I don’t want to become something of a Pink Floyd completist but I’m going down the line of becoming something of a Pink Floyd completist.

Atom Heart Mother is an album that I’m surprised it’s taken me 56 years of age to become familiar with. I was already bored of Dark Side by the time I hit 21.

Atom Heart slots into the Pink Floyd discography four years or so ahead of Dark Side. It’s that moment in time where Pink Floyd hadn’t shaken off all the hippy shit, but were starting to blossom to become something else.

It’s quite a diverse album as well - that is if you can describe late 60s prog and experimentation as being diverse.

It starts with some rather theatrical music hall and then ends with the more acoustic peace and shit that you tend to associate with Pink Floyd.

I wouldn’t say the best thing about it is the cover art but I do like the simplicity of the cow. The late 60s were very, very odd.

You know where you are with a Van Morrison album, right from the start. A Van album is a Van album. Sure, the times may change with different styles and tastes coming and going. Van takes snippets of these, but ultimately he knows what direction he is going in. This sounds like an album recorded in 1986 – which is no surprise seeing as though it was an album… recorded in 1986. It’s the welcome inclusion of the oboe on this album which adds a little extra something to his usual Sunday afternoon laid-back jazz soul vibes. This album works best when Van takes on his softly, softly, understated role. He strips everything back and calms the experience down. It can get quite intense at times, despite very little going on.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This album represents a turning point in hip-hop. It straddles that age where the crudeness of the samples and beat boxes fused together with what was possible from the genre. The rap and delivery take it to another level. It’s a fun exercise in spotting the samples, but ultimately it’s the lyrics which hold your attention.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Ozric Tentacles' Become the Other CD.

I bloody love The Ozrics. Psychedelic space prog rock wasn’t exactly cool back in the day. It’s aged even less so thirty-odd years later.

There’s still something about the old hippie in me that gets me reaching for the tie-dye whenever a new Ozrics CD arrives. Let’s not go there.

I don’t even keep track of the entire Ozrics back catalogue. I doubt if the Ozrics do themselves. I think they’re one of those DIY bands where there’s endless cassette-only releases and CD-Rs doing the rounds. I do have my own Ozrics list of what I’ve got just to make sure there are no duplicates.

I’ve not even heard Become the Other to be honest. It just appeared on eBay at a half-decent price. It’s not unknown for Ozrics CDs to go as high as £50 these days. They’re simply not being pressed up.

The artwork is as space-cadet shit as you can imagine. I’m hoping the music will match it.

Back in the day you needed to be under the influence of something rather strong in the herb department to appreciate the Ozrics. A strong cup of tea works for me these days.

Sometimes I long for good old-fashioned analogue music. Other mornings start with a desire to go all digital. The Chemical Brothers and Surrender fitted the brave new world that I craved for on Monday morning. It was straight in with Music: Response. This could quite easily be the theme music for Night Rider.

The Chems were bloody great back in the day. They knew how to hit the button perfectly to convince jaded indie kids in search of something a little more exciting over to the other side. Buzzing off yer tits with the Chems rather than shoe-gazing was where all the fun was at. Surrender is perhaps the last great album by the pair. It still leaves me grinning. And dancing.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This album starts with a grunt. It probably has a grunt midway through, before ending with a grunt. I just didn’t get that far. Grunt, grunt, grunt. Chug, chug, chug. What a fucking racket.

The second track, Sex Type Thing, didn’t bode well. I’m not sure it was going to put me in the right mood to start my day with a smile. I bailed after the fourth grunt on the first track.

⭐

I actually went to the playback of this album at Abbey Road back in 1997. Christ, was it really almost 30 years ago? Despite hearing the album through the Grade A setup at Abbey Road, little of it now remains familiar. The World Night prompted some vague memories, but if you had asked me to whistle this to you then I would have been left a little clueless.

It’s pretty much McCartney by numbers. That’s no bad thing. He rarely writes a poor song. Jeff Lynne has his fingerprints all over it. It captures that moment in time where Lynne was auditioning to be the new fifth Beatle and to try and get the show back on the road again.

Take away McCartney’s vocals and it could easily be an album by Tom Petty. His voice still holds up here. No surprises that 30 years later, and it’s pretty much shot. Not a classic album but pleasant enough.

⭐ ⭐

Much to my surprise I’ve never actually heard this album before. It’s one of those records where the cover is iconic and you think you already know it inside out. Not so. Pink Floyd, without the lyrics, is so easy going on the ear. For such a challenging band this isn’t very challenging music. I rather like it that way. Plus it’s quite incredible to think this was released in 1970. Only seven years earlier it was all about Twist n Shout. That’s one hell of a leap in musical progression! Sure Pink Floyd weren’t alone in being responsible for this but it still blows my mind that you can go from Mop Top Mersey Beat simplicity to something like Atom Heart Mother in only seven years. This is basically a freefall jazz album. I know loads of shit comes bundled up with such a tag but I quite like all that shit.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

A morning spent pounding the mean streets of C07, delivering some more leaflets for the lovely local Green Party.

But wait! What’s this? Surely there’s not another election is there?

Not another one etc.

Nope. These are the thank you leaflets. The Greens are very thankful people like that. We’re delivering leaflets throughout the town to thank the many people who came out and gave us some support.

In the end it was a very close thing. Well not exactly close, but we put in a bloody good effort. We went from pretty much 0% of the vote up to a thousand actual votes cast. We still need to find 500 or so more to get over the line. We’re building…

I picked up my two leaflet rounds. These were actually available last week, but there was no way I was dragging my hairy arse around the town with temperatures coming close to 40 degrees.

I wasn’t surprised to see I’ve been allocated the very, very top of the town. No worries, I do enjoy a good long straight walk, especially so with some podcast listening to catch up.

During the election campaign I pretty much wiped out my entire Forest bank catalogue of podcasts to catch up. These have slipped in recent weeks. It was a pleasure to go out pounding the streets once again with Forest Focus in the AirPods.

Last time I was around these parts, pushing Green leaflets through letter boxes, there was optimistic talk of reaching a Europa League final. How did that one work out?

In the AirPods today was how do we go about spunking the hundred million pound plus for the sale of Elliot Anderson? It’s almost enough to distract you from doing your leafleting job.

One thing I noticed whilst out doing the door-to-door thing was the changing nature of the gardens over the past six weeks or so. I know this first round inside out. I’ve delivered three or four leaflets to each particular house.

Small changes are visible, such as seeing builders or gardeners six weeks ago working in individual houses. The jobs are now complete. Haven’t they done a good job?

There were a few houses where I felt a little nervy about the leaflets. When you see locals out on the garden then it feels rude not to say hello and ask them if it’s okay to pass on a leaflet.

Don’t forget that we’re up against a legacy mainstream media that does its best to try and demonise Polanski and others within our party.

I approached one particular female who was out doing a bit of digging. I asked her politely, “Is it okay to leave a leaflet with you?” She looked at me momentarily concerned for a few seconds and then clocked it was a Green party leaflet.

“That’s my party! I would love one!”

I took some pleasure as well in delivering to the one house in the whole town that had a Reform billboard up during the election campaign. Read and learn, my friend. Read and learn.

It got a little tricky around some of the outposts with their more obscure front doors. Post boxes are not always obvious.

A couple of hours later my first round one was done. Round two takes me into the Here Be Dragons territory for Weird Wiv.

I’ve got a month or so of Guardian Politics Podcast to catch up with. I wonder if they will break the election result?

This still sounds so fresh, right from the opening synth drum beats of New Life. There couldn’t be a more perfect opening to an album with the nominative determinism to welcome it. Depeche Mode were always at their best when they were young, clean, and full of optimism. Speak & Spell personifies this approach. For a band so young at the time, the depth of songwriting is impressive. Big Muff always raises a smile. An album that defines modernism at the start of a new decade.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐