The Record Revival

Reviews of vinyl, CDs and cassettes that don’t fall into one of our publication categories. Car boot and charity shop finds, one off or self made recordings, or simply great records that demand attention.

XTC – Skylarking – Virgin 1986

Jonby Jon

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.

Manic Street Preachers – The Ultra Vivid Lament

Jonby Jon

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.

Paul McCartney – Driving Rain

Jonby Jon

It must be really difficult constantly being compared to somebody, like your father for example, but even more so if that somebody is your younger self. McCartney set such a high standard with his first solo LP, McCartney, RAM and then the initial Wings offerings including the excellent Band On The Run, that any dip in form seems amplified and somehow more disappointing. I actively avoided a lot of it as I preferred to remember one of my heroes at his very best. Was that unfair? Was I wrong to do so? Let’s find out….