Yellow

Daffodils and chicks
Simnel cakes and bright sunshine
The colour of spring

S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things

An ambitious psychedelic rock opera/concept album recorded in the late 60s at Abbey Road studios? No, not that one. Or that one. 

The Pretty Things actually have a good claim to having released the world’s first rock opera, but unfortunately for them their record company didn’t know how to promote it. Given the number of studio tricks they used (aided by Norman Smith who engineered Sgt Peppers and produced Piper at the Gates of Dawn), there was no possibility of playing it live. They did try a performance with them miming to tapes, but apparently they were all off their heads on LSD and it sounded hilariously bad.

There are a couple of nice psychedelic rock sections in this but the story is not easy to follow and the lyrics don’t rise much above the level of ‘Flying to the moon, on a spoon’. 

Yet another historical curiosity rather than an essential listen.

https://album.link/gb/i/1234643385

Blackbird

Captured in the night
Transported in cruel chains
Sing a song of sorrow

Africa Brasil by Jorge Ben

Well, this was a properly funky treat. Jorge Ben takes samba rhythms and adds a hefty dose of funk and soul drawing on African and American influences to produce something quite unique. If this album sounds familiar it’s because it influenced artists as diverse as David Byrne and Rod Stewart. I just wish this list had more albums like this! 

https://album.link/gb/i/1444050820

Robin

Garden guardian
Territory claimed with song
Red breasted bravo

Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan

Fire up the steam powered dildo and prepare to set sail for another helping of baffling 70s yacht rock. This one opens with Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, which puzzled me at the time - why didn’t Rikki just call directory enquiries or look up the number in the phone book? It’s only now that I realise that she was trying to ghost this dork by pretending to write his number down on the back of a napkin or something. 

The rest of the album is mostly easy listening, smooth jazz/rock which is ok, but the lyrics are just bizarre in places. Does he mean Barry in Wales? Is he going to meet Napoleon in a secure hospital? What has he got against Buzz Aldrin? I genuinely don’t want to look up the stories behind any of these for fear of spoiling them.

https://album.link/gb/i/1696215205

Animal Crossing New Horizons

The other game I've been playing recently on Switch 2 is Animal Crossing. I returned to this after five years and decided to make a fresh start with a new island as I'd forgotten a lot of the mechanics and surprises. The new HD graphics and general polish make this feel like a whole new game, and I've quickly got back into the daily rhythm of collecting fruit, digging for fossils, fishing, bug hunting, snowman building and general pottering around in small doses.

I suspect I am going to rack up a whole extra year of daily play on this!