I’m a sucker for this absolute slush. No Secrets is an album SO far removed from my own lifestyle. I think it’s the escapism in being transported to a time and place that I only experience in movies. I was surprised to read that the album was recorded in… London. It sounds like the West Coast rather than the West End. No Secrets is dreamy, airy and borderline early 70’s radio jingles territory. We’ll never return to that world. Happy happy joy joy.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Pleasant enough jazz by numbers for a summer’s morning. The guitar playing is of course immaculate, but I would rather have heard more from the trumpet. The blues crossover works well. It’s almost as if each track has two sides to the story, with the whole jazz / blues thing going off. Another half decent album in which to work along to.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

There’s some real gems in here - A Dream Goes on Forever, Izzat Love? Plus some also Gawd awful drug induced noise that shouldn’t have been committed to recording tape. He’s quite an artist, in every sense. I salute his experimentation, if not his style. Just Say No.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Neither proud nor ashamed to say that I’ve listened to this hundreds of times - but not in the past forty years or so. And none of it sticks, apart from the singles. Nothing was memorable. That’s not to say that it’s a poor album, far from it. It’s a very easy, smooth listen, as you would expect. But apart from the lead tracks, I wouldn’t find myself humming along to the more minor tracks whilst I’m looking for an ear worm. The early 80’s were very much like that; the same could be said for Let’s Dance. Save a Prayer is the exception, and is worth the extra star alone.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The sound of an artist learning and showcasing his craft in real time. Which is kinda what demos are… Still, it’s a fantastic listen, and raw as fuck. Almost 70 years later and there is still an air of excitement and danger. Plus no one ballads like Elvis - even in his early Elvis incarnation. Extra marks for sounding ace in mono.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐