Latest Music Purchases.

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Slayer-Fan123
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Post by Slayer-Fan123 »

More $0.50 bargain bin stuff. Haven't listened to any of it yet though.

I should start doing reviews for that stuff.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Siouxsie And The Banshees 'The Scream' (1978)

Pretty much Goth's year zero, this spiky and spooky debut is a great claustrophobic clatter of jangly gituars and Siouxsie's distinctive bark. The nice whirlitzer style sounds give this a glorious off kilter feel. This remastered version also adds poppy debut single 'Hong Kong Garden' and its b-side to the running order.

Charli XCX 'True Romance' (2013)

Outwardly sweet sounding, but pretty brutal punchy pop music from big haired Charli. It has that expansive, cavernous sound that a lot of pop music does these days, but it takes that cliché and chucks a hand grenade at it. Probably the smartest pop music made since the Sugababes and Girls Aloud.

Genius/RZA 'Liquid Swords' (1995)

Being a honky, there's no way I can listen to hard edged hip hop like this without feeling a bit bloody silly. My life experiences are a world away from those of the Wu Tang Clan and I can't really 'relate', but Jesus H Jones this is good stuff. This was a largely forgotten, but well respected, record until a year or so ago when suddenly it got resissued with all manner of packaging adornments. I've just got the original and that's enough for me. A great, great record that even clueless white folk like me can get into :)

Cancer Bats 'Dead Set On Living' (2012)

Glorious punk-metal racket. Not much else I can say about this.

Lady Gaga 'Born This Way' (2011)

Terrible sleeve art aside (it really reminds of the airbrushed rubbish you used to get on '80s hard rock albums), this is a good successor to Gaga's debut. Doesn't have quite as many obvious stand out tracks, but is more memorable than most of the stuff on the later 'Artpop'. As with all Gaga's output, her visual inventiveness outstrips her actual music which isn't actually anything particularly ground breaking, its just well written well done stuff. And there's nothing wrong with that.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

The Siouxsie and CB sound interesting... Poundland's not nearly as interesting in this area, although some truly random stuff does turn up there.
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Ryan F
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Post by Ryan F »

A few years ago I went to Finland (to watch an HJK game), and whilst there caught a bit of their MTV equivalent.

It made me a fan of the Finnish group PMMP, whose style ranges from brash, Pink-esque power-pop, haunting ballads, and just plain bizarre (one of their albums was just covers of Finnish nursery-rhymes. With accordions.)

Because they're splitting up, they just released an album of re-recordings of their greatest hits, which I got from Scandinavian CD outlet CDON this morning.

Here's my favourite track by them, Viimeinen Valitusvirsi ("last wailing")

(Can't do proper links cos I'm on my phone...)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pbe-r0ZUE28
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Shed 7 'A Maximum High' (1996)

Quintessential Britpop album. Bears all the hall marks of the era. Guitars? Check. Needless Brass Section? Check. Anthemic Ballad that drunk blokes in Kappa Tracksuits can tunelessly bellow? Check. All of which does Shed 7 a massive disservice, as this is actually a great little record...its just that they were one of a huge number of bands doing this (see also: The Bluetones, Cast, Proper, Sussed, Oasis, The Boo Radleys etc etc ad nauseum).

Babybird 'Ugly Beautiful' (1996)

Another album from the Britpop era, yet this one stands out for being what I can only describe as tramp pop. An album full of an unfortunate series of small triumphs and a life lived in decline. The most memorable single from the album being the immortal 'You're Gorgeous' which, along with the similarly cheery (ish) 'Cornershop' is at odds with the much better material on show here. Other minor hit 'Goodnight' and the outstanding and arresting 'Too Handsome To Be Homeless' are my favourites. Like a lot of Britpop bands, they set the template for what was to follow in the early twenty first century for many of today's bands - that of burning brightly and slowly fading away.

Radiohead 'The Bends' (1995)

Probably the last time Radiohead wrote proper pop songs. Debut 'Pablo Honey' owed more than a tip of the hat to grunge and this arrived, starting Radiohead's musical odyssey. Easily their most accessible work with just about every track sounding like a potential hit single. If, like me, you feel obliged to enjoy Radiohead because people with flat caps and pointy beards say so, but don't have time for all that arch 'exploring the outer reaches of the sonisphere', then this is the one Radiohead album to go for. It has some early signs of their slightly jazzy and complex nature, but there's enough pop nous here to keep that reigned in and make at an album you might want to listen to more than once, rather than as an 'experience'.

Oui 3 'Oui Love You' (1993)

Desperately right on dance music with a message, this is nevertheless a surprisingly enjoyable dance/pop album that sounds like a sunny day in er, 1993. Hit singles 'For What Its Worth' (a slightly tweaked appropriation of Stephen Stills protest song) and 'Break From The Old Routine' are the obvious stand out tracks, but the rest of the album is no slouch either.

Grid 'Evolver' (1994)

Sometimes I wonder if this lot were an influence on Underworld. Both occupy that similar noodly trance/ dancefloor stomper territory, but it was Underworld that had all the luck thanks to their turn on the Trainspotting soundtrack. The Grid with their slightly more 'novelty' singles ('Swamp Thing' and 'Texas Cowboys' from this album) sold themselves short which was a bit of a shame. Then again, there is a bit of a whiff of this being New Age Floatation Tank Music, the sort of thing ITV put on behind their early morning Jobfinder slot.

Sunscreem 'Change Or Die' (1995)

Sadly for Sunscreem, they failed to do just that and died. After respectable chart success with debiut 'O2' and its attendant singles, they followed that up with more of the same, just as dance music was moving away from the lightweight bells and whistles of the rave era to a deeper house sound. The rise of jungle music and big beat (in the shape of The Chemical Brothers and oh yes they are) quickly dated Suncreem's sound. I 'discovered' this album around 1998, when Virgin were clearing out all the cassette albums they had in their warehouse for a £1 a throw, and found to be actually much better than their debut. Yes, it sounds the same, but the songwriting is much more honed and the record is much more cohesive. It also works as a proper dance work out, shifting from a warm up to full on four to the floor stompers before settling into chill-out territory towards the end.
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Post by Denyer »

Skyquake87 wrote:If, like me, you feel obliged to enjoy Radiohead because people with flat caps and pointy beards say so, but don't have time for all that arch 'exploring the outer reaches of the sonisphere', then this is the one Radiohead album to go for.
Yeah, some bloody good songs on that... High and Dry / Street Spirit made a number of compilations IIRC, and Fake Plastic Trees is lovely. Probably been about ten years since I listened to it as an album, and it's hanging together better than I remember.

edit: Although it does feel a bit Madchester...
I 'discovered' this album around 1998, when Virgin were clearing out all the cassette albums they had in their warehouse for a £1 a throw,
Remind me, when did Virgin/Ourprice close out? Found some fun random stuff in those sales... including this single -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuAwl5kfbgs -- and oh-em-gee there's more stuff on YouTube/MySpace now... time to go a-stream-ripping...
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Post by Ryan F »

I had no idea Sunscreem had a second album; I loved their first album, I'll have to check this one out, cheers for the tip!

IIRC they were from my own neck of the woods (darkest Essex) and were quite pally with Braintree's finest export the Prodigy.

I used to love Shed 7 when I was in my teens; I think their third album Let It Ride was their best. Their cover of Sir Cliff's "Wired for Sound" (on the bonus disc of Going for Gold) is brilliant.

I've got a few albums on preorder at the moment, and as it's three of my favourite artists, March can't come soon enough. New albums by Asia, Magnum and Mike Oldfield don't come long that often; all three within a month will be heaven!

On the subject of Radiohead, I find their latter efforts a bit too opaque for my tastes. I remember when I was at uni, Kid A and Green Day's Nimrod were released quite close to each other (maybe even the same day?) They were two of my fave bands at the time (I still adore OK Computer), and I remember excitedly getting them both from Our Price in Norwich and absolutely detesting them. How disappointing.
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Post by Sades »

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's been forever since I heard that. :up::up::up: Love it.
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Post by Heinrad »

Went into a local thrift store(I mainly go in to oogle the hot blonde that runs the place), and I had a mooch through their CDs. Found two I used to have in one form or another(Tubthumping by Chumbawamba and the soundtrack to Die Another Day), one by a band I've really heard only on the radio(Bowling For Soup's 'Too Drunk To Dance'), and one I didn't even know existed(soundtrack to the XBox remake of Conker's Bad Fur Day. Pity the game was edited).
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Post by Denyer »

Sades wrote:Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's been forever since I heard that. :up::up::up: Love it.
Also some cool stuff here, although it's probably fair to say they lead with their best song as a single back in the 90s;

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wonderla ... 2904732694 -- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wonderla ... 2405167945

http://www.youtube.com/user/mattwhitcher/videos

Looks like they sort-of reformed a couple of years ago.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

@Denyer - Our Price and Andy's Records didn't make it past the 1990s. I seem to recall them fading away around '96. Virgin made it to the early part of the last decade before Virgin sold the shops off and they were picked up by Zavvi whom went under about 18 months after.

@Ryan F - Sunscreem were dropped by Sony shortly after this album was released. It didn't fare well against the onslaught of Britpop. They found a home at Pulse-8 records and released a single 'Catch' and had begun work on a third album 'New Dark Times'. Pulse-8 collapsed before the record was completed and that was pretty much it, save for the usual best of/ remix albums that have continued to pop up (most recently in 2009 with Love U More - The Very Best Of, comprising stuff from their time at Sony).




Sugar 'Copper Blue' (1992)
What Bob Mould did after Husker Du. Critics go for 'File Under Easy Listening' , but I prefer the FM alt-rock of this album. Singles 'A Good Idea' and 'If I Can't Change Your Mind' are still favourites and the album as a whole is a jolly romp and a welcome antidote to the rest of the flannel shirt brigade.

Transvision Vamp 'Pop Art' (1988)
F**k me, Transvision Vamp were incredible. This firecracker of a debut album is fantastic. Helped in no small measure by Wendy James, purring and shouting her way through this album. One of the best voices in rock, such a shame her solo career never took off.

Saint Etienne 'So Tough' (1993)
Saint Etienne can't put a foot wrong for me. A consistently interesting band, this album saw them add some choice samples to their London-centric outlook. There's a nice house-hip/hop undercurrent to the album too.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Yeah, Our Price went a good long while before Virgin.

As I've been listening to the full TF:TM soundtrack a lot this week I was mildly surprised, considering it wasn't written for the film, to hear the tune of Dare to Be Stupid being used on one of the tracks, never noticed that in the film itself.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Pops up a couple of times during the battle on Junk, doesn't it?
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Still working my way through the pile of stuff I got a few weeks back...

Amused to see that you can buy most of the musical output of the 1990s at least ten times over in all second hand places.

Spiritualized 'Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space' (1997)
After the hazy, music to takes drugs to vibes of 'Pure Phase' and 'Lazer Guided Melodies', this felt like a bit of a cold shower in the world of Spiritualized. Its a more guitar driven piece of work and traditional song structures lend more of a backbone to this album than anything else Spiritualized had done to date. Unsurprisingly, it was their biggest commercial success, and came to be one of the 'big four' indie albums of 1997 (the others being Primal Scream's 'Vanishing Point', Radiohead's 'OK Computer' and The Verve's 'Urban Hymns' - all of which were envelope pushing albums that transcended the more meat and potatoes noodlings of a lot of Britpop artists of the time). Sadly, this isn't the fancied packaged version that came like an enormous tablet.

Pulp 'This Is Hardcore' (1998)
Pretty much a capstone of the Britpop era, coming out in a year when the public's affections for Brtipop's staple of white guitar pop burnt itself out. Pulp's third album proper for Island (fourth if you count 1992s 'Intro' compilation of EPs) saw the band charting out the seedy and damaging side of fame and excess, inspired by their own lives on the road at the time, following their huge success two years previously, (and Jarvis waving his arse at the Brits during Michael Jackson's nauseating performance) this has the same haunted feel of Scott Walker's stuff. Appropriately enough, they'd go onto work with him on final album 'We Love Life' (2001)

The Shirehorses 'Present The Worst...Album In The World...Ever...EVER!' (1997)
These days, Marc Radcliffe and Mark 'Lard' Riley cut more sober figures with their respective shows on BBC 6 Music. Time was when they were the John Peel you could listen to. Starting out with Out On Blue Six on Radio One in 1993, they gained their own late night slot around 1994 which saw them mix in top quality items alongside poetry from John Hegley and Simon Armitage, as well as sessions from the lesser lights of the musical spectrum (usually The Tindersticks, in much the same way The Evening Session would always have BMX Bandits on). Some occasional musical skits lead to further dabblings gently mocking the mores of the era. East West gathered these altogether as the debut album of The Shirehorses, and even now, its still funny. The packaging is also a treat mocking both the 'best album' series of Britpop compliations and Pete Frame's celebrated 'Rock Family Trees' (later turned into a documentary series on BBC2 in 1999). The band photography is also a hoot, with Marc And Lard dressed to replicate famous shots of the bands they were taking the mick out of. Briliant stuff, although the album does run out of steam a bit towards the end. A tour followed in 1998, with the Levensholme Morris Miner Men as support (Marc and Lard and friends dressed as miners doing morris dancing).
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Post by Skyquake87 »

A New Album!!! Woop!

The Pretty Reckless 'Going To Hell' (2014)

TPR's 2010 debut, 'Light Me Up' (highly recommended, by the way) was so good I had overwhelmingly high expectations of this second album. The two lead singles singles 'Heaven Knows' and 'Going To Hell' aren't quite as immediate as 'Make Me Wanna Die' and 'Miss Nothing', but like the rest of the album, reveal themselves to be every bit as equal with repeated listen. The album is every bit as crunchy and punchy as the debut, and whilst not such a strident move away from their LOUD bluesy rock, there's enough light and shade to show that Taylor Momsen is an impressive and vital musician. My top tracks off this album are 'Absolution', 'F**ked Up World' and 'Follow Me Down'. The album artwork is er, interesting. The rest of the band are sidelined in favour of Taylor cavorting wearing nothing but paint. I suppose its fair enough, but does feel a bit label mandated to flog a few more records which seems unnecessary and rather does the music a bit of disservice. Sex sells, I suppose. Maybe Taylor was into this, I don't know...I'm just some silly old fart whom doesn't need some t*tty shots to get me to buy a record by a band I like.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I made a music purchase this week without even realising it, I've been working through the Bond audio books (that are avaliable), and am now up to Sebastian Faulk's mildly underwhelming "Writing as Ian Fleming whilst completely missing the point of how Ian Fleming wrote" effort Devil May Care.

Imagine my surprise when the last track turned out to be not a further explanation of the book's deeply stupid twins twist but an attempt at a Bond song.

Imagine being the band the day they got that news, "We want you to do a Bond song!

For the audiobook.


Not for the audiobook of a Fleming novel, one of the crap new ones. And not one of the Benson ones that were actually trying to be like films, for which it would be appropriate, but a very serious pro-faced one. Great hey?"

It's actually catchy, if unmemorable. It does sound like a song the band had laying about they quickly stuck a few shouts of "DEVIL MAY CARE!" into once the call came in though.

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Post by Notabot »

With the new Wovenhand album due next Tuesday, I started looking for their first album since I didn't yet have it. That led to an Ebay auction with a bunch of 16 Horsepower CDs, his previous band. Wow!

I had only heard the Amazon samples from 16 Horsepower before and wasn't all that impressed, but they apparently managed to take the worst 30 seconds of each song. Great stuff! You can definitely hear the progression toward the Wovenhand sound in their late albums.

And it worked out well as the CDs were delivered just before a stretch of several long on-the-road days. So much banjo...:)
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Post by HotShot81 »

Actually I got a new CD from a man who needs no introduction.

Stan Bush, The Ultimate

Only 10 songs, but he's still got style and The Touch:)
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Post by Auntie Slag »

Using up the last couple of quid from an iTunes card I bought 'Pocket Calculator' by Kraftwerk. I first heard it on Radio 6 a couple of years ago and found it so infectious I knew I had to purchase it within two years. I just love the way he says it with his German accent:

"I am the operator of my Pocket CalculaTOR".

Then catching what I think was their last concert as a four-piece on BBC channel 301 at some weird time on a Sunday morning meant I used the last pound on Computer Love.

After not liking it for donkey's years, I now have an ungodly love for clean synth sounds from the 70's/80's, and I blame Daft Punk and their astounding score to Tron Legacy for that.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I keep meaning to check out Kraftwerk, so I shall look into those what you have mentioned...

I've been to a couple of gigs recently with my girlfriend whose into all that '80s metal stuff, you know, the big haired stuff that borders on pop music to see some bands and picked up two cds.

Dust Bowl Jokies - pleasant sounding Swedish bubblegum metal that's lost something in translation. saw these in er, Keighley the other week and got chatting to them afterwards. Lovely chaps. So I bought their album. Its a a jolly blast of Motley Crue, Def Leppard and The Backyard Babies - all that kind of stuff.

We also saw a band called Cheap Thrill at Wakefield's rather excellent alternative music venue Warehouse 23 whom comprise members of Cinderella and White Lion (the latter I dimly recall being one of those 'white metal' bands). They were actaully pretty great, but I was blown away by one of the support bands called Shock! Hazard ("the best thing to come out of Norfolk since Bernard Matthews") and picked up their 'Danger Of Rock' album which is great. Loud, fast shouty punk glam metal. Great live band too and well worth going to see.

A couple of other things bought to fill out some gaps in the music bank...

Stone Roses 'Stone Roses' (1989) - Ubiquitous debut album of "unrivvalled genius" as all and sundry will tell you. Actaully more telling about the state of british guitar pop in the late 1980s, which had fallen into this terrible stew of everyone sounding like The Smiths. No wonder these guys, The Las and T Wonderstuff made such an impact. Perfectly pleasant set of tunes, but to my ears the more raucous and entertaining likes of contemporaries the aforementioned Stuffies, Neds, Senseless Things, PWEI and Jesus Jones were doing far more lively and interesting with guitar music, although I do like the fusion of funk and Led Zep the Stones put together. Its the rather thin and reedy production that lets the album down.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - 'Searching For The Young Soul Rebels' (1978) superb album of rabble rousing folk punk that reminds me how bloody great Dexys were. Such a shame they're largely remembered for feckin' 'Come On Eileen'. Bah.
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