The Beach Boys - Becoming The Beach Boys

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Oh, dear...

I have loved the Beach Boys for half a century and more, but this really is stretching my loyalty.  It's a collection of outtakes, rejected takes and odd bits of banter from 1961-2 before the band signed with Capitol Records; nine songs are represented here, over 63 tracks.  That's seven, yes seven, versions of each track on average including the master of each.  They're the sort of thing it might be interesting to hear once (and certainly not all together) but as an album release?  Come on!

Frankly, there's an air of desperation about this release, especially after the pretty poor Live In Chicago 1965 from last year.  That was made into a commercial album purely for copyright reasons, and one wonders whether the same applies here.  Certainly, I can't think of any other plausible reason for making this commercially available in this form.  Serious completists may want to have it in their collections, but my advice to anyone else is just to get out your old Beach Boys albums and give this a miss.

The Stray Birds - Magic Fire

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent album

I'm pleased to say that I really like this album.  I enjoyed Best Medicine (their previous one) but, unlike many others, found it just a little lacking in genuine emotion, somehow.  Not here – this is full of zing, sincerity and superb musicianship.

A few samples will give you the feel of this album.  It often has a rootsy feel, enhanced by the instrumentation which includes banjo and fiddle, and it's just great.  There is such energy and obvious joy in the music they're making, backed up by some real instrumental virtuosity, excellent singing (with great harmonies) and a fine ensemble feel, too.  They have a genuine mutual understanding which I think underlies the whole thing and makes it rather special.  There's a good variety of material and feel throughout; Third Day In  Row put me in mind of Tom Petty, Somehow is an out-and-out Country/Everlys heartbreak song, Hands Of A Man has the feel of a passionate traditional ballad (with a real political bite) and so on – and all of it's done very well indeed.

Any slight dubiety I had after Best Medicine has gone: Magic Fire is a really fine album which I have been listening to repeatedly with great pleasure and which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

The Rough Guide To Blues Women

Rating: 5/5

Review: A brilliant collection

This is absolutely fantastic.  It's a superb collection of great music in great performances which have been well remastered so they sound pretty clean but still thoroughly authentic.

Before I heard this, my knowledge of blues women of this period didn’t extend much beyond Bessie Smith so I'm no expert, but there is some simply brilliant stuff here.  There's a variety of styles including solo guitar or solo piano accompaniment (often excellently played), New Orleans-style jazz band and plenty of others.  I'd never heard of many of these women and, having heard this collection, I am heartily ashamed of the fact.  When I got to Track 3, Pick Poor Robin Clean by Geeshie Wiley, it stopped me in my tracks and plenty of others have had a similar effect.  There are some truly excellent performances here and I find the whole thing a delight.

I don't know what a true aficionado would make of this, but to this very amateur enthusiast it's an utterly brilliant collection of gems of which I was almost completely unaware.  If you have any interest whatsoever in this period of blues/jazz, don't hesitate.  This is a monumental bargain which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

Dulcimer - And I Turned As I had Turned As A Boy

Rating: 3/5

Review:
A decent period piece

I think the cover, with it's fey Arthur Rackham-esque section and rather silly mystic bits, tells you much of what you need to know about this album.  It's in that folky/slightly rocky/acidy genre which was so big in the late 60s and early 70s in Britain.  I loved all that at the time and I'm glad this is available again, but it's really not one for repeated playing now I'm more of a grown-up.

There's some very decent playing and nice singing, with some genuinely beautiful harmonies in places (like Mormon's Casket), but the material isn't much to get excited about.  It's pleasant enough as background but most of it doesn't stand up to close attention.  It's pretty bland melodically, and some of the lyrics are frankly dire.  Try this from Pilgrim From The City:

"I felt in my pockets

She'd cleaned them out;

The Pilgrim's words returned

I let out a shout,

"Has anyone seen a holy man

Have you seen him about?"

Enough said.  This is worth a listen, I think, but although I'd have thought it OK in my student room late at night after a non-proprietary cigarette or two, it doesn't really add up to much now.

Lonnie Donegan - The Collection 1956-1962

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A cracking collection

This is a cracking collection of classic British skiffle by one of its greatest exponents.  I was a young boy in Lonnie Donegan's heyday and when I was 10 my dad bought me the LP The Golden Hour Of Lonnie Donegan. I've been a huge fan ever since.

This is great stuff.  There's some very fine musicianship under the lighthearted, sometimes comic feel to all these songs.  The classic hits are all here, as is a fine selection of other stuff and the collection's a joy from start to finish.  The sound is very clean and clear and frankly you just can't go wrong here.  It's a brilliant collection of excellent (and very influential) music at a very reasonable price and I can recommend this wholeheartedly.