Various Artists [Elec-Trax, 16 Synth Pop Classix] 

Here's one of my very best Electric / New Wave / Synth Pop albums i own, each time i play this i realize how very much this music is incredible, the only weakness of this disc is the fact it's not a double disc set, it mixes well known hits with less well known songs that should have done better, and in retrospective it's good to have them on a compilation like this, many people consider Synth Pop to be KraftWerk or Tubeway Army, but it's much deeper than that, and much broader too, it bleeds into many other genres, most notably the New Wave and New Romantics movement, the late Seventies were a brewing cauldron of many different genres coming to fruitition [Punk / Disco / Synth etc], and this gave way to a great Eighties filled with new fresh ideas.

The cover booklet for this album is brilliant, it shows what you can really do if you go beyond the ordinary and use your imagination, a picture of a bald but beautiful girl, almost in a trance, very modern, with thin white vertical lines, and and electricity going through her ears, nice modern lettering for 'Elec-Trax', altogether a great package, and this album has appeared in my 'disc of the month' four times so far, it's a pity the booklet / back insert doesn't credit the Photographer / Art Director for their work.

Well in listening to this fantastic album again, i was so impressed with tracks 1-2, 4-6, 8, 11, 13 & 16, well i guess that's most of them!, i must admit that the very best track is track 2 'We Are Glass' by Gary Numan, i thought i would just briefly explain what i found fantastic about each track,

1 Tears For Fears [Mad World] the tick tock of the wooden block synths throughout the whole piece. 

2 Gary Numan [We Are Glass] the mechanical chugging throughout the whole piece, the soaring synths during the chorus.
4 Japan [Quiet Life] the singer slowly moaning 'the quiet life' [3:07-3:34].
5 Classix Nouveaux [Is It A Dream] the fanfare synths [0:19+, 1:22+, 2:40+ & 3:08+], and the intense higher chorus singers [1:50-2:11].
6 Spandau Ballet [To Cut a Long Story Short] the drum and bass middle section [1:38-1:51], and when the singer sings 'questions questions, give me no answers' [2:15+].
8 Korgis [Everybody's Got To learn Sometimes] it's those synths right at the end, that sound like a heavenly chorus [3:14+ & 3:40+]. 
11 The Assembly [Never Never] and again the tick tock of the wooden block synths throughout the whole piece. 
13 Mobiles [Drowning In Berlin] the opening recorder synth, with the lazy guitar strum intro [0:00+ & 1:02+], and the fairground wurlitzer with the German vocals [2:05-2:54].
16 A Flock Of Seagulls [Wishing, If I Had A Photograph Of You] the very ending note as the piece crashes out its finish! [5:27].

Here's Gary Numan singing 'We Are Glass' on YouTube.

Darryl Brenzel [Pentasphere]

Here's a lovely Jazz disc, i bought this in 2010 on Ebay, attracted by the cover, a very thoughtful almost mono study of Brenzel [photo by Karin Sigman], with coloured filters at the shooting stage i take it, even the 'no admittance' sign could be used in a philosophical way to explain Jazz too!, i just finished listening to it for the second time today, and it's a real grower, for me great Jazz discs are hard to come by, there's probably more 'good' Jazz discs than in any other genre, but excellent or truly great are quite elusive, so it's a joy to find this disc.

Darryl Brenzel is virtually unknown, very little about him on the Internet, i can't even find Jen-Jazz Records, he is 49 years old, and i believe an American, this disc was recorded roughly 12 years ago, there are a couple of copies of this disc on Ebay as i write this, Darryl has worked as a musician in the military, and is now doing some big band project i believe, but he's an accomplished Saxophonist, and i wish he would record some more small combo Jazz discs.

The disc is mainly made up of a Quartet, [sax, guitar, bass, and drums], with an additional piano on three tracks, a mix of Brenzel originals, with some standards, it's Modern Bebop, very tonal, and for what seems an independent record label, very very well recorded indeed, nice sharp and clear, you can hear all the instruments, the drums are recorded in a realistic bass / treble perspective [how well the drums are recorded is always a sign of an excellent record], and just over an hour of music [62 minutes], it's so hard to get yourself heard over the many instrumentalists out there, and with Jazz not a very commercial proposition, there are many talented individuals that are worth hearing, but financially can't cut a record.

On this listening [only my second] i liked tracks 4-6 & 8, i guess it's track 4 'Intornette Access' that i liked the most, a Brenzel original, i like the repetitious bass [Jeff Lopez] vibe at the beginning [0:06-1:12], lasting more than a minute, a nice intro that the sax and guitar [Paul Piper] blow / pluck over, and with a lovely roll of the drums [1:08+ Todd Harrison] the instrumentalists play the short theme [1:12-1:27] which has a nice swing to it, the sax solo afterwards is the best thing about the track [1:27-3:14], lots of intense bebop here, it shows how good Brenzel is, and i must admit on the whole record he's the star of the show, if only his sidemen were of the very highest calibre!, afterwards the guitar has a solo [3:15-6:20], a bit lazy at first, but grows after a while, i find here that the drummer holds back, letting the guitarist show, it would have been better to really push the guitarist more, the bass / drum solo afterwards [6:17-7:22] is a bit tame, starts off with what is probably going to be a bass solo, but the bassist is so quiet, in the end the drummer steps in and does a sort of solo, but it's a bit of a dead bit of the track, i like the way the bassist then re-introduces the original vibe from the beginning [7:26+], and all the instruments return [7:34+], but it's only at the very end that the sax gets into solo bebop mood [7:34+7:44], it's a good finish, but miles too short.

Altogether a very nice record, that i seriously need to get to play some more, it's only after roughly ten times played that i really start to fall in love with a disc, i seriously need to listen to this some more.

New Found Glory [Hits]

Just a few words about the booklet / back insert, the booklet comes from New Found Glory's first album, but the back insert comes from their greatest hits album, i bought their eponymous album after seeing it newly advertised somewhere, i really liked the look of the cover, very ingenious, the music was excellent too, but after a dozen plays i felt that there was too much filler, with only two truly excellent tracks on the disc, then i came across their Hits album, going for a song on Ebay [i got it for £1.29 or something], and so that disc having a poor booklet cover, i amalgamated the two packages, now i've got the best of both worlds, i do this quite often.

New Found Glory are an American punk band, originally from Florida, they've been together for 13 years now, it's hard to classify their music, they've been tagged with the 'Emo' name ['Emotional Hardcore' is the formal name], but i just refer to them as the more generic Punk [very much like Green Day or Offspring], if New Found Glory have a weakness, it's that they have a certain formula, and they seem to stick to it, all their songs sound similar, and it's only when you get deeper into them, you start to see beyond the sameness that they churn out, they're loud, but melodic, and they have these chorus's, probably they're most famous signature, they're a five piece, but their lead singer doesn't play an instrument.

Like i said above, the booklet is wonderful, showing nine squares of 'growing up' i guess, though in retrospect to roller skates and Britney Spears, they might wish they had picked something different now!, but the front cover is full of colour and variety, it speaks for itself, and yes it does show a degree of innocence, the back insert has different sized titles for each track, but i think it works well, the numbers in black are transfers i rubbed on myself, as the track numbers on the original are not very clear, but these two amalgamated discs make a great package.

The tracks i enjoyed the most were 2-3, 5-6 & 10-12, but because i had their first album, and i played it quite a lot, therefore track 3 'Dressed To Kill' is easily more likable than the rest, there's a real nice riff on the lead guitar as an intro [0:01-0:13], and it's this riff which comes back again and again to power the second half of the chorus, the delivery is incredibly infectious and enthusiastic, New Found Glory certainly have a formula that works so well, the lyrics are fairly banal and repetitious, but bordering on a punky sort of music, sometimes 'the banal the better', it's good to have a 'best of / hits' of this group, as i don't believe their studio albums stand up on their own.

Here's New Found Glory singing 'Dressed To Kill' on YouTube.

Beethoven - Symphony 3 [Davis-Staatskapelle Dresden]

This is a lovely 6 disc box set, i've had this for about 5 years, i really don't have many full Symphony cycles of Beethoven, i much prefer collecting individual discs of the very best performances, but this is a good solid sound Beethoven cycle, nothing really revelatory, rather old style Beethoven, it comes in a cardboard box, very thick cardboard indeed, really solidly built.

Colin Davis is English, now 83 years old, this Symphony was recorded in 1991, very simple visuals on the outer slipsleeve of this set, the Roman numerals 9, with a dark very cloudy sky in the background.

Right from the first time i ever played this Symphony, i knew and could feel that the second movement Funeral March was a sheer revelation to me, this was in my very early days of falling in love with Classical music, i bought a tape [Karajan], and i played this thing to death i loved it so much, on the way to work and on the way home, those were glorious never to be forgotten days of Beethoven seeping into my soul, one thing i notice more than ever about the Marche Funebre second movement, is the extensive use of the oboe, it's used to pipe the main tune all over the place, the oboe first comes in with its beautiful solo tune [0:38-1:15], setting up the piece as a mournful slow march, round about the 5 minute mark the music changes, it becomes slightly faster, and certainly happier, and the oboe leads the way here too [5:20+], also the oboe leads the way into a heroic section [6:36+], where the music swells up and up into a forte fanfare [7:08+], my favourite part of the whole movement doesn't involve any solo oboe, it starts with brass swelling [9:17], the horns coming in [9:34], and the timpani and brass creating a real intensity [9:50], and then to finish off the high violins becoming frantic [10:06], this is just a superb section [9:17-10:24], how the hell does Beethoven create stuff like this?, the oboe comes back, repeating its opening lines [11:53+], but now the rest of the orchestra are like broken morse code, and the same again, but this time quick march oboe [13:19], the oboe plays further parts in the movement, and has a nice ending too, but it's not an instrument i've ever consciously noted before, but yet a great use of the oboe and its mood from Beethoven.

Here's Paavo Jarvi conducting the second movement on YouTube.

Sting [Mercury Falling]

Sting has had a chequered solo career, he has made poor albums [The Soul Cages & Brand New Day], and then great albums [Ten Summoner's Tales & Mercury Falling], i've had a tendency to lose interest in him, as i really don't know what to expect next, Brand New Day was especially a great disappointment, it's put me off keeping track with him, but Mercury falling is his best album of all, full of a wonderful variety of musical styles.

Sting is now 59, yes, he'll hit the big 6-0 at the end of next year, everyone seems to be getting old, he made this album in 1996 in his mid forties, the front cover shot [by William Claxton] is exceptional, a grainy black and white study of sting, a nice side shot with gentle shadows to show depth, this album just scrapes into my top 100 discs of all time [at 93, as of today].

I really enjoyed listening to this disc today, it has lots of different music styles to it, and Sting has this ability to blend it all into one convincing whole, on this listen i liked tracks 2 'I Hung My Head', and track 11 'Lithium Sunset', 'I Hung My Head' always moves me to tears, it's a tragic story of unforgiveness and justice, but at the end of the song it becomes a story of forgiveness and redemption and release, a story of a guy who accidently shoots someone, comes to realize the extent of what he has done,

I orphaned his children

I widowed his wife

condemned to death, at the gallows a moment of magic happens,

I see a lone rider

Crossing the plain

He's come to fetch me

To see what they done

We'll ride together

Til kingdom come

it's the same guy he shot come to collect him after he's dead too, a real moment of forgiveness from the very person he wronged, it's a touching story of the power of the hereafter, the music's great too, a nice sharp but quickly dying drum beat throughout, right at the end of the second verse the horns [trumpet & saxophone] really kick in [1:48+], a real lovely jolt here, plus the organ swirls [Kenny Kirkland i take it] in at the same time, and is a great feature in every chorus afterwards [2:51+ & 4:02+ for instance], making a sort of gospel feel to it, right after the third verse Sting shout 'oww' [2:57], another nice little touch, but the whole album is strong, not just this one track, i would recommend this album to anyone coming to Sting afresh, and not knowing where to start.

Here's Sting singing 'I Hung My Head' on YouTube.

Joni Mitchell [Hejira] 

Hejira, the definition i guess is 'escape', or taking flight, the whole album seems to revolve around Joni Mitchell's wandering self, she's a traveller, and not just in geography, it documents her life on the road, she travelled over much of the United States alone, discovering herself, and a lot of her insights and observations found their way onto this album.

Joni Mitchell is Canadian, now 67, i feel very much after the seventies her songwriting abilities went downhill, she recorded this album in 1976, the booklet shows her on an ice skating rink [photos by Norman Seeff], and shows on the cover a montage of the road and sky, a sort of inner self of Joni's passion.

This is one of my most favourite albums, but it's not an easy listen, all the songs sound quite similar, with similar instrumentation, it therefore takes quite a while to discover the true individuality of each song, one of the things Joni Mitchell is famed for, is her imagery through words, she's a great songwriter, but she's a truly great words writer, there are dozens of gems on this album, it takes your breath away how she expresses herself, she makes you 'see' what she's singing about, here's the highlights i felt this time,

1 Coyote, she speaks about herself as 'a hitcher, a prisoner of the white lines on the freeway', and 'i tried to run away myself, to run away and wrestle with my ego ', she speaks of the freeway actually as a sort of prison, some cause that she can't free herself from.

2 Amelia, the best song on the album by far, she sings of Amelia Earhart, 'a ghost of aviation, she was swallowed by the sky, or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly ', she likens herself to the solo female aviator, however her sky is the endless road, and like Amelia who is lost at sea trying to circle the globe and find herself, Joni gets lost on the road trying the same discovery across America.
3 Furry Sings The Blues, 'pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps, in the grey decay', the old world music gets torn down to make way for the new and sparkling.
4 A Strange Boy, 

'a thousand glass eyes were staring, in a cellar full of antique dolls '.

5 Hejira, 'in the church they light the candles, and the wax rolls down like tears '.

6 Song For Sharon, the first track i fell in love with on this album, it's a whopping 8 minute plus track, and it reads like a story / travelogue.

7 Black Crow, 'i looked at the morning, after being up all night, i looked at my haggard face in the bathroom light '.

8 Blue Motel Room, 'here in Savannah it's pouring rain, palm trees in the porch light like slick black cellophane '.

9 Refuge Of The Roads, 'a photograph of the earth... that marbled bowling ball '.

Her words truly are revelatory, it makes me want to follow in her footsteps, hire a car and travel the breadth of the country.

Here's Joni Mitchell singing 'Amelia' on YouTube.