projects

I’m almost at the end of 1000 albums to listen to, and am embarking on another big listening project to provide a different approach to what to listen to, alongside new stuff and my playlists and albums.

In previous years I’ve worked through the complete catalogues of Prince and Dylan. No need to work through The Fall’s mighty oeuvre consciously as I do that out of pure pleasure!

So 2026 is amongst other things for me the year of the symphony.

I’m working through an arbitrary ‘A list’ taking Mozart as a rough starting point and Mahler as a rough end point. Yes there are many great ones before and after, but this does mean not listening to Haydn’s 104 symphonies just yet. Maybe Haydn in 2027. Mozart’s 41 I might also cherry pick. But (deep breath) Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Glinka, Franck, Smetana, Dvorak, Borodin, Bizet, Sibelius, Tchiakovsky, Greig, Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar, Debussy, Strauss etc.

So who is resolving to listen to all the Jazz Messengers studio albums (47) or the 170 odd Buckethead albums listed on Spotify, a mere taster of his complete works?

Maybe you’re just gong to listen to » Continue Reading.

Being the long term road manager for Mick and Keef must be a doddle. It’s just a question of where in the set they’ll play Jumping Jack Flash and when to set off the fireworks and inflate the gigantic penis.

How different it must be working for someone like David Byrne. He’s always got a new project on. And very wonderful some of have been too, like the wonderful shows with St Vincent. If ever a live album should be released …….

Doing the One Hit Album thread made me think about those musicians who are constantly trying out new combinations and pushing the envelope.

So here’s a thread to celebrate them. The ones who can get no satisfaction from playing with the same combo year in, year out.

Your 2026 listening projects

Ants in their artistic pants!

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