Richard and Linda Thompson. 1974. CD.
“It was released by Island Records in the UK in 1974. Although the album was never commercially successful, and was critically ignored upon its release (and not released outside of the UK until by Hannibal Records in 1983), it is now considered by several critics to be a masterpiece and one of the finest releases by the two singers, whether working singly or together.” Wiki.
Lucky Travis🤭
Keith’s track is the right length and focused, too much of his later Stones output is sprawling and overlong. Plus Mick is on it, so he wasn’t left to his own devices and it fits the album very well, imho.
I always play the studio tracks plus first live track. Not sure why. Time to play the rest I think.
Time to get out my precious 1979 Porky cut of Unknown Pleasures. I still think it’s the greatest debut album ever made, and the best album of the 1970s (and it has some very stiff competition).
That four working/lower-middle class lads from the decaying industrial North-West of England managed to create such a powerful and striking work of art is both weird and miraculous. That the boys had a visionary label boss (Wilson), a manager whose commitment to his act was unrivalled - except perhaps by Peter Grant – in rock history (Gretton) and the most influential designer of his generation (Saville) probably helped. But the most important person – outside of Hook, Curtis, Sumner and Morris – in this remarkable story was producer Martin Hannett and (early) New Order.
His job on UP is extraordinary. No record sounded like this before. No record sounder harder or colder; it was as if Hannett carved the music out of obsidian. What a shame Hannett lost his way later in the 1980s, but how blessed are we to have that great work he did for Buzzcocks, Magazine, JCC, ACR, Durutti Column, Section 25, Pauline Murray and others, as well as his work on/for Joy Division.
Good day @TheKevster. What a coincidence. I am going to listen to Christmas album next! Have a great weekend! 
Joy Division played in Bangor in autumn ‘79, when I was in my first year at university, supporting the Buzzcocks. A couple of my friends were having lunch in the refectory, as you did, when four lads joined them for lunch. It was only when they saw JD onstage later that evening that they had had lunch with the band. It’s a shame I wasn’t there too. What a night that was, one of my favourite gigs ever. And in Bangor of all places too.
Samara Joy, a joyful holiday. Following up by Linger Awhile deluxe edn. Hope it’s not too much of a good thing. 
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story.
This is the 2010 double LP (the 1988 original issue on Factory was only a single LP). This is a fascinating collection of non-album compilation tracks, singles and whatnot. I’m bored of “Atmosphere” and “LWTUA” these days but there is some remarkable stuff on here, like the UP outtake “Autosuggestion” (later included on a Fast Records compilation, Earcom 2).
Or the soaring “Transmission”, surely one of the finest singles ever made; and “Dead Souls”. The second time I saw Joy Division in November 1979, they played this. It hadn’t been released yet (thst would come about four months later) but it stood out by dint of its length and its extraordinary power. It sounded something that Black Sabbath might do, but much faster. Listening to it 44 years later, “Dead Souls” still sounds amazing: with its circular Cannish drumbeats, it has that incredible tenement-flattening power; it seems utterly heedless to anything but its own forward momentum.
Then there are the four tracks recorded in 1977, long before they met Hannett. Although there’s sometimes a lumpiness and spite in this music, it also demonstrates that Joy Division were starting to think differently - on “No Love Lost” they already seem to be feeling their way towards the musical architecture Hannett helped them build: Krautrock drums, dominant melody-carrying bass and guitar that wants to become a textural blur rather than just riffing. I t was clear they’d been listening to Wire, Can and TG as much as the Pistols, Stooges and the Dolls.
How far those four boys travelled in two and a half years!
