This week’s album-length playlist with artists including Bob Dylan, Juliana Hatfield, Madness, David Longdon, and Yes

This is the ‘Gems’ playlist #5, curated by Ian Sharp of ‘LP’

Oct 13, 2023

Welcome to ‘Gems’, the Friday playlist, roughly the length of a vinyl album, featuring rock(ish) tracks I’m enjoying at the moment. These may be new, or they may go back years. One of the tracks will usually be from the album or artist I’ll be writing about in the next dive into an album, which goes out every Monday evening. As tomorrow (14th October) is National Album Day in the UK, on Monday I’ll be diving into Bob Dylan’s ‘Time Out of Mind’, in keeping with this year’s theme - the 1990s. A track from Dylan’s fine album concludes this playlist.

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

‘Gems’. Albums not algorithms. Created on Spotify and never by Spotify.

Also on Apple Music

Note, many of the bands on the playlist are on Bandcamp. If you discover you like any of these tunes, I suggest you check out each band’s respective Bandcamp page and purchase their music if you want to support the bands. Bandcamp is much friendlier to musicians than Spotify.

Side 1

David Longdon - ‘This House’ (from ‘Wild River’, out 20/10/2023)

https://davidlongdon.net/

David Longdon, lead singer of Big Big Train until his sudden death in 2021, recorded two solo albums. This track is from the first, originally released in very limited quantities in 2004. He always intended for it to be remixed and repackaged to take into account his greater experience with recording his music, but sadly never had the opportunity. His second, more recent solo album ‘Door One’, is still available. Both show another aspect of Longdon’s talent as a writer and singer, beyond his fine work with Big Big Train.

Madness - ‘If I Go Mad’ (from ‘Theatre of the Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’, out 17/11/2023)

https://www.madness.co.uk/

Madness continue to make great records, even if a little more under the radar than at the peak of their chart success in the late 1970s - early 80s. This is a promising track from their new - we have to use the word - concept album. Well, concept albums are really all about storytelling through song, so why should it only be prog bands who have all the fun?

Bill Ryder-Jones - ‘This Can’t Go On’ (from ‘Iechyd Da’, out 12/01/2024)

https://billryderjones.co.uk/

First of all, click through to the website - it has one of the best front pages around. To be honest, the Ryder-Jones discography is a gap in my listening. I saw this album reviewed in ‘Uncut’ magazine and was sufficiently intrigued to sample this track (the only one available so far). In the meantime I’ll explore this previous work. “Iechyd Da” means “good health” in Welsh, by the way.

Glasser - ‘Easy’ (from ‘Crux’, out now)

I knew nothing of Glasser, either. This track is a beautiful creation. This text is from the Bandcamp page, because it sums everything up so well: “Specifically, the tracks on ‘crux’ discuss the death of an old friend, her meditations on the fragility of life and the delicacy of relationships in times of uncertainty. More than anything it’s about the importance of creativity and writing while healing, and on an individual level, looking inward and the examination of one’s grief, anxiety, and insecurities. Musically it searches outward, it includes the use of traditional folk, Celtic to communicate her Scottish roots, and Eastern-European styles, all introduced to her lush, atmospheric production, intricate vocal harmonies, and complex rhythms.”

Sun’s Signature - ‘Bluedusk’ (from ‘Sun’s Signature’, out now)

Here’s Elizabeth Fraser’s current project. Again, we’re in the realms of beauty here. The whole album is a reminder of the amazing Cocteau Twins - of course, with a voice as distinctive as Fraser’s anything she sings will be a reminder of other projects (although she’s not a one-trick pony - listen to her contribution to ‘Downside-Up’ and ‘Make Tomorrow’ on Peter Gabriel’s ‘Ovo’ album).

Lisa Mychols & Super 8 - ‘Days’ (from ‘Jem Records Celebrates Ray Davies’, out now)

https://www.jemrecordings.com/

‘Days’ is one of those songs that lends itself to reinterpretation (Kirsty MacColl, notably). I was unaware of this version until I was researching a possible future piece about The Kinks and discovered a series of ‘Jem Records Celebrates …’ albums (they’ve previously covered Pete Townshend, John Lennon, and Brian Wilson). As you can hear from this example, these records are a cut above any kind of cash-in tribute album, and offer many opportunities to explore more of the Jem power-pop roster.

Side 2

Yes - ‘Don’t Kill the Whale’ (from ‘Yessingles’, out now)

https://www.yesworld.com/

It’s counter-intuitive for Yes to offer a singles collection, given their reputation for writing whole album side prog epics. Many of the tracks on this album are edited, of course, but ‘Don’t Kill the Whale’ was always single-length. It comes close to being a protest song and is all the better for it. Radio-friendly (not that it gets many plays) and elevated by a Rick Wakeman keyboard variation going into the coda.

Gong - ‘Tiny Galaxies’ (from ‘Unending Ascending’, out 03/11/2023)

https://planetgong.co.uk/home.shtml

Here’s another band that is still going after many decades and line-up changes. At college, several friends were into Steve Hillage’s ‘Fish Rising’ album, and only later did I make the Gong connection. It helped that their album ‘Camembert Electrique’ was marketed at a rock-bottom price for a while. Anyway, here’s the single from the forthcoming album.

Juliania Hatfield - ‘Telephone Line’ (from ‘Sings ELO’, out 17/11/2023)

https://www.julianahatfield.com/

The credible tribute/celebration album is becoming a thing. Juliana Hatfield has mixed tributes (The Police, Olivia Newton-John) with her own songwriting. Jeff Lynne, despite going in a more overtly commercial direction than his one-time ELO colleague Roy Wood (see

Brad Kyle

‘s post of a few weeks ago) is a very well-respected musician and this is a different but enjoyable take on the single from ‘A New World Record’. Hatfield has a strong yet subtle voice, used to good effect here and, again, I want to hear more.

Allison Russell - ‘Springtime’ (from ‘The Returner’, out now)

https://allisonrussellmusic.com/

I saw a post from a Facebook friend, showing several albums he’s recently acquired. About half I knew to be great records, so it made sense to hear the others. One of them was ‘The Returner’. I love discovering music that way, because it’s too easy to get stuck in a genre and limit ourselves as a listener. This is the opening track on Russell’s new album and it blew me away; it’s great when you think you’ve understood all that’s going to happen in a track and then it moves in a different direction.

Bob Dylan - ‘Tryin’ to Get to Heaven’ (from ‘Time Out of Mind’, 1997)

https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/time-out-of-mind/

I’ll have much more to say about ‘Time Out of Mind’ in my Monday post. There have been - oh, I don’t know, let’s just say millions - of words written about Dylan and there will always be something more to say. Twenty-six years ago, this was interpreted as Dylan preparing for The End. Thank heavens, we’re in 2023 and he’s still here, recording and, of course, gigging.

See you on Monday.

I’m compiling a Christmas playlist - a ‘double album’ of songs about Christmas or with a Christmas feel. Songs that don’t often feature on the radio, or appear on ‘Now That’s What I Call Christmas’ and the like. It would be great to hear from you - what is your buried treasure track, from any genre? I'll let you know if your song makes the album.