Echo And The Bunnymen - A Promise 12"

Isn't this sounding absolutely great?

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Bill Nelson - The Love That Whirls/La Belle Et La Bête

Bill's second solo album was another limited edition double, which like "Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam" came with a strangely brittle and yet spangly instrumental album entitled "La Belle Et La Bête".

We should probably deal with the main album first. "The Love That Whirls" might just have been Nelson's commercial high point - at least, since the almost-there days of Be Bop Deluxe. The thing about Bill is that (just like us), he's just a wee bit too "off" to ever truly appeal to the herd, so even his commercial successes are still a bit too niche.

Just the way we like 'em.

In truth, this is a superb art pop album, brimming with great tunes, melodies, performances and inventiveness. But then that was what we had come to expect. When I was about 16, I mail ordered a brilliant compilation VHS from Cabaret Voltaire's nascent DoubleVision label. Nestled among the Cabs' disturbing ambient washes, the multitudinous American shorts featuring images of Frankenstein's monster intercut with graphic childbirth and the frankly fucking disturbing Renaldo And The Loaf video, was a breathtaking B&W video for Nelson's "Flaming Desire". I promise to you now, that in those pre-internet days and STARVED of decent non-mainstream stimulus (indeed, even ANTI-mainstream thrills), I played this fucking tape till the magnetic particles had all but fallen off. It was his wife in the video. It was scuzzily low tech and low budget, but had a towering ambition which effortlessly negated those obstacles. I was the BEST VIDEO I HAD EVER SEEN.

And then, the album. A sojourn to Earthquake Records one Saturday, returning home with not one, but two albums. Textured sleeve. Inner sleeves. An inner A4 sheet, asking me if I wanted to join the fan club with the promise of quarterly 7" EPs (I did join, the promise was kept faithfully).

"The Love That Whirls" is filled with really, really good pop songs. Much less angular that the "Sound On Sound" and "Quit Dreaming..." albums. Ever current, Nelson was transmogrifying from post-prog innovator, through new wave spikiness, onwards and upwards into the brave new world of cheapening technology and brave-new-world electropop. What an amazing success this album is. His voice and lyrics alone are worth the price of admission.

"La Belle Et La Bête" purported to be a soundtrack album of a staging of (Nelson's hero) Jean Cocteau's 1946 filmed version of Beauty And The Beast by The Yorkshire Actors Company. Revisiting this album, I had convinced myself that this was probably an elaborate ruse, but re-reading the sleeve notes again, I'm thinking that this was probably true. If there is anyone out there who was either involved in this company, or saw one of their performances, I would dearly love to hear from you.

The instrumental album itself is a glorious affair. Many, many short tracks and fragments of delicious fragility combine to make a seamless whole. Ironically, it is here that the angularity of Nelson's earlier work bubbles it's way to the surface. There are bells. This record was one of my earliest encounters with proper ambient, or "Furniture Music", although I definitely had some Eno stuff by the time this (and his previous record) appeared. I was once again thrilled that there was more of this stuff appearing. Although "The Love That Whirls" has been subsequently reissued, this second album never has been, as far as I know. I'm pretty sure that some Orb samples have been sourced from this album. So, you know, we're in pretty good company here.

"What's he been up to since?" I hear you ask. Well, there is a predictably extensive back catalogue of self released stuff available from the the man himself over at his website. There remains a dedicated set of fans who support him and the stuff he produces continues to follow his obsessions of a romantic, shiny new future in an endearing and heartwarming way.

What a guy.

Vinyl rips at 320 Kbps with full artwork.

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There's A Breakdown At The BBC

This weird little thing backdoored it's way into my life a few weeks ago. Making it's presence felt like a horrible, ugly cuckoo chucking the eggs out of my otherwise pristine nest. I don't know what the hell this is about, but it's a beautifully twisted pop throwback which somehow manged to avoid being strangled at birth, or thrown in a sack and dumped, mewling into the canal.

Perhaps I'm being unfair. There's a lovely melody at the heart of this and an extended "Memory Of A Free Festival" singalong choral vibe flapping it's malformed arms, but I dunno - something just isn't quite right.

There's a part one/part two thing stretched across two all too brief sides of white vinyl which I have kindly conjoined into a single track for your uneasy listening.

Dave Lazonby (ex of the remarkable Lazerboy amongst others) is one of the most endearing & quirky people i've ever met on the Leeds scene. His band Geese have collaborated with Damo Suzuki from Can on some serious improv freeform projects in recent years & now shout out with their debut 7" 'The Plane's Gone Dad', a white vinyl treat in two parts. It's got that shimmering, sky gazing feel, a sweet wistfulness like Spiritualized if they drank scrumpy & watched WW2 documentaries rather than talking to god through a heroin haze. They call it an apocalyptic torch song and they're not wrong, this one's got some serious sad eyed space rock tentacles but bags of heart & soul. Part 2 fizzles out into organic cyber bleeps & crackly field recordings posing a big ? as to what to expect next from this curious collective.

There's more available here, including an immense return to form from a reinvigorated Genesis P-Orridge's Psychick TV, spunked across a blood red splatter vinyl 12'. I can't imagine that those will be hanging around for long, so get on board if it's not too late already.

Sweet dreams.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Mansun - Three EP.

Mansun were so high concept that my best friend and partner in crime, Steve could simply not countenance them.

It might even have been this very song that got him riled him right up. Stripper Vicar? Egg Shaped Fred? Fuck right off, he quoth. I can see his point, but there's a wonderful, inventive Joie de vivre at work here. The arrogance to create and inhabit your own little universe should not be disregarded.

They went even further off piste with later releases, that I really wanted to like, but simply couldn't because they were shit (letters to the usual address). This, though. This, right here is fucking jaw dropping.

So eff off, Steve.

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M|A|R|R|S - Pump Up The Volume 7"

Surely one of the greatest records of all time. I dug this out yesterday for the simple reason that I wanted to hear it again. It still sounds utterly wonderful. Although emblematic of the burgeoning acid and turntablism cultures, this record somehow manages to sound out of time - in and of itself, in it's own defined space. And that doesn't happen very often, does it. The B side, should not be easily dismissed, either.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Cocteau Twins - Bluebeard.

Here's the last of my Cocteau Twins posts. Seemingly bright, and with a new sense of clarity, the actual story is much, much darker.

"Are you the right man for me?
Are you safe? Are you my friend?
Or are you toxic for me?
Will you mistreat me or betray my confidence?"

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Danny Saul - Armchair Dancefloor 024

This is a great downtempo mix with a nice little edge.

I don't know much about Danny Saul, but on the strength of this, I'll be investigating further. Enjoy.

Ad Mix013 - Danny Saul by Armchair Dancefloor on Mixcloud