Bowie depression...

It's official, I am depressed. The latest reissue from Bowie has finally landed and I can't really justify forking out £185 for it. I've had to content myself with listening to all of my Bowie albums on an almost constant cycle over the past 3 days.

I think therefor it's only right that I provide my top 5 Bowie albums...

5 - 'The Next Day'

When I first heard this a few years ago I wasn't convinced - now I am. There's a real energy and anger breaking through on some of these tracks. 'Where are we now' is a beautiful reflective song and the title track and vale times day are full of vitriol. I love it!

4 - 'Aladdin Sane'

Not one of Bowies easiest albums to listen to but I'm a fan none the less. The title tracks bizarre piano solo is tweaking at the insane but the album is a quality offering overall. The 4 singles from the album are great with my favourite being drive in Saturday.

3 - 'Hunky Dory'

A huge selection of great songs again with the obvious highlight being 'life on Mars' - probably by favourite Bowie song bar none. The album is less coherent than his next offering (which tops my list) and has a few low points. Lots of highs though - this one gets spun a lot...

2 - 'Lets Dance'

Again there are more than enough hit singles on this album - side A contains some crackers in the form of 'modern love, let's dance and china girl... Is there a better A side out there? The production is great and Nile Rogers brings a lot to the table with this album.

1 - 'The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars'

Is there a bad track on this whole album? I think not. From the first track to the last the quality is undeniable, I love every single minute of this album. Highlights for me include the emotion of 5 years, the proggy guitar solo in moonage daydream not forgetting the big hits on the album.

There an honourable mention here for '1966' a collection of Bowies pre RCA songs that was re-pressed for record store day last year. This list is by no means exhaustive and all of my Bowie LPs get regular spin time.

Almost 2 years since my last confession....

Good evening,

It is no coincidence that 2 years have passed since my last blog entry and my youngest daughter will be turning two years old in 3 days time. Those children do take up a lot of time and space don't they.

Rest assured my collection has grown constantly and I have added some absolute gems to my collection.

I have also started a youtube channel with the aim of uploading a brief (5-10 minutes) album review of some of my favourite albums as well as some that are a little harder to find. I have recorded three of these reviews and they can be found on my channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDGO7t_V5kuGnyQ7hmf_pJg

recent additions (this week) to my collections are:

1. Oscar Peterson - West Side Story. Lovely old verve pressing - a bit tatty but plays great. Classic Peterson trio playing very good arrangements of the Bernstein tunes.
2. Shorty Rogers - Plays Richard Rogers. East coast big band jazz, original 1957 pressing sounds great. Big sound and obvious harmonies but a great listen none the less - the cover is brilliant as well.
3. Frank Sinatra - Sings Cole Porter. Capitol pressing with flip back sleeves, not yet listened to but the track listing is great and the vinyl looks clean and tidy.
4. Stan Getz - Captain Marvel. This has been played - post drug addiction Getz with a tidy trio, crazy solos and interesting compositions. Really enjoyed this but will have to give it another listen carefully soon.
5. Ben Webster - Saturday Night at the Montmartre. The opposite of the Stan Getz, relaxed, mellow, lyrical phrasing (typical Webster) on a label called 'Black Lion' which I've never heard of. Excellent breakfast record.
6. Chet Baker - The touch of your lips. Later Chet Baker with a trio, as you'd expect a high quality delivery but Chet sounds tired in the vocal numbers
7. Ella Fitzgerald - Rogers and Hart songbook. Not yet played. This is a cheap 1 disk mfp pressing (not an original verve) but none the less contains tracks I'm yet to own.
8. Herb Albert - Under a Spanish moon. Unplayed, in mint condition with some interesting personnel - will spin soon and report back

In total I paid £15 for all of the above - very pleased with myself and enough listening to keep myself occupied for a good long while.

Other recent additions include a green copy of 'super ape' by Lee Scratch Perry which I'm rather fond of and will be getting a review video at some point.

Thanks for reading and I promise to blog a little more regularly from here on.....