My Vinyl Collection – Page 2

The Who – Who’s Missing

by Revival RecordsSeptember 22, 2022April 11, 20230

Who’s Missing is undoubtedly the better of the two, and side two of that album contained some of my most played Who tracks back then. Fast forward 10 years and the ‘Great Vinyl Cull’ of 1995, as I like to call it, was the last time I saw that record out in the wild. I needed the money and vinyl was dead, right? So I took all my vinyl to Selectadisc in Nottingham and they bought almost all of it, but that’s a story for another day. Suffice it to say it wasn’t that long before I was earning proper money, had seen the error of my ways and started re-collecting all my old LPs, and lots of new ones!

Manic Street Preachers – The Ultra Vivid Lament

by Revival RecordsSeptember 9, 2022January 16, 20230

The first thing to mention is this was written after Nicky Wire lost both of his parents just before the pandemic, and continuing into lockdown the album, or at least its lyrics, reflects sadness, insecurities and loneliness. The loneliness of being an orphan is real even well into middle age. Been there myself. But more than that it makes you reflect on and see the world altogether differently, probably due to the heightened sense of your own mortality.

Pete Townshend – Scoop

by Revival RecordsSeptember 2, 2022January 16, 20230

We kick off with an acoustic version of So Sad About Us, complete with intro by Pete himself. A lovely demonstration of Townshend’s guitar prowess. But, alas, at 2:26 it abruptly stops and heads straight into Brr. Brr is a great piece of music that sounds like it would fit on Rough Mix (1977) quite happily but I’d have preferred it if the entirety of So Sad had survived. Zelda is a standout from side one for me, it reminded me of Michael Nyman (reviewed here too) with the ‘heartbeat’ of violin going through the entire track, and as far as I know, appeared nowhere else other than this compilation. I couldn’t see it on any Who album but it would have played nicely with other solo stuff I think.

Wishbone Ash – Front Page News

by Revival RecordsAugust 23, 20220

Released in 1977, Front Page News definitely rates as early Wishbone, but even so this is what they call the Mk 2 lineup and there seems to be a consensus they were passed their best by then. I hadn’t realised they had been so prolific latterly either, with regular releases well into the 2010s.

Uppers On The South Downs

by Revival RecordsJuly 14, 2022January 17, 20230

Having lived through, and been very much a part of the Mod Revival scene in the late 70s and early 80s, the only band I’d seen live or really heard of from this collection was Purple Hearts. They were quite popular at the time among my friends, and they recorded several fairly iconic albums such as Beat That and Head On Collision Time, featuring the Mod classic Frustration.

Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here

by Revival RecordsJune 23, 2022September 13, 20220

Heaven Up Here was released on Korova in 1981 and was, by all measures, a success – a top 10 album in the UK, an entry in the US Billboard album charts, and it spawned two singles, A Promise and Over The Wall.

Dollar Brand Trio – Anatomy Of A South African Village

by Revival RecordsMay 30, 2022January 17, 20230

Just a shade under 15 minutes, Anatamoy starts off with a single piano playing traditional jazz style over the thrumb of mingling voices in the audience. You can almost smell the cigarette smoke.

Michael Nyman – The Kiss and Other Movements

by Revival RecordsMay 27, 2022February 1, 20230

Imagine a Peter Greenaway movie, personified, going into Pete Townshend’s Lifehouse. The result would be the biorhythm and undulating classical melody of Michael Nyman.

Attacco Decente – The Baby Within Us Marches On

by Revival RecordsApril 30, 2022January 17, 2023

All or Nothing! Records, 1988 A difficult to describe band and quite obscure it seems, Attacco Decente were around from 1984 to 1996, a long …

XTC – Skylarking – Virgin 1986

by Revival RecordsApril 29, 2022July 18, 2023

Close your eyes, imagine laying on a rug in a field, mid summer. You can smell the freshly cut grass, the flowers, and hear the insects buzzing around, the crickets and barking dogs. It’s the English Summer perfectly captured in sampled sound and droning organ. Summer’s Cauldron is a perfect introduction to the album. It sets the theme brilliantly and you know something special is about to happen.