Your last listen

[howardc1951]

Viriditas : Green Mars. Prog rockers from hampshire. Found them on Bandcamp. There's also another album called Red Mars.

[CN211276]

AC/DC - Black Ice

[Fretless]

Simple Minds 'Live in the City of Angels' (2019)



Simple Minds - a band thar has haunted me pretty well as long as I have been a music fanatic. First exposure was the jarring, experimental 'Real to Real Cacophony' in 1979 - they sounded like nobody else at all. The eighties brought them massive acclaim and commercial success but then .... what?

I kept up with them sporadically until 2002's lacklustre 'Cry' but gave up after that. Although 'New Gold Dream' and 'Sons & Fascination' still get played quite regularly. A post here indicated that there is still life in Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill so, time to investigate. This double live CD was cheap on Amazon and it is seriously impressive, a fine mix of old, new, hits and favourites. Playing is powerful and the band are solid with performances that are fresh but also true to the original spirit.

Off to catch up with their more recent releases as it looks like 'Cry' marked a low-point and a new surge of creativity has since arisen.

All together now ...
"Someone, somewhere, in summertime ..."

[CN211276]

Volbeat - Servant of the mind

[slinger]

Mike Oldfield 'Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Edition' (2023)



It won't surprise you that I am an enormous Mike Oldfield fan. 'Tubular Bells' was the fifth LP I ever bought back in the 70's (after Nursery Cryme, Wish You Were Here, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and Dark Side of the Moon) and I have got just about every reissue there is. So - expectations were running high as the 50th anniversary edition emerged from the letterbox yesterday.

Well, I'm not blown away to be quite honest. The remastering of the original album is very clear, slightly more so than the 2009 version, but less full in the mids and bass. But then - the main reason for getting this - Oldfield's demo for the intro to TB4; the last piece he ever recorded as he has officially retired. He delivered this to the record company some years ago as a taster for a proposed full-scale 'Tubular Bells 4' album but never went further.

Where TB2 and TB3 were reimaginings of the original with different technology and styles, TB4 very much returns to the familiar acoustic delicacy of the original. Perhaps because it is a demo, there is still a personal, home-made feel to this which adds to its impact. Towards the end you hear shadows of later works like 'The Songs of Distant Earth' (for me, perhaps his best album). A fascinating track and a pity it is only 8.33 minutes long.

Tubular Bells/In Dulci Jubilo (Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games) comes next - a bizarre track that goes into a Jazzy big-band setting and then continues to mash-up styles. Sorry, virtually unlistenable. As is also the final track, a dance remix that is totally pointless.

Ho Hum. What you get here is a nice remaster, but superfluous if you already have the 2009 one. Two terrible bonus tracks and the one amazing demo that is Mike Oldfield's swansong.

Recommended for idiot completists,
(like me)

[CN211276]

The Essential Foo Fighters

[Fretless]

Simple Minds 'Graffiti Soul' (2009)
Simple Minds 'Big Music' (2014)



Continuing my catch-up with Scotland's brave lads Jim & Charlie and this is proving to be a really thrilling ride. Great, powerful New Wave Rock with lush production details and a high level of energetic performances. Some fine, catchy songs on show as well.

'Grafitti Soul' appears to be the renaissance album where the creative juices really started flowing again and the band return to their slick, synth-driven 80's mode (pointed at by 1998's underrated 'Neapolis'). 'Big Music' builds on this with a solid, widescreen character that sounds a bit U2-ish in places - reaffirming the theory that Bono & co nicked Simple Minds' sound in the early 80's.

Nostagia trip? Maybe.
Enjoyable? Certainly!

[CN211276]

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn

Am reading Tony Visconti's autobiography where the early Marc Bolan recordings receive some attention. Although the equipment was basic, the budget low and time restraints an issue, they sound better than so much of what is recorded today.

[TheRealAleman]

Stevie Nicks - The other side of the mirror

[CN211276]

The Strawbs - Dragonfly