Recent Purchases

1st Official Post

    A popular thread on the old forum that seems not to have resurfaced...……. Until now!


    I've just preordered Hudson-Ford - Daylight, the final album originally on CBS, now on Esoteric with bonus tracks, essays etc: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DAYLI…=8-2&keywords=hudson+ford - It comes out on 28th August.


    After this, they went on to form punk-spoof band The Monks, and an album called Bad Habits.


    The other recent purchase, which I'm currently listening to disc 5 of, is The Moody Blues - The Polydor Years. Now, while this may have been their worst period, it is still good, and the box set was £80 when released 4 years ago, but is now on Amazon UK for £28 (It was £32 when I bought it a couple of weeks or so back) - For that, you get the 3 albums Other side of Life, Sur La Mer and Keys of the Kingdom, all remastered with bonus tracks (Not available separately YET) and they do sound better. Also a Concert from 1986, and the full Red Rocks concert on CD (I only had the edited one) plus the same on DVD (I had the VHS tape) and the Other Side of Red rocks documentary which I never got round to. The last couple can cost you £28 on their own on Ebay, so all in all, a bargain.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Polyd…words=moody+blues+polydor

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

    This morning I picked up on CD

    Blue Rodeo - Greatest Hits

    (They're a Canadian band with a strong following in their home country but likely not well known beyond these borders. They've been around for 30 years, I always liked their music, been meaning to get something of theirs for a while but just never got around to it until now)


    Prior to that, a few weeks ago I ordered and received

    Ginger Baker's Airforce

    (Another overdue purchase. I had this on cassette back in the day and hadn't gotten around to buying it on CD until a few weeks ago when the thought was freshly replanted in my mind while watching a documentary about Ginger Baker's life)

    I have just bought the Amorphis cd Queen of Time which I love.

    I also picked up the deluxe editions of my fav Yes albums, Relayer and Tales from Topographic Oceans, yes I know it is overblown and too long but I love it.

    Frank Zappa - Waka/Jawaka

    (I've been slowly exploring Frank Zappa's music the last little while and have found I really like his output from 1969 to 72. He released a number of albums during that period which were almost entirely instrumental - Hot Rats, Chunga's Revenge, The Grand Wazoo and this one. Great stuff.)


    Marianne Faithful - Broken English

    (Had this on cassette back in the day. Always liked it. Her voice is ragged from hard living but it totally suits the music. Been meaning to get it on CD for a while and finally got around to it)

    Frank Zappa - Apostrophe


    David Bowie - Outside

    (There is a vast period of Bowie's career - post Let's Dance, pre-Heathen - which I had nothing from. I plucked this one from the crowd, hoping it might have some of the magic displayed on the previous Bowie/Eno collaborations.)

    Quote from Witchwood

    David Bowie - Outside

    (There is a vast period of Bowie's career - post Let's Dance, pre-Heathen - which I had nothing from. I plucked this one from the crowd, hoping it might have some of the magic displayed on the previous Bowie/Eno collaborations.)

    Let us know how you get on with it. That whole period is inconsistent, but contains some good stuff.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from Backdrifter

    Let us know how you get on with it. That whole period is inconsistent, but contains some good stuff.

    I’m warming up to it. It reminds me of Low in that Outside is similarly very experimental. While it lacks the instant appeal that Aladdin Sane and Heroes (my two favourite albums) had on me, what I hear on Outside is music with potential. And I think it just requires a bit more time and nurturing for me to fully absorb.

    Quote from Witchwood

    I’m warming up to it. It reminds me of Low in that Outside is similarly very experimental. While it lacks the instant appeal that Aladdin Sane and Heroes (my two favourite albums) had on me, what I hear on Outside is music with potential. And I think it just requires a bit more time and nurturing for me to fully absorb.

    I am not a huge David Bowie fan. I have a few greatest hits albums and that's enough for me!...:). So don't own any of his classic albums. ;)

    Quote from Noni

    I am not a huge David Bowie fan. I have a few greatest hits albums and that's enough for me!...:). So don't own any of his classic albums. ;)

    Sort of the same here, my wife has Heathen, and the double singles collection, and that's enough for me.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

    Brian Eno - Another Green World

    Brian Eno - Before And After Science


    Had both albums on vinyl for decades and can now enjoy them on iPod.


    :)

    First we learned to walk on water.

    Then we tried something harder.

    - Red Seven -

    I've got these on order, just awaiting their arrival


    Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All


    Cat Stevens - Mona Bone Jakon

    (I had this and several other albums of his back in the day when I collected LPs and cassettes - I'm finally getting around to getting it on CD. This was my second-favourite album of his behind Tea For The Tillerman which I already have on disc.)

    Two items in the mail, I'm waiting to receive...


    Eve - Alan Parson's Project

    (Been enjoying APP recently. I had this one on cassette back in the day, but hadn't gotten around to getting it on CD. Widely viewed as a step down in quality from the previous three albums and with the one that followed, but I recall enjoying it)


    Ant Phillips - Private Parts & Pieces VIII: New England

    (I'd been meaning to get this for a while and the only thing that stopped me was the fact when it was re-issued it was packaged with an album I already have, PP&P7. And I just recently thought, what the heck, I want it.)

    To accompany my pre-order of Greenslade's "Time & Tide" (and thus qualify for free delivery a la amazon!) I've just got XTC's Black Sea in surround sound. A Steven Wilson mix, it's very good (as it should be, given it's one of XTC's 3 best albums IMO, the other 2 being The Big Express and Oranges and Lemons) and comes with LOTS of extra stuff, inc. one of my favourite songs of theirs, "Take This Town" which was recorded for a film soundtrack (the forgotten & forgetable if anyone even saw it "Times Square").

    Among the notes in the booklet, they explain the title of the album, which has always puzzled me. Inspired by the song Towers of London, about the "navvies" (Navigational Engineers) who built so much during the Victorian era, they opted to depict the ones who often had to work underwater, and came up with an album title, "Work under Pressure", hence the divers suits.

    Sadly, after the photo shoot had taken place, their manager said the title made him look like a slave driver, and he banned them from using it. Black Sea was the best substitute they could come up with to link to the photo.

    Of course, their manager was slave driving them, and after they split, Andy wrote "I bought myself a liarbird"! ;)


    Other recent purchases: BJH's XII in surround, Nova Lepidoptera is sensational, as I expected it to be.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

    Looking at the forum dashboard the letters XTC shone out like a beacon, so in I came. I agree Black Sea is one of their very best and also that Big Express is another contender. O&Ls I'm less enthused about as for me it's not as consistent as those others but it still has some great stuff. I have a real soft spot for Mummer as well.


    Interesting stuff about the origins of Black Sea's title, not sure I knew that so thanks for sharing. I think they are still legally bound to not speak publicly about what happened with that manager, Ian Reid - "Reid with a silent G" as Andy Partridge once said.


    Black Sea remains in my top 10 favourite albums. It might not be their absolute best but it has a special place for me.

    Abandon all reason