What Album Have You Just Bought?

[old barney greyheron]

Michael Moorcock and The Deep Fix...'New World's Fair'..glum, scary, yet bouncy.

[Low D]

A 7", actually, Terry Woods with Phil Lynott "Tennessee Stud", the Irish "Stud Records" edition, which has a different b-side to the UK "Chiswick" edition (which i also have).

Took 48 days (!) to arrive from Ireland in these COVID-slowed-postal times, meanwhile i'm without an amp for my turntable since we moved on Dec 1 so I can't even play the damn thing right now!

[Low D]

Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 "Deluxe Edition" (4cd version)

Like the Paranoid box set a few years back, Rhino has produced a lovely artifact here, with a sturdy & attractive not-giant box with a hardbound book and an ugly poster. This album still sounds primitive & raw (in a good way) but the mastering is much improved over early CD releases, which sounded thin and flat. A 4-disc set, there are bonuses a-plenty, and although i'm not much interested in the disc of alternate stop/start takes etc, the b sides, outtakes & live disc are all worthy additions. How Black IS your Sabbath? It's it's truly dark, you will find this to be an essential release.

But minus 50 points to Bros. Warner for sucking me into "pre-ordering", and then only shipping that mofo a full 10 days AFTER release (could have got it faster at a local shop, and faster & cheaper via Amazon). YO WARNER, it's called "Pre-Order" for a reason.

[soulfinger]

Staring At The Rudeboys: The British Ska Revival 1979-1989. A three CD set of not the usual ska revival tunes. Fabulous. Delighted to see the Charlie Parkas on it. I used to see them play it live most Wednesday nights in 1979-80. Glorious!

[Low D]

Juice On The Loose - Secret Life (1988).

After Ron Kavana left the band, it was fronted by a singer named Les Walker. By the time this album came out the torch had been passed to singer/songwriter/guitarist Andy Winfield, who wrote & sang most of this album, and it sure is terrible! Like watered-down latter-day Paul Carrack, or third rate latter-day Dire Straits. Just crap. The smooth jazz version of British Blues. Crap attempt at pop. The only ray of light is a funk instrumental written by bass player Charlie Hart.

[firehazard]

Edward II: Dancing Tunes

New album of tracks in mento and calypso style.

[soulfinger]

Edward II: Dancing Tunes

New album of tracks in mento and calypso style.

That sounds nice. I'll seek it out.

[Villajohn]

Song For Our Daughter. Laura Marling. Yet another superb collection of songs.Love it!

[Low D]

Three different recordings of The Goldberg Variations, all on accordion:

Stefan Hussong (1988)
Mika Vayrynen (2004)
Teodoro Anzellotti (2010)

The first one is on a piano accordion, the latter two on chromatic button accordions. Mika is Finnish, the other two are German. I'll let you know my favourite shortly...

[Villajohn]

Back to the Harbour.Alan Doyle.

[Low D]

Three different recordings of The Goldberg Variations, all on accordion:

Stefan Hussong (1988)
Mika Vayrynen (2004)
Teodoro Anzellotti (2010)

The first one is on a piano accordion, the latter two on chromatic button accordions. Mika is Finnish, the other two are German. I'll let you know my favourite shortly...

I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath for my review. The winner is Finnish accordionist Mika Vayrynen on the chromatic accordion. It's a close thing, though, between him & Stefan Hussong on the piano accordion. I think the chromatic lends some superior dynamics to the sound. Both are played superbly.

Teodoro Anzellotti comes third, also on a chromatic. I don't mean to say it's not good, I just found the performance a bit dry by comparison (maybe Glenn Gould would tell me I'm hearing it wrong and this is the superior recording?) I heard the separate voices a little more distinctly in the other two. It's a close 3rd place for sure, there are moments in the later, rowdier parts of Anzellotti's performance that made my hair stand on end. It comes in a lovely package (cloth bound hardcover book style) and surely that counts for something too.

These impressions are based one one listen each, a week apart, so it's possible a deeper dive would change these rankings as, again, these are three superb performances with great sound. The 1988 recording deserves recognition for being, if I've read the liner correctly, an early digital release that sounds neither cold nor flat.

[left]

So basically these guys are playing Bach on the accordion, right?

[Low D]

So basically these guys are playing Bach on the accordion, right?

Haha yup. I don't usually go in for Baroque, but i've got a soft spot for the Goldberg Variations, and i heard a bit of one of these on the radio years ago and it caught my attention good.

Classical accordion is great, a lot of these pieces were actually written for harpsichords and other not-pianos, and translate really well to the squeezebox. And while i love all the accordion family, I realized when i was in Paris in 2001 and there were Balkan buskers on chromatic accordions EVERYWHERE that I love the sound. It's BIG, there are times they sound more like pipe organs than accordions.

[firehazard]

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: Carnage

Darkly brilliant. Or brilliantly dark. Or something.

[Low D]

Rhino's "Super Deluxe" reissue of Black Sabbath's 1975 album Sabotage.
(Vinyl edition pictured, i got the cds)

If they invented stoner rock on Masters of Reality or Vol. 4, they perfected it on Sabotage, the last great album of the Ozzy era. This release includes a 2 disc full concert from 1975, where the band sound both energized and tight. Like all these recent Sabbath reissues on Rhino, the remastering is great, bringing a clarity of depth lacking on earlier digital editions, and a lovely package* to boot, with a hardcover book, and reproductions of the tour program and a tour poster. The 4th disc is a stand-alone cd single with the single edit for “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” and “Hole In The Sky” with artwork replicating the very rare Japanese release of the single. Probably woulda been fine to add as bonus tracks rather than get their own disc but hey the packaging is nice.

* Albeit reproducing the ugly, ugly cover. Bill Ward's red tights are unspeakable, but all the worse for standing front of a large mirror so we get a double view.