What are you listening to now!?

[Perry Vale]

Monkey Mafia Live in Dublin, from back in the day...

[SiHart]

Rubber Soul.

[SiHart]

Rufus Wainwright in Concert (thanks to Radio 2 and iplayer)

[SiHart]

Nice Weather For Ducks.

[Anthony Williams]

Whatever souless dirge is on in Starbucks at the moment...

[Rob McCow]

I was listening to The Doors this morning! They can't be accused of being 'soul-less'.


(That's the Jim Morrisson 60's psychedelia band, not the apertures for the train carriages.)

[SiHart]

Jet. Paul McCartney and Wings.

[SiHart]

Figure 8 by Elliott Smith. It's the right kind of day for it.

[Si Hunt]

Bob Dylan.

His time has come round again. Nothing pre-1970.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

What are his best Post 1970 classic albums, Si? Or which ones are you giving a whirl to at the moment?

More Joy Division for me on the way home tonight, I reckon. I had some 'John Barry themes' this morning, but it sounded like they were re-recorded by The London Cheapskate Symphony Orchestra. Not bad as such, but if they're not the originals they simply sound wrong.

[SiHart]

I've heard you can't go wrong with Blood on the Tracks.

[Si Hunt]

What are his best Post 1970 classic albums, Si? Or which ones are you giving a whirl to at the moment?

My big CD Upload has reached D, so I'm actually uploading a pick of three of his albums every few days and giving them a random listen.

The pick of his post-1970's albums: "New Morning" is a gentle, acoustic, domestic album made when he was living on a farm and bringing up his kids, so it's really atmospheric, full of homey sort of songs. You'll find "If Not For You" here but lost classics include "Sign on the Window" and "New Morning".

Then you've got "Blood on the Tracks" of course. I've always loved "You're A Big Girl" amid the less obvious songs, and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is really jaunty but it's 90% brilliance - "Simple Twist of Fate", "Shelter from the Storm", "If You See Her Say Hello". Only "Meet Me In The Morning" is a bit crud. And "Idiot Wind" is the best song to play if you're angry and need to vent.

The follow-up, "Desire" is a lost gem. It sounds like it was recorded on a street corner by a group of gypsies, the songs are just picked out really loosely and full of accordians, harmonicas and a lovely Violin played by Scarlet Riviera. I've always liked "Black Diamond Bay" which is a great story song, but "Hurricane" is the big song here. Also the pair of drawled, honked yet great tunes, "Oh Sister" and "One More Cup of Coffee".

The third in this "trilogy", "Streetlegal" is also a personal favourite. "Is Your Love In Vain" is the most wonderfully patronising, grumpy "happy" song ever in which the old goat decides "Alright, I'll fall in love with you" before asking if his intended "Can cook and sew". Terrific! Also I love "Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)" and "Where Are You Tonight?"

There's a few good tracks on the "Born Again" album, "Slow Train Coming". I listen to "Slow Train", "Precious Angel", "Man Gave Names To All The Animals" and the atrociously sung "I Believe In You", because it always makes me giggle how awful his vocals are.

The next good one is "Infidels" from 1983 where he got Dire Straits in. The sound is really muffled and he wilfully sabotaged the album by famously leaving off three of his best songs in years (some of which are so good they now turn up on Greatest Hits albums!) and replacing them by shit ones. But you get "Sweetheart Like You", "Jokerman", "I & I" and "License to Kill", so it's half a great album.

After you've downloaded the single most jaunty and eighties Dylan track "Tight Connection to my Heart" without bothering with the rest of the album, the next ones to get are "Oh Mercy" and "Time Out Of Mind", the two albums where he gets a decent producer in and tones everything down a bit. The songs are gentle, thoughtfully played and pretty good, although again TOOM is half great, half filler in truth. Worth it for "Make You Feel My Love" (now famous for the Adele cover) and "Not Dark Yet".

Then "Love & Theft" (2001) is brilliant, witty and strummy and worth it for "Mississippi" alone in which every line is quotable.

Those are the post '70's highlights!

Si.

[SiHart]

ABBA: Arrival.

[Si Hunt]

"Mississippi (2007 version)". Acousticey!

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Just found this on twitter (Keff haters beware!)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6093254/i_am_the_kefftor.mp3

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I hope everyone has discovered the wonderful Freddy Mercury tribute which can currently be accessed by pressing the golden play button on the google home page.

[Dirk Gently]

I have, very good it is too. 'Don't stop me now' is my absolute favourite Queen track EVER!!!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Going to stick on the rest of Joe McElderry's album "Classic" which I started listening to on the tube home last night. Mostly good although can't help prefering the songs in English to the attempts at opera (yes I'm a snob sorry) and why on earth sing My Heart Will Go On in Italian and then switch to English for the big "Your here there's nothing I fear" key change!

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Going to stick on the rest of Joe McElderry's album "Classic" which I started listening to on the tube home last night. Mostly good although can't help prefering the songs in English to the attempts at opera (yes I'm a snob sorry) and why on earth sing My Heart Will Go On in Italian and then switch to English for the big "Your here there's nothing I fear" key change!

Well I was suitably impressed with most of the rest of the album. The song Solitaire was particularly good. However it's a shame the last track was Nessun Dorma as we'd already had the same aria sung in English halfway through the album (again why when the Italian original is so well known?) so repeating it in it's original language felt like an insult to the intelligence which is a rather unfortunate note to finish an otherwise very good album with.
Time for some audio drama but later on will listen to Will Young's latest album Echoes.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Somewhere over the rainbow followed by I Dreamed a Dream both sung by Joe McElderry - both rather appropriate for me today.

[Si Hunt]

I can't get into Echoes! To be fair, it's not his fault that new Melanie C and Dolly came along the same week. He wasn't to know.

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

I was listening to the ambient radio station on Pandora, when a song that was rather magical came on. I realised that it was a version of Scarborough Fair almost straight away, but when I looked at who it was by, to my surprise - it was Sarah Brightman!

Some prejudices of mine have been blown away today. I never particularly liked much by her (I thought some of her performances in Lloyd-Webber musicals, as well as her cover of A Whiter Shade of Pale, were horrendous), but this particular cover is wonderful

[Si Hunt]

Simon loves Sarah's version of "Scarborough Fair".

Si.

[Perry Vale]

Various Artists - Jumping The Shuffle Blues: Jamaican Sound System Classics 1946-1960

On the rather wonderful Fantastic Voyage record label.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I can't get into Echoes! To be fair, it's not his fault that new Melanie C and Dolly came along the same week. He wasn't to know.

Si.

I'm happy to listen to it but it doesn't seem resonate the way his earlier albums did. Overall not as good as some of his previous albums.