This week’s album-length playlist with artists including Elvis Costello, XTC and Robert Fripp

This is the ‘Gems’ album-playlist for 17/11/2023 with new and classic tracks, with listening notes, curated by Ian Sharp of ‘LP’.

Welcome to ‘Gems’, my weekly playlist, the length of a vinyl album, ranging across many facets of new and classic music.

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Each ‘Gems’ playlist includes Listening Notes (below), giving the source, release dates, and background into the song or artist.

‘Gems’. Albums, not algorithms.

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Side 1 (24 mins)

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - ‘Sunday’s Best’ (from ‘Armed Forces’, 1978)

I was reminded of ‘Armed Forces’ recently while reading David Hepworth’s book (aff.) called … er … ‘LP’. Hepworth was discussing LP cover art, and cited ‘Armed Forces’ as an example of the ambition the 12” square format could inspire, as opposed to the limited space of cassettes and then compact discs. Anyway, this waltz highlights the energy and innovation of early Costello music, before we even suspected the many different directions he would explore. 

The New Pornographers & Aimee Mann - ‘Firework Falling in the Snow (Acoustic Version)’ (single, out now)

I chanced upon this track when searching for whatever Aimee Mann is up to these days. The New Pornographers are a band I’m aware of (their name is distinctive) without ever having listened to them. I’ll be exploring more, based on the descriptions of their style of "peppy, gleeful, headstrong guitar pop" (The New Pornographers: Mass Romantic Album Review | Pitchfork). Clearly this lovely acoustic version, with harmonies from Aimee Mann, isn’t that.

Aimee Mann - ‘Jacob Marley’s Chain’ (from ‘Whatever’, 1993)

Aimee Mann was a member of the excellent ‘Til Tuesday. I played their album ‘Everything’s Different Now’ incessantly in the late 80s (I found it via the inclusion of the Elvis Costello song ‘At the Other End (Of the Telescope)’. I wandered into a local record shop and they were playing her exuberent single ‘I Should Have Known’, which briefly was the best single I’d heard for a long time. ‘Jacob Marley’s Chain’ was one of the other tracks on the CD single and demonstrates her gift for melody. The full album ‘Whatever’ was fully up to the high standards she’d already set.

Robert Fripp - ‘North Star (First Edition: Original 1979 Release)’ (from ‘Exposure’, 1979)

I’ve been listening to Fripp’s ‘Exposure’ album recently while I wrote a short piece about it, which I hope will appear as a guest post elsewhere soon. This is one of the more reflective pieces on the album, and is an example of Fripp’s guitar echoing the stars glistening.

David Cross Band - ‘Karma Gain’ (from ‘Ice Blue, Silver Sky’, out now)

David Cross was a member of King Crimson and he’s continued to make excellent albums ever since. While sometimes the spoken ambient noises that are a motif of this track and go across the album as a whole have the potential to become irritating, the songs and performances are strong and both ‘Karma Gain’ and the full album will repay the many further listens I’ll be enjoying.

Steve Hillage - ‘It’s All Too Much’ (from ‘L’ remastered, 1976)

It’s still a hot streak for The Beatles, so here’s a cover of one the many excellent George Harrison songs he contributed. Steve Hillage’s version highlights the new age phychodelia present in the song, which is a good fit for this playlist. I’ll include some actual Harrison solo material next week.

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Side 2 (22 mins)

The Smile - ‘Wall of Eyes’ (from ‘Wall of Eyes’, out 26/01/2024)

This is Johnny Greenwood and Thom Yorke from Radiohead, with drummer Tom Skinner and produced by Nigel Godrich. When Radiohead took a diversion after the success of ‘OK Computer’ it seemed they may have left the vintage rock approach behind. This is more hypnotic than a rock out, yet still enables them to play with a slightly more traditional rock approach.

Pete Townshend - ‘The Sea Refuses No River’ (from ‘All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes’, 1980)

Here is a traditional rock approach from Pete Townshend. Given the almost complete nature of the demos he brings (brought?) to Who sessions, it’s no surprise he has produced some excellent solo records. This is an epic, often neglected, song. Much as Townshend has a good voice, I’d love to hear Daltrey tackle this.

Blonde Redhead - ‘23’ (from ‘23’, 2007)

Thanks to

Jude Rogers

for including this in her playlist (designed to speed recovery from a cold). The second band in this week’s playlist that had escaped me until hearing this - Blonde Redhead are another of the 4AD bands that seem timeless. When I was compiling this week’s Gems I made a note about the possibility of making it a 4AD special. Although they have curated their own ‘Best Of’ playlist. 

XTC - ‘This World Over’ (from ‘The Big Express’, 1984) 

‘The Big Express’ has just been remixed by Stephen Wilson. This is from the original release and, while the album can be much wilder than this, sometimes reflective XTC is exactly what’s required to put the world to rights.

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Long Video Gem of the Week

David Cross Band - ‘Starless’

‘Starless’ is the classic King Crimson track; it’s an astoundingly powerful, beautiful, reflective song. This is true to the Crimson version but the players David Cross has assembled bring their own sparkle to the song as they stretch out and just enjoy the music.

See you in a couple of days with a Glimpse into ‘Ommadawn’ by Mike Oldfield.

Enjoy the music,
Ian

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