What Album Have You Just Bought?

[soulfinger]

Tape Deck Heart - Frank Turner

Youngest daughter normally acquires Young Mr Turner's albums first, but I think she's a bit preoccupied at the moment. I gather she's going to see him at the weekend, so she may purchase it there.

Blackbeard's Tea Party: Whip Jamboree

York-based six-piece dancy punky folk-rockers with an album that's damn fine fun.

I also have Mr Earle's new CD but haven't quite listened to it yet.

The Wee Girl saw Frank in Manchester on Wednesday.....her dozy dad was too slow getting round to trying to get tickets.
She said he was brilliant. I hope your daughter has fun and that FT takes her mind off her preoccupations.

[firehazard]

The Wee Girl saw Frank in Manchester on Wednesday.....her dozy dad was too slow getting round to trying to get tickets.
She said he was brilliant. I hope your daughter has fun and that FT takes her mind off her preoccupations.

'Twas Bristol last night, though I haven't heard the reports yet. She and her beau are regular watchers of Young Mr T. I think this gig will have been a treat in the midst of uni finals revision. It gets scary when your youngest is about to graduate.

So latest acquisition is Mr Earle's new CD, The Low Highway. Good stuff.

[Low D]

"Low Highway", the new one by Steve Earle & The Dukes & Duchesses. First recording by this line up, and first album since "Townes" produced by The Twangtrust (Earle & Ray Kennedy). I've given it one listen all the way through, and have remained stuck on the first 3 songs in the car since, because thye're that good. If you saw this line up live, you know what to expect from this album: a mix from rocking, country, folk, bluegrass, back to rocking, with great songwriting and a coupel heavily sentimental numbers.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Filling gaps in my Tom Waits collection:

[Sportin' Life]

These two guys from somewhere (nowhere?) in the Yukon have a real interesting sound. Old Time Machine. They have a sort of old timey mixed with slow echoing kick drum sound. I just got their self titled album as a wholly digital affair, and I am enjoying it. Well, enjoying the music part. I kind of like to have something tangible, but sometimes we do what we have to do, especially given the availability of upstarts like these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSOdNNXnirA




I also managed to score (almost steal) a copy of WEW's Hymns for the Hopeless on vinyl, used but in good condition for 12 dollars. And a bunch of other good stuff on vinyl after getting a record player for Christmas.

[Frances]

A buck each.

[PureIrishPunk]

[Doktor Avalanche]

Had to get it as I'm a completionist with these guys.

Listened to the first two tracks on the way into work this morning, not bad, not great (which was wat I was expecting).
Top notch production - clear as a bell.

[Tal]

Miss the Last Wave from BISH .
Has a strong Bunnymen/Ian Broudie pop sound.Has resulted in me digging out some old lps.

[Frances]

[Clash Cadillac]

Very Interesting.... but also stupid.

[Low D]

Roger Lomas' 1993 project for Trojan Records: Desmond Dekker & The Specials - King of Kings.



An album that saw the formation of "Specials Mk2": Lynval, Neville, Horace and Roddy joined by former Selecter drummer Atich "H" Bembridge and Mark Adams on keys. Backing the great Desmond Dekker, godfather of ska. Produced by Two-Tone producer extraordinaire Roger Lomas, who engineered this initial Specials reunion specifically for this project.

It should be so great, but it mostly falls flat. A few tracks fly, like "Sammy Dead" and "Oil in My Lamp", but the arrangements on the album are mostly bland and the playing subdued. The production attempts a retro vibe, but adds flaccid keyboards overtop of several tracks, killing them outright. As un-ska as you can get, where the keys are a source of excitement, pulsating with the beat of the rhythm section. The highlight here is Dekker backed by Horace Panter's double-time bass lines, a stand-alone joy that makes you wish this was Desmond & The Aces in the 60s, with Horace sent back in time to join them.

The album is maybe not as bad as some reviews have suggested, but with such a promising proposal made (Desmond Dekker! With The Specials!) we can't help but have high expectations. Mostly, the listener is left with a what-could-have-been feeling. Dekker did better in the past & The Specials Mk2 would - eventually - live up to their live reputation with 1998's "Guilty till Proved Innocent".

[Frances]

I dinnae buy the following because they were $5. each at an antique store. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

[PureIrishPunk]

[Low D]

Skabilly Rebel: The Roddy Radiation Anthology

Collects various, though not all, released & unreleased tracks from his various post-Specials bands, incl. The Bonediggers, The Raiders, The Tearjerkers, a Specials Mk2 demo, and a few other tracks. If there is a certain same-ness to Roddy's output, it's because it's the musical territory he is most motivated and satisfied by - that fuzzy area between rockabilly, punk, rock and roll, ska and reggae. But there is enough diversity on this album to draw the listener in and once there we can appreciate the nuances and differences within this genre and Roddy's approach to it.

An overall great collection with only a couple of tracks that don't shine (and those tend to be the demos, to be fair). He's only given us one other full-length, "Blues Attack" by The Skabilly Rebels, so if you're a fan you just want it anyway, but the quality is high enough to satisfy more than the hard-core follower here.