Neil Young - On The Beach - CD (1974)
Fifty years Young today! released 16/07/74
16 Likes
“when the opportunity to play a solo presents itself, Ernie Isley usually winds up playing two or three.”
(The Rolling Stone Album Guide)
Streaming off Yootoob tonite, but I feel the CD will be next on the “essential buys” list
3 Likes
Devadip Carlos Santana & Turiya Alice Coltrane - Illuminations
The first track can end after 5 seconds but the second track could go on forever.
007 on bass.
9 Likes
Linda Thompson - Proxy Music - Qobuz 24/96
Having lost her ability to sing (again) from spasmodic dysphonia Linda has written a set of fine songs and has family and friends providing the performances. (From memory she has her ex-husband, 2 kids, grandson and son in law as well as 3 kids of her musician friends, all professional musicians.) Varied songs, but closer to folk rock I suppose, and excellent performances from all concerned.
11 Likes
Ah, “The Om Song”
(Red Dwarf!)
But I can always listen to Carlos!
(and with echoes of Borboletta - a good sign)
4 Likes
Prince Come / 1994 Warner / US CD / 9457002
Inspired by @dave-marshall to play this fine and often overlooked recording.
11 Likes
Thompson - Family - WAV CD rip
Staying with the theme, an album showcasing the extended Thompson musical clan, 5 family members writing 2 songs each (and another getting one). All instruments and vocals from extended family members, 3 superb guitarists and several fine vocalists, the songs are loosely themed around family. A set of class numbers superbly performed by a ridiculously talented family.
(Family links go quite wide, starting from Richard and Linda Thompson, their daughter sings, her husband plays guitar and sings, his brother plays drums and his wife is backing vocals on one song.)
9 Likes
Having much enjoyed Nils Frahm at The Barbican on Sunday I am exploring his side project nonkeen and finding it quite mesmeric and marvellous. Highly recommended to those who like an analogue electronic groove.
5 Likes
Nothing to feel guilty about there!
5 Likes
Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God (2024, limited edition, 45rpm)
I’d heard of these Kiwis in the past but never really paid them any mind until their new album got announced and the combo of the bold cover art, the title of Cutting the Throat of God and the band touring here in early August was enough for me to pre-order the record. There’s been a lot of chatter around this release, with some whispers of “early contender for Album of the Year,” a bold claim to make no doubt. Does it live up such lofty expectations? After giving it a number of spins, both streamed and on vinyl, the answer is a qualified yes. I should be clear and warn that Cutting the Throat of God is not the type of album to wow you out of the gate. It is a slow burn, a cohesive, expansive torrent of music that must be listened to as a whole without any individual “killer” tracks to grab attention, offering instead movements of textured pulses that culminate in atomic collapse.
The music itself blends sludge, death, doom, black and even whispers of post-metal, an intersection between Ackercocke and Mastodon with an almost Devin Townsend wall-of-noise that can at times drown the listener in music red in tooth and claw. Despite the at times overwhelming nature of the experience the song writing is first-rate, weaving in leitmotivs that thread through the tracks that produce a trance-like state that one only shakes off once the music has concluded. This really is a musical journey, one that you don’t listen to so much as absorb and store deep into the marrow of your bones, an invading force that ransacks your nervous system in auditory conquest. Album of the Year? It wouldn’t surprise me if wears the crown come December. Can’t wait to hear it live.
An album of such splendor deserves a production of equal quality and I’m happy to report that this pressing is stunning. Everything from the gorgeous packaging to the heavyweight coloured vinyl that spins at 45rpm elicits gasps of pleasure. The digital version is good but it is dwarfed by the vinyl, offering a huge, meaty sound that positively fills the room while still providing startling detail that manages to unpack and make sense of the dense, chaotic instrumentation. An utter delight.