May 2001

Piano Magic 'Low birth weight' - (Rocket Girl - Ltd edition of 500 repressed in brown vinyl). If Piano Magic were consistent you would not be able to shut me up about them. About a fifth of this album sounds far too like Coctaeu Twins / Lush for comfort, then there are a couple of stabs at electronica, but what is left is absolutely wonderful. Think of prime period Durutti Column (i.e. 'LC'), and throw in the vocal and slightly naïve charm of the Yong Marble Giants and that gets in the right ballpark. Excellent stuff.

State River Widening Self titled release, again on Rocket Girl. This nicely pressed slab of 180 gram vinyl contains some instrumental post rock with a slightly folky influence. Acoustic guitar plays a prominent part, and the whole has a nice relaxed feel. Both these records exude that elusive quality of being part of something, they bring back memories of how diverse yet focused Factory Records were at their early eighties peak. There is something going on in London at the moment, albeit in a quite quiet and delicate way, and Rocket Girl are definitely at its epicentre both as a label and retailer. If you don't buy either of these, buy the compilation CD.

Tool 'Lateralus' - Bought out of curiosity generated by the thread elsewhere On first listen there is definitely something to this, though I have to admit that a) heavy metal ain't normally my bag, and b) I can't get the above two albums off my turntable at the moment. 'Lateralus' seems on first listen to cover quite a few bases from almost ambient right through to Beavis and Butthead style head-banging thrash. Beautifully packaged. Will report back when I have given it a proper listen.

Tony.

PS The new Mogwai album I bought at the start of this thread is completely stunning. A fabulous album that I am finding incdedibly hard to remove from my CD player.

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joy division released one 12" on a french label before the uk release if my memory serves me, is there a tony wilson connecton there- i cant remember much more than that.

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There was a 33rpm 7” French release of Atmosphere backed with Dead Souls, it was on the Sordide Sentimental label and limited to about 1500 copies. Unfortunately I do not have a copy, though I have seen one. The recording of Dead Souls is available on Still and the Heart and Soul CD box set.

Atmosphere was then released as a 12” on Factory, initially with the remix of She’s Lost Control as the A side, not B side, these had black not white labels, and are a massively better sounding cut than the normal UK 12” (it is not a different recording, just a different cut). This is a fantastic sounding piece of vinyl, though unfortunately seems very rare, I have only ever seen two copies, of which thankfully I have one. Many of the standard copies with Atmosphere as the A side are very dark red if you hold them to the light, just like the first pressing of Unknown Pleasures (I have recently noticed shops charging more for these).

The only relatively new releases I am personally aware of are the official release of the bootleg Preston 28th February 1980, this is nicely packaged in a gatefold sleeve and cut on purple vinyl, though sonically is pretty poor. File under collectors / completists only. The BBC Sessions has recently been released as a low quantity pressing on 180 gram vinyl. I must get one of these before they all vanish.

The Joy Division recordings I would most like to see get a nice clean official release is the whole of the RCA demo session. This has surfaced as a whole range of bootlegs in the past, usually credited to Warsaw and sold in a very similar sleeve to Unknown Pleasures. There are a couple of tracks included on the (very good) Heart and Soul box set. This Warsaw album is effectively Unknown pleasures minus Martin Hannett’s input, and is a very interesting document, though (despite what the three remaining members of the band say) Hannett’s contribution transformed it into IMHO one of the best albums ever recorded.

Tony.

The sonics are very good, the bottom end giving the SBL's a good workout. Some of the songs are fairly good, and others are 'creepers' - they grow on you. Overall I rate it about on a par with Ultra - for some of you that'll be enough for you to buy it, for others that'll be sufficient to leave it in the racks. Q's review is pretty much spot on.

Having found myself in the strange position of posessing all of their material (it sort of crept up on me), I find I'm not elated, not disappointed. Depeche Mode nutter-fans with more than 5 albums already will find this a good album.

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

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joy division released one 12" on a french label before the uk release if my memory serves me

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on Sordide Sentimentale, right? (These were studio tracks produced by Martin Hannett, can't remember the exact A- and B-side.)

For what it's worth, I survived two years of university hell in rainy central Pennsylvania with healthy doses of Magazine and Joy Division.

As for Depeche Mode--merely a shadow of their former selves since Alan Wilder left--I'd recommend the Recoil records instead; Liquid, features Diamanda Galas and Nicole Blackman with the usual sonics (he'd make a great soundtrack guy, as would the rest of the Mute clan).

Dave Dever, NANA

For more recent(ish) Broof, you can do lots worse than check out B.L.U.E., or Bruford-Levin Upper Extremities. There's an eponymous studio CD and a double live, BLUE Nights, both either available at DGM as above or in North America head for Tony Levin's site. Both discs are superb, being a sort of clash of jazz, rock and avante-garde with some truly inspiring work. Aside form the obvious rhythm section you get Chris Botti on trumpet and David Torn on guitars, loops and wierd noises. Not really for the faint of heart, but if you're feeling slightly adventurous then hugely recommended.

Pete.

PS, Bill/E-W will be at Pizza Express, Dean St., London from 20-24th June. I've seen them live twice and enjoyed myself a lot both times. They're on tour in the US right now, with dates and more info here...

[This message was edited by Pete on TUESDAY 29 May 2001 at 10:56.]