Poison Idea - Feel the Darkness (2020 re-press, remastered)
Now this is something I’ve been wanting to play on my system for a while. I’ve actually had this sitting in its shrink-wrap since I bought it in 2020. I never cracked it open due to how bad the CD version sounded on my then hi-fi when I moved to this house. Many upgrades later I finally gave it a whirl and yeah, it finally sounds like it should: furious, powerful and untamed. The bass is prodigious, the drums carved from stone and “live” sounding while the vocals spit and sneer with unfettered clarity. I can finally listen to this album again with a smile.
Musically this still remains one of the best, most vicious hardcore albums of all time. "Alan’s On Fire’ still gives me goosebumps. Highly, highly recommended.
Little Feat - Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. A vinyl reissue from 1981 which I haven’t listened to in years.
Enjoying…
‘Lila’ a safe but very pleasant and sweet-sounding album from Marketa.
Sublime
Qobuz 48/24
ERA-1s
Enjoying this with a beer tonight with Mrs. Longplayer… Amazing that a British band almost unknown in their home country can pull off an open air concert with between 170,000 to 250,000 people attending in Germany. A fabulous CD reissue too from Esoteric.
I always wondered what happened to Tiny Tim…
Enjoying…
Finishing up this evening’s session with Mr Byrne’s latest offering.
Sublime
Qobuz 24/44.1
ERA-1s
The Velvet Underground
Lightning Bolt - Ride the Skies (2001 repress)
Think you know bass guitar? No you don’t. Not like this. Lightning Bolt consists of two members representing drums and bass but on this largely instrumental offering of noise rock/metal you will not believe the sounds produced by the latter instrument. High-pitch squeals, galloping shredding, pinched wails - there are guitar solos that are as vapid mewing compared to the searing braggadocio that rips out from the speakers. Brian Gibson is the bassist-equivalent of Tom Morello, gifted with extracting noise not thought possible from an instrument that doesn’t involve the aid of a wood chipper.
As for the recording itself, look it’s hardly audiophile fare but despite the deluge of distortion, feedback and percussive artillery you still get a juicy, tactile presentation that still reveals lots of micro-detail and impact.
James Reyne
Ex Australian Crawl, the cover is a little off putting for a few reasons but it’s worth it just for track Reckless
Queen - Queen II
A great night was had watching and listening to Queen, 50 years ago this Sunday at the tiny Croydon Greyhound.
Norah Jones, come away with me. Tried her new album Visions but her album cover looks just like I felt. Maybe it is a grower. 
That’s bad 
