24/11/2023

I thought RSD was just one big one this year?

A relatively small list. I’m probably in for The Beat and the Colourfield as I know the bloke at Chrysalis who does the reissues and the recent Sinead, Specials, Selector, etc are all outstanding examples.

And Under The Blacklight is my second-fave Rilo Kiley album.

14/10/2023

I lived through the 1990s in my twenties and remember it as a time of musical shifting sands (and going to gigs six nights a week). I used to support National Album Day but it seems to have become an excuse to rerelease a load of forgettable albums on ‘limited edition’ coloured vinyl. Look at that list! What have they missed? I’ll start with Portishead’s Dummy.

Part 3 in an implausible yet mesmerising and delightfully entertaining series.

PUBLISHER BLURB: This series of books comprises a major social and cultural history of Britain, reflected through the prism of music — mostly folk music. It amounts to a hidden history of both Britain and music, and is part oral history and part incisive criticism, with a fair amount of humour thrown in.

The ten part series is based on the life of 90-year-old Bill Leader, the prolific sound engineer and producer, who was the first to record Bert Jansch, the Watersons, Anne Briggs, Nic Jones and Connollys Billy and Riognach, and among the last to record Jeannie Robertson, Fred Jordan and Walter Pardon. Bill straddled the golden age of traditional singing and the folk revival. He agreed to the biographical treatment if due prominence be given to colleagues who may have since slipped from the world’s eyes.

Through the series, a parade of the great and good come and go. These include Paul Simon, Brendan Behan, Pink Floyd and Christy Moore, all recorded by Bill at one time or another. Secrets, surprises and heresies are rife and something jaw dropping happens at least every four » Continue Reading.

Back cover blurb: One of Britain’s pioneering rock’n’rollers, Duffy Power emerged from the Larry Parnes stable to become a revered purveyor of blistering R&B, folk-blues and soul in the 60s, creating a now legendary body of work. His only ‘album proper’ was made at the end of his 1959-73 tenure as a pro musician – a self-titled LP produced by Adrian Miller and a clutch of rare singles mixes and unreleased tracks. This work is collected here in full for the first time, with splendid new mastering from Cormac O’Kane.

Colin H extra info: I was delighted to write a 6,000-word essay for this release – a fabulous new presentation of the late Duffy Power’s self-titled 1973 album for the obscure GSF label, superbly mastered on CD from the master tapes for the first time (by that Wizard of Sound Cormac O’Kane, on top form) plus rare/unissued single mixes, three survivors from a projected second LP (two newly mixed from multi-tracks) and one wholly unreleased song/recording, ‘Jumpin’ Jesus’ (also newly mixed from multis)… plus two period demos by songwriter Harvey Shield, of songs recorded by Duffy in these sessions. The 62-minute collection is released by the always excellent prog » Continue Reading.

12/09/2023

If you’re in or around Glasgow on Tuesday night (and not watching the football), this could be a nice way to spend the evening. Three mature chaps singing songs and telling stories in a nice little venue.

02/09/2023

What we need at this point in the steady decline of our country after 13 years of terrible government is a loud, noisy punk album screaming abuse at all and sundry. Happily Section Kase have come along with “Cretinous Behaviour”, 29 minutes and 10 tracks of foul mouthed frustration and rant. It’s a proper punk album of short songs, fast tempos and teenage bad attitude. Full disclosure requires that I reveal that the guitarist is one Twang Jr and two mates – hear the voice of generation Covid after 3 years of being pushed about by an uncaring leadership. Spoiler – they’re not happy.

It’s great fun too – lots of dark humour and bitterly ironic sneering. There are echoes of past punk bands of course, but also fellow travellers such as Motorhead. All good noisy fun.

Grab a copy here and support the good work on Bandcamp

Or stream on all platforms…

Enjoy!

The new Eisenhowers album hits the digital shops today (hard copies are available through Bandcamp, if you still like that sort of thing). The themes explored on ‘Nudge Unit Blues’ are fear, control, corruption, paranoia, superstition and abuse of power. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything that has happened in the last three and a half years that would make anyone want to write about stuff like that.

09/12/2023

“After 24 years, Hull’s Fonda 500 are calling it a day with one final performance. We go one last time… with a bang… and then we will bury Simon’s famous hat in The Adelphi Car Park. It will be fun. It will be magical. It will be the end.”

08/09/2023

I know there are Sparklehorse fans on here. Out on 8th September.

“ANTI- Records is honored to share a never-before-heard album by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse titled Bird Machine.

Originally recorded in 2010 and mixed by Mark Hamilton (who also worked on It’s A Wonderful Life), Mark’s brother Matt notes “great care has been taken to archive and preserve Mark’s music. We are very thankful for Mark and the beauty he brought to this world.”

Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band formed by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous in the mid-1990s. Born on September 9, 1962, in Arlington, Virginia, Linkous began playing music as a teenager.

Described as an artist who “compelled listeners to heed the beauty of darkness” by Pitchfork, Sparklehorse released many influential records, including the renowned albums Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and Good Morning Spider in the ’90s, It’s A Wonderful Life and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain in the early aughts, and a collaborative album Dark Night of the Soul released in 2010.

Throughout his career Mark collaborated with thought provoking artists like Vic Chesnutt, Daniel Johnston, Tom Waits, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch.

While Mark recorded in various studios, collaborating with » Continue Reading.

Jerry Goodman – violin sensation with the Flock and then the Mahavishnu Orchestra, living in the US, has medical troubles. His associate Sonja Kristina started this Funrazr, which I only became aware of yesterday.

Here’s some of the text. Link below. If you enjoy the mighty MO, or other of Jezza’s works, consider pushing a note or two his way. It can’t be easy losing (temporarily) your ability to play your instrument / earn money. 🙁

* * * * *

I am Curved Air’s Sonja Kristina , a close friend of Jerry Goodman – the brilliant pioneering electric violinist .

We met in the early ‘70s just before John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra was formed.

Over the last year Jerry has been in severe pain due to trapped nerves in both hands and elbows. As a result he has been unable to play his violin.

It is so hard for him to not be able to practice and perform.

After much investigation and advice he has embarked on a series of surgeries to free the nerves. With your help he is also exploring other therapies to ease the pain and restore flexibility.

He has had surgery on » Continue Reading.

I have a copy of the Mojo John Lennon Special which my Mum had saved in mint condition. Anyone who would like it PM me and I’ll pop it in the post. I don’t want anything for it, going to a fellow AWer but by all means stick the postage cost in a charity box near you!

07/04/2023

The Legends of Tomorrow The Weather at World’s End: 1997–2022 TALKING ELEPHANT RECORDS TECD482 – RELEASED: 7 APRIL 2023

‘Colin Harper writes passionately about the music of these islands. ‘The Weather at World’s End’ showcases his own remarkable contribution to that music over 25 years with “the Greatest Northern Irish Supergroup That Never Existed”. Essential!’ Barry Devlin (Horslips), 2023

‘The Weather at World’s End: 1997–2022’ anthologises 20 songs from 25 years of Colin Harper’s under-the-radar ‘studio band’ the Legends of Tomorrow. Dozens of musicians/recording artists from Northern Ireland’s rock, blues, folk, punk, jazz and traditional music communities and guests from further afield have joyously contributed to Legends’ recordings over that period – only a few of which have been nationally released – and this anthology features 50 of these collaborators.

Of the 20 tracks, 18 are Harper compositions and the others are by 60s British folk enigma Anne Briggs and 70s Australian rock god Billy Thorpe. There are two 2023 remixes of 1997 tracks, one previously unreleased track and two new tracks: ‘Better Weather’, » Continue Reading.

My friend, crony and associate Malcolm Holmes (mogul at Talking Elephant) is releasing this album. Here’s the PR blurb and a promotional video.

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Ruth Angell offers a refuge of calm in the beauty of her debut solo album

‘Hlywing’ the debut solo album by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ruth Angell. The album was officially released by Talking Elephant Records on Friday 3 February 2023

All ten tracks – nine of them by Ruth, and one by Joni Mitchell – convey an atmosphere of gentle beauty and calm. Her beautifully crafted lyrics are sensitive – drawing on her own experiences, circumstances and situations, her hopes and her fears. Each story is embellished by inspirations from the wonders of nature and the ever-changing landscapes around her home and encountered on her travels. Classically trained at Birmingham Conservatoire as a violinist and composer Ruth has used her composing talents to focus on using a variety of strings to build stunning landscapes to each of her songs. She explains ‘I knew from the start that using a variety of strings was » Continue Reading.

03/02/2023

For the legions of Eisenhowers fans around the globe, I will be playing a live set at Uddingston Music Club on Friday 3rd February. Songs will be sung, drinks will be drunk and chat will chut on the next step in the campaign to propel the latest album (‘Judge a man by the company he keeps’) up the hit parade. The song linked to below -‘How will you know when you know?’- is about being in a band and hitting the wall of realisation that you are probably not going to be the next U2. In the first verse, there is excitement and optimism as the musicians plan for an adventure, loading up their van before hitting the road for a gig (in the exotic location of Aberdeen). The second verse is written from the perspective of the morning after the night before, grinding through the daily routine and attempting to analyse events through the enervating fog of sleep deprivation.

In anticipation of the latest Eisenhowers album going double platinum, I somewhat optimistically pressed 2 million CDs. In spite of one decent review on Unknownindielosers.com, we’re still only 0.00085% towards our target sales figure. There is definitely room for improvement, so my PR team have organised a ruthless publicity campaign which involves me ‘putting out’ a series of live acoustic performances of various songs from the album. This is a link to ‘My Gang’, a song about political polarisation. The subject interests me and I wanted to explore a landscape wherein dialogue between opposing sides isn’t just frowned upon or rejected; it is taken to be undesirable. I believe ‘My Gang’ to be a well-written and a well-executed song. It’s not original and it’s not going to change the world, but in three minutes or so, it encapsulated some of the things I wanted to say about what passes for political discourse in the 21st century. It also represents the next blow in my continuing war of attrition with the record-buying public. 2 million CDs (a) take » Continue Reading.

20/01/2023

Another year, another tour from the indefatigable Sarah. If you haven’t seen her in action, give it a go – no idea how much longer cottage industry troubadours can survive, but it feels like end times…

JAN-FEB 2023 – UK / IRELAND Jan 20 Penzance: The Acorn Jan 21 Castle Hedingham Village Hall via Applause Touring Jan 22 Twickenham (London): TwickFolk Jan 26 Wexford Arts Centre Jan 28 Naul: The Séamus Ennis Arts Centre Jan 29 Portaferry: The Portico of Ards Feb 1 Ennis: glór (Studio Theatre) Feb 2 Naas: Skylarks Music Club at The Moat Theatre with special guest Sive Feb 3 Ballina Arts Centre Feb 5 Athy Community Arts Centre Feb 8 Waterville: Tech Amergin Arts & Education Centre Feb 9 Listowel: St John’s Theatre & Arts Centre Feb 10 Kenmare: Carnegie Arts Centre Kenmare Feb 11 Tramore: Coastguard Cultural Centre

I like very, very few American singer-songwriters. One of the handful is Buddy Mondlock. In fact, my ‘studio band’ the Legends of Tomorrow recorded one of his songs only this year – but don’t let that put you off! 😀 He doesn’t record often – and these days, there’s no real real financial incentive for artists to do so. So I’m grateful that he’s doing so at all and I’ve supported his Kickstarter. If you have an idle moment, please do check him out. The blurb is below…

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It’s finally happening. I’ve been talking onstage about making a new recording for some time. I’m happy to say it’s finally happening. In fact, I’ve been working away in the studio since the end of September and we’re in the final stages now. I’m really excited by what I’m hearing! I never want to just repeat what I’ve done before and this album takes me in some new directions for sure. I’ve been working with producer Brad Jones, who has created some of my favorite records. Brad has worked with artists like Ron Sexsmith, Richard Julian, Jill Sobule, Josh Rouse, Hayes Carll, and so many others. It feels like » Continue Reading.

04/03/2023

I have 3 tickets for the Saturday March 4th show – 3rd row from stage. Now can’t go. Yours for a snip at £20 each (1/3 below original price). Will accept payment in bitcoin, Our Price vouchers or postal orders. Inbox me.

Exciting stuff – a *new* Rendell-Carr Quintet album. Not words one can often use. Hats off to not-for-profit label impresario John Thurlow for this. PR blurb here:

The never-before-released complete performance of the Rendell-Carr Quintet at The Highwayman in November 1965. Includes an essay written by Simon Spillett.

“Live. Up close and personal. Palpable. Almost within reach. There’s no argument about the best environment in which to witness the magic that is jazz invention. It simply has to be a club setting, the kind of place where an audience isn’t filed neatly into rows like so many sardines and the band isn’t forced to battle cavernous acoustics certain to defeat any attempt at subtlety. Somewhere as singly focused as the musicians themselves, somewhere, more often than not, as self-contained at the music on offer; somewhere in which those performing can take chances, stretch, feel at home… When Trevor Tomkins entrusted his own recorded archive to Jazz in Britain in 2021, the year before his death, it was found to include the full unedited Highwayman gig (a previous issue cherry-picked its contents), in more than passable sound, thus enabling a full restoration process to begin, resulting in this new ‘complete’ » Continue Reading.

03/12/2022

Three fairly local acts in the magnificent surroundings of the Waterbeach Baptist chapel, 5 minutes outside of the Cambridge city limits.

Kerry Devine is a solo singer/songwriter. The British IBM an indie-rock trio. Magnificient headliners (and Cambridge supergroup) The Pony Collaboration straddle the gloomy orchestral indie of Tindersticks, Belle & Seb and Lambchop, road testing material from their soon-to-be-released fourth album. Now in their 15th year, they have supported Fonda 500, The Wave Pictures, Jeffry Lewis, almost everyone you can think of, and played both my 40th and 50th birthday parties. Suffice to say, I rather like them.

Top-flight PA system, superb venue acoustics (so good I sometimes use it as a recording studio), sightlines from every seat, tea and cake during the interval, a pub next door, me on the sound desk.

Nothing new to say – that time of year again. It’s all in the poster.

Released almost one year to the day since the 2021 studio album Lammas Fair, ‘Live After Lammas’ is a one night snapshot of Henry Parker performing with his electric trio in the student quarter of Leeds at the Hyde Park Book Club, with Rob McNicholas on electric bass and Louis Berthoud on drums. The title of the live album, which marks as a nod to the much loved heavy-metal live albums of his teenage years (Iron Maiden, Motorhead) seems ever more appropriate as the set progresses, with performances of Drive East, and the The Brisk Lad transcending notions of what a folk artist should sound like in 2022 with wailing guitar leads and cascading drums.

The varied set takes in cuts from Parker’s two studio albums, the aforementioned Lammas Fair, as well as 2019’s Silent Spring, albums both long out of print on vinyl and much celebrated across the music press and the echelons of the psych and folk music forums that lurk in the overlooked, dusty corners of the web.

2022 saw Henry Parker play shows across the country, London, The Isle of Wight, Margate and North Shields, but this performance amongst his Yorkshire peers in Leeds stands » Continue Reading.