On another note, I was saddened to hear that The Fly had closed its doors in March. Ever since I moved to Manchester and especially the past couple of years I've been on my PhD that magazine has been responsible for so many great albums making their way into my collection. I doubt I would have given bands and artists like Smith Westerns, California X, Follakzoid, Cheatahs, Lee Ranaldo and Sharon Van Etten the attention they deserve with glowing reviews from The Fly.
And so much as I was when Planet Sound on Teletext closed, I'm now without my most trustworthy source for finding quality new music. If anyone has any suggestions for alternatives that can fill this void in my musical life, I'm all ears.
Anyway, moving swiftly on...
- Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme:
- The Monks - Black Monk Time: I was expecting a sedate affair from a band with such a bland name, but instead I found what may have been the earliest ancestor of punk. Excellent.
- The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out!: The prospect of listening to yet another Zappa record wasn't exactly an enticing one for me. This did turn out to be surprisingly decent, although I couldn't tell if it was meant to be a pastiche.
- Sister Sledge - We Are Family: More Nile Rodgers penned goodness here with funky basslines galore and in the title track and the opening one-two punch of "He's The Greatest Dancer" and "Lost In Music" contains three stone cold disco classics.
- Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colors
- Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star Club Hamburg/BB King - Live At The Regal
- The Pretty Things - SF Sorrow: Nice bit of guitar music here when things didn't get too trippy, kind of felt like a halfway house between The Byrds and The Yardbirds/Derek and the Dominos/anything Eric Clapton touched in the 60s.
- Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake: I've been spotting the artwork for this album for ages now, it always catches my eye when I'm looking at CDs. Thankfully the album itself is as fun as its artwork. Check out "Afterglow (Of Your Love)" and "Song Of A Baker".
- Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
Oh, and if you even remotely love South Park then The Stick Of Truth is a must buy, it's a great game and not to mention full of fan service.
- The Carpenters - Close To You: "Why do birds, suddenly appear..." Although things could get awful sickly at times, Karen Carpenter's voice is the best part of this record, especially when it's as rich and tender as on the title track.
- Ananda Shanker - Ananda Shanker: If you want to make an album to introduce sitar music to a western audience, you could do a lot worse than the ace versions of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire" on here.
- The Bee Gees - Trafalgar: Both Bee Gees albums on this list are from their pre-disco days, and I have to say neither have really clicked with me. I much prefer The Barry Gibb Talk Show for my fix of Bee Gees action.
- The Incredible Bongo Band - Bongo Rock: Nothing featuring bongos can fail to be fun! Also features the most sampled song in history in "Apache".
- Roxy Music - Roxy Music: It's disappointing to find an album featuring a belter like "Virginia Plain"" to be so underwhelming.
- Serge Gainsbourg - Histore De Melody Nelson:
Also not to my liking were
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Pictures At An Exhibition
- The Flamin' Groovies - Teenage Head
- Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges - Clube Da Esquina
- Hawkwind - Space Ritual
- Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso
- Elton John - Madman Across The Water ("Hold me close now tiny danceeeeeeer!")
- Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley
- Buck Owens & His Buckaroos - I've Got A Tiger By The Tail
- Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic
On that note, I'll bid you adieu.