Gang Of Four - Entertainment!

I really rated Gang Of Four when I was college, around the time this was released. They were brilliant live. I thought this was very good at the time, but not perfect* - I thought some of the tracks, such as "Natural Is Not In It" and "Return The Gift", were a bit monotonous. Then, when Go4 did a reunion tour about 6 years ago, this seemed to be elevated into the pantheon of all time great albums. I was prompted to listen to it again by hearing the aforesaid anti-consumerism anthem "Natural Is Not In It" on, irony of ironies, a television advert. (I'm surprised it didn't become a hit single and make Messrs King, Gill, Allen and Burnham very rich, which would have been even more ironic).

I'm still not sure if it deserves to be up there with the likes of Sergeant Pepper (or whatever the greatest Beatles album is these days), Pet Sounds (which I'm ashamed to say I still haven't heard all the way through) and Forever Changes, but it's certainly stood the test of time, and I think it's even better than I thought it was 30 years ago. Music taut and electrifying - Gill's scratchy guitar is unique, and intelligent and incisive lyrics. The high point is "At Home He's A Tourist".

However, the inclusion of the subsequent single "Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time", with its B-side "He'd Send In The Army", shows rather mercilessly that Go4 were great, but not for very long. (Spot, in "He'd Send In The Army", the reference to the now mercifully forgotten National Service sitcom "Get Some In".) Still, a great record.

*I rated Entertainment! number 3 best album of 1979, behind The Fall's first two LPs, Live At The Witch Trials and Dragnet. (I'd heard a couple of tracks off The Clash's London Calling but I wasn't keen. I changed my mind some time into 1980.)

The end of REM

No, I'm not going to say "REM RIP", which had become a hoary old cliche within 24 hours of the announcement. I feel sad about it, because although I didn't hear their last album I did hear "Accelerate", and to me it sounded that they still had fuel in the tank.

I still haven't heard the first four albums, and I'll try to seek them out. Like a lot of fans, "Document" was the first one I heard and liked. But "New Adventures In Hi-Fi" is my favourite.

I only saw them live once, at Wembley Arena on the "Green" tour in 1989. At the time their music didn't seem to me to fit big venues like that - I remember people singing along to "You Are The Everything" at the tops of their voices and thinking it was a bit stupid. But obviously they grew into it.

Good luck!

Beethoven - String Quartet No 9 (Rasumovsky No 3)

Finally finished listening to the Rasumovskys. Wonderful wonderful wonderful. So good there isn't anything intelligent I can write. The music says it all.

The Fall - Levitate

When I bought this in 1997, I was incredibly disappointed. I had heard bad stuff from The Fall before, but I realised (as I thought) they would never do anything worthwhile again. (I was wrong.) Listening to it again, the really disappointing thing is the way in which a lot of the songs seem to be created by laying down the musical base, and then Mark E Smith sticking the vocals on as an afterthought. A bit like making pizzas - and I'm talking Domino here, not (eg) the excellent Boca Cabana in Grasse. The only song where Smith seems truly with-it is "4 1/2 Inch". Some of the music could have made awesome Fall songs - "The Quartet Of Doc Shanley", "Hurricane Edward", "Ol' Gang", even the cover of Hank Mizell's "Jungle Rock". What a waste.

And whose idea was the cover of Bob McFadden's 1959 novelty hit, "I'm A Mummy"? Now "Monster Mash" would have been interesting. Perhaps it's not too late...

Catch up!

I hadn't realised it was over 5 months since I last posted here. I haven't been listening to much music - some, but not much, and very little new. Also very little classical music. Here's a list:

Love - Forever Changes (great as ever)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (respected rather than loved, and the last track "Videotape" is awful)
Lee Perry - Arkology (the best bits rather than the whole 3-disk set, but fantastic)
The Fall - "Theme From Sparta FC" (getting to become my favourite Fall song)
Talco - Combat Circus (punk/ska with Italian folk influences, a bit like the Pogues but Italian. Really great, free download from Jamendo).

Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

This sounds better than ever (see link), and I'm getting to like the slow songs. I still haven't got into proper soul yet, though.

Bartok - String Quartet No 3

I really enjoyed this, much better than No 2. It's very taut and compact. The first time I ever heard any Bartok (it was the Violin Sonata), I pigeonholed him as (horrid) modern music. But actually modern is completely wrong - much of this is primitive.

Beethoven - String Quartet No 7, op 59 no 1 (Rasumovsky No 1)

This is fantastic. But the final movement seems a bit underpowered to me, not enough to overcome the tragedy of the slow third movement. Perhaps it was meant to be like that?

Radiohead - In Rainbows

I'm listening to music again, perhaps not as much or as enthusiastically as before, but I am getting back into the habit. Listening to this, I started feeling the same as before (see link), a bit "ho-hum, this is all right but it doesn't really engage me". And then "Reckoner" really got to me. This really is a fine record, I underestimated it last time.

Gone off music

It's ages since I last posted here. The truth is that I've gone off music completely. I've been ill for the last few weeks, and I can't face listening to anything. I hope normal service will resume soon.