Music listening during the past week. The following are the week’s repeated plays and fascinations rather than the constant background of stuff that always gets played (stuff like Harold Budd’s Bordeaux and Jan Garbarek’s Officium).
Crass – The Feeding of the 5000 (album, 2012 reissue). Notes – this is performance poetry/jazz/standup comedy and it sounds just as good as it did when I was 12. A towering work of pure art.
The Police – Wrapped Around Your Finger (track). Notes – The Police never made a cohesive album and all serious music fans hate their guts. I think each of their albums has two or three genius tracks on it. This is one of them.
David Sylvian – Gone to Earth (disc 2). Notes also been listening to Secrets of the Beehive in full, as well as Darkest Dreaming from Dead Bees on a Cake. Disc 2 of Gone to Earth is pure psychoacoustics, unemburdened by words, save for Joseph Beuys‘ mysterious meditation on „the age of overcome“.
Benjamin Britten – Cello Suites (suites). Notes – a bit depressing.
The Streets – Original Pirate Material (album). Notes – one of few records that unfolds like a novel. The central character isn’t a Holden Caulfield, a Meursualt or a Raskolnikov. No-one notices the darkness around, but it bleeds into every beat, every syllable.
The Future Sound of London – Max (track). No notes.
Mark Hollis – The Colour of Spring (track). Notes – great song for practising your singing.
David Bowie – Low (album). Notes – all serious music fans love Low. I also love Tonight and Never Let Me Down, so I guess I’m an unserious music fan. Low is great for many reasons – but the main reason it’s great is that it’s got Art Decade on it.
I also listened to Clouds Across The Moon by the Rah Band a few times because the singer’s accent is really great, fixed in time and (Thames estuary) space.