Playlist 1

Readers of this blog will already have twigged that music is pretty important to me.  As with many middle-aged men, my floorboards groan under the weight of hundreds of CDs that I just couldn’t manage without, even if the format is now deemed obsolete.  Increasingly, I download stuff too, although, somehow, the acquisition is never quite as satisfying that way.

Here’s the first of what will probably become a regular bulletin on my recent listening habits.  It’s pure self-indulgence really but, as I’m often playing music while painting, there’s a sense that many of these sounds are subliminally incorporated into my work.  My taste is pretty wide ranging so be warned, - there may be the occasional prog. masterpiece.

‘Cahoots’, The Band

The recent death of Levon Helm caused me to revisit The Band’s back catalogue.  Whilst acknowledging the brilliance of their first two albums, I’ve also found much to love in this, critically despised, fourth outing.

‘Rock of Ages’, The Band

The Band on Stage

I never owned this one until recently.  It’s another of those monumental live albums from the 70s.  It’s not as spectacular as ‘The Last Waltz’ but does contain some truly poised performances.  The extra brass arrangements augment familiar songs really well and Dylan shows up as a guest on the last four tracks.

‘Returnal’, Oneohtrix Point Never

There’s been plenty of disagreement about the importance of OPN’s output so I thought I should judge for myself.  I don’t know if it fulfils all the claims made in ‘The Wire’ but I’m loving the way these washes of sound seem to comprise layers of subtle complexity.  I want to hear the other albums now.

‘Hazyville’, Actress

Actress seems to typify the way that contemporary dance-derived music is increasingly salami slicing and reprocessing its own archives.  Parts of this first album sound like the fragmented and degraded remnants of a culture that have been salvaged and put on endless repeat.  It’s pleasingly hypnotic.

‘Splazsh’, Actress

Even better than the first.  I need to hear the new one next.

‘Soundtracks’, Can

I listen to plenty of German stuff from the 70s but never really found my way into Can.  I’m trying again at present and have decided to start with the earlier stuff this time rather than the three supposed ‘classics’.  Early signs are encouraging.

‘Tango N’ Vectif’, µ-Ziq

Mike Paradinas, (µ-Ziq)

For some reason, I urgently wanted to hear µ-Ziq again the other day to satisfy a need for some wilfully barmy ‘intelligent’ dance music from the 90s.  Frighteningly, this is nineteen years old now but still stands up really well.

‘Lunatic Harness’, µ-Ziq

See above.  This might actually be my favourite µ-Ziq album.  It combines the expected wide-ranging experimentalism and bloody mindedness with some genuinely stately atmospheres.  'Hasty Boom Alert' is a pretty perfect track title too.

‘The Tumbler’, John Martyn

I wanted to introduce a work colleague to John Martyn the other day and unexpectedly found myself playing this one.  It doesn’t represent his better-known later echoplexed sound but does have a charming and playful romanticism.  I’m a sucker for the late 60s/early 70s Folk revival, (she enjoyed it too).

‘Hard Nose The Highway’, Van Morrison

He may be lost in the MOR these days but it’s hard to beat Van Morrison in his pomp.  Coincidentally, he also shows up to guest on the first recording on this list.  I didn’t know this often overlooked album well until recently but I’ve really enjoyed discovering it.  ‘Snow in San Anselmo’ and the title track are both fantastic and Van even pulls off a cover from the Muppet Show, (trust me).