Tago Mago by Can

I saw an article today called something like “50 albums You Must Listen To (according to Audiophiles)”. Firstly, only 50? Lightweights! Secondly, the article was profoundly depressing with the reviewer talking about bit rates and compression ratios, and not a jot about the music.

Well, this album today was recorded on two dodgy twin track tape machines in an echoey German castle in the middle of winter, with audio levels balanced by moving band members to the right distance from the microphones with strict instructions not to move around too much.

The music is classic Krautrock, with metronomic Motorik drumming, blistering guitars, reversed tape loops, sci-fi electronic effects made by fiddling with oscillators and bonkers screaming vocals from new addition to the band Damo Suzuki. You know that you’re in for a treat when there are just seven tracks on a full double album and they range from the hypnotic to a genuinely creepy take on an Aleister Crowley satanic ceremony that would make a good soundtrack for a Call of Cthulhu game.

Yes, it’s experimental. Yes, it’s mental. Yes, you should absolutely listen to this and freakout!

Kraut-tastik!

Crimson, New Buds

Crimson bats and ducks
New buds bloom in Apple Lane
What year is it now?

Harvest, Strand

Walking on the strand
Picking cockles and mussels
The ocean's harvest

Dusty In Memphis by Dusty Springfield

It seems to be a thing with 60’s artists that their best work is often their least commercially successful. This 1969 album from Dusty Springfield shows her to be absolutely on top form, knocking it out of the park with her flawless vocals in a southern soul style. There’s an interesting selection of songs here with only a cover of “Windmills of Your Mind” feeling out of place.

The highlight is easily her best known track “Son of a Preacher Man” with the surprisingly saucy “Breakfast in Bed” a close second.

Simply gorgeous!

Chrysanthemums

Every Sunday
My nana picked a bunch of
Fresh chrysanthemums

Younger Than Yesterday by The Byrds

By 1967 The Byrds’ star was waning, and there is more than a touch of bitterness in the opening track “So You Want To Be A Rock ’n’ Roll Star” which complains about the success of pre-fab groups like the Monkees. After the somewhat disappointing response to their previous album they doubled down on the experimental, psychedelic side with similar studio tricks to the Beatles’ Revolver, using reversed tapes and oscillators to good effect.

The results are somewhat uneven, with digressions into jazz, country and a guest appearance from Hugh Masekela playing trumpet. There is even in a bizarre bit of space rock where they imagine one of their songs being broadcast to a distant quasar and being overheard by some surprisingly chatty aliens. By far the best song is a cover of “My Back Pages” by Bob Dylan which also inspired the album title.

You Are the Quarry by Morrissey

Too racist, didn’t listen. Even the song titles have the same level of thuggish, knuckle dragging obscenity as the people who paint roundabouts and shout at hotels. Absolute bobbins.