New clothes, Carp

I will wear new clothes
For a special occasion
Such as catching carp

Night Life by Ray Price

This album features a spoken introduction from Mr Ray Price himself promising “songs of happiness, sadness, heartbreak.” 

To be honest, this is mainly about the latter two emotions featuring late night honky tonks, lonesome streets and ending up in jail because you drank a whole bottle of gin. Again. 

 Musically, this has its roots in the Western Swing sound with fiddles handing off to gorgeous sounding pedal steel guitars and back again, with solid double bass and drums keeping the tempo going. Ray Price has a mighty fine singing voice holding everything together. 

 Going back to the intro, Ray urges fans to get in touch and let the band know if you enjoyed the record. Well, I certainly did! 

 Honky Tonk-tastic! 

Pine, Breeze

Evergreen needles
Wind whispers through pine barrens
A peaceful forest sigh

Beautiful Freak by Eels

This came out at the tail end of grunge and got bracketed in with it, leading to a surprise hit for the single Novacaine for the Soul. However, the rest of the album is considerably quirkier, both lyrically and musically, than the typical output of the usual Seattle cob nobblers. The music includes strings, odd little jazz breaks and almost spoken narration on the track “Susan’s House” where the protagonist takes a pleasant stroll though a nightmarish landscape of urban decay and degradation. Lovely.

The only really off putting thing about this is the cover, which has an uncomfortable image reminiscent of a 1930s freak show or similar, which I’m guessing is deliberate given the subject matter of the title track.

Wave, Rake

Evoking great waves

With exquisitely raked sand

Kare-sansui

Electric Warrior by T. Rex

Some of my earliest musical memories are of glam bands on Top of the Pops, with their sparkly clothes, platform boots and long hair. Who were these alien creatures and why was their music so exciting?

Of all the stars in the glam firmament, Marc Bolan burned the brightest and sadly the briefest. Like Bowie he transitioned from folk pop into harder glam rock sounds, and I wasn’t surprised to see that this album was produced by Tony Visconti.

The first two tracks Mambo Sun and Cosmic Dancer set a mellow vibe, with Beatles-esque strings before kicking it out of the park with the glorious stomping Jeepster. As well as the well known hits, he also pulls off a great blues number in Lean Woman Blues

1971 really was the best year for music.

Summer Moon, Imbibe

 Let us drink sweet mead
As moths flutter in the light
Of the honey moon