The Sony Rollins album What’s New was a decent find. It came, as ever, via the always excellent Late Junction.

I had my morning catch ups and one of the tracks dropped. Interesting, I thought. This sounds like some mid-eighties pastiche jazz by one of those rather cool retro bands like Camel. Not so, it was way, way back with a jazz original from the early 60s with Sonny Rollins.

I’ll have a bit of this. I fired up Spotify and played the album from start to finish. It gets off to a good jazz start, and then without warning delivers some delightful calypso. I wasn’t expecting that but enjoyed it all the same.

We then go back on a jazz footing before a little more calypso is added to the mix. A superb find, and one of which I am already hunting down a cheapo cheapo eBay copy of.

Nice.

A very accomplished album - which is not quite the CRAZY world of rock ‘n’ roll eulogy that perhaps some artists crave for. But this is classy, polished, and grown up. I already had R.E.M. and Hothouse Flowers vibes before I read the wiki entry. Oh looky looky - both bands feature on the album. Fancy that. The IG clearly know their craft, both in songwriting and musicianship. But it’s not quite naughty enough for me. Pleasant music for an afternoon of wood sawing.

⭐ ⭐

I’ve been after a copy of Duck Rock on CD for a couple of years now. But OF COURSE I’ve got a cassette version, natch. I’m amazed I didn’t get round to buying it on vinyl back in the day. It was during that strange phase where you had a limited budget with so much music to explore.

Duck Rock was always on the radar back in the early 80s but the pace of change and my musical tastes took over. One month it was Duck Rock and the next it was King Kurt.

The excitement this music holds for me is the same now as it was back then, even without actually owning a copy. Duck Rock was pretty much Year Zero for me. It sounded so fresh.

It’s not just the early introduction to hip hop in its most crudest form, but also the African rhythm explorations that McLaren was undertaking. He was well ahead of his time.

Of course he’s an absolute charlatan, a thieving magpie, but it helped that he was stealing from the best. Duck Rock is more a collaboration project of which McLaren is purely the curator.

Missing from my collection now is the mini follow-up album Would Ya Like More Scratchin? I’m not even sure if this is available on CD.

R and I clocked a job lot on cassette in a Soho record shop a couple of years ago going for around a tenner. I probably should buy a vinyl version, even if I am 40 odd years late to the party.

Britpop bangers from start to finish. You forget how frequently Cast troubled the charts around this time. The Britpop big hitters took all the headlines. Which is a shame, as Cast were a great band for the times. They were the Smiths for the 90’s with endless TOTP performances. All Change is classic British R&B, updated with a modern feel. John Power knows how to pen a pop song, and then beef it up. Great Britpop survivors - but then aren’t they all these days?

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

An album that sounds like it was put together to specifically win a Brit award. There’s no quirk or magic carried forward from The Eurythmics. Where’s Dave, etc? Sure, it’s classy. But it’s also mainstream slush. I’m not a mainstream slush type of guy. It’s not exactly going to start a class war, is it? Why has an enduring appeal; Broken Glass is half decent background radio music. But that’s about it. Lisa Stansfield does the pop soul thing with far more passion.

⭐ ⭐

I love a slide up and down the blues scale. This feels authentic, and not laboured. The standard of playing is superb. I always find that the blues is all about the mood, and not necessarily the song. They’re just the means in which to hang your emotions. It gets a little guitar wanky in places. Yeah fella, sure you can play. Just play the blues. It’s not a job interview.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Talk Talk, It’s My Life.

There was so much quality music that I missed out on in the late 80s going into the early 90s. I had been blinded by indie and chose such a narrow musical path to explore.

Of course I was always aware of tracks like It’s My Life through the constant radio airplay, but I never really dived further into their album back catalogues. This would come in later years, hiring out CDs for the local library and recording them onto a TDK D90.

I’ve still got The Colour Of Spring and Spirit Of Eden on cassette, filed away. I’ve also obviously upgraded to CD versions. By this time I was becoming more of a musical snob.

That’s not to say that you need to be a wanky musical snob to appreciate Talk Talk. It’s My Life is a great transition album; it captures them still with a little pop sensitivity as they then embark on all the weirdness that was to follow.

I realised It’s My Life was lacking from my CD collection after a recent Word In Your Ear podcast. The guest was an author who had written a biography all about the band.

I always thought Talk Talk was a crappy name for such a quality band. It’s a shame it got hijacked by a stupid mobile provider.

I’ve always wanted to like Smashing Pumpkins. They’re a band that I feel I should like. For all the melodic interludes, you’re only one riff away from what sounds like hair metal. The quiet / loud thing was done far better by Pixies, and was far cooler as well. The Baldie thing also puts me off - said the man who has had no need to own a comb in the past ten years. You’d rather listen to this than some cock rock, but then I’d rather listen to some Sam Cooke than Smashing Pumpkins. Life choices, innit.

⭐ ⭐

THREE hours of recordings. Blimey. I’m increasingly turning towards jazz as background music for working. Background music is a little harsh; it’s one of the few genres I can appreciate without giving it my full attention. Three hours will get me through the morning shift, right? Job’s a good ‘un. I have no vocabulary or understanding of how to talk about jazz. I just know that I like what I hear. This bounces along with a breeze. It’s pretty timeless. Sadly the ebay prices for the box set aren’t. £200+? Erm, nope.

Cuckoo wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I vaguely remember listening to Curve back in the early 90’s. It was all shoegazing and self loathing. But wait! What’s this? Cuckoo is a right old bloody racket. The music is heavy, but the lyrics lend a little on the sensitive side. It shouldn’t really work, and tbh, it doesn’t. A real disappointment.

⭐ ⭐