Recommendations - MAY 2009

THE LP BY RAMON MORRIS

This is a good album all the way though, for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is that it changes a lot. At one stage I thought it sounded really bad, and then I realised there was a ball of fluff the size of a kitten on the needle. OnN another note, I wonder what instrument he plays?

MARAIS AND MIRANDA

What have we here then? Yes, a couple of happy clappers, singing African songs quite badly, almost in a patronising fashion. That aside, this is a very early 1959 production by a bloke called Joe Meek, and you can hear in some of the more raw percussive tracks that he's obviously wired up a set of drums on the staircase and done something strange with a metal box he's made with big knobs on.

LES IMAGES MUSICALES

Worth it for the cover alone, this is a bold and daring attempt at picture / brain music. It fails a bit but is none the less worth several listens. Well I've listened twice, maybe thrice. And I really like the track all about being water dreamers. This is an English album by an English composer, and I think they gave it a French title to make it sound more arty farty. Which it isn't.

THE MUSIC OF FREDERICK JUDD

It's quite unusual I reckon to put the phrases "Frederick Judd" and "he rocks" together, but they really do go together, but only in an old fashioned, amateur electronic way. He made three records you know. And all on his own label.

A COWBOY RECORDING

Chaps, jeans, beans, whisky, horses and that, all condensed into this super duper album of cowboy campfire songs. Ghost Riders is a legendary prairie number, but for me it's all about Wringles and Wrangles, with a whip thing and a "Ya!" going on in the background. And before anyone emails in, I am fully aware of the homosexual undertones that percolate through that whole cowboy thing.

ONE OF THE MANY LASRY BACHET ALBUMS

This is the one with the theme to Picture Book on it, And what a pain in the arse it was to find one. Most of the L & B musical records are quite easy to track down, but this one wasn't. Its taken about five years, because it only came out in France, and it's quite rare there. As you probably know, the music here is all made on sonorous sculptures, and has a churchy, Sunday sort of feel to it. If I mention to people that the theme from Picture Book is on this record, they all go "doodle-loodle-doodle-loodle", which is exactly how the record goes.

THIS UNFASHIONABLE FUSION ALBUM BY WEBSTER LEWIS

It seems that "jazz fusion" is highly unfashionable. It's quite fast, sometimes furious, and not very "now" at all. I still like it though, it makes me remember times when I was wearing terrible clothes at the Electric Ballroom and watching talented black kids dance like possessed demons. I like this album because it's incredibly played, and also because of the track Barbara Anne, which is so deeply buried in my musical past that it's fossilised and turned into something quite precious. I think we should note that the album is also called "Touch My Love" which I think means something rude. Well that's how I'm reading it.

A SINGLE BY P. VERT

While we're talking rude, this is an odd filthy thing. And P Vert is a fairly good pseudonymn for a rude record maker. This is a single that was put aside for me in a shop, apparently because I have thing about rude records. Well not all rude records. This one is very rude. Well anyway, I bought it from the shop and then lost it, for about a year. I've now found it again. This is quite disappointing though because the A side is the same as the B side. It also lacks a bit of humour.

Derek writes: A quick google reveals this as track 18 on the CD "Rude Rock 'n' Roll From The 50s To The 70s". You just know how crap these songs are and how suicidally grubby you'd feel by the end. Nevertheless I'm curious about Did He Eat Your T***y? by The Perversions. Thankfully they won't let me buy it cos I'm not in the U.S.

ANOTHER CHAQUITO ALBUM

Never seen this one before, and it's quite unforgettable as the woman on the front could well be a man. This allows us to make a good link to some ladies who are men imagery...

GREAT, A LIBRARY ALBUM

Hooray for rare library records like this one which aren't really library records at all, and are just weird records masquerading as music for TV. Fat chance this ever got used for anything because it really is just too strange, all funny tempos and stuff like that.

THE ORANGE WILLIE ROSARIO RECORD

Everyone should own lots of records with girls in bikinis on the front. I like the photo of this woman with a bikini a lot, especially because she is part of several picture of her in a bikini, all stuck on top of each other. I have spent minutes trying to fathom what the devil is going on here with the pictures and failed. The record is musically very entertaining too, in that basic, addictive and quite hilarious style that only super latin albums managed to master. It's great party music, especially for girls in bikinis.

THE COLLECTOR

Recently I needed this for a radio show. It's way better than I imagined it would be. I think I might even prefer it to those slightly larger, orchestral scores he did, like Lawrence of Arabia. I do love a soundtrack surprise every now and then.

TEN YEARS AT RONNIE SCOTTS

No one I know has ever seen this album before. There is one with lots of circles on the front, but this is a different one, with a BIG TEN on the front, and a killer number called Bend Me (or something like that) by Don Ellis on it too. It was one of those records that when I got it I instantly loved it and played it loads while doing things like housework and putting toys back. Still not sure about that logo though Ronnie.

OUT OFF

Yes, one of the most stupid, nonsensical soundtrack titles of all time. And pretty much one of the most stupid soundtrack recordings of all time too, for it's ability to lose itself on many occasions on both sides. That's said there are some redeeming factors, like the ugly cover, and a ploddy spacey thing that will gradually become more important in my life.

ICI PARIS

A beatnikky album made in England championing the talented French people who can sing well. Great song about Petanque on here, which I think is the first song I have ever found about Boule. I'd write a song about it, but I'd probably have no words and just try and use the sounds of cheerful and drunk French men with the noise of the heavy balls bashing into each other as some sort of rhythm.

A SELF DISCOVERY ALBUM

Brilliant, stick anyone in front of this record, put it on and after listening hard they will either feel so much better about themselves in the world or the very opposite may happen, and they might start hating everything and everyone around them. Brilliant. Really brilliant.

THE NEW ALBUM BY HEAVY GHOST

For some reason I keep referring to this band as The Others. Anyway, I got handed this album by Ollie, who is mate of mine. He said it was good. So I have been listening to it quite a lot to find out why. What I can surmise is that it has quite a lot going on, like it's a sort of skewed pop thing with the complexities of a major but mental symphonic work knitted in, but it isn't classical. And there's quite a lot of wailing going on.

CD BY BEN REED

This is about the third album by Ben Reed. It's quite mad, it's made in his front room and also sounds a bit like unfashionable fusion. I've spoken to Ben about his record a few times now. We have also discussed other things.