And Also the Trees "Farewell to the Shade" (1989)

Farewell to the Shade
release date: Oct. 1989
format: vinyl (LEX 10) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Mark Tibenham
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Prince Rupert" (4 / 5) - 2. "Macbeth's Head" - 4. "Belief in the Rose" - 5. "The Street Organ" - 6. "Lady d'Arbanville" (4 / 5) - 7. "Misfortunes" - 10. "The Horse Fair"

4th studio album by And Also the Trees (cd issue on Troy Records) is this time produced by Mark Tibenham, who is also credited for keyboards is not quite as great as the band's previous two albums but is still a very fine release. As the title implies it's an end of dark sinister gothic rock, and they really want to make new music, and that's also the album's weakness as it contains brilliant tracks that could be fitted easily on their previous two albums, and at the same time it contains attempts to define a new style of brighter compositions. I think, it's quite typical for bands of this period and style: you can't really keep making music that is so bound to a certain time as gothic post-punk. This is a small change into a more positive universe, which goes much further on the forthcoming albums. "Lady d'Arbanville" is a cover song (written by Cat Stevens). The original is a fine baroque pop song from 1970, but here it's nicely turned into gloomy gothic rock.
The band is still the same quartet as on the three previous albums but here they have been supported by producer Mark Tibenham's keyboards, which adds that extra layer to the soundscape that I do see as an addition - a true potential - but which also serves as too strong dynamics and makes some of songs tend to theatrical excesses.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Suede "A New Morning" (2002)

A New Morning
release date: Sep. 30, 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]
producer: Stephen Street, John Leckie, Dave Eringa
label: Columbia Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Positivity" (4 / 5) - 2. "Obsessions" - 3. "Lonely Girls" - 8a. "[untitled]"

5th studio album by Suede. Now with this they managed to do worse than on their previous album Head Music (1999). The album does contain great tracks but, very much like on the predecessor, most of the tracks are fillers just securing a full album release by a band that just keeps repeating themselves. The best track "Positivity" is the only truly fine track, despite the fact that it sounds like a copy or remake of a single hit on some other Suede album. It's also the only real synthpop track, which seems a bit strange - the rest of the tracks are like an attempt to make more traditional britpop like Blur or Pulp with simple guitar-based compositions, and it really makes it a strange release. After all, it could be a great A-side single with two fine B-sides (tracks #2 and #3), instead it has all these poor and mediocre "bonus" tracks...
One year after the release, Suede disbanded and Anderson and Butler found together in The Tears - or at least for a while.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, The Guardian 3 / 5, Drowned in Sound 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Håkan Hellström "Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått" (2005)

Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått (compilation)
release date: Dec. 28, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]
producer: Håkan Hellström, Daniel Gilbert
label: Dolores Recordings / EMI Music Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "13" (4 / 5) [Big Star cover] - 2. "Klubbland" - 3. "Så länge du är med mig" - 5. "Precis som Romeo" - 7. "Jag hatar att jag älskar dig och jag älskar dig så mycket att jag hatar mig" (4 / 5) - 8. "Evert Taube" - 11. "Gatan fram (live)" [Eldkvarn cover]

4th album release by Håkan Hellström is his second album in the same year. Like the title suggest: 'Some old, some new, some borrowed, and some blue', this is however, not a normal studio album of brand new material but rather a compilation with previously unreleased tracks, cover-versions, a few new songs, and two live recordings. Despite the variety of song material, I think it's a fine album, maybe because what Håkan is so very good at, is to lend (some would say: 'steal'), and make his own personal interpretations of existing music, whether it's his own or other artists' compositions. The album is dedicated the Swedish boy Måns Jenninger, who at 13 took his own life as a consequence of long time bullying.

And Also the Trees "The Millpond Years" (1988)

The Millpond Years

release date: May 1988

format: vinyl (LEX 9) / cd (1992 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: AATT and Richard Waghorn
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Suffering of the Stream" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Simple Tom and the Ghost of Jenny Bailey" - 3. "The House of the Heart" - 5. "Count Jeffrey" (4 / 5) - 7. "The Sandstone Man" (4 / 5) - 8. "From the Silver Frost" (4 / 5) - 9. "The Millpond Years" (4,5 / 5)

3rd studio album by And Also the Trees released on Reflex (cd-issue on the German label, Normal) and produced by the band and Richard Waghorn. The album contains really great tunes and has an overall superb feel making it almost on par with their best album Virus Meadow (1986). The greatness of the predecessor is in a way repeated on this, stylistically and musically with a new element of keyboards.
It doesn't quite reach the same level of greatness as it feels less original. What seemed new and refreshing in '86, the theatrical Shakespearian lyrics, becomes less apparent on this. Another minor issue with the release is the inconsistent soundscape as a whole. By this, I mean, the thematic contrasts that one will find in eg. the beauty and lightness in songs like "The House of the Heart" and "From the Silver Frost", which are indeed the opposite of what one has come to associate with the band. On the other side it contains the melancholic hopelessness in e.g. "Count Jeffrey".
The (new) additional keyboard element by Mark Tibenham adds strong dynamics to the songs, yes! But this is almost too much. I think, the 'problem' is that the music in itself - the bold melancholy in both Simon's voice and the music - contains the genuine dynamics and with the almost thundering additional keyboards (by Mark Tibenham) the music nearly drowns itself making the 'problem' more of a productional one. However, critics really liked this - and so do I.
Before this they released the live album The Evening of the 24th (1987).
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Håkan Hellström "Ett kolikbarns bekännelser" (2005)

Ett kolikbarns bekännelser
release date: Feb. 16, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,45]

Track highlights: 1. "Jag har varit i alla städer" - 2. "Brännö serenad" (4 / 5) - 4. "Dom kommer kliva på dig igen" - 5. "Bara dårar rusar in" - 6. "Hurricane Gilbert" - 8. "Magasinsgatan" (4 / 5)

3rd studio album release by Håkan Hellström is music with more focus on the singer / songwriter, folk pop and chamber pop (not unlike The Divine Comedy) element, and it's a more personal and intimate Hellström with acoustic guitar and more ballads, and even though I think his best tracks are the uptempo party songs, I consider this, one of his best. "Brännö serenad" and "Magasinsgatan" are some of his very best songs, and are actually fine examples of his ability to write beautiful ballads (the first) and strong party songs (the latter).

And Also the Trees "Virus Meadow" (1986)

Vinyl cover

Virus Meadow
release date: Jun. 1986
format: vinyl (gatefold - LEX 6, NR 335) / cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,18]
producer: And Also The Trees, Richard Waghorn, Mel Jefferson
label: Reflex Records / Normal - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Slow Pulse Boy" (4 / 5) - 2. "Maps on Her Wrists and Arms" - 4. "Vincent Craine" - 5. "Jack" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Headless Clay Woman" (4 / 5) - 7. "Gone... Like the Swallows" (4 / 5) - 8. "Virus Meadow" (4,5 / 5)

2nd studio album release by And Also the Trees released on Reflex Records is the band's masterpiece. The voice of Simon Huw-Jones plays a central part for this band and has a tone quite similar to that of Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. The music is post-punk, gothic rock and for some it may seem outdated today but the album has a certain theatrical feel, which I really like, very much due to the story-narrating Simon Jones but also thanks to the 'orchestration': the complexity of the drums, the insisting and fretless-like bass, and the edgy, psychedelic, and haunting guitar [just listen to "Slow Pulse Boy" 01:55, or "Virus Meadow" (virtually whole track but note) 02:15]. The production sound of the album is similar to that of Tinderbox by Siouxsie and the Banshees, which has a spacious, almost 3D sound, with plenty of room for guitars and drums. The songs are gently sown together, making it a near conceptual and altogether well harmonised album. It’s not an album for background noise, music for work, or the like. It requires the listener’s full attention and may then take you on a special experience.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

[ collectors' item - from ~ 40€,- ]

1992 cd cover

Alabama Shakes "Boys & Girls" (2012)

Boys & Girls [debut]
release date: Apr. 9, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]
producer: Alabama Shakes and Andrija Tokic
label: Rough Trade Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hold On" (4 / 5) (live on SNL) - 2. "I Found You" (4 / 5) (live on KEXP) - 3. "Hang Loose" - 4. "Rise to the Sun" (4,5 / 5) (live on KEXP, and live on 'Live on the Green') - 8. "Boys & Girls" - 9. "Be Mine" (live on Later with Jools Holland)
[ full 'Live performance on KEXP', Dec. 2012 ]

Studio debut album by Alabama Shakes is a great album that really rocks. It's a sublime combo of soul, r&b, blues rock and garage rock, which makes me think of Amy Winehouse doing rock. Brittany Howard is the leading star of the band with her unique voice and she really knows how to play blues rock on her electrified jazz guitar. I've heard and seen them in many live performances and that's truly their playground 'cause not many artists nowadays perform that great live, or at least not as convincing as Alabama Shakes. This is one of the best albums of the year and naturally, it's highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, The Telegraph 4 / 5, The Independent 5 / 5 stars ]

2012 Favorite releases: 1. Marie Key De her dage - 2. Paul Banks Banks - 3. Alabama Shakes Boys & Girls [debut]

And Also the Trees "And Also the Trees" (1984)

vinyl cover

And Also the Trees [debut]
release date: Feb. 1984
format: vinyl (LEX 1) / cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Laurence Tolhurst
label: Reflex Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "So This Is Silence" (4 / 5) - 5. "Impulse of Man" - 6. "Shrine" - 7. "Twilights Pool"

Studio album debut by And Also the Trees is produced by Laurence Tolhurst (The Cure) and issued on Reflex Records as its first album issue - the '92 cd issue is released on Normal Records. Here the band consists of the brothers Jones: Simon on vocals and (younger brother) Justin on guitar together with new bassist Stephen Burrows (who replaced Graham Navas after a clash between Graham and the other members in early '83) and Nick Havas on drums.

The style is a promising gothic rock and post-punk release. I bought the album upon its release and immediately fell for their dark and haunting sound. The first track is great; however, the rest is of varied quality, or: not highly original material, as some tracks seem like attempts to create something similar to the sound of The Cure on Seventeen Seconds (1980) blending with strong influence of Joy Division.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

[ collectors' item - from ~ 35€,- ]

1992 CD cover

And Also the Trees

~ ~ ~

And Also the Trees: formed 1979, Inkberrow, Worcestershire, UK. Current line-up: [brothers Simon and Justin] Simon Huw Jones (vocals), (younger brother) Justin Jones (guitar), Emer Brizzolara (keyboards, from 2007), Steven Burrows (bass guitar, from 1983), Ian Jenkins (bass guitar, double bass, from 2004), Paul Hill (drums, from 1997).

Former members: The Havas brothers: Graham (bass guitar, 1979-1983), (younger brother) Nick (drums, 1979-1997).

I listened to the AATT from the very start of their musical career, and immediately bought their first four albums upon their release. What I found in their music was another post-punk style than many of the other artists at the time. The initial style is close to The Cure, Bauhaus and Joy Division, but AATT focused much more on poetic stories by Simon Huw Jones, making 'their' sound based on narration and haunting melodies. They never gained a huge crowd, and reviewers seldom appreciated their style, which many thought of as too theatrical, unfitting in the musical progression from post-punk into art rock. Once you're familiar with the sound of Simon's voice and the orchestrated, almost "baroque" alt. rock, you might get drawn into a fascinating whirlpool of poetic narration. 

~ ~ ~

Suede "Head Music" (1999)

Head Music
release date: May 3, 1999
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Steve Osborne and Bruce Lampcov
label: Nude Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Electricity" - 4. "Everything Will Flow" (4 / 5) - 6. "She's in Fashion" (4 / 5) - 12. "He's Gone" - 13. "Crack in the Union Jack"

4th studio album by Suede. It has taken the band 2½ years to make the album but it still seems somewhat unfinished. Aside from introducing another new band member, Neil Codling on keyboards and synthesizers, it does contain great tracks like "Everything Will Flow" and "She's in Fashion" but it also contains an unprecedented number of album fillers, and the overall impression is an album on receipt - it's made more or less on the same blueprint as Coming Up just with an added synthpop touch (drum programming and synths) by Codling. The album producer Steve Osborne has previously produced for Curve, P.J. Harvey, New Order, and U2, and a similar touch doesn't do anything good for the sound of Suede.
Perhaps the band's new low point has to do with vocalist Brett Anderson's drug abuse - for whatever reasons, the album is a rather uneven experience and an immediate worst studio release from the hands of Suede, imho.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, NME 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Håkan Hellström "Det är så jag säger det" (2002)

Det är så jag säger det
release date: Oct. 28, 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,60]

Track highlights: 1. "Mitt Gullbergs Kaj Paradis" - 2. "Förhoppningar och regnbågar" - 3. "Den fulaste flickan i världen" (4 / 5) - 4. "Kom igen Lena!" (4 / 5) - 5. "Här kommer lyckan för hundar som oss"

2nd studio album by Håkan Hellström, and I think this one betters his debut. The music is more pop soul and party-minded with less focus on the jangle pop style, and I think this suits him better. The album starts out with the fine party-song "Mitt Gullbergs Kaj Paradis", and as many of the other songs it has a calypso feel with samba rhythm and percussion as well as lots of horns and a broader, more complex production. Beside the aforementioned track, the best tracks are the single releases, the ballad "Den fulaste flickan i världen" and the pop soul party track "Kom igen Lena!", which is somewhat copied from The Jam's "A Town Called Malice" (1982) and "Come on Eileen" (1982) by Dexys Midnight Runners. "Kom igen, Lena!" was the first song I ever heard with Håkan Hellström, and is therefore the song that made me look into his music.

Håkan Hellström "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (2000)

Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg [debut]
release date: Oct. 16, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]

Track highlights: 1. "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (4 / 5) - 2. "En vän med en bil" - 3. "Ramlar" - 4. "Nu kan du få mig så lätt" (4 / 5) - 5. "Vi två, 17 år" (4 / 5) - 8. "Magiskt, men tragiskt" - 9. "Atombomb"

Studio album debut by Håkan Hellström. The album was probably the best received album in Sweden that year and Håkan went from being fairly unknown to a star overnight after his single-hit with the song "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg", which had been released a few months ahead of the album. The album sold "platinum" and was nominated for 6 Grammis in Sweden later that year, and won the national prize, "Rockbjörnen" for best album. The music is proclaimed indie pop, although I don't think that is a very fitting description. It's more singer / songwriter jangle pop / rock, inspired by The Smiths and Morrissey ("Atombomb" is very close to Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday") and pop soul as performed by Dexys Midnight Runners, which basically is to say: British music of the 1980s, but also music with bonds to more traditional folk pop and pop soul of the 1970s. Thematically, the songs are about teenage life with partying, and lost and unrequited love. The personnel on the album is almost the same people who contributed to the albums with "Broder Daniel", including most of the former band members including Daniel Gilbert on guitar who continues to work with Hellström on his forthcoming solo albums.

Angélique Kidjo "Ayé" (1994)

Ayé
release date: 1994
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: David Z
label: Mango Records - nationality: Benin

Track highlights: 1. "Agolo" (live) - 2. "Adouma" - 4. "Tatchédogbé" - 6. "Lon Lon Vadjro" - 9. "Yemandja" - 10. "Tombo"

5th studio album by Angélique Kidjo and her major breakthrough album in Western Europe and in America. This is 'Westernized' African pop or: fon music, which in my mind, betters contemporary artists like Tina Turner, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Prince and the like. I remember this release from my then sister-in-law, who used to play it a lot, or whenever she didn't play Suzanna Vega, or: The Guide (Wommat) by Youssou N' Dour, released the same year. It's still quite enjoyable, although, it was never a really big favourite of mine.

Håkan Hellström

~ ~ ~

Håkan Hellström (birth name: Håkan Georg Hellström; Apr. 2, 1974), was born in Göteborg, Västergötland, Sweden. He was member of the Swedish bands Broder Daniel (1989-2008), and Honey Is Cool (1994-2000). Hellström is a Swedish singer / songwriter pop / rock artist who started out in a high school band Little Wing. He then joined another high school band Broder Daniel, with whom they shared rehearsal studio. This band had been formed by high school friends Henrik Berggren (vocals) and Daniel Gilbert (bass). Hellström joined the two on drums. The band began playing concerts around 1992 with the addition of both Johan Neckvall and Anders Göthberg on guitar. The band released their first album in 1995, and Hellström then parted from the band to be drummer in Honey Is Cool in 1995, with whom he released two albums before leaving around '98 to rejoin Broder Daniel, this time playing bass (as Johan Neckvall had left the band and the current bassist, Theodor Jensen took over the guitar) and contributing with additional vocal. The band faced some success and critical acclaim for the album Broder Daniel Forever (1998), which had been helped along with the band's inclusion of 3 songs on the soundtrack album for the Swedish movie "Fucking Åmål" (1998). Hellström began to work on his own songs and had his first critically acclaimed solo release in 2000 with the homonymous single hit "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg". Throughout his solo career, Hellström has met some criticism for being too inspired by others, i.e. songs by the Jam, Dexy's Midnight and Runners, and Morrissey. All the same, Hellström has had great success as a solo artist in Scandinavia with his jangle pop / rock and singer / songwriter style with both chamber pop and indie pop and most recently some synth pop elements, and all his album releases have been awarded various Swedish prizes, i.e. Rockbjörnen (2000, 2001, 2008, 2011), P3 Guld (2003, 2009), Grammis (2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010), Evert Taube-stipendiet (2007), and all his studio album releases has either sold Gold or Platinum in Sweden.

~ ~ ~

Suede "Sci-Fi Lullabies" (1997)

Sci-Fi Lullabies (compilation)
release date: Oct. 6, 1997
format: 2 cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Ed Buller
label: Nude Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights:
Disc 1: 1. "My Insatiable One" (4 / 5) - 3. "Where the Pigs Don't Fly" - 4. "He's Dead" - 8. "My Dark Star" - 9. "Killing of a Flash Boy" - 11. "Modern Boys" - 12. "Together" - 13. "Bentswood Boys" - 14. "Europe Is Our Playground"
Disc 2: 1. "Every Monday Morning Comes" (4 / 5) - 4. "Young Men" - 5. "The Sound of the Streets" (4 / 5) - 6. "Money" (3 / 5) - 8. "This Time" - 11. "Sadie" - 13. "Duchess"

Compilation album by Suede, which indeed is a most interesting release. Normally, compilations are best of, 'most of', or any such labels. It's interesting in that respect that it's the collection of B-side singles to all of the band's single releases - with a total of 27 tracks issued as a 2 discs album. Now, how many bands would promote such an idea with expectations of much success? Very few, I reckon, and that's why this album is quite an accomplishment. Some tracks do seem like leftovers but the above highlighted tracks could easily have been released on any of their so far three studio releases without lowering the standard, and some of the songs would undoubtedly have raised the quality.
Most tracks are (once again) produced by Ed Buller.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Show lyrics <- click...

~ ~ ~
"My Insatiable One"

"In the high life, I've got this feeling now
I've got this horrible feeling
on the escalator they took it out on him
as the ridiculous world went...oh

oh he is gone
he's my insatiable one
oh he is gone
he's my insatiable one...oh

On the high wire, dressed in a leotard
there wobbles one hell of a retard
on the escalator
we shit paracetemol
as the ridiculous world goes...by

oh he is gone
he's my insatiable one
oh he is gone
he's my insatiable one
oh he is gone
he's my insatiable one
oh he is gone
and he was...my inflatable one"

~ ~ ~
"Every Monday Morning Comes"

"Oh when you and I
Watch the planes go by, silver in the sky,
Do whatever we like,
Oh you and me
See the birds in the sea
People on the streets, do whatever we please

But every Monday morning comes,
Every Monday morning, yeah
Oh every Monday morning comes
Every Monday morning, yeah
Oh, when you and I

Watch the London sky, Traffic rolling by
Do whatever we like,
So we chase the day away
Feel the morning rain
Piss our money down the drain
And do whatever they say"

~ ~ ~
"The Sound Of The Streets"

"She walks the streets of summer
Inside her there's no future
She walks the streets to pass the time
The cash machines are laughing
At plastic people passing
She walks the streets to pass the time
Sadie, Sadie in the sound of the streets
Insane as anything, ah ah

Sadie, Sadie kn-knows the sound of the streets
It's the same as anything, ah ah

She sees the midnight taxis
The toilets and the backstreets
She feels the wheels and needs a line
Outside there's crazy parties
There's dames in faces laughing
So many ways to pass the time

Sadie, Sadie kn-knows the sound of the streets
It's the same as anything, ah ah

She walks the streets of summer
Inside her there's no future
She walks the streets to pass the time
Inside she feels like winter
For the child that died within her
She walks the streets to pass the time

Sadie, Sadie kn-knows the sound of the streets
It's the same as anything, ah ah"

~ ~ ~

Lloyd Cole and The Commotions "Rattlesnakes" (1984)

Rattlesnakes [debut]

release date: Oct. 12, 1984
format: vinyl (LCLP 1) / cd (1985 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Paul Hardiman
label: Polydor Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Perfect Skin" (4 / 5) - 3. "Rattlesnakes" (4,5 /5) - 4. "Down on Mission Street" (4 / 5) - 6. "Charlotte Street" - 10. "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?"

Studio debut album by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions consisting of songwriter and main composer, vocalist, and guitarist Lloyd Cole, guitarist Neil Clark, bassist Lawrence Donegan, keyboardist Blair Cowan, and percussionist Stephen Irvine.
The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
My cd issue is a '85 reissue with an additional four bonus tracks to the ten track standard release.
[ allmusic.com, Record Mirror, Sounds 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Uncut 4 / 5, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Imperial Bedroom" (1982)

Imperial Bedroom
release date: Jul. 2, 1982
format: digital (1994 remaster Extended Play) / digital (2012 remaster)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,32]
producer: Geoff Emerick
label: Rykodisc / MFSL - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Beyond Belief" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Tears Before Bedtime" - 3. "Shabby Doll" - 4. "The Long Honeymoon" - 5. "Man Out of Time" - 6. "Almost Blue" (5 / 5) - 7. "...And in Every Home" - 9. "Human Hands" - 10. "Kid About It" - 12. "Boy With a Problem" - 14. "You Little Fool" - 15. "Town Cryer"

7th studio album by Elvis Costello and his fifth consecutive album with The Attractions originally released on F-Beat sees Costello back with his own material as the natural successor to Trust (1981), but it also introduces a new producer as Costello wanted something else, than what he knew Nick Lowe could garantee.

The song "Almost Blue" soon became a stable by Chet Baker [Baker's version - and live in Tokyo], however, the album basically failed to produce single hits as Costello and Emerick had been concentrating on creating a special sound for the entire album, and apparently, Costello didn't come up with full-finished compositions as much as an idea to follow before re-arranging and re-working the song with Emerick.

The '94 Extended Play remaster contains 9 bonus tracks of which five are demos or early / alternate versions and the remaining four are cover songs. Despite not containing top-10 single hits, I think of it as packed with great songs, and I really enjoy the sound of one of his most coherent albums.

[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Mojo, Uncut 5 / 5, Rolling Stone, Blender 4 / 5 stars ]

1982 Favourite releases: 1. Laurie Anderson Big Science - 2. Dead Kennedys Plastic Surgery Disasters - 3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions Imperial Bedroom

Felt "Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death" (1986)

Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death
release date: Jun. 1986
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,75]
producer: Felt (recorded by)
label: Creation Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Song for William S. Harvey" (5 / 5) - 2. "Ancient City Where I Lived" (4 / 5) - 3. "The Seventeenth Century" (4 / 5) - 4. "The Palace" - 5. "Indian Scriptures" - 6. "The Nazca Plain" (4 / 5) - 7. "Jewel Sky" - 8. "Viking Dress" - 9. "Voyage to Illumination" (4 / 5) - 10. "Sapphire Mansions"

5th studio album by Felt and the first to be released on Creation Records after leaving Cherry Red. Most likely the album production was handled by the band, but no producer credits were filed. It wasn't the first album, I heard with the band, but it's one of my all time favorites of the mid 1980s. The downside is the short playing time of a total of only 19 min. It was released as the first album on the new label but is hardly more than an ep. The band's previous release Ignite the Seven Cannons (1985) was another great album but with a very different style. Throughout their career and spanning the 10 albums (band leader) Lawrence had declared they would release in all - no more, no less [!] - the band may be associated with jangle pop. The style is more linked with the 1960s folk rock and country rock artists closely related to The Byrds 12-string guitar sound than to the more contemporary post-punk bands evolving from / influenced by punk rock and new wave. However, the '85 release was their most dream pop ("over"-)produced album to date. One reason was that it was produced by Cocteau Twins founder Robin Guthrie, which is quite evident, and also features that bands' lead vocalist, Elizabeth Fraser on several tracks, only adding to the dream pop sound, but Felt also worked with the band's lead guitarist, Maurice Deebank for the last time. His guitar sound helped shaping their sound on their first 4 albums, and now with Deebank gone the band understood to keep their special jangle pop sound but simultaneously focusing much more on the keyboardist, Martin Duffy's Hammond organ. Although, this album only lasts 19 min., it still contains 10 tracks like any conventional pop album, but the single tracks only last from 1:00 to 2:49 min. and they are all instrumental tracks. Despite my interest in listening to energetic power pop and dark post-punk in the mid 1980s, I simply loved this album for its serene simplicity. I remember having found the album at the library and copied it to a cassette. A few years later, on a warm and wonderful summer of '90, I rode on my bicycle 300 km to visit my older brother and I had handpicked a bunch of cassettes to play on my walk-man for the ride. I had this album on the same cassette as their '85 album Ignite... and great '86 album Forever Breathes the Lonely Word and that was one of the most played cassettes on that trip along with Love Is Hell by Kitchens of Distinctions. Whenever I listen to Let the Snakes... today, I always get the feel of the sun shining bright on a clear blue sky, a scent of summer with warm breezes and images of a beautiful landscape just to pass through, which in the end, makes it hard not to like.
[ allmusic.com reviewer Greg Adams didn''t like it and hands it 3 / 5 stars ]

Lloyd Cole

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Lloyd Cole (Jan. 31, 1961), born in Buxton, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. He is an English singer / songwriter who became famous for his leading role in the Scottish formed pop / rock, indie pop band Lloyd Cole and The Commotions (1984-89) while studying philosophy and English at the University of Glasgow. Their debut album Rattlesnakes (1984) is handed 4,5 out of 5 stars at allmusic.com. The band only released three albums together before Cole moved to USA and initiated his solo career. With The Commotions, Cole faced commercial success as all three albums sold either Gold or Platinum and the second studio album Easy Pieces (1985) peaked at number #5 on the British albums chart. The band also faced critical acclaim but it peaked with the debut, and the third album wasn't well-received by the press. Musically, Cole started his solo career very much in style with what the band had released in an indie pop / rock singer / songwriter territory. The debut was attributed some attention, both commercially (Gold in the UK) and critically, but he hasn't really met the same success as with his former band. The singer / songwriter genre is the collecting genre one may attribute all of his solo releases but he has touched on various styles moving from a pop / rock universe of indie to more folk-oriented music. I think, my first musical experience with Lloyd Cole was either Easy Pieces or Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole and The Commotions. I was very disappointed with the third studio release but I immediately bought his solo debut upon its release, as I did with the following solo album before tiring somewhat of his music. As a solo artist, I think, he peaked in the early 1990's with his first two solo albums and the overlooked beautiful Love Story (1995), before releasing minor and less interesting albums for some time, but recently he has made at least two fine albums with the more folk rock country rock singer / songwriter album Broken Record (2010) and Standards (2013), both of which have made me listen with interest to his music again.

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Bauhaus "Burning From the Inside" (1983)

Burning From the Inside
release date: Jul. 1983
format: vinyl (BEGA 45) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: Bauhaus
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "She's in Parties" (4,5 / 5) (official video) - 2. "Antonin Artaud" (4 / 5) - 5. "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" (4 / 5) - 6. "Slice of Life" - 7. "Honeymoon Croon" - 8. "Kingdom's Coming" - 9. "Burning From the Inside" - 10. "Hope"

4th and final studio album release by Bauhaus..., or so it appeaared to be at the time, but the band eventually regrouped and released the album Go Away White in 2008.

Some consider this their most polished and their most pop-styled album, whereas others regard it their most experimental release.

It took me some time getting used to it. Initially, I really loved "She's in Parties", and I was ready for a journey into more pop-styled songs in the dark gothic rock universe, and probably found that closer to e.g. The Cure's recent releases, but the album is much more than mainstream, and contains really experimental stuff. The great angry punk rock tracks "Antonin Artaud", "Slice of Life", and "Honeymoon Croon" are the one part giving new life to their otherwise more gloomy sentiments, only represented in the title track, and then the album also contains some tracks that point in a completely new direction. "King Volcano", "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight", "Kingdom's Coming", and "Hope", are all tracks that have more in common with what was later released by Love and Rockets, a band consisting of all but one member of Bauhaus. After the disbandment, Peter Murphy (lead vocalist) initiated his solo career, and the remainders founded the band Love and Rockets, a band that continued the experimental side of Bauhaus but who also took the style far away from the dark and glam rock-inspired post-punk and gothic rock. After the disbandment in 1983, the band's status has only grown. Bauhaus re-united briefly in 1998 for a concert tour, and again in 2005 continuing throughout 2006 - this time for a longer period, which eventually brought them back in the studio to record new material and the album Go Away White was released in 2008 only to see the band 'finally' split after the release. I think, Burning From the Inside is a better album than the likewise experimental The Sky's Gone Out from 1982. Although, the band incorporate many styles, it remains a whole with the more experimental tracks scattered in between more melodic tracks like small breaks. Initially, I didn't like it, and I would probably only have handed it 2,5 / 5. Nowadays, I consider it one of the band's major albums.

The front cover artwork is by (Daniel Ash' art school friend) Glenn Campling.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]