Surprises

The album is not a surprise - loved it since I first heard it. Atmos mix, that is the surprise. Not even finished listening to it and already posting about it. Sadly, my listening experience is only in Stereo - but it still sounds different - turns out that Stephen Tayler’s

approach emphasises the band’s performances and reduces the prominence of the original orchestral overdubs.

(That will have pleased the boys who always disliked the heavy use of Orchestra that one J King did without input).

To me - it was and remains a stunning album to launch a career with - think about it ... Pete, Tony and Mike were 19, 18 and 18 respectively. (And their other guitarist - Anthony Phillips was just 17.)

I know I know - never heard of him - and definitely not my usual fayre - BUT .. BUT ... listen to the lyrics on the first and third tracks. Tell me that you didn’t sit up.

I have no idea how I missed this - futzing with my sound set up last night and Siri suddenly started playing 'Trafalgar Square' that I had to Shazam to find out what it was. Then listened to the album once and here we are. Great album. Always nice to discover a 'new' artist.

🎵 Surprise? Not if you know Ren. One of the most extraordinary artists that have emerged in the past decade.

🎵 Massive Attack and Tom Waits ... that's the surprise. The result? As wonderful as you might expect.

🎵 Always liked Joe - and he has still got - 22 albums in. The tour starts soon.

🎵 Found the link via Daniel Savage - thank you - it has been a while - so did not see this one coming. As I type not fully released (June) ... but Pulp ✅ Jarvis ✅ Richard Hawley ❌ .. as far as I can see is not on the record - but there seems to be one of his songs on it - we don’t know which one right now. (Well try to come back to this an update when it gets fully released.

🎵 This album is currently featured on 4 public lists on AlbumWhale - all mine!

BUT - this not exactly a reshare - but an opportunity for you to click on this link and hear the Orchestral Version of The Overview.

🎵 Always loved The Cure. First studio in 16 years. My thanks to Patrick Rhone for highlighting this. As he writes

It’s fantastic. Both classic and modern at the same time.

For me - his voice is definitely not what it was - but that would be hard - he's still got it.

ALWAYS loved The Waterboys. This made me sit up - an entire album dedicated to Dennis Hopper - where the music itself moves through the years of Hopper's life.