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Favorite Albums (Rock, Pop)

1. Hot Rats – Frank Zappa
2. Grand Prix – Teenage Fanclub
3. The Nightfly – Donald Fagan
4. Freedom – Neil Young
5. I’m Your Man – Leonard Cohen
6. Layla – Derek and the Dominos
7. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
8. John Barleycorn Must Die – Traffic
9. Harvest – Neil Young
10. The Joshua Tree – U2
11. The Book of Invasions – Horslips
12. Summerteeth – Wilco
13. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison
14. Pretzel Logic – Steely Dan
15. Something Else – the Kinks
16. Coming Up – Suede
17. Your Mine and Ours – Pernice Brothers
18. London Calling – Clash
19. Infidels – Bob Dylan
20. The Wall – Pink Floyd
21. Achtung Baby – U2
22. The Bends – Radiohead
23. Asleep at the Back – Elbow
24. Natural History – I am Kloot
25. The Trinity Session – Cowboy Junkies
26. Discovery – Electric Light Orchestra
27. Beggars Banquet – Rolling Stones
28. Too Ray Ay – Dexys Midnight Runners
29. Parallel Lines – Blondie
30. Give out but don’t give up – Primal Scream
31. Nixon – Lambchop
32. The La’s – The La’s
33. The Doors – The Doors
34. Figure 8 – Elliot Smith
35. Up the Bracket – Libertines
36. Different Class – Pulp
37. Automatic for the people – REM
38. Forever Changes – Love
39. Armed Forces  – Elvis Costello
40. Back in Black – ACDC
41. The Fillmore Concerts –Allman Brothers Band
42. Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
43. Abbey Road – Beatles
44. Solid Air – John Martyn
45. Full Moon Fever – Tom Petty
46. Band of Gypsies – Jimi Hendrix
47. Midnite Vultures – Beck
48. HMS Fable – Shack
49. The Life Pursuit – Belle and Sebastian
50. The Crossing – Big Country
51. Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers
52. The Queen is Dead – The Smiths
53. No. 1 Record – Big Star
54. Yoshimi Versus the Robots – Flaming Lips
55. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
56. Blitzen Trapper – Destroyers of the Void
57. The Band – The Band
58. Introducing the Hardline – Terence T’rent D’arby
59. Boston – Boston
60. Songs from northern Britain – Teenage Fanclub
61. Exodus – Bob Marley
62. Lapalco – Brendan Benson
63. Small Craft on a Milk Sea – Brian Eno
64. That Lucky Old Sun – Brian Wilson
65. The River – Bruce Springsteen
66. Avalon – Roxy Music
67. The Black Light – Calexico
68. There is nothing left to lose – Foo Fighters
69. Life on other planets – Supergrass
70. Performance and Cocktails – Stereophonics
71. Bring it on – Gomez
72. The Hard Way – Steve Earle
73. Urban Hymns – The Verve
74. Queen of Denmark – John Grant
75. Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine – Cosmic Rough Riders
76. Ignore the Ignorant – The Cribs
77. Hunky Dory – David Bowie
78. Communique – Dire Straits
79. Byther Lyther – Nick Drake
80. Velvet Underground and Nico – Velvet Underground
81. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams
82. Yonder is the Clock – Felice Brothers
83. Replicas – Tubeway Army
84. Hello and Goodbye – Tim Buckley
85. The Sophtware Slump – Grandaddy
86. Deserter’s Songs – Mercury rev
87. Viva hate – Morrissey
88. Showbiz – Muse
89. Workingman’s Dead – Grateful Dead
90. Who’s Next – The Who
91. Steeple – Wolf People
92. Rings around the world – Super Furry Animals
93. Ted Nugent – Ted Nugent
94. The Man Who – Travis
95. Mag Earwig! –Guided By Voices
96. Fly Like and Eagle – Steve Miller Band
97. Pills thrills and Bellyaches – Happy Mondays
98. Its great when you’re straight – Black Grape
99. Lust For Life – Iggy Pop
100. New Boots and Panties –Ian Dury
101. The king is dead – Decemberists
102. Dream of the Blue Turtles – Sting
103. Our Love to Admire – Interpol
104. Dig your own hol – Chemical Brothers
105. Magical Ring – Clannad
106. Made in Japan – Deep Purple
107. Ode to Sunshie – Delta Spirit
108. Unplugged – Eric Clapton
109. Sing along songs – Jack Johnson
110. Sound Effects – The Jam
111. Tomorrow the green grass – Jawhawks
112. Equinoxe – Jean Michel Jarre
113. Bananas Foster – the Jigsaw Seen
114. Twin Cinema – New Pornographers
115. Kicking against the pricks – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
116. Blaze of Glory – Joe Jackson
117. Wicked Grin – John Hammond
118. Closer – Joy Division
119. The Magic Numbers – the Magic Numbers
120. Under the Influence – Mary Coughlan
121. Kasabian – Kasabian
122. Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
123. Bat Out of Hell – Meat Loaf
124. Transformer – Lou Reid
125. MTV Unplugged – Nirvana
126. Whats the story morning glory – Oasis
127. Mosely Shoals – Ocean Colour Scene
128. The Stage Names – Okkervil River
129. Bundles – Soft Machine
130. Specials – the Specials
131. Mothership Connection – Parliament
132. Stranded and Enchanted – Pavement
133. Love is Here – Starsailor
134. Manassas – Stephen Stills
135. Breakfast in America – Supertramp
136. Heart of Saturday Night – Tom Waits
137. Warpaint – The Fool
138. Gold – Ryan Adams
139. Mind if we make love – Wondermints
140. Meo Syi u Wtryn Vuio – Sigur ros
141. Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
142. Welcome to the Monkeyhouse – Dandy Warhols
143. Rated R – Queens of the Stone Age
144. Dark side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
145. International Velvet – Catatonia
146. The David Grisman Quintet – The David Grisman Quintent
147. The Reconfiguration of Blind Joe Death – John Fahey
148. The Last Broadcast – Doves
149. Smile – Brian Wilson
150. Aztec Camera – High Land, Hard Rain
151. Faster Pussycat – faster Pussycat
152. Atlantic Crossing – Rod Stewart
153. Surf – Roddy Frame
154. Exile on Main Street – Rolling Stones
155. Only Revolutions – Biffy Clyro
156. Cheap Thrills – Big Brother and the Holding Company
157. Catch a Fire – Bob Marley
158. Forgiveness Rock Record – Broken Social Scene
159. Degeneration Street – The Dears
160. The Fantastic Adventures of Dillard and Clark – Dillard & Clark
161. XII – Dwight Twilley
162. Welcome to the Pleasuredome – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
163. God Help the Girl – Stuart Murdoch
164. Live at Folsom Prison – Johnny Cash
165. In the court of King Crimson – King Crimson
166. K – Kula Shaker
167. Gonna Take a Miracle – Laura Nyro
168. Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole
169. Bizarre fruit – M People
170. Hold Time – M. Ward
171. Do you like my tight sweater – Moloko
172. Loss – Mull Historical Society
173. Blacklisted – Neko Case
174. Gotham – Radio 4
175. Glow – Reef
176. Shoot out the lights – Richard and Linda Thompson
177. Under the blacklight – Rilo Kiley
178. Robert Wyatt – the end of an ear
179. Isotope – Illusion
180. Nucleus
181. Inspiration Information – Shuggie Otis
182. Spiders – Space
183. Pocket Full of Kryptonite – Spin Doctors
184. Transference – Spoon
185. Stanley Beckford plays mento – Stanley Beckford
186. Sowing the Seeds of Love – Tears for Fears
187. Psychocandy – Jesus and Mary Chain
188. Murky Water – Leisure Society
189. The Meters – The Meters
190. Days of our future passed – Moody Blues
191. High Violet – The National
192. Cruel Guards – The Panic
193. Consolers of the Lonely – Raconteurs
194. Australian Melodrama –The Triffids
195. Elephant – White Stripes
196. Pugwash
197. Palermo Snow – John Renbourne
198. Nothing is wrong – Dawes
199. Sgt Pepper – Beatles
200. Innerspeaker – Tame Impala

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Ok – I have ignored this blog for a year – so it’s time to get going again.

New Weller album out this weekend – I will do everything in my power to stop myself buying it – and I will fail miserably. There’s a deluxe edition – I am addicted to them. If these things become valuable in the future – I will be a millionaire.

Looking for:

Kindness – world you need a change

The Shins – Port of Morrow

Tall Firs – Out of It

Thomas White – Yalla!

Sharks – No Gods

As usual half won’t be in my local HMV. But at least I have one

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After 12 months of uncontrolled vinyl buying, I dug out a few records over the weekend that I had yet to spin. Vinyl junkies often own both the CD and the vinyl version of a particular recording. I located Solid Air by John Martyn – recently reissued in Deluxe Edition, and now available on 180g vinyl thanks to simply vinyl (http://www.simplyvinyl.com/index.php/john-martyn-solid-air.html) – not an inexpensive purchase. Good thick cardboard gatefold sleeve. With a reassuring thud the stylus hit the black stuff and then the wonderfully analogue chimes of John Martyn, wonderful full bass and soundstaging. It blew the remastered CD out of the water. 
Ah the warm afterglow of vinylisation.
The second record was Levron Helm’s Dirt Farmer – I really enjoyed the follow up – Electric Dirt on CD, so when I spotted this album for 19.99 in Tower Records, Dublin, I bought it, sound unheard. Back in my armchair for some good lovin country blues – that great acoustic sound that you only hear on vinyl. But no – thin thin thin. No soundstage. Thin. Ugh! The label proudly proclaims – high quality 180g vinyl. It sounded like a feeble early 80s mass produced pap. Ah well, at least I can download the mp3 files for my iPod – but NO NONE no mp3 voucher just crap overpriced vinyl. This is a major issue for me – the reason why I stopped buying vinyl in the 1990s was that it started to sound so bad. As vinyl became an audiophile product, the quality improved immeasurably to the point that vinyl, today, with the demise of SACD, and before the emergence of blu-ray audio, is the defacto standard. If record companies start tossing out poor quality vinyl just because it is a source of sales, then the whole pyramid will collapse around them. Vinyl is a premium product – it costs more than CD period, we buy it because it sounds better. There is no way to know whether the sound will be good by looking at the cover (although a nice gatefold with heavy cardboard is always a good sign). Hence it is up to us, vinyl buyers to speak up and “grass out” the bad releases.

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Horslips are my favorite Irish band – inventors of glam celtic rock in the 1970s

I couldn’t resist it – “Horslips – the road to the O₂” or on DVD – 17.99 (a bit pricey). This was a talking heads documentary that involved the celtic glam rockers chit chatting about their much hyped comeback gigs in 2009 at the Odyssey, Belfast, and the O₂, Dublin. I wasn’t in Belfast, but one comes away with the impression that the gig wasn’t great, or at least the atmosphere was muted (apparently the fiftysomething audience were so busy crying that they weren’t cheering). Whatever! I was at the Dublin gig – a bit of an anticlimax, until they unleashed the rockers at the end. Curious that a band that could hardly fill the National Stadium at their peak, can fill a mega-arena like the O₂ as a nostalgia act. As such, they have a great range of material to draw on, from the glam rock early 70s stuff, to the folkie mid 70s to the rocking late 70s and the americanised AOR of 1980. This includes two great concept albums – “the Tain” and “the Book of Invasions”. 

I first “discovered” Horslips just after they broke up in 1980; I was given a cassette copy of “The Belfast Gigs”. How could a young punk resist the rapid riffing of Dearg Doom, Trouble, Shakin all over and King of the Fairies. I was hooked. K-tel released a compilation in 1981. It was fantastic: of course we knew most of the trad tunes – such as Daybreak (the theme from “Youngline”) and  “Flowers among them all” (theme of the radio show on RTR “Highways and By-ways”). How cool was celtic rock in the face of synth pop, the manufactured bubblegum of Stock, Aiken and Waterman and of course – Hair Metal. Yeah U2 were a great Irish band, although in the 80s we all thought that Bono was a plonker, still do – but respect him now, but Horslips – they played real Irish rock.

Now they’re back – of course I am going to see them again in the O₂, Dublin, on December 4^th.  From the video you see your musical heroes as middle aged dads that know that they are middle aged, at ease in each other’s’ company, not drug addled washed out has-beens that are only doing it for the money. They have all had successful post-Horslips careers; they are proud of their heritage and dammit – having a lot of fun doing it all over again. So, yes, I am going to drop 17.99 on the live CD [update – bought it, enjoyed it, recommend it].

If you are new to Horslips, I can strongly recommend the compilations “Treasury:the best of Horslips”. If you are an album lover, one cannot beat “The Book of Invasions.” I love “Tracks from the Vault” and odds and sods compilation, and, of course “The Tain”. The Belfast Gigs would be ripe for an expanded deluxe edition re-release. If you want to concentrate on the mid 70s celtic rock era – try “Live”.

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After many years of ignoring it, knowing it to be one of the biggest selling records of all time, I finally caved and bought a copy of “Frampton Comes Alive” – the 1976 double live tour-de-force by the previously unknown and rapidly forgotten Humble Pie graduate.  My chauvinism to this particular artist derives from viewing the awful movie – Sgt Pepper, in which he starred with the Bee Gees, at a matinee some-time in the late 70s. Too good looking, too much perm (big hair), too not punk rock: the LP was cheaply available in every bargain bin in the world in the 1980s.

So into the CD player it went – the album starts with applause and cheers – nice crisp remastering (1999 remaster, pre- loudness wars, the optimal era), then the music. Stop the lights this is good, slick 70s AOR – but exciting. A tight band, a little noodling, and a vocoder that doesn’t sound naff (please save me the torture of Neil Youngs 1983 album Trans). Man I’m rocking and toe tapping like its ’75 all over  again, shoulder length hair and bell bottoms wearing a sweatshirt with 76 emblazoned on it. I’m hardly thru the first 3 songs and I have decided to buy “Thank you, Mr Churchill” – Frampton’s latest CD (3.5 stars on allmusic; 3-4 in most publications). Crikey – Sgt Pepper sountrack has 4 stars from 80 plus reviews on Amazon! Still not buying it.

Frampton  may be one of those unusual artists who produces fairly decent studio albums but really shakes his stuff in concert. Hence I decided to compile a list of artists whose defining work or best album(s) is live (accepting that many live albums are overdubbed). So here’s my list:

1. Motorhead: No sleep till Hammersmith.
2. Thin Lizzy: Live and Dangerous.
3. Deep Purple Mk II: Made in Japan (+ the Japan Concerts)
4. Deep Purple Mk III: Live in London/Paris/Made in Europe/The final concerts.
5. Peter Frampton: Frampton comes alive.
6. Muddy Waters: live at Newport 1963.
7. BB King: Live at the Regal.
8. James Brown: Live at the Apollo.
9. Elvis Presley: In Person at the International Hotel Las Vegas.
10. Allman Brothers: Live at the Fillmore East/The Fillmore Concerts.
11. Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsies/The Fillmore Concerts (yes I know that this is controversial)
12. Johnny Cash: Live at Fulsom Prison
13. The Who: Live at Leeds (the deluxe edition including Tommy)
14. Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
15. Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert
16. Cheap trick: At Budokan
17. Stevie Ray Vaughan – live at Montreau 1982 and 1985
18. Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
19. Little Feat – Waiting for Columbus
20. Eric Clapton – Unplugged
21. Bob Segar – Live Bullet
22. Erroll Garner – Concert by the sea
23. Hot August Night – Neil Diamond
24. MC5 – Kick Out The Jams
25. Rory Gallagher – Irish Tour 74
26. Tom Robinson – Living in a Boom Time

Worst Live Albums:

1. Dylan and the Dead – a stinking piece of shit.
2. Rolling stones – Still life
3. The Who – Who’s last?
4. Neil Young – Arc/Time Fades Away/Year of the horse [all brutal]
5. Lauren Hill – MTV unplugged 2.0
6. Grateful Dead – Steal your face

Terrific live albums by bands that have made better studio albums:

1. Leonard Cohen – Live in London
2. Horslips – The Belfast Gigs
3. Too Late to Stop Now – Van Morrisson
4. The Clash – Live at Shea Stadium
5. Jimi Hendrix – Stages (4 CD box set currently unavailable, released circa 1990)
6. Steve Miller Band – Live! (1992)
7. Neil Young – Live Rust & Massey Hall
8. Phish – A live one
9. Bob Dylan – Albert Hall (Manchester Free Trade Hall) 1966
10. Various – Monterray Pop Festival Box Set (includes Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding)
11. Rolling Stones – Get Your Ya Ya’s Out
12. Paul McCartney – Good Evening NYC
13. Pink Floyd – Is there anybody out there?

Looking at this list there is something striking – it’s like a who’s who of classic rock. Why no recent bands. The principle reason for this is that few artists continue to release live recordings on CD – the majority of live music is now released on DVD & Blu-Ray. This is understandable as live music is as much visual as it is audio. Hence – U2 have released a series of “videos” – Zoo TV, Mexico City, Boston, Go Home, Chicago, California that are phenomenal audio recordings, but released only as VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray. Leonard Cohen’s recent output has been released in multi-format with excellent sound quality – notably 24/96 audio on DVDs – bravo. Most concerts these days are 2+ hours – necessitating double CD releases, or more vinyl sides than you are able to carry: a single DVD is more portable at least, if not difficult to listen to while jogging, driving the car, making love etc. The recently released “Ladies and Gentlemen” on DVD/Blu-Ray by the Rolling Stones is superior to anything they have released ever live, in terms of music, but not a great spectacle: all focused on Jagger, you wouldn’t mind seeing Mick Taylor playing guitar for a few seconds at least.  Moreover, with a few exceptions, I have better bootlegs by virtually every one of these artists than their officially released (usually overdubbed and fished from multiple performances) fodder. It’s amazing that, aside from Wolfgang’s Vault, BBC recordings  and the Deluxe Edition sets, artists and record companies have not tapped the vaults of radio stations and soundboards for “legal bootlegs” to satisfy the demands of the fans. Certainly Pearl Jam’s strategy of selling CDs of every concert on one of their tours was a great idea: I’m surprised that U2 don’t sell flac downloads of their concerts as a “I was there” keepsake.

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