What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

EDWYN COLLINS  "gorgeous george" cd, 1994.

his third solo album and probably best known song appears on it...
was originally lead singer of funk/jazz/reggae fusion band Orange Juice back in the 1980s, i own their "rip it up" album which is pretty good IMO...
this one is pretty good too, hints of r+b, blue-eyed soul, funk, folk and pop and due to the fact it is all things but also none of those things which is why i posted it in alternative...
so yes, it contains "a girl like you" and the overall groove and vibe of the song is what the album sounds like...
a bit repetitive in overall sound, but still a cool album and always loved the sound of his voice too...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

the hit is still the best thing on here:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOHN GRANT  "grey tickles, black pressure"  cd,  2015

from Michigan, but from the good side of 8-mile as he aint no rapper....
his fifth solo album, plus six with alt-rock band The Czars whom i have never heard of...
picked this up for $1 in a discount bin because i thought the cover was a bit mysterious (to me)....
anyway,
folk, art pop, new wave, synth pop and electro pop on here...
a couple of tracks have a Visage feel, another couple has a Sparks feel, Krautrock etc, the influences keep on coming...
theres even a hint of Father John Misty on my favourite track...
all up, a fairly decent album with lots of styles and sounds...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

favorite:

[CRAZY-HORSE]

THE SPECIALS  "the specials"  vinyl/cd 1979

a revisit...
UK social commentary/politically edged ska band...
debut album of nine and only one i own....
produced by Elvis Costello...
one of the greatest debut albums of all time IMO...
twelve tracks four or five are covers and another couple borrow (with acknowledgement) off a couple of other old reggae tunes...
excellent go-to album of enjoyment on a Sunday afternoon...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

1:   a message to you Rudy  ***
2:   do the dog  ***
3:   its up to you  ***
4:   nite club  ***
5:   doesnt make it alright  ***
6:   concrete jungle  ***
7:   too hot  **
8:   monkey man  ***
9:   dawning of a new era  ***
10:  blank expression  ***
11:  stupid marriage  **
12:  too much too young  ***
13:  little bitch  **
14:  youre wondering now  ***

3s -  11
2s -  3
1s -  0

rating:  2.8

random pick:





I'm going out tonight
I don't know if I'll be alright
Everyone wants to hurt me
Baby danger in the city

I have to carry a knife
Because there's people threatening my life
I can't dress just the way I want
I'm being chased by the National Front

Concrete jungle, animals are after me
Concrete jungle, it ain't safe on the streets
Concrete jungle, glad I got my mates with me

I won't fight for a cause
Don't want to change the law
Leave me alone, just leave me alone
I want to get out on my own

I'm walking home tonight
I only walk where there's lots of lights
In the alleys and the doorways
Some throw a bottle right in your face

Concrete jungle, animals are after me
Concrete jungle, it ain't safe on the streets
Concrete jungle, glad I got my mates with me

[CRAZY-HORSE]

FALL OUT BOY  "infinity on high" cd, 2007

their third of seven,
had forgotten i owned five until i checked their Wiki...
their most eclectic sounding album and also their most melodic IMO...
fifteen tracks in just over 45 minutes, not all killer but definitely no filler attached here....
good solid album and a reminder it is my favourite of theirs...
i dont love any of their albums but they are consistently good albums...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

fave wasnt a single but anything that features cohen's "hallelujah" chorus is a winner for me every time.




I LIKE

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL WELLER  "sonik kicks" vinyl/cd 2012.

after listening to ALL of his solo singles to compile a list of my top-20 of his and being impressed (for a change) with the singles from this album i decided to revisit it...
so, after disliking this album for a whole decade it has finally 'clicked' and works for me at last!,
i guess i wasnt ready for experimental Weller back then ie: Kraut Rock, electronic-rock etc...
has some similarities to some of Bowie's material (late 1990s to mid 2000s)...
hearing this with a new lease feels like im listening to a brand new album and....
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

1:   green  **
2:   the attic  ***
3:   kling i klang  **
4:   sleep of the serene (instrumental)  *
5:   by the waters  ***
6:   that dangerous age  ***
7:   study in blue  **
8:   dragonfly   ***
9:   when your garden's overgrown ***
10: around the lake  ***
--- "twilight" (link) 
11: drifters *  
12: paper chase  ***
13: be happy children  ***

3s -  8
2s -  3
1s -  2

rating:  2.4

the lead off single:

---

and one of his most beautiful songs of love ever IMO:






Oh my loved ones
Look long into the night
Your daddy's gone
But only for a while

And in the darkness
Of God's great sky
Know my heart is always with you
And there's really no need to cry

Come on

[Chorus:]
Think upon
Look along
Be happy children
Think upon
Look along
Be happy children

Sleep now, safe and tight
Think with such joy
Of what tomorrow might bring
Be happy children

For my love knows no limit
When it comes to loving you
And my heart is always with you
And I'm always on your side

Sleep now, safe and tight
Think with such joy
Of what tomorrow might bring
Be happy children

[Chorus x2]

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL McCARTNEY  "mccartney" vinyl/cd 1970.

released prior to the final Beatles album "let it be"...
reason i put it in "alternative" is because all the experts refer to this as the first ever "lo-fi" or "indie" album...
funny how opinions change over the decades because originally the reviewers said things like "and to think he broke up the Beatles for this", "contrived, underproduced and half baked ideas" and "sheer banality"...
modern reviews say "genius in its most simplistic purist form" and "listener friendly pop confectionary to easy the bitter pill of the Beatles break-up"...
anyway, what do i think of it...
well apart from the snide insults aimed at 'the other three' through the "spilt: life is a bowl of cherries" cover art through to the obvious sarcasm aimed at John Lennon in "teddy boy" it is an average Paul McCartney album,
it does however contain his ballad masterpiece "maybe im amazed" and "every night" which became a hit for Phoebe Snow in the mid 1970s.
there are a couple of 'garage rock' type songs, a few catchy pop tunes and little ditties that only he could get away with and be taken seriously for doing so.
and to top it off it was the first album by a rock artist whereby one person played every instrument, every vocal and produced/engineered an album from memory...
all up this is the weakest of the three self titled McCartney albums for me but it is still pretty darn good.
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

1:   the lovely linda  **
2:   that would be something  **
3:   valentine day  **
4:   every night  ***
5:   hot as sun/glasses  **
6:   junk  **
7:   man we was lonely  **
8:   oo you  **
9:   momma miss america  **
10: teddy boy  **
11: singalong junk  **
12: maybe im amazed  ***
13: kreen-akrore  **

3s -  2
2s -  11
1s -  0

rating:  2.1

best for me is "maybe im amazed" but lets go for the other "***' track this time round:

[Ruby]

Listened to Mark Hollis's one and only solo album - Mark Hollis. What a strange and beautiful thing it is. Makes not a lot of sense and yet you lean in for more. Huh! Loved the actual recording as well - you find yourself right there - in the room, and noticing everything. There could only ever be one of these - incredibly personal for such a private being. Pretty much going inside his head. Wow ....



One really has to listen to the whole thing for full effect, IMHO ... if so inclined ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdf--O5W...S4&index=1



.

[JeromeD]

I have the Mark Hollis one in my collection. I find I have to be in a particular frame of mind to listen to this album. Very different from anything else I own - almost an extension of the Spirit of Eden album.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

BILLIE EILISH  "when we all fall asleep, where do we go?"  vinyl/cd 2019

her debut at age sixteen (or thereabouts)...
multiplatinum selling album, six of the seven singles were multiplatinum sellers also....
think Lorde on steroids (and considering David Bowie said in 2013 that he thought she was "the future of rock and roll" i have always wondered what he would have thought of Ms Eilish???
anyway, a brilliant debut album IMO and one of the best over the last couple of decades too...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

favourite happens to be one of the singles.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

DAVID BOWIE  "lodger" vinyl/cd 1979

a revisit and his thirteenth...
his masterpiece IMO (with 'scary monsters' as a close up second)...
Visconti, Eno, Fripp, what more do you need...
world music, new wave, rock, the perfect progression between "heroes" and "scary monsters" IMO...
album still has its one unique style despite the labelling of genres to describe it...
loving every track on here bar one, which i really like...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM






African night flight one-time Mormon
More men fall in Hullabaloo men
I slide to the nearest bar
Undermine chairman, I went too far
Bent on a windfall, rent a Sony
Wonder how the dollar went down
Got to get a word to Elizabeth's father
Hey ho, he wished me well
Seemed like another day I could fly
Into the eye of God on high

His burning eye will see me through
One of these days, one of these days
Got to get a word through one of these days
His burning eye will see me through
One of these days, one of these days
Got to get a word through one of these days

Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na

Getting in the mood for a Mombasa night flight
Pushing my luck, going to fly like a mad thing
Bare strip takeoff, skimming over Rhino
Born in slumber, less than peace
Struggle with a child, whose screaming, dreaming
Drowned by the props all steely sunshine

Sick of you, sick of me
Lust for the free life, quashed and maimed
Like a valuable loved one left unnamed
Seems like another day I could fly
Into the eye of God on high
Seems like another day I could fly
Into the eye of God on high
Over the bushland, over the trees
Wise like orangutan, that was me

His burning eye will see me through
One of these days, one of these days
Got to get a word through one of these days
His burning eye will see me through
One of these days, one of these days
Got to get a word through one of these days

Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na
Asante habari habari ha
Asante nabana nabana na