Current Listening
Have been listening to a lot of new music over the past couple of weeks. Palma Violets’ first album is pretty good – certainly it has lived up to the hype; Simon Reynolds would draw a retromanic line from Nuggets to the Clash to the Libertines to the Violets. I am not complaining – after reading the book, I realised that every record that I bought, released since 1976, was derivative. Music 7/10, sound 6/10, loudness 2/5.
Johnny Marr is a hero of mine – one of the few guitar gods to emerge with an original technique from the 1980s. He added depth and dimension to Modest Mouse and the Cribs – but a solo album? Uggggh. So I didn’t buy it – I downloaded the album from Deezer – and you know what – it is good; much better than expected – and his voice – well it is very indie! Music 7/10 (cannot comment on sound or loudness due to lossy download). Speaking of downloads, I couldn’t get my hands on the new John Grant album – Pale Green Ghosts, so I downloaded it in the same way. The album does not start well – from the first swirl of synth you think – holy crap he’s gone all Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but as the album progresses it really opens up with familiar lush arrangements and wonderful backing vocals from Sinead O’Connor. It is a real grower – not as immediate as Queen of Denmark, but better than most of his material with the Czars. Certainly an early contender for album of the year: music 8/10 (no comment on sound or loudness).
David Bowie has reappeared just when I was beginning to miss him, and the Next Day is as good an album as you will hear this year. The deluxe version has 3 additional songs. What I find remarkable is how modern this, and indeed Johnny Marr’s album, sounds compared with a lot of the other new releases (Palma Violets, Stornoway (music 6/10) etc. If the Next Day was released by some hot heavily hyped young band – all of the critics would be raving. They are raving anyway. Music 7/10, sound 8/10, loudness 2/5.
I have gotten hold of My Bloody Valentine’s MBV album. I can’t review it for the moment because, frankly, I’m not in the mood. About 15 years 
ago I was in the mood for Jimi Hendrix, and for a 3 month period listened to nobody else – particularly his live recordings. I have just about everything that has been released plus a whole slew of bootlegs. However I was quite disappointed by Valleys of Neptune from a couple of years ago. When I saw the special issue of Classic Rock Magazine with People, hell and angels – I could not resist the package, but had low expectations for the music. However, the packaging was fantastic (9/10), the music uplifting (7/10) and the sound quality stunning (8/10). Eddie Kramer – you are an engineering God! In fact, the fan pack packaging is so much better than the record shop CD that costs the same price: go figure!
Alone with MBV, I have also gotten hold of Atoms for Peace – Amok. Again I just can’t face listening to Thom Yorke twiddling his synthesizer and wailing. When will he get back to making proper rock records and stop fu**ing around?
Finally, for 2 euro, I purchased “The Dandy Warhols are Sound” – which is essentially the original version of “Welcome to the Monkeyhouse”. I found the album, as released, to be very — plastic (after “tales”). I listened to it twice and tossed it. This version, is so much better that it seems like an entirely different album (music 7/10, sound 7/10, loudness 2/6). You have to wonder how many perfectly good albums are messed up by overly “commercial” mixing. It is probably why artists work appears to deteriorate when they sign for a major label…..
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