. Lyrically Noel is still obsessing over the Oasis break-up ten
years on and his memories of ‘walking out and saying I’ll see you later’. Noel
gets in one neat dig at his brother (‘good luck in the afterlife!’) and throws
in some old Oasis lyric references for good measure (‘I hear the morning sun
doesn’t cast no shadow’). However, there’s notably less venom here than on
similar songs by either Gallagher, with Noel content to live in his dreamy
universe and let bygones be bygones. With this song much stronger than all but
one track on last album ‘Who Built The Moon?’ hopes are high that Noel might
yet reach a new orbit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">12)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Beach Boys “All Of
My Love-Ecology”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Listening to this unheard song from the
‘Surf’s Up’ sessions you can really hear why Dennis Wilson found time to marry
six times (twice to the same person!) and yet still died before he hit forty.
There’s just so much passion in this track. When Dennis sings ‘all of my love’
and those Beach Boysy chords suddenly twist to those long held notes, you can
hear just how much love the drummer had to give and you can truly believe that
it really is ‘bigger than the ocean’. Being hit by all that romance full-on
must have been a life-changing experience for everyone in its path. For the
opening minute this feels like a masterpiece right up there with anything from
Dennis’ solo records ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and ‘Bambuu’, which deserve the
‘genius’ tag more than any of brother Brian’s solo records (with the obvious
exception of ‘Smile’). Unfortunately though rather than sit and work at it
Dennis would rather write a medley, so we end up with atmospheric ‘river run’
lines and the instruction to ‘move your body’ (which sounds like we’re in an
exercise class but knowing Dennis was probably intended as something more
sexual) and then we end up in a playful calliope instrumental that sounds like
it belongs in an entirely different song already. As it stands, then, you can
see why this track didn’t make ‘Surf’s Up’ (not least because Dennis was busy
trying to put his first solo album together at the time), but oh what promise
those opening chords suggest. A welcome reminder of Dennis’ talents and
special, given that after two box sets, two rarities CDs and the bonus tracks
on Dennis’ own albums I’d genuinely thought I’d heard all there was to hear
from the middle Wilson by now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Justin Hayward “One
Summer Day”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Though there’s never been an official
announcement, it seems that we have sadly seen the last of The Moody Blues.
Flautist Ray Thomas died, Drummer Graeme Edge wanted to retire and then got ill
and – so the story goes – guitarist Justin would rather go solo than tour as a
duo-plus-extras even though bassist John wanted to continue. Fans have debated
long and hard the past couple of years about whether the split was amicable,
ugly, or a bit of both. This song, the A side of a new single, suggests it was
the latter sadly. The track is Justin’s first new recording since 2013 but alas
it’s no ‘Sprits Of The Western Sky’, his gorgeous dreamy album that’s been a
regular on my stereo since then, though it ain’t bad either. Sounding like an
amalgam of all previous Justin Hayward songs, fittingly it most sweetly
resembles ‘Long Summer Days’, the Moodies outtake from 1968 that was one of his
first. Justin’s innocent narrator back then was dreaming of the future, with a
long life ahead of him and a lot of time to waste. By now, though, Justin is 74
and only too aware that he doesn’t have time to waste anymore. Sounding like a
goodbye of sorts to the Moody Blues, he laments that ‘Maybe it’s just time for
us’ and that while ‘I loved you from the first’ acknowledges that you can’t
continue ‘three-part harmony’ forever. Reflecting that ‘summer sun’ has tempted
away a ‘songbird’, Justin’s narrator is haunted by his lost loved ones in his
dreams, struggling to work out if there is unfinished business or if he should
leave things as they are. This isn’t all a sad song though: these musicians are
still in each other’s lives and are there for each other and there are still
plans to make for tomorrow, even if the days of future yesterdays cast a long
shadow. I could have done without the icky production and the noisy drums, but
Justin’s flamenco guitar flourishes are always welcome and it’s a cute song
this one, a fitting coda to the Moody Blues story if indeed that’s what it
turns out to be. B-side ‘My Juliette’ is nice too, a return to ‘Are You Sitting
Comfortably’s tale of dashing heroes and beautiful maidens and Justin’s
continued surprise that he actually got to make one of those perfect ladies his
wife half a century ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">14)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">John Lodge “The Sun Will
Shine”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John, meanwhile, has released his first
new music since 2015 and it’s another of those string-laden love songs he’s
been writing off and on since the 1980s. This song is similar yet darker, as he
accuses an unknown other of ‘playing a game’ and ‘trying to be important’.
‘Life is not like that’ intones the lecturing chorus and the narrator hopes
that things may yet turn out right and that ‘the sun will shine on you’,
illuminating all the stupid stubborn reasons they have for stopping. He clearly
means Justin here, though he stops just short of using the name. John’s song is
bigger budget yet less memorable somehow and if Justin’s song is a pretty good
facsimile of 1960s Moody Blues then this is a dead ringer for their 1980s
catalogue, loud and bombastic and ever so slightly out of control. Still
interesting though and for fans like me who love picking up on messages songwriters
make about each other delivered in their songs (see the Blue Jays album and its
notes to Mike Pinder especially) then this is a golden age, sad though it may
be that its come to this. Jon Davison, former Yes member, appears on backing
vocals – he’s John’s son-in-law after marrying his daughter Emily (1971 Moody
track ‘Emily’s Song’ was written for her). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">15)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul McCartney “Tell Me
Who He Is”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">OK, so it wasn’t ‘Eleanor Rigby’ or ‘For
No One’, but the newly discovered McCartney lyric from 1960 (included in
Macca’s pricey but nicey book of lyrics, which would have been great if it had
included everything instead of just 154 songs picked out for him by editor Paul
Muldoon; for context Macca’s released maybe 500 in The Beatles, Wings or solo.
It also seems to have been picked at random: ‘Pretty Little Head’ and ‘Arrow
Through Me’ there but not, say, ‘Footprints’ or ‘Winter Rose’. And how come ‘A
Day In The Life’ is here when it was 90% John’s song? And frustratingly the
best song from ‘Blackbird Singing’, Paul’s earlier, much cheaper go at the same
idea in paperback ‘For Ivan’ – a poem for the schoolboy who first introduced
Lennon to Macca – is missing. The unseen Linda Macca photos are fabulous though)
is still worthy of a mention. At this stage in their career The Beatles are
still known as The Quarrymen and this song is of a vintage with ‘Hello Little
Girl’ and ‘One After 909’ rather than anything too profound. This fragment is
even a little like an early draft for ‘She Loves You’, only with the narrator
the lover whose been done wrong and wanting to know who his girlfriend has been
seeing behind his back. A mention too for the long lost ‘Pilchard’, the four
page beginning to a play co-written by Lennon and McCartney during time off
from writing songs and much mentioned in interviews (goodness knows where the story
would have gone from the bit we get, but we do know that in the pair’s original
plans Pilchard turns out to be the reincarnation of Jesus. Oddly nobody talks
about him being bigger than The Quarrymen). Whether that’s enough to entice you
into parting with – gulp - £75 is between you and your bank manager, but an
unheard bit of Beatles trivia is always welcome. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Audiobook Of The Year</b></span></span></p>
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<v:textpath fitpath="t" string="AUDIO BOOK OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black"; v-text-kern: t;" trim="t">
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul Simon “Miracle and
Wonder”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back
in 1990, when ‘Rhythm Of The Saints’ was new, Paul Simon embarked on what might
well be the greatest AAA-related radio series of them all: The Paul Simon
Songbook. Over eight fascinating hours Paul remembered writing most of his key
songs, with enough input from friends and occasionally enemies (Arty really
wasn’t on good terms with him back then and amazingly the producers kept his
rants in unedited) to give the songs some context. Forget your McCartney lyrics
book: this is someone who agonised over every word and chord choice and can
still remember making these choices in detail several decades on. This new
audiobook/documentary isn’t quite as good, simply because it has to cover more
ground in five hours what Paul once had eight to do, but nevertheless proves
again that Paul really thought about his craft a lot and can still remember
every bit of it. Where this CD beats the series is that Paul plays new versions
of some of his classic songs (presumably because of the rights issues to the
finished recordings), throwing in a few variations that have materialised down
the years (such as the ‘missing verse’ on ‘The Boxer’) and allowing the
listener to hear how these songs resonate differently for Paul at 79 than they
did when he wrote them at 19 or 29. This is a great solution to such a problem
and hearing an older, wiser Paul explaining how he’d adapt these songs now is
terrific and insightful, as all the best interviews should be. Where it loses
out on the thirty-year-old show though is that interviewers Malcolm Gladwell
and Bruce Headlam are from the school of music theory that is forever trying to
follow their carefully detailed notes oblivious to what Paul actually says to
them and they spend the first half at least sounding perpetually shocked at
everything and trying to get answers that just don’t exist. For instance, Paul
tells them early on that he doesn’t think about musical labels and yet there’s
several minutes spent riffing about whether Paul is really a ‘folk singer’ and
whether ‘The Boxer’ is a folk song or not. Paul just doesn’t care, as he tells
them all over again. This is followed by a debate about where Paul’s music has
its roots given the different nationalities of the musicians he’s worked with–
the simple answer is that it changes with every album, if not every song and
that Paul is a citizen of the universe (and a gentleman to boot). Next we get
endless questions about what Paul considers himself to be and him saying he
doesn’t particularly consider himself to be anything. That sort of label really
doesn’t matter much to me either – I’d rather hear about what it was that
sparked off such an exquisite song as ‘The Boxer’, what emotional memories and
characters Paul was drawing from when he wrote it, where the boundaries between
fact and fiction blur and what Arty and engineer Roy Halee thought when they
first heard the song, not what style Paul thinks it’s in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
don’t get anything quite so revealing or detailed as the questions in 1990
sadly, although Paul does his best and throws in a few snippets we haven’t
heard before along the way (particularly about his childhood). I would have
loved to have had more of Paul and less of the ‘context’ (some thirty hours
were apparently recorded but only five are released here including the
interviewers pontificating at length – did Paul spend twenty-five hours not
remembering anything interesting or are we due a deluxe edition one day?) I’d
also have loved to have heard Paul riff about less familiar songs with greater
stories to tell than ‘Sound Of Silence’ and ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ et al
(there’s an entire box set to be had on ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’
alone). For what there is, though, this is a worthy listen and Paul is still a
spell-binding storyteller, with some gems to talk about and if that’s really it
for new music for this lifetime now he’s retired then hurrah that we at least
get some more information about some old friends.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"> TV/Radio Programme Of The Year </b></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">10cc: The Great
Stockport Bake-Off (Youtube)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yes, that’s right, yes I am saying a low
budget thirty minute video made by fans and released on youtube is the best
AAA-related documentary I’ve seen all year. No, honest, I’ve not gone mad –
it’s just that either you haven’t seen it yet or you just don’t care for 10cc.
Either way, you’re wrong not me, honest! Let me explain: deep in the vaults of Strawberry Studios –
the Stockport recording centre that 10cc owned and played in as session
musicians long before their ‘breakthrough’ – there exist three master-tapes
that have never been played since being recorded and which seemed about to fall
apart anytime somebody tried. Nobody even properly knew what was in them till
four fans spent their spare time taking lessons in how to ‘bake’ old tape at
just the right temperature so that they could hold together enough to at last be
played (and transferred to something digital). It was a real risk and could so
easily have gone wrong, but against the odds it works and the fans revealed to
the world...backing vocals from a 1970 session as ‘Hotlegs’, Graham Gouldman’s
soundtrack album for an Animal Olympics animation and an advert the band made
for beauty company Revlon product ‘Natural Wonder’. No, I wasn’t expecting that
either. If that sounds a disappointment, well, actually it isn’t as the date on
the box makes the last of these out to be quite possibly the final thing the
original line-up of 10cc with Godley and Crème ever did together (the only
other candidate being a half-hearted demo for ‘People In Love’ included on the
box set ‘Tenology’ if you’re wondering). It also sounds like vintage 10cc,
however daft the lyrics, with Lol Creme’s characteristic block piano chords,
Eric Stewart’s best dreamy lead vocal, some classic ‘I’m Not In Love’ style
backing harmonies and Kevin Godley doing a voiceover and trying not to laugh. When
questioned later for the documentary Kevin Godley can’t stop giggling and
Graham Gouldmann can’t remember making it at all (their response: ‘It’s a bit
twee and simpering’ but it sounds pretty darn good to me). A most fascinating
little documentary that’s unmissable for fans of all sorts of things: 10cc,
1970s studio technology and Revlon beauty products! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Alan Hull: Lindisfarne’s
Geordie Genius” (BBC)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Turning up fashionably and
characteristically late to his own party, this year would have marked Alan
Hull’s seventy-sixth birthday, had he not died so tragically young twenty-six
years ago (with this documentary seemingly one of many delayed by covid and one
in limbo for a while as the producers of it shipped around for a buyer before
ending up at the BBC). At last Newcastle’s finest got this long overdue
documentary with singer-songwriter Sam Fender searching for the ‘undiscovered’ story
of an AAA favourite. Now personally I know the Lindisfarne story backwards but
had to spend most of the hour after the documentary searching for who the hell
Sam was as I’d never heard of him. Apparently he won the BBC Sound awards in
2018 and has already had a #1 album, but that’s still not up to Lindisfarne’s
heights (they had the best-selling album of 1972 y’know!) so it’s more than
time we had a documentary about old Hully. It was a good one too, especially if
you were new to the Lindisfarne story and learnt about it at the same time as
Sam and all the other young trendy Hull cover acts heard throughout the
programme. It’s lovely that Alan’s legacy has been remembered so, because he
was truly important: as Elvis Costello, one of the better talking heads, put it
‘he had a way of telling you how you were feeling before you’d quite realised
it yourself’. There were some great interviews (Lindisfarne’s Ray, Rod, Jacka,
Billy and Dave not to mention Si on precious archive footage plus all the Hull
clan), some brilliant snatches of rare footage (little bits and pieces from the
BBC TV play ‘Squire’ that Hully starred in; early black-and-white archive
recording studio film from the 1960s before Alan had started playing around
with facial hair, lots of Lindisfarne promo shots and gigs that haven’t been
seen in ages) and of course some top music (with all the hits present and
correct and a run through of most solo albums, though I still say ‘All Fall
Down’ is a far better single than ‘Wake Up Little Sister’ would ever have been
whatever the voiceover says). Given that we had only an hour to juggle with
there was a nice sense too of the many sides of this complex personality, who
was equally at home as a much-loved family man, party animal, one-time mental
health nurse and lefty crusader (Hull is still the only musician whose death
was ever mentioned in the House of Commons thanks to his political work,
although the line that our socialist hero was ‘a little West of Labour’ is
regrettably a sign of our times – he flaming wasn’t at the time), with just a
hint of Hull’s darker side with a catalogue of songs fuelled by excessive
drinking and band bust-ups. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What we got was great indeed, a few
wonky cover performances and Sting reminiscences aside – I just wish there’d
been more of it. A lot more of it. Like five hours more of it. Every song,
every little bit of great footage, every anecdote from a talking head passed by
in the blink of an eye so that if you were like our host and had never really
heard of Alan Hull you’d have been properly lost by the end. Maybe that will be
put right with a DVD or Blu-Ray director’s cut one day? I truly hope so because
if nothing else this documentary succeeds in making you weep for all that was
lost that sad day in 1995, just as Hull was getting a fourth (or was it a fifth?)
wind. Oh the music he might have written, oh the love he still had to give to a
family who clearly truly loved him (a rarity in rock and roll documentaries!),
oh the wrongs he would have righted (I find myself thinking a lot about what
Hull would have made of David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Brexit, covid, climate
change and welfare reforms and all the political rallying cries we never got to
hear). Not definitive then, but still very worthy of the bonny lad himself and if
this show and Fender’s wobbly but heartfelt cover of ‘Winter Song’ encourages a
few more youngsters to discover one of the greatest song catalogues of them all
then I will be a very happy reviewer indeed.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Oasis “The 6Music Artist
Collection”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">An impressive motley of Oasis stuff from
the archives to celebrate the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of their
all-conquering Knebworth set (see below for the DVD or above for its soundtrack),
rather wasted at being put on in the graveyard slot during a random weekday
night during the summer. As well as repeats of the surprisingly ahead of its
time 1996 documentary ‘What’s The Story?’ (which got a lot right about the
band’s importance and their legacy, given that it was recorded right in the eye
of the storm as it were) and an hour of records-with-stories, we got two
sort-of new programmes. The first is an hour reduction of the two hour
Knebworth show which hadn’t been heard since the day a fourteen year-old me sat
up listening to Radio One and trying to cut the toe-curlingly awful presenter’s
chat out when copying it to a cassette and the second a rather superb dip into the
BBC’s archives. The compilation ran for an hour and still only got as far as
1997, with some particularly brilliant clips from Oasis’ early days when Noel
admits that ‘Sad Song’ is such a new composition ‘even I haven’t heard it
myself yet!’ and he can tease Liam about only leaving home for the first time
to go on tour and still bringing his washing home to their long-suffering mam.
I’m still waiting for Noel’s 1995 proposed album of a series of
Gallagher-produced Oasis covers by other artists though. Alongside the
fascinating chat are some pretty nifty low-key versions of ‘Live Forever’ and
‘Shakermaker’ as well as fiery full-on electric performances of ‘I Am The
Walrus’ and ‘Some Might Say’. Even more than the long-awaited Knebworth gig it’s
a time capsule that takes you back to a time when music was the most exciting
it had been for a quarter century and no band was more exciting than
Oasis. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">4)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Classic Albums: The Who
Sell Out (Sky Arts)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At long last, we get our first series of
‘classic albums’ for a quarter century and it’s full of all the things I
remember from the old series: musicians too confused/old/hungover to remember
anything, engineers separating cymbal parts on a giant mixing desk and going
‘mmmm’ and people who were on last week telling you that was their album ever
now telling you that they’ve changed their mind and this is their favourite
album, honest. For all that, though, I love this series: where other full-band
documentaries spend roughly five minutes per key albums here we get forty-five
minutes per half hour albums. And as all my readers must know by now, when it
comes to music detail is a good thing. No don’t cry, this review is over soon,
I promise. It doesn’t say much for music in the past twenty-five years that
almost all the selections in this new intermittent series date back to the
1960s-80s, but I can only applaud the fact that The Who have become the only
musical act outside John Lennon to get two entries in the series and the ‘Who
Sell Out’ doc is every bit as good as the one on ‘Who’s Next’. As always
there’s a handle of things even I didn’t know (like Speedy Keene titling his
song ‘I’m An Ear Sitting In The Sky’ but Pete mis-hearing it as ‘Armenia’ and
giggling about his mistake in 2021 ‘I prefer my version!’), some classic rare
historic footage (where did the video of The Who recoding ‘Mary Anne With The
Shakey Hand’ come from? Or the shots of the band’s first American tour?), some
witty observations (Pete: ‘We didn’t want to just release a bad album. It would
have been like when you support a football team and see them having a really
bad day’), Roger Daltrey spending a fun day at the mixing desk for a change (‘I
can’t believe how incredibly polite it is…especially Moon. Must have been a bad
day for drugs!’) and lots of background info on manager Kit Lambert, the
founding of Track Records, pirate radio, advertising, that frozen
baked-bean-filled front cover (‘I’d just got back from Hawaii and I was sitting
in a cold bath!’ moans Roger), Monterey Pop, drugs (‘I lost so many friends’
sighs Roger) and what happened next with ‘Tommy’ (which is surely a shoe-in for
the next ‘classic albums’ series, although the band did commission a
documentary of their own a few years ago, so perhaps not). It all feels a bit
rushed by the time we get to side two of the album (there’s a classic story
about the making of ‘Rael’ involving a studio cleaner, a waste-paper basket, a
mixing desk and a chair that isn’t mentioned here), but all in all this series
has lost none of its sparkle and the result is a pretty unmissable documentary
in any era. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">5)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Noel Gallagher’s High
Flying Birds “Out Of The Now” (Sky Arts)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Against all the odds, I rather liked
this tenth anniversary documentary/ interview/concert. Noel is, even at his
worst, brilliantly honest and full of soundbites and surprisingly perhaps has never
really talked about the end of Oasis and the start of his solo career as much
as his brother has. There are some nice moments here recalling how much the
Birds have evolved and changed (‘It’s not like there’s an obvious line-up for a
greatest hits record’ he mulls over at one point, even though that’s what we
got a couple of months later), he rightly credits himself for breaking the
Oasis mould on his solo highlights ‘Riverman’ and ‘The Right Stuff’ (even if he
overplays the idea that nothing he writes nowadays sounds like Oasis, which 90%
of it does, if less inspired), recalls sitting in the back of a car after the
Oasis backstage split working out whether to carry on or go home and the fact
that the lockdown has been bad for him personally, closing shops, football
grounds and gigs, but great for him creatively as he’s got a pile of songs
ready (where are they then Noel? We’ve only had two so far and they didn’t even
have B-sides). There’s rather an endearing moment too when Noel admits to not having
much of a voice or being much of a guitar player ‘so the songs had better be
fooking wonderful’, which is ironic given that it’s the songs that a good 75%
of the time on his four solo albums that keep letting the side down. The
performances here are rather good too for the most part, with a gorgeous band
performance of neglected ‘Moon’ bonus track ‘Dead In The Water’ and the rather
sweet slowed-down arrangement of Oasis hit ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ alongside
the usual noisy repetitive bumph featuring the Noel-Yoko waving her scissors in
the air and talking on the phone (‘Holy Mountain’ sounds worse than ever). Most
bizarrely, Noel throws in a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mighty Quinn’ at the end too
and blow me down if this ends up being my cup of meat far more than the
original or the Manfredd Mann hit version, sounding tailor made for the High
Flying Birds with its mix of folk, rock, jazz, Kinks baking vocals and gospel. For
the most part even an ornithology sceptic like me was won over – at least until
Noel got divisive again halfway through: ‘If you don’t like it and you’re there
looking for ‘Slide Away’ then next time I’m in your town then don’t fooking
come!’ snarls Noel at one point. I doubt he’ll ever make it to Ormskirk any
time soon, but if he does I guess that’s me out then. Unless you like tuneless
dance songs with no guitar but lots of scissor-waving, that probably means you
too. Given that Noel also talked at length about not caring about sales
figures, I wonder if he’s noticed how much of his audience he’s alienated over
the past ten years and whether post-lockdown anyone will turn up to his gigs at
all?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">6)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul McCartney At The
BBC<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A nice ninety minute dip into the BBC
archives to promote his new book of lyrics, this was part of a themed night in
November alongside last year’s maddening and muddling ‘A Conversation With
Idris Elba’ and the ‘wonky voiced but still a great show’ return to The Cavern
Club in 2018. The compilation seemed to have been thrown together at random
with clips from all over the place not in any logical order at all: one minute
we’re with Wings performing live in 1976, or on Nationwide in 1979, or at the
Electric Proms in 2007 or watching Jools Holland play the world’s stupidest
piano solo during ‘Get Back’ in 2010 or the Cavern in 2018 (weird as that show
was repeated straight after). These clips made up the welcome backbone of the
programme and have been aired often. Of interest to the deeper collector though
were some great clips of Wings on the Mike Yarwood Show in 1977, Russell Harty being
the Abbey Road teaboy as Paul and George Martin work on ‘Pipes Of Peace’ in
1983 or Macca and band miming to ‘My Brave Face’ on the Wogan show in 1989.
Some links were more tenuous (the ‘Coming Up’ promo was played on TOTP but not
made for it, while Wings’ ‘Rockshow’ may have been screened on the BBC once, in
a late night slot, but was hardly made for it either) but welcome all the same.
Only the strained interview with Lauren Laverne making up a new version of
‘That Was Me’ together wasted tape. On the downside the caption writer was
deeply pretentious about the importance of every last song though (and I mean
goodness, if I’m saying that it must be bad…) but at least it was accurate (not
like the ‘Biggest Hits Of..’ series, which the very same week mistook the
Labrador that inspired ‘Jet!’ for a horse). A few quibbles aside, then, this
was a welcome dip into a back catalogue so rich it felt like it could have gone
on for at least another hour. Hopefully one day ITV will follow suit as they
have even more McCartney gems in their archive than the Beeb do!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">John Lennon: A Life In
Pictures (BBC)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Quite a clever way to give us a new
twist on old stories this one: ten literal snapshots of John are delivered to
us as ten snapshots in time, taking him from childhood up to the last photo
taken before his death (that awful one where he’s singing an autograph for his
killer, who’d chickened out of why he was really hanging round the Dakota by
asking for one before he came back an hour later with his gun). They’re not
always the pictures I expected either, in fact so much so that I do wonder if
this documentary was more based on which photographers were still around to
tell the tales rather than the ten images that genuinely sum up John’s life. For
the record the photos are: the one of John laughing with mum Julia in her back
garden, a Mike McCartney shot of John, Paul and the back of George’s head
rehearsing in 1958, a moody Astrid Kirchherr shot of John and Stuart in
Hamburg, baby Julian looking shocked as mum Cynthia and dad John grab a mop and
a hoe at their Weybridge Surrey house, a weary Lennon backstage on tour of
America in 1966 (the rarest shot here), John and Yoko smiling in front of the wreckage
of the car Lennon crashed in Scotland putting them both in hospital, John and
Yoko in matching suits the day they applied for citizenship of America in 1972
despite Dickie Nixon being, well, a dick (the best interview comes from John’s
solicitor Leon Wildes and son, who remembers getting them into suits and
wanting them to look like a ‘professional couple’), a ‘Lost Weekend’ era John
getting thrown out of The Troubadour Club for harassing a waitress, a beaming
John in a kimono holding baby Sean and of course that awful final image. All in
all, not a bad selection, although it seems odd that – say – the album covers
for ‘With The Beatles’ ‘Sgt Peppers’ ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Imagine’ aren’t there. As
part of a larger series (this is episode five: other episodes were on the
unlikely quartet of Muhammad Ali, Elizabeth Taylor, Tupac Shakur and Freddie
Mercury) it worked well, with a lot of very thorough and fascinating research, though
very much made for a general audience rather than a Beatley one.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">8)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“Looking For Lennon”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I feel a bit mean putting this
documentary so far down the list, as it fared worse only thanks to what was
clearly a much smaller budget that didn’t even amount to any actual Lennon
music, bar an opening burst of ‘Working Class Hero’. Some of the interviews
were a bit on the rambling side too. However, full marks for spending a full
ninety minutes just on Lennon’s childhood and tracking down lots of his old
school-friends who haven’t really talked before (at least on film). Though the
documentary is wide enough to take in familiar stories such as the death of his
mother and ends with The Beatles going to Hamburg, it’s the middle part on
John’s school days and art college era that spring to life here. There are lots
of tales of childhood antics at Dovedale Road Primary, Quarry Bank High and The
Liverpool College of Art including John’s love of surrounding himself with gangs
of boys like his fictional hero Just Wiliam, the terrible day his ‘number two’
Pete Shotton discovered that John’s middle name was ‘Winston’ after Churchill
and how he suddenly went from big bad John to ‘Winnie’ over night and a
classmate at his art college lessons remembering John making everyone giggle
and him being impressed with the fact she’d once drawn the real Lonnie Donegan.
Fans will also enjoy reminiscences of Strawberry Fields salvation army
children’s home, John’s friends buying records especially for him to hear,
Woolton village fete where John first met Paul and memories of The Beatles
hanging around in art college lunch breaks and eating sarnies and fish and
chips. Yes there’s a lot of repetition and I’m not sure this documentary ever
gets deep enough to really ‘look’ for Lennon the way some other docs do
(there’s not much on Aunt Mimi or Cynthia for instance, the two biggest
influences on John between his mother’s death and the arrival of Stuart
Sutcliffe to the Beatle story), but there’s a lot of good stuff too including
some very rare class photographs and images taken from John’s scribbled
childhood newspaper ‘The Daily Howl’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">9)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> “The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On” (Sky Arts)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s more than time that we got a
documentary about the Merseyside’s premier music club, which has a long and
varied history even without the obvious Beatle bits. The Searchers, The
Hollies, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who – loads of this website’s bands
played there at one time or another.
However, you wouldn’t know that from this programme as, despite a
generous 70 minute playing time (minus adverts), this documentary never quite
hit the spot. Admittedly the film-makers were rather hindered by how much
actual footage there is of the original Cavern (though there is a brief bit of
The Beatles performing ‘Some Other Guy’ just after Ringo joined) and the
differences in the ‘modern’ version where much of it was filmed and how it
looks now (the Cavern is across the road because Merseyrail decided they needed
extra ventilation for their underground trains. Go figure). They have got a
number of talking heads, but not many of them are musicians and a lot of what
they say is either rambling or repeats what someone else has just said. It also
felt strangely edited, with as much time spent on the Cavern’s jazz beginnings
in the 1950s and the legal wranglings and various re-openings as a trendy
nightclub in the 1970s on as its 1960s heyday. Still, there were a lot of
enjoyable moments in this show – particularly the concert posters - and it’s
nice to see 8<sup>th</sup> Dr Who Paul McGann as the presenter who does a good
job all told (although I can’t help but feel he’s here just because he’s a Liverpudlian
and his name starts with ‘Paul Mc’). The best bit? A brief story of Paul
McCartney taking new wife Linda round incognito in 1968 where she promptly took
over the bar and he the piano, as he debuts ‘Hey Jude’ to anyone within
earshot. Thankfully Linda also took some polaroids to prove it, as featured in
the documentary. It’s rather typical though that this fascinating story lasts
around a minute and is then followed by five minutes of studying the paperwork
that passed hands during The Cavern’s sale. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">10)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul McCartney ‘This
Cultural Life’/‘Front Row’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Macca hasn’t half plugged his lyrics
book this year, particularly on the radio. As well as his editor Paul Mulhoon
telling us all how it came about on ‘This Cultural Life’ (which was
interesting, particularly the parts about what exactly Paul does have in his
collection, but not as insightful as a McCartney interview would be) we got
Macca himself discussing eight of his songs (which basically amounts to him
reading out eight pages of the new book). This was a mixed bag, a bit like the
songs chosen. Paul spoke more about how ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ was
inspired by drugs, after letting the cat out of the bag for the first time
during ‘Anthology’, spoke with eloquence about the elderly lady he used to run
errands for who partially inspired ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and was most interesting
when discussing ‘Junk’, an outside candidate for the series if ever there was
one (I had my money on ‘Blackbird’ or ‘Let It Be’ to close the series with).
Unfortunately Paul also misnamed ‘William’ Brambell, his fictional Grandfather
from ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ when speaking about how Steptoe and Son’s junkyard
was in his mind for that song, stirred up all the Lennon hostility again with
‘Too Many People’ (which very much sounds like a scathing directed dig at John to
me, however much Paul was downplaying it) and even after an hour or so still
hadn’t told us much we didn’t know. A little like the book itself. Whether
these eight snippets are, as I suspect, part of a longer audio book covering
all 154 songs due in the future or not I can’t tell you yet, but the eight
programmes are still there on the BBC Sounds app if you want to give them a go.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">11)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Kinks “Lola v
Powerman and The Money-Go-Round” (Youtube/BBC)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week’s review: I’ll be honest with
you – I didn’t understand what this official youtube video re-promoting last
years’ box set of ‘Lola Versus Powerman and The Money-Go-Round’ this January
was about at all. Which is a shame, because it wasn’t up for very long and I
can’t go back to watch it again, something that in this day and age is rare
(now I know what fans of the 1960s used to feel like after one-off broadcasts
that were never seen again). Anyway, it was a sort-of play sort-of by and sort
of about Ray Davies (in sort-of collaboration with Paul Sirett, who also wrote
the disappointing Radio 4 play based on previous Kinks LP ‘Arthur’) here
re-named ‘Everyman’, this time sort-of based on the ‘Lola’ album that sort-of
featured the characters from the songs all living in one sort-of big universe
sort-of inside Ray’s head. Unfortunately, it only sort-of worked: it was more
like a piece of fan fiction that had you waiting for certain characters to turn
up than a full-blown story; you know ‘Here came The Apeman who gave Lola a
banana which saved him-her from the evil Powerman. Oh no! Rats! I coulda been a
Contender!’ (Actually Lola turns out to be the friend Ray turns to when he
comes under great pressure to complete a concept album and the only reference
to her gender is when she takes him to a strip club and he’s struck by how
‘real’ everyone is compared to the people playing games in court, which wasn’t
really something I took from the original’s lyrics). Ray could just as easily
have been pouring his heart out to an Apeman to be honest. Yes that’s right, this
is one of those kind of plays. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sadly the whole thing was read very
stiltedly by the usually reliable Ben Norris without much actual Kinks presence,
so even the bits that could have worked fell flat (the ‘songwriter’ is Lee
Ross, the sublime TV series Press Gang’s sub-editor, not that he comes out of
this mess any better). Ray’s ‘unauthorised autobiography’ (!) ‘X-Ray’ told most
of these stories about Ray’s art school and early Kinks days with far more
panache (right down to the ‘self interviewing self’ bit) and possessed a much
better grasp of character than the caricatures you get here. You can’t help but
think that, following the flack the ‘Arthur’ play got, that the BBC didn’t want
to risk commissioning a sequel but Ray and Paul were too far through one to
stop it and did it through Youtube instead. That’s a shame because, much like
last time, there’s an astoundingly brilliant humanistic emotional new piece work
to be made from these two albums, but the story that ended up being taken from
them isn’t the story I would have chosen at all and what could have been a huge
artistic statement based around a quite brilliant album just ended up as some
extra plugging for a box set. Which was not at all what the original the-record-business-is-all-nuts
‘Lola’ album was about at all. Powerman 1- Lola 0.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This week’s review: OK, so they did get
this play to the Beeb after all! Blimey, out of nowhere this hour-odd (and we
do mean odd) video became a full blown ninety minute play broadcast on BBC
Radio 4 on December 11<sup>th</sup>. While it still doesn’t really work, the
extra running time does at least give a bigger sense of scope, character and
plot and makes a lot more sense. You get more of a feel for why Ray sold his
songs off as eagerly as he did, given his backdrop of failure with the girls at
art school and his dad on at his back to make money. Unfortunately it also
leads to longer cover versions of Kink songs (not just from the ‘Powerman’
album either but the ‘Storyteller’ tour and even quick bursts of ‘Tired Of Waiting
For You’ and ‘Set Me Free’; the heavy metal ‘Rats’ is particularly awful - once
again Ray really doesn’t understand brother Dave’s songs). All of this extra
work, with each song re-recorded by the cast under Ray’s supervision at The
Kinks’ own Konk studios, is pointless. With all the love in the world Ben and
Lee are actors, not singers (to quote the record itself ‘he don’t know the tune
and he don’t know the words and he don’t give a damn’) and as this is an
‘official’ release why can’t we just have the songs as they featured on the
record in full instead of those irritating snippets Ben sings over? We all know
the character is meant to be Ray Davies, however much you pretend he isn’t. There’s
also too blooming much history here: it’s a full seventeen minutes before we
even get to ‘You Really Got Me’ for goodness sake. Even I was nearly falling
asleep and I love stories about The Kinks’ unlikely early years – goodness only
knows what your average un-Kinky radio four audience made of it all. Even later
the more interesting section (Ray feeling the pressure, becoming a dad before
he’s really ready, ending up in court and having a nervous breakdown) is far
more suited to a play about the album ‘Face To Face’ than ‘Lola’. There are two
great gags though: ‘The Money-Go-Round is turned from song into daytime quiz
(penalty for losing: ending up back at the dole queue) and the line ‘you’re
confused’ as said by Lola after a particularly gruelling cover version of
‘Starstruck’ –‘this song wasn’t even on the album!’ (She’s right too, it’s on
‘Village Green Preservation Society’!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I can’t say I know Ray any better after
hearing this play, just as I really didn’t know Ray’s Uncle Arthur any better
after the last one. Perhaps obfuscation is the point though? ‘Lola’ was always
an album Ray found problems talking about, full as it was of bitterness at his
betrayal from father substitute figures and fans alike. It still seems an
unlikely album for him to have made a play about fifty years on. A shame
though: it coulda been a contender. Meet you back here next Christmas for the
inevitable follow-up play about ‘Muswell Hillbillies’. My money’s on the plot
involving Uncle Son helping women escape from Holloway Jail and suffering from
acute schizophrenia paranoia blues while his nephew tries to buy a new house
outside the part of London he grew up in and comes to terms with feeling as if
he has been born in the wrong century, oh and drinking endless cups of tea…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A quick mention too for the AAA TV
moment of the year, with BBC4 giving The Kinks Old Grey Whistle Test concert its
first repeat since 1977 in October. Bravo: do catch it on I-Player if you live
in the part of the world that has access to the BBC, it’s a stunning 40 minute
set of mostly songs from ‘Sleepwalker’, played live with a humanity and pathos that
was lurking underneath several layers of production gloss on the finished
album. Although, technically being a repeat, it doesn’t make the official list,
this was a joy to see in full again and is what made my Kristmas a Kinky
Kristmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Special Mention) The Beatles “Get Back”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here it is at last. An alternate version
of perhaps the rarest Beatles project, missing on DVD, made fifty years ago and
unseen officially in forty (when it was repeated the night John Lennon was
murdered). Delayed for another year because of covid. Split into not one
documentary but three. Directed by the award winning Peter Jackson, who said
this is the film he always really wanted to make it and that everything he’s
done till now has been leading up to this moment (insert joke about ‘Lord Of
The Ringos’ ‘Indiana (Go To Him) Jones’ or ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide
Except For The Planet Of The Apes Re-Boots’ here. Actually it was ‘Lord Of The
Rings’ that first put him in contact with The Beatles’ Apple company. Brian
Epstein secured the rights to Tolkein’s books when the fabs started discussing making
it as their new film in 1967 if ‘Yellow Submarine’ wasn’t up to snuff and held
onto it. When Peter wanted to make his own version thirty years later it was
The Beatles he had to go through in order to make it). Millions of Beatle fans
the world over saw the quite brilliant trailers on youtube (that first run
through ‘Get Back’ sounds sooo good and the moment John and Ringo hug each
other and walk out the room is already an iconic fab four image), became
thrilled when we learned that the running time was a whole eight hours (the
film isn’t quite eighty minutes), breathed a sigh of relief that maybe this
wasn’t going to be such a horrid year after all and then we all read the news
that this series was getting its exclusive release on…Disney Plus?!? What
the?!? No I’m not paying £silly money a month for the privilege of seeing it
once when it will surely be out on DVD for next Christmas anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So far I have it on good authority from various
friends that it’s the most brilliant Beatles documentary ever, rather good and
worth the money or the first time the fab four have ever been deadly boring.
The reviews I’ve read are similarly mixed: I’ve read people who weren’t Beatle
fans in awe at songs like ‘Get Back’ suddenly arriving nowhere on camera, those
who were fascinated by the off-centre stories like Yoko’s quiet presence, the
future Linda Macca’s attempts to strike up conversation with anyone and
everyone or roadie Mal Evans’ big warm heart for his pals, or those who felt it
was so incredibly slow it made even ‘Lord Of The Rings’ look fast and punchy. A
quick squiz of the transcripts online suggest that it might well be both: I’m
sad that many of my favourite parts from bootleg are missing (John and Paul
trying to remember how the tunes to Gerry Anderson’s children’s TV theme tunes
go), can’t wait to actually see other parts I’ve adored listening to for years
(John and Paul doing ‘Two Of Us’ in broad Scouse, Scottish and as ventriloquist
dummies!) and I’m still curious as to how other bits will go down (the full
story of George quitting the band in the most English and undemonstrative way
possible, which was a bit hyped up in the ‘Let It Be’ film). Most of all, though,
I’m frustrated that was once promised as a film we could all buy and own has
turned into a condition of signing up to a streaming service that, the last
time I tried it, refused to honour the cancellation of my contract. This is a
huge deal in The Beatles world and The Beatles are a huge deal to the whole
world, still the landmarks of music around which everything turns, however slow
these days. Everyone should get to see it, not just people who sign up to one
of those money-grabbing mickey mouse (literally) streaming services. Who signed
this flipping contract? Goofy?!?!? To be continued when and if this set does
come out on DVD, probably next Christmas…
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<v:textpath fitpath="t" string="THE DVDS OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black"; v-text-kern: t;" trim="t">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", "sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>DVD Of The Year </b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo6; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Oasis “Knebworth ‘96”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ah, Knebworth. Roughly a quarter of the
UK’s population in 1996 applied for tickets and only (!) 250,000 of them got in,
over two nights. For 25 years now older fans have been boasting to younger fans
that they were there, the band have been boasting to us ‘we didn’t even use our
best songs – no ‘Rock and Roll Star’ and there’s been a big hole in the Oasis
discography where a live album by the original line-up – give or take the
drummer - should have been (amazingly there’s only ever been one official Oasis
live album, from the 2000 era when Andy Bell and Gem were still settling in and
which was arguably their weakest tour, give or take the final one).Oasis still
seem impossibly young two years into their career ‘proper’ (Noel’s actually
twenty-nine here, but looks about twelve) and yet they’ve already written about
70% of their best songs. So what’s not to love? I’ll be honest with you, there
are better Oasis gigs: ‘Live By The Sea’ is a much more entertaining set with
an on-fire band, either of the earliest two Glastonbury sets in 94 and 95 also
knock this one out of the park and I would even take the acoustic MTV Unplugged
gig with its curio setlists over this one. Even so, ‘Knebworth’ is definitive
Oasis. From Noel and Liam’s opening cry (on Sunday) of ‘This is history – right
‘ere, right now, this is history, so let’s all go to history for the weekend to
watch Oasis!’, this is the moment the best British rock band for twenty years
also happily coincided with being the biggest thing in the land (let me tell
you that never happened at any other point in my lifetime; the other best
things from the past thirty-ish years have all been cult favourites ignored on release.
Like post-Oasis band Beady Eye, for
instance. While the most celebrated things have been empty vessels like
*shudder* The Spice Girls). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By August 1996 Oasis are at the end of their
second lengthy tour and know their setlist backwards. Liam never sounds better
and is for once mixed to perfection, Noel plays out of his skin (his guitar
solos towards the end of Sunday are stratospheric), Bonehead keeps everything
together (despite Noel teasing him in the documentary for ‘getting emotional’
on connecting with the crowd), Whitey pounds the drums like a man possessed,
guest Mark Feltham plays some haunting bluesy harmonica, some extra female
violinists add colour and depth and poor Guigsy is in there somewhere (both
cameras and sound mix seem to ignore him, sadly). The Saturday is the more
consistent of the two shows, but what’s great about having both gigs complete
is comparing and contrasting between the two, with Oasis hitting some dazzling
highs from about a third the way into Sunday night. Everything here feels big,
grandiose and epic yet, unlike other big shows, Oasis are too authentic to ever
fall over into parodying themselves or lose the emotions that made them write
these lyrics about living, loving and loathing in the first place. For now,
Noel means every word he writes and by tandem that means Liam means every word
he sings to an audience of thousands who identify with every word they say and they
sing along to it all, even the (relatively) obscure B-sides. Even lesser songs
like – ominously – the two previews from ‘Be Here Now’ in ‘My Big Mouth’ and ‘It’s
Getting’ Better Man’ (neither of which seem to be going down at all well with
the crowd), Hello!, Roll With It and dare I say it ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ have a crispness and
brutal energy about them that makes them sound light years stronger than they ever do on
record. Sometimes, as with Liam shouting himself hoarse through ‘Slide Away’ or
Noel nailing a gloriously uncomfortable ‘Masterplan’, Oasis also manage to be
intimate in front of such a giant crowd. Some of Liam’s stage repartee hasn’t
aged too well (several precious minutes are wasted booing man United football fans,
something that might take a lot of explanation in a hundred years’ time), the
video screen seems so poor to modern eyes it’s risible and the cinematography
is occasionally odd (we see more of Stones Roses guest guitarist John Squire on
two songs than we do bass player Guigsy across two nights). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mostly though this is an excellent pair
of gigs, with a moving well-made documentary presented on the first disc that
includes around a dozen fans recalling not only what it was like to be there
but what an event it was even getting there, with memories of hitting their
landline phone’s redial button for eight hours straight, rushing round record shops
to buy up spare tickets, being stuck on a deadbeat bus singing Oasis songs or
trying to cut out the inane chatter from the radio one DJs broadcasting the gig
while stuck at home (I sympathise). Some fans, bitten for life by the Oasis
bug, get poetic: one recalls her last precious moments singing ‘Live Forever’
with her brother weeks before he got sick; another recalls the sudden rainstorm
at the end of Sunday’s show as ‘washing away my youth after one last moment of
celebration’. The world has changed a lot in 25 years and mostly not for the
better, but for one precious moment Oasis had the keys to a door to a better
future that promised so much and were beckoning us through. Time and tide and drugs
and excess and a band split and a difficult third album and the bad timing of
Princess Diana’s death making everything in the arts small and humble just when
Oasis had gone for loud, big and crazy put paid to that, but enough of what
things were like before that happened was captured on film to remind us all of
what was lost. Who would have thought it would all go wrong in less than a
year? None of the 250,000 people in the crowd, that’s for sure. For now Oasis
are their heroes who have got them out of a 1980s Thatcher-laden doom and shown
them a whole new way to live where you didn’t need to be rich or die young and
angry to live your true life. Watching this DVD, just for a moment, suddenly
9/11 didn’t happen, Tony Blair didn’t sell us all off for money and greed,
there’s no such thing as Conservative-arranged austerity, there is no sign of a
pandemic or social distancing in the biggest music crowd ever assembled across
two days in the 20<sup>th</sup> century and you and I really do feel like we’re
gonna live forever. Perhaps the saddest thing about watching ‘Knebworth’ now is
that it was all a false dawn and even in 2021 Oasis still are our last great
important rock band while any fan whose got more used to seeing the Gallaghers
in the past two decades than their early years will be shocked to see Noel even
playing a solo; even so, none of that is Oasis’ fault and having an official
copy of this gig on the shelves where it belongs makes me mad for this band all
over again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That’s all for another year dear readers
– see you in 2022!<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-45803604098663605572021-11-02T17:00:00.003-07:002021-11-02T17:02:26.823-07:00Kindred Spirits - Insurgence<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dear readers, 'Insurgence' - the second instalment of 'Kindred Spirits' - is now out in paperback and e-book format. A hundred years after the events of ‘Endurance’ (still available folks!) and the ten intelligent species in the known galaxy all know and respect each other – but some of those in charge on those ten planets are having a hard time accepting this brave new world and are still caught up in their petty global affairs. When just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in a peace orchestra seems to be enough to start a revolution. That’s what worries the Mrasianart authorities, who turn the deep-thinking world of Mras on its head with petty fears and injustices through their glorified telepathical internet, ‘the universal’. Eleanor’s long journey across the galaxy from Earth to her new home is far more exciting than she ever expected, full as it is with love for a local, violence, cultural tests, exams, knitting Clandusprods, corruptible Belobrat peace delegates and giving birth to the universe’s first Humrasian. Together the Peace Orchestra find themselves socking it to the man – or in this case one particular alien – in a desperate fight to avoid deportation or worse. It’s all quite an adventure – one she isn’t sure she wants to take after what happened to her back home but which leaves her never quite the same simple human again. ‘Insurgence’ is, like prequel ‘Endurance’, another mad house, a love song to the art of music this time and a hope that one day it might just save us all. Includes extracts from the Intergalactic Song Contest and the 23rd century hit 'We Are All One Universe And We're Only Several Billion Light Years Apart'. A big thankyou to all of you who got in touch to say how much you enjoyed the first volume. Oh and if you haven't done it yet then check out our sister site at <a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/">Kindred Spirits (kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com)</a> where you can take part in our quiz to find out which alien is most like you. Watch out for Volume Three ('Province') sometime in 2022, time machines permitting. If you're just here for the music then don't worry - the annual AAA review of the year will be here as usual sometime in December. See you then!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9oCiCCsP-kA/YYHPADhiRWI/AAAAAAAAJuI/RE9y67136eUTCuftnLP8Vk-1Z2kqadmQgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1448" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9oCiCCsP-kA/YYHPADhiRWI/AAAAAAAAJuI/RE9y67136eUTCuftnLP8Vk-1Z2kqadmQgCLcBGAsYHQ/w453-h640/1.jpg" width="453" /></a></div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />Available now in paperback or e-book formats by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094HJ795W?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_tukn" target="_blank">here</a></h3><br /><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-80629439231171049672021-05-10T15:28:00.005-07:002021-05-11T16:28:47.748-07:00Kindred Spirits - Endurance<p>Dear readers, as you all know by now Alan's Album Archives was put to bed last year after 12 years, 32 e-books and nearly 1300 blog posts. After all that lot its probably fair to say I am about written out when it comes to music. So I have been busy with a new task, writing a series of novels (possibly a quintet if I get that far!) </p><p>This series isn't strictly related to my music books at all, but it might interest some of you given that there is quite a lot of crossover. After all, this book is about what it means to be human, something touched on somewhere in almost every album covered on this site The first volume is now up and might be of interest to anyone who wants to see what happens to the human race in the future and might be of particular interest to those of you who have enjoyed our April Fool's Day posts, as many of the same alien races from the future appear again (Camalosians, Clandusprods, Belobrats, Doosbury Giants, Glabdihardits, Habridats, Maggrumphs, Mekkions, Mrasianarts). There are naturally more than a few musical references in there too (though far more in the second book 'Insurgence' - we'll keep you posted when that one's out). For once I've even bee able to publish it as a physical copy in paperback in edition to an e-book, after years of struggling to get Amazon Kindle KDP to accept any of my music books in that format (I'm still trying folks, honest!) I've also entered it into the #kindlestorytelingcontest2021 if anyone enjoys it enough to give me a bit of a boost there. More to come later in the year!</p><p>Anyway for anyone whose interested you can take our 'which alien race are you quiz?' at the AAA sister site <a href="https://kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a> or buy the book in paperback <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Kindred-Spirits-Alans-Archives/dp/B0948LGQF5/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">here </a>or in kindle format <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Kindred-Spirits-Book-1-ebook/dp/B094HDJM6T/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">here</a> Thankyou dear readers, always! </p><p>Oh and remember to go your way as explorers, not pirates...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kudK5H7CWTE/YJmxV3XDsYI/AAAAAAAAJnU/1LJzfXZ1x4gX9SuHIS-qYo5eekDQdYyuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1448" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kudK5H7CWTE/YJmxV3XDsYI/AAAAAAAAJnU/1LJzfXZ1x4gX9SuHIS-qYo5eekDQdYyuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/2.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-65876679053477156012021-01-01T12:35:00.853-08:002021-01-01T16:39:01.403-08:00The Alan's Album Archives E-Book Collection<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Blimey...That's it folks. All 32 Alan's Album Archives E-books are now published and available from Amazon (and hopefully in some new places this coming year - we'll add the new links as we go!) Don't be too sad though - there will always be new albums to review, other things to write, I still plan to add a 'review of the year' here each year as long as I am able and there are still plenty of new Spice Girls jokes to crack. Plus it's not like we didn't leave enough for you to read - by my reckoning there's 17.500 odd pages here and surely you can't have read them all (I'm not even sure if I did and I wrote them!!!) However, that's it for now. To make it easier for you to find our books here they all are again. Thankyou so much for your custom and readership over the years! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">All our books feature every band or artist's studio albums reviewed in-depth (7-10,000 words) with mini-reviews of live, solo, compilation, rarities and spin-off albums plus non-album recordings, plus an essay, biographies and 'thematic threads'. Each book also contains a 'B-Sides' section featuring the run-down on surviving TV clips, outtakes, key cover versions, landmark concerts, extracts from the Alan's Album Archives 'top ten' columns and plenty more besides. </span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1) 'Music Arcade - An Alan's Album Archives Selection Box'</h2><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">(Includes Extracts From 31 Books, Endless
Quantities Of Songs, 646 Pages)</span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYjWZ2WZSoQ/X1vRq-QWHhI/AAAAAAAAJBM/qW5sYQE5oeQsSmYccJs5ANyjrMajIUKFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/32%2529%2BCopy%2Bof%2BCopy%2Bof%2B_Music%2BArcade__%2BAn%2BAlan%2527s%2BAlbum%2BArchives%2BSelection%2BBox.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYjWZ2WZSoQ/X1vRq-QWHhI/AAAAAAAAJBM/qW5sYQE5oeQsSmYccJs5ANyjrMajIUKFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/32%2529%2BCopy%2Bof%2BCopy%2Bof%2B_Music%2BArcade__%2BAn%2BAlan%2527s%2BAlbum%2BArchives%2BSelection%2BBox.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$2.99/£1.77/Eur 2.69 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RS41VWQ" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTWI4hBH9Pb_7SfdvutJCKo" width="560"></iframe></h2><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Looking for a new band to discover? Try our 'Music Arcade' playlist - three recommended tracks by all thirty AAA acts (plus a few extras!) in chronological order!</div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></h2><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">2) 'Add Some Music To Your Day - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Beach Boys' </h2><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">(29 In-Depth Reviews, 419 Songs, 918 Pages)</span></span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JlTQ5K1Ay-M/X1vSlXd_TWI/AAAAAAAAJBU/laRG2i-vml0lOFNHIi0Ezhw0RQ1drXK8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/1%2529%2BBeach%2BBoys.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JlTQ5K1Ay-M/X1vSlXd_TWI/AAAAAAAAJBU/laRG2i-vml0lOFNHIi0Ezhw0RQ1drXK8QCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/1%2529%2BBeach%2BBoys.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DG3SQT8" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POT-6OjWDEinXkuoEos1vSQ8" width="560"></iframe></h1><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">New to The Beach Boys? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips</span></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">3) 'Every Little Thing - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Beatles'</h1><h3><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">(13 In-Depth Reviews, 300 Songs, 799 Pages)</span></span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mk0TG_1jxnU/X1vTvZl8iuI/AAAAAAAAJBg/V7Pn4dCL2fswtv-iDSxSpixJogFuOMI5QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/2%2529%2BThe%2BBeatles%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mk0TG_1jxnU/X1vTvZl8iuI/AAAAAAAAJBg/V7Pn4dCL2fswtv-iDSxSpixJogFuOMI5QCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/2%2529%2BThe%2BBeatles%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 </span><span style="color: #073763;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Beatles-ebook/dp/B07F6B6K5F/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+beatles&qid=1599853905&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="clear: both;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">New to The Beatles? Are you serious? Have you been living under a rock? Were you looking for a Spice Girls website and ended up here by accident? If so then it was your lucky day, try our playlist and have your mind blown- ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best outtakes and TV clips</span></div></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSZZk2DeMPeoP2fKsC2xAsD" width="560"></iframe></h1><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></h1><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">4) 'Rollercoaster Ride - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Belle and Sebastian' </h1><div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">(10 In-Depth Reviews, 178 Songs, 398 Pages)</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVPJ9b72HmE/X1vWusdqu-I/AAAAAAAAJBs/mcGuzFd2TlQLX4R1SkgH_kbvxpoaTzZfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/3%2529%2BBelle%2Band%2BSebastian%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVPJ9b72HmE/X1vWusdqu-I/AAAAAAAAJBs/mcGuzFd2TlQLX4R1SkgH_kbvxpoaTzZfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/3%2529%2BBelle%2Band%2BSebastian%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.25/£3.99/Eur 4.49 </span><span style="color: #073763;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Sebastian-ebook/dp/B07G37MSNZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+belle+sebastian&qid=1599862641&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Available from Amazon</a></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">New to Belle and Sebastian? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORc45MMDVVKveMkQNfGCe4b" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">5) 'Flying On The Ground Is Wrong - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To...Buffalo Springfield' </h1><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red;">(4 In-Depth Reviews, 61 Songs, 289 Pages)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBVXys9wUGs/X1v5G6INoRI/AAAAAAAAJB4/rP73KNJXx4kZGYdYNFljoN88tuWUmnLfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/4%2529%2BBuffalo%2BSpringfield%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBVXys9wUGs/X1v5G6INoRI/AAAAAAAAJB4/rP73KNJXx4kZGYdYNFljoN88tuWUmnLfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/4%2529%2BBuffalo%2BSpringfield%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$3.99/£2.99/Eur 3.33 </span><span style="color: #073763;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Buffalo-Spingfield-ebook/dp/B07H1KJJ18/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+buffalo+springfield&qid=1599863103&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: #4c1130; text-align: center;">New to Buffalo Springfield? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips (plus the full unedited 'Bluebird'!)</span><div><span style="color: #4c1130; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORRi81TI-37dDc2XUwMw6hW" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">6) 'All The Things - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Byrds'</h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(12 In-Depth Reviews, 194 Songs, 627 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7sM2R69bsjk/X1v6r0rAEGI/AAAAAAAAJCE/qoO6ugyUKXkGecRuxkZgMIq5LfphaoDIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/5%2529%2BThe%2BByrds%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7sM2R69bsjk/X1v6r0rAEGI/AAAAAAAAJCE/qoO6ugyUKXkGecRuxkZgMIq5LfphaoDIwCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/5%2529%2BThe%2BByrds%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.77 </span><span style="color: #073763;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B07HX1RWRW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+byrds&qid=1599863494&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Byrds? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips</span></div><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQhXcU_vI9hrkbwd7dnTZSV" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">7) 'Change Partners - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(37 In-Depth Reviews, 489 Songs, 978 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTi91v6YnRw/X1v7ulSRVhI/AAAAAAAAJCQ/-PlQMky57AseBBYXefZzsfOvPHAljQdMACLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/6%2529%2BCSNY%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTi91v6YnRw/X1v7ulSRVhI/AAAAAAAAJCQ/-PlQMky57AseBBYXefZzsfOvPHAljQdMACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/6%2529%2BCSNY%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Archives-Crosby-Stills-Sometimes-ebook/dp/B07K3PDTRK/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+csn&qid=1599863832&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">New to CSN/Y? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSCTsjJRh8NnUw8WJXi0pcq" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">8) 'Solid Rock - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Dire Straits' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(6 In-Depth Reviews, 60 Songs, 342 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qC2p3u0jFes/X1v9XZeXskI/AAAAAAAAJCc/gtxEyLB335MmHhsplRiiPPxBX3u2uy_3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/7%2529%2BDire%2BStraits%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qC2p3u0jFes/X1v9XZeXskI/AAAAAAAAJCc/gtxEyLB335MmHhsplRiiPPxBX3u2uy_3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/7%2529%2BDire%2BStraits%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$4.99/£3.99/Eur 4.50 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Straits-ebook/dp/B07L1XTMBW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+dire+straits&qid=1599864193&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">New to Dire Straits? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips</span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQtbK7uhVA4Ediynsn26m3p" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">9) 'High Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Grateful Dead' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(16 In-Depth Reviews, 200 Archive sets, 279
Songs, 815 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s36mRMUuPEo/X1v_MSGdIMI/AAAAAAAAJCo/grxESY3I2Bwto3--41JKun-mSugjOndzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/8%2529%2BGrateful%2BDead%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s36mRMUuPEo/X1v_MSGdIMI/AAAAAAAAJCo/grxESY3I2Bwto3--41JKun-mSugjOndzACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/8%2529%2BGrateful%2BDead%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.65 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Grateful-ebook/dp/B07MP8GVC4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+grateful+dead&qid=1599864666&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span></div><br /><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Grateful Dead? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and of course live performances</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORxzq6dWjolV3zkEFs0Y6lZ" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">10) 'Unknown Delight - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...George Harrison' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(11 In-Depth Reviews, 155 Songs, 383 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TlVCYypOEko/X1wAmHgmv0I/AAAAAAAAJC0/CZVI5kJFfh48CM7EIINJqF6G-wzyJdyNACLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/9%2529%2BGeorge%2BHarrison%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TlVCYypOEko/X1wAmHgmv0I/AAAAAAAAJC0/CZVI5kJFfh48CM7EIINJqF6G-wzyJdyNACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/9%2529%2BGeorge%2BHarrison%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.25/£3.99/Eur 4.50 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-George-Harrison-ebook/dp/B07NBQNQ7W/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+george+harrison&qid=1599865014&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to George's solo stuff? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSd2q_re7Z8FJDb4xcjh2rG" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">11) 'Reflections Of A Time Long Past - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Hollies' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(21 In-Depth Reviews, 360 Songs, 743 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aFp_7lxK5E/X1wBvt3cNJI/AAAAAAAAJDA/qgV6AklaxhsLTz0oHaj05Ju0a35sPv5hgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/10%2529%2BThe%2BHollies%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2aFp_7lxK5E/X1wBvt3cNJI/AAAAAAAAJDA/qgV6AklaxhsLTz0oHaj05Ju0a35sPv5hgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/10%2529%2BThe%2BHollies%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.80 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Hollies-ebook/dp/B07P74JDYL/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+hollies&qid=1599865303&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><br /><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Hollies? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQzu1CDQhRcDhnt_lBGcyF_" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">12) 'Wild Thyme - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Jefferson Airplane/Starship' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(21 In-Depth Reviews, 360 Songs, 743 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zrdj0a0UvwQ/X1wDCvk34wI/AAAAAAAAJDM/CJjrhoyOuRMRpD0eQbV-0d1tFJrn4qrBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/11%2529%2BJefferson%2BAirplane%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zrdj0a0UvwQ/X1wDCvk34wI/AAAAAAAAJDM/CJjrhoyOuRMRpD0eQbV-0d1tFJrn4qrBgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/11%2529%2BJefferson%2BAirplane%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Archives-Jefferson-Airplane-Starship-ebook/dp/B07Q5T3K4D/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+jefferson&qid=1599865644&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon </a></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Archives-Jefferson-Airplane-Starship-ebook/dp/B07Q5T3K4D/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+jefferson&qid=1599865644&sr=8-1" target="_blank"> </a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Jefferson family? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORisjTL0KT-S3RGaooxNgQX" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">13) 'Little Girl Blue - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Janis Joplin' </h1><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red;">(4 In-Depth Reviews, 104 Songs, 262 Pages)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2MpWoDXso4/X1wHT75KOxI/AAAAAAAAJDY/9Fywc7iXPsIJNC2iFnmyZ_PY6a6tldOuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/12%2529%2BJanis%2BJoplin%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N2MpWoDXso4/X1wHT75KOxI/AAAAAAAAJDY/9Fywc7iXPsIJNC2iFnmyZ_PY6a6tldOuQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/12%2529%2BJanis%2BJoplin%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">£3.90/£2.99/Eur 3.49 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Joplin-ebook/dp/B07RBBVS27/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+janis&qid=1599866761&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;">New to Janis? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best spin-off songs and TV clips </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTQXvYnYfSwuJhKp1VtzKdu" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">14) 'Maximum Consumption - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Kinks'</h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(23 In-Depth Reviews, 370 Songs, 860 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xGSNKOMAyGs/X1wIoaFE8XI/AAAAAAAAJDk/-qQ_KtFDOs09zVkxyP6Rqx5vpuwTHNPbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/13%2529%2BThe%2BKinks%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xGSNKOMAyGs/X1wIoaFE8XI/AAAAAAAAJDk/-qQ_KtFDOs09zVkxyP6Rqx5vpuwTHNPbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/13%2529%2BThe%2BKinks%2B-%2BFront%2BCover%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.79 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B07SGKQG68/ref=pd_rhf_dp_s_pd_crcd_0_3/141-7864083-5612969?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07SGKQG68&pd_rd_r=8a464af6-bdb4-46c8-b1c9-600f7ba4978c&pd_rd_w=Ee442&pd_rd_wg=lKBgD&pf_rd_p=87ee8cc7-5d7a-4ece-95be-f2cfea6744c5&pf_rd_r=TQ4Y0W30KP6ANFMKPZAS&psc=1&refRID=TQ4Y0W30KP6ANFMKPZAS" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Kinks? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTPIudExtFE-G_YdwzQHZ9-" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">15) 'Remember - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...John Lennon' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(7 In-Depth Reviews, 116 Songs, 173 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTXCOBm4KJA/X1wKH2VwjwI/AAAAAAAAJDw/M9wKYgoY_CMKIinWMVprQyE4tanJ1tzHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/14%2529%2BLennon%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XTXCOBm4KJA/X1wKH2VwjwI/AAAAAAAAJDw/M9wKYgoY_CMKIinWMVprQyE4tanJ1tzHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/14%2529%2BLennon%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.85/£4.50/Eur 5.29 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Lennon-ebook/dp/B07TVFNJ72/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+lennon&qid=1599867464&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to John's solo stuff? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Yoko and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQa0TgGR-I9ef9o4NIM-XvQ" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">16) 'Passing Ghosts - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Lindisfarne' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(19 In-Depth Reviews, 279 Songs, 540 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDP8CeJ50Ow/X1wLVM0me9I/AAAAAAAAJD8/zBNQrB5Q5bMIsShPzRqOBiBa7NZB60fOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/15%2529%2BLIndisfarne%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aDP8CeJ50Ow/X1wLVM0me9I/AAAAAAAAJD8/zBNQrB5Q5bMIsShPzRqOBiBa7NZB60fOwCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/15%2529%2BLIndisfarne%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.99/£4.99/Eur 5.45 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Lindisfarne-ebook/dp/B07VWPM1PV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+lindisfarne&qid=1599867760&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to Lindisfarne? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Jack The Lad and solo songs and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSndgHf6ttoYz1Ps_YPQ7Ze" width="560"></iframe></div><div><h1 style="text-align: center;">17) 'Smile Away - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Paul McCartney'</h1><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: red;">(22 In-Depth Reviews, 408 Songs, 932 Pages)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V4u0XhwyMv0/X10H-faBdNI/AAAAAAAAJEI/f73W2ZMXyJwJdHgOYAM3G0sAfQNr3Z1rQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/16%2529%2BPaul%2BMcCartney%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V4u0XhwyMv0/X10H-faBdNI/AAAAAAAAJEI/f73W2ZMXyJwJdHgOYAM3G0sAfQNr3Z1rQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/16%2529%2BPaul%2BMcCartney%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-McCartney-ebook/dp/B07X6RDG9R/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+mccartney&qid=1599932542&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;">New to Macca? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Denny Laine and TV clips</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTtfS1anz3mVUE-cET4Tzk6" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">18) 'Every Step Of The Way - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Monkees' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(13 In-Depth Reviews, 266 Songs, 60 TV
Episodes, Film+Specials, 1014 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-43PIa4Ylg9I/X10JfjjwpUI/AAAAAAAAJEU/TCWSOSV2EFIpB0_R0MFgce6XCbHQbOhbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/17%2529%2BMonkees%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-43PIa4Ylg9I/X10JfjjwpUI/AAAAAAAAJEU/TCWSOSV2EFIpB0_R0MFgce6XCbHQbOhbwCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/17%2529%2BMonkees%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Monkees-ebook/dp/B07YL8VNZY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+monkees&qid=1599932887&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Monkees? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus one solo single each</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQd-zL9zzfrUaYNdZx3AuZG" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">19) 'New Horizons - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Moody Blues' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(18 In-Depth Reviews, 228 Songs, 659 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FtQO3OVrSF4/X10K2B1Y2HI/AAAAAAAAJEg/YIqo-miZ-LAWyCR5ttCmENxN7f2kmfL6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/18%2529%2BMoody%2BBlues%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FtQO3OVrSF4/X10K2B1Y2HI/AAAAAAAAJEg/YIqo-miZ-LAWyCR5ttCmENxN7f2kmfL6QCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/18%2529%2BMoody%2BBlues%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$6.40/£4.99/Eur 5.80 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B07ZTW8BFY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+moody+blues&qid=1599933167&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Moody Blues? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQzWNdUyu2F7jl4ilSINQEN" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">20) 'Little By Little - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Oasis' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(14 In-Depth Reviews, 240 Songs, 570 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4OaFMRgeM84/X10MEX9f77I/AAAAAAAAJEs/Q1Q5BIOQyigZFkdWlTJ4W4NC0VaC2A6gQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/19%2529%2BOasis%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__Update__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4OaFMRgeM84/X10MEX9f77I/AAAAAAAAJEs/Q1Q5BIOQyigZFkdWlTJ4W4NC0VaC2A6gQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/19%2529%2BOasis%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__Update__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$6.40/£4.99/Eur 5.86 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B0825YVVLJ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+oasis&qid=1599933648&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to Oasis? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and spin-off songs and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POT_ljP6ii4E-PPmnqjFdPur" width="560"></iframe></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">21) 'Watch The Stars - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Pentangle' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(11 In-Depth Reviews, 131 Songs, 472 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elrA4Kgxk_g/X10Xbabv0AI/AAAAAAAAJE4/EPZJTsefwqQB18ISSZpEjMpyjTm4L_1IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/20%2529%2BPentangle%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__update__%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elrA4Kgxk_g/X10Xbabv0AI/AAAAAAAAJE4/EPZJTsefwqQB18ISSZpEjMpyjTm4L_1IQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/20%2529%2BPentangle%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__update__%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.90/£4.50/Eur 5.29 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Pentangle-ebook/dp/B083C529RP/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+pentangle&qid=1599936422&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">New to Pentangle? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORcyOcolfde1ezkJrBSckyf" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">22) 'Remember A Day - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Pink Floyd' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(14 In-</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Depth Reviews, 176 Songs, 690 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yuus96IlXVw/X10aE1YkpII/AAAAAAAAJFE/F7XQccEeRlcx4OyJCYv_3HAt8pJEhuQSACLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/21%2529%2BPink%2BFloyd%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yuus96IlXVw/X10aE1YkpII/AAAAAAAAJFE/F7XQccEeRlcx4OyJCYv_3HAt8pJEhuQSACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/21%2529%2BPink%2BFloyd%2B-%2BFront%2BCover.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.85/£5.99/Eur 7.10 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B084DRDYH9/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+pink+floyd&qid=1599937066&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium;">New to Pink Floyd? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POR9g4jdGtbwngc9Jd5RipdS" width="560"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: x-large;">23) 'Change Is Gonna Come - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Otis Redding' </span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: small;">(6 In-Depth Reviews, 141 Songs, 296 Pages)</span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VP0VWm8nO9c/X10bj3T81SI/AAAAAAAAJFU/pJicuqqnN7Uopku40augzRHVtf6jW8iVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/22%2529%2BOtis%2BRedding%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VP0VWm8nO9c/X10bj3T81SI/AAAAAAAAJFU/pJicuqqnN7Uopku40augzRHVtf6jW8iVgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/22%2529%2BOtis%2BRedding%2B-%2BFront%2BCover__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$3.85/£2.99/Eur 3.50 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Redding-ebook/dp/B085BSTF9R/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+otis+redding&qid=1599937447&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">New to Otis Redding? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best from backing band Booker T and the MGs and TV clips</span><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; font-weight: 400;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; font-weight: 400;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; font-weight: 400;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQlKUQXFTEIn5NWxPuQJksZ" width="560"></iframe></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">24) 'Yesterday's Papers - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Rolling Stones' </span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(22 In-Depth Reviews, 389 Songs, 836 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nELVLh6GyPk/X10c2fCoCqI/AAAAAAAAJFk/tkmwclQqfFUX9YItJsvzlTv61iF2tjLUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/23%2529%2BRolling%2BStones%2B-%2B__Update__%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nELVLh6GyPk/X10c2fCoCqI/AAAAAAAAJFk/tkmwclQqfFUX9YItJsvzlTv61iF2tjLUgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/23%2529%2BRolling%2BStones%2B-%2B__Update__%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.45/£5.99/Eur 6.70 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Rolling-Stones-ebook/dp/B086MZPXMY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+rolling+stones&qid=1599937775&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to the Stones? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips</span></div><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQd6tZak2gS4KqYO-m9siPP" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">25) 'Once Upon A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Searchers' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(8 In-Depth Reviews, 179 Songs, 355 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4UST8NOKRQ/X10e_Wxr3XI/AAAAAAAAJFw/Lpd7yTOri1Uta46c7A1xb1pFPrs1FNjcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/24%2529%2BSearchers%2B-%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_4UST8NOKRQ/X10e_Wxr3XI/AAAAAAAAJFw/Lpd7yTOri1Uta46c7A1xb1pFPrs1FNjcwCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/24%2529%2BSearchers%2B-%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.30/£3.99/Eur 4.52 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Searchers-ebook/dp/B088D1PGGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+searchers&qid=1599938726&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Searchers? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQr-eqjPDg4SOMphZfgQbws" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">26) 'Patterns - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Simon and Garfunkel'</h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(26 In-Depth Reviews, 389 Songs, 715 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlDyqU1mwCo/X10gOzh1HTI/AAAAAAAAJF8/dACUN3mhwuY0BCTDZuwleLoSZHXCFC17wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/25%2529%2BSimon%2Band%2BGarfunkel%2B-%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mlDyqU1mwCo/X10gOzh1HTI/AAAAAAAAJF8/dACUN3mhwuY0BCTDZuwleLoSZHXCFC17wCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/25%2529%2BSimon%2Band%2BGarfunkel%2B-%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.65 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Garfunkel-ebook/dp/B089G787G8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+simon+and+garfunkel&qid=1599938513&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to Simon and Garfunkel? Then try our playlist - ten of the best together and three each of the best apart, plus our book title track, pre-fame songs and TV clips</span></div><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTk0NgIF2sH7-ZFAekLmghZ" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">27) 'All Our Yesterdays - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Small Faces' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(6 In-Depth Reviews, 101 Songs, 462 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gld-JQG5QsY/X10h2tGuaUI/AAAAAAAAJGI/PeANCFezR2k65h7bdaSB-kYdVR3_nX91ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/26%2529%2BSmall%2BFaces%2B__UPDATE%2521__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gld-JQG5QsY/X10h2tGuaUI/AAAAAAAAJGI/PeANCFezR2k65h7bdaSB-kYdVR3_nX91ACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/26%2529%2BSmall%2BFaces%2B__UPDATE%2521__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.45/£4.50/Eur 4.95 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B08C2V2NMZ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+small+faces&qid=1599939055&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to The Small Faces? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, three each for Humble Pie and The Faces, plus solo songs and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POT1VVMOcf5QhgYO7e_7f7P7" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">28) 'One Day At A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Cat Stevens' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(15 In-Depth Reviews, 135 Songs, 434 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHpfdlHiDbY/X10jBFckieI/AAAAAAAAJGU/ECMYfTIQ1ZcW3xZrLnwFbWe-7fKsNQbrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/27%2529%2BCat%2BStevens%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHpfdlHiDbY/X10jBFckieI/AAAAAAAAJGU/ECMYfTIQ1ZcW3xZrLnwFbWe-7fKsNQbrgCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/27%2529%2BCat%2BStevens%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.90/£4.50/Eur 4.97 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Stevens-ebook/dp/B08F3RLM8L/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+cat+Stevens&qid=1599939366&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to Cat Stevens? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQ_Tj6e6d5mEHrjVqYFaPYf" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">29) 'Memories - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of 10cc'</h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(12 In-Depth Reviews, 145 Songs, 516 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Z3KoS6hKZ0/X10kMLtH5YI/AAAAAAAAJGg/L_ueBLadavM8-JTYTstjGP5YcdYckQpLACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/28%2529%2B10CC%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Z3KoS6hKZ0/X10kMLtH5YI/AAAAAAAAJGg/L_ueBLadavM8-JTYTstjGP5YcdYckQpLACLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/28%2529%2B10CC%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$5.99/£4.50/Eur 5.05 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-Guide-Music-ebook/dp/B08H1Q259Q/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+10cc&qid=1599939656&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to 10cc? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, pre-fame recordings and TV clips</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORB72BOoNHp9YdT2cs4LdG2" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">30) 'Gettin' In Tune - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Who' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(12 In-Depth Reviews, 249 Songs, 830 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ3pq6V_LCc/X16YFX-oy6I/AAAAAAAAJGw/f5mdTbA2rMwiqNyJUuB9h3QPlXATNukjACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/29%2529%2BThe%2BWho%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ3pq6V_LCc/X16YFX-oy6I/AAAAAAAAJGw/f5mdTbA2rMwiqNyJUuB9h3QPlXATNukjACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/29%2529%2BThe%2BWho%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.30 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KGB2ZTW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">New to The Who? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, best of the solo songs and TV clips</span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POR8WyXFGAtwFXqDB_XThZ6G" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">31) 'Here We Are In The Years - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Neil Young' </h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(40 In-Depth Reviews, 438 Songs, 1036 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-44NTi6WsZp0/X16ZcH2Ur4I/AAAAAAAAJG8/neRvs9VtR5MJyVVq44A7L_lNyVQzhBPuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-44NTi6WsZp0/X16ZcH2Ur4I/AAAAAAAAJG8/neRvs9VtR5MJyVVq44A7L_lNyVQzhBPuQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.30 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MCJPZFN" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">New to Neil? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, the best of Crazy Horse and TV clips</span></div><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTyzjchvxSP7pZMtPqd_xgp" width="560"></iframe></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">32) 'A Scrapbook Of Madness - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Madness Of...Alan's Album Archives'</h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;">(11 Time-Travelling April Fool’s Day Issues, 250
News, Views and Music Newsletters, 1600 Pages)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zUTqq6VHD3E/X16a0bpWYII/AAAAAAAAJHI/yfVnG74bCicYK99W5B3V-lBXO-ZE9AQfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1123/31%2529%2BA%2BScrapbook%2BOf%2BMadness%2B.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1123" data-original-width="794" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zUTqq6VHD3E/X16a0bpWYII/AAAAAAAAJHI/yfVnG74bCicYK99W5B3V-lBXO-ZE9AQfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w283-h400/31%2529%2BA%2BScrapbook%2BOf%2BMadness%2B.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;">$1.99/£1.49/Eur 1.79 </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Available From <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PC5T2PL" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">Feeling Monkeynuts? Then try our playlist - four increasingly insane adverts</span><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORG9aS1IUmdERo2X1zeqFLE" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;">Or, if you're mad/rich enough, you could buy the whole lot in one go (!): <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alans-Album-Archives-31-Book/dp/B08NXT1XXQ/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=alan%27s+album+archives&qid=1609547208&s=digital-text&sr=1-17" target="_blank">Amazon</a></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-25985378067600308792020-12-18T04:00:00.164-08:002020-12-18T12:03:05.416-08:00The Alan's Album Archives Review Of The Year 2020<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-54dkDX061_A/X9lEEFq-1cI/AAAAAAAAJf8/rMLpEKp-lFMYfpdmM_-G_XAoUFdeQ1C8gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20201215_231407.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-54dkDX061_A/X9lEEFq-1cI/AAAAAAAAJf8/rMLpEKp-lFMYfpdmM_-G_XAoUFdeQ1C8gCLcBGAsYHQ/w480-h640/IMG_20201215_231407.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POR6Fg76IJzQHcT6rvtgvwR-" width="560"></iframe></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; line-height: 115%;">https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlzWxNlf9POR6Fg76IJzQHcT6rvtgvwR-</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, dear readers, that wasn</span><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;">’t the year
we were after was it? Plague, riots, famine, wars, a near-collision with an
asteroid, half the world on fire, the other half sinking beneath the waves, The
Pentagon admitting UFOs were real, brain-eating amoebas (seriously!) and even
(briefly) a spree of killer murder hornets, if 2020 had been a TV series we’d
have all stopped watching a long time ago because it was too ‘far-fetched’. Goodness
knows what happens in the ‘series finale’…At times it felt like the world had
told us all to collectively go to our rooms and think about we’d done, to the
planet and each other. There was a time I didn’t think we were going to make
it, but here we are and the new year is only just around the corner (sorry this
article is a bit later than usual by the way: we were waiting for Kevin Godley
to put his debut solo album out and it didn’t arrive till December 17</span><sup style="color: red;">th</sup><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;">!)
It’s not been a classic AAA year by any means – most of our musicians were too
burnt out for new work and I can’t say I blame them as I’ve got very little
writing done this year too – but in amongst the difficult days were a few high
spots, most of them courtesy of the ever-prolific Neil Young, the continuation
of the Grateful Dead archive series , a sudden flurry of Pink Floyd-related DVD
releases, an even more sudden flurry of unexpected Cat Stevens releases and an
all-too-short Corona-virus concert that starred many an AAA band. For once the
best thing I’ve heard all year isn’t an AAA album either – a quick plug for Kara
Jane’s superlative album ‘It’s Still M.E.’ fundraiser for m.e. charities, which
have the best songs about living with the condition this side of Belle and
Sebastian and was recorded one line at a time to enable her to rest. With long
covid in the news so much this year it’s been sobering to hear of so many
people facing such similar obstacles to their health. It has though been so
good to see the support between our two communities in this unwelcome health
club we share.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As for us, well, it’s been a quiet year
full of healing and contemplation and m.e. and covid crashes (interrupted by
the odd album you can read about below played loud!) However we did reach two
milestones this year: one million hits on the website (wow!) and one thousand
books sold (triple wow!) A big thankyou to readers old and new – this year our
old Friends Slack TV, Barnacle Bum, Cecilia, The Face Of Bo, Hokeyboy, Martin,
Joel, Kevin, Kenny, Bethany and my Aunty Julie have been joined by new friends
in Louwe (</span><span face=""Segoe UI","sans-serif"" style="background: white; color: #5b7083; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">@ljvdboomen)</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, Gregg and Maurice (everybody check out his brilliant ‘Love That
Album’ podcast now!</span> <a href="https://player.fm/series/love-that-album-2362756">https://player.fm/series/love-that-album-2362756</a><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">) This is also, I guess, a kind of farewell to you all as our last
book (‘A Scrapbook Of Madness’) came out at the start of the month and I don’t
have plans for any more. Instead there’s a
philosophy-masquerading-as-a-sci-fi-come-romance novel due for the middle of
2021 (featuring a continuation of the relationship between clandusprods,
belobrats and humans as explored in our ‘Aril Fool’s Day’ columns) and a long
lie down! Never say never though. Writing Alan’s Album Archives has been one of
the great pleasures of my life. The people I’ve met, the records I’ve heard and
the places it has taken me are the journey of a lifetime that I will always
treasure and there are of course many more wonderful records out there that
need somebody to write about them. If no one else takes up the job in the
meantime maybe it will be me again! In the meantime, though, there will be one
final post at the start of next year with links to all the e-books (and
hopefully some new places to buy them from if you don’t like using Amazon),
plus I fully intend to come back and add my reviews of the years annually. Who
knows? If enough AAA musicians get a move on I might even be back with ‘second
editions’ of these books one day. Till then, though, this is a fond farewell
from a grateful writer to the best readers in the world – I am so glad you came
to visit and wish you much happiness, peace, love, light and the best music
that ever there was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><u>New Releases:</u></b></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Impact","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">(Best
to Worst)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l24 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “Homegrown” (Reprise)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Separate
Ways/Try/Mexico/Love Is A Rose/Homegrown/Florida/Kansas/We Don’t Smoke It No
More/White Line/Vacancy/Little Wing/Star Of Bethlehem<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I must admit I wasn’t expecting much
from this year’s lone release from the long-running ‘Neil Young Archives’
series. Unlike previous unreleased albums ‘Homegrown’ didn’t have the bootleg
following of previous releases ‘Hitch-Hiker’ or the
‘gee-many-of-my-favourite-moments-on-later-albums-all-seem-to-stem-from-the-same-sessions
frisson of ‘Chrome Dreams’. The back-story to ‘Homegrown’ didn’t help inspire
enthusiasm: recorded in 1974 Neil was very close to releasing it but at the
‘wrap party’ his audience were disappointed by it and when somebody flipped the
cassette over to play yet another abandoned album and raved about it (1973’s
‘Tonight’s The Night’) Neil put that out instead. Poor ‘Homegrown’, even its
own creator didn’t love it enough to release it. Forty-six years on, though and
it’s a revelation, a spooky haunted frightened little record that expands the
infamous ‘Doom Trilogy’ to a quartet and finds Neil in the darkest time of his
personal life until, well, now. The parallels between then and now are huge: as
with ‘Time Fades Away’ and ‘Tonight’s The Night’ in 1973 Neil has just buried a
much-loved friend far too soon (pedal steel player Ben Keith, whose played on
more Young records than Neil himself), as with ‘On The Beach’ America is
turning to ruin (though it’s Trump not Nixon facing impeachment) and Neil has
just broken up with a long-term partner (only here it’s actress Carrie
Snodgrass who haunts the album, not wife Pegi). ‘Homegrown’ is a deeply personal
album, recorded unplugged for the most part with Neil clearly drunk when he
wrote some of these songs and stoned out of his mind when recording some others
(the rambling stream of consciousness ‘Florida’ is every bit as weird as it
seemed when written out as the liner notes to ‘Tonight’s The Night’). He sounds
as if he’s about to be rock’s next casualty, lurching from one song of defeat
to another as he goes back and forth between making it up with the father of
his eldest son (and whom he still clearly loves) and walking away to pastures
new. Along the way Neil compares the beauty of roses with the thorns that keep
beauty safe (Decade’s ‘Love Is A Rose’ which finally makes sense in context),
pierces the myth of true love and miracles (‘Maybe the star of Bethlehem wasn’t
a star at all’ in a career highlight from 1977 that here at the end of the
album will make you cry), uses his own wife’s quotes as examples of why things
will never work out (Try’s ‘I’d like to take a second chance, but shit Mary I
can’t dance!’) and wakes up in a fever-dream in the surreal land of Oz only to
realise that this is his new reality and his old life in Kansas has gone,
destroyed by a tornado that was beyond his control (‘Kansas’). Across the album
Neil goes through the stages of grieving in record time – the sad, the mad and
the glad parts are all first-class as Neil evolves from aching loss to
acceptance that things just weren’t meant to be. It’s the denial parts that
stop this record being up there with Neil’s absolute best: we always knew that
the title track was a dopey song about dope (though it sounds better here in
its first, more ‘complete’ version than when Crazy Horse get hold of it in
1977), while ‘Florida’ is an experiment too far and ‘We Don’t Smoke It No More’
the laziest 12 bar Neil’s ever written (yep, even more than ‘Vampire Blues’!)
However this album still wins our review of the year by a country mile with the
powerful poignancy of ‘Mexico’ (Neil is shattered and desperate, ready to flee
everything he knows to start his life all ver again), ‘Kansas’ (Neil at his at
most scared and vulnerable as he wishes he was anywhere else) and ‘Vacancy’ (an
angry turbulent rocker that’s still in so much pain as Neil wonders what alien
has taken over his wife whose loving eyes which were once so full of life are
now so empty) as strong a mini-trilogy as anything on Neil’s greatest albums.
Neil’s archive sets are often at the top of our yearly lists, but this year’s
unexpected and largely un-bootlegged gift might just be the best of them all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Kansas’ ‘Mexico’ ‘Vacancy’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Kevin Godley “Muscle
Memory” (State 51 Conspiracy)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Expecting A Message/The Ghosts Of The Living/Hit The Street/The
Bang Bang Theory/5 Minutes Alone/Cut To The Cat/One Day/All Bones Are
White/Periscope/Song Of Hate/Bulletholes In The Sky<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Releasing his first true solo album at
the age of seventy-five is not something many artists could get away with, but
as you’ll realize a few times across this fascinating, frequently bewildering,
often infuriating album, the former 10cc drummer is not like most artists. This
album is the most 21<sup>st</sup> century record I think I’ve heard so far by
anyone, full of contemporary electro-pop that frequently sounds futuristic,
more something a teenager should be coming up with in his bedroom than a rocker
who was middle-aged before synths were even a thing. Working out what this
album sounds like is deliciously impossible – at times it’s a melodic rap
album, with Kevin spitting out rhymes with venom faster than you can say ‘goodbye
Trump!’, at others it’s a slow creeping ambience album full of a poetic urgency
about how mankind is running out chances to get his and her act together, at
others it’s the most bonkers simple pop album ever made. If it sounds like
anything it’s the last full work by Kevin, Godley-Creme’s ‘Goodbye Blue Sky’,
released a full thirty-two years ago (and interestingly nothing like GGo6’s half-an-album
collaborations with Graham Gouldmann fourteen years ago). With so many years away
mostly shooting music videos for other artists, Kevin’s voice sounds less worn
than many of his peers (especially the two either side of this review) and he
still has that hugely impressive range from golden falsetto to dark sinister
bark on a series of songs that never tested his range more. This is even a
highly 2020 album (even if most of it was done in 2019) with Kevin working with
a bunch of long-distance collaborators who sent him instrumentals in the post
for him to add his touches to. In truth it should be credited to dozens of names
– however the clever bit is that it still feels like Godley all the way
through, from the political drabbing of ‘The Bang Bang Theory’ to the ‘Neanderthal
Man’ style drumming and the high sarcasm in falsetto of the ‘Godley-Creme’
days. Sometimes this album works quite brilliantly: ‘One Day’ manages the hard
task of being both deeply sarcastic and uplifting, ‘Ghosts Of The Living’ is a
haunting song about, well, being haunted and the importance in forgiving when
moving on from things that didn’t work, ‘Hit The Street’ a song from the last ‘roaring
twenties’ set to this year’s boring twenties, veering from electronic landscape
to jazz, ‘Five Minutes Alone’ is a song about dying and the things in life that
really matter, set to the sound of a mobile ring-tone which works a lot better
on disc than it does on paper. Sometimes it drives me mad: ‘Bulletholes In The
Sky’ is bland cod-opera ballad, ‘Cut To The Cat’ is a bunch of butch distorted-voice
robots debating a media-mogul future and spotting non-existent trends, ‘All
Bones Are White’ a very modern song about inter-company politics and jealousy full
of swearing and sarcasm set to a primitive drum beat. Throughout the whole
album, though, Godley is trying to do things with music not only he but
everyone else in the music business has never done before and considering the
amount of ground Godley has himself covered the extra universe of possibilities
this album opens up is incredibly impressive indeed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh and the album cover is brilliant too in a
very 10cc-traditional way – inanimate natural objects aligned to really look
like Kevin, from the colander-ears to the quite literally bushy hairdo. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘One Day’ ‘Ghosts Of The Living’ ‘Hit The Street’ ‘Five
Minutes Alone’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l24 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Paul McCartney
“McCartney III”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Long Tailed Winter Bird/Find My Way/Pretty Boys/Women and
Wives/Lavatory Lil/Slidin’/Deep Deep Feeling/The Kiss Of Venus/Seize The
Day/Deep Down/Winter Bird-When Winter Comes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Paul wasn’t expecting to make another
record so soon after 2018’s horrific ‘Egypt Station’, but with lockdown cancelling
his other plans and with time on his hands while staying with daughter Mary and
his grandkids, the muse came calling in what Paul referred to as ‘rockdown’.
Just as in 1970 and 1980 this is Paul fully solo, playing every last note
himself and following ideas instinctively one overdub at a time (his drumming
is particularly powerful this record). Where it differs, though, is that
‘McCartney III’ sounds more polished than any of his albums have for a while (a
decade?) and certainly more than the improvised madness of ‘McCartney’ or the
synths-in-the-kitchen ‘McCartney II’. Like its two predecessors, however, Macca
III is a chance to expand on our idea of who Paul is and push his music into
directions he’s never been in before and that’s where the album’s strengths lie
– in being a very un-McCartney ‘McCartney’ album, with each and every roll of
the dice on the cover. What it lacks, sadly, is that natural musicality that is
such a McCartney trademark and the sense of being a comforting, fully enjoyable
listen – but then I guess we do have all the other McCartney albums in our
collection to go to for that. The first half is like a bullish Lennon record,
feisty and full of guitars and drums that snarl and sting more than they soar,
before moving on to a more spiritual, lyrical Harrison-like record that’s like
a ‘Paul’ take on ‘All Things Must Pass’, anticipating death in the way that
only a McCartney record can – with a smile and curiosity in what comes next.
Interestingly there’s none of the urgency his fellow Beatle felt in his
twenties – once a few noisier tracks at the beginning are out the way this is
Paul’s calmest, most laidback LP for some time where with time to spare
thinking Paul goes ‘deep’(well, relatively). Like many of us in lockdown Paul
has been spending this period of isolation looking inward and so there are
fewer characters than usual on this record (only the unlikely Heather
Mills-style gold-digger that is ‘Lavatory Lil’) and much more about his own
thoughts and ideas and especially his worries. Time and again the theme of
death, of Winter, of birds taking Wing(s) to exotic and exciting new horizons
abound, particularly on the stronger songs in the middle. ‘Women and Wives’
sounds like Paul passing on Grandudery advice to the grandkids he’s taken to
tucking into bed every night, a deeper silly love song than usual about what it
means to live and love from a man whose experienced it all (‘Many choices to
make, many choices to travel…keep your feet off the ground and get ready to
run!’) ‘Slidin’ is an out-of-body experience come-acid-trip that finds Paul
peering through the windows-in-his-head onto the afterlife to come and (with
true McCartney verve) looking forward to the exciting possibilities of what
comes next. ‘Seize The Day’ meanwhile is Paul all over, a reminder to him and
to us to make the most of every day in case it is our last. ‘Deep Deep Feeling’
is an eight minute epic, a blues prog rock song about the ‘other’ side of
romance, when ‘you love someone so much you feel your heart’s gonna burst’
afraid of the mistakes and problems and things falling apart but how it’s still
the most important thing in the world and the cornerstone for his muse (it’s
all a bit repetitive to be the true classic fans and reviewers are claiming but
the fact there’s nothing ese like it in one of the biggest catalogue’s in rock
still says much about McCartney at aged 78). In the midst of all these unusual
musical twists and turns ‘The Kiss Of Venus’ is the one song here that will last
the test of time, sounding like the most natural McCartney song in the world
but even that’s a whole new Broad Street for Paul to travel down lyrically, a
debate on horoscopes and fate and planet placements that is set to one of
Paul’s typically note-perfect melody lines. Then, after looking into the void
and the bigger picture for the whole album with one eye over his shoulder to
the enormity of that ever present past, Paul comes back to Earth for one last
song dusted off from a George Martin session in 1992 that finds Paul the Mull
of Kintyre farmer obsessed with the little details again. Like the rest of us
Paul is heading back out to the real world after his enforced time indoors and
in his own mind and tying up all the loose ends he can (as George once told his
old friend, the art of dying is to leave life as completed as you can and Paul
knows he still has much to do and say to us). Winter raises its head again, a
time of endings and renewals as already heard on past classics like ‘Winter
Rose’ and ‘Footprints’, but notably the setting of quite a few of the songs
here (odd for an album started in Spring and reportedly finished off in Summer
– no wonder the release date for this album keeps being pushed back later and
later!) The result is an album that’s always thoughtful and wins marks for
bravery (this time it really is ‘New’, unlike…erm…’New’! Even if that album’s
highest points are yet higher) without yet embracing the heights of what Paul
can do (such as the better halves of a ‘McCartney or a McCartney II). Like five
out of six of the last Macca albums now we’re still left waiting for something
we know this man is truly capable of (when ‘Electric Arguments’ pushed the boat
out even more than this), with too many infantile lyrics and songs that fall
short (‘Lavatory Lil’ is nonsense, even for a fan who found close cousin
‘Polythene Pam’ funny and the opening near-instrumental unusually ugly) or – very
uncharacteristically – tracks that take a good idea but drag it on long past
their welcome. Paul is still struggling massively with his voice at times as
well, to the point where he sounds more like Waits than Wings – the sudden
switch back to the 1990s at the end revealing just how bad those struggles have
become lately after twenty years of constant touring. Oh and don’t get me
started on the four pricey ‘exclusive’ coloured versions with one bonus track
each, an even more cynical marketing ploy than the ‘Archives’ releases that
cost hundreds of pounds but can’t pay another 10p to manufacture enough discs
for all the content. By and large, though, this is a step in the right
direction from the dark from an artist whose been badly lost to us for the past
decade or so, with a greater wingspan than normal and so much more depth than
his last album ‘Egypt Station’ it’s hard to believe that this is by the same
artist. ‘You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone’ the (much-delayed) opening line of
the record declares. Too right, Paul, we so will. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Kiss Of Venus’ ‘When Winter Comes’ ‘Seize The Day’
‘Deep Deep Feeling’ </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">4) Belle and Sebastian “What To Look For In Summer”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Song Of The Clyde/Dirty Dream #2/Step Into My Office Baby/We
Were Beautiful/Seeing Other People/If She Wants Me/Beyond The Sunrise/Wrapped
Up In Books/Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John/Nice Day For A Sulk/I Can See
Your Future/Funny Little Frog/Fox In The Snow/If You’re Feeling Sinister/My
wandering Days Are Over/The Wrong Girl/Stay Loose/The Boy Done Wrong Again/Poor
Boy/Dog On Wheels/The Boy With The Arab Strap/I Didn’t See It Coming/Belle and
Sebastian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">How perfectly Belle and Sebastian. Just
as the rest of the world are becoming more introverted, working on albums in
their garage and living rooms, B and S remind of us of our recent past with the
release of their first ever ‘proper’ live album (following a half-go on their
‘BBC Sessions’ disc), recorded July-November last year but which, with its
constant audience noise and sometime participation, already seems like a
lifetime ago. B and S concerts have always been so different to their studio
counterparts – generally tougher and punchier, with a lot of audience
participation. This makes this live recording a real treat, with most songs on
this generously big double-disc helping sounding different to the original,
whether it be the tougher rock and roll grooves (most of the past four ‘produced’
album songs sound more like the first four albums did), some terrific Stuart
Murdoch ad libs (‘That’s not my racist president’ fits in nicely to the tag of
‘Arab Strap’ for instance, alongside the memory of how asking a girl out came
to nothing ‘but at least we still have this song’, while 'I was burned by Boris Johnson...I can't think of anything to rhyme with Johnson' becomes an unlikely middle eight on 'Step Into My Office Baby'), the chance to hear the
ever-under-rated Sarah Martin’s vocals in place of Isobel Campbel’s or in one
place Norah Jones’ or the general mood of bonhomie as audience members are
invited to come up on stage and ‘be’ the band for five precious minutes. This
was always a moving part of their shows and now, under lockdown with no new
gigs in sight just yet, it feels even more powerful (just check out the set’s
title too: now there’s a good demonstration of this band’s optimism in the face
of insurmountable odds with the promise that there are more gigs to come just
as every other artist we cover is talking about retirement). This is surely no
coincidence - if anyone knows the importance of feeling a part of the outside
world then it’s m.e. patient Stuart – and the timing feels perfect for this
set. Sometimes the revisiting of the back catalogue is sublime, such as a sitar/guitar rock hybrid re-arangement of everyone's favourite Nativity re-telling ' Beyond The Sunrise' or a highly postmodern 'Belle and Sebastian' itself, no longer a sad lonely demo made at home in the hope of what will be but a mass coming together of like minds who saw that dream come true. Admittedly, not everything works. The old traditional tune ‘The Song Of
The Clyde’ is an oddball opener even by B+S standards, while the songs here
from last year’s EPs project ‘How To Solve Our Human problems’ still don’t feel
as if they belong to this canon yet. The album cover (a characteristic use of an
audience member, uncharacteristically holding puppets of the band) doesn’t
quite look right either (though the shot of Stuart's son Denny making his sleeve debut by clutching a puppet of god-dad Stevie Jackson on the back cover is very sweet). Oh well, there’s plenty more here to enjoy from all
periods of Belle and Sebastian and sounding as good as ever it did, just
different. Just check out the sweet music videos too which feature the band
playing along to themselves while in lockdown, alongside some fan-sent videos,
just so that newcomers still don’t quite know which one in the band is which. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Beyond The Sunrise' ‘Fox In The Snow’ ‘Belle and Sebastian’‘The Boy With The
Arab Strap’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">5) Liam Gallagher “MTV
Unplugged: Live From Hull City Hall” (Warner Music)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wall Of Glass/Some
Might Say/Now That I’ve Found You/One Of Us/Stand By Me/Sad Song/Cast No
Shadow/Once/Gone/Champagne Supernova<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Back in 1995 Liam left Oasis in the
lurch so close to the recording date of their MTV Unplugged show that he can
still be seen, worse for wear, sitting in the wings. That show went ahead and
it’s an important show for brother Noel, who for the first time stepped out of
his younger’s brother’s shadow and gave his interpretation of all his own songs
back in the days when Noel was hot creative property and no one else could get
a look in. Liam’s last minute substitution helped make Noel a face to know
amongst casual music fans who only cared about the ‘singer’ and it’s not too
much of an exaggeration to say the largely ecstatic reviews of the elder
brother’s performance changed the power dynamic within Oasis forever. Liam must
surely have been aware of this history when he signed up to record his own solo
show with the same franchise a quarter century later. This time most Oasis fans
tend to view him as the reliable, creative one with a burning need to make
‘proper’ music while his brother is off making oddball dance albums with a girl
whose role in the band is to play the scissors. He’s also the one making olive
branches, with Bonehead joining him on stage for the first time since 1997 for
a really sweet reunion (they get on so much better now – their twitter banter
is what the social platform was made for). It’s a huge turnaround from the days
when he used to be the ‘unreliable rockstar’ one and Liam makes the most of it,
(un) plugging most of the best songs from his second solo album and re-claiming
a few Oasis fan favourites that his brother has yet to touch in concert. After
years when both sides of the brotherhood refused to touch any Oasis songs it’s
a big moment and interestingly Liam treats them with more respect than the man
who wrote them. He also gives his all in a performance that makes good use of
his increasingly lived-in voice, even his backing band continue to be the
weakest link, more of an Oasis tribute band than a throwback to the real thing.
This record - Liam’s first solo live set and his first of any kind since 2000’s
‘Familiar To Millions’ found a splintered Oasis in a bad mood – is flawed in
many ways; ‘Stand By Me’ is a nice song but still feels like an eternity to sit
through, a shortened acoustic ‘Champagne Supernova’ never quite explodes, the
setting isn’t ‘pure’ acoustic which seems like a missed opportunity and there
aren’t any tracks from the two Beady Eye records or solo debut ‘As You Were’,
both of which I would take over ‘Why Me? Why Not?’ anyday. Even the biggest
Noel-hater would never take this set over the 1995 Oasis one, which back in the
day was an astonishing and ground-breaking one. By contrast this is just a very
professional set by a singer who puts his homework into his day job in a way he
never used to. However at its best (Liam sounds so right on Oasis B-side ‘Sad
Song’ it’s a wonder he didn’t sing it the first time round, ‘Once’ and ‘Gone’
are magnificent new songs that Liam sings the hell out of and it’s so great to
hear Liam sing ‘Cast No Shadow’ again, one of the greatest songs of the 1990s)
‘Unplugged’ is a reminder of how far one of the best musicians of his
generation has come and how much sheer guts he still has to offer a world all
too full of artificial pop and nonsense. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Sad Song’ ‘Gone’ ‘Cast No Shadow’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l20 level1 lfo31; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Grateful Dead “Dave’s
Picks #33” (Grateful Dead Records)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Might As Well/Jack Straw/Dire Wolf/Looks Like Rain/Loser/El
Paso/Ramble On Rose/New Minglewood Blues/It Must Have Been The Roses/Let It
Grow/Bertha/Good Lovin’/Friend Of The Devil/Estimated Prophet/Eyes Of The
World/Space/St Stephen/Not Fade Away/Black Peter/Sugar Magnolia/One More
Saturday Night<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s
a general consensus amongst Dead-heads that 1977 was a golden year: after an 18
month hiatus and a sloppy 1976 tour the next year one was full of good cheer
and tight performances before the drugs got hold, with the ‘Terrapin Station’
album adding a number of excellent songs to the set-list. Sadly it’s not always
true, with as many doddery and sleepy performances from this year in the Dead’s
long-running archive series as any other. However Dave Lemieux’s 33<sup>rd</sup>
pick from Illinois that October is one of the good ones with an enthusiastic
band clearly enjoying themselves on an unusual range of material (that isn’t
exactly ‘rare’ but isn’t the sort of thing you see on every archive set
either). ‘Let It Grow’, the second half of Bob Weir’s ‘Weather Report Suite’,
is played super-fast as the Dead play a game of dare with each other the way
they used to a full decade before, an epic eleven minute ‘Estimated Prophet’
has Phil Lesh pushing his bass to the limit and a slower ‘n’ spaced-out ‘Eyes
Of The World’ has a very different feel to the way the band normally play it
(Garcia’s solo, at half-speed to everyone else in the middle, is sublime even
by his high standards!) Even Donna sounds good! Only an extremely short second
disc running to a mere twenty-five minutes (without the ‘extras’ this series
usually includes) lets the side down. Fittingly, this album became the Grateful
Dead’s 100<sup>th</sup> ever charting album on Billboard, an incredible
achievement that deserved to make more of a splash in the music papers than it
did. Otherwise the Dead archive series have been few and far between this year
with covid killing off the usual record day sales: there was an epic 15-disc
set ‘June 1976’ that’s a bit hit-and-miss (the opening shows from Boston Music
Hall and the closing one from New Jersey are all pretty good, but the two from
New York’s Beacon Theatre are pretty weak by Dead standards, with the band
never quite connecting all night). Meanwhile, Dave’s Picks #34 is a show from
Miami on June 23<sup>rd</sup> 1974 that’s of more historical than musical value
(it’s the long-awaited first return of Mickey Hart as second drummer after his
three-year hiatus, the premiere of Phil Lesh and Ned Lagin’s musique concrete
‘Seastones’ which is more interesting here than other released versions and the
only time the Dead played their box set rarities favourite ‘Let It Rock’,
though the real highlight of the show is an almost reggae-ish seventeen minute
take on ‘Dark Star’). Dave’s Picks #35 and #36 are both gigs from their least
interesting decade of the 1980s and as such are most of interest to fans of
Brent Mydland or those who attended the shows. You can tell how much Jerry
Garcia is struggling at both gigs, taped a couple of years either side of his
diabetic coma and his valiant struggle to re-learn how to play the guitar all
over again, but these are a pair of good shows for Bob Weir. As ever with the
Dead there are great things on both sets though: interestingly semi-rare B-side
‘My Brother Esau’ turns up at both gigs in two very different but equally
interesting versions (the one from 1984 is almost free-form jazz, the one from
1987 a tough rocker), there’s a nine minute ‘Feel Like A Stranger’ that gets
volume #35 off to a good start, an unusual mid-tempo waddling ‘China Rider’
that wasn’t often played by this time on the ‘bonus cuts’ (the show from the 19<sup>th</sup>
April sounds way better than the one from the 20<sup>th</sup> to my ears and
should have been the ‘main’ release), while volume #36 rocks with a tribute to
Pigpen with a revival of ‘In The Midnight Hour’ (though what the Pig would have
said to the use of twinkly synths is anybody’s guess). </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Download: ‘Let It Grow’
‘Eyes Of The World’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l20 level1 lfo31; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “The Times
E.P.” (Reprise)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Alabama/Campaigner/Ohio/The Times They Are A Changin’/Lookin’
For A Leader 2020/Southern Man/Little Wing<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Comes a time when you’re drifting. Comes
a time when you settle down. And comes a time when the country you’ve adopted
in such sprawling mental chaos and run with such undignified incompetence that
you have to take a stand and say ‘enough already!’ That’s the thought behind
the second Neil Young entry in this year’s list as Neil backs Biden and takes
Trump to task with a number of re-recorded minor gems from his back catalogue
recorded solo in ‘isolation’ at Neil’s ‘Broken Arrow’ ranch (nicknamed ‘The
Fireside Sessions’ these were mini-concerts streamed via Neil’s website). In
many ways this hastily concocted album feels like a protest on a more personal
level too, after an intense media fight between the Donald and the Shakey, as
Trump used ‘Rockin’ In the Free World’ again and again in his campaign trail
after Young asked him not too (clearly no republican has ever paid proper
attention to what was actually the most sarcastic song in Neil’s canon, full of
anger and bile aimed at Bush Senior’s version of America). ‘The Times’ is, as
you might expect, deeply heartfelt and full of barely-contained anger and rage
as Neil revisits songs that are up to a half-century old with smoke coming out
of his ears that things are as woeful now in America as they ever were under
Nixon. At its best this album takes pot-shots with glee and purpose, as on the
re-worked ‘Lookin’ For A Leader’ from 2006’s ‘Living With War’ which now seems a
lifetime ago as Obama is consigned to the past not the hopeful future. Only the
first verse from the original remains with new lines about ‘building walls’ and
‘hiding in bunkers’ that prey on Trump’s vanity and bring him down to size.
Best line referring to the protest outside The White House spurred on by the
death of George Floyd: ‘Just like his brand new fence, the president’s going
down’. There’s also a spirited take on CSNY warhorse ‘Ohio’ that always sounded
good on acoustic where its bite stings with conviction. Neil often turns to his
friend Bob Dylan in times of trouble and while ‘The Times They Are A Changin’
is as hokey a choice as Weld’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ on paper, on the stereo Neil’s
interpretation breathes new life into words we know so well we’ve half
forgotten. The rest of the E.P. though is a confusing beast. Both Goldrush’s
‘Southern Man’ and Harvest’s ‘Alabama’ feel like they are the right pot-shots
in the wrong war, reflecting the Black Lives Matters protests but clearly dating
to an older time when America was divided between Southern white casual racists
who votes Nixon to protect their jobs and liberal Americans honouring the
spirit of the constitution. This isn’t that war anymore. The problem with 2020
compared to, say, 1970, is that the villains are everywhere and this year has
set family members and friends on each other more than any other since the
American Civil War: there isn’t a neat divide anymore and all Neil’s likely to
do here is piss off half his fan-base who might have actually agreed with him
by labelling them racist because of where they live not what they think.
‘Campaigner’ too is an odd choice: when released on ‘Decade’ in 1977 it was a
surprise, a shocking half-apology to Nixon for forgetting that he was a mere
mortal. Neil wrote the song choked with sympathy as Nixon visited his sick wife
in hospital in the wake of Watergate and was caught by the media in a moment of
personal grief. In one news bulletin Nixon had gone from power-crazed dictator
to someone as fragile and the rest of us and Neil saw the man he’d been pushing
to get out of office for years as a victim as well as a villain. The difference
is there is no redeeming feature about the figure in The White House in 2020
(at least, not yet – maybe when Trump physically becomes the loser we all know
he is we might get some sympathy for him, but that day’s not here now) so
‘Campaigner’s plea that ‘even Richard Nixon has got soul’ has now become an angry
and bitter song about how Neil wishes he knew back then how bad it would be now
because Trump is even worse. That cheapens what used to be a pretty powerful
song though and merely fills in places where ‘Long Walk Home’ ‘American Dream’ ‘Rockin’
In The Free World’ ‘Crime In The City’ ‘The Restless Consumer’ (which fits
Trump better than it ever did Bush Jnr) ‘Already Great’ ‘Forever’ and maybe
even ‘War Song’ should be. ‘Little Wing’ is musically the best piece here but
thematically the odd one out, a pretty little ballad about a fragile girl that
Neil seems to have re-discovered since it appeared on ‘Homegrown’ and which
sounds nice done like this, though what it has to do with the politics is
anyone’s guess. Overall it’s an intriguing little EP that’s likely to get
overlooked in Neil’s canon lost in between the hoo-hah of albums old (or at
least unissued) and new, not to mention anachronistic whenever the next
president of the United States gets in ‘cause you know how The Times fades away
(maybe it’s Joe Biden though they say that he’s too old? They should have gone
with Bernie Sanders if the truth be told, just please don’t vote for Trump
again he’s too busy counting gold). I wish it was longer, I wish the selections
were picked with a little more care, I wish it had a better front cover (Neil’s
done the ‘profile on the porch’ thing before) and I wish Neil had re-worked the
other six songs the way he does ‘Lookin’ For A leader’. But then I also wish
America wasn’t in this mess, with the worst possible person to be in charge of
keeping America safe in power right at the time of such huge crisis and loss,
and at least Neil is standing up and being counted with this release however
good or not it ultimately is.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: yellow; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As for these times we are living through, it is a scary time and I
hope we all make it. But if you’ve come to this book from the CSN one then you
will also know that the darkest hour is always just before the dawn.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: yellow; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Lookin’ For A
Leader 2020’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l20 level1 lfo31; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Cat Stevens “Tea For The
Tillerman II” (Universal/Cat-O-Log Records)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Where Do The Children Play?/Hard-Headed Woman/Wild World/Sad
Lisa/Miles From Nowhere/But I Might Die Tonight!/Longer Boats/Into White/On The
Road To Find Out/Father and Son/Tea For The Tillerman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In 2017 Cat Stevens invented a whole new
genre: re-recordings of songs that had either been left unfinished or had
slipped through the cracks. By and large it was a big success with new songs
like ‘The Olive Hill’ and ‘Mighty Peace’ too good to leave unreleased and old
friends like ‘I’m So Sleepy’ and ‘I’ve Got A Thing About Seeing My Grandson
Grow Old’ making more sense in the voice of a seventy-something than they did
in a teenager’s. With inspiration seemingly on the wane Cat has returned to the
same idea, revisiting an entire album on a release that’s likely to be bigger
than last time out, but not necessarily better. I can see why Cat chose this
album rather than, say, ‘Teaser and The Firecat’. He’s been teasing audiences
with a Zulu re-working of ‘Wild World’ for years now so that was one song in
the bag, while the chance to add a new ‘father’ voice to a ‘son’ one from fifty
years ago is a good enough hook to hang the rest of the album on. In the middle
we also get the long awaited missing verse to ‘Longer Boats’ which yes does
make a lot more sense of the song (its aliens as Viking invaders! ‘Line up and
look around you may see them, guess they’re looking down on a lonely asteroid
in a vacant void, dying but not destroyed’), although the spoken-word
interruption and the switch to reggae is toe-curlingly bad. At least this new
version adds something we didn’t see in that song before though: in-between
these three songs this album doesn’t make much sense. Yes many reviewers are
right to talk about how prescient ‘Where Do The Children Play?’ was about our
increasingly impending ecological doom, but the original made the point
perfectly – we don’t need another go. ‘Miles From Nowhere’ is a terrific song
but this second version sounds like a stroll in the park rather than a
terrified wander through the afterlife and ‘But I Might Die Tonight!’ has all
of the urgency of a man wondering if he’s put the bins out on the right day.
‘On The Road To Find Out’, done in the bluesy style of 2014’s ‘Tell ‘Em I’m
Gone’ is the worst casualty, a light-on-its-feet song about spiritual growth
turned into an angry and bitter song of betrayal that doesn’t suit it one iota.
Only ‘Into White’ and ‘Hard-Headed Woman’ are on the road to being as pretty or
as impressive as their earlier selves and even then I’d still take the
originals anyday. Back in 2017 Cat had the excuse that his younger self in
1967-1968 was poorly, tired and young, unable to put the vision he had in his
head across and so deserved to have another go. In 2020 we already know that
‘Tillerman’ is as close to perfect as any album with an oddball song like
‘Longer Boats’ can be – we didn’t need another go, although it’s better than
just another pointless re-issue of the album I suppose. Frustratingly, the
entire album was re-released as part of the ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ box set
just two months after its standalone release (which we all thought was going to
be the only release). Anybody want a spare copy?!?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Full marks though for the inventive front
cover though, which might well be the best thing here: Cat updates his own
cover with all the modern changes we’ve been through in the past fifty years:
the Tillerman now wears a spacesuit (because our air is so polluted?), the
children look at i-phones and wear headphones, whilst the bright sunshine has turned
to a distinctly haunted looking moon. What will the cover look like in another
fifty years one wonders? Perhaps every generation will get the ‘Tillerman’ it
deserves… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Where Do The Children Play?’ ‘Father and Son’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l20 level1 lfo31; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Davy Jones “It’s
Christmas Time…Once More” (Not Too Late Records)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Winter Wonderland/Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer/Silver
Bells/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/White
Christmas/Melekalikimaka/This Day In Bethlehem/Silent Night/Rockin’ Around The
Christmas Tree/It’s Christmas Time/White Christmas x 20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Talking of re-recordings, if any of
‘It’s Christmas Time…Once More’ sounds familiar to you, then that may be
because you own Davy Jones’ 1991 festive album ‘It’s Christmas Time…Again’.
Then again, maybe it won’t even if you own the album because it’s hardly the
most memorable thing the Monkee did in his recording-packed life. A cheap
filler album made between bigger and better albums, this one was originally
made with the help of ‘Headquarters’ producer Chip Douglas and was inspired by
The Monkees’ 1967 TV episode and a demo of ‘White Christmas’ (Included as a
welcome bonus track) Davy taped with Chip that same year. Nine of the thirteen
tracks appear here untouched, but new overdubs in the spirit of The Monkees’ own
festive album ‘Christmas Party’ from 2016 allow fans to hear songs with
overdubs featuring Micky Dolenz and his sister Coco, Davy’s daughter Annabel
and long-time friend and photographer Henry Diltz (his
‘new-even-though-it-was-taken-in-1967’ cover – Davy as a surprisingly
clean-shaven Santa Claus - is a big improvement on the original too).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All are nice and probably are improvements
with Annabel especially a pleasant surprise, her voice Just ‘Davy’-ish enough
to show off the family genes, while the same goes for the two versions of
‘White Christmas’ that started the whole project off (and really should have
been on the 1991 original). You have to say, though, that there’s nothing here
that’s particularly special and especially nothing that comes close to the joy
of ‘Christmas Is My Time Of Year’, the Nesmith-less reunion song sent to loyal
fanclub members in the 1970s also taped by Chip (and a welcome chance to have
Davy on ‘Christmas Party’). You kind of have to ask who it’s for: surely a
straightforward re-issue of the album with these newbies as ‘bonus tracks’
would have made more sense than trying to re-sell an album that failed because
it wasn’t all that much cop in the first place. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘White Christmas’ ‘This Day In Bethlehem’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Impact","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><u>New Re-Issues:</u></b></span></o:p></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(Best to Worst)</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">CPR “CPR/Just Like
Gravity” (BMG)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Back in 1994 David Crosby had one hell of a year – in fact one hell
of a few weeks. He so very nearly died of liver failure. His wife gave birth to
their first son. And a son given up for adoption in 1962 and long lost suddenly
came forward with news that he was about to be a dad (and Croz a grandfather). Luckily
the story has a happy ending: Croz fully recovered thanks to a transplant, he
finally got the family he always wanted and his long-lost son, James Raymond,
turned out to be his greatest collaborator outside S N and Y with his dad’s
love and talent for harmony, unusual jazz tunings, melody and lyrics. Once
Crosby had a few years away to recover and tidy up some CSN projects it was
inevitable he would form a band with his son and – with guitarist Jeff Pevar in
tow – named his new band ‘CPR’, not just a CSN-style reference to their
collective surnames but the idea that this band had given him a new creative
re-birth just when he feared he might never be able to make music again. It
wasn’t just in the name either as both albums, released either side of the
millennium, are amongst the best things Crosby ever did (certainly since the
1970s). Though the albums have a jazzier, more mathematical feel (closer to the
trio’s shared love of Steely Dan of CSN) the old trademarks of blissful
harmonies, gorgeous unfolding melodies and stunning confessional lyrics are all
there alongside a new sense of intimacy. Crosby’s life experiences inspires him
to new heights with several career highs, especially on the first eponymous
album: ‘Time Is The Final Currency’ (‘…not money, not power…’ the thoughts
going round Croz’s head on what he assumed was his death-bed), ‘Somehow She
Knew’ (about wife Jan’s comfort when Croz broke down watching ‘The Fisher King’
film with his friend Robin Williams, still scarred by the death of girlfriend
Christine in a car crash back in 1970) and ‘At The Edge’ (as he stares out at
the ravine, expecting to fall in, only to be saved by love). James is no slouch
as a writer either, with ‘Eyes Too Blue’ and ‘Angel Of Mercy’ moving songs
about love and loss every bit the equal of dad’s. Sadly though these albums
came out in the days when CSN were having trouble getting record deals, never
mind spin-off bands, and neither albums sold that well, to the point where only
Americans ever really got hold of them at all (the import prices to Europe were
ridiculous!) We’ve pleaded, prayed and cajoled for their re-release for decades
and now, finally, they’re here. Sadly there are no extra songs and not much in
the way of packaging (though Croz friend, campaigner and podcaster Steve
Silberman has written some lovely new sleevenotes) and we only get the two
studio sets, not the also-excellent live albums (‘Wiltern’ and ‘Cuesta
College’). Even so, to have these two albums back on the shelves is a truly
wonderful thing and they’re both easily the highlight of the re-issued AAA
catalogue this year, CPR arriving just in time to breathe new life into
lockdown. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Time Is The Final
Currency’ ‘That House’ ‘Eyes Too Blue’ ‘Somehow She Knew’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Cat Stevens “Mona Bone
Jakon” (Universal/Cat-O-Log Records)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2020 saw the fiftieth anniversary of probably the two best Cat
Stevens records ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ and ‘tea For The Tillerman’ and even though
both were effectively plain acoustic-based records made just a few months apart
each has been turned into its own epic box set. You wouldn’t think there would
be enough in the vaults but in Mona’s case it works: there are no less than
eight album demos, all of them subtly yet noticeably different to the finished
versions. There’s an entirely unreleased song in ‘I Want Some Sun’, which may
not be the greatest thing Cat ever made but it has the same simple yet profound
charms of most of the album. There’s a DVD stuffed full with TV clips and
promos (Mona being the one album from the post-Decca days that Cat actively
promoted on television) including a full half hour show broadcast in France
(and only available elsewhere on youtube), choice cuts from the BBC and Germany’s
Beatclub and the rarely seen music video for the album’s middling hit-single
‘Lady D’arbanville’. Best of all you get to not only hear (as we have on
bootleg for years) but see Cat’s first post-TB with-beard gig at the bottom of
the bill at the Plumpton Jazz Festival and it’s amazing, with so many gorgeous
songs getting their debut at the same time (you also get a vinyl copy of the
soundtrack). No wonder Cat became a star. There’s a nice thick book that comes
with the set too featuring the usual array of photos and sleevenotes (think the
McCartney deluxe sets). I could have lived without the stickers of the front
cover in different covers (it is, after all, a dustbin) and at £130-ish the
price is a bit – well - rubbish, but overall this is a masterpiece of an album
given a masterpiece of a box set treatment and I don’t have much of a mona bone
to pick with it at all (unlike ‘Tillerman’ or the previous ‘Back To Earth’ box
set from a few years back). There is also two-disc version out containing most
but not all of the demos and a few of the live tracks which is probably plenty
for most fans though it is really nice to have the ‘Plumpton’ set complete at
last. Alas the ‘Tillerman’ box doesn’t hit the spot quite so well… </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘I Wish I Wish’ ‘Trouble’ ‘I Think I See The Light’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Rolling Stones
“Goat’s Head Soup: Deluxe Edition” (Polydor)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Rolling Stones deluxe sets have gone up and down our annual
charts like a yo-yo, varying from the inspired (‘Sticky Fingers’ ‘Exile On Main
Street’), to the average (‘Some Girls’) to the downright boring (last year’s
‘Gimme Shelter’, which didn’t even feature any bonus tracks). Thankfully
‘Goat’s head’ is one of the good ones, with a sparkling re-mix job (even the
2000s CD still sounded terribly muddy) and a whole extra disc packed with
recently finished outtakes and alternate versions. The best of these is ‘Criss
Cross Man’, which has long been one of my favourite Stones outtakes and is a
delight to have out properly at last (it’s the riff from ‘Start Me Up’ added to
proper words!) Not far behind though is the un-bootlegged ‘All The Rage’, a
dark and brooding rockabilly number that’s a goodbye song every bit as cruel as
‘Yesterday’s Papers’, even if it still doesn’t sound quite finished. The daft
‘Scarlet’ with Jimmy Page filling in for Mick Taylor isn’t in the same league
and is Stones-by-numbers, but at least it’s from a period when even The Stones
on auto-pilot sounded good and the band are cooking up a storm by the time of
the uncharacteristic extended fade. As for the rest a piano demo for ‘100 Years
Ago’ loses the mystery and worry but gains from a strong solo Jagger
performance where Mick’s diction is much clearer and his singing more
confident, an early jam instrumental version of ‘Dancing With Mr D’ sounds far
more dangerous before being watered down for the ‘Soup’ and a more Stonesy
version of ‘Hide Your Love’ with a breath-taking Mick Taylor guitar solo beats
the released version hands-down. Only a rather timid instrumental jam of ‘Doo
Doo Doo Heartbreaker’ disappoints and even then not by as much as some other
Stones re-issues. As for the ‘Live In Brussels’ disc, well we’ve had it before
(as ‘The Brussels Affair ‘73’) and it’s not one of the very best, but think of
it as a ‘free’ extra on what’s an unusually reasonably-priced disc by Stones
standards and you won’t go far wrong. Goat’s Head was always the dark horse of
the Stone’s 1970s catalogue for me, a record which I’ve always seen as the last
of the great ones rather than the first that wasn’t so hot, high on dramatic
thoughtful ballads and sudden moments of violent painful paranoia. I’m not sure
the deluxe version made me enjoy the album any more as the bonus tracks could
have come from any album really, but this is still a tasty brew and one that
deservedly got to #1 in the charts again forty-seven years after it did last
time (another extraordinary record I’m surprised the music press haven’t made
more of). Hot stuff! </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Winter’ ‘100
Years Ago’ ‘Kriss Kross Man’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Grateful Dead
“American Beauty” (Rhino)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For four years now the Grateful Dead have been celebrating the
half-century anniversary of their studio albums and 2020 sees a bumper crop
with two of their most celebrated works. All of these albums feature not the
studio outtakes or choice live cuts of previous releases (however see the next
entry…) but whole unreleased concerts from the relevant periods. While the show
added to ‘Workingman’s Dead’ doesn’t add much to the Deadhead’s collection (see
below) ‘American Beauty’ is a whole different matter with one of the most
popular and requested archive sets of them all. On the face of it using the
February 18<sup>th</sup> 1971 gig at Capitol Theatre doesn’t make any more
sense: it comes nearly four months after the album’s release (back in the day
when the Dead’s sets changed by the day) and there’s a grand total of three
‘American beauty’ songs played that night (‘Truckin’ is unusually rough and
‘Candyman’ a bit slow till a blistering guitar solo rescues the second half,
but a wah-wah heavy eight minute ‘Sugar Magnolia’ is just right and rarely
sounded better). However it does make sense, because it hints at what comes
next and the studio sequel to ‘beauty’ that never was. No less than five songs
were debuted that night and all will become fan favourites, each of them sounding
fabulous and full of life and verve: ‘Bertha’ (how daring to start the show
with a whole new song and it’s one of the best the band ever played, snappy and
tight!), ‘Playin’ In The Band’ (here a thoughtful and laidback song rather than
the half-hour-long magnum opus it will become), ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’
(which here is short and sassy and fun), ‘Loser’ (a multi-layered song that
changed everytime the band played it – this first night plays the narrator as a
slimy snake, out to steal your face) and best of all ‘Wharf Rat’ (which here
turns up as a seven minute moment of reflection in the midst of an epic ‘Dark
Star’). There’s a whole bunch of old favourites well-played too, from Pigpen
showing off on a particularly energetic version of Otis Redding’s ‘Hard To
Handle’ to a ‘St Stephen’ that positively purrs along. As with all these sets
there are excellent and informative sleeve-notes too and a sense of love and
care you only get with the best record-labels like our old friends Rhino. The
only down side is that you’ve paid all that price and you still don’t get the
outtakes and demos for the album, which are released on a separate set (one
which doesn’t have the remastered record). Was it really so hard to put the two
together? Meet you here again on the 60<sup>th</sup> anniversary for the
definitive edition of ‘Beauty’ maybe? </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Box Of Rain’ ‘Candyman’ ‘Friend Of The Devil’ ‘Attics Of My Life’ </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Grateful Dead
“American Beauty: The Angel’s Share” (Rhino)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Talking of which The Dead finally find an official home for the
charming demos and early takes of ‘Beauty’ recordings that have been doing the
rounds on bootlegs for years. Unlike, say, Pink Floyd the Dead always treated
their demos as very rough guidelines so on the plus side everything here sounds
very different to the finished LP even if ‘American Beauty’ ends up sounding
less, well, beautiful than you’re used to hearing. That’s all the part of the
fun, though, as you hear how Jerry, Bob and Phil’s first attempts at nailing
the CSN-ish vibe of the record sounded and how these tracks would have sounded
with Bill and Mickey giving them the full rock ‘n’ roll drum treatment rather
than the more reflective pastoral folk-beat they will receive. All the album
tracks are present in demo form bar ‘Box Of Rain’ (plus Jerry’s gorgeous ‘To
Lay Me Down’ which he saved for his solo album) with Garcia’s much folkier demo
of ‘Friend Of The Devil’ (planned as a giveaway for ‘New Riders of The Purple
Sage’ and played in their style before the Dead asked for it back) and
‘Truckin’ (delightfully jolly and slapdash) about the best. We then get a
whopping forty-six alternate takes which is effectively everything in the
vault: the good news is you get to hear the Dead piece these classic songs
together almost in real time, with studio chatter and ‘breakdowns’ along the
way. The bad news is you’re going to get awful sick of ‘Operator’ (8 takes as
poor Pig gets hoarser and hoarser), ‘Attics Of My Life’ (5 takes including a truly beautiful Garcia solo version), ‘Ripple’ (7
takes) and ‘Friend Of The Devil’ (a full 19 takes! The instrumental take 13 is
a doozy) before the end of the last disc. A set best heard in small doses. Or
better still as an appendage to the remastered album proper, so you can compare
and contrast more easily. Also, they missed a track not giving this set the
‘alternate’ name for the parent album, ‘American Reality’, which would have
been truly apt given that this is a set of outtakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Friend Of The Devil’ (Demo and Take 13) 'Attics Of My Life' (Solo Version)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Grateful Dead
“Workingman’s Dead: The Angel’s Share” (Rhino)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s much the same to report for the sister set, which features a
similar array of outtakes, breakdowns and rehearsals but only one demo this
time around, for ‘New Speedway Boogie’ (hence why this set is a smidgeon behind
in our list). On the plus side, though, none of the session tapes are missing
this time so you get to hear every album cut being recorded in ‘real’ time:
‘Uncle John’s Band’ (6 takes), ‘High Time’ (6 takes plus some not terribly
illuminating studio chatter), ‘Dire Wolf’ (a massive 14 takes), ‘New Speedway
Boogie’ (10 takes), ‘Cumberland Blues’ (1 take) ‘Black Peter’ (5 takes plus yet
more studio chatter), ‘Easy Wind’ (an epic 15 takes) and ‘Casey Jones’ (3
takes). While most of these takes sound much the same (and even more than
‘American’ this is a set best heard in small doses that would have been better
on the disappointing album re-issue; see below) it’s fascinating to hear
‘Speedway Boogie’ in particular as it evolves from an earnest folk lament
through to a clumsy acoustic blues into the dark edgy Altamont-referencing
rocker it became. Do be warned though: for some odd reason this set seems to be
much harder to find than its ‘American’ cousin (the good ol’ Grateful Dead
store remains the best place to find it). </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Black Peter’ with a haunting guide vocal from Jerry and even some whistling!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Kinks “Lola Versus
Powerman and The Money-Go-Round” (Sanctuary)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s something oddly Kinks-like about using an original concept
LP that damned the way the record business ripped off songwriters, musicians
and fans to sell some extra moolah at Christmas time; I just can’t quite tell
whether The Kinks are in on the gag or not. ‘Lola’ is a great album, not quite
in the same league as ‘Village Green’ and ‘Arthur’ (but then what is?) and it’s
good to see the band’s Pye farewell getting it’s due attention, instead of
being lost underneath Kinky kompilations and a film soundtrack about a penis
transplant (no, seriously). If you don’t know the album at all then you really
need to hear it, in some form anyway (it’s one of only two Kinks albums to have
two hit singles on it, ‘Get Back In The Line’ is a true karat gold Kinks
klassik, Dave Davies is on top form and Ray Davies’ sarcastic side has never
been funnier). However, like all the Kink super deluxe editions so far, it’s
all a bit underwhelming and doesn’t add much you didn’t get with the plain old
deluxe version at about five times the price. Ray continues his odd practice of
stringing together outtakes and demos in ‘medley’ form rather than leaving them
as historic museum objects (and he of all songwriters should know the value of
that), so that even when the unreleased stuff is good (see below) it’s still
hard to get a handle on. Otherwise there are the usual BBC recordings, period
B-sides, the stuff Dave was getting up to at the time in hopes of making a solo
album (a true lost masterpiece) and the legendary single version of ‘Lola’
(which has – wait for it – one whole new world thanks to a BBC ban on the word ‘Coca-Cola’;
it’s still interesting that a lyric about cross-dressing that would at least
raise eyebrows still escaped their attention completely). </span><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The unreleased material meanwhile add up to a
raucous instrumental demo for ‘The Contenders’, a sweet unfinished song ‘The
Follower’, a not-that-different take of ‘This Time Tomorrow’, a 1977 live
rendition of ‘Get Back In The Line’ and the version of ‘Gotta Be Free’ from Ray’s
performance in the very first edition of Play For Today ‘The Loneliness of The
Long Distance Piano Player’ (somebody put that out on DVD now!) All of which
is, you know, nice but not £100 nice.</span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Admittedly the
packaging is lovely and this time they’ve spent time on the ‘proper’ things
too, with less coasters and bumper stickers than ‘Arthur’ (though you do still
get a fancy badge) but a much more interesting book with new contributions by
Ray and Dave. I still though can’t stop feeling that I’m just sitting here watching
the money go round as everyone takes their share except the fans…especially the
pricey vinyl pressing which reportedly sounds worse than the original (to be
fair I haven’t got mine yet). </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Download: ‘Strangers’ ‘Get Back In The Line’ ‘Lola’
‘Mindless Child Of Motherhood’</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “Archives II:
1972-1976” (neilyoungarchives.com)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s nobody else where I could describe an eleven-year-delay of a
promised release good going, but ‘Archives II’ has taken only approximately a
third of the time that ‘Archives I’ did. The timing of it has rather caught us
fans off guard: we only had three weeks warning and Neil was deep in promoting
his ‘Times’ EP at the time. The second epic box set is also not quite what we
expected: it’s only being released in a limited edition of 3000 copies (so has
almost certainly sold out by the time you actually read this), is only
available from Neil’s website and rather than covering a decade as the first
set did this one only goes for four-and-a-half years. Having said that, we fans
feel we know a lot of this sprawling ten disc set already: the ‘Tuscaloosa’
show with The Stray Gators from 1972 and ‘Tonight’s The Night At The Roxy’ from
1973 came out last year, while the unreleased 1974 album ‘Homegrown’ turned up
at the start of this one (and is reviewed above if you missed it). That’s three
entire discs catered for; add in generous helpings of all of Neil’s studio
albums that cover the period and that doesn’t leave a lot left over. Thankfully
most of what’s left is brilliant or at worst infinitely fascinating, such as
the long-awaited original tapes for ‘Tonight’s The Night’ (complete with
drunken chat and an unexpected Joni Mitchell cover ‘Raised On Robbery’), The
Neil bits from 1974’s abandoned CSNY reunion ‘Human Highway’, outtakes from the
‘Stills-Young Band’ album with much better harmonies than anything that made
the record or a 1976 show at Japan’s Budokan (though this terrific gig is
restricted to just five songs and no sign of the career-peak preview
performance of ‘Like A Hurricane’, which might well be the single best thing in
any of Neil’s archives). Thank goodness sense made them add a few electric
songs at the end such a blistering ‘Cortez’, though frustratingly the greatest
version of ‘Like A Hurricane’ simply ever that was played that night isn’t one
of them). Much like the first Archives box everything is exquisitely packaged
(though even for a completist like me the fold-out ‘vault’ poster is a little
boring) and there are moments of casual brilliance littered throughout, almost
incidentally. ‘Goodbye Christians On The Shore’ is at one with the other late
1974/early 1975 tracks, with one foot still in the ‘Doom Trilogy’ period and
another in the much happier ‘Zuma’ frame of mind, a song that finds Neil
waiting to jump ship and wondering where the new river-flow might take him.
It’s hard to see past the charm of ‘Love Art Blues’ too getting its first
official release on any product, however many times we’ve heard it on bootleg
(‘My songs are all so long and my songs are all so sad’ is a killer opening
couplet for any song) while Neil’s live take on ‘Greensleeves’ has to be heard
to be believed. If you haven’t already bought them this set is also essential
for the ‘Roxy’ and ‘Homegrown’ sets alone, perhaps the two best ‘Archives’
standalone discs so far. However, even after all the fuss and complaints
regarding the first box, I can’t help feeling a bit short-changed: there’s even
less here to make this set worth the increasingly ridiculous price tag (£210 –
that’s over £20 per disc!) and while the tag-line insists on telling us how
this is ‘Neil’s Most celebrated period’ I suspect many fans will struggle in
vain to find much they recognise beyond ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Cortez The Killer’. There
are also no blu-ray discs this time around for aficionados who like their hi-fi
sound and in fact no visual footage at all, which is a great shame even given
what we know exists, never mind what Neil has hidden away in his vaults.
Perhaps worst of all is that at this rate it’s going to take an absolute age to
get to the really interesting stuff (alternates from ‘Trans’ ‘Freedom’
‘Mirrorball’) and yet I still probably won’t be able to afford ‘Archives III’
even if I start saving now. Update: Due to all the bad publicity Neil got from
this set there are going to be two additional ways to hear it: Firstly, Neil
Young’s Archive site is available for free until Christmas including the
Archives II tracks (but be quick!) Secondly, there is set to be a ‘cheaper’
edition of the set released in March 2021, though how identical and how much
cheaper remains to be seen at the time of writing! </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download/Find in the archives: ‘Kansas’ ‘Cortez The Killer’
(Live In Budokan)</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Goodbye Christians On The Shore’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Cat Stevens “Tea For The
Tillerman” (Cat-O-Log Records/Universal)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Tillerman’ isn’t often an afterthought in the Cat Stevens
collection but it is this year, mostly because a good two-thirds of the stuff
in this similarly over-priced box (£130) is re-brewed stuff we’ve had out
before. We criticised the ‘deluxe’ two-disc re-issue on its release in 2008 in
our early days at Alan’s Album Archives for the odd decision to include only
one ‘alternate’ version of each album track and then mostly live versions from
Cat’s comeback years as ‘Yusuf’ when his voice (and arrangements!) are so, so
different. Thankfully most of the 2006 live recordings have got the push this
time around but all the 1970 live recordings at the Troubadour Club (which is
also this set’s vinyl extra) and the KCET Studios are back here again (along
with a couple of newbies premiered from ‘Teaser and The Firecat’ which came out
a few months later) as well as two album demos (odd that Cat recorded less for
this album than he did for ‘Mona’ or indeed ‘Teaser’, which is sure to be next
year’s inevitable box set). Almost all the outtakes have been out before too on
Cat’s career box set ‘On The Road To Find Out’, released back in the days when
these things were sensibly rather than horrifically priced. This DVD is mostly
made up of the easily-found ‘BBC In Concert’ show (endlessly repeated) or the
KCET performance, itself out on video/a limited edition DVD as ‘Tea For The
Tillerman Live’. Also, don’t get me started on the fact that we get a whole
disc devoted to ‘Tea For The Tillerman Two’, just a couple of months after we
all bought that set thinking it would be the only way we could get it (and a
couple of nice tracks aside it really ain’t worth buying twice – see the review
above). That means this box’s reputation rests on the admittedly excellent
packaging (it might even be better than the ‘Mona Bone’ box on that front),
four songs from a rare gig played at The Filmore East at the time of the
album’s release (though all are songs from ‘Teaser’ interestingly), a short but
fascinating alternate version of ‘But I Might Die Tonight!’ as featured in the
‘Deep End’ film soundtrack and re-recorded for the album, two songs recorded
for BBC Radio and one more excellent outtake in the gorgeous ‘Can This Be
Love?’, a song that would have been a very worthy inclusion on the original
‘Tillerman’ (particularly in place of ‘Longer Boats’). All of which are nice
but hardly worth £130 assuming you forked out for everything last time (and
even if you didn’t I’d say the ‘Mona’ box is still the more interesting of the
two). For once I would stick with the two-disc set which is in its favour a lot
more interesting than the 2008 model with the demos, outtakes and ‘Deep End’
track all present and correct alongside a handful of the better live
recordings. Mostly, though, this tea is stewed; odd that two such similar sets
released at the same time can vary so much in quality.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Download: ‘Where Do The Children Play?’ ‘Miles From Nowhere’ ‘Can
This Be Love?’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Grateful Dead
“Workingman’s Dead” (Rhino)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Poor Workingman’s. It was over-shadowed fifty years ago by ‘American
Beauty’ and all these years on it’s just been trumped by that album’s re-issue!
Even if this the Dead’s weakest album of perhaps their best year, though, I was
hoping for a bit more to be honest. The bonus discs, a complete show from New
York’s Capitol Theatre in from February 1971, aren’t bad by any means but it
has little or nothing to do with the parent album and dates from nearly a year
later. Only four of the album’s songs are played here and none are particularly
interesting, special, rare, different or good. Instead it’s American Beauty’s
‘Ripple’ (here with a rare false-start) and an on-the-verge-of-country-and-rock
‘Sugar Magnolia’ that steal the show. At least until the grand finale when,
after nearly two hours of playing comparatively short songs, the Dead finally
stretch out on a seventeen minute version of ‘Good Lovin’ with an epic drum
battle that does its best to compete with a with-it Pigpen whose really hitting
his stride by the end. Very nice and everything, but not as special as it might
have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘New Speedway Boogie’ ‘Sugar Magnolia (Live)’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Searchers “The
E.P.Collection” (Beat Goes On)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Back in the early to mid-1960s ‘extended players’ were big business.
Cheaper than long-players but with more track to enjoy than singles, they
represented an economic way of buying as many 1960s greats as possible. Even by
Merseybeat standards The Searchers were successful too, with two #1s, another
two top fives and another three top twenties (not bad for a chart full of
Beatles, Stones, Hollies and Kinks most weeks). What’s more unlike, say, the
fab four (who tended to stick their ragged covers on EPs instead of their
better early album cuts) most of The Searchers’ E.P. tracks were amongst their
best: gems like ‘Hungry For Love’ ‘Bumble Bee’ and ‘Take Me For What I’m Worth’
the new de facto title tracks of some seriously fine music. There’s even a
highly collectible EP of all The Searchers’ French-language recordings and
while they’ve all turned up on various CD re-issues since even those are
becoming hard-to-find and make most sense here heard all in one go. So why is
this compilation in the lesser end of our list? Well, for starters the running
order is crazy – it’s one of those AAA sets that grows in sophistication during
disc one, then goes backwards midway through disc two so that you end up at the
beginning again. When you’re a band that changed sounds as much as The
Searchers did between 1963 and 1965 that’s a bigger problem than it sounds.
There were also already two perfectly good and separately-released sets on the
exact same label twenty years ago – long enough to go off catalogue true, but
the earlier volumes trump this one in terms of packaging and detail. Also this
volume is pointlessly missing E.P. track and Hollies cover ‘Have You Ever Loved
Somebody?’ which seems a real shame given there’s plenty of room for it and no
licensing issues whatsoever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beat Goes
On have had fifty-four years now since the release of the last Searchers E.P.
so it seems sad to say that what could with a bit of tweaking be the AAA
re-issue of the year (after all, the music is superb) ends up something of a
damp squib. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Since You Broke My Heart’
‘Goodbye My Love’ ‘Take Me For What I’m Worth’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Ray Thomas “Words and
Music” (Esoteric)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A sweet tribute to the much missed Moody
Blue who died in 2018 combining songs from his two solo albums with the odd
recording from the band’s Denny Laine-era catalogue (presumably the ‘Justin ‘n’
John years were just too expensive to get the rights for). There’s definitely
room in this world and on my Moody Blues shelf for a Ray compilation – even in
the wonderful democracy of The Moody Blues it tended to be Ray’s songs that
were the most over-looked – and as a far cheaper replacement to the
ridiculously pricey re-issue of both solo albums together this is all very
welcome. I can’t help but feel though that this compilation is a bit of a lost
opportunity: only half of the two solo albums are here, the Decca recordings
really don’t fit and the two 21<sup>st</sup> century recordings at the end (one
of them first released on that pricey box a couple of years ago) really aren’t
up to standard. The photo-shopped cover of an Octave-era Ray chugging up a
superimposed hill is also a bit weird. As for the DVD, a 5.1 surround mix of
the whole of ‘From Mighty Oaks’ but not ‘Hopes, Wishes, Dreams’ and just a
couple of measly promo music videos makes this an odd marketing decision all
round. At least the sleevenotes are really good, with tributes from Denny and
Mike Pinder that are heartfelt and sweet (shame Justin, John and Graeme aren’t
on there too). Ray was a great talent and his work deserves to be out again at
an affordable price – just maybe not like this? </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download:
‘Adam and I’ ‘We Got Love’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “After The
Goldrush” (Reprise)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary edition of poor ‘Goldrush’ –
generally regarded as one of the jewels in the Young canon – for once feels
like a bit of an after-thought this year, surrounded as it is by ‘Archives II’
‘Homegrown’ and the ‘Greendale’ set (see below). For a start, Neil missed his
deadline by a full three months (the original having been released in
September) and even then only on CD (there’s apparently an epic vinyl set due
in March, though what extras we get on that we didn’t get on this year’s
edition is at the time of going to press, unknown). The original is of course
probably Neil’s most consistent album if not outright his best, with enough
fiery rockers, beautiful ballads and poetic imagery making ‘Goldrush’ one of
his rare albums to offer something for everyone. From what I’ve heard in the
sneak preview the re-mastering has really boosted the sound too (my old 1990s
CD was always one of the weedier in the Young catalogue). You get two
recordings of sweet but slight ditty ‘Wonderin’, a song Neil didn’t release in
the ‘real world’ until 1983 but heard here in two versions from 1969 (hitherto
unreleased) and 1970 (as already released on ‘Archives I’ way back in 2008).
The one we haven’t heard is clearly meant to belong on a re-issue of ‘Everybody
Knows This Is Nowhere’, not ‘Goldrush’ at all making this doubly odd. Oh yes
and the front cover features an ‘outtake’ – one where Neil is walking in
Topanga free of strange passers-by or the weird solarising effect on his face
(added originally because photographer Gary Burden knew not to use it when
glancing at the frames because of the mysterious interloper – typically it’s
the one Neil said he liked the best when he insisted on seeing all the shots
days later). That’s all though – no demos, no live recordings, no full-blown
session tapes and no great lost songs a la ‘Homegrown’. To be honest I would
save your money – and if you’re enough of Young fan to buy everything else on
this list this year chances are you don’t have any left anyway! </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘After The Goldrush’ ‘I Believe In You’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Paul McCartney “Flaming
Pie” (MPL/Hear)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh dear. Regular readers of
this site will know that ‘Flaming Awful’ isn’t my, uh, favourite of McCartney
albums so I must admit I did groan when I heard that the McCartney deluxe
series had gone with this album rather than earlier ones more in need of the
treatment (like ‘London Town’ and ‘Back To The Egg’, though rumours have it
that one or both will be out by Xmas next year. Assuming we live that long and
haven’t gone mad by then). However I was all set to be optimistic: after all
there are some cracking B-sides from the 1997 sessions (most of which are
better than the album’s best bits and all of which are better than its worst)
and as with all these sets there’s the lure of unheard session tapes and demos.
Plus surely the people in charge would have learnt from the ‘Flowers In The
Dirt’ fiasco last time? (For those of you who missed last year’s review most of
the best stuff got shoved out to a download-only website despite the fact that
fans were already paying through the nose for the set; surely the least they
can give us for £70-odd is another actual disc that costs all of 10p to
physically produce). Alas no. ‘Flaming Pie’ is the worst McCartney re-issue on
all fronts. First the album is by far the most modern of all the archive sets
so far so it needs absolutely no re-mastering and doesn’t sound in any way
clearer or crisper than the one I’ve had barely played on my shelf for years.
Secondly it looks ugly – the ‘pie’ logo is a funny story (though even then it’s
a Lennon story not a McCartney one, about how The Beatles were pre-ordained
‘because a man on a flaming pie came down and said you ‘are Beatles with an ‘a’
and we were) but it makes for an ugly cover and the photos of a mulleted Paul
aren’t as good as others in this series (poor Linda, of course, wasn’t at her
best during these sessions and died a year after the album’s release so there
is an excuse, but it’s still the ugliest of all the Macca sets). The bonus
‘films’, often the highlights of these sets, consists of the ‘World Tonight’
documentary that’s still relatively easy to buy, beg or steal a copy of these
days, plus a stilted interview with David Frost (sadly not the brilliant 2010
the pair did for Al Jazeera) and the ugliest music videos Paul ever made. We do
get the first six episodes of ‘Oobu Joobu’ as featured on the ‘Pie’ era
B-sides, but still in truncated form rather than full episodes (even just the
McCartney bits would be fine, as copyright issues presumably block the bits
about Paul talking to The Human League, raving about Neil Young’s ‘MTV
Unplugged’ set or comparing his demos with Eric Stewart’s from the days when
the pair worked on sons together, but no – large chunks of Paul’s chat are
missing). Sadly there’s no sign of the other nine episodes which also included
a rarity each at the rate of approximately one per episode. Yet again there are
three songs available only as ‘downloads’ and of course they’re amongst the
most interesting: rotten as ‘Beautiful Night’ is I’d take Paul’s first go in
1986 over the 1997 version anyday, ‘Somedays’ feels more intimate and spooky
before the orchestral overdubs were added and ‘Calico Skies’ is the perfect
song for singing round a campfire ‘Heart Of The Country’ style. On the discs
themselves we get rarities that feel definitely less special: so many of these
songs were acoustic anyway so the demos for tracks like ‘Somedays’ and
‘The Songs We Were Singing’ don’t add much. Others like ‘If You Wanna’ and
‘Flaming Pie’ itself somehow even sound more stupid and empty while Paul as
sounds as bored singing a rehearsal ‘Beautiful Night’ as I do listening to it. The
best few things here by miles are the demo for ‘The World Tonight’ which works better
as a worried up-tempo paranoid blues than it did as a poppy polished single and
Macca’s acoustic playing is, as always, one of the most un-sung parts of his
long list of many talents. </span><span style="color: red; font-size: 16px;">The ‘rough mix’ of the song with a wobbly guide vocal isn’t as good as the demo but also beats spots off the finished product, Paul sounding haunted and authentic rather than playing the pop game.</span><span style="color: red; font-size: 16px;"> There's also </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">a delightful rehearsal take of 'Great Day' that knocks spots off the final over-polished version thanks to some really pretty harmonies from Linda Maca. Third in
the success bucket is ‘Whole Life’, a song donated by Paul to an anti-drugs
campaign heard here in an alternate mix, Paul’s despair at the people lost
along the way to drugs (he surely had Wings’ Jimmy McCulloch in mind in part)
shining through in an even rawer version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As for completely unheard tracks there are just two: the Paul ‘n’ Linda
jam ‘C’mon Baby’ which is really just a fragment (and a creepy one at that
‘c’mon baby down to my place’ indeed!) and ‘The Ballad Of The Skeletons’, a
unique collaboration with poet Allen Ginsburg that features the poet reading
surreal Robert Hunter-esque poetry while Paul gets out the fuzz-box for his guitar
and his drumkit and creates a mini-McCartney III. On any other set a weirdo
song about skeletons full of oddball slang and seemingly made up on the spot
would be the nadir; here it’s one of the highlights of a set that’s as
half-baked and indigestible as the original album. Personally I’d give this one
a miss and save your money for ‘London Town’, a magnificent Wings album with a
bit of something for everyone and hours of stunning outtakes and demos still
sitting in the vaults.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Download: ‘Somedays’ ‘Souvenir’ ‘Whole Life’ ‘The World Tonight’
(Alternate Version)</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">John Lennon “Gimme Some Truth:
The Ultimate Remixes” (‘Beatles Solo’)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The problem with celebrating
Lennon’s 80<sup>th</sup> birthday is that his estate already had such parties
for his 50<sup>th</sup>, 60<sup>th</sup> and 70<sup>th</sup> that fans are
still suffering hangovers (and paying off the price of previous sets). Rather
than let the latest anniversary go unmarked, however, Yoko-via-Sean has
sanctioned a full remix of 36 of Lennon’s greatest hits and most loved songs
from the master-tapes. Which sounds fun in principle but in practice means that
fans are forking out full price for the grand total of, maybe, two minutes’
worth of material that actually sound in any way different. There are five
versions of this set in total with different tracks and running orders, which
is just bonkers and time that could have well spent improving the packaging,
most of which insists of SHOUTING THE TRACK TITLES TO US IN CAPITAL LETTERS and
a decidedly unappealing shot of a bleary-eyed Lennon in a ponytail (is this the
only shot we’ve got of John now that hasn’t been seen a hundred times before?)
Yeah, sure, there’s a bit of extra time-delayed echo on Lennon’s voice at times
and sometimes the engineers do the same to the drum sound too, while there’s
almost a psychedelic thing going on in the chiming ringing guitars of ‘Mind
Games’ that sounds much clearer than it ever did in 1973 and some nice echo on
‘Startin’ Over’ that nudges it ever closer to John’s original vision of a 1950s
production (but an effect he probably couldn’t have managed in his lifetime). There’s
also ‘Come Together’ from the ‘Live In New York City’ album which is, by Lennon
solo standards, as rare as his things get (i.e. it still charted and you can
still beg, buy, borrow or steal a copy – just not on Spotify). Oh and don’t
forget the two postcards and bumper sticker, I guess. Or the ‘metallic
lettering’ on the gatefold sleeve (seriously, this was put forward as a reason
for buying this set on the youtube advert). But really? Is that all? Most of
these tracks (especially the ‘Walls and Bridges’ ones) sound worse in these
mixes, with stuff taken out that really should be there (the brass section,
mostly). Lennon’s legacy isn’t going to be extended five minutes by this set
and you sense Dr Winston O’Boogie himself would have put his foot through his
record player at the very idea. Gimme some truth indeed: the truth is that this
is a money-spinner done as cheaply as possible and John deserves better. Yoko
is usually so much more careful than this.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Download: ‘Working Class Hero’</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Keith Richards and The
X-Pensive Winos “Live At The Hollywood Palladium, 1988” (BMG)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Take It So Hard/How I Wish/I Could Have Stood You Up/Too
Rude/Make No Mistake/Time Is On My Side/Big Enough/Whip It Up/Locked
Away/Struggle/Happy/Connection/Rockawhile/I Wanna Be Your Man/You Don’t Move Me</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A scruffy gig recorded during one of the last shows on the ‘Talk Is
Cheap’ tour before Keith made his peace with Mick and got back together again
for the Stones’ ‘Steel Wheels’ album the following year, this set was first
released in 1991 and is something of an oddity perhaps best left in the vaults.
Keith is an angry mood and his band are more like punks than the well-rehearsed
flow of a Stones gig. On other occasions that sentence might sound like a
compliment but here, without Jagger’s professionalism and Watts’ drumming to
get him out of trouble, Keef just rasps through songs one after another in the
exact same way so that they all end up one noisy blur. Even the good songs from
‘Talk’ (all but one of which are played here) and a couple of Keith’s Stones
songs end up sounding devoid of all meaning and finesse here and even the
presence of old pal Bobby Keyes on saxophone can’t hide the fact that this is a
bad night. Only a surprise revival of ‘Connection’ from the ever-under-rated
‘Between The Buttons’ really does anything and then not always anything good.
Frustratingly bootleggers know that the best performance from this gig (‘Little
T&A’) and the most interesting (the Stones’ second single, the
Beatle-covering ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’) alongside a passable ‘Talk’ track (‘You
Don’t Move Me’) were all cut from the original release and that’s true here for
the ‘vanilla’ one, only appearing on the pricey box set alongside a lot more
packaging and a tour t-shirt (probably a replica, although I’d like to think
Keith’s had a vault of these stashed away for thirty-two years just in case he
ever needed them again). Even after a decade when the Stones have released
anything in their vault that moves this one feels like the scraping of the
barrel and is at times truly torturous. Perhaps its revenge for the famous
night in 1972 when Chuck Berry chucked Keith Richards off the stage during a
gig at the Palladium?!? </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: ‘Connection’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo4; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">17)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “Return To
Greendale” (Reprise)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlucky seventeen: Oh Neil, why do you have to do this to me why?
Just as our favourite Trump-bashing Canadian legend seemed to have a clean
sweep at the AAA Academy Awards comes the news that Neil is returning to what
is easily my least favourite of the fifty-odd albums he’s worked on. Yes, the
same man who didn’t release career highlight ‘Homegrown’ in 1974 can’t let
2003’s ‘Greendale’ alone. And I have no idea why. I mean, it was an album he
wrote in his car on the way to the studio each day. It’s an ‘ecological soap
opera’ where bad guys do bad things and good Grandpas snuff it and teenage
eco-warriors do what teenage eco warriors do. To be honest the ewok roadies
from ‘Live Rust’ or Lionel the mechanic from ‘Human Highway’ had more depth
than the lot of them. In the seventeen years since release ‘Greendale’ has
already been a pretty feeble film and an oddball graphic novel and now it’s a
pretty feeble and oddball box set. So what do you get for your money (£100!
That’s…£50 a disc!) this time? Bits of the Toronto solo show that year, which
isn’t a patch on the ‘Vicar Street’ performance already out on the deluxe
edition set on first release (and that’s nothing to get too excited about
either, it’s just that Neil dumping his harmonica in a cup of disinfectant over
and over is way more interesting than the music). Bits of footage of a bored
looking Crazy Horse in the studio wondering what the hell Neil is putting them
through this time. Sadly not enough of either if you’re enough of a completist
to a) spend this kind of money and b) actually enjoys this sort of thing (I
know, I know, some of you out there actually like ‘Greendale’ and I’m in a
minority. I just still haven’t quite worked out why). Oh and Blu-Ray
re-mastering of course, so that you can hear in super-duper-quality one of the
albums that best displays Neil’s ‘first thought, best thought, only thought’
idea on a project that actually sounds better (i.e. grungier) the worse your
hi-fi is. And two LPs, which given the amount of recycling going on in the
melody department both sound largely the same. Oddly you don’t get the cinema
film or the graphic novel, even though at that price I’d expect both of those
and a free Lionel Trains lifesize tractor and bandit car (they did, in fact,
release a ‘Greendale Express’ train model which is by far the best thing to be
released with the ‘Greendale’ name on it since Postman Pat. I was hoping we’d
get one for every album thereafter but, alas, there’s no sign of a Homegrown
farmyard cabin, a ‘Psychedelic Pill’ pharmacy truck or a ‘Peace Train’ American
Indian goods wagon). Feel the rain? Yeah thanks Neil I will, from the cardboard
box I’m living in after buying this set and everything else you’ve put out this
year. I like to think Neil is doing this just to mess with my head and it’s just
a big practical joke because he knows this is the only Neil project I could
find practically nothing good about to day (the release date was the same week
as AAA Neil e-book ‘Here We Are In The Years’ after all). For God’s sake though
Neil, let Grandpa rest in peace this time I beg you. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Download: To be honest, I probably wouldn’t bother.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><u><b>Songs Of The Year: </b></u></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Neil Young “Kansas”</span> (‘Homegrown’,
Reprise)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Poor Neil. He’s just woken up from a bad dream but thank goodness
the love of his life is sleeping next to him and all is OK. Or is it? The more
he wakes up the more he realises that he isn’t in Kansas anymore and the world
is strange and surreal. The world he thought he’d dreamt is the ‘real’ one and
he’s lost and helpless, reaching out for help from people who aren’t there and
who Neil admits he doesn’t know. The tune too is haunting, ‘Borrowed Tune’
crossed with ‘See The Sky About To Rain’, as Neil steels himself for a
breakdown he knows is coming but hasn’t fully hit yet. As troubled and heavy as
anything from the ‘Doom Trilogy’ but feeling even more personal, ‘Kansas’ was
surely shelved for being too revealing about just how vulnerable the 1974
vintage Neil feels. In 2020 though, with Neil in a similar frame of mind after
the divorce from and death of Pegi his wife of three-decades and the rest of us
going through a surreal lockdown, it’s time for his humble simple little song
to shine. The sound of a man clutching at straws to keep his sanity and not
being able to work out what’s real anymore is the soundtrack to more than one
person’s 2020 I reckon.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Kevin Godley “One Day”</span> (‘Muscle
Memory’, Secrets Of Conspiracy)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So many fine songs from this album to choose from, but this is the
one that got to me most. Even though we’ve known about the track listing since
February (and pre-covid, at least in Europe), ‘One Day’ couldn’t have summed up
this bittersweet year any better. On the one sense it’s a love song to
technology and its ability to hold us and our fractured lives together. On the
other it’s a scared paranoid song about how that technology is replacing us,
thinking and feeling for us so we don’t have to anymore. At times it’s deeply
sarcastic as Godley praises the ‘more productive you’ this world is creating,
who now has more time to fret and strive and agonise. At others it’s all
brilliantly uplifting, a hymn to a world where we can achieve anything in the
future, including using technology to truly make our lives better and set
ourselves free. Musically this song has the perfect accompaniment, starting off
as a chugging technological world full of marching synths and mechanical drum
machines before adding the colour, bit by bit, so that we get slide guitars and
overdubs that brighten our world without taking away from the brutality of the
backing. Kevin’s vocal, too, may well be the best he’s recorded ever, held back
tightly for the most part while his doubles sadly intone ‘one day’ in the
background, only to reach out into space and soar on specific lines that make
him sound so human and full of life, even in the midst of such drudgery. We
think we’re heading for a happy end, a world where everyone can tweak the soundtrack of their lives endlessly, but no – the future means ‘there will be
no new music’ as everything sounds the same and is re-sampled from something else, a frightening yet very true
thought that stops us in our tracks all over again. A clever clever song but
also one with so much heart. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Rolling Stones “Criss
Cross”</span> (‘Goat’s Head Soup’ Deluxe, Polydor)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A gorgeous slice of everything that was great about the Stones in
the first half of the 1970s, this strutting rock ‘n’ roll number has long been
one of my favourite Stones bootlegs and the new more polished vocal from Mick
Jagger somehow makes a fine song sparkle even more. It truly sounds like a
cross-stitch: Mick is at his most sultry and teasing as he struggles to gain
control over his emotions over a tight backing track where Keith and Mick
Taylor weave some real magic, Bill pushes how far he can push his bass to go in
the opposite direction to the others and Charlie stomps all over it and ties it
all up with a bow that keeps everything together. Yes it sounds a little like
‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Start me Up’, but I would take this riff over both of these,
especially the way the song has room for both of the things did so well in this
era: not just the shouty preening chorus but the bit of verse angst that comes
before it. While this sounds like every other good Stones song of the era,
though, the words are very different and hark back to ‘Goat’s Head Soup’s theme
of things not being what they seem. It’s rare to hear Mick this lost and out of
control, as he pleads for a girl to ‘save him’ that never comes, pleads for a
‘revolution’ and worries that he’s going to be trapped in this push-me-pull-you
relationship forever, unwilling to stay and unwilling to leave. We’ve heard
Mick sing ‘bayubaaaa’ many many times over the years, but this time it has a
real chill to it, the sound of a man drowning rather than one reaching for a
high-five as usual. How this track never made it to the original album, never
mind the endless rarities/pretend rarities sets like ‘Tattoo You’ over the
years, is anyone’s guess.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Paul McCartney “The Kiss
Of Venus”</span> (‘McCartney III’)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Shortly before lockdown Paul was gifted a book named ‘The Kiss Of
Venus’ by John Martineau, about the structure of planets in our solar system
and how they all relate to each other with sounds and music. The idea tickled
Paul, who had first had a bash writing something on those lines for the title
track of ‘Venus and Mars’ while he was still with Wings in 1975 (not to mention
‘Cosmically Conscious’ in 1968!) The book inspired a melody that’s totally
McCartney, hopping all over the place to its own particular internal rhythm
that sounds exactly like planets in orbit wobbling into place over and over. It
also inspired a lyric that doubles as a metaphor for love and for life, as Paul
debates the idea of fate and pre-destination as love inspires him to do the
things he was meant to do and the distracting noise of humanity as ‘packed with
illusions, our life is turned around’. By the end of the song he stands with
his loved one as a mere speck of sunlight, all those human drives and
tendencies blown away on cosmic winds that were running in the background all
the time. It’s a pretty song, lighter on its feet than most of Macca III but
the track that underpins the rest of the record as Paul becomes a passenger in
a universe much bigger than he is, all with a typically deft McCartney musical
touch. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Cat Stevens “Can This Be
Love?”</span> (‘Tea For The Tillerman’ Box Set, Cat-O-Log Records)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Another of our favourite AAA bootleg songs getting a first official
release is Cat Stevens’ lost 1970 classic ‘Can This Be Love?’, now ‘finished
off’ with a few overdubs so that we hear how it might have sounded as part of
‘Tea For The Tillerman’ (though thankfully they keep Cat’s anguished and
powerful vocal despite a few flatspots here and there that don’t really
matter). This is a sweet old song, presumably another of the handful written
for model Patti D’arbanville who stood by Cat through his illness with TB
before things went wrong. Cat sings proudly about how he’s love for the first
time in the first verse and wants everyone to know it in the manner of his
future love songs like ‘Can’t Keep It In’ or ‘Ready’, but in common with his
other 1970 post-illness songs there’s a sense of frailty and doubt which here
creeps in during the second verse. ‘Please be kind’ he pleads with his lover
‘for it’s my very first time’ and whether that be in the bedroom or in his
heartspace Cat has never sounded more troubled (yes, even on ‘Trouble’). The chorus
too makes him question himself: can this be love? It feels like love but,
having never been in love before, how is he supposed to know? Together with a
warm free-flowing melody this would have been one of the highlights of either
of Cat’s best albums ‘Mona Bone’ and ‘Tillerman’ (though it’s on the latter box
set most of these songs were written in the same time frame and the albums
released just a few months apart) and I can’t give higher praise than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Kinks “The Follower
– Any Time” </span>(‘Lola V Powerman And The Money-Go-Round Box Set, Rhino)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Premiered two months before the proposed ‘Lola V Powerman’ due to
arrive in shops on December 16<sup>th</sup>. I could have done without the
hokey spoken word parts. I would have preferred to hear this as a full unreleased
(and unbootlegged!) song rather than to have it bookended with extracts from
the parent album ‘Lola vs Powerman’. It’s clearly unfinished and runs to maybe
a verse and a chorus. However there’s a lot of promise in Ray Davies’ abandoned
song, which is an uncharacteristically uplifting track compared to the rest of
his 1970 batch and could have been The Kinks’ ‘Hey Jude’. The song features an
early use of a future 1970s Kinks stable (a lost lonely soul walking down a
busy street where nobody knows him) and has Ray reaching out to a lost soul the
way he will on ‘Misfits’, telling his audience that he will be there for them.
Simple and one-dimensional it may be compared to the sheer layers going on
across the caustic ‘Lola’ album, it also features a very rich melody-line, a
thumping good vocal track and an early sign of the chords from hit ‘Lola’. It
really should have made the album.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Rolling Stones “Living
In A Ghost Town”</span> (Standalone Single, Virgin)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I thought we would be knee-deep in songs about lockdown by the time
of this second wave, but so far (some odd Van Morrison songs aside) we’ve had
only one and strictly speaking this is a 2019 recording from a forthcoming
still half-completed album that was slightly tweaked in isolation and then rush-released
in April 2020 because it seemed so spookily true to real-life events the Stones
had to roll it out. ‘Life was so beautiful’ splutters Mick ‘till we all got
locked down’, walking through a town once filled with life that now seems
empty. It’s the Stones equivalent of The Kinks’ ‘Welcome To Sleazy Town’, a
place that always seemed to be awful till it got closed down and the narrator
realises how much he misses it. The song then moves on to a lover wishing he’d
self-isolated with his girlfriend and hallucinating her climbing into his bed. You
can’t always get what you want it seems (especially with home delivery
substitutes) but sometimes we always had what we needed and we’re bound to miss
it when it’s gone. The music is your average modern-day Stones strut, woefully
trying to tie reggae and rock together and Mick’s idea of an American accent
with Jamaican overtones is still a poor fit for him. However the lyrics are
spot on and the sudden lurch from laidback verses to an angry passionate chorus
that still changes seemingly nothing about the languid lurch of the song really
catches your ear. If nothing else this song is welcome as the first fully
original Stones song since 2012 and bodes well for the album we’ve been
half-promised for many years now, while Mick getting his harmonica out again is
cause for celebration too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Camelphat Featuring Noel
Gallagher “Not Over Yet”</span> (from the album ‘Dark Matter’, ‘Spinnin’ Records’)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I honestly don’t know what’s
the biggest surprise: that Noel is working with musicians somewhere between a
third and half his age, that a Mancunian has joined forces with two
Liverpudlians, that Noel has released anything since the backlash over his
public comments about not wearing masks in the midst of a pandemic or that the
results are, against the odds of Noel’s recent run of form, pretty good.
Admittedly not Oasis good, but then distancing himself from those days has kind
of been the whole point of Noel’s past decade as he’s transcended deeper into
the rhythmic music scene and away from melodic rock and roll. On his own Noel
just doesn’t know what to do with this brave new world and his run of solo
albums have been very rum indeed, but put him with people who know what they’re
doing and he’s come up with a minor-key pop classic. The tension between the
downward dog of the verse and the explosion into an upbeat chorus is still
somehow very Noel een in such an alien world and even though that chorus is
basically just the title repeated over and over it’s also the most genuinely joyous
thing he’s written since the days of Britpop. His vocal is his best in a while
too, a lovely soar that flies like a high flying bird at its own languid pace
over the typically period busy track beneath him. The lyrics are, admittedly,
the song’s weakest suit, a combination of cod-Oasis (‘A dream as tired as the
sun, it belongs to everyone’), prog rock (‘Can you see the ancient lights of
home?’) and unusually x-rated ideas (‘Be the angel in my bed!’) but even these
have a few good moments (‘Leave the kids alone ‘cause the future’s caught in
the crosshair’). If the next album sounds like this maybe I’ll actually have
something nice to say about his solo career and maybe, just maybe, Noel’s
increasingly problematic solo career is not over yet. Oh and no scissors in
sight!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Liam Gallagher “All
You’re Dreaming Of”</span> (Single)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A standalone charity single released to raise funds for ‘Action For
Children’, Liam’s single has a good chance of being at least in the run for a British
0Christmas #1 (he’s up against young singer-songwriter Sam Fender covering
Lindisfarne’s ‘Winter Song’ no less – when was the last time we had two AAA
songs battling for position? Though the way this year’s gone both will probably
be pipped by The Spice Girls…) Written during lockdown when Liam was discussing
with his now-usual band of co-writers that there weren’t enough songs of hope
in the charts, this record was delayed when the singer said he saw ‘New York
Christmas windows’ in his mind on the playback and a few lyrics got tinkered
with. If I know Liam he had half an ear on writing another ‘Happy Xmas (War Is
Over)’ for an era in which our war is against invisible virus particles. Which
is a shame, because as a coming-together moment of shared shock and awe this
single might have worked OK – as a festive release it’s all a bit treacly and
easily the most inauthentic thing no-nonsense Liam has released in his solo
career so far. Which is not to say that its horrible, just a bit dreary:
there’s a nice lyric in there about needing miracles and the importance of
stable, reliable love when the world seems to have gone monkeynuts (indeed a
great line about the need for ‘kisses unrehearsed’ to match life’s uncertain
moments). That tune though sounds like every Christmas dirge thrown into a
blender and never has quite the pay-off it deserves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l19 level1 lfo7; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">The Beatles “Just Fun” </span>(‘Lennon
At Eighty’)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Little did a twenty-year-old John and eighteen-year-old Paul suspect
that the song they’d just tossed off for fun while sagging off school somewhere
around 1960 would become one of the biggest musical talking points of 2020. I
mean, they didn’t even consider it good enough to finish it! However the
inclusion of a quick busked version by Macca during a chat with his friend’s
future son Sean for Radio Two made the musical world apoplectic. It is, after
all, our first completely unreleased Beatles song since ‘Anthology’ in the
mid-1990s and unreleased Beatles are always a treat to hear. However it’s also
a song that both writers realised was going nowhere and was deservedly pushed
off ‘Please Please Me’ (yes, even in favour of covers like ‘Chains’ I’m
afraid). Those lyrics in full then: ‘We said our love was just fun, we said our
love had just begun, well there’s no blue moon that I can see, there’s never
been in history, because our love was just fun’. Hmm, I mean it’s no ‘Love Me
Do’ is it? Personally I’d have celebrated the Lennon-McCartney reunion by
repeating that great reel-to-reel of The Quarrymen at Woolton Village Fete that
started it all and was broadcast a few years ago, recorded at random as a
warm-up for the brass band that was coming round the corner. On such things are
legends made.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><u><b>TV/ Radio Documentaries Of The Year: </b></u></span></o:p></span></p>
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<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo8; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">“Ready Steady Go Night”
(BBC)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What was your best night over lockdown? When the pubs opened? When
you could see your mates again? The night Boris Johnson became the first prime
minister to be sacked through gross incompetence? (Whoops sorry, that one
hasn’t happened yet but I’m convinced it will come). Mine was a month into
lockdown when all hell seemed to be breaking loose and BBC4 chose to give us
all comfort with a dip into their vaults. I’ve been pushing for a documentary
on this series for years: for Britains of a certain age it was the ‘cool’
programme ITV screened to the BBC’s more staid ‘Top Of The Pops’ where the
cooler British bands and some passing American soul luminaries strutted their
stuff in amongst a throng of hip dancing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>teenagers. If you’re young thing the best nightclub you’ve ever been
too, but one with real music instead of that awful noise they have nowadays. If
you’re American think ‘Hullabaloo’ but much more fun! Think of a band in the
1960s and they probably played there: The Beatles were an early hit, The Rolling
Stones had such fun they even filled in for bands who weren’t there (miming to
Sonny and Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’ in a hilarious skit that makes the most
antisocial of AAA bands suddenly seem like old mates), The Beach Boys grinned
their heads off, The Who practically lived there (though sadly most of their
footage has been wiped) and Otis Redding got a whole episode to himself, back
in the days when few people at home beyond his state of Georgia knew who he
was. All these bands and more tended to give a little extra when they were on
the show and the footage is a brilliant time capsule of the sudden spurt in
1965-1966 from Merseybeat to something a bit darker. The footage has been
largely unseen since the 1980s after Dave Clark (of The DC5) bought up the rights
to all the footage and kept it for a rainy day. That rainy day is very much now
and the hour compilation of material was a really good selection of clips with
many AAA bands (Otis wins but in a tough fight with The Beach Boys) and others
(Dusty Springfield, an unofficial co-presenter, was never better) all looking
and sounding fine. To go with the compilation we also got a new documentary
looking at how the series came about and why it died out (basically by being
too tied to a particular era, something TOTP avoided thanks to sticking so
rigidly to the charts). Sadly not many of the AAA guys and gals appear but it’s
still a really interesting and informative documentary. Superb. More next year
please BBC4. And if you’re reading Dave Clark then how about some DVDs of this
stuff?!? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo8; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">“The World Together” (BBC)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was the most surreal moment you had
during lockdown, dear reader? The day you ordered a hundred toilet rolls ‘just
in case?’ The moment when you realised you would normally be coming back from
work at this hour but you’d just woken up and were still in your pyjamas? When
you realised that the overgrown Sugar Puff Monster in charge of the UK was
contradicting something he’d said the day before? Trying to explain to your
youngest that even though the world was ending they still needed to do their
algebra homework? Watching Liam Gallagher looking like your homeless man sing
‘Soapersonic’ while showing us how to wash our hands? Or the day you read all
30 AAA books back to back and had to rush to the opticians? For me the most
surreal moment was watching ‘The World Together’ a collection of several music
guests who had all ‘come together’ to keep Britain sane and thank the NHs
workers who had kept us safe (though I still think they would have preferred a
pay rise personally). This March programme feels like a fever dream now: all
those stars in magnificent mansions in Malibu telling us we were all in it
together while their broadband seemed to lag even worse than mine. All that
peering behind them trying to read their book-shelves and wondering about their
décor (of course Elton John would have that piano in that garden, but who
guessed Charlie Watts had what looked like a giant public library at his
house?) All that generational divide as youngsters and oldies alike went ‘who
on earth is that?’ as some strange new name flashed up on screen followed by an
old friends who looked a half century older without professional TV make-up.
For the record we got two AAA performances. Paul McCartney was game despite
being one of the few solo performers of the night, rattling off a fun take on
‘Lady Madonna’ on what we later learned was his daughter Mary’s piano (of
course the McCartneys have a piano in their kitchen. There’s probably one in
their bathroom and conservatory and upstairs cupboard too) even if, like every
gig since circa 2012, Macca’s voice is shot to pieces. The Rolling Stones
though stole the gig from everyone with a powerful unplugged version of ‘You
Can’t Always Get What You Want’ (the perfect song for my online shopping of the
time). The band turned up one by one, with Mick starting the song with a rare
shot of him playing acoustic while Keith lounged on a settee and Ronnie played
in his hall before Charlie turned up, without a drum kit to hand but wanting to
be a part of things so much he simply sat in a chair with some drumsticks
playing thin air! It was the best they’ve sounded in years and for five
precious minutes on a timeless classic that all generations would have
identified with we didn’t feel anything like as alone. That’s the power of
music in a nutshell. We really need a sequel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo8; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">“The
Life and Death Of A Rolling Stone” (Smithsonian)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve noticed a tendency
to cover British TV programmes in these annual reviews, dear reader, then
that’s for the simple fact that we tend to get our documentaries from the rest
of the world too late. Personally I can’t wait for all the American coronavirus
concerts to arrive here next year, perhaps on the day we finally come out of
lockdown (or even Australia’s corona concerts the day we go back into lockdown
in 2022 because our government is still incompetent). The Smithsonian channel
is pretty much our only exception offering choice up-to-date programmes
broadcast mere weeks after the channel’s American counterpart, only in this
case it’s a programme about an autopsy that was made fifty-one years ago. The
show is presented by ‘Medical Historian’ (why was this job never offered to me
by my career advisor?) Lindsay Fitzharris who seems to spend every episode
permanently surprised. Gosh really, one of the Rolling Stones died? It was the
good-looking blonde-one? He bought AA Milne’s house? Who knew? Why, only
everyone likely to be turning in to a documentary on a Rolling Stone, that’s
who. Next comes a surprisingly gruesome and utterly unnecessary re-creation of
the autopsy in which the pathologist expert on hand dissects a realistic
re-make of Brian Jones, including the way he was cut open, while a badly
super-imposed computer-generated face of Brian is forced on top. Poor Brian. He
suffered so many things in life he shouldn’t have to be facing this in death.
The narration leaves a lot to be desired too. Well, says the presenter, if it’s
a Rolling Stone who died then it surely must have been drugs! (Cue patient
explanation ten minutes later that while yes the autopsy showed Brian Jones was
a regular drug-taker he had none in his system the night he died and only the
barest amount of alcohol). Hey Mick ‘n’ Keef had just pushed him out the band,
so it had to be murder right? (Cue an equally patient explanation on why this
seems stupidly unlikely, given that the other Stones were nowhere near, all had
alibis and genuinely loved Brian, pain as he might sometimes be. As for the
theory that ‘Brian was planning to take band the name he’d created for the
band’ I’ve not heard that one before). So final thought: it must all have been
a huge police conspiracy and cover-up because the powers-that-be wanted to make
a Stone a scapegoat in the press (sure many of the police were automatically
prejudiced and they didn’t exactly handle the case with 100% care, but Brian’s
death wasn’t anything special to them and it sure looked like an accident from
drowning, no wonder they shut the case as quickly as possible). However what
was quite a silly and irresponsible documentary becomes gripping in its second
half as we hear about the whacking great discrepancies between the four witness
statements (who couldn’t even agree which of them found the body), the timing
of the arrival of Tom Keylock (kind of the Stones equivalent of Mal Evans, who
was particularly close to Brian) and lots of other witnesses who claimed there
was a party of dozens if not hundreds there the night that Brian died (who all
quickly scarpered the next morning). There’s also some fascinating archive
footage (shot by Jones biographer Terry Rawlings in 2009) of Tom and Frank
Thorogood, the builder who was doing work on Brian’s house in the months before
his death and who even had a room there. Both look distinctly cagey when stood
round Brian’s old swimming pool at his house thirty-odd years on and their
candid comments about tiny lies and deceptions don’t put either of them in the
best of lights. Both are long since dead now and their secrets have been taken
to their graves. But there is enough in what this documentary has to say,
particularly this footage, to make you wonder. As for me it always seemed the
oddest possible way for Brian to die, given that he had been a champion swimmer
in his youth and was if anything more comfortable in water than he was on dry
land. As proven by the autopsy report he was actually in far better shape than
most times he had probably been in his own pool and there are no signs of a
sudden heart attack or even an asthma attack that might have caused him to lose
consciousness and drown that way. My guess is that there was an altercation
between Brian and someone, possibly Frank (who legend it found out earlier that
day that Brian was going to offer him far less for his work than he had been
promised). However I doubt it was murder as there were no signs of a struggle
either – someone probably got angry and pushed Brian into the pool, walking
off, without realising what they’d done or the effect they might have had on
him. After all, something that’s always bothered me despite his supposed
‘death-bed’ confession: if he just wanted more money killing Brian wasn’t going
to get it for him – he wasn’t exactly in the guitarist’s will and pretty much
kissed goodbye to the money he was going to be paid anyway with the death of
his client (not to say it couldn’t have been in an emotional frenzy I guess,
but the evidence isn’t there for an attack or savage murder either, just
manslaughter at best). Whatever the cause, there is at least some highly
intriguing material here, although perhaps a bigger investigation ought to be
why it was hidden away in a documentary that starts off so poorly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo8; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">“John
Lennon At Eighty” (BBC)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A curious little programme this, which couldn’t decide if it was
meant to be plugging a product, celebrating a life or working as therapy. Son
Sean was the presenter, the first real time he’s spoken to us without being a
programme’s ‘plus one’, with mum Yoko’s increasingly ailing health now she’s in
her late eighties perhaps leaving this as a clue as to how Lennon’s legacy is
going to be treated in the future. Reverentially, but with fun, seems to be the
answer as Sean gets out his phone book and chats with three very special
guests: half-brother Julian, Godfather Elton John (!) and none other than Paul
McCartney. Dad would have been proud of the walls that were taken down and the
bridges extended in this interview as Sean and Julian sound genuinely pally – a
world away from the days when his mum Cynthia was suing Yoko and using Julian
as her go-between – reflecting on what they remembered of John in two very
different times in his life. Julian has buried many of his demons nowadays but
still sounds wistful as he talks about how happy John seemed in New York,
bringing up Sean while baking bread. For his part Sean is wistful for the home
videos of Julian playing in his dad’s epic Tittenhurst estate back in blighty,
poignantly revealing that he once tried to go to boarding school in England
because he didn’t feel safe in crime-riddled New York in the 1980s (and after
his father’s death who can blame him?) While their musical analysis wasn’t
always as accurate (surely ‘Mind Games’ is very Beatley, while it’s ‘Steel and
Glass’ which is the sort of song John would never have tried while part of the
group), their extended chat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sounds
healing on both sides and it was a privilege to listen in. Elton, meanwhile, is
still a gushing fan shocked that someone as cool as his part namesake would
ever want to hang around with him and filling in bits and pieces about
recording ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ and the subsequent wager than John
would play Madison Square Gardens with him if the song got to #1. Sean, though,
sounds oddly unaware of events backstage that put John and Yoko back together
even though Beatle nuts know these stories well. It’s left to McCartney to
close the two hour show which he does in typically ebullient fashion. Sean
sounds a little edgy at first but Paul charms the pants off him in his usual
inimitable style and soon the pair are chatting like old friends about
travelling round Liverpool learning chords, that ‘Let It Be’ wasn’t as sad as
often remembered, Paul forever talking to John in his head while writing songs
een now and John and Paul becoming mates again before the end. The most moving
part of all, though, is when Sean asks what his granny Julia was like and Paul
says ‘oh, you would have so loved her’. A nice look behind the mask, though the
two hours could have been edited down into one with no trouble at all (Not
least because there’s a lot of music played from the ‘new’ remix album and all
of it in full). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">5) “Desert Island Discs: Cat Stevens” (BBC)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">At last, following a seemingly endless succession of failed
politicians and forgotten TV presenters, Desert Island Discs strands an AAA
musician again – our first since compiling a whacking great list of them in
2012 (</span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/Desert%20Island%20Discs">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/Desert%20Island%20Discs</a>)
<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems odd that they hadn’t got round to speaking to Cat before,
given that he’s the epitome of the intelligent, thoughtful celebrity with a
fascinating past ripe for discussion. Cat was on fine form, speaking about all
his old favourite subjects (how he got his name, his near-death experiences
with TB and drowning, the difficulty he had in being the Western world’s most
famous Muslim overnight) and some hard ones too (the fuss over the Salmon Rushdie
fatwah still burns), but new-ish presenter Lauren Laverne barely seemed to be
listening. There were some good moments, such as Cat remembering his days in
his parent’s Greek restaurant near the West End and listening to concert-goers
whistling showtunes (cue ‘America’, with Cat a much bigger fan of Leonard Bernstein
than I’d realised), hearing The Beatles for the first time (cue ‘Twist and
Shout’) and Cat’s reflection that he had a choice in 1977 between leaving to
follow his heart the way he’d told his fans to do for ten years or be a
hypocrite and keep making music, but that he hadn’t realised some of his
audience would still hate him for his ‘betrayal’ still. He even cheekily
chooses one of his own songs, ‘The Wind’, as being particularly special to him
(which is always a bit of a cheat, I think, when musicians do that but at least
it was one that was personal and fits the interview’s themes well). Mostly,
though, this was a Cat interview by numbers with some curious discs (Cat took
Stevie Wonder’s ‘Always’ as the song he’d save from the waves), curious
luxuries (vitamins!) and an inevitable book choice (The Qu’ran). Oh to have
heard Cat be interviewed by Roy Plomley instead… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">6) “John Lennon: The Last Weekend” (Sky)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By and large I would have to say that Sean Ono Lennon’s handling of
his dad’s big birthday has been quite a success. Sure the remixed greatest hits
CD is a bit pointless but it caught the mass market enough to come close to
making the #1 slot nearly forty years after his dad’s death and the cornucopia
of programmes released from the vaults and handed to BBC4, Sky and ‘The 80s
Music Channel’ alike (who ran a most excellent seven days of programmes,
despite the fact that John was alive for a grand total of one year in that
decade) have been mostly excellent. I’ve particularly loved the chance to see
John and Yoko on the chat shows Parkinson and Dick Cavett again and the
complete unedited 1975 edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test. There were welcome
repeats too for full-length documentaries ‘The New York Years’ (made for
Lennon’s 70<sup>th</sup>), ‘Above Us Only Sky’ (for the ‘Imagine’ re-issue
bonanza of 2018), ‘The Making Of Imagine’ (from, ooh, aeons ago), the
ultra-rare John ‘n’ Yoko home movie compilation to the songs of ‘Imagine’ and
‘Fly’ (watch John’s mother-in-law’s look of disbelief as her daughter plays billiards
blindfolded, laugh at the all-white chessboard or brace yourselves for John
nearly drowning Yoko when he gets his rowing boat stuck at his Tittenhurst
estate, all to the rather apt strain of ‘how can I go forward if I don’t know
which way I’m facing?’) There were even the complete collection of solo Lennon
promos repeated (if you were patient enough) with rare outings for the ‘John
only’ vocals to ‘Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him’ and the ‘Anthology’
outtake version of ‘I’m Losing You’ (in which backing band Cheap Trick are
attacked by various Lennon line drawings!) Sad to report, then, that the
centre-point of this extravaganza – and the only ‘new’ TV programme – was a bit
of a damp squib (or a ‘damp squib’ as people seem to be saying these days).
‘The Last Weekend’ sounded like a good idea: we tell the story of John all over
again using the interview recorded for the BBC by Andy Peebles which wrapped up
mere hours before John was shot dead. However, this wasn’t the way I’d have
done it: Lennon tells us an anecdote by his own hand, lots of talking heads
comment on it and we move on. There’s almost no sense of the timeline here as,
like John, we jump about from subject to subject and while I totally agree that
this is a really poignant document as John talked in more detail than ever
before about all sorts of things, you wouldn’t know that from the choices here
which were all run of the mill. I also thought from the programme’s title that
we would get more of a sense of that final weekend, of the fact that John had
barely had time to digest his last session before heading to the studio to cut
‘Walking On Thin Ice’ and then walking unknowingly to his doom mere hours
later. Weirdly, though, this documentary spend a lot more time talking about
‘the lost weekend’ than it ever does ‘the last weekend’ and there are other
programmes out there that cover that better. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you don’t know your Lennon you must have
been very confused indeed – and if you do know your Lennon you’re better off
listening to the tapes or reading the full transcript. </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><b><u>DVDs Of The Year:</u></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><v:shape fillcolor="black" id="_x0000_i1029" style="height: 71.25pt; width: 451.5pt;" type="#_x0000_t172">
<v:shadow color="#868686">
<v:textpath fitpath="t" string=" DVDS OF THE YEAR" style="font-family: "Arial Black"; v-text-kern: t;" trim="t">
</v:textpath></v:shadow></v:shape></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l27 level1 lfo21; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Roger Waters “Us and
Them” </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Breathe/One Of These Days/Time/The Great Gig In The Sky/Welcome
To The Machine/When We Were Young-Déjà vu/The Last Refugee/Picture That/Wish
You Were Here/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives-Another Brick In The Wall II and
III/Dogs/Pigs (Three Different Ones)/Money/Us and Them/Brain
Damage-Eclipse<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Strictly speaking this is not a 2020 project at all: this is a
compilation of shows tapes on Roger’s 2017-18 tours that were then screened in
selected cinemas in 2019 and originally due for release on DVD and Blu-Ray at
the start of 2020 before Coronavirus moved the schedule back to October (how
odd it seems already seeing such crowds in one place). However if there’s a
better summary of what the year has had to offer then I have yet to see it.
While the track listing looks like another ‘greatest hits’ bill (though minus
‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, surprisingly, and with ‘Comfortably Numb’ relegated
to the ‘extras’ rather than included as part of the main show for some reason),
this show is much much more than that. Every track here serves some political
purpose, with song after song going for the jugular against phony world leaders
bringing ordinary people to their knees. As early as the second song ‘One Of
These Days I’m Going To Cut You Into Little Pieces’ Roger relishes the
frustration and anger spilling over in the room of whichever arena his fine
band are playing, every song adding up to a sort of elongated ‘Dark Side Of The
Moon’ where each track represents something wrong with modern society and where
each theme is a brick in the wall of how we got here in this collective
madness, to a point of time that feels like the end of days (even before the
virus arrived to the party). Pink Floyd, never a band who liked you looking at
them, were early pioneers of the video screen where every song was made to seem
a bigger, bolder, better spectacle. Here, though, Roger somehow uses the video
screens to make his songs seem more intimate, sharing with us individual tales
of horror from around the world and making them all seem ‘human’, whether they
be the plight of refugees unlucky enough to live in a country rich in oil that
have been turned into a warzone by the Western world, real war footage of
drones inhumanely searching out their victims, the child choir of ‘Another
Brick In The Wall Pt 2’ dressed in Guantanamo jumpsuits like the prisoners of
tomorrow or Trump’s increasingly stupid tweets admitting in his own words what
hard work being president is and how out of depth he feels. Along the way we
get some blistering performances including a thoughtful ‘Wish You Were Here’ (a
song that has never meant more than it has in lockdown), a brutal ‘Welcome To
The Machine’ (which has never resonated with such dispassionate scorn as here),
a scathing ‘Pigs: Three Different Ones’ (where Roger gives Trump both barrels
over and over and over again) and a hugely powerful ‘Us and Them’ (where the
gap between the two, as shown on the video screens, has never felt greater than
now). Along the way Roger sings the three best songs from his 2016 album ‘Is
This The Life We Really Want?’ and nails them in a way he never quite did on
the album, with heartfelt eulogies to lost love and lost lives echoing around
the arena (plus has there ever been a better verse for 2020’s mixture of power
politics and climate ignorance than ‘the temple’s in ruins, the banker’s
getting fat, the buffalo’s gone, the mountain top’s flat, the trout in the
stream are all becoming hermaphrodite, you lean to the left but you vote to the
righty’?) Best of all though is a chilling rendition of the full eighteen
minutes of ‘Dogs’, a song that always used to be about futility and frustration
but here sounds like defeat, as one of the last ‘dogs’ standing feels powerless
to stop the crushing descent of sheep voting in pigs who send them in to
slaughter, ‘ground down’ by it all. There’s a moment just before the final
verse where Doyle Bramhall III’s guitarwork, superb all the way through the
show but especially good here, sounds like the last lashing-out of a wounded
animal who knows that the vet is about to put him to sleep against his will at
any minute. After a full two hours of sheer horror and terror ‘Us and Them’
could easily have become a depressing work (like, say, ‘The Wall’ film or even
‘The Wall’ album) but the whole is saved by a beautiful rendition of ‘Brain
Damage’ and ‘Eclipse’ that acts like group therapy, telling us that we are not
mad even if our world leaders are. Roger also tweaks the arrangement so that,
an instrumental interlude later, we get the whole of ‘Eclipse’s uplifting
message a second time as a laser prism explodes into the sky, blotting out the
dark side of the moon as represented by a giant mirrorball and offering light
at last. It’s a hugely moving moment, bettered only by the humble ‘Charlie
Chaplin Great Dictator-like’ speech Roger gives afterwards to the end the show,
pleading with the audience to take the love they are projecting to the stage
and instead send it out into the world to the downtrodden people who need it
most. Yes the show could have been even better (‘If’ Roger’s earliest song
about Syd Barratt’s mental illness and his own guilty reaction to it would have
fitted in superbly, as would ‘Nobody Home’ the song of increasing isolation
from ‘The Wall’ an album which is curiously short-changed here, or ‘Perfect
Sense’s pounds shillings and pence mentality to solving the world problems, or
‘Each Small Candle’ the finale from previous shows). But no matter. This is
more than just another concert – this feels like a last gasp showdown between
all that is good and evil in the world, a matter of nothing short of life and
death, of pigs with sheep versus dogs, of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Rarely has music
sounded as if it mattered so much as it does here and if you’re here reading
this then you already know how very very much music matters in a world that
often makes us think that we don’t. Simply superb.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l27 level1 lfo21; text-align: center; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fcff01;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01;">Nick Mason “Saucerful Of
Secrets” (Sony/Legacy)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Interstellar Overdrive/Astronomy Domine/Lucifer
Sam/Fearless/Obscured by Clouds-When You’re In/Remember A Day/Arnold
Layne/Vegetable Man/If/Atom Heart Mother/If Reprise<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If Roger excelled at recalling the Floyd’s peak years then his old
bandmate is every bit at adept at re-calling the Floyd’s early years with his
new band. I spent a great deal of the AAA Pink Floyd e-book (‘Remember A Day’,
out now folks and cheap at a zillion times the price!) going ‘gee, I didn’t see
that coming!’ Box sets, bust-ups, giant stone heads, there were so many
unlikely events going on that I thought to myself ‘pigs might fly!’ Well,
here’s another one: Nick Mason’s life since ‘The Division Bell’ in 1994 has
consisted of one comeback concert (‘Live 8’ of course), an autobiography,
opening his garden up to the public and multiple appearances on ‘Top Gear’
showing off his car collection. There’s been very little music at all (Nick
jokes in the DVD at one stage about ‘taking the last twenty years off’) until
suddenly, in 2018, Nick started touring again with latter-day Floyd bassist Guy
Pratt and a few new friends. Their material was heavy on the early Syd
Barrett-era Floyd, their song choice a mixture of the inspired and the outright
bonkers (with nothing here post ‘Obscured By Clouds’ in 1972) and their
performances impressively loose and spontaneous (compared to the last few Floyd
tours anyhow) really capturing the can-do-anything flavour of the Floyd’s early
days. Why, here’s even a light show at the back, for the first time since 1968!
Nick, hired at the suggestion of Guy rather than the other way around, has you
suspect little to do with this venture besides the name (a little like his
‘solo’ albums) and yet his drumming is inspired, free and loose and jazzy in
all the right ways in a way it hasn’t been since, well, he recorded all this
stuff originally. Guy, about as far away from predecessor Roger Waters as you
can get, is genial and talented and brilliantly enthusiastic, getting to play
all the Floyd songs you suspect he wanted to all along but were vetoed by David
Gilmour. Guitarist Lee Harris is amazing, the musical love-child of Barrett and
Gilmour. Keyboard player Dom Beken is the album’s secret weapon in much the
same way Rick Wright was, the cushion that shields all the blows from guitars,
bass and drums and keeps the wagon on the road. The weakest link is Spandau
Ballet’s Gary Kemp – an unlikely substitute for the irreplaceable Syd as its
likely to find – but at times even his guitar-work is impressively Barrett-like
and his vocals just the right shade of darkened childhood. This band still
haven’t performed many shows, with covid killing off the momentum of their tour
just as it was getting started (this show at an old coaching shed at London’s
Roundhouse was recorded in 2019, fifty-two years after Floyd last played there;
as Nick put it during his promotion tour ‘at that point the venue was so new
they’d only just taken the trains out!’) At times it shows, as the trouble with
set-lists that take risks is you never quite know what you’re going to get
(‘Lucifer Sam’ is awful, a noisy mess with improvised snippets from Disney’s
‘Lady and The Tramp’ of all things set to a punk backing, ‘Remember A Day’ is
lumpy and clunky, not the flowing masterpiece of the band’s second album, ‘Atom
Heart Mother’ is as dull and ponderous as it always was - though the medley in
and out of ‘If’ is inspired I have to say - and the notorious ‘Vegetable Man’
is a good idea on paper but smacks too much of Syd in pain and forced to work
under duress rather than a reminder of his warm, creative, brilliant self like
the rest of the show, sticking out like a sore synthesiser). However at its
best (‘Interstellar Overdrive’ is impressively close to the anarchic spirit of
the original; ‘Fearless’ has never been prettier, ‘Childhood’s End’ is haunting
in the extreme, ‘Astronomy Domine’ explosive and ‘Bike’ perfectly on the line
between childhood innocence and terror) you can totally see why Mason has
thrown his lot in with this band and why it’s more than just nostalgia. After a
quarter of century existing only in box sets and history books and literally
museums (one concert aside) Pink Floyd feel as if they are alive again, which
is a miracle of itself. What’s more, you suspect that of all the
million-selling albums and colossal achievements the band have made since 1968
this is the Floyd Syd would have enjoyed the most, a fitting update to the
legacy of him and his four friends back when they were daring and the world was
young and they had the capacity to do absolutely anything. Flawed as it is,
mistakes as there are, weird arrangements and song choices as there sometimes
may be, this band truly have all the courage, passion and charisma of the early
Floyd at their best. I’d take it over the strained theatrics of ‘Pulse’ any
day. All we got to say to you is ‘go buy’…There’s just one sad thing about this
gig – that it isn’t the longer (and largely better) show performed in New York
shortly afterwards where Roger Waters turned up unannounced to sing an utterly
brilliant rendition of ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’! An even
bigger pig and more unlikely flew that night, but this one was pretty good too…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well that’s all from us for 2020. Stay as safe and well and as happy
as you can in 2021 dear readers (as The Who once sang 'Got a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year...') and have a collawollaboola Christmas from all
of us at Alan’s Album Archives !<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mDGy_vuK4rI/X9mCJSjhwQI/AAAAAAAAJgE/0uftYS92Ij0jBds61ytFqzb2MrQQOkMmQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20201216_033928.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mDGy_vuK4rI/X9mCJSjhwQI/AAAAAAAAJgE/0uftYS92Ij0jBds61ytFqzb2MrQQOkMmQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/IMG_20201216_033928.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-83845455075161543142020-12-01T05:00:00.017-08:002020-12-01T05:00:02.538-08:00Buy our E-Book!!! 'A Scrapbook Of Madness - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To...Alan's Album Archives' Is Available To Buy As An E-Book Now!!! <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORs5ddKBaCGxg5Xu0SaLAYv" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">'A Scrapbook Of Madness - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To...Alan's Album Archives' Is Available To Buy Now As An E-Book By Clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PC5T2PL" target="_blank">Here!</a></h2><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbdXb_rEe1g/X8VJ7grtwKI/AAAAAAAAJcU/gzfRRoRh6WsF1tYmFcV-U7pYA5dNuvQ0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dbdXb_rEe1g/X8VJ7grtwKI/AAAAAAAAJcU/gzfRRoRh6WsF1tYmFcV-U7pYA5dNuvQ0wCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/5.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_2JuHLSYE8/X8VKC4Wnn7I/AAAAAAAAJcY/x-cK3XsGpvwDip9H_wtODYfQljnjOgZlACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H_2JuHLSYE8/X8VKC4Wnn7I/AAAAAAAAJcY/x-cK3XsGpvwDip9H_wtODYfQljnjOgZlACLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/2.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Trp1lFiXPvI/X8VKH9NqHqI/AAAAAAAAJcc/P40AuRYRgfU1jgPzAE2NkIxXxg7kH7gOQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Trp1lFiXPvI/X8VKH9NqHqI/AAAAAAAAJcc/P40AuRYRgfU1jgPzAE2NkIxXxg7kH7gOQCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/3.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ymk-YerDzEg/X8VKMmgBEFI/AAAAAAAAJck/efDeR8zGWe44q7vEfEgx1CXYRR6j_v3qgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ymk-YerDzEg/X8VKMmgBEFI/AAAAAAAAJck/efDeR8zGWe44q7vEfEgx1CXYRR6j_v3qgCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/4.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq1KlCf_1uA/X8VKRFJL4LI/AAAAAAAAJco/eaRjo4Na8J0T0J0HQTlePc4OJdsLFm5dgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq1KlCf_1uA/X8VKRFJL4LI/AAAAAAAAJco/eaRjo4Na8J0T0J0HQTlePc4OJdsLFm5dgCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/1.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><p> </p></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-45686500497814634512020-11-01T04:00:00.001-08:002020-11-01T04:00:03.944-08:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Here We Are In The Years - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Neil Young' Is Available To Buy Now!<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTyzjchvxSP7pZMtPqd_xgp" width="560"></iframe><p> </p><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Here We Are In The Years - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Neil Young' Is Available To Buy Now As An E-Book By Clicking <a href="<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTyzjchvxSP7pZMtPqd_xgp" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>" target="_blank">Here</a></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXmAvtPuV3c/X521TJA2LkI/AAAAAAAAJQw/jfQGRjfhHys2AH-CtxxyIElssMK6VbNfQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXmAvtPuV3c/X521TJA2LkI/AAAAAAAAJQw/jfQGRjfhHys2AH-CtxxyIElssMK6VbNfQCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/5.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwXP8DXchdM/X526avQP7TI/AAAAAAAAJRI/wR_rFkc58H4RlO4GiwXsmw1nkCe-YYgAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwXP8DXchdM/X526avQP7TI/AAAAAAAAJRI/wR_rFkc58H4RlO4GiwXsmw1nkCe-YYgAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/2.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CLRpgAUnKG4/X526g4ZzHpI/AAAAAAAAJRM/E7gN3EUv8aopgbooej_zGmZzP6YmFEbTgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CLRpgAUnKG4/X526g4ZzHpI/AAAAAAAAJRM/E7gN3EUv8aopgbooej_zGmZzP6YmFEbTgCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/3.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtQsS0CWnqc/X526l6YPmuI/AAAAAAAAJRQ/jQlQF1vnMKkVEzqPK4li0mDkE89-ctj_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtQsS0CWnqc/X526l6YPmuI/AAAAAAAAJRQ/jQlQF1vnMKkVEzqPK4li0mDkE89-ctj_gCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/4.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9EkSSafmhY/X526vOhT0lI/AAAAAAAAJRc/tTUWfB9wbjk4Ry7CKR2bOQELHqdVkpzxACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H9EkSSafmhY/X526vOhT0lI/AAAAAAAAJRc/tTUWfB9wbjk4Ry7CKR2bOQELHqdVkpzxACLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/1.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></h1><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-51733901072134118132020-10-01T15:14:00.031-07:002020-10-01T15:14:00.497-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Gettin' In Tune - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Who' Is Available To Buy Now! <p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POR8WyXFGAtwFXqDB_XThZ6G" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: center;">'Gettin' In Tune - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Who' Is Available To Buy Now As An E-book By Clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KGB2ZTW">Here</a></h1><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPQVt_PuIxM/X3UEIcyCqaI/AAAAAAAAJIA/z5jdaVtOEl4NmxsYpDq7MqXXmMvFAty8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPQVt_PuIxM/X3UEIcyCqaI/AAAAAAAAJIA/z5jdaVtOEl4NmxsYpDq7MqXXmMvFAty8ACLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/5.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XFYjj5SRhUw/X3UEXaEFszI/AAAAAAAAJII/LGZ6UC_x5kMHR7eta8-1Mjrn5g5gr9ryQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XFYjj5SRhUw/X3UEXaEFszI/AAAAAAAAJII/LGZ6UC_x5kMHR7eta8-1Mjrn5g5gr9ryQCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/2.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lmSQoX6to5g/X3UEcZJdxGI/AAAAAAAAJIM/208IMx6HF3YMUa1rNTT9uSSI5De8L38bACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lmSQoX6to5g/X3UEcZJdxGI/AAAAAAAAJIM/208IMx6HF3YMUa1rNTT9uSSI5De8L38bACLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/3.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgOnSsS4zCw/X3UEh-0X--I/AAAAAAAAJIQ/lkkaA11zZs4qyaULWnkd83HDo4MfBgPqACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bgOnSsS4zCw/X3UEh-0X--I/AAAAAAAAJIQ/lkkaA11zZs4qyaULWnkd83HDo4MfBgPqACLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/4.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PuWcEZX64g/X3UEndUcTaI/AAAAAAAAJIY/SgfxSsR12g8G-UPZ5KOeK6jFG2JQjp78QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PuWcEZX64g/X3UEndUcTaI/AAAAAAAAJIY/SgfxSsR12g8G-UPZ5KOeK6jFG2JQjp78QCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/1.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-55230789546214844102020-09-01T10:59:00.004-07:002020-09-01T10:59:38.155-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Memories - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of 10cc' Is Available To Buy As An E-book Now!!!<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9PORB72BOoNHp9YdT2cs4LdG2" width="560"></iframe></div><p> </p><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">'Memories - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of 10cc' is available to buy as an e-book by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H1Q259Q">here! </a></h2><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHstIUjAzD0/X017W-OtdhI/AAAAAAAAI8M/WrJ1ptrl8boYuZz8wzD2wUT2sVef231qACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHstIUjAzD0/X017W-OtdhI/AAAAAAAAI8M/WrJ1ptrl8boYuZz8wzD2wUT2sVef231qACLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/5.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></h2><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38yaDWsYriA/X017wnywFvI/AAAAAAAAI8U/AqKRYkOMCi4OYasaKtqU12rMXBbCoDOmACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-38yaDWsYriA/X017wnywFvI/AAAAAAAAI8U/AqKRYkOMCi4OYasaKtqU12rMXBbCoDOmACLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/2.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WnTWNt-Lo0w/X018K4gA3zI/AAAAAAAAI8c/i5eQ7E8LZzAebochk_y0Mg8gSSXOIHiXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WnTWNt-Lo0w/X018K4gA3zI/AAAAAAAAI8c/i5eQ7E8LZzAebochk_y0Mg8gSSXOIHiXwCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/3.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHp5fhnPb8Y/X018PbDoUUI/AAAAAAAAI8g/-aJb9lhdR9EbEBmoJW0mn86bBtoohmdQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nHp5fhnPb8Y/X018PbDoUUI/AAAAAAAAI8g/-aJb9lhdR9EbEBmoJW0mn86bBtoohmdQQCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/4.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lvUqQjYWtZc/X018VZ9mx_I/AAAAAAAAI8k/Z6pcbg8c5mI9FlDdSJe_b5bWmPmDBQiXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lvUqQjYWtZc/X018VZ9mx_I/AAAAAAAAI8k/Z6pcbg8c5mI9FlDdSJe_b5bWmPmDBQiXQCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/1.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-4634222696142422132020-08-01T11:07:00.003-07:002020-08-01T11:07:56.227-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'One Day At A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Cat Stevens' is available to buy in e-book form now!<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQ_Tj6e6d5mEHrjVqYFaPYf" width="560"></iframe></div><h2 style="text-align: center;">You can now buy 'One Day At A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Cat Stevens' in e-book form by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F3RLM8L">here</a></h2><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iTrBGiBK0o/XyWu2RfuTHI/AAAAAAAAIzg/reHMo2An3YkinPl50UC1VhXQu5uBBbx4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iTrBGiBK0o/XyWu2RfuTHI/AAAAAAAAIzg/reHMo2An3YkinPl50UC1VhXQu5uBBbx4QCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/5.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNNAvjzR3ic/XyWu-gSGnmI/AAAAAAAAIzk/VKd5yHuUynE5-Ufzl8CSKTZlC-VMwqfIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNNAvjzR3ic/XyWu-gSGnmI/AAAAAAAAIzk/VKd5yHuUynE5-Ufzl8CSKTZlC-VMwqfIwCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/2.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkDzL-jb9zo/XyWvFt21GiI/AAAAAAAAIzo/BLx-0zgrZi8z0OVs3FnecTR1OqcA55IRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tkDzL-jb9zo/XyWvFt21GiI/AAAAAAAAIzo/BLx-0zgrZi8z0OVs3FnecTR1OqcA55IRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/3.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fzau-2RnOjg/XyWvLlhIrjI/AAAAAAAAIzw/xy6BbPy_KnskQaWP5ZH1lW3uF0xPWjuFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fzau-2RnOjg/XyWvLlhIrjI/AAAAAAAAIzw/xy6BbPy_KnskQaWP5ZH1lW3uF0xPWjuFQCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/4.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lh1WLZLItUs/XyWvUXAf3yI/AAAAAAAAIz4/QrQxWZOthzU26asqfS6HtW1Kffx2bCDcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lh1WLZLItUs/XyWvUXAf3yI/AAAAAAAAIz4/QrQxWZOthzU26asqfS6HtW1Kffx2bCDcQCLcBGAsYHQ/w565-h800/1.jpg" width="565" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-32721004333379362582020-07-01T11:56:00.001-07:002020-07-01T12:02:26.841-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'All Our Yesterdays - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Small Faces'<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POT1VVMOcf5QhgYO7e_7f7P7" width="560"></iframe></li></ul><div><font size="5">You can now buy 'All Our Yesterday - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Small Faces' in e-book form by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08C2V2NMZ" target="_blank">here</a></font></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnjt7xbFbCo/XvzbX3ehU1I/AAAAAAAAISo/YPBs0QuWKdQJ4sxD5bd_aSgTstup8K6sgCK4BGAsYHg/s2000/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="781" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnjt7xbFbCo/XvzbX3ehU1I/AAAAAAAAISo/YPBs0QuWKdQJ4sxD5bd_aSgTstup8K6sgCK4BGAsYHg/w554-h781/5.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rj-OjLof6iw/XvzbgDVP7OI/AAAAAAAAIS0/HWTzoly9FLM836MEyOeBlJOIsigNJ9jNQCK4BGAsYHg/s2000/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="781" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rj-OjLof6iw/XvzbgDVP7OI/AAAAAAAAIS0/HWTzoly9FLM836MEyOeBlJOIsigNJ9jNQCK4BGAsYHg/w554-h781/2.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EbwsxZIef0E/XvzboOy7bCI/AAAAAAAAITE/X3BDMFm3MdUsLeINlBhvqAoHeCr0nIfhwCK4BGAsYHg/s2000/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="781" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EbwsxZIef0E/XvzboOy7bCI/AAAAAAAAITE/X3BDMFm3MdUsLeINlBhvqAoHeCr0nIfhwCK4BGAsYHg/w554-h781/3.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBCFa9R2BOw/XvzbwcBOIHI/AAAAAAAAITU/z-4u9kl7_9YjqB9HhBqjVzlMnLHw8zfTwCK4BGAsYHg/s2000/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="781" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XBCFa9R2BOw/XvzbwcBOIHI/AAAAAAAAITU/z-4u9kl7_9YjqB9HhBqjVzlMnLHw8zfTwCK4BGAsYHg/w554-h781/4.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0vmbUky9wJA/Xvzb60jdGhI/AAAAAAAAITk/6gAFOr65lP45v5sJzI8yB2o9DeTUoYhKgCK4BGAsYHg/s2000/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="781" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0vmbUky9wJA/Xvzb60jdGhI/AAAAAAAAITk/6gAFOr65lP45v5sJzI8yB2o9DeTUoYhKgCK4BGAsYHg/w554-h781/1.jpg" width="554" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><font size="6"></font><font size="5"></font><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-5467488494042500092020-06-07T16:54:00.000-07:002020-06-07T16:54:12.466-07:00#Black Lives Matter!<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear all, this was a topic I wasn’t expecting to write about. Being neither black nor prejudiced against to the point where my life might one day be in danger from someone with a tiny mind and a big gun, it seemed better to amplify articles like this one written by people who face such prejudice every day and support the #BlackLivesMatter movement that way. But the movement reached the UK in a big way today. My timelines on all my social media are full of people who aren’t listening or ‘getting it’ because it’s something that happened ‘way over there’ and the heck am I letting what might be the most significant social revolution of the past half century past die when I could have done something. So here is my take on world events of the past month. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First a history lesson (perhaps not the one you’re expecting). When I was seven the only thing I could do to any ability worth noting was spell. I have no idea why, it just happened to be a warped side effect of my brain. It was invaluable, not just because I was already the type of kid who spent his spare time writing endless stories and cataloguing his music collection in alphabetical order. It also meant that, a year before leaving primary school, I finished the Midland curriculum’s most hated ill-conceived stupid concept of the 1980s: The Spelling Workshop. How did they ever think writing complex words on a coloured background and asking you to read them back to yourself as opposed to, oh I don’t know, reading them in a sentence as part of a book was going to work? As my school had nothing else for me and knew I quite liked history, they gave me a set of obsolete cards from the 1970s on figures of historical importance (which seemed like ancient history in the early 1990s and a time that couldn’t have any possible bearing on ‘now’). Whoever wrote these cards clearly had a ‘lefty’ slant, though at the time I was struggling enough with my physical left and rights to be aware of politics. These cards changed all that. I quickly learnt all of the things that they didn’t teach you in schools (normally): that Winston Churchill wasn’t necessarily a whiter-than-white war hero but an occasionally racist bigot who considered most of the subjects of The British Empire beneath him and thought racism the lesser of the Nazi evils. That the Russian Revolution had the strongest democratic ideals across history before it was warped by a figurehead with a power-ego that had this been in space would have sunk entire planets. That social change and unrest was not necessarily something to be feared but something that could make the world a fairer place for everybody, which seemed like a good idea to me. I mean, everybody wants to be treated fairly right? What’s so bad about that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mostly though I learnt about the man who is still my hero even over and above the musicians I discuss on my site. I discovered Martin Luther King. I found out how in ‘his’ time people thought what he was doing was outrageous and wrong and how when he had to he broke every law in the land. Because he did it all for the right reasons, time and time again, no matter how much they tried to stop or silence him. He carried on because he knew it was right – and through his eyes I knew he was right, too. I was in awe of how he stood up to the bullies who wanted to keep him quiet, even when what he wanted was best for everybody, because I knew how strong bullies were and the ones on my playground didn’t even have guns (well best for everybody except the odd white millionaire business owner who, y’know, had had enough breaks already in this life). I cheered him on as he stood up to evil cruelty not with hate but with love and understanding, standing up for a peaceful revolution of a problem that had become violent more because white people thought that way than black people did. I wept great buckets when, without knowing the ending, I discovered the way in which my hero died, so violently and so in the face of everything he stood for, just short of his promised land. Then I cheered on again as I read of all the good that was done in the name of my hero, meaning that his assassination ended up doing some good in the end. I thanked my lucky stars that I wasn’t born in such a backward and alien time, thanked the Gods that be that change had happened eventually, loved the fact that I had actually learnt something that was worth learning at school for a change (while wondering why this wasn’t on the curriculum properly) and handed in my coursework (where I think I got a low mark for being too ‘emotional’, as if it was possible to write about the Civil Rights Movement and not get emotional, but hey ho that’s all a bit foggy and another outrage for another day).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The more I grew up, though, the more I realised that I had been naïve to think that one man, even in death, had really changed anything. That what I had read about existed only in history books and pamphlets rather than the world I lived in. Racism was still on the news, all the time, that some poor soul had paid for their livelihood or their life simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time with a skin colour that was different to whoever happened to be in charge. The Civil Rights movement wasn’t on television and wasn’t being discussed in parliament but it was clearly an ongoing entity of racism that bared it’s ugly teeth every so often. There were no black people where I lived back then in a village in the middle of the Midlands and I didn’t meet any until my teens (and then never in the same classes), so in some ways it was easy to forget that such a fight had ever once been fought. That, I fear, is what happened to most people of my age and nationality: we didn’t see the suffering because it wasn’t reported by a generally white media, but it was happening all around us all the same. The difference is I had had access to those historical biographies when my classmates had not and it stayed with me long past the point when other primary school memories had died. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And why would it die out? The sad fact is that the people in power – the people with the best jobs or the guns or an address in Downing Street or The White House – have nearly always been white. The few that haven’t been have had to work so hard to be in that position of power that I can’t blame them for being unwilling to risk it all for speaking out to people who aren’t listening; I wouldn’t have been brave enough to either. I’m willing to guess too that most of the white people in power were so posh they didn’t have to do their Spelling Workshop in Primary School and that even if they had they certainly hadn’t read the biographies that I had. A problem out of sight is one out of mind. But that’s only true if you’re white, otherwise it is a problem potentially of life and death. Of being an unlucky statistic because of something innocent or even something not innocent that a white person wouldn’t have had to think about twice. I always felt that injustice burning in me as a child thanks to what I read. I know it as an adult now that I am lucky enough to have a few black friends and have heard the stories of their background – stories that, with my white privilege, seemed barely comprehensible. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other people who hadn’t read what I had surely would have thought the same if they had known these stories to be true, but they then assumed they couldn’t possibly be true because they hadn’t seen it, or if they had seen it assumed it was exaggerated. Because it wasn’t happening on our street it couldn’t be true. But the world is a lot bigger than the street and village and even the country that we grew up in and bad things happen in it, often out of sight unless you look for it and I did. As I said, I’m probably not the one who should be writing this. Clearly if this is your reality you know about it already and you don’t need me to tell you how bad and unjust and plain wrong most of the past few hundred years of history have been. The way certain people can’t travel to certain parts of town without getting beaten up, or apply for a better job, or call out a policeman without him having his neck sat on, or being shot in your own home in the middle of the night because of a ‘wrong number’, or even how we only recently stopped paying ‘reparations’ to the offspring of slave-owners, long after the point when my seven-year-old self would have blown a gasket had he realised. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you’re one of the people who hasn’t seen or realised this, then you are perhaps one of those people looking at the television and thinking the world has gone mad. The truth is – it always was and you didn’t see it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most of the objections to the protests (plainly not ‘riots’, that’s rich white man mediaspeak) seem to fall into two categories. One is ‘gee, all those people gathered together at a time of a pandemic, that’s not very smart is it?’ Well, another way to look at it is desperate. As a history student I know that society changes in fits and starts, from groaning pressure fitted to a system that’s outdated until it finally gives. I also know how few of them there have been in the Civil Rights movement: Dr King’s death was one, his polar opposite Malcom X’s death caused another, Stephen Lawrence’s murder brought in some new laws and debate. But moments of great change like the murder of George Floyd, that make the news beyond the neighbourhood where it happened and unite the world in disgust, don’t happen very often. We have to make the best use of it before that disappears. If that means risking lives in a pandemic then well we’d rather not but sadly so be it: justice is so long overdue that we can’t risk any delay. Some people have said to me that as the pandemic is affecting BAME lives particularly maybe they should be extra cautious. But what they don’t seem to understand is why BAME people are affected so disproportionately: because black people are more likely to be impoverished, less likely to have healthcare and chances are will be the ones left without a job once the pandemic is all over. This isn’t a movement that can wait for the pandemic to safely fade away and die because it is one so tied to it, because the pandemic that was the straw that broke the camel’s back of how utterly dreadfully mistakenly evil and corrupt and unfair our current system is. Certainly I consider protesting to be one hell of a lot more important than going to the beach or standing in a busy shop or testing your eyesight in Durham while dancing to Abba in your pants and given the lack of policing at all three of these events the powers-that-be apparently consider them much more ‘important’. The hypocritical cretins. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The other objection is that the protestors aren’t being peaceful and are breaking laws of curfews and graffiti and unrest. The first and most obvious thing to say is that the trigger that caused this riot – a white policeman kneeling on a black man’s neck – wasn’t peaceful either. The second is that the hand of peaceful protest was already extended once and ended in the assassination of my hero back in 1968. The third is that, yet again, the point of view of the people with all the people with all the power (i.e. guns) are the ones the mainstream media are showing because, well, that’s how the system works – sadly we didn’t change it enough in the past to represent all points of view so of course you’re going to see white talking heads on TV news if they’re available, not black ones. This revolution feels different this time though, not least because so many of the people who are there at the many gatherings around the world are sharing them on social media and showing what really happened. And guess what? The people with the power aren’t as whiter-than-white as they claim to be. I’ve tried to look for every piece of real footage I can over the past few days, not just the ones I want to see, and overwhelmingly 95% of them feature the police throwing the first stones, or more likely the first tear gas canisters. The fuss today is over a policewoman in Britain who got hurt and ended up in hospital; footage shows that she herself ran into a traffic sign and got knocked off her horse – none of the protestors were responsible at all. The vast majority of people do want peaceful protests anyway. But even the very very few minor incidents (mostly thrown water bottles and vandalism) that are taking place: well, it is hard to be peaceful to a world that’s been so violently to you your whole life, especially when it still won’t sodding listen. Or imagine how you’d feel walking past a statue dedicated to the man who might have enslaved your great-grandfather or great-grandmother every day while those who fought for civil rights go unrewarded and unrecognised. Plus after everything society has plainly got wrong the past few hundred years, I certainly won’t be kept up at nights worrying about a bit of graffiti. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That can wash off. Intrinsic racism can’t. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Something else I hear a lot is ‘but aren’t they breaking the law?’ Well, technically (but not as many as the president has this month alone). But since when was the law the ultimate decision-maker in what is right and was what is wrong? And what rights do laws from centuries past have to control those of us who, however slightly, are more forward-thinking than our ancestors? Without people brave enough to break the law there would have been very few of the rights that are nowadays taken as a whole-hearted unbreakable unassailable right. We would now be living in a very backward world instead had nobody ever broken a law: no votes for women, no votes for the poor and slavery would never have been abolished. Without Rosa Parks breaking the law we might still have segregated busses. Without The Beatles and those who followed we might still have segregated concerts. Without Martin Luther King’s life and death we would surely still be trying to changing the narrow-minded laws that still existed in the 1960s. Change has to start somewhere however small and today that small change is staying out after curfew and chanting and encouraging your police to take a knee in honour of a fellow human being and telling the world why it’s not alright to carry on the way things were before, that we’ve had enough, that it stops right here right now. If a law being broken means greater equality and less injustice in the world then, well, it was a bad law and one that demands you break it. Even, perhaps especially, if it’s a law being decreed by a braindead melted orang-utang in a business suit three sizes too big for him. This is the only way human beings can live and grow – by agreeing, generation by generation, what laws are outdated and what we can’t possibly let slide any longer and changing the laws accordingly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have also seen it said that ‘#alllivesmatter’ and shouldn’t that be the hashtag. Yes. Yes they do. But no it shouldn’t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the whole entire point of what’s going on, night after night. All lives matter and until all are treated equal that statement will never, can never, be true. Yes, white lives matter too but as a ridiculously small percentage of deaths out there are black people killing white people, until that percentage changes the hashtag #whitelivesmatter’ really doesn’t matter. It’s a statistical anomaly, no matter how many times somebody tries to wave biased media coverage against some white girl being groomed in front of me. The fact that is happens so rarely it makes the news is the whole definition of white privilege: when it happens its news. When it happens to black people, it isn’t news because it happens so often and so many times. This is the fire that’s burning now and the fire that needs putting out. This is the outrageous injustice that needs addressing. We can deal with other things on an individual basis later. Right here, right now, is where the help is needed because it has gone on for too long and at last, at Godalmighty last, there might just be a slight chance of a change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is 2020 now, thirty-odd years since I read about Martin Luther King’s life history. I was so convinced as a seven-year-old that the flames of outrage that had started back then was a fire strong enough to put out all the injustice and inequality in the world once we became adults. After all, none of my friends were racist, because no children really are – that comes later, with ignorance, power and (depending where you live) a big gun that makes you feel more powerful than you really are when you were so stupid that becoming a cop was the only good job you could get (it’s always really really bothered me how low the qualification levels for policing really are given how much power they have; I famously got censored at my job for telling the people of Runcorn ‘next time you ask a policeman the time he might not be able to tell you’ when it was revealed how low they really are, but that’s another issue for another time). My younger self would have been so shocked and so betrayed and so angry by the events this year – not just the famous ones but the ones that didn’t even come close to making it to the British news because, hey ho, unfair deaths happen to black people all the time. I realise that I still am – that I got used to life being that way, but that never meant it felt ‘right’. It doesn’t, it sucks, its long time past that it was changed and that time is now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have spent most of the interim years since I was seven horrified that true unquestionable equality to the point where everyone of every colour, gender, religion and class gets treated equally as a matter of birthright hasn’t happened yet. I longed for my generation to be the ones to do it when we came into power. Instead I feel very guilty that it has taken the generation behind us to add another stepping stone to the long line of paving slabs reaching towards equality that have gone before it and mortified that due to being poorly I cannot join in any marches personally. I can, though, do my part signing petitions, re-tweeting others and cheering on my brothers and sisters of every colour in and take pride in the fact that finally something is being done about an unspeakable wrong I have carried around with me since childhood. Hopefully, once 2020 is a distant memory filled with anecdotes about toilet paper and face masks to bore our grandchildren with, we will look back and see it as a disruptive year for all the right reasons – the one that made us realise where each country’s weakest parts were that still hadn’t been resolved from generations past and the year that made us come together in unity across the globe, rather than one that kept us back through injustice and social distancing. Let’s hope it sees an end to the powers wielded too viciously by the police, the powers wielded too stupidly by the president and especially to the powers that dictate who gets the best jobs and gets to live in the best house and gets the least trouble in life based entirely on the colour of their skin rather than their ability or character. I say good on everyone brave enough to fight a system when they know that it is wrong. It is you who are on the right side of history – not your ‘law-abiding’ colleagues or your confused friends or especially your shameful president, all of whom will be judged harshly and poorly. It is you who will be recorded in the biographies of the future handed out to bored children at school who have run out of spellings to do. It is you who will inspire them to go however much further will be needed in the future. I had a dream when I was seven, inspired by a much bigger dream dreamt by a much greater man than I, and it fills my heart with such greatness that finally that dream might come true. Please let it happen. Till then be safe, be kind where you can afford to be and be brilliant. History is watching you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yyhL0ioST_U" width="560"></iframe>Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-89712316209419507042020-06-01T11:21:00.000-07:002020-06-01T11:21:15.913-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Patterns - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Simon and Garfunkel' Is Available Now!!!<div style="text-align: center;">
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You can now buy 'Patterns - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Simon and Garfunkel' in e-book form by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089G787G8" target="_blank">here!</a></h2>
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<br />Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-63696016506248784842020-05-24T12:43:00.001-07:002020-10-31T12:36:04.023-07:00Nils Lofgren - A Career Overview
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<div align="center" style="background: rgb(253, 233, 217); border: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent6; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCc2GYUw_OQ/X528PVaXLKI/AAAAAAAAJRw/M7bH4AKWCZgixMg4Sn1gxZWW4aPUeke9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GCc2GYUw_OQ/X528PVaXLKI/AAAAAAAAJRw/M7bH4AKWCZgixMg4Sn1gxZWW4aPUeke9wCLcBGAsYHQ/w452-h640/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h1 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This article is also included in our Neil Young e-book 'Here We Are In The Years' which is available to buy now by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MCJPZFN" target="_blank">here</a></h1></div><div align="center" style="background: rgb(253, 233, 217); border: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent6; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div align="center" style="background: rgb(253, 233, 217); border: none; mso-background-themecolor: accent6; mso-background-themetint: 51; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt 1.0pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A little extra something': a career overview of one of Neil's greatest collaborators Nils Lofgren.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I really, really wanted to add a Nils
Lofgren book to the Alan’s Album Archives collection, but knew in my heart of
hearts that it would never sell (and thirty-one books would have made for a
very odd number). So here’s a compromise: the most important figure in Neil’s
book (bar him and Crazy Horse) with his own section at the end, with a run-down
of all the big ballads, angsty rock, the experimental one-offs and every
trampoline in the Lofgren discography. (Of course, since writing this Nils has
become an official member of the Horse anyway, so even better!) Going back
through it all album by album I’m struck by the parallels to Neil: there are
the critically acclaimed early 1970s records (though Nils never hit the
commercial heights of Neil), the plunge into despair following the split with
Nils’ first wife, the sudden return in 1979, the gradual slide into obscurity
and experimentation in the 1980s, the 1990s revival, the 2000s slump and the
epic box set to put things into perspective. Like Neil Nils’ catalogue is a
true range of the good, the bad and the indifferent but ultimately the good
moments are so brilliant you don’t mind putting up with the rest and even they’re
quite interesting simply because of the depth and range of the artist making
them, though if Nils lacks anything it’s the team that Neil had around him –
had there been a David Briggs or even a Crazy Horse then things might have been
so different and Nils would have the best-selling book in the Alan’s Album
Archive series. Personally I’ve never understood why Lofgren isn’t at least as
famous as big name super-stars, so why not give his catalogue a try? After all,
Neil’s only given us a handful of archive sets this year for a change, maybe
you have some money left over for once?!? </span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1) Nils Lofgren and Grin "Grin" (1971) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Like Rain/See What A Love Can Do/Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun/18
Faced Lover/Outlaw/We All Sung Together/If I Were A Song/Take You To The
Movies/Direction/Pioneer Mary/Open Wide/I Had Too Much </span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Chicago-born Lofgren was already a child prodigy on the
accordion before he heard rock and roll, bought a guitar and fell in love. He
already had a backlog of songs at age seventeen when he formed his first band
‘Grin’ modelled after his surname alongside bassist Bob Gordon and his vocal
sparring partner, gruff-voiced drummer Bob Berberich. Desperate to make it in
the music business, Nils attended a Neil Young gig at the ‘Cellar Door’ and
forced his way backstage to meet the man himself. Neil was, uncharacteristically,
impressed and asked Nils to look him up if he was ever in Laurel Canyon.
Lofgren did just that weeks later, hitch-hiking all the way, only to meet Neil
on his way out and having to make the journey all over again a second time.
When the pair did meet up Neil was making ‘After The Goldrush’ and already had
too many guitar players, but he did need a pianist. Nils had never played piano
before, but Neil argued it was close enough to an accordion – so Nils’ first
released recordings feature him learning an instrument he didn’t know how to
play! He was to get better very quickly indeed though and on Neil’s
recommendation Grin impressed David Geffen enough to sign to A& M Records.
This first record, released when Nils wasn’t quite yet twenty, is young dumb
and a whole lot of fun. Veering between teenage pop and screaming proto-punk
rockers, Grin have a greater range than most bands of their era and Nils
already has his style down pat: wide-eyed innocence at how great life can be
with a touch of cynical disbelief at how often human beings always seem to fall
short. His musical prowess is already staggering, while his vocal gymnastics
with Bob B are terrific, the two egging each other to go that bit further. The
material is perhaps a bit more patchy on this first record than on some later
discs though, with a lot of songs containing the same mid-paced stomp. When
this record is at its best, though, it’s pretty darn great indeed. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download: ‘Like Rain’ is one of
Nil’s best ballads, one which starts off cute and ends up killer soul. It will
become more subtle later with more experience, but Nils already nails it here.
Bob B shines on ‘Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun’, a gorgeous reflection on being
young and penniless and homeless, while knowing deep down that life will never
be this good again. ‘We All Sung Together’ is the start of Nils’ utopian side,
as a couple of years after Woodstock he imagines the world singing together on
a track that veers from soul to gospel. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2) Nils Lofgren and Grin "1+1" (1971) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Rockin’ Side: White Lies/Please Don’t Hide/Slippery Fingers/Moon
Tears/End Unkind//Dreamy Side: Sometimes/Lost A Number/Hi Hello Home/Just A
Poem/Soft Fun</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Everything works on album two bar the low sales figures, with an
inventive eclectic record generally considered Grin’s masterpiece. Already
Nils’ material is being easily divided up into hard-hitting rockers and dreamy
ballads, so Grin take the inventive step<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of not making a side ‘A’ and ‘B’ but a ‘rocky’ and ‘dreamy’ side (you’re
meant to be able to listen to them in any order, but the CDs have always put
the ‘rock’ side first). It is, to my ears at least, what ‘Pet Sounds’ should
sounded like: a tale of a relationship growing and disintegrating written from
the heart, but with an orchestral accompaniment that actually rocks and adds to
the authenticity of the writing. The opening fifteen minutes sustain a
ridiculous level of intensity as Nils picks himself up from a failed
relationship to urge his girl to be honest with him and the second is almost
like a tale told in flashback, happier times when Nils could afford to give his
heart without it being broken. Graham Nash, intrigued after hearing Neil talk
about the band, dropped in to help with production and adds some neat Holliesy
harmonies to Nils’ most 1960s hook-filled pop song ‘Hi, Hello Home’. Bob B also
gets his definitive performance on a gloriously messy ‘End Unkind’, a killer
creepy track that ends with maniacal laughter. ‘White Lies’, meanwhile, is the
closest Grin ever got to having a hit, a glorious collection of energy, riffing
and poetry – it didn’t chart but a lot of DJs loved it and played it lots
across the start of 1972. Amazingly, these three songs aren’t even the best on
the record, recorded back to back with the first Crazy Horse album that shares
a similar vibe and feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download: ‘Moon Tears’ is still my
favourite Nils rocker, even here in two minute truncated form. Nils’ girl
decided it’s not working and wants to be friends, knowing he’s sweet enough to
understand – he is, but only after a ridiculously virtuoso eruption of anger,
bluster and hurt feelings. ‘Sometimes’ features Nils alone against an orchestra
putting on his dreamy teenage voice and one of his most poetic lyrics about how
not all relationships are meant to be. Best of all is ‘Soft Fun’ – Nils goes
too OTT too early here, but later live recordings will show this to be a
gorgeous song, a meeting of minds between two sensitive souls who are obsessed
with each other and scared of how it makes them feel. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3) Nils Lofgren and Grin "All Out" (1972) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Sad Letter/Heavy Chevy/Don’t Be Long/Love Again/She Ain’t
Right/Love Or Else/Ain’t Love Nice?/Heart On Fire/All Out/Rusty Gun</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Grin are by now lined up for the chop, with two flop albums in a
while, so Nils throws out the more interesting experimental tracks and adding
two new members, younger brother Tom Lofgren on second guitar and shrieky gust
vocalist Kathi McDonald (Janis Joplin’s replacement when Big Brother and The
Holding Company reformed without her). The result is a patchier record that’s
trying just a bit too hard to sound like everyone else around, but when it
works it still works really well, with more hooks than a pair of curtains. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download: ‘Sad Letter’ is an
interesting place to start: Bob B was full of the joys of Spring but has just
that second got a letter out the blue dumping him. Nils writes back trying to
explain things from his point of view, but they only succeed in triggering each
other instead as they set off on some amazing vocal acrobatics yet still
somehow manage to stay in delicious close harmony. ‘Don’t Be Long’ is an aching
ballad given an extra kick from Kathi’s vocals – too strong elsewhere on the
album, she’s spot-on here for a ‘how it did go so wrong?’ kind of song. ‘Love
Or Else’ is Nils’ lusty side showing itself for the first time, as he demands
his lover go all out or go home over a hypnotic rock riff. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4) Nils Lofgren and Grin "Gone Crazy" (1973) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">You’re The Weight/Boy & Girl/What About Me?/One More
Time/True Thrill/Beggar’s Day/Nightmare/Believe/Ain’t For Free</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Grin knew this was to be their last chance
and they don’t sound as if they’re enjoying themselves too much. Nils sounds
distracted, re-writing older better songs and sounding as if he’d rather be
anywhere but the recording booth. The loss of ‘Danny Whitten’ also casts a
shadow over this record which has the feeling of lost innocence running through
it (though it’s not quite ‘Tonight’s The Night’ – Nils is too ‘up’ for that –
it’s more like the run of songs on ‘Homegrown’ where Neil is trying to find his
way out of the depths of despair). It’s a real shame as Grin sounds as if they
still had so much to give and the interaction between Nils and Bob B is great,
the pair alternating which is to be the crazy’ one and which is the
‘straightman’. The fact that only two of these songs made it to Nils’ box set
when two-thirds of the other records made it rather says it all.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks to download:
‘You’re The Weight’ is one last gasp of Grin intensity as Nils pays tribute to
someone whose important and ‘heavy’ enough to be ‘worth waiting for’. Desperate
for material, here Nils nicks back ‘Beggar’s Day’ from the first Crazy Horse
album and dubs it a ‘eulogy for Danny Whitten’, who died shortly before the
recording of this record started. Compared to the Horse it’s hopeless, a plod
not a gallop, though it’s still a great song in any version. ‘Believe’ too
sounds nothing here but in later live recordings will prove to be one of Nils’
prettier songs, as he urges a lover (or perhaps himself) to brave his heart to
love again. </span><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5) “Nils Lofgren" (1975) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Be Good Tonight/Back It
Up/One More Saturday Night/If I Say It It’s So/I Don’t Want To Know/Keith Don’t
Go/Can’t Buy A Break/Duty/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Rock and Roll
Crook/Two By Two/Goin’ Back </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Nils re-signed as a solo star and at first
at least had a better time of things, with this record out-selling the Grin
quartet and picking up lots of good reviews. Rightly so – other albums are
darker and more powerful, but in terms of consistency this is the best record
Nils has ever made. Affectionately known as ‘Fat Man’ to fans after the circus
cover (the same backdrop was used in a Monkees TV episode AAA fans!), this one
has everything Grin had and more too: rockers, ballads, experiments, gospel and
soul with a couple of Nils’ greatest lyrics on offer too. The fine players on
this record include Wornell Jones and Jefferson Starship’s Aynsley Dunbar.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download:
‘Keith Don’t Go’ is rightly hailed as one of Nils’ best songs, recorded as a
tribute to Keith Richards at a time when his drug intake was alarming his fans.
It’s a quite brilliant Stones pastiche in parts, but even the Stones couldn’t
play this well with this much energy. ‘The Sun Hasn’t Set’ is one of my
favourite Lofgren songs, a smart sassy tale of how everyone in his life has
always written him off from school upwards, but as long as he’s alive he still
has a chance to prove people wrong and get his heart’s desire. A smart snappy
piano hook reveals how far Nils has come since ‘After The Goldrush’ five years
before. Finally, ‘Goin’ Back’ might seem like an odd choice – it’s a cover of
the very drippy Carole King song that got short shrift in these books when The
Byrds covered it. Nils, though, gives this song of fading childhood an added
bite and a circling piano lick both of which make it soar. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">6) Nils Lofgren "Back It Up – The Official Bootleg" (1975)
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Take You To The Movies-Back It Up/Keith Don’t Go/I
Don’t Want To Know/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Goin’ Back/Like
Rain/Beggar’s Day-Soft Fun</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The story goes that because Nils was doing
so well in terms of airplay but not sales A&M would concentrate on them,
offering up a ‘promo’ 1000-copy live set for them to play to drum up interest
for his first album. The record was so popular it became a bootleg, while the
record company turned a ‘blind eye’ to it because it was drumming so much
publicity and they thought it was a bit too soon for an official live album.
The album then became fully official in 2003 when it was released on CD as part
of Nils’ discography, with its original bootleg cover that consisted of
cut-and-paste newspaper cuttings! It’s a good little show though not the best,
with Nils and band on sleepy form compared to the energy of their best gigs. The
players on this record include Tom Lofgren, Scotty Ball, Mike Zak and Al
Kooper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: ‘I
Don’t Want To Know’ is the song that changes most from the record version,
going from upbeat pop in denial to a sad blues lament sung with real bite as
Nils comes to terms with a former lover moving on without him. ‘Keith Don’t Go’
isn’t up to the record but features a blistering guitar solo. ‘Like Rain’ is
already a world away from the studio version, an intense song of misery rather
than a fluffy but cute bit of pop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">7) Nils Lofgren “Cry Tough" (1976) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Cry Tough/It’s Not A
Crime/Incidentally…It’s Over/For Your Love/Share A Little/Mud In Your Eye/Can’t
Get Closer/You Lit A Fire/Jailbait</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Like the third Grin album, Nils tries to
follow up a critically acclaimed record with one that’s much the same only more
commercial. Like ‘All Out’ it doesn’t quite work though there are still many
great moments here. A lot of the songs are popular with fans though and are
still in Nils’ set-list to this day. Continuing his ‘unlikely covers’ theme,
this time Nils cover Graham Gouldman’s Yardbirds song ‘For Your Love’, slowing
it down and then speeding it up so it’s less cat-and-mouse but way more
intense. Lots of players turn up on ‘Cry Tough’, the first Lofgren album
recorded in different studios over a long period, though the most interesting
ones are old Crazy friends Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, who add some lovely
backing harmonies to the songs ‘Incidentally It’s Over’ and ‘Share A Little’.
Interestingly, while the two men don’t play on them, these are also the two
with the most Crazy Horse vibes, tight slinky intense rockers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download: The
last time we had a song about being dumped for being unable to dance in an AAA
book it was a Merseybeat cover of a flimsy 1950s song and treated like a joke
There’s nothing that jokes about ‘Cry Tough’ though, which is a slow-burning
epic about overcoming obstacles and doing everything in your power to make your
dreams come true. Nils’ fast-fingered guitar solo is impossible to keep up with
using your ears, never mind what it must have been like to play. ‘Share A
Little’ is a gutbucket blues in the Stephen Stills mould, a repetitive riff and
Nils in angry, calculated form suddenly and violently lashing out just as
you’ve grown used to this unique style, with Billy and Ralph’s lovely harmonies
adding to the drama. ‘Can’t Get Closer’ is the hit single that never was, a
catchy single straight from the heart about love and loss and gradually
realising a relationship that once meant so much is falling apart, full of fizz
and sizzle. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">8) Nils Lofgren "I Came To Dance" (1977) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I Came To Dance/Rock Me At Home/Home Is Where The Hurt Is/Code
Of The Road/Happy Ending Kids/Goin’ South/To Be A Drummer/Jealous Gun/Happy</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Alas Nils was running out of ideas for his
third album, which in many ways is his weakest effort. All the songs are
simpler than usual and in the dying days of prog are stretched out past
breaking point. ‘I gotta be my dirty self, I won’t play no jive!’ wails Nils in
the title track – ironically this is the first of his records where he does
jive us, with none of the ‘dirt’ of previous records on display. Even on
automatic pilot Nils has something to offer, but this is a record to give a
miss. Players this time around include Tom Lofgren, Wornell Jones, Andy
Newmark, ‘Ram’ session guitarist Hugh McCracken and The Rev Patrick Henderson. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: ‘I
Came To Dance’ is the most popular track here. It’s no ‘Cry Tough’ and recycles
many of the same ideas, but it is as catchy as hell and on stage gave former
leading gymnast Nils plenty of excuses for fun with trampolines. ‘Code Of The
Road’ is a gloomy slow-burning rocker about how different being a touring
musician is to being at home, which is at least more from the heart than other
songs here. Finally, this album’s surprise cover song is ‘Happy’, the Keith
Richards rocker off ‘Exile On Main Street’. Alas slowed down to a crawl it
rolls more than it rocks, but the sentiment is pure Nils. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">9) Nils Lofgren "Night After Night" (1977) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Take Me To The Movies/Back It Up/Keith Don’t Go/Like Rain/Cry
Tough/It’s Not A Crime/Goin’ Back/You’re The Weight/Beggar’s Day/Moon
Tears/Code Of The Road/Rock and Roll Crook/Goin’ South/Incidentally…It’s Over/I
Came To Dance</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Hopes were high following ‘Back It Up’ that
Nils’ first official live LP would really be something, but alas Nils is still
in something of a slump. Even the title has a tinge of weariness to it.
Compiled from three different gigs on the ‘Dance’ tour (London, Glasgow and
California), it’s not that it doesn’t get going so much as that it doesn’t have
any sense of dynamics (unusual for Nils), with everything sounding much the
same. Musicians this time around include Tom Lofgren, Wornell Jones, David
Platshon and the Rev Patrick Hendersen. It’s a real pity that Nils didn’t wait
a tour as the 1979 one was superb (you can buy a Nils DVD featuring his
Rockpalast gig for German TV that year and its outstanding). Perhaps
unsurprisingly, this double set is one of Nils’ hardest records to track down
today and it’s the only record Nils ignored entirely for his ‘Face The Music’
box set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">10) Nils Lofgren "Nils" (1979) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">No Mercy/I’ll Cry
Tomorrow/Baltimore/Shine Silently/Steal Away/Kool Skool/A Fool Like Me/I Found
Her/You’re So Easy</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">This is more like it! Usually when record
companies get involved they ruin records, but A&M’s suggestions for getting
a ‘hit’ record were actually quite sensible this time around. First of all they
asked if Nils could work with a ‘name’ songwriter, preferably someone also on
the label; though he was hurt at first, Nils cheekily suggested The Velvet
Underground’s Lou Reed and was shocked when first A&M and then Lou himself
agreed. The two don’t sound as if they should have a natural bond but they do,
Lou generally writing ‘poems’ (and dictating them to Nils in the middle of the
night over the phone!) and Nils then setting them to music. This results in a
tougher, more credible heartfelt sound than we’ve had of late, while also
allowing Nils to explore his more melodic side as a contrast to Lou’s more
cynical world view. Especially notable are ‘I Found Her’, a warm glowing
romantic song about a girl Nils saves from drug addiction and who then makes
sure she stays addicted to him instead and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Steal Away’ where Nils all but orders a girl to run away and elope with
him. Nils is up to the challenge too with some of his best vocals, gritty and
nasty and spiteful, but still with his usual sense of beauty and awe. Other
collaborations by the pair turn up on Lou’s period album ‘The Bells’. However
it’s another co-writer, Dick Wagner (not the opera guy), who helped Nils come
up with his most famous song ‘Shine Silently’, another huge radio hit that
deserved better sales. A&M’s other suggestion was a name producer and on
Lou’s recommendation picked Bob Ezrin. This ended up being the last record Bob
would work on before Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and while the songs are very
different there is something similar in the production – a sense of scale and
spectacle and shimmer and even sound effects on occasion, all tied up with a
contemporary pop feel that keeps things listenable. The result is one of Nils’
best albums and only a couple of embarrassingly teenage songs stop this being
his greatest (‘Kool Skool’ is surely Nils’ worst song, a horny Lofgren
remembering teenage days groping girls in his class). This album’s weirdo cover
is Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’, which is re-arranged here to sound like Bruce
Springsteen – Nils will be asked to join the E-Street Band five years later...Musicians
this time round include Tom Lofgren, Bob Babbitt, Stu Daye, Jody Linscott,
Allan Schwartzberg and Bob Ezrin himself on backing vocals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: ‘No
Mercy’ seems an unlikely candidate for a fan favourite: it’s basically a boxing
tournament gone wrong. However Nils’ catchy chorus and his metaphors for being
nice to people even during a fight make for a winning combination. ‘Shine
Silently’ is one of the best songs Nils ever wrote, a beautiful song about
unsung heroes that turns from moody song of hopelessness to golden singalong by
the end. Even if it took The Hollies to get the most out of this song (with an
even more gorgeous 1988 cover) this is many a fans’ favourite Nils track for a reason.
‘A Fool Like Me’ is an overlooked classic too, a catchy song written from one
fool trying to date another, where Nils admits to being charmingly naïve as if
it’s a bad thing when it’s a good part of why we love him so much (As I also
think ‘all people are equal’ I guess that makes me a fool too).</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">11) Nils Lofgren “Night Fades Away” (1981) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Night Fades Away/I Go To Pieces/Empty Heart/Don’t Touch Me/Dirty
Money/Sailor Boy/Anytime At All/Ancient History/Streets Again/In Motion</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The title sounds like a Neil Young album, but alas it’s the
Springsteen influences have taken over fully for another of Nils’ poppier and
more commercial albums that doesn’t really have the depth of his best work. Now
signed to ‘Backstreet Records’, this is the first of a run of Nils’ obscurer
albums that are difficult to track down, particularly on CD. The best of this
record (i.e. what’s below) is still worth tracking down though and continues
the blend of anger and innocence of ‘Nils’, with signs of Nils’ fraying first
marriage (to actress Cis Rundle). This album has not one but two unlikely cover
versions: Del Shannon’s ‘I Go To Pieces’ and The Beatles’ ‘Anytime At All’, a
relatively obscure song from the ‘Hard Day’s Night’ soundtrack which was one of
the first LPs Nils bought at the age of thirteen. Nils played almost everything
himself on this album, which is notably low on percussion, though
producer/engineer Jeffrey Baxter helped out with some synth and guitar parts.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: ‘Empty Heart’ is similar
to the Grin songs of loss and betrayal, an angry set of stabbing chords mixed
with Nils’ vulnerable lines about being hurt and lost watching another
relationship go wrong. ‘Don’t Touch Me’ takes things a stage further, an angry
Nils barking at his lover not to come anywhere near him and that he’s getting
his own back after being used, with a sly menacing vocal that’s genuinely
creepy. ‘Ancient History’, meanwhile, is the only time outside Neil’s
discography a tack piano is a good thing on a song about an ex coming around
again many years too late, with a vocal that doesn’t know whether to laugh or
cry and a guitar solo that’s exquisite even for Nils. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">12) Nils Lofgren "Wonderland" (1983) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Across The Tracks/Into The Night/It’s All Over Now/I Wait For
You/Daddy Dream/Wonderland/Room Without Love/Confident Girl/Lonesome
Ranger/Everybody Wants/Deadline</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Wonderland’ is a more consistent record,
but again lacks something of the joi de vivre of Nils’ best work. The darkness
is still here and much of this record feels as if it’s under a cloud, but on
the better songs the sunshine does come out again in a very Nilsy type way. We’re
back to one unusual cover again too: Bobby Womack’s ‘It’s All Over Now’ (best
known from the Stones cover). Released on MCA, perhaps this record’s most
memorable feature beyond the title track is the very arty front cover with Nils
and band (Andy Newmark and Kevin McCormick) in sunglasses sitting on some arty
chairs against walls painted vibrant shades of primary colours. Guest musicians
include Louise Goffin (the daughter of Gerry Goffin and Carole King), Edgar
Winter and Carly Simon. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: #002060;">Three Tracks To Download: Both side closer are superb
edgy rock songs. ‘Daddy Dream’ might be gibberish when you study the lyrics but
Nils sings it like he means it, with his guitar cranked louder than it’s ever
been barking away behind him. ‘Deadline’ is an angry stomp of belated punk,
Nils running himself ragged for no reason as a clocking tick of a riff keeps
him on his toes against some more exceptional solo-ing. However it’s
‘Wonderland’ itself that delights the most, Nils writing the rules for his own
particular paradise that sounds great to me – you never have to hurt anybody
for yourself to ‘get ahead’, there’s no ‘fairytale Hollywood people messing
with your head’ and ‘even the pretty girls think that being nice is cool’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="color: #002060;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">13) Nils Lofgren "Flip!" (1985) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Flip Ya Flip/Secrets In The Street/From The Heart/Delivery
Night/King Of The Rock/Sweet Midnight/New Holes In Old Shoes/Dreams Die
Hard/Big Tears Fall</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Flip!’ is something of a return to form
though. Nils’ best album of the 1980s, on the one hand it waves goodbye to lots
of trademarks (songs about tears and dreams and the shot of Nils doing
somersaults on the cover – at thirty-four it was becoming too hard to do on
stage anymore) and on the other it’s the most contemporary album Nils has
probably ever made, full of booming period synths and production noises. This
is alas a little off-putting to modern ears, but the material is (mostly) good
and timeless enough to withstand it all, with some of Nils’ greatest lyrics all
about digging deep and continuing to dream in the face of adversity. Released
on another minor label (Towerbell Records), it did better in the charts than
any of Nils’ records had for a decade (perhaps because of his recent touring
with Brucey) and deservedly so. One of the reasons this record works so well is
the amount of old friends along for the ride including Wornell Jones and Andy
Newmark. This is also the one of Nils’ CDs to have a ‘bonus’ track, excellent
period B-side ‘Beauty and The Beast’. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: The
title track is gorgeous, Nils taking the metaphor of his on-stage acrobatics to
tell us how we can turn our life around from whatever gets us down, whatever
age we are (‘eight or forty-nine’). Nils also sounds, ironically given his
success with this album, as if he’s come to terms with his record sales too,
sighing sadly that ‘trying your best don’t mean bein’ number one’. One of Nils’
most emotional and powerful songs. ‘King Of The Rock’ isn’t far behind either –
one of the most outré examples of heavy rocking in it’s canon, it still has
room for some fascinating lyrics exploring Nils’ psyche and what makes him keep
returning to his muse of music over and over again. Every creation has purpose
and mine is to rock! Well, to write about rocking anyway…’New Holes In Old
Shoes’ is a superb song that goes somewhere new and points forwards to the
pained acoustic blues of the 1990s. Nils’ vocal is muted and guilty as he
realises he’s repeated some dumb mistake from his past, a ‘new soft touch’ that
turned out to be ‘the same old blade’ and is keeping him up at night. Will he
never learn? Superb. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">14) Nils Lofgren "Code Of The Road" (1986) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Beggar’s Day/Secrets In The Street/Across The Tracks/Delivery
Night/Cry Tough/Dreams Die Hard/Believe/The Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Code
Of The Road/Moon Tears/Back It Up/Like Rain/Sweet Midnight/No Mercy/Anytime At
All/New Holes In Old Shoes/Keith Don’t Go/Shine Silently/I Came To Dance</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">In contrast to the energy of ‘Flip!’, Nils’
second ‘proper’ live album is another oddly sleepy double-record set that isn’t
up to other live shows out on bootleg or D DVD. Wornell Jones, Johnny ‘Bee’
Badanjek and Neil Young ‘roadie’ Larry Cragg try their hardest but this is a
dodgy set by Nils’ standards where every song feels as if runs on much too
long. Give it a miss.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘The Sun Hasn’t Set’ has,
after a decade on the road, turned from a moment of bruised defiance into a
twinkling song of self-confidence. ‘Like Rain’ is the sound of a man whose been
through a lot before his time in comparison to the innocent naïve version that
kick-started Grin’s career. ‘Keith Don’t Go’ has another glittering guitar
solo, even if it takes a looooong time to get going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">15) Nils Lofgren “Silver Lining” (1991) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Silver
Lining/Valentine/Walkin’ Nerve/Live Each Day/Sticks and Stones/Trouble’s
Back/Little Bit O’Time/Bein’ Angry/Gun and Run/Girl In Motion</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">I was always surprised it took Nils so long
to follow up one of his more successful LPs and why Towerbell Records didn’t
simply sign him up immediately (only ‘surrogate’ Pink Floyd guitarist Snowy
White sold more on the label). Instead Nils had to wait six years to make a
studio set for Rykodisc which, oddly given the circumstances, comes off feeling
a bit rushed. The production stylings are if anything worse than on ‘Flip!’ but
the material can’t match it, with the exception of a handful of truly brilliant
songs. For the most part Nils is in a drippy mood too, having recently got
married to second wife Amy – though a lot of fans love this album’s near-hit
single ‘Valentine’, I’ve always found it one of his drippiest songs. The silver
linings of this album are the musicians which include Kevin McCormick, Andy
Newmark, Billy Preston, Levon Helm and – as a favour for joining his first two
‘All-Starr’ tours – Ringo Starr. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download:
Alas this isn’t the best take of it, but the live versions of ‘Walkin’ Nerve’
show that it’s one of Nils’ best songs. Seeing his family growing up, Nils is
reminded of his own awkward teenage years when he was pulled in all directions
and sets it to a rocking riff that’s forever trying to knock him off his feet.
It’s also the best drumming Ringo had played since Lennon’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’
album of 1970. Do check out the ‘All-Starr’ live version of it though which
goes one stage better and thrashes everything else on Ringo’s 3 CD set! ‘Sticks
and Stones’ is even better (but again works far better live), as a wounded Nils
slinks into his shell after a fight, only to finally explode in anger in the
final verse after five-minutes of pretending he won’t. Magic. ‘Girl In Motion’
isn’t up to these two songs but is very sweet, Nils caught between an old love
and a new love as he realises that his life is changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">16) Nils Lofgren "Crooked Line" (1992) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">A Child Could Tell/Blue Skies/Misery/You/Shot At You/Crooked
Line/Walk On Me/Someday/New Kind Of Freedom/Just A Little/Drunken Driver/I’ll
Fight For You</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">The sequel (also out on Rykodisc) was
equally patchy material-wise but sounds great, the start of a run of more
acoustic led (and thus less dated) albums in Nils’ discography. There are more sweet
songs about Nils’ new love, but interestingly also a greater opening up as he
reveals his vulnerable side like never before (‘I’m in deeper and it shows!’ as
one of the better songs puts it). This time round Nils is joined by Eric Ambel,
Johnny ‘Bee’ Badanjek, Frank Funaro and Andy York. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download:
‘You’ is a great little love song, one that combines a catchy chorus shouted in
ecstasy and a quieter verse where Nils worries if he can ever live up to the
love of his life. ‘A Shot At You’ is the other extreme, a slow-burning ballad (though
notably a lot faster here than in the live versions!) where Nils vows to keep
her for the rest of his life whatever happens next, with some gorgeous guitar
fills along the way. Finally ‘New Kind Of Freedom’ stands out on an album
without many production frills, a Grin-like song about optimism and hope. ‘Is
the war really over?’ Nils asks nervously. ‘Did I win the fight?’ The answer
surely is yes, with Nils about to enter another golden patch.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">17) Nils Lofgren "Everybreath" (1993) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">No Return/Tender Love/Take Me Home/No Tomorrow/Dreams Come
True/Rainy Nights/Alone/Tryin’ Not To Fall/Good Day For Goodbyes/Lions Wake/Out
Of The Grave/A Lefty/Tough Trails/Fallen Into His Hands/I’ll Arise/Dance Of
Life/Will There’s A Way/Where I Wanna Be</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Everybreath’ is an odd little album,
unique in Nils’ discography. For a start it’s a film soundtrack, albeit one
released a full year before the film, and thus the only time Nils wrote ‘for’
characters rather than from the heart. It’s the only album Nils released for
label SPV. It’s also the start of what he would later call his ‘living room
voice’, a deeper less commercial growl that’s a world away from his poppier
younger days and suits the more complex songs from the second half of his
career. There are also a lot more instrumentals than normal and even the songs
that aren’t come with lengthy interludes, making this one of Nils’ best albums
to buy if you’re mostly into his technique. This all makes for one of Nils’
slower, less immediate albums that take a while to grow on you but has a lot of
good stuff as ever and was great value for money on first release, coming as it
did with a ‘bonus’ EP<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘I’ll Arise’
containing the last four songs. It’s certainly a lot better than the film,
about an unemployed actor who is seduced by a lesbian in a nightclub and ends
up mixed up with an arms dealer. It must have been difficult for Nils too – his
ex wife was playing the lesbian! Nils plays most of this album himself but is
joined by guest vocalists Tommy Lepson and Bonnie Sheridan Bramlett, half of
‘Delaney and Bonnie’ (She was Delaney…no only kidding, Bonnie it is!)</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download: ‘Dreams
Come True’ is Nils all over – someone whose been through hell still vowing his
comeback and believing in second chances on the closest to pure blues in his
catalogue. ‘Alone’ will be completely reinvented and revamped in better form
for ‘Damaged Goods’ to come but gets a mention here because that album’s spoilt
for choice. In its remake it’s a haunted song about loneliness and despair
complete with screams in the fade-out and a scattergun electric guitar part
that sounds as if it’s fighting a losing battle. Here it’s a reflective song
about loss and middle age, with more chance to hear one of Nils’ most exquisite
melodies. ‘I’ll Arise’ is a sweet little long and a live favourite, Nils’
storyteller overcoming bad odds thanks to his lover and ‘family ties’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">18) Nils Lofgren "Damaged Goods" (1995) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Damaged Goods/Only Five Minutes/Alone/Trip To Mars/Here For
You/Black Books/Setting Sun/Life/Heavy Hats/In The Room/Nothin’s Fallin’/Don’t
Be Late For Yesterday</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Nils’ masterpiece. Everything about this
album is superb: it’s the deepest set of songs in Nils’ catalogue, all biting
songs about the darker side of life and the frailty of humans, delivered with
panache by a power trio of Nils, engineer/bassist Roger Greenawalt and drummer
Andy Newmark and some superb production that’s a cross between ‘Sleeps With
Angels’ and ‘Mirrorball’. Every song on this album packs an emotional whallop
and each one goes somewhere different, from a former alcoholic relapsing and
ending up in prison, to a broken-hearted lover that’s been cheated on, to a
teenage parent who can’t face up to his responsibility, to a killer who so doesn’t
want to be in a gang, to a broken middle-aged man trying to find the strength
to love again – and all of them ring true. One of the finest albums about
depression and loss ever written, this is right up there with my favourite
records by anybody. Fans who wondered if Nils could ever stop being ‘up’ long
enough to hear a Nils Lofgren version of ‘Tonight’s The Night’ are in for a
treat here on one of the greatest albums you have probably never heard of. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three tracks to download:
Well, this will be a challenge – all twelve are worth hearing. ‘Black Books’ is
especially stunning though, as Nils wonders where a relationship went wrong and
comes up with the philosophy ‘the hardest truths don’t have a why’, while he
tries to block out the tales of his ex having fun with half the town. ‘Life’ is
a leftover from the Lou Reed co-writes that wouldn’t have fitted on ‘Nils’ but
sounds great here, a battered and growly-voiced Lofgren figuring that after
decades of abandonment ‘life’s the only mother I know’ and apologising for not
being able to love openly again. ‘Nothin’s Fallin’ is a slow-burner. At first
it’s too empty and too slow but in such illustrious company. But the more you
play this album the more it’s the ‘keeper’, Nils no longer trying to hide the
bleakness of his surroundings as he tells us everything that’s gone wrong and
why he thinks it will never go right again. The moment when he breaks away to
la la la to what would normally be the ‘uplifting’ Lofgren middle eight of hope
and optimism, only to fall back down, his voice breaking, is one of the most
painful moments in music that doesn’t involve a Spice Girl. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">19) Nils Lofgren “Acoustic Live" (1997) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">You/Sticks and Stones/Some Must Dream/Little On Up/Keith Don’t
Go/Wonderland/Big Tears Fall/Believe/Black Books/To Your Heart/Man In The
Moon/I’ll Arise/Blue Skies/Tears On Ice/All Out/Mud In Your Eye/No Mercy</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">After Nils’ greatest studio set comes his
greatest live one. Nils sounds like a wizard on an album that only features him
and his brother Tom. The ‘silver lining’ in not really having hits is that Nils
can get away with playing just about everything and he performs all sorts of
rarities from his back catalogue, most of which are greatly improved by the new
setting. Impressive. The handful of new songs are delicious too. Another
must-buy. Interesting that Nils should find his second golden period<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1992-1997) so soon after Neil founds his
(1989-1994/1995) and for roughly the same length of time. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download:
‘Sticks and Stones’ always sounded like a great song, but this is the
definitive performance; no synthesisers to hide behind here and Nils doesn’t so
much ebb and flow as open up his heart and soar. ‘Black Books’ also gets an
extra level of intensity from the simple organ notes that signal the doom cloud
of a relationship before suddenly bursting forth into rainbow-bright shimmery
colours. ‘Man In The Moon’ is another great teenage song, a lost and lonely
narrator figuring that he doesn’t understand any human being alive and none of
them understand him, so he may as well go to live with the man in the moon. </span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">20) Nils Lofgren "Breakaway Angel" (2001) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Puttin’ Out Fires/I Found You/Love A Child/Tears Ain’t Enough/I
Can’t Fly/All I Have To Do Is Dream/Driftin’ Man/Love You Most/Cryin’ Tonight/Heaven’s
Answer To Blue/Seize Love/The Hill/Without You/Open Road</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Alas Nils couldn’t quite keep it up, though
‘Breakway Angel’ is still half a great CD and at it’s best still matches past
standards. The front cover, sadly, is not one of them, a pen scribble that just
screams ‘cheap’, while the production doesn’t feel as if new label Hypertension
spent a lot of money on it either. Nils is back to mixing his acoustic and
electric sounds though and has a good backing band including Lee Sklar (veteran
of many CSN records), Wade Matthews, John Previtt, Mike Botts, Timm Biery and
more harmony vocalists than you can shake an accordion at. Nils has revived his
old habit of unexpected cover songs too, this one being Everly Brothers hit
‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’, which sounds rather nice slowed down to a lullaby.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: ‘Puttin’
Out Fires’ is Nils’ most commercial song for a long time, a catchy love song in
reverse, Nils realising all the damage he could cause if he reveals his secret
crush so he keeps it to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘I
Found You’ is in many ways ‘I Found Her’ in reverse, this time from the heart.
Nils is the addict, lost and terrified and lonely until a lover turned his life
around. The chorus ‘heck, I almost like me since I found you’ is another one of
those really goose-pimply moments in Nils’ canon. ‘Driftin’ Man’ is yet another
Lou Reed leftover (how many songs did they write?!?), a Springsteeny song about
an American leaving home with ‘big plans’ that come to nought. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">21) Nils Lofgren Band “Live” (2003) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Puttin’ Out Fires/Daddy Dream/Too Many Miles/Driftin’
Man/Damaged Goods/Two By Two/White Lies/Shot At You/Tears Ain’t Ebough/I’m
Buyin’/I Don’t Want To Talk About It/Like Rain/I Found You/Can’t Get
Closer/Lost A Number/Slippery Fingers/Message/Girl In Motion/Gun and
Run/Star-Spangled Banner/The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b><span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Nils’ next project was his weirdest yet –
2002’s ‘Tuff Stuff’, featuring the Madden American football team! It’s quirky
even for Nils and not what you might call a ‘proper’ CD with most of the songs instrumentals
barely lasting a minute and often overdubbed with American Football commentary,
so we’ve skipped it here. You only really need it if you’re a big American
football fan and only then when you’re driving to a match rather than for
pleasure. ‘Live’ is a return to things as normal though – a bit too normal to
be honest, with Nils’ fourth live album his first to collect all the songs you’d
expect to see on one of his concert CDs. There’s nothing wrong with it, just
again a sense that Nils is commemorating the ‘wrong’ tour with Nils struggling
with the simpler ‘power trio’ unit style (bassist Wade Matthews and drummer
Timm Biery) that doesn’t work as well as Grin did even (perhaps especially)
with so many Grin songs in the line-up. It is at least Nils’ longest record so
far, lasting more than two hours. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: I’d
still take the more inward looking acoustic studio version, but the new
swaggering arrangement of ‘Damaged Goods’ is an interesting take on a defiant
song. There are three ‘exclusive’ songs here. While you can skip a mangled ‘Star-Spangled
Banner’ it is worth downloading ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, Nils’ collaboration
with Danny Whitten for the first Crazy Horse album. It’s a song good even Rod
Stewart can’t mess it up too much, though bootleg versions of it are better.
Similarly there are lots of better versions of ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Face’ (especially Johnny Cash’s) but Nils performs this sweet ballad well.</span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">22) Nils Lofgren "Sacred Time" (2006) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">In Your Hands/Fat Girls Dance/Comfort Your Love Brings/Pay Your
Woman/Whiskey Holler/You’re Not There/Tried and True/Mr Hardcore/Comes A
Day/Frankie Hang On/Trouble/Can’t Take The Rock</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">‘Sacred Heart’ was his next album ‘proper’
and despite a stronger Lofgren drawing on the front cover this time is
something of a disappointment. Nils just doesn’t sound that inspired, lacking
his usual melodic touch or his ability to say so much in so few words. Some of
it in fact is downright ugly – not a word I’d use for any past Lofgren song but
whole swathes of this CD – Nils has been hanging around too many American
footballers with this brainless noisy rock. The best thing about this album is
the sheer amount of guest stars which include Crosby-Nash, Willie Nelson, sons
Mark and Mike Lofgren, brother Tom for the first time in a while and – best of
all – the long awaited return of Grin’s Bob Berberich. Once again Nils plays
most of the instruments himself and sticks to acoustic and electric guitar and
synth with a dash of accordion. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: In
the middle of so much noise pretty acoustic ballad ‘Comfort Your Love Brings’
really stands out. Nils again pays tribute to wife Amy for saving his life on a
song that would normally be under-par but here sounds like one return at least
to the lyrical, sensitive Nils of old. ‘Tried and True’ is the other acoustic
song and another stand-out as Nils adds a mandolin to his repertoire on a song
about the importance of faith in all things even when tested. ‘Can’t Take The
Rock’, meanwhile, is a dumb re-write of ‘King Of The Rock’ but gets an added
frisson of greatness from Berberich’s rich backing vocals. They briefly sound
like they’re teenagers again, though Grin would never have come up with a song
this basic.</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">23) Nils Lofgren "The Loner – Nils Sings Neil" (2008) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Birds/Long May You Run/Flying On The Ground Is Wrong/ I Am A
Child/Only Love Can Break Your Heart/Harvest Moon/Like A Hurricane/The
Loner/Don’t Be Denied/World<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On A
String/Mr Soul/Winterlong/On The Way Home/Wonderin’/Don’t Cry No Tears</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">On paper this seems like a brilliant idea:
one experimental eclectic arranging genius paying tribute to another. Nils was
there for so many of the important moments in the Young canon (‘Tonight’s The
Night’ ‘Trans’ ‘Unplugged’ ‘Colorado’) that surely he has an interesting view
of Neil’s back catalogue. Alas, what we get is just another set of acoustic
covers of Neil Young songs without the depth, range or inventiveness of the
originals. It feels like all those Bob Dylan cover sets out there – everything has
been prettified to make it more palatable to the ear, but in doing so that
takes away the bite that served these songs at their best. The one-take
no-frills-or-overdubs method of recording – something Nils has never really
done before – also makes everything sound depressingly cheap. A bit of a wasted
opportunity. I would love to see a Neil Young collection of Nils Lofgren songs
though, that would be great!</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Three Tracks To Download: It’s
nice to hear Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Flying On The Ground Is Wrong’ re-arranged
for guitar at least and Nils sounds more confident here than elsewhere. Nils
was there for ‘World On A String’ and it’s one of the most Lofgren-like songs
Neil wrote, Nils bringing out the song’s message of defiance rather than it’s
despair. ‘The Loner’ gets the best re-arrangement, caught somewhere between the
Stills and Young versions with an opening blues-guitar flurry and Nils’ vocal
at it’s deepest. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">24) Nils Lofgren "Old School" (2011) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Old School/60 Is The New 18/Miss You Ray/Love Stumbles On/Amy
Joan Blues/Irish Angel/Ain’t Too Many Of Us Left/When You Were Mine/Just
Because You Love Me/Dream Big/Let Her Get Away/Why Me?</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Although Neil’s been largely following the
crazy-paving Young catalogue, this is the odd one out – the Lofgren equivalent
of ‘Everybody’s Rockin’ but released to commemorate turning sixty (Neil was
thirty-seven when he made his). It’s a swinging set of rockabilly-sounding
originals, but like many a retro album sounds decidedly stodgier than any
records from the 1950s actually did. Nils’ voice is just beginning to fade too
after decades of constant touring. At least he’s back to exploring unlikely
covers again, this time round treating Bruce McCabe’s folky ‘Irish Angel’ to an
almost jazz backing. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";">Thre Tracks To Download: One
thing to say about this record is that the sweet ‘Love Stumbles On’ does a
better job of a guitarist accompanying himself with echo than ‘Le Noise’ ever
did. ‘When You Were Mine’ is a sweet song most likely remembering Nils’ first
marriage when it was good and the scary time a hurricane pulled into town. ‘Let
Her Get Away’ is Nils’ best song in a decade, a sadder twist on the same theme
about how finding a new love never fully replaces the first, with echoes and
memories that haunt you years on. </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial Black","sans-serif"" style="color: red; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">25) Nils Lofgren "Face The Music" (2014) </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">See What A Love Can
Do/Everybody’s Missin’ The Sun/Like Rain/Outlaw/If I Were A Song/We All Sung
Together/Take You To The Movies/White Lies/Slippery Fingers/Moon Tears/Lost A
Number/Soft Fun/Hi Hello Home/Love Or Else/Sad Letter/Ain’t Love Nice/She Ain’t
Right/All Out/Rusty Gun/Beggar’s Day/One More Time//One More Saturday Night/If
I Say It It’s So/Can’t Buy A Break/Back It Up/I Don’t Want To Know (Live)/The
Sun Hasn’t Set On This Boy Yet/Rock and Roll Crook/Two By Two/Cry Tough/It’s
Not A Crime/Share A Little/Can’t Get No Closer/Mud In Your Eye/I Came To
Dance/Home Is Where The Hurt Is/Rock Me At Home/You’re The Weight (Live)/Goin’
South (Live)/Incidentally…It’s Over (Live)//No Mercy/Shine Silently/Steal
Away/I Found Her/You’re So Easy/A Fool Like Me/Night Fades Away/Ancient
History/Sailor Boy/Empty Heart/Don’t Touch Me/I Go To Pieces/Across The
Tracks/Daddy Dream/Wonderland/Room Without Love/Confident Girl/Into The
Night/Deadline/Everybody Wants//Secrets In The Street/Big Tears Fall/Dreams Die
Hard/Girl In Motion/Walkin’ Nerve/Trouble’s Back/Bein’ Angry/Valentine/A Child
Could Tell/You/Shot At You/Crooked Line/Someday/New Kind Of Freedom/Drunken
Driver//Alone/No Return/Tender Love/Dreams Come True/Out Of The Grave/Lion’s
Wake/Damaged Goods/Only Five Minutes/Setting Sun/Life/Nothin’s Falling/Little
On Up/Blue Skies/Black Books (Live)/Man In The Moon/Believe (Live)//Delivery
Night/Code Of The Road/New Holes In Old Shoes/Puttin’ Out Fires/I Found
You/Love A Child/Driftin’ Man/Without You/Heaven’s Answer To Blue/Seize
Love/Open Road/Speed Kills/I’m Buyin’/The Wind/We Got Guys/Hard Lines/Tears On
Ice/Misery//Like Rain (Live)/Star Spangled Banner/In Your Hands/Mr
Hardcore/Tried and True/Frankie Hangs On/Fat Girls Dance/I Am A Child/Mr
Soul/World On A String/Old School/60 Is The New 18/Miss You Ray/Amy Joan Blues/Dream
Big/Irish Angel/Ain’t Too Many Of Us Left/When You Were Mine/Why Me?/Wreck On
The Highway//Keith Don’t Go (Alternate Version)/Try/Sing For Happiness/Duty
(Alternate Take)/Sweet Four Wings/Just To Have You (Alternate Take)/I’ll
Arise/Some Must Dream/Stay Hungry/Heaven’s Rain/Whatever Happened To
Musicatel?/You In My Arms/Here For You (Alternate Version)/Hide My Heart/Love
Is…/Awesome Girl (Alternate Version)/When You Are Loved/Bullets
Fever/Message//Beauty And The Beast/You Are The Melody/Tears Inside/Face The
Music/I Don’t Stand A Chance/What Is Enuf?!?/London/Go Away/Heart Like A
Hammer/True Love Conquers Legends/Yankee Stadium/Sad Walk/Dalmation/I’m Coming
Back/Mad Mad World/Jhoon Rhee Advert/It’s Better To Know You/Last Time I Saw
You</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b050; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We
end with an epic box set which, if you can afford it (and it’s way cheaper than
‘Archives’!) is the best way of tracking down these albums with only a small
handful of essential songs missing (the ‘proper’ version of ‘Keith Don’t Go’
most obviously!) Nils has spent a lot of time and effort buying back his
catalogue so he could release them all together and unlike some boxes that fall
short all eras of his career are given their proper time and space. Grin take
up the first disc and Nils’ solo career the next six discs before a full two
hours of unreleased material on discs eight and nine. If in truth this material
is as up-and-down as Nils’ career in general, the best of it is as great as any
of his near hits and lesser singer-songwriters would have killed for it. A
highly impressive set that charts a true talent who was never afraid to grow,
especially in its original limited edition version signed by Nils himself with
an additional DVD disc of twenty music clips and a glossy book. The set’s most
interesting moment: the early recordings of songs from the ‘Nils Lofgren’ album
back when it was nearly a ‘Grin’ album. The set’s most bonkers moment: ‘Whatever
Happened To Musicatel?’, a collaboration with Nils’ neighbour novelist Clive
Cussler. The set’s second most bonkers moment: ‘Bullet Fever’, a thirty second
jingle dedicated to the basketball team from Washington!</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Three Tracks To Download: Amazingly the only time Neil guested
on a Lofgren recording it wasn’t even released! The alternate early version of ‘Keith
Don’t Go’ is all over the place, in contrast to the re-recording’s intensity
and power, but it’s great to hear Nils and Neil duelling on guitars once again
on a classic track. ‘Sweet Four Wings’ is quickly growing to become my
favourite track by Grin, a soulful gospel ballad with Nils and Bob Berberich in
fine voice on a song about freedom and loss. Finally, ‘Here For You’ is a
beautiful song, the ‘heart’ of ‘Damaged Goods that still comes with the twist
of the knife in the chorus when you realise it’s really a song about co-dependency
and two partners making sure the other will never be able to live without the
other. Here in an early take and a much slower arrangement it doesn’t quite
have the scale or power, but you do get to hear better just how beautiful one
of Nils’ greatest melody lines is, even when the partners are singing about ‘having
met true love and scratched her face’. Magnificent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ayg02dKxYPI/X528ILx2_UI/AAAAAAAAJRs/M8R0TcfoJVUrBj3andEMZSCxqyN2Fod8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ayg02dKxYPI/X528ILx2_UI/AAAAAAAAJRs/M8R0TcfoJVUrBj3andEMZSCxqyN2Fod8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/30%2529%2BNeil%2BYoung%2B__UPDATE__.jpg" /></a></div><br />Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-81188709548098025342020-05-10T17:14:00.000-07:002020-05-15T12:30:52.254-07:00#Coronadocstock<span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">Still stuck indoors? Concert of a lifetime cancelled? Already been through all the live videos on the sister playlist #Coronastock?!? Then welcome to #Coronastockdoc - forty of the best music documentaries around. Obviously a lot of the really good ones are missing from youtube and only out on official discs and sadly others have only stayed up if they come up with foreign language subtitles, while some bands have lots to choose from (and get a second documentary at the end of the playlist if we couldn't choose which to go for). Nevertheless there's some good 'uns here that might help make lockdown a tiny bit more palatable </span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POTs47u_f141qQPtjXmOaGdk" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
1) The Beach Boys: Wouldn't It Be Nice? (UK, early 2000s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
2-9) The Beatles - Anthology (UK, mid 1990s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
10-11) Belle and Sebastian - For Fans Only (Straight To DVD, 1996/2005) </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
12) The Byrds - 8 Miles High and 50 Years (UK Radio mid 2000s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
13) CSNY - VH1 Legends (USA, mid 2000s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
14) Dire Straits - Panorama (UK TV 1979)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
15-17) Grateful Dead - Long Strange Trip (Not the official doc but a TV one from late 1990s, USA)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
18) George Harrison - An Evening With GH Live On The Radio (UK Radio 1987/88)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
19) Hollies - Buddy Holly Tribute Excerpt (USA, 1999)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
20-28) Fly Jefferson Airplane (Straight To DVD 1999)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
29) Janis Joplin - The Last 24 Hours (USA, late 2010s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
30) The Kinks - My Generation (UK, 1996)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
31) John and Yoko - Bed In (Home Movies, 1969)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
32) Squire (UK TV Play starring Alan Hull of Lindisfarne, 1975)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
33) Paul McCartney + Elvis Costello - Put It There: The Making Of 'Flowers In The Dirt' (Straight To Video 1990)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
34) Hey! Hey! We're The Monkees! (USA TV, 1996)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
35) The Moody Blues - Legend Of A Band (Straight To Video, 1990)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
36) Oasis - Lord Don't Slow Me Down! (Straight To DVD, 2007)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
37) Bert Jansch and Pentangle - Acoustic Routes (Straight To Video, 1997)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
38) Pink Floyd - Behind The Wall (UK TV, 2000)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
39) Otis Redding - Soul Deep (UK TV, 2005)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
40) Rolling Stones - Crossfire Hurricane (UK TV, 2012)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
41) The Searchers - Remarkable Liverpool: The Mersey Sound (UK TV, 2010)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
42) Paul Simon - In Norwich (Norwich Local Radio, UK, 2019)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
43) The Small Faces - My Generation (UK, 1996)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
44) Cat Stevens - VH1 Behind The Music (USA, mid 2000s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
45) 10cc - I'm Not In Love (UK, 2015)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
46) The Who - Amazing Journey (UK, 2011)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
47-49) The Neil Young Story (YouTube Creation mid 2000s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
50) Brian Wilson - Beautiful Dreamer (USA, 2008)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
51) Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour Memories (UK, 2012)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
52-53) CSNY - Deja Vu: The Freedom Of Speech Tour (2008)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
54) Ray Davies - Imaginary Man (UK, 2011)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
55-60) Dave Davies - Kinkdome Come (UK, 2012)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
61-67) John Lennon - Give Me Some Truth: The Making Of 'Imagine' (UK, mid 1990s)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
68-71) Paul McCartney and Wings - Wingspan (UK, 1999)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
72-73) We Love The Monkees! (UK, 2014)</div>
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74) Oasis - The Making Of Definitely Maybe (UK, 2004)</div>
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75) Pink Floyd - Which One's Pink? (UK, 2013)</div>
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76) Rolling Stones - Cocksucker Blues (1972)</div>
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77-79) The Simon and Garfunkel Story (USA, Radio, 1990s)</div>
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80) Ronnie Lane - The Passing Show (UK, 2009)</div>
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81-87) The Who: Can You See The Real Me? The Making Of 'Quadrophenia' (2014)<br />
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-transform: uppercase;">A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entries 2008-2019</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1) Chronic Fatigue songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />2) Songs For The Face Of Bo </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />3) Credit Crunch Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />4) Songs For The Autumn </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />5) National Wombat Week </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />6) AAA Box Sets </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />7) Virus Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />11) Political Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />15) AAA Existential Questions <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />16) Releases Of The Year 2008 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />17) Top AAA Xmas Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />18) Notable AAA Gigs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />21) Hollies B sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />26) AAA Autobiographies </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />27) Rolling Stones B-sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />28) Beatles B-Sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />30) Kinks B-Sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />35) Brightest Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />36) Biggest Recorded Arguments </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />37) Songs About Superheroes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />39) AAA Woodtsock Moments </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />41) Music Segues </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />42) AAA Foreign Language Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election? </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />49) Songs About Trains </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />50) Songs about Winter </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />52) The Worst Five Groups Ever! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />55) Random Recent Purchases (#1) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />56) AAA Party Political Slogans </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />59) AAA Artists In Song </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />60) Songs About Dogs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />61) Sunshiney Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />67) Songs To Tweet To </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />69) John Lennon Musical Tributes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />70) Songs For Halloween </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />72) Purely Instrumental Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />73) AAA Utopias <br /><br />74) AAA Imaginary Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />76) Top Releases of 2010 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />77) Songs About Snow </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />78) Predictions For 2011 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />79) AAA Fugitives <br /><br />80) AAA Home Towns </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />83) Strange Censorship Decisions </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />85) Random Recent Purchases (#2) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />86) Top AAA Music Videos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />88) AAA Documentaries </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />90) Strangest AAA Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br /><br />97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />98) Top Songs About Sports </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />99) AAA Conversations With God </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />101) Unexpected AAA Cameos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />103) AAA Court Cases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />108) Classic Debut Releases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />111) Part #2 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />112) Part #3 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />115) AAA Instrumental Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />116) Musical Tarot </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />117) Christmas Carols </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />120) Top 20 Guitarists #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />121) #2 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes <br /><br />125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />130) Lyric Competition (Questions) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />131) Top Crooning Classics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />132) Funeral Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />134) Random Recent Purchases (#3) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />135) Lyric Competition (Answers) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">143) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-every-aaa-band-got-their-name-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="How Every AAA Band Got Their Name (News, Views and Music 155 Top 28!)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How Every AAA Band Got Their Name (News, Views and Music 155...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">144) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-top-10-motor-car-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Top 10: The Motor Car (News, Views and Music 156)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Top 10: The Motor Car (News, Views and Music 156)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">145) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-singles-with-most-weeks-on-us.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Singles With The Most Weeks On The US Billboard Charts (News, Views and Music Issue 157 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Singles With The Most Weeks On The US Billboard Charts (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">146) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-albums-with-most-weeks-on-usa.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Albums With The Most Weeks On The USA Billboard Charts (News, Views and Music Issue 158 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Albums With The Most Weeks On The USA Billboard Charts (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">147) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-songs-featuring-whistling-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 159)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 1...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">148) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-session-musicians-whove-played-on.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (News, Views and Music Issuer 160)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">149) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/top-10-silliest-aaa-album-titles-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issue 161)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issu...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">150) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-short-guide-to-10-aaa-spin-off-bands.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Music Issue 162 Top 10)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Musi...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">151) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/martin-kitcher-atos-song-youre-not-fit.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)""><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)"</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">152) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/aaa-songs-more-or-less-exclusive-to.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News, Views and Music Issue 163 Top 5)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">153) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/aaa-alcohilic-hic-songs-top-10-newsd.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 Newsd, Views and Music 164)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 News, Views and Music 164)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...</span></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/spoken-word-passages-on-aaa-songs-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Spoken Word Passages On AAA Songs (News, Views and Music Top Ten Issue 165)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spoken Word Passages On AAA Songs (News, Views and Music Top...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">156) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/aaa-songs-about-carlisle-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Issue 166)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Iss...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">157) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/aaa-songs-about-children-being-born.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music Issue 167 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music I...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">158) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-best-aaa-outtakes-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-record-label-start-ups-top-nine.html%20%0d159"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">159</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">160</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">161</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">162</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">163</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">164</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Songs About Islands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; 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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">169) The Last 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html%20%20%0d17"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">17</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> 3) NME/Melody Maker Questionairres Filled Out By AAA Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">174) Top Ten AAA Bootlegs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">175) Days Of The Week AAA Style </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">176) AAA Musicals </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">177) Interesting AAA Line-Ups That Were Or Nearly Were </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">178) The 101 Greatest AAA Songs Of All Time (Maybe?!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">179) Mrs Thatcher Meets The Devil </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-songsrecordings-by-aaa-stars-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">181) The Ten Oldest AAA Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">182) AAA Artists (Books Of Paintings) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">183) AAA Appearances on TV Show 'Colour Me Pop' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">184) AAA Years In Song </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">186) Five Top AAA Apps </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">187) The Ultimate Grateful Dead Concert Setlist </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">189) Top Ten Dave Davies Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">191) Famous AAA Fathers: </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">192) The Best Five AAA Re-Issue CD Series </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">194) Ten Of The Best AAA Riffs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">195) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part One 1956-66 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">196) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part Two 1967-80 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">197) Eleven Random Recent Purchases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">198) Five AAA Outcasts Who Know More Than They Let On</span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">199) That's Why They Call It The (Top Ten) Blues! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">201) The Music Never Stopped: AAA Youtube Video #5 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew?</span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">203) Ten AAA Stars In Further Education </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">204) AAA Dramas and Plays </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">205) Abandoned AAA Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">206) Chinese Horoscopes AAA Style </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">207) Top Ten Songs The Beatles 'Gave Away' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">208) AAA Song Titles That Are The Same As Other AAA Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">209) Updates to Our 'Special Editions' #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">210) Most Parodied AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">211) Longest Average AAA Songs Per Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">212) Shortest Average AAA Songs Per Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">213) An AAA Guide To The Twenty Best Dr Who Stories </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">214) AAA Songs and Albums Based On Books </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">215) Top Ten AAA Concert Quotes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">216) Top Ten Surrealist AAA Lyrics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">218) Review Of The Year 2013 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">219) Nominate This Site For A Shorty Award 2014 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">220) A Tribute To Phil Everly </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">250) AAA Review Of The Year 2016 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">253) AAA Review Of The Year 2017 <a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html%20%0d254"><span style="color: windowtext;">https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html </span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html%20%0d254"><span style="color: windowtext;">254</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-7462302971565254902020-05-08T17:19:00.001-07:002020-05-08T17:23:02.764-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Once Upon A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Searchers' Is Available Now! <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POQr-eqjPDg4SOMphZfgQbws" width="560"></iframe><b><u><span style="color: #000120; font-size: large;"></span></u></b><br /></div>
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You can now buy 'Once Upon A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Searchers' in e-book form by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088D1PGGH" target="_blank">here</a></h2>
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Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-48640303077551894992020-04-04T10:59:00.001-07:002020-05-15T13:13:17.361-07:00#Coronastock! <span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">Stuck indoors? Concert of a lifetime cancelled? Eaten all the decent food? Rowing with family members already? Then come with Alan's Album Archives to #CoronaStock featuring sixty-five (ish) of the best concerts ever. The great thing about this is that we can travel anywhere in space or time. It's almost as good as the real thing (and far less muddy!) </span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLlzWxNlf9POSNNzgDHaW_qo_kpiJG6xpU" width="560"></iframe><br />
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1-4) Otis Redding - Monterey Pop Festival, California, USA (1967)</div>
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5-6) The Who - Shepperton Studios, London, UK (1978)</div>
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7) CSN - Winterland, San Francisco, USA (1973)</div>
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8) Grateful Dead - Tivolis, Copenhagen, Denmark (1972)</div>
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9) Nils Lofgren - Rockpalast, Germany (1979)</div>
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10) Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Budokan, Japan (1976)</div>
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11-14) Pink Floyd - Pompeii, Italy (1972)</div>
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15-23) Paul Simon - Central Park, New York, USA (1991)</div>
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24-25) Janis Joplin - Woodstock, New York, USA (1969)</div>
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26) Kinks - Rockpalast, Germany (1981)</div>
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27-42) Paul McCartney and Wings - Over America (1976)</div>
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43) John Lennon Plastic Ono Band - Toronto, Canada (1969)</div>
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44-47) George Harrison - The Concert For Bangladesh, London, UK (1971)</div>
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48) The Who - Isle Of Wight, UK (1970)</div>
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49-52) The Beatles - Shea Stadium, New York, USA (1965)</div>
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53) The Beach Boys - Paris, France (1969)</div>
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54) Buffalo Springfield - Monterey Pop Festival, California, USA (1967)</div>
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55-57) The Byrds - Monterey Pop festival, California, USA (1967)</div>
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58) Dire Straits - Rockapalast, Germany (1979)</div>
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59) Oasis - Maine Road, Manchester, UK (1996)</div>
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60) The Hollies - Croatia (1968)</div>
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61-62) Lindisfarne - Newcastle City Hall, UK (1984)</div>
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63-65) The Rolling Stones Circus - London, UK (1968)</div>
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66) The NME Pollwinner's Concert (Kinks, Beatles, Stones) - Wembley Stadium, London, UK (1965)</div>
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67-71) Neil Young and Transband - Berlin, Germany (1982)</div>
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72) CSNY - Wembley Stadium, London, UK (1974)</div>
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73-74) The Monkees - 'On Tour' episode (1967) and 'Head' live gig (1968)</div>
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75) The Moody Blues - Isle Of Wight, UK (1970)</div>
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76) Neil Young - New Jersey, USA (1989)</div>
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77-83) Rolling Stones - Texas, USA (1978)</div>
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84) Grateful Dead - Passaic, New Jersey, USA (1976)<br />
85) 10cc - Hammersmith Odeon, London (1977)<br />
86) The Beach Boys - Knebworth, London, UK (1980)<br />
87-94) The Beatles - Washington DC, USA (1964)<br />
95) Belle and Sebastian - Lollapaloozer, Berlin, Germany (2005)<br />
96-99) The Byrds - Forest National Hall, Brussels, Belgium (1971)<br />
100) Crosby, Stills and Nash - Los Angeles Forum, USA (1982)<br />
101) Dire Straits - Wembley, London (1985)<br />
102) Grateful Dead - Winterland, San Francisco, USA (1974)<br />
103-106) A Concert For George Harrison - Royal Albert Hall, London, UK (2002)<br />
107) The Hollies - TV Studio, Somewhere In Switzerland (1975)<br />
108-115) Jefferson Starship - Winterland, San Francisco, USA (1975)<br />
116) Janis Joplin/Big Brother and The Holding Company - Monterey, California, USA (1967)<br />
117) The Kinks - Old Grey Whistle Test Studios, London, UK (1977)<br />
118) John Lennon - Madison Square Gardens, New York, USA (1972)<br />
119) Lindisfarne - ITV Studios, London, UK (1978)<br />
120) Paul McCartney - Various (1989/1990)<br />
121) The Monkees - Arnheim, Netherlands (2001)<br />
122) The Moody Blues - Red Rocks, Colorado, USA (1992)<br />
123) Oasis - Manchester Stadium, UK (2005)<br />
124) Pentangle - BBC TV Studios, London, UK (1971)<br />
125) Pink Floyd - Earl's Court, London, UK (1994)<br />
126-127) Otis Redding - Somewhere In Norway (1967)<br />
128) The Rolling Stones - Japan (1990)<br />
129) NME Pollwinner's 1964 (Hollies/Searchers/Beatles/Stones)<br />
130) Simon and Garfunkel - Somewhere In Holland (1966)<br />
131) Cat Stevens - Various (1976)<br />
132) Neil Young - Shoreline Ampitheatre, California, USA (1994)<br />
133) Brian Wilson - Los Angeles, USA (2004)</div>
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134-139) Jefferson Airplane - Woodstock, New York, USA (1969)</div>
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140-141) The Who - Woodstock, New York, USA (1969)</div>
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142) Neil Young - Glastonbury, UK (2009)</div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; text-transform: uppercase;">A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Entries 2008-2019</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1) Chronic Fatigue songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />2) Songs For The Face Of Bo </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />3) Credit Crunch Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />4) Songs For The Autumn </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />5) National Wombat Week </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />6) AAA Box Sets </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />7) Virus Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />11) Political Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />15) AAA Existential Questions <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />16) Releases Of The Year 2008 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />17) Top AAA Xmas Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />18) Notable AAA Gigs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />21) Hollies B sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />26) AAA Autobiographies </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />27) Rolling Stones B-sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />28) Beatles B-Sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />30) Kinks B-Sides </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />35) Brightest Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />36) Biggest Recorded Arguments </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />37) Songs About Superheroes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />39) AAA Woodtsock Moments </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />41) Music Segues </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />42) AAA Foreign Language Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election? </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />49) Songs About Trains </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />50) Songs about Winter </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />52) The Worst Five Groups Ever! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />55) Random Recent Purchases (#1) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />56) AAA Party Political Slogans </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />59) AAA Artists In Song </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />60) Songs About Dogs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />61) Sunshiney Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />67) Songs To Tweet To </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />69) John Lennon Musical Tributes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />70) Songs For Halloween </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />72) Purely Instrumental Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />73) AAA Utopias <br /><br />74) AAA Imaginary Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />76) Top Releases of 2010 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />77) Songs About Snow </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />78) Predictions For 2011 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />79) AAA Fugitives <br /><br />80) AAA Home Towns </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />83) Strange Censorship Decisions </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />85) Random Recent Purchases (#2) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />86) Top AAA Music Videos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />88) AAA Documentaries </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />90) Strangest AAA Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br /><br />97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />98) Top Songs About Sports </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />99) AAA Conversations With God </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />101) Unexpected AAA Cameos </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />103) AAA Court Cases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />108) Classic Debut Releases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />111) Part #2 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />112) Part #3 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />115) AAA Instrumental Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />116) Musical Tarot </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />117) Christmas Carols </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />120) Top 20 Guitarists #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />121) #2 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes <br /><br />125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />130) Lyric Competition (Questions) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />131) Top Crooning Classics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />132) Funeral Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />134) Random Recent Purchases (#3) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />135) Lyric Competition (Answers) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <br /><br />142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">143) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-every-aaa-band-got-their-name-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="How Every AAA Band Got Their Name (News, Views and Music 155 Top 28!)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How Every AAA Band Got Their Name (News, Views and Music 155...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">144) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-top-10-motor-car-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Top 10: The Motor Car (News, Views and Music 156)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Top 10: The Motor Car (News, Views and Music 156)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">145) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-singles-with-most-weeks-on-us.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Singles With The Most Weeks On The US Billboard Charts (News, Views and Music Issue 157 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Singles With The Most Weeks On The US Billboard Charts (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">146) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-albums-with-most-weeks-on-usa.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Albums With The Most Weeks On The USA Billboard Charts (News, Views and Music Issue 158 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Albums With The Most Weeks On The USA Billboard Charts (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">147) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/08/aaa-songs-featuring-whistling-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 159)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 1...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">148) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-session-musicians-whove-played-on.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (News, Views and Music Issuer 160)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">149) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/top-10-silliest-aaa-album-titles-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issue 161)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issu...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">150) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-short-guide-to-10-aaa-spin-off-bands.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Music Issue 162 Top 10)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Musi...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">151) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/martin-kitcher-atos-song-youre-not-fit.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)""><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)"</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">152) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/aaa-songs-more-or-less-exclusive-to.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News, Views and Music Issue 163 Top 5)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">153) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/09/aaa-alcohilic-hic-songs-top-10-newsd.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 Newsd, Views and Music 164)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 News, Views and Music 164)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...</span></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/spoken-word-passages-on-aaa-songs-news.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="Spoken Word Passages On AAA Songs (News, Views and Music Top Ten Issue 165)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spoken Word Passages On AAA Songs (News, Views and Music Top...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">156) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/aaa-songs-about-carlisle-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Issue 166)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Iss...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">157) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/aaa-songs-about-children-being-born.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music Issue 167 Top Ten)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music I...</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">158) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-best-aaa-outtakes-news-views-and.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_top" title="The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-record-label-start-ups-top-nine.html%20%0d159"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">159</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">160</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">161</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">162</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">163</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">164</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) AAA Songs About Islands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">165</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) The AAA Review Of The Year 2012 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /><br />166) The Best AAA Concerts I Attended </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /></span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html%20%0d167"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">167</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br /><br /><br />168) The First 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">169) The Last 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">170</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-10-youngest-aaa-stars-at-time-of.html%20%0d171"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-10-youngest-aaa-stars-at-time-of.html%20%0d171</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-10-youngest-aaa-stars-at-time-of.html%20%0d171"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">171</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">172</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html%20%20%0d17"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html </span></a></div>
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<a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html%20%20%0d17"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">17</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> 3) NME/Melody Maker Questionairres Filled Out By AAA Bands </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">174) Top Ten AAA Bootlegs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">175) Days Of The Week AAA Style </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">176) AAA Musicals </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">177) Interesting AAA Line-Ups That Were Or Nearly Were </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">178) The 101 Greatest AAA Songs Of All Time (Maybe?!) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">179) Mrs Thatcher Meets The Devil </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-songsrecordings-by-aaa-stars-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">181) The Ten Oldest AAA Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">182) AAA Artists (Books Of Paintings) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">183) AAA Appearances on TV Show 'Colour Me Pop' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">184) AAA Years In Song </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">186) Five Top AAA Apps </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">187) The Ultimate Grateful Dead Concert Setlist </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">189) Top Ten Dave Davies Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">191) Famous AAA Fathers: </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">192) The Best Five AAA Re-Issue CD Series </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">194) Ten Of The Best AAA Riffs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">195) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part One 1956-66 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">196) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part Two 1967-80 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">197) Eleven Random Recent Purchases </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">198) Five AAA Outcasts Who Know More Than They Let On</span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">199) That's Why They Call It The (Top Ten) Blues! </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">201) The Music Never Stopped: AAA Youtube Video #5 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew?</span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">203) Ten AAA Stars In Further Education </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">204) AAA Dramas and Plays </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">205) Abandoned AAA Album Covers </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">206) Chinese Horoscopes AAA Style </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">207) Top Ten Songs The Beatles 'Gave Away' </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">208) AAA Song Titles That Are The Same As Other AAA Songs </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">209) Updates to Our 'Special Editions' #1 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">210) Most Parodied AAA Albums </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">211) Longest Average AAA Songs Per Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">212) Shortest Average AAA Songs Per Album </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">213) An AAA Guide To The Twenty Best Dr Who Stories </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">214) AAA Songs and Albums Based On Books </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">215) Top Ten AAA Concert Quotes </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">216) Top Ten Surrealist AAA Lyrics </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">218) Review Of The Year 2013 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">219) Nominate This Site For A Shorty Award 2014 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">220) A Tribute To Phil Everly </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">250) AAA Review Of The Year 2016 </span><a href="http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">253) AAA Review Of The Year 2017 <a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html%20%0d254"><span style="color: windowtext;">https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html </span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html%20%0d254"><span style="color: windowtext;">254</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html</span></div>
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Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-73146782132712926982020-04-01T11:19:00.001-07:002020-04-01T11:19:04.053-07:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Yesterday's Papers - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Rolling Stones' Is Available Now! <div style="text-align: center;">
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You can now buy 'Yesterday's Papers - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Rolling Stones' by clicking <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MZPXMY" target="_blank">here</a>!</h2>
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<br />Alan's Archiveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01409065548353514714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8609845966536781209.post-30673992468112527092020-03-01T13:17:00.000-08:002020-03-01T13:17:25.259-08:00Buy Our E-Book!!! 'Change Gonna Come - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Otis Redding' Is Available Now! <div style="text-align: center;">
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You can now buy 'Change Gonna Come - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Otis Redding' in e-book form by clicking<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085BSTF9R/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=alan%27s+album+archives+otis+redding&qid=1583086465&sr=8-1" target="_blank"> here</a>!</h2>
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