Coles Corner by Richard Hawley

When I first moved to Sheffield in 1984 I was puzzled by hearing people arrange to meet up on Coles Corner. The iconic Cole Brothers department store was then a modernist glass and concrete structure in Barkers Pool, but I soon found out that the original grand building was on Fargate opposite the Cathedral, with the famous doorway where you could shelter from the rain whilst waiting (hopefully) for your date to turn up on a Friday night. Even though the original signs had been taken down in 1963, the name persisted in local memory.

Richard Hawley is also something of a Sheffield legend. He formed several bands, including the Longpigs, as well as playing bass with Pulp for a while, and remains a stalwart of the Sheffield music scene, as a solo-artist, session musician, producer and inspiration for many other people. He’s also a supporter and regular feature of the famous Sheffield Tramlines festival.

This album also harks back to the sixties with echoes of crooners like Matt Monroe and Roy Orbison, and nods to a country sound in places (where country is definitely of the Yorkshire variety). These songs are timeless, singing of heartache and longing, especially on the title track where he is hoping that maybe he’ll meet someone with a smile and a flower in her hair on Coles Corner.

Steel-city-tastic!

Full Moon, Grove

Grove Junior School
Watched the last step together
Hope to see the next

Red Leaves

Summer heat fading
Sap slowly drawn down to ground
First blush of autumn

The Hounds of Love by Kate Bush

Kate Bush is a truly unique artist, releasing avant garde experimental albums that somehow spawn chart hits, both at the time and even reaching completely new audiences many years later as with the recent re-release of Running Up That Hill.

The first side of the album contains the standalone tracks that were released singles, although they are not conventional pop hits by any stretch of the imagination, featuring Bush barking on Hounds of Love, samples from obscure horror movies and references to Wilhelm Reich and Organon energy.

Side two is a an ambitious concept piece told from the perspective of a young woman drowning at sea, or maybe she's dreaming, or maybe she's a witch on trial. Listening to this on headphones is a transcendent experience that really does put you at the heart of the story as waves crash around you and wild Irish jigs combine with ethereal choirs and experimental use of the revolutionary Fairlight synthesiser.

Heckin-good-doggos-tastic!

Milky Way

Pocket money saved
Milky Way and a Beano
Saturday well spent

Can't Buy a Thrill by Steely Dan

If you want an example of why this list of 1001 albums is biased toward white, male rock stars you just have to see that there are four Steely Dan albums on here (and a crappy Donald Fagan solo effort) and only two from Dolly Parton. How many middle of the road yacht rock albums by bands named after steam powered dildoes do you need in your life? Sod this, I'm listening to The Grass is Blue instead.

Fresh Peach

Old tree stands alone
Bearing a single fresh peach
Object of wonder