aka Rio outtakes. That’s harsh.

⭐

Nine Below Zero’s Live at the Marquee debut, doubled up with Don’t Point Your Finger. It’s quite a statement to launch a live album as your debut, But Nine Below Zero were - and still are - a working band. You can almost hear the sweat seeping off the walls of the old Marque.

I’ve always had Nine Below Zero down as a horrid New British Metal band. How wrong I was. They broke through a year or two early for me to pick up on them.

The sound has more of a high energy mod rhythm, with the blues breaking through. It’s a brilliant English mismatch of style fusing together, aka a right old racket.

Live at the Marquee is great fun, from start to finish.

The list of influences for Gaelle on the wiki page was impressive - Cocteau’s, Prince, Trevor Horn. My kinda girl, I thought. Sadly I heard none of the above throughout the album. It’s pleasant enough as the chords sweep over you. She’s got a half decent voice to match. But sadly not for me.

⭐ ⭐

Birdhouse In Your Soul is brilliant, but it also kinda gets on yet tits. A bit like much of this album tbh. It’s US college goof. I wonder if the Americans view Ian Dury through a similar cultural lens?

⭐ ⭐

Mustafa’s When Smoke Rises CD. It was cellophane wrapped and box fresh as well. I wasn’t expecting that. I do wish that CD’s dating back to 1985 were all sold in cardboard sleeves, and not the crappy plastic that doesn’t exactly age very well.

I’ve little to say about Mustafa, apart from commenting on the laid back ambience and all round chilled nature of the album. It was a very welcome drop on the 1,001 Albums list this week.

We’ve actually surpassed the official 1,001 albums now. What’s being served up instead is reader recommendations. Most of this is new new music over the past decade or so, rather than traditional classic rock.

It means that albums like When Smoke Rises get a look in - something that I very much welcome as I continue to widen my taste - and my need for some more CD shelving.

We watched the Paul McCartney Man on the Run documentary last night. It seems that The Beatles - and post-Beatles - industry has changed from offering up something new each year, to almost every three or four months now. But it’s a decent watch.

Man on the Run zooms in on the Wings period, and in particular, the early days of the band since The Beatles split. Everything in the Beatles Industry needs to have a strong Fab Four anchor in there.

Home movies are relied upon for much of the storytelling. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the family life of the McCartney’s at the start of the 1970’s. You sense that there’s an awful lot more footage that was left out, in order to tell the narrative than Man on the Run then follows.

It’s fascinating to hear how McCartney genuinely thought that he would fail with his music after The Beatles split. He kinda did with Wings, with a shaky start and a rather lacklustre drifting of the band as the 1980’s approached. But the middle period is packed with some absolute bangers. He never lost the touch to write a half decent melody.

It’s still there to be heard in his latest release, Days We Left Behind. The voice is struggling. There’s not too many Beatles' Ooooh! in there. But I think that we can forgive that from a man now in his ninth decade.

Man on the Run is very watchable. The Beatles industry shows no sign of slowing down.

This was a new one for me. It’s a haunting album, with mantras, rather than traditional lyrics. It builds up a decent atmosphere as the tracks progress. I fell into an accidental trance whilst this drifted over me. I wish I had a bath in which to soak up and enjoy this.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

A thoughtful album, and perfect morning music as I got to grips with the world. I made a mental note to buy a cheapo copy online after the first three tracks. Half a dozen more tracks in and I decided to ditch the idea. It’s not a bad album - in fact it’s really quite enjoyable. But it’s also a little bland, all a little more of the same. I felt like I had binged on some bland cheddar, rather than a few slices of Stilton.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting macho posturing and profanities. Never judge an album by its cover, etc. This is a very thoughtful album. There’s shades of Loyle Carner, plus also The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Mustafa has a self-awareness throughout, along with a relevance to modern living. I like this.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Well this is an angry group of young men. It makes a change from the recent pop crap served up over recent days. It also makes a bloody racket. Strong punk Yoko vibes. I can’t work out if this is a musical masterpiece, or total shit. Not exactly bedroom music to drift off to.

⭐ ⭐