I always find Costello a little too clever with the lyrics. What a bounder! Writing intelligent lyrics… I think I’m just a passive listener. The music is always great, as is the case on Brutal Youth. The band sounds tight here. He always benefits when backed by the Attractions. Maybe the last great Costello album before he hit the comfortable years?

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Of course this album is preposterous. That’s the appeal. I spent most of the time listening to the bass lines. I really wanted to buy a copy. I even found a cheapo copy on ebay. But it’s a crap album. That’s why it’s so cheap. Doh! In summary: I like the idea of the album, but not the execution.

⭐ ⭐

Spotify tried to serve me up three and a half hours of this. No ta. I pressed on with the original release. The storyline is BONKERS. I tried to ignore this and focus on the music instead. Rock and opera should never appear in the same sentence. It’s a mess of an album that lectures you. YOU MUST LISTEN! I’d rather buzz off me tits with some drum ‘n’ bass tbh.

⭐ ⭐

Fancy some more KLF mixes?

COURSE you do.

This is pretty cool - an archive of personal mixes of all things KLF inspired, now dumped on the modern interweb and ready to download.

There’s quite a story behind the philanthropic sharing as well:

“I am a 72 year old totally anal KLF fanatic and sometime DJ …think squats and forest clearings back in the day. Though now on palliative care (dying) I would like to share my vinyl with you all.”

It’s impossible to put together any definitive KLF discog - either official or bootlegs. There’s so much out there, most of it worthy of a listen.

You get the impression that this is encouraged. It’s not as if the KLF themselves were shrinking violets when it came to copyright lifting for their own work.

They’re still at it as well. The KLF name may be gone, but new music - or projects - continue to drop frequently.

Mu Mu Land is a never ending story it seems.

There’s even talk of a Sunny Stockwell gig back at Transcentral in… 2323.

We’ll al be pretty ancient by then.

Yep.

I’ve been listening to Beth Orton’s brilliant Weather Alive album once again. I say once again - I never really got going with the 2022 release.

As ever - I’m a slow listener, reader, watcher.

Beth has been under my radar for the past thirty years or so. I’ve always been aware of her, and in particular the singles. But I’ve never really taken it further.

And then three years ago, she put together an incredible live set for Gilles Peterson at Maida Vale to promote the Weather Alive album. I was hooked.

An ebay deal was done for the album. The entire back catalogue soon followed.

Weather Alive is a haunting album. Her voice sounds so fragile, almost to the point of breaking down. The lead song Friday Night is my soundtrack for walking the streets of South London alone in the evening.

There’s a strong hat tip to John Martyn. I think the Weather Alive album title might even be a reference to Bless the Weather?

So what if I’m running three years behind here. Music is right, right? Any listening is good. Especially if it’s Beth Orton.

There’s a lot of noise here. And not all of it good. I struggle with the US interpretation of punk and post-punk. It doesn’t speak to me. This sounds more metal than the street talk of UK punk.

⭐ ⭐

Mule’s Off White album, and Peter Gabriel’s self-titled third album.

I confess to not having heard the Off White album. I’ve got a Cleaners from venus search up and running on ebay. It usually serves up the boxsets.

I should really walk down the road, and hand over some cash to the man himself. Cut out the middle man, etc.

But this was a cheapo ebay price, with free postage as well.

I would love a complete Mule discogrpahy. But the old bugger is prolific, especially so in recent years. I’d need an entire new CD shelf to accommodate his back catalogue.

Peter Gabriel meanwhile completes the run of the first five solo albums. I love the wordplay for the fifth album, So.

Do, Ra, Mi, Far, So etc.

The modern interweb tells me that Paul Weller plays on a track for the self-titled album. That would have been a very young Paul Weller back in 1980.

There’s also Kate Bush and Phil, natch.

I am SO (aha) far behind with my CD listening btw. I do need something of a buying sabbatical.

Christmas is coming and so it must be time for another Beatles album.

Sigh.

It’s the music industry gift that keeps on giving, and giving and giving.

Punters need product. The Beatles industry of the 21st Century is booming far better than it ever was some sixty years ago.

And so for the 2025 Christmas market, we have Anthology 4, plus three more episodes of the Anthology telly series - y’know, the one that was the definitive tale of The Beatles back in 1996, that ended with The Threetles together again and a full stop on all things Fab Four.

Or Three.

So there.

I’m a tight arse and so haven’t forked out to stream the updated episodes. I have listened to Anthology 4 in one sitting.

tl;dr we don’t really need this.

Who would have thought?

Unlike Anthologies 1-3, the fourth instalment takes songs across all thirteen of the original albums. It’s basically a Best of the Bootlegs.

It starts off being a whole lotta fun with some goofing around in the studio by four very ambitious young men. It ends with AI stodge.

The goofy shit is great. Bands tend to goof a lot. We watched The Roses documentary last week after the news of Mani’s passing. My theory is that band goofing is good for the Them Vs Us music industry mentality.

But back to The Beatles.

You need to be an obsessive to recognise some of the slight differences compared to the original songs. Which defeats the whole point of unreleased rarities. You might as well listen to the originals.

The Beatles barrel is being scraped here.

But what a barrel.

You’re listening to songs that are staples of 20th Century culture. You are over-familiar with what follows.

Imagine listening - or even recording - these songs when they were completely unknown in our popular culture.

It’s hard to appreciate the outstanding qualities of the songs, given that you hear them every other day, given the relentless Beatles industry.

In My Life stands out amongst an incredibly crowded field of absolute monumental songs.

But halfway through, Anthology 4 starts to fall apart a little. The instrumental of Nowhere Man is bland. The strength is in the picture painted by the lyrics.

On the other hand, She’s Leaving Home works as an instrumental. It’s a rare case of the lyrics adding a little too much sorrow to an already downbeat arrangement.

Eggman sounds extra dramatic. You can imagine the instrumental working well on a horror soundtrack with all the stabbing strings.

The Something instrumental is… quite something.

Anthology 4 finishes off with the AI Beatles. Free as a Bird and Real Love benefit from a little extra production boost. But it’s still Beatles by numbers.

I actually quite liked Now and Then when it was released as the 2024 Beatles Inc release.

It closes the chapter on The Beatles for one final time.

Yeah, right.

Beatles AI will keep the business going for decades.

Blimey - a ‘new’ track from The Style Council ahead of the Cafe Bleu boxset drop in the new year.

And so here we Take It to the Top (demo).

If I’m being slightly less than favourable, then I would say that there’s usually a reason as to why demos remain just that.

Take It to the Top is no companion piece for the anthem Shout to the Top.

There’s a heavy funk riff going off; it still sounds like a different world away from the more retro sound of The Jam only a few years previously. But it’s not going to change the world.

It sounds more like a loose, ahem, jam between the various members of TSC at the time. It dies out a little before it even gets started.

I wonder how many other ‘lost’ TSC tracks remain in the Solid Bond archive? EIGHT discs for a boxset is at least five too many.

Related:

MOJO had a list of all the TSC albums rated. Before I even scrolled down, I tapped in my list, to see how it stacks up.

I wasn’t expecting MOJO to rank EVERY album, such as the Best Of and Live album etc.

I was close.

My list:

Our Fave Shop - the absolute MASTERPIECE

Confessions

Cafe Bleau

Introducing

Cost of Loving - which you really should stay away from.

MOJO has Cafe Bleu as the top album, then Confessions and Our Fave Shop.

We’re nitpicking. All three are absolutely glorious.

You can’t underestimate how radical Cut is: an all female punk band back in 1979, singing radical lyrics behind Dennis Bovell’s bass heavy production. It still sounds fantastic, almost half a Century later.

It’s rare to hear an album these days where the music is made purely for the artists, and not the audience. This isn’t a criticism; it only adds to the drama and intense atmosphere throughout Cut.

OUTRAGEOUS comment: The cover of Grapevine is even better than Marv’s original.

I think the album cover is ironic? If irony was such as thing in 1979.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐