Streetcore by Joe Strummer & the Mescaralos 2003

In the final years of his life Joe Strummer was back with a vengeance. I had seen him playing the Big Day Out (unfortunately I missed his Corner gig) and he was up there in the sunshine with his black jeans and black t-shirt rocking the crowd at the showgrounds. And he had lost nothing. He might have been a bit quiet in his years since the Clash but on this day he powered through Clash classics and his new stuff with equal zeal. Of course the crowd went mad for the old songs. That's the cross many rock stars have to bear. But the new stuff was never boring. And he just connected with the audience who hung on every word he spoke.
Then in December 2002 Joe passed away. For someone who looked indestructible he wasn't. And he left far too early.  I wore my Joe Public badge for days. This was one of my heroes. Someone who had got me into playing in a punk band in the first place.
His band got together to finish the album they were working on and in 2003 this brilliant album came out. Kicking off with one of his best songs ever "Coma Girl" he leads us through various styles of music just as he has been doing since "London Calling". I guess that's a little of the appeal of this record. In many places it sounds like the Clash. Or is it just Joe's voice?
And where the Clash is about rocking in front of the speakers or bouncing up and down on the dance floor this is an album to take out into the sunshine and relax with a beer or two. Or maybe round a campfire, the way Joe would have liked it.

Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsboug 1971

The music of Serge Gainsbourg took a long time to become part of my musical landscape. I remember as a teenager hearing "Je t'aime" on the radio quite a bit so obviously it wasn't banned here as in other countries. It sure sounded strange. But quite alluring. But it was overdone and parodied by late-night TV hosts like Jimmy Hannan or Don Lane on IMT. It reminded me of the song "Where Do You Go To My Lovely" by Peter Sarstedt which wore out its welcome. (though I can listen to that song again now)
It wasn't until the early 90s that his name come up again when Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes released a track called "The Confessions of Serge Gainsbourg" and using that theme (French chic) had a CD launch at the Continental Hotel in Prahran. My friend and former Little Murders guitarist, Rod Hayward(though he's back with us again now), was in the Coral Snakes who were well on the way to some success. Rod would also play Mick Harvey records like Intoxicated Man where he had covered Gainsbourg with English lyrics.
Inevitably I bought myself a double CD and it became a backdrop to dinner parties in Elwood. Or drinking wine on the decking. I even played a few of the songs when I DJed. Usually "Initials BB" It might not have got people dancing but people always came over and told how much they loved that song. And it was always early in the night. I didn't want to clear a packed Lizard lounge dance floor.

When I got back into listening to and collecting vinyl a few years back at first I searched for a Gainsbourg compilation. Then I came across this album. I'd heard a lot about it so I thought I'd give it a chance. It also helped that the sleeve seemed to be bigger than normal sleeves with really thick cardboard. It looked and felt different from the normal albums I bought. Getting it home, from the time the needle hits the vinyl and the music slinks out of the speakers I was lost in Serge's world. It just sounds so good. Almost hypnotic at times. Even the incredibly short running time (28 minutes) doesn't detract from the record's attraction. This was another world to explore. I managed to get a few more Gainsbourg albums but I always come back to this one.

Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies 1968

Okay it's been two years since I last wrote about albums on this Blog and in this time I've been busy sorting my records, buying more vinyl, listening to more music in album form rather than bits and pieces on my iTunes. Actually I don't think I can ever go back to listening to music on random anymore. I have discovered new and old records and built up additional albums that I can say soundtrack my life.
I'd heard about this album for years and had it on my iTunes but never really listened to it. A couple of years ago I was in Off The Hip Records chatting to owner Mick Baty when I came across it in the LP racks. I bought it on a whim but when I got it home and put it on the turntable I don't think it came off for days. And the whole family liked it too. Well except for my oldest daughter who's not really into that sort of thing.
But it's such a joyous record just putting it makes you feel good. The fact that the album came out after the band had broken up and they the spelling on the title is all messed up just adds to it's allure.
In an album full of great tracks, including "Time of the Season", it's the song "Friends of Mine" which resonates for me. Because my wife Liz and I have danced to it so many times around the living room floor it almost belongs to us.

Here Come The Warm Jets by Brian Eno 1974

If you're going to have a favourite Eno album well why not the first one where you can still see the ties to his old band Roxy Music but you can also see the future of rock. well not everyones future but certainly Bowie and his Berlin triology and punk rock with brian Eno whining over mutated sounds. Really there is so much on this album to get into sometimes it's hard to get out.
One of my more sonic choices of the late seventies I would lie with my head on a pillow in between two speakers listening to this album. Stopping after 20 minutes to flip the record over and waiting for my two favourite tracks "Some Of Them are Old" and "Here Comes The warm Jets" it's a pity it took me 4 years after it's release to discover it.
I wouldn't of bought this album if not for the second guitarist we got in the Fiction in 1978. Joe Clarke was an English lad who came across all Brian Jones and always had his guitar and his girlfriend with him. He would play "Some Of Them are Old" on his electric guitar  and enlighten me to the album he got it off. I loved that melody so much I had to go and find it. And found a whole lot more.
Joe was only around for maybe one or two gigs. A co-headline spot with La Femme upstairs at the Crystal Ballroom which was packed and that was it. I got sick, communications broke down and we never saw him again.

I continued to explore Brian Eno albums and have a particular fondness for Music For Airports when the moment is right.

The La's by The La's 1990

If the Lemonheads were a summery band that summed up living close to the beach in Elwood then a couple of years before that we were listening to The La's whose debut album came out just as I was moving into my new house. At first, it was really hard to get past "There She Goes' which just so happens to be the perfect pop song. Once you played that song you just wanted to hear it again, And again. but I got over that and it became another summer album. And we loved talking about it because Lee Mavers who was the leader of the band went out there and slagged the album off. Which was very theatrical and dramatic and looked a bit like a pose until he never actually released another record.
And strangely enough, it reminds me of my first CD tower. My CD collection had grown to something that needs containing. So on my birthday, I received a CD Tower. This was one of the first. We'd not seen them before. And though it only held about 50 CDs it was huge. More like a sculpture than the thin wire ones that came later. And it was as tall as me.
But I digress. Great album from Liverpool. Not too far from Blackpool and a pointer to what some of the songs Oasis would sound like.

It's A Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads 1992

I bought this album at Readings in Carlton on a fantastic bright sunny day. This is appropriate because this album just sings sunshine. I was searching around the store for music to buy for the club when I saw this CD for the incredibly cheap price of 14.95. Considering most albums were up in the 25 dollar bracket or at least 20 it made no sense that it was so cheap. The man behind the counter didn't know why either. Something about mini-album came up. But hey..it was 13 songs. But short songs.
I hadn't been to Readings or Carlton for a long time. Back in 1980 we'd meet the Mods up at a coffee shop or eat pasta at the many restaurants on Lygon Street. But since then I'd crossed the river from Fitzroy to St. Kilda. Or at this time, Elwood.
Around this time I was sharing a house with Little Murders guitarist Rod Heyward. It was a house I'd just bought a year or so back. I got him to paint the house. One morning we started painting at 7am with this album blaring out of the speakers. To warm us up. The neighbour was over before the first song was finished. The deputy mayor no less. It was a sunny morning and with all the white sheets covering the furniture and the white walls and everything we just had to play this music. Followed by the Las.
A few of the songs on this album I'd play at the Lizard lounge. Confetti, Bit Part and Alison's Starting To happen. But during the first hour when the music was really just for us. Mrs. Robinson however was a big dancefloor hit. Great album

The Bends by Radiohead 1995

Although "Creep" was a massive hit and got played to death at the Lizard Lounge Radiohead didn't really look like they were going to be anything out of the ordinary. Although of course Creep was definitely a huge song. But then again a lot of bands had massive alternative cross-over hits. I mean "Unbelievable" by EMF was new and fantastic. And Jesus Jones "Right Here Right Now" 
Radiohead's first album didn't particularly impress. Though I did like 'Stop Whispering'. So I took little notice when they released their second album in 1995. While everyone was focusing on Brit Pop this slow grower (well for me it was) started to lift Radiohead way above their contemporaries. 

My girlfriend at the time was living with an old pal of mine Lee, not very far away from my house in Elwood. I think she was only there for the summer. She did live with me for a while but she was forever coming and going so I don't know what state our relationship was in. In fact, all I can remember is going around to their place one evening and listening to "The Bends" as the temperature outside heated up. I couldn't believe how good the album was. Great song after great song. It started with High and Dry and then Fake Plastic Trees and then it got messy but I loved it. The joy of finding an album that instantly connects.

Another bonus was as a DJ at a popular nightclub I would get all the CD-singles from the record companies. The b-sides off singles from this album and later OK Computer were just amazing.

I was still listening to The Bends when they brought out OK Computer a few years later. And the game changed again.