Capsule reviews: C - H

J J Cale - Okie (1974)
From the Zen cowboy of music. Cale plays something between C&W and haiku on the shortest album length he could get away with, even in the LP era. Less is better. Anyway the wind blows. (20160117)

J J Cale - Troubadour (1976)
Two ways of hearing this album: either he's gotten so lazy hardly any of these songs struggle out of a two chord riff, or he's mastered his art to such an extent songs would only tie him down. It depends which way the wind blows. Today I'm going with masterful. (20150925)

John Cale / Terry Riley - Church of anthrax (1971)
A peculiar record from two peculiar men. Noise but gone to piano school. One can be happy it exists even if one chooses not to hear it. (20160120)

Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a sheepskin vest (2019)
A man sits contented in the grass, mumbling in the distance. Who's to say he doesn't hold the key to our lives' meaning. (20190829)

Terry Callier - What colour is love (1973)
I always thought it was pink, but Terry sings it black and blue. That's why he's the artist, I guess. (20160818)

Captain beefheart - Bat chain puller (1976, 2012 released)
With five tracks re-recorded for Shiny Beast, three for Doc at the Radar Station and two for Ice Cream for Crow, this doesn't have the impact it would have if released as intended. More like a nice and bluesy rehearsal for the real thing. The manic energy of the re-recordings (and their respective albums) is noticeably toned down. But that just means it has its own mood. Good to have it out in the public domain, or at least upon payment of a hefty contribution to the Zappa estate. (20150928)

Erasmo Carlos - Carlos, Erasmo (1971)
You encounter these records that seem adrift in rock'n'roll history. No context. A complete unknown made an irresistible record that prefigures glam ('Masculino, feminino'), has a tune ratio you just don't find outside of Sesame Street albums and sings like a man possessed by Peter Pan - eternal youth. That's the magic of pop music. He was probably a plumber or a child actor in decline. What a record. (20160124)

Cat power - The greatest (2006)
Beyond the Dave Grohl cameo. It hurts when your cult hate makes it and with a pretty good record too. (first listen, 20160814)

Chastity belt - Time to go home (2015)
'I've made choices / with no reason', and this record's just one. I may wonder if 20 years ago this sort of thing was somehow more charmed, but good choice nevertheless. (20160822)

Cher - 3614 Jackson highway (1969)
Cher, what have you been ruining yourself on for all these years since this wonderful album? Did it hurt when you threw it all away? (20160810)

Cody Chesnutt - The headphone masterpiece (2002)
On his porch his community is family. In the basement he's high and making up dirty rhymes. I'll forgive him Lenny Kravitz tribute 'Look good in leather' for the other 35 fragments of lo-fi rock/soul/hip hop. Tries to live cool, but his heart is too big. (20151108)

V/A - Children of Nuggets (1976-96, 2005 released)
'Doctor, I hear this jangle everywhere I go!
Won't you spike my drink?'
'Alec, please, this is the '80s.
Have some coke.'
(20160119)

Euros Childs - Chops (2006)
A sketchbook, but it's alive. Giddy, silly, 'Donkey island'. I want to sell my house and follow this guy to lala-land. 'No animals were harmed in the making of this record,' the sleevenotes claim. They may have chuckled. (20160815)

Euros Childs - Refresh (2016)
Post-psychotic DIY sampler nursery rhymes. Everybody can do this, nobody dares. In its quiet way, one of the most unhinged records of recent years. An Oar for the present? (20190818)

Alex Chilton - Live in London (1980)
He had just the ticket for punk rock, but his plane arrived a couple years late.
A shambles and badly recorded. So, more coherent than his contemporary records. Like Flies On Sherbert songs particular favorites in these versions. (20160828)

Alex Chilton - Top 30 (1977-93, 1997 released)
I could never figure out how Chilton remains charming while setting fire to the studio. But he does. Random highlights from Sherbert to Clichés, though you need the original records to make sense of it. If that were a possibility. (20160820)

Alex Chilton - A man called destruction (1995)
Chilton starts late career hot streak spanning solo albums, Big Star and Box Tops reunions. All just fronts for the best rock'n'roll stylist of his (late) age. 'What's your sign girl' - my jam. (20160829)

Alex Chilton - Live in Anvers (2004)
Two touchstones meet - Alex Chilton and Mauro Pawlowski on stage together for one night. Chilton plays his standard new Orleans R&B/Italian R&R/jazz standards set. he spent 20 years perfecting this stuff and it shows in every groove. Mauro's on guitar after one afternoon rehearsal and he nails it too. Even the famously self- and others-deprecating Chilton has to own up 'I think we're getting warm now.' (20190729)

Chin up Chin up - This harness can't ride anything (2006)
When post-rock doesn't work. (20160824)

Chvrches - Love is dead (2018)
Love dead, pop songcraft alive and well. Dour Scottish (of course) synthpopband goes for the hooks. Succeeds. Still dour. (20190803)

Gene Clark - Roadmaster (1973)
Came out in the Netherlands exclusively then disappeared, which is sort of the same thing. Clark at his most gorgeous and melodic. (20160828)

Guy Clark - Texas Cooking (1976)
Old No. 1 is the classic, but Texas Cooking has that American Studios sound. The title track grooves like, well, Texan cuisine. The rest is more of that literate, shaggy dog country singersongwriter stuff.
So take me to a barroom, driver, set me on a stool and let me hear that stuff all night long. (20150922)

Patsy Cline - 12 greatest hits (1960-63, 1988)
I get a time shock when she sings 'I've got the records that we used to share' on 'She's got you'. People had record collections in 1936? Oh wait. She could've bought a Dylan album.
Hard to untangle the myth from the records, but just her voice spells heartbreak. (20160811)

Club moral - Living(stone) concert (2004)
One of the more forbidding projects in Mauro's discography - he joined this early '80s electronic noise / modern art Antwerp duo upon their reactivation in the early 2000s. The concert is completely improvised - layers of distorted bleeps and noise, with passionately recited/screeched lyrics from the local newspaper - murder, celebrities, football and horoscopes. (What pop is all about!). It's a relief when they sit down for two minutes to listen to the Shirelles' 'Foolish little girl' through the floorboards, honestly.
This is what people did for fun in the '80s, before tv. The big finale is about suicide. Don't expect anyone to ask you if you're having a good time. (20190730)

Club moral - User handbook (2004)
Here's an idea. Don't mess up your mystique.
The second 2004 Club Moral album - I like a whole lot more than the first. Make no mistake, play anything after this and it'll sound melodic. These are industrial grind grooves skronking their way towards infinitum. But... bluesy, in a way. Hypnotic. Mauro's guitar is part of that.
But do they have to tell you up front all the lyrics are sourced from a car manual? Unknowing, they could've sounded mysterious and suggestive (possibly). Knowing, just prosaic. Keep your process to yourself, just let me hear the results. (20190802)

Club moral - Lonely weekends / Gun 7" (2006)
More perplexing anti-grooves, but this time in small doses - it works. Is the early '80s a-side a twisted mirror image of the country standard? I can't tell, but the mood's right. The new b-side is a menacing trip. 'This is my rifle, this is my gun / One is for pleasure, one is for fun'. All together now. (20190817)

Club moral/Bum collar - Versatile styles (2006)
Club Moral as a dance band? Well, sort of. The shakes. The epileptic fit. Human rabies. More dances named after gruesome diseases. But... Yes! (20190825)

Club moral - Felix culpa (2008)
Art intellectuals lose all inhibitions. Go for primal gut feelings. It's a rotten world out there and inside of us. (Two long explorations called 'I'm a monster'). (20190822)

Cluster - Cluster (1971)
I hope you've had a drink, cause it takes courage to dive into this amorphous shrieking noise. At one point I thought they were doing an operation. On me. (20190711)

Shirley Collins and the Albion Country band - No roses (1971)
The past is another country. Medieval Albion. London folkies in the early '70s. I can't make heads or tails if this is about ancient court life or about hippie student housing. But I'd sure like to visit. (20160203) 

Alice Coltrane - Universal consciousness (1971)
Wow, so this is what everything at the same time sounds like. (20160818)

John Coltrane - Afro blue impressions (1963, 1977 released)
Double disc of 1963 European concert recordings by the great quartet. They blaze through definite readings of 'Lonnie's lament', a short (better than the famous version) 'Chasin' the Trane', and extraordinary 20 minute 'My favorite things' which starts off at the most intense point of the studio version and spirals upwards. Second disc is standard blowing fare and two songs that sounded better at the Village Vanguard. That version of 'My favorite things'! (20160117)

John Coltrane - Crescent (1964)
Coltrane takes his religious music for a test run. The title track, 'Wise one', 'Lonnie's lament' - it's all there but for finetuning. Everything ends with a drumsolo that feels earned. The follow-up would write history. (20151012)

Comets on fire - Blue cathedral (2004)
The intro and the outtro. Heavy version. (20160124)

Condor gruppe - Interplanetary travels (2018)
Ennio Morricone reimagined by stoners in the desert. And then the sitar drops in on side B... (20190721)

Ry Cooder - Chicken skin music (1976)
Cooder always had a travel agent for a manager, but back in the '70s genres were mixed indiscriminately, not re-enacted with what passes for accuracy.
It had more heart.
Never blessed with a voice to do justice, the musicians shine regardless on dusty, relaxed songs old and new. (20150924)

Sam Cooke - Keep movin' on (1963-64, 2001 released)
Just hitting his stride right before the end. (20160828)

Cookies - Chains. The Dimension links 1962-1964 (2009 released)
Labyrinthine historied vocal trio (also the Cinderellas, the Palisades, the Raeletts and so on), here breathing life into (mostly) Goffin-King gems. 'Chains', 'Willpower', 'Only to other people', 'I never dreamed'. The list is long. Sounding as forcefully insecure, tremblingly sincere as the teenage experience they're reflecting and, let it be clear, shaping. (20151017)

Alice Cooper - Welcome to my nightmare (1975)
You wouldn't expect to find the sequel to Berlin on an Alice Cooper record. But everything's possible in the movie business. A trip through young Steven's nightmare visions. So, more cheery. (20190713)

Jack Cooper - Sandgrown (2017)
A peculiarly British topography. Shades of the Velvet Underground's 3rd. (20190825)

The Coral - The Coral (2002)
The things for which they build up cults in England. Flourishes, no essence. (20151107)

Lula Côrtes & Zé Ramalho - Paêbirú (1975)
Heathen ritual of the elements conceived on ancient Indian archeological site, 'maybe even the presence of aliens'. Stunningly hermetic, and percussion jams. (20160821, first listen)

Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy (2014)
10 singer-songwriter sketches in 17 minutes. Speed psychology. 'That's why you like me and I don't.' Ramshackle, giddy backing, check. Still just a little cutesy. 'Buses splash with rain' a highlight. 'I could be thrilling if you are willing to overlook a few things.' She's got the right idea. (20160822)

The Creation - Our music is red with purple flashes (1966-68, released 2015)
Skip the stuff about painters and synesthesia. Remember them for monster 'How does it feel to feel' (and 'Making time'). There's no logical explanation for a song like that. Pure feel. Thicker than air. (20160828)

Marshall Crenshaw - Marshall Crenshaw (1982)
Sometimes good guys win, and Marshall knocks it out of the park on this back-to-Buddy Holly fest. But where do you go from there? He was about to face that conundrum. (20160125)

Crystals - The best of the Crystals (1961-64, 1992 released)
With Lala Brooks fronting Barry-Greenwich's best songs throughout 1963 and '64, Spector found the smash hit formula he was looking for, but it's the run-up that affects me most. Barbara Alston's not the All American Girl. She sings of hopes she knows already squashed by life's circumstances. Some girls have better chances than others ('No one ever tells you', 'Please hurt me'). Darlene Love chipped in when more rebellious tones were apropos. (20151011)


Cuby + the Blizzards - Universal masters collections (1966-72, 2002 released)
'If you haven't seen little Chris, you don't know what you've missed', they sing on 'Just for fun'. Conversely, if you haven't heard these enjoyable Dutch geezers, chances are you'll hear blues rock sometime. (20160117 - first listen)

Dick Dale - King of the surf guitar. The best of Dick Dale & his Del-Tones (1961-64 mostly, 1989 released)
Mostly from his 1961-64 heyday, except for two 1980s completist tracks (one with Stevie Ray Vaughn of course - only one? You're holding out on us, Rhino).
Surf music was always more whistle stop than destination in the grand scheme. Its promise of leading us straight from pre-British Invasion to No Wave never materialised. Dick Dale had a fierce template and over 16 tracks he explores each and every one of its possible variations. (20151008)

Evan Dando - Live at the Brattle theatre / Griffith sunset (2002)
Penance for unspeakable crimes during the Britpop era, Dando hit the solo acoustic trail and honours Americana's hallowed ancestors. The live show is charming. Not many singers can wring the pathos from lines like 'I can't go away with you on a rock climbing weekend / What if something's on tv and its never shown again' ('The outdoor type'). Otherwise blurred, lazy covers from Fred Neil to Tim Hardin. (20151103)

Sue Daniels - Paris (2001)
Mystery lo-fi folktronica album from before folktronica existed. A guy called Patrick or Sue sings through pitch shifters to sound like a girl singer. Rudy Trouvé, Mauro Pawlowski and Elko Blyweert help out on the music. But why do all the song titles start with a C? Why is he wearing a wig? And why do the vocals at times sound uncannily like speeded up Rudy and Mauro? Just my imagination? (20190723)

Miles Davis - Get up with it (1974)
Think you can jam? Think again. Miles can jam. (20190727)

Dead Man Ray - Over (2019)
Rudy Trouvé's interview quotes about dropping in contemporary classical easter eggs aside, my sixth sense tells me this renewed alliance might be shortlived. Dead Man Ray was a band of equals, but this is Daan Stuyven with a hip backing band. His overstretched tropes and mannerisms omnipresent. The rest is pushed to the sides. A decade and a half make a difference. (20190804)

Delfonics - Delfonics (1970)
Lush, romantic early '70s soul to perfection. Fall in love all over again. (20190726)

Mac Demarco - Here comes the cowboy (2019)
He's stripping it back to minimalist beat, bassline and rhythm guitar, sometimes a lonely synth tone. And a single vocal track. What that means is, he's crystallizing, getting to the essence of something, be it the deep ('Nobody', 'K', 'All our yesterdays') or the deeply idiosyncratic ('Hey cowgirl', 'Choo choo'). (20190711)

dEUS - Pocket revolution (2005)
A patchwork - unsurprising given its protracted genesis. But now that we've gotten used to comfort blanket dEUS (ah, nostalgia), its haphazard mood feels more like unpredictability. Remember unpredictability? dEUS did it well. There's a lot of delight in this mess (and a lot of singles), I've come to realize. (20190803)

dEUS - What we talk about (when we talk about love) (2006)
dEUS' last old style EP single is more grasping in the dark. The title track may be the fullest realization yet of Tom Barman's electro JJ Cale aspirations. Slinky. But three alternate versions only teach us: 1. its seductive groove is a studio creation (FM acoustic radio version), 2. Barman enjoys long vacations in Spain ('Sentimientos, quando hablamos de amor'), 3. remixes are the lowest form of wit (Untitled remix No 1). I had my suspicions all along. (20160818)

dEUS - Vantage point (2008)
In retrospect it's should've been a new band, one built on Alan Gevaert/Mauro Pawlowski grooves and Tom Barman's romantic ballads. A partnership of equals. The dEUS tag confused, not what the public had come to expect. The creators pulled in their tails and started working for the brand. Approach without preconceptions and hear a barrel full of buzzing singles. (20190825)

dEUS - Keep you close (2011)
Uber-romantic statement. I suspect the record Barman always knew dEUS had in them. It's an achievement. Too big for me. Of heart, of sound. I'm not into these Olympian levels. (20190908)

Eric Dolphy - Out to lunch (1964)
The most amazing sound. When toy instruments spring to life at the chime of midnight, this is what they play. I don't understand a second of it. (20151011)

Mike Donovan - How to get your record played in shops (2018)
Broken fragments of a melody spiral into the abyss. This is lo-fi music over the edge. Yet it casts a spell. And when it briefly coheres despite itself ('4 armed star', 'Spiral tee shirt', 'Cold shine'), it breaks your heart. Nearly unlistenable, seriously, and I can't stop. (20190713)

Mike Donovan - Exurbian quonset (2019)
Technological advances have all but eradicated lo-fi, since its mid 90s heyday. But like small pox and weeds, it's too tenacious to die. The force is strong in Mike Donovan, who has unspecified ties to Ty Segall's mighty coterie, but sounds like a frazzled vaped out hermit, who records his music on a cassette deck. Hiss, unsynched overdubs and heart. (20190818)

The Doors - The Doors (1967)
Rock'n'roll isn't about revolution, but about liberation. They erred from the start, but at least the Doors went all the way for revolution.
The organ break in 'The crystal ship', the solos on 'Light my fire' (a song about lighting your man's joint in a forest area), all of 'End of the night'. These are a few of my favorite things. (20160127)

Bob Dylan - The times they are a-changin (1964)
Now that he's so much younger, you'd still wish Dylan could be as clear on anything as he is on this searing indictment of the state of the nation. Bob's most severe album. (20151011)

Bob Dylan - In concert (1963, unreleased)
The missing link between The Times and Another Side, and better than either. Newspaper songs and semi-mystical ballads ('Lay down your weary tune', 'Percy's song', '7 curses', 'Dusty old fairgrounds' - some of his best early acoustic songs). Oh, and nine minutes of 'Last thoughts on Woody Guthrie'. There's a straight line to 'Desolation row'. 12 volumes of Bootleg Series and still no sign of an official release for the full album. (20151004)

Bob Dylan - Bootleg series Vol 9: The Witmark demos (1962-64, 2010 released)
Dylan's early scrapbook. Big fan of the early acoustic years, but Dylan needs an audience (in the room or on the other end of a stylus) to give his best. Here he has none, and nothing sparkles. Lots of unreleased songs, but not without reason. (20151005)

Bob Dylan: Another side of (1964)
Pour a bottle into Dylan and he starts yakking 'bout some woman done him wrong just like you or me. And her sister too! (20151018)

Bob Dylan: Bootleg series Vol 6: Concert at Philharmonic Hall (1964, 2004 released)
While the Beatles and others were playing 20 minutes each on package tours, Dylan was doing evening length performances. And nobody danced. He's grown too irrreverent (more so) for his old material, not in command yet of breakthroughs 'Gates of Eden' and 'It's alright ma'. Puzzling addition to the Bootleg Series. (20151012)

Bob Dylan - Bootleg series Vol 11: The basement tapes. (1967-68, 2014 released)
Got the COMPLETE version cause I wanted to hang with Heylin and Marcus. Then I got the condensed version to actually listen to. Some of the best ever. Lost time is not found again. (20150928)

Bob Dylan - Hard rain (1976)
He may not have been converted yet, but he's singing the gospel of divorce. Builds to savage side two. Don't cross this man. A howl. (20150928)

Bob Dylan - Slow train coming (1979)
'Do right to me baby' is a cryptic concert rider. 'Don't want to wink at nobody / Don't want to be winked at'. Plus fruit and vegetables buffet and five bottles of Evian. But I'd serve you, Bob.
The first and least of the great religious trilogy, it's still a sinuous pleasure. The groove. (20160124)

Bob Dylan - Shadows in the night (2015)
You know who likes to sing Sinatra too? Vlad III stalking the halls of his castle at twilight. Momma, take this homage off of me. (20151027)

Evil superstars - Hairfacts EP (1994)
Has, in 25 years since its release, lost not a speck of its violent joie-de-vivre. 'I'll suck your nose clean from snot' as humanist crede. We're in this together. Nice feelings now. (20190707)

Evil superstars - Love is okay (1996)
Too much is never enough. It's a deranged clash of energy and hooks that smashes into you like an old fashioned hardcore punk EP. The only way to dance to this organized madness is like your body's being overrun by flesh eating ants. Now I wanna be a demon too. (20190708)

Evil superstars - Satan is in my ass EP (1996)
Evil Superstars ballads, it's not a crowded genre. So of course their best effort is a 6 minute beauty, which they title 'Worse than kaka' (no relation to the lyrics) and tuck away on an EP. Near faultless stuff - 'Scratch' and 'Fucking love' (not a ballad) too. (20170623)

Evil superstars - Pantomiming with her parents (1996)
More first period Superstars madness. Angular riffing in the verses, driving pophooks in the chorus, indigineous music scale soloing. It's a trick, but a good one. 'A higher ugliness' a highlight. On the whole, they're cleaning out the closet, but I'm game. (20190710)

Evil superstars - Remix apocalyps (1996)
End of act one for the Superstars. Never again would they sound this hyperactive. Scientists spend billions trying to condense information still further. 'Rock against romance' packs more information in two minutes than Wikipedia. Remix also points to the future in 'Darkagedisco''s fractured groove, Mauro's rising confidence as a singer (he croons!, he sings falsetto!) and of course that single. (20190713)

Evil superstars - B.A.B.Y. (1998)
New slinky model Superstars. Lean, but still evil. (20190714)

Evil superstars - Boogie-children-R-US (1998)
What a record. Side A is relentless highlights, side B is deep and weird. The title is well chosen. The boogie children of blues mythology for a new generation. Gremlins getting ready for a feast. One of the best albums of rock's golden era of the 1990s. (20190715)

Evil superstars - It's a sad planet (1998)
The Superstars end on Paradox Records. Hopelessly launching their 'hit' yet again. A last ditch effort, we now know. Sadly futile. That would be it for a long time. At least we got these two b-sides out of it. Rockin' good news, not just for women. (20190716)

Ex hex - It's real (2019)
Locked in tight to a classic rock / power pop framwork. It's sometimes a relief to hear music this sure of its place in the cosmos in the here and now. Frontloaded though, at some point my mind starts wandering. Still, I'm not saying they should've dropped a St Vincent collaboration in there. Not at all. (20190728)

Donald Fagen - The nightfly (1982)
Concept album about singing into an expensive vintage microphone. (20160812)

Donald Fagen - Morph the cat (2006)
Remember when only the surface of those late (first phase) Steely Dan albums sounded boring? Fagen's expanded since then. (20160201)

Faust - Faust IV (1973)
The friendliest experimental record you'll ever meet. Predicts most of what was exciting about '90s rock. (20190727 - first listen.) 

Fence - The winding (2016)
Fence songs are never linear. The winding, indeed. Drift in and out of fragments. Takes a deceptive while to figure out. Here grooves run free. At times the rhythm section find themselves on a tightrope with no recollection how they got there. A good place. (20160818)

Luc Ferrari - Presque rien N°1 (1970)
I dig these composers who explore the limits of what is music, I do. Some I dig to listen to, some to read about. These environment sounds taped over 24 hours on a beach in Yugoslavia, may be compressed to 20 minutes, for this subjective listener they feel like a long day of listening. (20190908)

Flaming lips - Hit to death in the future head (1992)
Great ballad, called 'You have to be joking (autopsy of the devil's brain)'. (first listen, 20160812)

Flaming lips - The soft bulletin (1999)
Turning point. Now boredom serves as existential catalyst. You can smear fake blood and sing 'Over the rainbow' with a gong, but you still got to serve somebody. (20160814)

Flaming lips - King's mouth (2019)
Surprise - they stuff it with candy cotton and rainbows! (20190815)

Flamin' groovies - Shake some action (1976)
Transformed from Southern rock'n'roll hardcats to Anglophile classicists, at heart the Groovies remained the same. They know that rock'n'roll forgives many faults for three minutes of ragged perfection. Both are here. You wouldn't want it any other way. (20151001)

Flying burrito brothers - Gilded palace of sin (1969)
Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons' shining hour. They pedal steel through country originals, pay tribute to Dan Penn and do some affecting gospel pastiche. They also do quaint hippie Vietnam stuff at the end of both LP sides, but let's forgive 'em. Sneaky Pete shines, harmony singing like brothers separated at birth, and songwriting so out of this world they didn't have names for it yet ('Hot burrito #1', 'Hot burrito #2'). Cosmic, they called it. Weird name for something so human. (20160201)

Flying burrito brothers - Burrito deluxe (1970)
Wild horses couldn't drag him to giving a shit about making another record. Should've been a single. (20160202)

Foo fighters - Foo fighters (1995)
In my young and innocent days I thought 'For all the cows' was jazz. Now I realise it's the kind of minor quirk Dave Grohl spent the rest of his career trying to avoid. (20150929)

Chris Forsyth - All time present (2019)
Guitar explorer drifting down the Nile. More subtle than predecessor Dreaming In The Non-Dream, this one won't deamnd your attention, but give in to its trance. (20190818)

Four Freshmen - Graduation day (1951-56, 2007 released)
Fabled harmony sound resembles smudged lipstick. There is such a thing as progress in art. Fully superseded by Wilson-Wilson-Wilson-Love-Jardine. (first listen, 20160810)

Four seasons feat. Frankie Valli - Gold vault of hits (1965)
What are you gonna listen to between '63's Golden Hits and '66's Second Vault Of Golden Hits? The Four Seasons take bubblegum scarily serious. I always picture four guys in old man's sweaters taking orders and Crewe and Gaudio grinning maniacally holding piles of dosh. Respect. (first listen - 20160808)

Four seasons - Second vault of golden hits (1966)
When Frankie lets loose on 'I've got you under my skin', you really feel the phrase hit home. Who calls a candy coated roller skate ditty 'Opus 17' anyway? Scarily serious. Otherwise it's all 'Candy girl', 'Walk like a man' and 'Big girls don't cry'. What can you make of that? (first listen - 20160808)

Aretha Franklin - Sparkle (1976)
Yes, a Curtis Mayfield fan may miss his trademark open C guitar playing, or his social message songs. This is romantic stuff - ballads have titles 'Look into your heart' and 'Something he can feel', uptempo songs are called 'I get high' and 'Jump'. Orchestra provides a lush sound cushion for Aretha to inhabit. But this was the mid-'70s, Curtis is still a master arranger, Aretha still (just) the Queen. The record, yes, sparkles. (20150926)

Free design - Heaven/Earth (1969)
Now this is where the weird twee starts. (first listen, 20160810)

Free design - The best of (1967-72, 2001 released)
After a long week of working on their meticulous harmonies, family band Free Design would join their congregation in putting up barns.
Mostly fascinating to hear where 17% of the Stereolab sound comes from. (first listen, 20160809)

Bobby Fuller - El Paso rock Volume 2: More early recordings (1962-64, 1997 released)
One for the secret history of rock'n'roll. The processed joy of the Bobby Fuller Four pop had its roots in these burning surf and rock'n'roll recreations. The wildest 'Miserlou' I've ever heard. Fuller could seemingly do it all. Music as dangerous as his life turned out. He's only ever had 'early recordings'. Recommended listening. (20151016)

Ezra Furman - Perpetual motion people (2015)
Finally, someone whose life was saved by rock'n'roll (not nu-rave or new minimalism). Heartbreaking and funny. And some great retro Jonathan Richman pop songs. I just gotta love the guy. (20160906)

Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of sight (2019)
Not a custodian, a re-animator. Fussell brings these unknown American folk songs back to life. I often consider he must be cheating, re-writing these melodies from scratch. They sound now. (20190818)

Galina - Lachen met liefde (1998)
Freak schlager single. Written by Mauro Pawlowski, orchestrated by Hans Mullens and sung by a chanteuse. If you listen closely, you hear shades of 'Just a princess' in the melody. There's a follow-up 'Ik sla me los' with a b-side 'De boete van Pipo', which I've yet to find. A promising title. (20190717)

Gastr del sol - Camoufleur (1998)
Hidden gem in the O'Rourke oeuvre. Find the record, then find the gems on the record. An intellectual band. But beautiful. (20160815)

Gilberto Gil - Realce (1979)
Musica Populeira Brasileira smoothed out in the late '70s like they switched from ice cream to soft ice. Gil is no exception but his gift is melodic invention, and he carries it through. Makes me smile, but no more, Gil. (first listen, 20160816)

Gilberto Gil - Kaya N'gan daya (2002)
Minister of Culture-to-be practices some intercultural dialogue, covers Bob Marley - 17 times. Excuse me, ain't no easy skankin' for me. (20151108)

Górecki / Beth Gibbons - Symphony of sorrowful songs (2019)
Symphonies sound like architecture to me. Large, empty halls, domes, naves. This one is a building that stands alone at the end of time, after mankind's passing, unable to crumble. Sorrow stronger than erosion. Gibbons mourns the human folly - it's what she does. I believe her. (20190709)

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - How I long to feel that summer in my heart (2001)
Gorky's always worked best in small doses. Got it just right on 2001's The Blue Trees EP. After they beefed up the sound with strings on this majestically humble heartbreaker. Fabulous for one LP side. By the second side I no longer care. (20160816)

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Sleep/Holiday (2003)
Sleep. (20160816)

Manuel Göttsching - Inventions for electric guitar (1974)
The deep. It beckons you in. (20190724)

Grateful dead - Steal your face (1974, 1976 released)
Veers schizophrenically between aimless covers (cowboy songs and rock'n'roll songs made to sound like cowboy songs) and spectral self-written ballads (even 'Casey Jones' is a ballad on this live take). Thankfully, the ballads go on for longer than the covers, but it's still a puzzler. 'Stella blue' and 'Ship of fools' highlights. (20150928)

Grifters - One sock missing (1993)
Noise for noise sake. (20151016)

Gruppo di Pawlowski - In inhuman hands (2017)
'Dad, the gnomes in the cellar are doing weird rituals again!' 'Where's my broomstick?' Demon incanting extraordinary. (20190719)

Vince Guaraldi trio - A boy called Charlie Brown (1964)
Perfect in its Zen-like simplicity or retro wallpaper for an oldfashioned cartoon? Guaraldi's piano trio's subtly melodic reveries split opinion. I just like to have it on in the background. Highlight: 'Linus & Lucy' - simple joy. (20151008)

Guided by voices - Universal truths and cycles (2002)
A tapestry  of fragmentary, nonsensical rock shards with here and there an indelible melody peering through. That's how I like my GBV. Strong return to Matador where history shows they belonged. (20151102)

Margo Guryan - Take a picture (1968)
Sometimes a man needs his slightly jazzy, 60s pop chanteuse mother figure to tell him everything will be alright. 'What can I say to make the bad things go away?' ('What can I give you'). Invite me for tea and I know I'll make it through. (20160817)

Hall & Oates - Abandoned luncheonette (1973)
A rich girl's Brewer & Shipley. Fuckin' 'She's gone'! Superb singing, '70s Laurel Canyon patented incessant acoustic guitar strumming. (first listen, 20160819)

Herbie Hancock - Empyrean isles (1964)
Sometimes I feel jazz is one of those mysterious black holes that appear on Siberian mountain sides. I'm fascinated by the surface, can't grasp the bottomless pit. Hancock only supplied the slimmest of framework to his band (the Hancock - Carter - Williams axis of Miles' 2nd quintet, Hubbard on cornet). They proceed with glee into the unknown. Plus 'Cantaloupe island'. (20151015)

George Harrison - 33 and 1/3 (1976)
We could still pretend for old times' sake, but must he make it so plain he's really more into race cars now? (20150922)

Juliana Hatfield - Only everything (1995)
Gigantic guitar pop thrills. Hatfield sings 'em loud and proud. She mangles her guitar sometimes awesome. What happened? (20151017 - first listen)

Isaac Hayes - Shaft (1971)
Generations duped by that fantastic theme song. (20190727)

Hakan Hellström - Ett kolikbarns bekännelser (2005)
There's something alien about great pop, but to go so far as to sing it in Klingon. Actually Swedish.
This is Hellström's reflective, acoustic album. Think expansive folk-and-tropicalia blend, rather than Nebraska. A joy and his best. (20160209)

Andrew Hill - Point of departure (1964)
Revered new jazz classic with iconic cover. They play so much it's hard to hear the record. Maybe just me. (20151013)

Holy Modal Rounders - Holy Modal Rounders (1964)
The most radical record of its time would be the most radical record today again. It sure went wrong somewhere. Not radical because 'Hesitation blues' is the first song to sing 'psychedelic', but because of the glorious freedom in Stampfel and Weber's voices and their complete absorption of and utter disregard for existing forms. Any existing forms. (20151006)

Holy Modal Rounders - 2 (1964)
More songs of raw pleasure. Fellow performers at hootenannies and jamborees must've slashed their tires and sawed through their strings. The kind of uncontrollable element the competition rightly fears. By God, if they'd been scientists, they could have leveled entire fields of study. Music's gain. (20151010)

Horns - Horns, halos and mobile phones (2006)
Instrumental storm of noiserock guitars. Seat of the pants stuff. Tim Vanhamel compared it to Bitches Brew, which is not altogether accurate, but it is like a hurricane in there. I can barely stand it, and I love it. (20190810)

Michael Hurley e.a. - Have moicy! (1976)
Zany, absurd, sentimental, mostly untutored, sometimes frustrating, but also hilarious, nigh on irresistible. Hurley's assortment of gleeful folk deconstructions shows up punk's pretentions as early as 1976. Anybody could do this all along. Well, why didn't they? (20150929)