Big Country: Peace In Our Time (1988)

Produced by Peter Wolf, this 1988 fourth album from Big Country sounds every bit the year it came out. Very slick, very accessible, very little of the classic Big Country sound. But still that doesn’t stop it from being a fantastic record. Stuart Adamson continues to prove his weight as a songwriter (every song is brilliantly written), and he puts in a magnificent vocal performance, on every track. On the whole, Peace In Our Time may sit a bit low in the BC ranking order, but it is still a remarkable album and I’m always happy when I revisit it.

Tintern Abbey: Beeside - The Anthology (2022)

British psychsters Tintern Abbey released one single in 1967 - “Beeside” / “Vacuum Cleaner” - and then promptly disappeared off the face of the planet. Like most bands, however, they did a fair bit of recording and this collection (courtesy of the great Real Gone Music) collects two dozen of those unreleased masters and stretches the Tintern Abbey story to four LP sides. And it is incredible…maybe not so much for what it is but definitely for what it represents. These tracks are raw, weird, trippy, brash, and loud, and the band’s playing is not always super tight but it does exactly what it needs to do (especially being that these are mostly demos). Listening to these tracks, it’s no wonder the band wasn’t picked up for an album deal. There is very little commercial potential in this material. But that just makes me like it more.  Had there been viable, hip indie labels at the time, this band’s story could’ve played out quite differently. 

That said, the best tracks on this set are the two sides of that lone Deram single. “Beeside” is a great little psych nugget with a vocal melody that Roger Waters most certainly nicked (for “Grantchester Meadows”) and the flip, “Vacuum Cleaner”, has been mixtape/playlist staple for decades. One of my favorite songs ever. Nice to have both of those tracks here. Elsewhere, were treated to 22 songs of varying quality, in varying stages of completion. Some are super lo-fi and noisy while others sound like they were potential singles that just never got released. Some songs are quite well written while others make little sense. One thing is abundantly clear - this band sounds like no one else. It’s a shame they didn’t go the distance. This collection will feed me for eons.

REM: Reckoning (1984)

 

Forty years and a day and it hasn’t aged a second.

Spock's Beard: Day For Night (1999)

 

Generally speaking - and I know I am in the minority here - I tend to prefer the Spock’s era when (drummer) Nick DiVirgilo fronted the band. The four albums with him pulling double duty found them becoming a more collaborative band and led them down some very interesting paths. Prior to that, Neal Morse pretty much called the shots, wrote all the songs, and was the primary producer. While his genius cannot be overstated, I always felt like he was a bit too clean for my liking. That having been said, their fourth album, Day For Night, is perfection, my favorite from this era. The songs are polished but not cheesy, the playing is outstanding, and everyone sounds incredibly inspired. Highlights include the ten minute “Crack The Big Sky” and the album-opening title track, which is one of the greatest Spock’s Beard songs ever. But the whole record is fantastic and worthy of many spins.

Blue Öyster Cult: On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (1975)

 

I’ve never been able to wrap my head around BÖC but I try, and will always try. They totally kick ass, and they are also super weird, so they have both of that going for them, but I just have such a hard time making sense of their songs & song structure. The songs slam and they chug, but they are also full of odd detours and extraneous bits, and they never really follow any sort of traditional verse-chorus-verse formula. There’s tons of energy, especially on this double live release, and the band is super tight (as are their chops - Buck Dharma is incredible) but it’s also a lot. I can imagine just witnessing this in person being exhausting. I don’t dislike this band but I have still yet to crack the code. One of these days….

Guided By Voices: Same Place The Fly Got Smashed (1990)

 This 4th GbV album, from 1990, was kind of the birth of the weird, lo-fi era of the band that brought forth such patchwork beauties as Vampire On Titus and Bee Thousand. A concept album about an alcoholic murderer, this is often a tough spin but in between the fuzz and crackle there are, as has always been the case, some absolutely stunning songs. 

Particular highlights include the classic “Drinker’s Peace”, the tender “When She Turns 50”, and the epics “Blatant Doom Trip” & “Local Mixup / Murder Charge” (“Pendulum” is a pretty special one too). This album is one of the most revered, yet most obscure. Kudos to Scat for doing such a great job reissuing the early GbV catalogue.

Magnum: Chase The Dragon (1982)

 Magnum’s third album, 1982’s Chase The Dragon, finds the band further solidifying their own sound, utilizing some pomp flourishes here and there, but mostly relying on Tony Clarkin’s impeccable songwriting, and Bob Catley, whose voice rivals that of Robin Zander in power and skill. His recent announcement that, with the passing of Tony Clarkin, he simply cannot carry on with Magnum was incredibly sad, and just as understandable. Fortunately we have the albums, and this album is magnificent.