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I'm back! Had a few months off but I'm hoping to get back in to regular posting now. :) I picked up this copy of OMD's Dazzle Ships at a market, it was a great find. The band have always had an experimental edge but that aspect of them shines here more than any of their other albums. Musique concrète numbers like Radio Prague and Time Zones recall Cold War paranoia, and also show influences from Kraftwerk's Radioactivity. Whilst none of the singles hit the commercial heights of the band's previous album, they're certainly not lacking in quality. The rhythmic guitars of Genetic Engineering give it an immense driving energy, whilst The Romance of the Telescope is a ballad as beautiful as anything the band have ever written. Dazzle camoflage was used in World War One, and the art work was created by Peter Saville after seeing an Edward Wadsworth painting, so the artwork hints at both militaristic and artistic influences. This combination echoes the album's blend of experimental and accessible. It's a great addition to any collection - the ideal blend of popular and experimental synth music. https://www.instagram.com/p/BnhX-4MDJa1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xqmb7b2yy01q

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The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds is the kind of album that everyone knows. Along with Sgt. Peppers, it represents the sound of the 1960s to a lot of people. Bolstered by timeless singles God Only Knows and Wouldn't It Be Nice, this album saw The Beach Boys expand their sound beyond the surf rock of their early albums in to something which is tricky to describe. Influences include the pre-psychedelic sounds which were beginning to emerge on the West Coast, jazz and rock & roll all combined with their trademark vocal harmonies to create something entirely new. The lyrics reflect this change in style too - gone are the adloescent musings on girls, cars and surfing of their earlier albums. Instead, we get some much deeper ruminations on love. This is one of the few of the albums I own in mono (along with a lot of the early Beatles stuff) and whilst I'm not a passionate advocate of the sound like Brian Wilson is, it lends the music a very comprehensive, full sound. The mood of the album is as hard to pin down as it's style, but the unifying thread through the whole thing is the genuine beauty of the sound. #thebeachboys #petsounds #brianwilson #godonlyknows #wouldntitbenice #vinyl #vinyls #vinylrecord #records #record #albums #albumsleeve #green #yellow #goats

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Upstairs at Eric's was the first of Yazoo's two studio albums. Released in 1982, it followed the synthpop example which acts like Gary Numan and Depeche Mode had already begun to set in the UK. The thing that sets it apart from these acts is Alison Moyet's powerful vocal. On paper, a voice which seems better suited to singing Soul music looks like an odd match for synthpop, but in practice it works perfectly. Both Moyet and Vince Clarke contribute several utterly timeless pop songs here, the big hits being Don't Go and Only You. Albums tracks like Midnight and Bad Connection are equally brilliant combinations of driving synth music whilst Tuesday and Winter Kills both show off Clarke and Moyet's respective gifts for lyricism as well as pop music. As they only released two albums, I don't think Yazoo get the credit they deserve - this is one of my favourite albums of all time. I'm not that familiar with Clarke's career post-Yazoo, but I can tell you that Moyet's voice is as powerful as ever and her most recent two albums are outstanding examples of how electronic pop can sound bang up to date. #yazoo #upstairsaterics #alisonmoyet #vinceclarke #depechemode #record #records #recordcollection #vinyl #vinyls #album #albums #music

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Had a bit of a festive break, but now I'm back! This was the collaboration which, years ago now, first introduced me to St Vincent. Prior to this I was never that enthusiastic about new music, believing that it would always be inferior to classic bands like Talking Heads. So I came to this expecting to hear a kind of master and apprentice situation between Byrne and Clark - wow was I wrong! One of the reasons this collaboration works so well is that - despite Byrne's decades in the industry and Clark only having had three albums out at the time - the two function as complete equals. Every song that either of them contribute is faultlessly written - my personal favourite is I Should Watch TV. Despite making very little sense, I find them clever and a lot of fun to listen to. The music is a truly original combination of a brass band and drum machine - the brass gives the album a timelessly funky feel, but at the same time the drum machine makes it feel very modern. I'm not always a fan of brass instruments on records - it might just be my set up, but I find that their higher frequencies can be exaggerated until it's almost unpleasant to listen to. This is not the case here, a lot of care has gone in to making sure this album makes the most of vinyls characteristic warmth. (As an added bonus, you might notice my copy is signed by both of them!) #davidbyrne #stvincent #annieclark #lovethisgiant #talkingheads #vinyl #vinyls #vinylrecord #record #recordcollection

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Haim's debut album - 2013's Days Are Gone - has a sound that balances classic and modern pop perfectly. Their well crafted melodies and gorgeous vocals led many to compare the band to Fleetwood Mac, and it's easy to see why. There isn't a single bad song on the album, but the 5 song run from Falling to Honey & I that opens the album is guaranteed to put you in a good mood, the atmosphere it sets up is so sunny and care-free. The sounds gets a little more experimental on Days Are Gone and My Song 5 (especially the latter) but this never gets taken too far, or makes the songs anything less than a joy to listen to. The album wraps up with Running If You Call My Name, which has more of a melancholic air than the rest of the album, and winds it down perfectly. One of the top 10 albums of the decade for me. #haim #daysaregone #ificouldchangeyourmind #record #records #recordcollection #vinyl #vinyls #vinylrecord

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Peter Gabriel 3 (or Melt) is an album of dark beauty. It utilises heavy, tribal drums without cymbals and early synthesisers to create an atmosphere of foreboding. Nowhere is this more evident than the first track, Intruder, a song which is possibly the creepiest in my whole collection. Kate Bush provides backing vocals on a couple of songs, including the album's big hit Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control, my personal favourite of the album. The way the drums punch through on that song's climax is really something, especially on vinyl where this album sounds great! The lyrical highlight of the album has to be Family Snapshot, which details an assassination attempt on the president from the perspective of the assassin. The lyrics are so subtle and intelligently used that I still notice new things to think about every time I listen to it, and they're matched perfectly to the music in the song. The album closes with Biko, a tribute to apartheid activist Stephen Biko - Gabriel also closes his concerts with this, leaving the microphone in an empty spotlight as he leaves the stage. It functions as well ending his concerts as it does this album. #petergabriel #melt #3 #blackandwhite #b&w #absurd #record #records #recordcollection #vinyl #album #albumsleeve #albumart

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The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society is a quintessentially British album. Ray Davies was already known for writing vivid, melancholy stories of 'the little people' - his lyrics are often based around characters leading normal lives, dealing with normal problems. It is the beautifully observed, poetic way that he deals with these characters that has made him one of Britain's finest songwriters (and earned him a knighthood!) He uses this ability to absolute perfection on this album, evoking a picture of an England he felt the country was at risk of losing in the late sixties. My personal favourite of his topics here is nostalgia - dealt with on Picture Book and Do You Remember Walter, which ends with one of my all time favourite lyrics - 'people often change, but memories of people can remain' It is not just the lyrics that help to evoke this specific time and place. The music of the album matches perfectly; my personal favourite instance of this is the increasing tempo and climax of Last of the Steam Powered Trains - for an album often said to be a total desertion of their earlier rock roots, this song has a lot of momentum! On Sitting By The Riverside, the music really transfers the listener to a relaxing afternoon under a tree by a river before the psychedelic interludes take you to a slightly darker place, perhaps borne of staring at the current a little too long... The copy I have is possibly the most beautiful record I own. It's difficult to capture on camera, but it is green with orange marbled specks, intended to capture the sight of sunlight through leaves according to the sleeve notes. It contains both the stereo and mono pressings of the album, and this is one of very few albums that I actually prefer the mono version of (along with early Beatles and Beach Boys records) The sound of the drums on Big Sky and Wicked Annabella have a real punch to them in mono. #thekinks #kinks #villagegreen #villagegreenpreservationsociety #colouredvinyl #greenvinyl #marbledvinyl #vinyl #record #records #recordcollection

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Something perhaps a little less well known than the other stuff I've posted, but certainly just as good. Christine & the Queen's debut album Chaleur Humaine is a perfect example of what synth-pop can be: simultaneously stylish and fun. The album jumps back and forth between up tempo songs like Tilted, iT, Science Fiction & Narcissus is Back (all of which are stand out tracks) and slower, gentler ballads such as Jonathan, Saint Claude and No Harm is Done. The latter tracks are all heartbreakingly beautiful but to be honest there isn't a song on the album that doesn't brilliantly achieve what it sets out to do. Considering the lyrics were originally written in French, they have translated remarkably well in to English. Some have remained in French however, and hearing lyrics sung in a different language adds a texture that is certainly lacking from my record collection! #christineandthequeens #chaleurhumaine #vinyl #vinylrecord #records #record #recordcollection

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Blondie's Parallel Lines is possibly the defining album of New Wave. As with so much of that genre, it emerged from the New York scene of the time. There are no bad songs on the album, but some of the non-singles get passed over in favour of songs like Heart of Glass, Sunday Girl, One Way or Another and Hanging on the Telephone. In the hands of most other bands even one of those singles would be career defining, but Blondie make them sound effortless. It may come as a surprise to learn that all of those four classic songs were passed over for the first single in favour of Picture This. I can see why; the lyrics are so evocative and the melody is beautiful. But it isn't just the singles that make this album such a classic album. It would be foolish to ignore the moodiness of songs like Fade Away and Radiate or I'm Gonna Love You Too, which I suppose you could call proto-pop-punk (if you like labels... And alliteration) #blondie #parallellines #debbieharry #vinylrecord #vinyl #records #record #recordcollection

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To describe Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense as my favourite live album doesn't do it justice. Listening to it is an absolutely joyful experience, you can feel the energy of the band resonate throughout the music. Every song brings something new to the table when compared with the studio versions, whether that is by stripping it back to the bare minimum (Psycho Killer) or throwing everything that the expanded line up has at it (Slippery People, Life During Wartime). The tracklisting leans pretty heavily on Speaking In Tongues as this was recorded on the tour supporting that album - no bad thing as it is a remarkable album that lends itself to live performance. This version of the album actually removes some tracks that feature in the film version, and shortens a couple of others so that it fits on one record. These were restored in the 2000 remastered re-release of the album, which is even better (but not available on vinyl, I don't think). It also changed the tracklisting so you don't get the build up that came with the band coming on one member at a time. Despite all of these alterations to the brilliant Jonathan Demme film of the same name, the album is still a truly great listen, and one of the highlights of my collection. #stopmakingsense #talkingheads #davidbyrne #tinaweymouth #jerryharrison #chrisfrantz #speakingintongues #vinyl #vinylrecord #record #records #recordcollection

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If you're after a modern classic, I can't suggest anything better than Father John Misty's I Love You, Honeybear. I was initially put off by the fact that this album was often labelled as country influenced and folk-pop, since I don't really enjoy either of those genres in their modern incarnations. Thankfully, I gave it a go about six months after it came out and wow what a great album! The labels above do apply so I can see why it was described that way, but primarily it's just a collection of brilliantly written songs. Songs titles like Chateau Lobby #4 (In C for Two Virgins) and The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment betray how clever the lyrics are throughout. As with all of FJM's work, it's hard to tell when he stops being sincere (or if he ever started) so I find it's best not to get bogged down in that and just enjoy the lyrics for what they are - clever, insightful and a joy to listen to. The styles don't fit neatly in to any genres really - there's certainly evidence of Tillman's Southern American, Christian upbringing with tints of the gospel and country that must have been part of the atmosphere there. But he also utilises synthesisers on True Affection (a clever reflection of the lyrical subject matter) and leans towards hard rock on The Ideal Husband. If you're someone who complains that nobody releases good music nowadays, give it a listen! I'd be very surprised if you were disappointed. #fatherjohnmisty #iloveyouhoneybear #FJM #ILYH #vinyl #vinylrecord #vinylrecords #record #records #recordcollection

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You don't need me to tell you how much impact Simon & Garfunkel had, despite their relatively short recording career together. The jewel in that crown was their final album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. I'm a huge fan of Paul Simon's solo career and his lyrical style, and Art Garfunkel's angelic voice brings something really special to all of that. The title song is equivalent to a modern hymn in it's beauty. The reason I listened to this today is because I woke up with Keep The Customer Satisfied stuck in my head for some reason - it didn't disappoint! Something about Roy Halle's production on this song conveys a sense of such overwhelming joy that it can't help but out you in a good mood. My favourite song of the album though is The Boxer - I usually see poetry and lyrics as two separate art forms, but sometimes you have to acknowledge that the sheer quality of some lyrics are capable of breaking that distinction, and this is certainly one of those times. #simonandgarfunkel #paulsimon #artgarfunkel #bridgeovertroubledwater #autumnal #autumn #winter #record #records #recordcollection #vinyl #vinyls #coverart

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Apologies for the few days off, but I return with The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead. Without meaning to fit the stereotype of the mopey teenager, the lyrics on this album (along with basically anything that Morrissey wrote) basically defined my time at sixth form. Whilst my world view has become (slightly) sunnier since then, the poetry of the album is undeniable. From the melancholy of I Know It's Over, through the humour of Vicar In A Tutu and Frankly Mr Sharma, to the vitriolic anger of Bigmouth Strikes Again, Morrissey's lyrics complement the mood of Marr's music perfectly. That said, my copy sounds AWFUL. It's a repressing from 2009 and is so sharp to listen to that it's unpleasant. The two Smith's albums I have original pressings of sound excellent, but this and the other repressing (Meat Is Murder) are really poor. I'm usually very suspicious of remasters, but might splash out on the recently released anniversary remasters of this to see if that has remedied the problem. The album also has the perfect indie single, in the form of There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. It is the perfect distillation of everything that defines The Smiths: gorgeous melody combined with moody, poetic lyrics to create an outstanding piece of music. #thesmiths #thequeenisdead #

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I love all five albums that The Police put out, but Ghost in the Machine is possibly my favourite. (Regatta de Blanc is the other contender, if anyone's interested) Whilst they explore a dark, unsettling atmosphere on several of their other songs (Don't Stand So Close To Me, Every Breath You Take), that mood pervades this whole album. It's amazing that their debut, just three albums before this, has such a raw, almost punk feel that is sounds like it could have been recorded live in one take by just the three of them. Skip back to this and they're relying much more on the synth sound that was really beginning to take off in pop music of the time. The hit single was of course Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, but that is by far the brightest song in terms of both lyrical content and sound. Songs like Omega Man, Invisible Sun and Darkness have a real dark beauty to them that I find it hard to pin down. Most Police albums have an absolute dud though (Born in the 50s and Mother both stand out to me as significant mis-steps) and here that comes in the form of One World (Not Three). This is Sting at his most preachy, and the repetitive lyrics grate on me so badly for some reason! I haven't mentioned vinyl records as a medium specifically yet, but this is one of the best sounding albums I own. Everytime I put it on, the way that the warmth and depth of the bass contrasts with the cold synth lines really transports me to the dystopian near-future that this album comes from (for me anyway) #thepolice #ghostinthemachine #sting #black #red #digital #vinyl #vinylrecord #record #records #recordcollection

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The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street was an album that it took me a little while to get in to, for some reason. As a teenager, I was very much on The Beatles side of the Beatles/Stones debate. I always saw the Stones as a singles band where I have always been an album-oriented listener. However, towards the end of my teens and now in to my twenties I began to realise quite how man quality Stones albums there were from the late 60s/early 70s. Of these, Exile is a definite highlight. Possibly my favourite double album of the twentieth century? It avoids the usual double album problem of sprawling over various genres, sticking with the confident, bluesy rock that the Stones do so well and refining it in to 18 classic songs. As a side note: my first copy of this album was a deluxe CD (shudder) with some really great bonus tracks on, especially So Divine and Pass The Wine. I usually avoid bonus tracks like the plague - there's often a reason the artist didn't release them in the first place! But in this instance it just goes to show how much quality material was recorded; they couldn't even fit it all on two albums! #therollingstones #rollingstones #thestones #exileonmainstreet #collage #grey #vinyl #vinylrecord #vinylrecords #record #records #recordcollection

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Bringing things bang up to date with St Vincent's Masseduction - released just last Friday! I've been a huge fan of St Vincent since her Love This Giant collaboration with David Byrne, and have all of her albums. We finally got the option for a deluxe edition with this album so I dove straight at that and got a poster, lyric magazine, stickers(!) and the album pressed on pink vinyl. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, but at the heart of it all is another album in a catalogue which is quickly growing to be one of the strongest of our generation. Jack Antonoff's production has knocked off some of the more experimental edges of the sound, but the overall sound doesn't suffer at all from this pursuit of accessibility. #stvincent #masseduction #pink #yellow #fearthefuture #losageless #vinyl #vinylrecords #vinylrecord #record #records #recordcollection

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Not quite as iconic as the other albums I've posted, but quite possibly my favourite album of all time - it's Hounds of Love by Kate Bush! Side one is a collection of some of the best singles of Bush's career - Running up that Hill, Hounds of Love and Cloudbusting are the holy trinity of Kate Bush singles (and would be my recommended starting place for anyone looking to investigate her music.) Meanwhile, side two is a suite of songs based around the idea of a woman lost at sea. In my opinion, in contains some of the most inventive and brilliant music ever recorded. #katebush #houndsoflove #runningupthathill #cloudbusting #vinyl #vinylrecords #record #records #recordcollection