Sonny Rollins and What’s New - that’s what’s new, natch. This was another album that appeared on my daily feed as part of Album of the Day. I always knew that Sonny was a saxophone player but that was about it.

And then by pure coincidence the always excellent Late Junction dropped a track from the album the following week. I didn’t recognise it as Sonny Rollins at first. It sounded so contemporary, the kind of tune that GP might play.

This is a great album that not only has Sonny’s distinctive sax playing but also some almost tribalistic percussion sounds. Plus the cover art is simply cool as fuck.

Erm, saxy.

James were always a singles band. They follow a great tradition of English artists such as The Jam, Madness and The Smiths in being perennially on Top of the Pops with a series of absolute bangers week in, week out. Laid captures this moment quite perfectly.

And so what we have here is a series of singles that I’d pretty much forgotten about and don’t ever trouble any FM radio stations these days. That’s a shame. James were always a lot more cleverer than some of their counterparts with their song writing. Plus they had the balls to back this up with Tim Booth up front.

There’s some pretty grand sweeping statements on this album. Sometimes is a great example, building up the sound and creating an almost industrial image of life in a Northern time.

The bass playing on Say Something is exquisite. The track just bounces along, making a very painful lyric somehow uplifting. That’s quite a feat.

Respect for early 1993 gender-swapping vibes.

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Confession: I truly love this album - more so than the debut. I know that’s almost heresy in late 80s, early 90s indie circles but the Second Coming was worth the wait. Sure it’s bloated. It drags on far too long and could have done with some decent editing. It’s worth it for the mix of the funk and some of the killer riffs. It’s also a very bitter album, not surprising given what the band had been through at the time.

I listened to it again this morning for the first time in probably a decade or so. For a short period in ‘95, pre the big Britpop explosion, it was all that I listened to. I became a little obsessed by it to be honest. I’m sure there are some deep dark secrets and messages buried away within. I attached my own personal tales about what was going off in my personal life at the time around the songs. That’s a young person’s thing, right? It’s certainly not how I approach music these days.

I kind of cringed at hearing the lyrics once again this morning and how I used to interpret them. I managed to overcome my embarrassment with the sheer grandness and ambition of the project that is on offer here. The Roses became bigger than they actually were per se. It was the legend that carried this album forward. No wonder they fell apart shortly after it was released. The scale of the Second Coming toppled them. What a memory.

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SHOUT OUT for the new album by JIM, The Curious Case of Existence. This was another find via GP. He dropped a track that sounded almost mid-2000 Ibiza vibes - and then the vocals kicked in.

Woh.

SHIT THE BED. It’s only Jason Williamson from Sleaford fucking Mods. He hasn’t plugged this across any of his channels in the past few weeks. The JIM album is set to drop later in September.

I love the breakbeats and hardcore noise created by Andrew Fearn of Sleaford fucking Mods, but this is quite something else. It allows Williamson to have his distinct NG1 accent against a more chill out vibe.

I often wonder if Sleafords have pushed it as far as they can: two men, one MacBook, and some very, very SHOUTY live vocals over the top. There’s only so much of it that you can take, right?

Actually not. They’ve yet to release a crap album that doesn’t help me to vent my anger.

But this track by JIM opens up all sorts of possibilities for future collabs. Really cool laid-back summer vibes with slightly less anger - and profanities - from the front man.

A woke industrial album before woke and industrial music were even such a thing? Blimey. It’s hardly Marv’s What’s Going On, but I kinda like the general vibe and message here. What saves it for me is the Jam and Lewis production. Jam and Lewis could produce Black Lace and it would still get my feet tapping. It’s such a distinctive production sound that is so tight and identifiable. It’s not a bad album but Lauryn Hill took this to a different level.

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This all sounded new to me. I had no idea about the artist or the album, and then the Cowboy song kicked in. Oh it’s that one. The Cowboy song is pleasant enough and felt efforless. It’s still worth a listen if soft pop rock is your kind of thing. Guess what? I’m not really a soft rock pop kind of guy.

I came close to bailing. I’m pleased I stuck with it. There’s a lot more going off than I had originally thought possible. It’s thoughtful, a little quirky, and I’d be tempted to give it a second listen. Strong Kate Bush vibes. Sometimes you need to look beyond your own musical prejudices.

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I really shouldn’t like Rage Against the Machine, all that noise, all that hair. The blueprint for any RATM song seems to be a pounding bass that builds up as the drums crash in, with even more SHOUTY SHOUTY vocals accelerating with every chorus. This is everything I don’t like about music, but somehow I find RATM something of a rallying call. To me it sounds like marching music. The bass and drums are always tight and despite not knowing too much about the content, it’s a message I can generally get behind. Music to listen to when you want to kick against the pricks.

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A bit of Thelonious Monk. I think Brilliant Corners is his masterpiece. It appeared in the feed for the Album of the Day a couple of weeks ago. Monk is one of those characters I’ve always been aware of but never really explored. He’s spoken of in rather hushed terms even amongst jazz nerds. Brilliant Corners, for me, was confirmation of why he is so highly respected. There’s a stellar cast as well on this album, including Sonny Rollins. I like the way it moves from bombastic big sounds to something a little more moody. The perfect working soundtrack.

Ska punk - two great standalone genres, but also two that should never be forged together. This is bloody horrid. It’s cheap and nasty. I’m surprised I managed to last until the end of track two. I moved to listen to some folk electronica instead. Far more rewarding.

⭐

I’ve always struggled with Kraftwerk. I’m not sure why. I know it’s ultra-cool to like them and almost impossible to criticise them but there’s something of the coldness which leaves me empty. I know that’s the appeal for many. Computerwelt, however, got my attention. It’s a lot more poppy than some of the other landscape barren albums I’ve tried and failed with. I could find myself dancing to this.

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