Patterns In Repeat by Laura Marling
What do you get your Dad for his 71st birthday? Well, my daughter did good with this reflection on becoming a new mother and family connections.
Laura Marling (formerly with Noah & The Whale) has a warm, sensitive voice, and these songs reflect those qualities.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes - I Don't Want To Go Home
I've got most of the songs on this, Southside's debut album, on a live album and a compilation album. It's worth having, nonetheless, for the evocative description of the 70's Jersey Shore scene in the liner notes by none other than Bruce Springsteen.
[Edit] It also finishes with a wonderful duet between Southside and Ronnie Spector.
#nowPlaying #SouthsideJohnny #TheAsburyJukes #music #vinyl
#MorningCoffeeAlbum with a mince pie!
Night Owl by Gerry Rafferty
Everyone* knows Baker Street**, and many know Stuck In The Middle With You, but beyond this, Gerry Rafferty is a sadly overlooked artist. He had a soft lilting voice, and wrote some wonderful songs.
This album is the follow up to City To City, which contained Baker Street.
*Possibly an exaggeration
*Or at least Raphael Ravenscroft's sax solo
Goldfrapp - Supernature
I'm not really one for coloured vinyl, but I must admit I'm taken with the translucent green of this 2020 pressing of Goldfrapp's 2005 classic. It sounds bloody good as well.
Willy DeVille - Miracle
Willy DeVille's first album after Mink DeVille bears the production touch of Mark Knopfler, but his voice and writing are as strong and soulful as in the six MdV albums.
The Steve Miller Band - Book of Dreams
Another from the late Mrs H's collection, I've not played this before. Steve Miller is perhaps best known (in the UK anyway) for his hit The Joker.
This is in a similar vein, inoffensive West Coast rock, a la The Eagles.
The sleeve is a bit battered, but after a clean the vinyl is in decent nick.
#MorningCoffeeAlbum with a crumble topped mince pie!
Something Else by The Kinks
Decent copies of this from 1967 are silly money, so I've picked up a 2022 pressing from BMG, and it's an absolute delight.
Tracy Chapman - self-titled
Whenever I play this album, I am struck by the power, both of her writing and of her voice.
She is best known for the first two tracks, Talkin' Bout A Revolution and, of course, Fast Car. But give Behind The Wall a listen (YT link in a reply)
The Most of Jeff Beck (aka Beck-ola)
I bought this from a bargain bucket in WHSmith in 1971, and always assumed it was a selection from various Jeff Beck recordings.
Perusing Discogs I discover no, it's a cut price re-release of the second Jeff Beck Group studio album, Beck-ola from 1969.
As well as Beck it features Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood on second guitar, Nicky Hopkins on piano and Tony Newman on drums.
It's very much a record of its time, but I still enjoy the occasional listen.
#MorningCoffeeAlbum with choccy biscuits!
In The Beginning - An Early Taste of Rory Gallagher
After the breakup of the Impact (formerly Fontana) Showband in 1966, Rory was invited to join a local band in Cork, the Axills. Instead, he recruited that band's drummer and bass player, Norman Damery and Eric Kitteringham for his new band, Taste.
They would be replaced by John Wilson and Richard McCracken when he moved to London in 1968, but in the intervening period the band had a residency at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast.
The owner of the hotel, Eddie Kennedy, introduced them to Mervyn Solomon who owned a small label in the city, Emerald Records, and in July 1967 he took them to his studios, where they recorded a number of songs.
Many of those recordings were lost, but in 1974 Solomon was able to retrieve seven of them and release them in this album.
The production is very basic, but the ability of the then 19 year old Rory is there to be heard.
Andy Hort