I’m sitting staring at my computer screen at work, finding it very hard to concentrate on doing anything productive. Bunged up and fed up with a cold that’s not bad enough for you to stay at home and not light enough for it not to bother you constantly. It’s that annoying time between Christmas and New Year where you don’t know what to do with yourself. It’s a limbo. It’s not Christmas anymore, but it’s not the New Year yet. There’s no one at work but you and a few other people who didn’t have enough holiday to take the time off. A four day weekend is within touching distance but yet also just out of reach.
I’m listening to Idlewild and Roddy Woomble in anticipation of the new Idlewild record next year, the first song from it, Collect Yourself, is a fantastic face slap with a guitar hook reminiscent of bagpipes.
Subsequently, from searching for a stream or something of Collect Yourself, having only heard it on the radio, I have stumbled across Roddy’s solo stuff, which is really quite good, and a spell binding version of "The Quiet Crown" from 2000's 100 Broken Windows at a Radio Scotland session.
The nirvana that is 29th-31st gives you an opportunity to look forward to the new year, or dread it arriving. 2015. It looks clean. It's a futuristic date.
I get married in 2015. Within 24 hours of saying "I do" i turn 34. That does sound like an old age. 34. Thirty four! THIRTY FOUR!! I think it'll be time I officially announce my retirement from professional football.
I read those tips for the new year same time every year (funnily enough) and the names go over my head. The BBC list of acts and bands to look out for didn't exist when I was younger, but this scrambling to second guess who will have a year to remember seems pretty pointless to me.
Either they are way wide of the mark or they have been told to put them on the list by an A&R team from one of the big labels and they have the budget the size of a small countries economy to play with. Of course they'll have a great year as we won't be able to escape them and those who listen to Radio 1 and do as they're told will buy it, download it, steal it but buy the autobiography out in time for Christmas.
My finger isn't on any music pulse, but I do know some brilliant artists and bands are releasing records next year.
Menace Beach's debut album, Ratworld, hits the proverbial shelves mid January and if you picked up their EP, Lowtalker, in early 2014 you'll know it's going to be brilliant. The very awesome Desperate Journalist also physically release their first album in the year's first month. If you like The Smiths, Morrissey and 80's indie, you'll love this lot.
Ryan Adams is releasing a 7" with Johnny Depp in February which is going to be very interesting. It's limited edition but I managed to bag myself one early doors.
March is already chock-a-block with LP's. The master, Mr Noel Gallagher releases his second solo record, Chasing Yesterday, Laura Marling is primed with her 5th album, Short Movie, and Idlewild are back with that new one, Everything ever written.
It's bloody exciting.
On top of this, I'm off to Manchester in February to see Elbow on their "Theatres" tour, do a load of old and rare stuff. Hurrah.
Then in March it's to Norwich to watch Royal Blood as they bludgeon my ears to death, and then Stornoway will sooth them back to health in Reading.
Tickets are also booked for Victorious Festival in Southsea. So far only Basement Jaxx have been confirmed for that, but never mind, if last year is anything to go by, there'll be a myriad of brilliant bands past and present to allow me to avoid them.
Anyway, as I said to my work mates when I left this afternoon, "Happy New Year, fuckers".
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Saturday, 6 December 2014
How I discovered Morrissey (it wasn't the bomb, the bomb, the bomb that brought us together)
I began writing this blog post on Wednesday evening, but ran aground with a lack of flow and inspiration.
I abandoned it until this afternoon (Saturday) when I picked the baton again and continued from where I left off.
It rolled off the tongue, back inside my head, down the my arm and out of my fingertips.
If I do say so myself, it was masterpiece. Of course, I would say so myself, and I can only be the person to say so as no one else has read it, because for some reason, the hosts of this blog did not save my blog when I pressed "Save" and it did not publish my blog when I pressed "Publish".
Due to both of these failing, the whole thing was lost. I was not happy.
The laptop was slammed shut and thrown across the room (or put on the floor slightly firmly that usual). I had a few errands to run so I left the house and got the bus into town.
I've been home for a while now and have just opened the laptop again, and deleted everything I wrote on Wednesday. I thought about trying to recapture what I had written a few hours ago but it would have fallen short. In a pique of frustration and rage the old has gone and, indeed, the moment.
I spoke lavishly and flowerily (Gladioli-ily) about Morrissey. My journey this year of discovering his extensive and incredibly special back catalogue. About buying his autobiography and 'Greatest Hits'. About starting the book and listening to CD a few times. About leaving the book on the shelf for a few months and only picking up again after the first few tracks from 'World Peace is none of your business' were released, and I was in a field in France with wine and cheese and bread (I even said fromage and pain, there were some great prose).
I banged on about my return and purchasing of 'Vauxhall & I', 'Your Arsenal', 'Viva Hate' and then 'WPINOYB' on vinyl.
I then extolled our protagonists finer points and compared them to my own faults (depending on how you look at them).
I went on to describe the O2 gig and how stupendous it was. Morrissey, Christ like, all in white. The majestic early cuts (Suedehead, Everyday is like Sunday, Speedway), the classic Smiths (The Queen is Dead, Meat is Murder and the spell binding Asleep). I did say that some other oldies would have gone down well, such as 'Tomorrow', 'Last of the International Playboys', 'National Front Disco' and 'Glamorous Glue', unlike the O2 Grill's Spicy Bean Burger.
It was riveting stuff.
Alas, it was not to be. I could have re-written it, but I feel it would have been sub-standard. A poor imitation that would not have done Morrissey justice.
Instead, Heaven knows I was miserable then. I went out and mingled with the great un-washed and felt thoroughly filthy. The misanthropy that we share, Me and Moz, Moz and I, was prevalent, and positively brimming over. You see I am a miserable bastard. Moody and mardy. I see in him a kindred spirit. I would go out tonight, but I just don't want to. To many people. I have a small, close nit group of people I would describe as friends, and a large group of people I regard as strangers.
I'm sure there are people that I would like, I just don't know them. Some may say that I need to go and find them, but I would have to swim through the trash to find them.
Dear reader, I would like to think we could be friends, or even are (or maybe, were, after reading this). You may need to tell me.
I think that might be how Morrissey is. He is certainly moody and mardy, but also marvellous and magnificent.
Eccentric, unique and a change from the norm. He is an inspiration to the socially disenfranchised.
Life is a pigsty, but now my heart is full.
I abandoned it until this afternoon (Saturday) when I picked the baton again and continued from where I left off.
It rolled off the tongue, back inside my head, down the my arm and out of my fingertips.
If I do say so myself, it was masterpiece. Of course, I would say so myself, and I can only be the person to say so as no one else has read it, because for some reason, the hosts of this blog did not save my blog when I pressed "Save" and it did not publish my blog when I pressed "Publish".
Due to both of these failing, the whole thing was lost. I was not happy.
The laptop was slammed shut and thrown across the room (or put on the floor slightly firmly that usual). I had a few errands to run so I left the house and got the bus into town.
I've been home for a while now and have just opened the laptop again, and deleted everything I wrote on Wednesday. I thought about trying to recapture what I had written a few hours ago but it would have fallen short. In a pique of frustration and rage the old has gone and, indeed, the moment.
I spoke lavishly and flowerily (Gladioli-ily) about Morrissey. My journey this year of discovering his extensive and incredibly special back catalogue. About buying his autobiography and 'Greatest Hits'. About starting the book and listening to CD a few times. About leaving the book on the shelf for a few months and only picking up again after the first few tracks from 'World Peace is none of your business' were released, and I was in a field in France with wine and cheese and bread (I even said fromage and pain, there were some great prose).
I banged on about my return and purchasing of 'Vauxhall & I', 'Your Arsenal', 'Viva Hate' and then 'WPINOYB' on vinyl.
I then extolled our protagonists finer points and compared them to my own faults (depending on how you look at them).
I went on to describe the O2 gig and how stupendous it was. Morrissey, Christ like, all in white. The majestic early cuts (Suedehead, Everyday is like Sunday, Speedway), the classic Smiths (The Queen is Dead, Meat is Murder and the spell binding Asleep). I did say that some other oldies would have gone down well, such as 'Tomorrow', 'Last of the International Playboys', 'National Front Disco' and 'Glamorous Glue', unlike the O2 Grill's Spicy Bean Burger.
It was riveting stuff.
Alas, it was not to be. I could have re-written it, but I feel it would have been sub-standard. A poor imitation that would not have done Morrissey justice.
Instead, Heaven knows I was miserable then. I went out and mingled with the great un-washed and felt thoroughly filthy. The misanthropy that we share, Me and Moz, Moz and I, was prevalent, and positively brimming over. You see I am a miserable bastard. Moody and mardy. I see in him a kindred spirit. I would go out tonight, but I just don't want to. To many people. I have a small, close nit group of people I would describe as friends, and a large group of people I regard as strangers.
I'm sure there are people that I would like, I just don't know them. Some may say that I need to go and find them, but I would have to swim through the trash to find them.
Dear reader, I would like to think we could be friends, or even are (or maybe, were, after reading this). You may need to tell me.
I think that might be how Morrissey is. He is certainly moody and mardy, but also marvellous and magnificent.
Eccentric, unique and a change from the norm. He is an inspiration to the socially disenfranchised.
Life is a pigsty, but now my heart is full.
Friday, 28 November 2014
2014 - Who was best?!?
Sometimes I think magazines and websites and your average man or women on the street likes a record or a song or a band or artist because they've been told to like them, by other magazines, websites or people.
Some will call them hipsters. There's more to a hipster than that. Listening to a The War on Drugs song on YouTube, the comments section is littered with vitriol, backbiting, smears and accusations that if you liked the song you are a hipster, if you didn't you were an idiot. Some were asking why people couldn't just come out and admit to liking Wham, or Elton John or Coldplay, and naturally people hit back with the kind of petty insults you'd expect.
Now I like Elton John. The early stuff. About 1970 - 74 with a smattering of songs here and thereafter, but his best work comes in that period, on 'Madman across the water' 'Tumbleweed Connection' and 'Honky Chateau'. The first two Coldplay albums are great, and then Chris Martin disappeared up his own arse never to be seen again. There's the weird Hollywood A-lister who purports to be him, churning out sub-90's club dance tracks with his backing band and splitting up with his Hollywood A-lister actress wife to start up with another Hollywood A-lister actress, but I'm not sure who he is. He's not the curly haired student type that brought us 'Shiver' and 'High Speed' in the dying embers of the 20th century.
The point is that is seems we can all agree that Justin Bieber is a twat but we can't agree on what's actually a great band or record. Everyone will have their opinion, however wrong that opinion may be, buts it's those that spend their time, slagging each off on comment sections and forums that I don't get.
NME have just released their Top 50 album of the year. It took me a while to get to the number one as I trawled through pages of oppressively, distracting advertisements left, right and most annoyingly permanently at the top of the screen, but it turns out it was St Vincent, a record that has passed me by this year, maybe because I don't read NME and rarely go on their website unless through boredom.
I can remember when NME was important. Vital even. Based on the staggering array of brightly shining ads for albums, and clothes, and shoes and food, not that many people buy NME and its only source of income is by selling two thirds of the pages on NME.com to companies for gaudy adverts. The end of year album list used to inspire hundreds of comments. In nearly 24 hours there are 9.
For what it's worth quite a few of my top 10 albums of the year featured in their Top 50, none in the Top 5, or 10, or 15, but Royal Blood crept into the Top 20 at 19. I'm obviously not a hipster then. Thank fuck.
I've been side-tracked from the main purpose of this blog post, my Top 10 and ultimately favourite album of the year. I was going to ramble on about what was best about each record but instead I've rambled on about the what makes a hipster and why NME is now shit.
Anyway, I'll just list them here. I think you'll find that this is the definitive list and if you disagree you are a hipster and have no taste or your ears are all blocked with wax and you can't hear properly. Or you're a twat.
Top 10 Albums of 2014 are:
at No.10 -
Jack White - Lazaretto
at No.9 -
We are Scientists - TV en Français.
at No.8 -
Temples - Sun Structures
at No.7 -
Elbow - Take off and Landing of Everything
at No.6 -
Beck - Morning Phase
at No.5 -
Mark Morriss - A Flash of Darkness
at No.4 -
Morrissey - World Peace is none of you Business
at No.3 -
Alt-J - This is all yours
at No.2 -
Royal Blood - Royal Blood
and at No.1 -
Hookworms - The Hum
To be honest, there is not a lot between any of them. There is a cigarette paper between Hookworms and Royal Blood. Both incredible albums. I'm not sure if it is a coincidence that the top 5 are all from the latter part of the year, or at least I discovered them in the latter part of the year. I think those 5 are the best 5 of the year, although Beck's is a gorgeous lament and sound tracks the period between dawn and about 10am perfectly.
It is a thankless task, I'm not convinced looking at that again, that it's definitely in the right order. What I do know is they are all brilliant records.
What's odd about NME is that they manage to name 50 albums but when it came to the 50 Tracks of the Year, there were two tracks from an artist appearing. Surely you'd be able to pick a track off of each album or even tracks from albums that didn't make the list or single releases that were worthy.
Here is my 10% of a Top 50 Tracks of 2014.
No.5 - Hookworms - Off Screen
No.4 - Morrissey - Neal Cassidy Drops Dead
No.3 - Menace Beach - Fortune Teller
No.2 - Royal Blood - Figure it out
No.1 - Alt-J - Hunger of the Pines
Again, I could have others in there instead. There was 'Little Monsters' or 'Ten Tonne Skeleton' or 'Come on over' from Royal Blood that are all ball bouncingly good. I could have chosen 'I'm not a man' or 'Istanbul' or 'Mountjoy' from Morrissey's new record. There wasn't much doubt that 'Hunger of the Pines' was going to be No.1 though. A staggering song. If you'd have asked me at the beginning of the year if the best song of the year would have a sample of Miley Cyrus on it, I'd have told you to sod off.
Anyway, there it is.
I'm off to see Morrissey tomorrow at the O2, so I'll tell you all about that, and how 2014 was when I discovered the genius of Moz after 25 years of solo material, next week.
Some will call them hipsters. There's more to a hipster than that. Listening to a The War on Drugs song on YouTube, the comments section is littered with vitriol, backbiting, smears and accusations that if you liked the song you are a hipster, if you didn't you were an idiot. Some were asking why people couldn't just come out and admit to liking Wham, or Elton John or Coldplay, and naturally people hit back with the kind of petty insults you'd expect.
Now I like Elton John. The early stuff. About 1970 - 74 with a smattering of songs here and thereafter, but his best work comes in that period, on 'Madman across the water' 'Tumbleweed Connection' and 'Honky Chateau'. The first two Coldplay albums are great, and then Chris Martin disappeared up his own arse never to be seen again. There's the weird Hollywood A-lister who purports to be him, churning out sub-90's club dance tracks with his backing band and splitting up with his Hollywood A-lister actress wife to start up with another Hollywood A-lister actress, but I'm not sure who he is. He's not the curly haired student type that brought us 'Shiver' and 'High Speed' in the dying embers of the 20th century.
The point is that is seems we can all agree that Justin Bieber is a twat but we can't agree on what's actually a great band or record. Everyone will have their opinion, however wrong that opinion may be, buts it's those that spend their time, slagging each off on comment sections and forums that I don't get.
NME have just released their Top 50 album of the year. It took me a while to get to the number one as I trawled through pages of oppressively, distracting advertisements left, right and most annoyingly permanently at the top of the screen, but it turns out it was St Vincent, a record that has passed me by this year, maybe because I don't read NME and rarely go on their website unless through boredom.
I can remember when NME was important. Vital even. Based on the staggering array of brightly shining ads for albums, and clothes, and shoes and food, not that many people buy NME and its only source of income is by selling two thirds of the pages on NME.com to companies for gaudy adverts. The end of year album list used to inspire hundreds of comments. In nearly 24 hours there are 9.
For what it's worth quite a few of my top 10 albums of the year featured in their Top 50, none in the Top 5, or 10, or 15, but Royal Blood crept into the Top 20 at 19. I'm obviously not a hipster then. Thank fuck.
I've been side-tracked from the main purpose of this blog post, my Top 10 and ultimately favourite album of the year. I was going to ramble on about what was best about each record but instead I've rambled on about the what makes a hipster and why NME is now shit.
Anyway, I'll just list them here. I think you'll find that this is the definitive list and if you disagree you are a hipster and have no taste or your ears are all blocked with wax and you can't hear properly. Or you're a twat.
Top 10 Albums of 2014 are:
at No.10 -
Jack White - Lazaretto
at No.9 -
We are Scientists - TV en Français.
at No.8 -
Temples - Sun Structures
at No.7 -
Elbow - Take off and Landing of Everything
at No.6 -
Beck - Morning Phase
at No.5 -
Mark Morriss - A Flash of Darkness
at No.4 -
Morrissey - World Peace is none of you Business
at No.3 -
Alt-J - This is all yours
at No.2 -
Royal Blood - Royal Blood
and at No.1 -
Hookworms - The Hum
To be honest, there is not a lot between any of them. There is a cigarette paper between Hookworms and Royal Blood. Both incredible albums. I'm not sure if it is a coincidence that the top 5 are all from the latter part of the year, or at least I discovered them in the latter part of the year. I think those 5 are the best 5 of the year, although Beck's is a gorgeous lament and sound tracks the period between dawn and about 10am perfectly.
It is a thankless task, I'm not convinced looking at that again, that it's definitely in the right order. What I do know is they are all brilliant records.
What's odd about NME is that they manage to name 50 albums but when it came to the 50 Tracks of the Year, there were two tracks from an artist appearing. Surely you'd be able to pick a track off of each album or even tracks from albums that didn't make the list or single releases that were worthy.
Here is my 10% of a Top 50 Tracks of 2014.
No.5 - Hookworms - Off Screen
No.4 - Morrissey - Neal Cassidy Drops Dead
No.3 - Menace Beach - Fortune Teller
No.2 - Royal Blood - Figure it out
No.1 - Alt-J - Hunger of the Pines
Again, I could have others in there instead. There was 'Little Monsters' or 'Ten Tonne Skeleton' or 'Come on over' from Royal Blood that are all ball bouncingly good. I could have chosen 'I'm not a man' or 'Istanbul' or 'Mountjoy' from Morrissey's new record. There wasn't much doubt that 'Hunger of the Pines' was going to be No.1 though. A staggering song. If you'd have asked me at the beginning of the year if the best song of the year would have a sample of Miley Cyrus on it, I'd have told you to sod off.
Anyway, there it is.
I'm off to see Morrissey tomorrow at the O2, so I'll tell you all about that, and how 2014 was when I discovered the genius of Moz after 25 years of solo material, next week.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
2014 - It just got better
First, I'm going to do something I don't normally do. I'm going to disagree with Noel Gallagher.
The wise, sage like figure that he is was giving his time for the WarChild charity in an Evening with Noel Gallagher on the radio station XFM. He was chatting with Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers when, whilst reminiscing about the year 1994 and all the classic, much lauded albums released that year, he said that no-one would remember 2014 as there weren't any bands and records like there were 20 years ago.
It was a watermark year in British Music history, albums like Definitely Maybe, The Holy Bible, Dog Man Star, Vauxhall and I, to name but a few, were released to much critical and public acclaim.
But this year has been a high point of the otherwise underwhelming 21st century that started with such a bang, the likes of The Strokes, The White Stripes and Kings of Leon invading our shores from States side, has fizzled out with the poor recent efforts from the former and latter and the split of the Detroit duo. There was a brief serge of excitement when Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Kasabian et al appeared in the mid noughties but only Arctic Monkeys can claim to have risen to the top and stayed there with any authority (NB My distaste for Kas-a-bi-an will become more apparent later).
Indeed the most note worthy, ground shaking footnote in musical history of the past 14 years will be the split of Oasis.
This year has bucked the trend. Not since my teenage years in the late 90's have I bought so many albums in one calendar year. There has still been the normal dross, radio fodder for the masses but not for a long time could I name 10 records that I can safely say I will be playing in 20 years time.
So here's the list, to get it out of the way; in chronological order of release (bar one that passed me by for a few months)
Temples - Sun Structures
Elbow - Take off and landing of everything
Beck - Morning Phase
We are Scientists - TV en Français
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Jack White - Lazaretto
Morrissey - World Peace is none of your business
Royal Blood - Royal Blood
Mark Morriss - A Flash of Darkness (February discovered in August)
Alt-J - This is all yours
Hookworms - The Hum
It all started with a band that didn't actually release an album this year, that comes in January 2015, Menace Beach.
I slight aside from this is the fact that I am an obsessive Mansun fan. If you don't know who they are, then I don't want to know you. Or you could just Google them. Or search Mansun on YouTube or Spotify and be very pleasantly surprised. (I'd love to re-discover Mansun. Hearing 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' for the first time, again. It almost makes amnesia seem a good idea).
Ever since their demise (sob) in 2003, I have been an avid follower of anything Mansun/Paul Draper (the lead singer/guitarist/song writer/producer of Mansun) related. The subsequent release of the 4th album sessions, the special 3 disc re-release of AOTGL and the first offering of Paul's collaboration with Catherine AD, as The Anchoress, have all been consumed. Following on Twitter, Friend on Facebook, signed up at least twice to the mailing list. I've done it all.
Anyway, I digress, but it was necessary so you would know why I knew that Paul was on Marc Riley's BBC 6Music show with a band I'd never heard of called Menace Beach.
It was only after the event however that I took much notice as the internet/Twitter/Facebook furore that followed his appearance on the radio was seismic. When the word had gotten out he was to appear on 6Music, the hordes of Mansun fans took to their computers/phones/tablets and went into an email frenzy and bombarded the show. It almost turned into an "Ask Paul" session and the poor band were pushed aside.
The result of this was a snowball effect that took Paul with it and a subsequent Convention, promise of a solo record, special preview of a track and further recording sessions, mean that we will be hearing more from Mr Draper in 2015.
Anyone that took time to listen to the band will have been rewarded. On Riley's show to promote an EP, the first track was streamed online, "Fortune Teller", a Hammond Organ waltz of a fairground tune with added post-punk guitars and snarling vocals. A fine introduction.
The only way to get the EP was by purchasing the vinyl and getting the download. Lack of record player would normally have stopped someone, but I decided to get it anyway on the strength of that track and another "Where I come from" on Soundcloud.
When it arrived, I couldn't play the vinyl, but the download code was used and the MP3 was on my iPod. I've always had a fascination with vinyl. I can remember my Dad's all spines together in a row in the cabinet under the TV. The moving colours of Elton John's Too Low for Zero through the shapes on the cover as you pulled the sleeve out. The weird, Dali-esque dripping and contorted instruments on the front of Dire Straits Alchemy Live record.
When he moved to Gloucestershire a few years ago a took his old vinyl and kept them at my Mum's as I had nothing to play them on.
The Temples album came out and that was purchased (all double vinyl and thank God for the download code) but still no turntable.
I have to confess, you may have noticed that the Elbow, We are Scientists and Jack White albums aren't on vinyl. There is a reason for this. Elbow was pre-ordered before my new vinyl obsession, We are Scientists is actually my better half's as she pre-ordered it, signed. Jack White would have been on vinyl but at the time the unique, special pressing of Lazaretto had sold out so I had to buy the download from iTunes with old voucher money sat on the account.
A work bonus in April allowed me to order the record player you see in those pictures. Nothing special, but good enough to get started (and wired up to the home stereo it sounds pretty good).
And so it began.........
(Next blog will have those records in an end of year type list and the Number 1 announced)
The wise, sage like figure that he is was giving his time for the WarChild charity in an Evening with Noel Gallagher on the radio station XFM. He was chatting with Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers when, whilst reminiscing about the year 1994 and all the classic, much lauded albums released that year, he said that no-one would remember 2014 as there weren't any bands and records like there were 20 years ago.
It was a watermark year in British Music history, albums like Definitely Maybe, The Holy Bible, Dog Man Star, Vauxhall and I, to name but a few, were released to much critical and public acclaim.
But this year has been a high point of the otherwise underwhelming 21st century that started with such a bang, the likes of The Strokes, The White Stripes and Kings of Leon invading our shores from States side, has fizzled out with the poor recent efforts from the former and latter and the split of the Detroit duo. There was a brief serge of excitement when Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Kasabian et al appeared in the mid noughties but only Arctic Monkeys can claim to have risen to the top and stayed there with any authority (NB My distaste for Kas-a-bi-an will become more apparent later).
Indeed the most note worthy, ground shaking footnote in musical history of the past 14 years will be the split of Oasis.
This year has bucked the trend. Not since my teenage years in the late 90's have I bought so many albums in one calendar year. There has still been the normal dross, radio fodder for the masses but not for a long time could I name 10 records that I can safely say I will be playing in 20 years time.
So here's the list, to get it out of the way; in chronological order of release (bar one that passed me by for a few months)
Temples - Sun Structures
Elbow - Take off and landing of everything
Beck - Morning Phase
We are Scientists - TV en Français
Jack White - Lazaretto
Morrissey - World Peace is none of your business
Royal Blood - Royal Blood
Mark Morriss - A Flash of Darkness (February discovered in August)
Alt-J - This is all yours
Hookworms - The Hum
It all started with a band that didn't actually release an album this year, that comes in January 2015, Menace Beach.
I slight aside from this is the fact that I am an obsessive Mansun fan. If you don't know who they are, then I don't want to know you. Or you could just Google them. Or search Mansun on YouTube or Spotify and be very pleasantly surprised. (I'd love to re-discover Mansun. Hearing 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' for the first time, again. It almost makes amnesia seem a good idea).
Ever since their demise (sob) in 2003, I have been an avid follower of anything Mansun/Paul Draper (the lead singer/guitarist/song writer/producer of Mansun) related. The subsequent release of the 4th album sessions, the special 3 disc re-release of AOTGL and the first offering of Paul's collaboration with Catherine AD, as The Anchoress, have all been consumed. Following on Twitter, Friend on Facebook, signed up at least twice to the mailing list. I've done it all.
Anyway, I digress, but it was necessary so you would know why I knew that Paul was on Marc Riley's BBC 6Music show with a band I'd never heard of called Menace Beach.
It was only after the event however that I took much notice as the internet/Twitter/Facebook furore that followed his appearance on the radio was seismic. When the word had gotten out he was to appear on 6Music, the hordes of Mansun fans took to their computers/phones/tablets and went into an email frenzy and bombarded the show. It almost turned into an "Ask Paul" session and the poor band were pushed aside.
The result of this was a snowball effect that took Paul with it and a subsequent Convention, promise of a solo record, special preview of a track and further recording sessions, mean that we will be hearing more from Mr Draper in 2015.
Anyone that took time to listen to the band will have been rewarded. On Riley's show to promote an EP, the first track was streamed online, "Fortune Teller", a Hammond Organ waltz of a fairground tune with added post-punk guitars and snarling vocals. A fine introduction.
The only way to get the EP was by purchasing the vinyl and getting the download. Lack of record player would normally have stopped someone, but I decided to get it anyway on the strength of that track and another "Where I come from" on Soundcloud.
When it arrived, I couldn't play the vinyl, but the download code was used and the MP3 was on my iPod. I've always had a fascination with vinyl. I can remember my Dad's all spines together in a row in the cabinet under the TV. The moving colours of Elton John's Too Low for Zero through the shapes on the cover as you pulled the sleeve out. The weird, Dali-esque dripping and contorted instruments on the front of Dire Straits Alchemy Live record.When he moved to Gloucestershire a few years ago a took his old vinyl and kept them at my Mum's as I had nothing to play them on.
The Temples album came out and that was purchased (all double vinyl and thank God for the download code) but still no turntable.
I have to confess, you may have noticed that the Elbow, We are Scientists and Jack White albums aren't on vinyl. There is a reason for this. Elbow was pre-ordered before my new vinyl obsession, We are Scientists is actually my better half's as she pre-ordered it, signed. Jack White would have been on vinyl but at the time the unique, special pressing of Lazaretto had sold out so I had to buy the download from iTunes with old voucher money sat on the account.
A work bonus in April allowed me to order the record player you see in those pictures. Nothing special, but good enough to get started (and wired up to the home stereo it sounds pretty good).
And so it began.........
(Next blog will have those records in an end of year type list and the Number 1 announced)
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