Great Albums: COSMIC ROUGH RIDERS - "TOO CLOSE TO SEE FAR", 2003 Measured Records LP

While doing a quick bit of research on this album I came across a 2003 review in THE GUARDIAN which gives this a paltry 2 out of 5 potential stars. According to the reviewer the songs are too samey and the lead singer has an indistinct voice. This is complete nonsense. This classic album - while pretty obscure - deserves far wider recognition. The songs (all 14 of them!) are of equal high standard and the aforementioned vocals are warm, soulful and beautiful.
The gorgeous JUSTIFY THE RAIN, an understandable Scottish lament to the weather, kicks off side one and sets the template for the rest of the album. This is a gorgeous concoction of well crafted, melodic tunes filled with lush harmonies as well as the obligatory 12-string guitars that gets better with every listen. Side two shows off another bona-fide Pop gem in the melancholy power of STUPID YOU which reminds you of TEENAGE FANCLUB, another great Scottish band that share the same tastes for song structure and melody as COSMIC ROUGH RIDERS. I would give this at least 4 stars out of 5 if I was in a fairly critical state of mind but 10 out of 10 for pure listening pleasure!

Great Albums: THE JAGS - Evening Standards, ISLAND 1980 LP

THE JAGS - Evening Standards, ISLAND 1980 LP,
A nice Uk Power Pop album when the country was still overrun which such bands. Strong songwriting, nice harmonies and touches of 12-String Rickenbacker make for pretty good listening. Chart-wise it did nothing, maybe its Costello / Rumour soundalike tunes were a little behind the curve in 1980. That does not matter now of course as the benefit of hindsight avoids such trendsetting or otherwise. This is a tight and rockin' little LP that'll sit nicely next to you JAM and RECORDS records (!). Not a common album to find but not expensive when it does appear.

Great Albums: Beatles - A Hard Day's Night, Odeon Germany stereo

Beatles - A Hard Day's Night, Odeon 1964 LP
This is my personal choice of the greatest ever album. I won't bother going into details of the actual LP as this has been covered billions of times and you already have - and love - it. Right?
For me this is the album that started EVERYTHING. My Grannie gave this to me on my 6th Birthday in 1974. May she rest in peace. I, at that point, assumed The Beatles were the ONLY  Pop band that had ever existed and had no idea they broke up in 1970. In fact I had never even heard of 1970!! So I woke up at 5am on my birthday, totally over-excited. I ripped open the presents (of course) and there it was, the self same album you can see in the photo. I put it on -  no idea of what to expect. I was totally blown away. Previously my little compact record player had played Fairy stories and stuff like Peter & The Wolf, but this blew all that away for ever. That first chord on side one and then the rush of all those great songs, wow......too much!I played that album daily for years and totally wore that copy out, in fact before the age of ten I refused to play any other music bar the Beatles. Except Wings, because that was close (ish). But that was it. On vinyl, only The Beatles were allowed. I finally succumbed to other musical pleasures, which has led me to what I am doing these days, but that album sure is the greatest ever.

Great LPs: Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance, 1978 USA Blank Records

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance, 1978 USA Blank Records

A truly original album, released at the height of (Post) Punk in 1978. An uncompromising and highly experimental work in a sea of Mod & Punk releases that year, it was not likely to be a mass market success. But older heads who were already heavily into Gong, Faust, Eno & Hawkwind found a hugely rewarding album here to add to their collections. Highly rhythmic and at times discordant the songs still manage to conjur up enough hooks to make them memorable and even hummable at times! The track NON ALIGMENT PACT is something of a classic as is THE MODERN DANCE, while LAUGHING is an excercise in deconstructive restraint and power. Jagged guitars, smashing bottles, insistant beats and singer Thomas' desperate wails make for - at times -difficult, but always compelling, listening. However, along with the LIVE IN CLEVELAND album & the DATAPANIK IN THE YEAR ZERO this record makes up a trio of great Pere Ubu 1970s platters.Issued in the UK on MERCURY RECORDS and on the much smaller BLANK label in the USA, it shows that Uk record companies were -at this point-hip enough to understand the relevance of this band and even expect a few sales. A cool album.

Great LPs: The Posies "Blood Candy"

The Posies "Blood Candy" 2010 album on Rykodisc

Ok, it's probably a little too recent an LP to claim it to have changed my life...yet. I will however say that this LP has kept me indoors more often as I've been playing it so much. So it's contributed to a drop in Vitamin D in my system. But that's more than compensated by a boost in endorphins as well as a surge in insulin, because as the name suggests it's as sweet as it is brilliant. This is a finely honed album, crammed with fantastic songs very much in the classic Power Pop style of Jellyfish, Big Star and the usual suspects.  But this record is so much more than I can illustrate here. The songs are so strong, filled with killer hooks and gorgeous vocals. It even features THE STRANGLERS HUGH CORNWELL, which could have put me off but I could not make him out anyway-so it's fine. This is their 7th album, and if the others are as good then they must surely be a contender for band of the decade (or three). A truly classic album, which is only marred (on vinyl anyway) by a slightly flat mastering and/or cutting job, but it's good enough to play over and over and with songs so good, it's hard to fault anyway. Get it!