MARK'S KEYBOARD REPAIR by MONEY MARK (1995, Mo Wax)

Mark Ramos-Nishita is Money Mark, the low-fi Stevie Wonder, a super cool keyboard player who toured with the Beastie Boys and appeared on the 90's albums. The story goes that he was a carpenter that turned up to fix a gate at their studio and ended up recording the keyboard parts for their album Check Your Head.

MARK'S KEYBOARD REPAIR is a fun, brisk listen. Recorded entirely on vintage keyboards it's a collection of 19 funk, pop and lounge tracks delivered at pace, in under 40 minutes. All of demo quality they're mainly musical doodles, sketches of tracks to be fleshed out properly later. Some appearing in more polished form on his following albums. 

Occasionally there's a fully crafted little cracker like the aching 'Cry', the surreal 'Got My Hand In Your Head' or the soulful 'Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone'. Mostly they're short jazzy lounge grooves. Mashed up concoctions of strange synthesised squelches, drum loops, vintage samples and his keyboard lines. The best of these is the inventive and quirky 'Insects Are All Around Us'. 

If you can root out a copy it's worth a listen or check out the tracks below...

'Insects Are All Around Us'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFZUUzP7b8

'Sometimes You Gotta Make It Alone'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u4mBN1oFto

'Cry'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqnU2c99xc&feature=related

HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON by SERGE GAINSBOURG (1971, Philips)

Spanish passion yesterday, today we cross the Pyrenees for a soupcon of French sleaze.

Serge Gainsbourg. The dirty old genius of Gallic pop-rock. A real life Pepe Le Pew, the French cartoon skunk with the rapacious appetite for luuurve. Also described elsewhere as Frank Sinatra, if he'd played Sodom and Gomorrah rather than Vegas!

He courted controversy with his music, poetry and love-life. Seducer of '60s bombshells Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, both of whom Gainsbourg recorded the controversial 'Je t'aime... Moi Non Plus'. The Birkin version sold millions before being banned in the UK and many other countries for it's sexual content.

HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON is Serge's notorious magnum opus. It's a brilliant but problematic album. Musically it is nothing less than gorgeous. A rich, sumptuous score with a full orchestra, vocal chorus and freewheeling electric guitar. Gainsbourg's spoken word delivery is deep and smooth, like he's been ingesting only whisky and expensive cigars for years. He whispers so close to the microphone that it's like he's breathing right into your ear. It's intimate, warm and seductive. The occasional female vocals and playful giggles are provided by his lover Jane Birkin.

It's problematic because this is concept album about an 'encounter' between a wealthy middle-aged man a young nymphet of debatable age, the Melody Nelson of the title.

Sung entirely in the first person, Serge's protagonist prangs his Rolls Royce 'Silver Ghost' hitting a young female cyclist, Melody. He picks her up off the floor and offers her a ride home. So begins a Lolita-esque story of infatuation and seduction that starts more innocently with "piggy backs" before taking visiting to decadent hotel rooms of rococo pillars and mirrored ceilings. 

Gainsbourg's protagonist admits in the opening lines of 'La Ballade...' that "apart from myself, no one, ever took (her) in their arms". Our narrator is recounting taking the virginity of a girl "of fourteen autumns and fifteen summers" in wistful terms. Hmmm. Sadly doesn't end well for Melody. Ever the fan of melodrama, Gainsbourg has his fictional muse die in an plane-crash somewhere new New Guinea. 

It's impossible to imagine an album with this content being made by a major artist these days. 'Edgy' is not the word. The closest I can think would be Nick Cave's riotously depraved 'Murder Ballads'. Although these days, rightly or wrongly, murder is somewhat easier to digest than the consummation of sex with of underage girls, however consensual the relationship may be.

Despite it's subject matter, it's remained hugely popular. The likes of Beck, David Holmes, Placebo and Jarvis Cocker have either covered tracks from the album or lifted wholesale sections of it. It's influence can also obvious on the likes of Portishead, Air and in very different way, The Divine Comedy, whose Neil Hannon certainly affected a Gainsbourg-esque persona for his debauched Casanova album.

Incidentally, little bit of trivia for you. The woman on the album sleeve was the love of Gainsburg's life, Jane Birkin. On it she's holding the ragdoll that twenty years after the release of MELODY NELSON she placed in Serge's coffin.

PERLAS by JOSEPHINE FOSTER & VICTOR HERRERO BAND (2012, Fire)

American Josephine Foster, backed by her Spaniard husband Victor Herrero and his band, breathe life and vitality into these traditional Basque and Catalan folk songs.

Rescued from obscurity, they've taken ten dusty old scores and turned them into musical pearls. Re-arranging them to suit Foster's tremulous voice and Herrero's virtuoso guitar playing, backed by simple percussion, the occasional ukelele and the odd castanet. The arrangements manage to sound both joyful and melancholy due largely to Fosters graceful but eery vocals which swoop and soar over her husbands flamenco melodies.

The recording captures loose and natural live performances. The production has an rich antiquated feel. It's like listening to an old 78s but without the crackles. If like me you geek out on that warm mono recorded sound that you only get from crackly old vinyl, then you'll really love this.

It's like stepping back in time to a forgotten age. It would be the perfect soundtrack to meander through the small lanes of a quiet, spanish village with a warm breeze at your back. Sounds good doesn't it.

The standout track for me is 'Peregrino' which allows husband and wife to delicately duet, it starts gently but builds into a full group singalong. This and the song 'Abenemar' are poems by long-forgotten poets plucked from history and set to music. If only I could understand Spanish because Foster's delivery is makes the words sound utterly beautiful. Also worth checking out is 'Cuando Vienes Del Mondo' which ads a Dylan-esque harmonica into the mix and is quite perfect.

As the title suggests, this is a small jewel of an album and something to be treasured. Traditional, authentic, and not a straw donkey in sight. Ole to that!

THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON by SLY & THE FAMILY STONE (1971, Epic)

Sly Stone. 

Not to be confused with Sly Stallone. 

One is Rocky Balboa. The other a funky-shape thrower. 

While the film Stop Or My Mum Will Shoot would have been improved by Sly Stone's presence, Sly Stallone's presence would definitely have ruined the funk vibe of THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON. That said, Stallone did direct the Saturday Night Fever sequel Stayin Alive so he must have some dance in his pants. Anyway I digress...

In the closing years of the '60s Sly Stone was a colossus of funk and soul. The band had notched up three Billboard No.1 singles, stormed Woodstock and we're considered a positive force with upbeat radio friendly singles. But with big success came big problems. The band members were routinely getting loaded on PCP and cocaine, and Sly allegedly took to carrying a violin case of illegal drugs with him everywhere he went. He also fell under the influence of The Black Panther movement who pushed him to eject his white band mates. It was in this atmosphere of paranoia, tension and drug abuse, this album was born. 

The title is a direct response to Marvin Gaye's album What's Going' On? which was released only months earlier. The cover is a red, white and black American flag with suns where the stars should be. Stone explained the design as wanting "the flag to truly represent people of all colours. I wanted the colour black because it is the absence of colour. I wanted the colour white because it is the combination of all colours. And I wanted the colour red because it represents the one thing that all people have in common: blood."

Unlike their earlier albums, Stand! and Life, RIOT is much darker and more depressing. It has warm, murky, dub-like sound, a result of Sly's constant overdubbing and re-recording. Many of the vocal lines are mumbled and hard to follow, even distorting at points. 

The first single was the classic 'Family Affair' with its low and swampy bass and deep vocals. It is also one of the earliest hit recordings to use a drum machine. The other singles were 'You Caught Me Smilin' ('smiling' being his euphemism for getting stoned) and the sugary-sweet 'Running' Away'. Both the most uplifting and commercial tracks on the album. 

Being a million miles away from the psychedelic soul-funk of the earlier albums most critics were dismissive. Rolling Stone were one of the few publications to understand what was really going' on: "the new urban music... is not about dancing to the music, in the streets. It's about disintegration, getting fucked up, nodding, maybe dying". When you view RIOT in those terms you can see how large it's influence it is, especially for the early Hip Hop pioneers like Afrika Bambata who cite it as an major inspiration. 

It's pretty heavy going for a wet Wednesday but the singles are funky as...

HOME INVASION by ICE T (1993, Rhyme Syndicate)

It didn't grow up in South Central. Unless that's South Central Somerset. Midway between Taunton and Yeovil in a nice little market town. There isn't much crime 'going down' there although some of neighbouring Chard's pubs could be a little rough. Not quite as tough as The Crips or The Bloods, the handy sorts were known as 'Chard ards' and best avoided. Crime syndicates were few and far between though your never more than a few miles (as the crow flies) from a gypo who'd sell you an 'eighth'. Apparently.

Imagine how exciting Ice T's fifth album HOME INVASION was. First time I heard it I was crusin' back from a shift at the Little Chef in my friends poo-brown Astra. Chris could drive. And was into Hip Hop. He played Home Invasion really loud and with the window down. And I thought, "cool".

I can honestly say this is still the rudest album I have ever heard. I don't mean rude as in rude boy, I mean rude as in bad language. Tracy Marrow a.k.a. Ice T displays here has the most impressive mastery of Anglo-Saxon you will ever hear on any record. As he clearly states in his opening 'Warning' if you are offending by such words (which he repeats at length) then you should "take the tape out now. This is not a pop album". However if this is the case then you should also suck his "muddy funking popsicle" (I've paraphrased that).

It is an amazing rap album. Angry, antagonistic and controversial. Ice T's first release after the controversial Cop Killer track (recorded with his metal band Body Count) and due for release shortly after the Rodney King riots in LA. The release was pushed back six months to early 1993.

Due to the controversial album cover artwork Warner/Sire said that they would not release it. The image is an illustration of a white child engrossed in Black culture (Malcolm X books, Public Enemy music cassettes, an Africa shaped pendant around his neck) but surrounded by scenes of death, violence and rape. Ice T said he'd release it with a black cover and rename it The Black Album. However he realised that if he stayed with Warners his output would always be scrutinised so he left the label and released the album (and artwork) as he intended on his own label. Incidentally Home Invasion includes the track '99 Problems' which Jay-Z rips the chorus from, for his own track of the same name, which appears on his very own LP called The Black Album. Coincidence? Who knows.

More than just another violent gangster rap album, Home Invasion, is extremely political. He confronts censorship, racism - particularly reflecting on the troubles of '92 - and explores the violent lives of the young men of LA. There is also blatant misogyny, drug cartels and acts of unwarranted violence and murder. There's also several graphic sex raps. You can see why to white conservative America Ice T was Public Enemy Number 1. Crackpot gun toting actor Charlton Heston even campaigned Warners to drop him. Ice repaid him with the lyrics "turn up the mike, dog, so I can get off / find me Charlton Heston and I might cut his head off".

When on the title track Ice raps that he would break into houses, shoot mum and dad and "steal the f***ing kids" you have to assume that a large proportion of America took him literally. 

Of course you could argue that Ice is simply holding up a mirror up to the world he came from, offering his words of wisdom as someone who was once aligned with The Crips gang. Probably this is correct. But being truthful as a teenager cruisin' in a poo-brown Astra with my arm out the window and the sun-shining. I just thought it sounded cool.

As an "adult" I realise I should know better but I must admit still feel a little giddy with excitement at the opening gunshots. More than any other rap album since, it still makes a chap from the West Country feel a little badass. And if you can't understand that, well suck my muddy funking popsicle!

SECOND COMING by THE STONE ROSES (1994, Geffen)

It's the morning after. Time for the reality check. We've had the euphoric homecoming gigs at Heaton Park. We've listened to fellow musicians eulogising the Roses' genius. The hyperbole has reached fever pitch with music press and stations like 6 Music reporting daily on the progress of the current tour before it finally reached home tuff this weekend. 

We know the first album has taken on a near mythic status but what of it's follow up? Is it due a reassessment. Following the 5 and 1/2 year hiatus between albums THE SECOND COMING was recipient of reviews which were at best, ambivalent but frequently scathing. Due in part to the massive weight of expectation. So has it matured well, or is it still a mouldy bit of stinky blue(s) cheese?

Their first album begins with the low rumbling baseline of 'I Wanna Be Adored'. What follows it is a beautiful crafted debut album of compact, polished, guitar pop. THE SECOND COMING begins with five minutes of monkey noises, tribal drums and guitars noodling. You'd be forgiven for thinking Ant and Dec were about to pop out from behind a tree an holler "I'm a celebrity". You'll be thinking "get me out of here".

After 4'37" of jungle sound effects 'Breaking into Heaven' stutters into gear and we're off. It's a shaky start. Second track 'Driving South' would have been more confident opener, at least it's got some petrol in the tank. Reni show's off his mad drumming skills and guitar hero John Squire fires off classic Led Zep inspired guitar solos. Much more like it lads. 

When 'Ten Story Love Song' kicks in you think you're on safe Stone Roses territory. Now we're cruising. It's the closest song to anything on their debut. A blissful love song with that spine tingling euphoric build reminiscent of 'Made Of Stone'. We're back on track. What's up next?

Daybreak. Oh dear. It's tortuous. A pub-band workout that should have stayed in the rehearsal rooms and out of the studio. Its the sort of cod-blues Steven Segal's been peddling of late. Sweaty, fat and horrible. Brown delivers a cringeworthy bag of lyrical cliches complete with "yeah, yeah, yeahs" and occasional "woos". His weak vocals left horribly exposed for all to see. At six turgid minutes it's not groovy, it's lumpen.  A complete misfire.

Next up is the first of the two campfire acoustic tracks, the lovely 'Your Star Will Shine' and the subsequent 'Tightrope' are both terrific. 'Tightrope' providing you can have an a bit of swagger even when you're packing only acoustic guitars. However we must deduct points as 'Your Star...' was the B-side to the single Love Spreads.

We move on to 'Straight to the Man'. In which the Roses make horrible use of a twanging Jews Harp. That's right a Jew's Harp? This isn't the Blazing Saddles soundtrack guys. They may as well added a some cowbell! 'Straight to the Man'  literally has no tune. Brown's vocals waver all over the place like he's trying to find the right note. To be fair he's probably singing all the right notes, just not in the right order*. 

'Begging You' is up next. It thunders along nicely. Pounding looped basslines and drums. Unlike most of the album it actually sounded contemporary (for 1995). Where's as Fool's Gold was indie music inspired by house, 'Begging You' almost has an almost breakbeat feel to it. It could be a Chemical Brothers remix and there's not a blues riff in sight. Good Times.

Except the next track actually is called 'Good Times'. I think we should be the judge of that. Sadly it's more of the teeth-grindingly dull blues soloing that blighted earlier tracks. Bad Times. 

Tears is another Led Zeppelin pastiche. Picked arpeggios, harmonicas and a slow build. Brown sings that he's "lost in a maze of my own making" which should be a metaphor for this album.

'Love Spreads' ends the album. It was the lead single and it's still sounds as brilliant as it did in 1994. Squire's soloing is dizzying and Browns delivery hold up well. It's a strong finish except there's a hidden track. Exciting!

Except it's not. Theres 86 four second tracks of silence separating 'Love Spreads' from the execrable 'The Foz'. Six minutes of coughing, out of tune piano plonking and squawking violins. 

At 73 minutes THE SECOND COMING is a grind. By the time the last (hidden) track is over all you can feel is relief. Before I started listening this morning I hoped THE SECOND COMING it wasn't as bad as i remember. It's not the case. Despite some wonderful high it is largely a crushing disappointment. For my money it's still mostly a stinker.

*(c) Morecombe & Wise

BALLAD OF THE BROKEN SEAS by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan (2006, V2)

Ballad of the Broken Seas is the first of three collaboration albums by Scottish artist Isobel Campbell and American Mark Lanegan.

Campbell is the softly spoken singer-songwriter and cellist who was one of the founder members of Belle & Sebastian before forming her own band The Gentle Waves. Lanegan is the gravelly voiced lead-singer of grunge band Screaming Trees and occasionally of Queens of the Stone Age. His baritone has the deep, gruff, roughness of Tom Waits or Johnny Cash and has eloquently been described as "scratchy as a three day beard yet as supply and pliable as moccasin leather."

Vocally they make an unusual duo; the angelic wall flower and the dangerous but compelling stranger. The Ballad of the Broken Seas could be a soundtrack to a Southern Gothic romance. 

The record follows a similar path to the wonderful duet albums of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood; classic pop, country, old American standards and historical sounding ballads that surely should have been written in some shotgun shack in 19th Century Mississippi, not by Ms Campbell in 21st Century Glasgow.

Owing a debt to the classic Nancy & Lee album it is also very reminiscent of Nick Cave's softer and more romantic moments and also The Tindersticks at their finest.

The production is rich, textured, warm and seductive. It begins with the dark march, Deus Ibi Est which translates as "God is Present". It's a sinister start to the album and sets the tone of what's to come... "impending storm rise up rise up / Oh demons i shall shame you / look down the barrel of my gun and one by one I'll name you"

The album has a classic, historical feel, as if you're listening to the soundtrack to a bleak American drama. You can almost hear the fans in the saloon. The creaks of wooden floors. Feel the heat of the setting sun and imagine the perspiration on dirty necks. 

This period feel is most obvious on 'Black Mountain' a re-working of traditional 'Scarborough Fair', the courteous and gentlemanly 'Do You Wanna to Come Walk with Me?' and the instrumental track 'Dusty Wreaths'.

At times there's a tangible sense of impending danger, such as Lanegan's menacing 'Revolver' or the eerie 'Saturday's Gone' or the hymn-like track 'Ballad of the Broken Seas'.

Amongst the sinister undertones there are moments of lightness such as the raunchy take on the Hank Williams standard 'Rambling Man' or the classically crafted pop of 'Honey Child What Can I Do?' which has some of the loveliest lyrics on the album: "Maybe I'm a stupid fool / chasin' butterflies like you / on these days they seem so cruel / but honey, child what can I do?"

The album ends on downbeat note with the 'The Circus Is Leaving Town'. Lanegan sings "The parties over now, so draw the curtains down".  He draws to a close an album that is evocative, haunting and intoxicating.