My quest to have a deep dive back further into those early ambient days continues. I don’t think I ever owned UF Orb. I think, for memory, I had it on a TDK D90 after I recorded it direct from the local CD library. Those were the days.

I find it impossible not to get engrossed in this type of ambient trippy hippy shit. Plus the album also had something of an ultra cool edge, which still just about stacks up today.

For memory I think I had three - or maybe it was four? - Orb evenings at Glasto. Fuck your meat and two veg big name indie headliner back in the day.

The real action was what was then on the NME stage, just as the sun was setting over the Vale of Avalon and the mad fuckers of the Orb fired up their strobe show. Memories may differ due to, ahem, circumstances.

Those buzzing off your-tits days have long since gone. I’m probably quite content now to fire up the UF Orb CD with a particularly strong cup of tea and just feel the vibes man.

Yeah, on yer toes, whistle possee.

This was a strange one. The cover suggested some long-lost 1950s American rock and roll, my kind of music right now. A quick read of Wikipedia reveals that the album was actually released in 1998, and don’t be fooled by the album cover art; this is not rock and roll but blues.

So far so good. I’m always a bit of a sucker for the blues. Plus there was some added soul and funk promises within the wiki paragraph that I skim read.

I fired up the album on Spotify. Boy, he can sing, and yes he was a boy when he recorded this, being only 17 years of age. It’s not quite your typical white blue eyed soul but he has a bloody good pair of lungs on him.

I’m all for encouraging optimism and experimentation amongst young talent but it did feel a little bit overplayed and bloated. It sounds as though he’s singing just for the sake of it. The blues are more of an annoying US radio style that has ambitions to stray into horrid rock territory.

⭐ ⭐

Soul Mining is one of those albums I really should have got around to buying back in the early 80s. I finally did get to own a copy on CD a couple of years ago. As ever with my ever-growing pile of CDs, I’ve yet to play it.

It’s also one of those albums that already feels familiar. The tracks were pretty much the soundtrack to me growing up. You heard them nonstop on the radio and also whilst out and about at the youth clubs. This Is the Day is the perfect pop song from the period and brings back incredibly strong memories of early teenage years in 1983.

What’s telling about this album is that many of the issues addressed are still relevant 40+ years later: social isolation, economic breakdown, and a general feeling of despair, yet with some personal hope always being there to see you through.

A very decent debut.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

When people bang on about how they love indie music and then name absolute shite such as Kasabian, 1975 and Bastille, I despair. That’s not indie. That’s mainstream wank from pretty boys who want to play up to whatever indie once was. Fuck all that shit.

Step forward PJ Harvey. What a killer debut release for the much-missed Too Pure label. Indie was never about the music. It was more about the spirit and the ethos.

Jesus and Mary Chain are perhaps the most fuck-you indie band ever. PJ captures that spirit and even adds a little music to the mix.

This is such a confident, ballsy debut. It’s brilliant that it comes from a female singer-songwriter. She drags you in with an almost war cry like vocal style. You’re not going to mess with PJ, right?

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

To the Odeon in Sunny Colch! …on Monday afternoon. Yeah you know the routine by now. If it’s a Monday afternoon then it must mean it’s the cheapo cheapo grubby Fiver Odeon cinema deal.

There was no dilemma in selecting the choice of movie for this afternoon: the Oasis Don’t Look Back in Anger documentary - or rockumentary, if you will - was being screened.

But wait! What’s this?

The cheapo cheapo grubby fibre deal had seen a price increase to £7. Apparently it’s something to do with this being a limited screening before it shifts over to Disney+.

I surprised myself by being on time once again. This meant I had to sit through all the crappy adverts ahead of the trailers.

One particular one for some shitty sugar drink started to play out. It was part of a promo package with the Premier League. All the usual Big Six cartel crappy clubs featured.

I had an internal grumble to myself saying, “Where the fuck are Forest?”

Towards the end some fella popped up wearing the pinstripe kit of last season.

I rose like a Trentside salmon from my seat at the Odeon and let out the most almighty U REDS!!!!

It was something of a Pavlovian response. Oh dear. I think I embarrassed myself, especially so since, rather surprisingly, the average age for the Oasis film must have been 65+.

I had zero interest in taking out a second mortgage to buy Oasis tickets last summer. Been there, done that, etc.

I have the memories that I need, stretching back to the Electric Ballroom, Glasto and then the shitfest that was Knebworth.

I had something of a passing interest last summer, hopeful that they could still pull it off and it wouldn’t end in tears, or even a disaster.

Watching the film is where I am at right now. I don’t want to be stuck in North West London at 11 pm, having big sweaty blokes hugging me and spraying me with overpriced piss-poor lager. I think I found my demographic with the coffin dodgers in the Sunny Colch Odeon.

This film was really rather lovely. It wasn’t the all-bravado dick measuring competition that the documentary could have been.

We started with the backstory, which is familiar to millions, etc. There was some pretty rapid editing going through the Oasis story and the split backstage in Paris.

What then became clear, as the film documented the early rehearsals through to the UK gigs, and then the wider world legs of the tour, is what the band actually mean to their fans.

This wasn’t a film about two brothers putting aside their differences - although that is covered quite extensively - but it was more about what Oasis mean to the fans. It was also a generational film showing the power of music to unite families.

Oh yeah, the music was bloody LOUD. I always thought that Oasis unplugged was an idea that wasn’t going to work. I’m pleased that we upgraded the extra £2 as part of the cheapo cheapo grubby fiver deal to experience this in the cinema.

The interplay between Liam and Noel, both on stage and behind the scenes, is quite delightful. You can see the tension during the early rehearsals. The main question was: will he or won’t he show up? In the end Liam swaggers in, sings his songs, and then buggers off.

It becomes clear during the rehearsals how Noel is the leader. He dictates the music, the direction, and where each band member should be taking it.

But this seems to have been a softened approach as the rehearsals and then the live performances play out. Noel doesn’t hold back in explaining how he has found a new respect and even love for his younger brother. It really is quite moving.

Perhaps the best quote during the film, unsurprisingly, comes from Liam:

“I care a fucking lot about not giving a fuck.”

It all gets a little emotional toward the end. Some of the most moving shots are of the crowds dispersing at the end of various gigs.

You see a blokes standing on their own, looking like they have PTSD. Tears are flowing and they’re looking around trying to find some meaning to it all.

That meaning is probably best left with Noel having the last word:

“All was forgiven without saying a word.”

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting. For some reason I thought this would be pop tat. But nope, there are some deep heavy beats. It almost has a mixtape quality to it. Her vocals are not of the diva variety, which gets right on my tits. Instead they’re quite considered. She knows when to open up and then pull back again, depending on what’s happening around her. A really decent find and possibly an artist I should look a little more into.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The Orb’s Oblivion. This was a really uplifting and pleasant listen as part of the Album of the Day earlier in the week. I’d almost forgotten about The Orb. I really should delve deeper into their back catalogue. I’m currently balls deep in Ozric Tentacles hippie shit, which I absolutely adore.

My Orb listening back in the day was probably only around U.F.Orb. It sounded so fresh and so different at the time.

By the time Orblivion came along in 1997, the whole landscape had shifted. Chill wasn’t exactly chilling. We were all buzzing off our tits and jumping around like mad fuckers. I’m not quite sure where The Orb fitted in at the time.

With age, however, and the inevitable slowing down, Orblivion is well worth a second listen. Most of it was unfamiliar to me. I’ve forgotten completely about the lead track, Toxygene. It bounces along and still has me buzzing.

GAWD bless Stone Rock Records in Sunny Colch. I’ve been in a few times, flicking through the vinyl crates. I’m not really in the market for buying new vinyl these days or even secondhand vinyl.

I had a little more time to kill on Friday morning. I wandered past and noticed a small CD selection that should kill 10 minutes or so with a bit of crate digging.

It looked as though a job lot had just been bought from someone who has rather fine and ever so slight left of centre indie tastes. It wasn’t the usual meat and two veg indie.

The prices were most defo of the cheapo cheapo variety. We’re talking £1 per CD or £2 for three. Blimey that’s even better than charity shop tat.

Staring straight at me right from the start was a CD version of the PiL Metal Box album. It was even in the metal tin.

SHIT THE BED. That can’t be £1, can it? I had no idea what this currently fetches on eBay. An online shifty later in the day revealed anything between £40 and £50. I’ll have a bit of that, I thought.

Added to the pile were a couple of Wedding Present albums. You can’t go wrong with the Boy Gedge as he grumbles away and his guitar grunts back at him.

The Clint Boon Experience debut album was another half-decent find. I’ve always loved the lead track White with No Sugar. Let’s add that to the pile.

I also picked up the Chemicals debut. They can always cut it. I don’t think I’ve actually ever owned a copy of Exit Planet Dust. I’m always a sucker for any Chris Rea.

And so £4 for 6 CDs. Christ, that’s fantastic value. The owner behind the counter is also a lovely lovely fella.

The film passed me by and so did this album at the time. I’m still not entirely sure what I have just to. At times it felt like the roll call ahead of a circus big top performance. At other times it was almost too meta-French. This is no bad thing. I like a bit of variety in my morning listening habits. This pricked up my interest and was thoughtful. It wouldn’t pass the old grey whistle test but it was a pleasant departure from some of the other music I’ve been listening to of late.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

I approached this with some caution. I’m not really a fan of nu soul: too much vocal gymnastics and not enough, erm, soul in the actual delivery. I was pleased to see that this is only 37 minutes long. That’s pretty much a decent running time for any album.

“Global warming ain’t got nothing on this chick. My summer has gone frigid.”

… ‘aint going to win an Ivor Novello Award anytime soon.

The music is actually the winner: strong Prince vibes - and not just any old Prince vibes but some pre-Purple Rain stuff with some of the slowed down funk on offer here. Still not enough to tip it over the edge for me.

⭐ ⭐