Your last listen

[Firebug1]

Anthrax : Among the living

[Fretless]

Shadowfax 'The Dreams of Children' (1985)



This was the third Windham Hill album from jazz-fusion outfit Shadowfax. A rather overlooked part of their catalogue as it is an understated, delicate recording featuring their customary exemplary playing and crystalline atmospheres.

Happy to have found a cheap vinyl copy of this as I only had a battered, coverless CD up to now.

[CN211276]

Shy - Unfinished Business
Gary Numan - Intruder

[Fretless]

An overlooked gem in the annals of Rock history.
The ultimate Genesis / ABBA crossover ...

Frida 'Something's Going On' (1982)



ABBA's Anna-Frid Lyngstad had been looking for a while to launch her own international solo-career and make a name for herself as an artist who was more than 'the other singer from ABBA - you know, not the blonde one'. Genesis had been working in the Swedish group's Polar studio in Stockholm and had recorded their 1981 album 'Duke' there (as well as solo projects from Banks and Rutherford), during this time Frida had met Phil Collins and asked him to produce her LP.

Having just completed his own debut solo-album 'Face Values', Collins assembled a top team for this: Daryl Stuermer (guitar), Peter Robinson (keys) and Mo Foster (bass) with Hugh Padgham engineering (later to produce 'Abacab'). Frida had picked a selection of songs that showcased her versatility as both hard-hitting Rock-Chick and emotive ballad-singer - the resulting album was 'Something's Going on'.

Very much a record of its time, well-played and recorded, loads of fun to listen to.

[CN211276]

Abba's studio was popular. Zeppelin recorded In through the out door there and Plant and Page struck up a friendship with the men from Abba. By some accounts they visited seedy establishments ITTOD has a different sound to the other Zep albums and I don't think the studio was best suited to hard rock. John Paul Jones's keyboards are a lot more prominent and the sound is cluttered. As my system has improved the album has sounded better. It is not their worst and contains a couple of classic tracks.

[CN211276]

Trivia note for Genesis fans:

Tony Banks is still kicking himself for rejecting PC's 'In The Air Tonight' for inclusion as a track on Genesis's 'Duke'.

[CN211276]

Trivia note for Genesis fans:

Tony Banks is still kicking himself for rejecting PC's 'In The Air Tonight' for inclusion as a track on Genesis's 'Duke'.

I was not aware of that. Duke was released a year earlier in 1980 and if In the air tonight was included I am not sure if it would have had the same dynamic impact, going on the sound of the studio. I recall Chris Frankland giving Duke a right slagging in Popular HiFi, whilst praising other Genesis albums. Comments were on the lines of if you want to send yourself to sleep and convince yourself that high fidelity is dead buy Duke, seemingly relating to the production. I think his LP12 was a greater contributor to his reaction.

[Nihil Sleighride]

Finally got around to giving the new Wode LP a clean and a spin last weekend. Absolute belter.

https://wode.bandcamp.com/album/burn-in-many-mirrors

[CN211276]

Ghost - Prequelle
Queen - A night at the opera
Wintersun .- The forest seasons

[CycleCoach]