Barbed Wire Kisses – Jesus and Mary Chain
Those Scottish lads again. This is their B Side and Rarities compilation album.
Anyone would think I am a fan. I’m not.
Into the recycle bin it goes!
#122 – Bang! – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Bang! – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were supposed to be the eighties answer to the Beatles. As anyone from Liverpool will tell you, the Beatles put the city on the map. This is what is taught in schools in the Liverpool area.
In fact, I’ll go as far to say, give birth in a Liverpool hospital and you can be assured that the Beatles will be playing in the delivery room just so the wee one can be indoctrinated welcomed into the wonders of the four apostles John Paul George and Ringo.
At the time Frankie surfaced Liverpool was going through a bit of a down patch. Unemployment was high, people were avoiding the city and so was government policy. Then a bright spark, Trevor Horn no less, said “Hey, what Liverpool needs is some more pop music icons like the Beatles. Inject some culture into the place…”. And that’s what he did.
With lyrics screaming with homosexual overtones, shocking banned music videos and drug addled public appearances, Frankie put Liverpool back on the map briefly. Then fizzled away into a poor second album and an iffy solo career for lead singer Holly Johnson.
Bang! is Frankie’s best of album. This is the only Frankie album you need.
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#121- Ballads of Living and Dying – Marissa Nadler
Ballads of Living and Dying – Marissa Nadler
More New Weird America. Marissa Nadler haunts you with this album from 2005.
Now my hipster friend is convinced that he told me about Marissa Nadler. He’s described in great detail the time he told me about her. Even down to the shirt I was wearing at the time he told me.
Considering I wear black most days, that’s not hard to guess.
Of course, it might be that he told me about her. Which is why I’m not a hipster and he is. Even down to the half mast trousers, stupid beard and stupid shoes.
But I digress.
Nadler has a very haunting voice and seems to like using twiddly acoustic guitars. This is not a bad album.
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#120 – Baja Sessions – Chris Isaak
Baja Sessions – Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak returns to the project. This time with an unplugged session of some of his better songs and a few covers.
There seemed to have been a movement that passed me by around the mid-90s where bands all started chucking out acoustic and lo-fi versions of their work. I’m not complaining.
This is good stuff. If studio Isaak has you feeling like you should slick your hair back, look aloof and pained yet cool and thoughtful; Lo-fi Isaak will have you wanting to sit on a porch with your dudes and guitar while a stream of girls walk past giving you the eye. Just like they do to Chris.
Of course that’s as likely to happen as the Vatican winning the world cup.
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Bad Hair Day – “Weird Al” Yankovic [#119]
Bad Hair Day – “Weird Al” Yankovic
Weird Al returns to the project once more. This time with the 1996 album Bad Hair Day.
Al does the treatment on U2, Forest Gump and Gangster’s Paradise.
Silly.
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#118 – Back to Mine: Faithless
Back to Mine: Faithless – Faithless & Various Artists
Back to Mine, is a series of compilations where musicians remix or perform covers of other peoples music. Because rejigging other peoples work is art. Apparently.
Regardless, it’s lucrative isn’t it? What do I know? I’m not a hipster or in with the yoof.
This particular Back to Mine has 90’s Ibiza faves, Faithless, taking Bomb the Bass, Dido and Adamski back to theirs for a good old record playing session. As my first introduction to the Back to Mine series and the fact that out of the 28 volumes, this is the only one that hasn’t been deleted, it shows that Back to Mine: Faithless is probably the best of the lot.
Even if it is just someone elses work played a bit faster or jiggered about by playing someone elses work over it.
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#117 – Back to 19 Mistakes – Gruppo Sportivo
Back to 19 Mistakes – Gruppo Sportivo
I’ve got no idea how I have this in my collection. This is one of those albums I’ve had for years and years and not heard the whole way through.
Gruppo Sportivo are a Dutch band. The kind that used to plague Eurovision with twee and silly songs.
I’m sorry. I managed 5 tracks before I couldn’t take any more.
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Back in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit [#116]
Back in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit
Nope. Not a double posting. There are two DHSS albums by HMHB. This is the first.
This is early HMHB stuff, but still as scathing and well observed. Heavy on the punk side of things, but if you can hear through that, you’ll have a lyrical treat.
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Back Again in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit [#115]
Back Again in the DHSS – Half Man Half Biscuit
There is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of a slipper with a biro
Scousers again. Sarky scousers with instruments and lyrics to illustrate the downs and downs of British life no less.
Back Again comes with two of HMHBs popular tracks, Trumpton Riots, All I want for Christmas (Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit) and Dickie Davies Eyes. Listening to the album makes you want to sit in your grotty bedsit and look out at the rain or plod the sodden streets of recession hit Liverpool in the late 1980s trying to find a job.
Good stuff. And I don’t understand football references…
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#114 – Azure d’Or – Renaissance
Azure d’Or by Renaissance
Annie Haslam and her chums get together one more time before the 1980s comes and bites them all on the bum and sends them into a downward spiral of obscurity.
With the exception of Jekyll and Hyde and Winter Tree, much of the original “wow” of early Renaissance seems to be fading like the memory of Quatro before the approaching onslaught of the anti-Prog movement.
Punk has a lot to answer for musically. It did more damage to creativity and expression than dub step and music factories owned by Pete Waterman and his ilk. Talented musicians were forced to cut short their masterpieces and musical wankery to fit in with the growing hunger for 3 minute pop songs. A bit like how Facebook and Twitter have massacred the blogosphere by reducing the media consumers attention to 140 character text bites.
A shame.
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Ayreonauts Only – Ayreon [#113]
Ayreonauts Only – Ayreon
We talked about Ayreon back at the start of this project. Ayreon is one of those European rock stars that wouldn’t be out of place in one of those Euro Rock bands of the late 1980’s like Poison or Europe.
Except he’s far too good for that.
This album acts as a kind of “I can do better than what I did before” Best of compilation album. A Betterer Of, for want of a better phrase.
If the chugga chugga guitar of Into the Black Hole doesn’t get you fired up, then perhaps Eyes of Time or Cold Metal will.
I love this album. Again, I have no idea why he’s not as well known in the UK as he is in Europe.
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#112 – Away with the Faeries – Inkubus Sukkubus
Away with the Faeries – Inkubus Sukkubus
Us Brits are good at looking like vampires. I suppose it’s because of our pastey looks and how we never seem to smile much. Inkubus Sukkubus are an 80’s goth band complete with Elvira like female lead singer and videos that make Razorblade Smile look like a blockbuster.
Away with the Faeries crams in just over an hour of witchy vampyric music for those eager to mope around in black and look miserable while somehow trying to summon ancient and arcane demons through the power of an electric guitar.
There’s a nice cover of Paint it Black and a good selection of live tracks just incase you think this type of music isn’t popular…
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#111 – Avalon – Roxy Music
Avalon – Roxy Music
If you survived the brain mashing of the last two Les Joyaux de la Princesse, albums you’ll be pleased to know they won’t resurface until we get to C.
Like a refreshing aural drink, Bryan Ferry oozes cool swarveness through your speakers and leads you into a seedy world of lounge bars, loafers and broken hearts.
I’ve got a thing for Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music work. It just sounds and feels so sophisticated. Like a white suit and black shirt on the morning after a rather sensational party when you have stayed up all night with a bottle of Bolly stinking of tobacco and still not pulled the foxy chick who may or may not be a high class prozzie dressed in a red short dress.
Avalon is no exception. Listen to it, let it seduce you, have its wicked way with you and leave you with a feeling like you’ve just been used by some knob head in a white suit who stinks of cigarettes, has a nasty rash and is carrying a bottle of Bolly with some Asti decanted into it…..
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#110 – Aux Volontaires Croix De Sang – LJDP
Aux Volontaires Croix De Sang – Les Joyaux De La Princesse
If it’s not Scottish chicks with guitars or hairy men from the 1970s, this project seems to dip in and out of the darker recesses of Euroculture.
This is yet another limited edition LP from LJDP. Not satisfied with having Absinthe bleeding from your ears or Aux Les Petits Enfants de France giving you frightful nightmares about goings on in Vichy era France; Aux Voluntaires Croix De Sang leads you through the even darker twisty bendy turns of dark French history.
Now here I must put a disclaimer. I like the atmospherics of LJDP. Nothing more. I don’t sit in my garret with my jackboots on saluting like a fuckwit. Nor do I burn religious symbolism, shave my head or tattoo swastikas all over my face. My political beliefs are so removed from the far right it’s down the road in the other direction, over the bridge and through the gap in the fence. I repeat, I like the atmospherics. I am mature and sensible enough to appreciate art for the creators effort, whether I share their beliefs or not and maintain detachment from anything subversive or otherwise.
Don’t have nightmares….
#109 – Aux Petits Enfants de France – LJDP
Aux Petits Enfants de France – Les Joyaux De La Princesse
If you read the entry for Absinthe and tried out the Youtube playlist, you should have some idea about what is about to follow.
Les Joyaux De La Princesse (LJDP) presented the darkwave world with this album in about 2006. Dark, mournful vibrating chords force themselves into your skull via the ear like lukewarm liquid metal prongs.
Accompanied by recordings of French politicians from 1944, a very dark period of French history that you won’t find on l était une fois… l’homme, this haunting work will lay earworm eggs in your brain which will hatch and bury themselves deep into your psyche. Only resurfacing when you are having delirious hallucinations brought on by a nasty infection or a bad pint.
This is the stuff you should be listening to if you even consider yourself a hipster. Of course, I heard it first, so I’m hipper than you’ll ever be. Soul patch or no soul patch.
#108 – Automatic – Jesus & Mary Chain
Automatic – Jesus & Mary Chain
Scottish rock. It seems to be featuring heavily in this project. Maybe I was Scottish once. Or maybe they’re just good at making music.
Automatic is the Jesus & Mary Chain’s third studio album. You can really hear the hints of dirty damp streets of East Kilbride oozing from the synths. I can just imagine the Scottish teenage girls with attitude listening to this in an attempt to be independent yet mainstream.
But unfortunately, as with most 80s bands, excellence comes too late and many potential fans have already heard it a hundred times before from other artists.
One for the recycle bin I think….
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#107 – Aula Magna – Nouvelle Vague
Aula Magna – Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague are one of those covers bands who really make the music they’re covering their own. Lounge versions of popular songs sung by French ladies with sultry voices to a live audience.
Delicious.
Some popular songs have been covered here.
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#106 – Auf Ewig – Joachim Witt
Auf Ewig – Joachim Witt
German pensioner Rocker Joachim Witt is one of those rock stars all the old rock stars want to emulate. Nonchalance, no guitar wanking or face contorting, just nonchalance and an air of cool that would make Bryan Ferry feel a bit of a knob head. Thats Joachim Witt.
I came across Witt a few years ago while looking for some Euro pop. Of course, he’s been around since before Elvis learnt about burgers being tasty, which is fairly good all things considered. I vaguely remember a couple of Witt tracks appearing in the tail end of the Top 40 way back when.
Auf Ewig is nothing to do with earwigs, it is the best of Witt. Which I always think is a bit like drawing a line across your work and saying anything that follows is not the best of. Anyway, this IS the best of. All in one album. Typically, there are a number of tracks that are good, and a number which I wish I’d never heard.
Attagirl – Bettie Serveert [#105]
Attagirl by Bettie Serveert
Back in the dark days of the 1990s I was introduced to the 4AD record label by way of a free CD on the cover of a magazine. Over time on the back of this, I developed a taste for all things 4AD. One of the many artists signed to 4AD was Bettie Serveert.
This is the first in three Serveert albums I have. To be honest, I’m not a massive fan, it’s just nice music to have. One of those musicians that don’t seem to have a large fan base in the UK. However, just think Suzanne Vega with a croakier voice and you’ll get the idea.
Atopos – Love is Colder Than Death [#104]
Atopos by Love is Colder Than Death
Some time ago, somebody tried to trick me into thinking that Dead Can Dance had a new album and line up. I was given a CD with a load of songs on that sounded DCDish but actually turned out to be a collection of stuff by Love is Colder Than Death (LCTD) and some other band whose name escapes me.
Being a bit of a nerd I was able to actually find out that LCTD was one of the bands and that the majority of the recording was copied from this album.
It’s easy to hear how someone might get mistaken that this is DCD. All the elements are there. Middle Eastern and Asian influences, nonsensical chanting with some hard to decipher lyrics and the occasional use of uncommon instruments like hurdy gurdy and sackbuts.
If you’re a DCD fan then LCTD is one to give a go of.
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Atom Heart Mother – Pink Floyd [#103]
Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd
AHM is clearly a fixed point in Pink Floyd history. It shows the fledgeling dissolution of the psychedelic Post Barratt years and emergence of the Waters era.
This would be an unusual album to start with on any aural discovery voyage of the works of Pink Floyd but it depends on what aspect of music you approach it from. The first track, Atom Heart Mother is an instrumental with accompanying brass band while the final track, the quirkily titled Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast is one of those experiments with sound which some listeners might switch off from.
I like it. I also have a limited edition Trance Remix version of this album which even better.
#102: At Sixes and Sevens – Sirenia
At Sixes and Sevens by Sirenia
More Nordic big boobed Valkyrie warbling this time enhanced by death growls and choir.
Never understood death growls. They’re not singing, they just make you lose your voice and do untold damage to your vocal chords. Still, it’s popular with some. So who am I to tell them not to?
So yes, big boobed warbling and death growls. Just what you want to unwind to after a hard day’s work and Stress Gen plc.
#101: At Royal Albert Hall With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – Renaissance
![Renaissance - Renaissance at the Royal Albert hall ''Live'' [part 1] (Front)](https://stegzysmusicproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/renaissance-renaissance-at-the-royal-albert-hall-live-part-1-front.jpg?w=150&h=148)
At Royal Albert Hall With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – Renaissance
Earlier in the project I introduced readers to the artist, Renaissance; Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford et al. Renaissance are one of those prog bands that have undergone many line-up changes and developed themselves into what they are today. Very much like Yes.
This is a live album spread over 2 discs. It was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. Along with accompaniment from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Self explanatory really.
This line up has Annie, Michael and Orchestra joined by:
- John Tout – keyboards
- Jon Camp – vocals, bass
- Terence Sullivan – drums, percussion
This is the best introduction to Renaissance as a band. It has all the “Classic” Renaissance favourites. Lots of twiddly and what sounds like a very enthusiastic audience. Again, I’m surprised I never encountered them until 2001. But, as you will read, there are many other albums to come.
Unfortunately I was unable to locate any Youtube footage of the actual Albert Hall concert, so instead, here is a broadcast recorded about the same time.
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Album #100 – Asylum – Legendary Pink Dots
Asylum – Legendary Pink Dots 
Someone once told me, “You listen to a load of shite mate”.
They were right. One of the many albums of shite you might find in my collection is Asylum by the Legendary Pink Dots. Led by Edward Kaspel (more of him later), Legendary Pink Dots use a bizarre mix of stilted lyrics with equally stilted music to produce the kind of music you would probably not want to hear in a nightmare.
You will notice that a lot.
Music in my collection seems to be dark or nightmarish or both. Coincidence I think.
Arty. That’s how I see it.
What do you think?
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Album #99 – Asturias The Art of Guitar – Narciso Yepes
Asturias – The Art of Guitar by Narciso Yepes
Classical guitar is one of my favourite genres of classical music. It’s difficult to play and often rocking guitar people will cower away from Classical guitar music because they are afraid that their prowess at wanking guitars will be shown for what it is. Guitar wankery.
Classical guitar sets apart the men from the boys and the women from the girls. It’s all well and good getting on stage and wanking away to Stairway to Heaven or pretending you’re Jimi Hendrix but, in my book at least, if you can’t do a galliard or a Saltarello then you’re about as good as me with a yogurt pot and an elastic band.
Yepes has compiled some good examples of Classical guitar here including Asturias and Recuerdos de La Alhambra (two of my most favourite guitar pieces). In doing so he has made a distinctive compilation of background music for those summer evenings sat on the verandah, overlooking the hacienda while you sip mojitos and swat away mosquitos.
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Stegzy's Music Project 