If I Should Fall From Grace With God

I have the 2004 CD version of this album. While CD bonus tracks are often superfluous and even unwelcome additions, here we have such fine extras as the band's collaborations with The Dubliners: 'The Irish Rover' and 'Mountain Dew'; 'The Battle March' medley; and a spirited rendition of 'South Australia'. As for the album itself - it's a slightly unfocussed collection which, for all the good things in it, doesn't quite hit home with the same force as did Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.

Among its moving parts is, of course, 'Fairytale of New York'. When first released, it seemed like a breath of fresh air: a song about Christmas that didn't partake of the of usual festive clichés. This held true the first several dozen times I heard it; and even, some years later, when it began to creep into mainstream Yuletide playlists. Now, though, I've heard it so many hundreds of times that it's become a cliché despite itself, and I personally won't be too sorry if the controversy about the f-word in its lyrics nudges it back toward unfamiliarity.

I don't think I've listened to either this or Rum, Sodomy and the Lash more than once apiece in the last decade: at this point it keeps a place on my shelves more as a memento of a former enthusiasm than anything else. There was a time I might have said The Pogues were my favourite band: I certainly can't recall a finer evening's entertainment than the one they provided at Wembley Arena (despite its being a cavernous, soulless shed of a place) when I saw them there in December '88.

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Complete String Quartets

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All Wrapped Up

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Ein Schattenspiel, etc.

Georg Friedrich Haas is a contemporary Austrian composer of "art music". "Haas's style recalls that of György Ligeti in its use of micropolyphony, microintervals and the exploitation of the overtone series; he is often characterized as a leading exponent of spectral music" says wikipedia. Only a relative few of his many compositions have been issued on CD - many more of them can be found on YouTube. On this 2020 disc are three of his works in which standard classical instrumentation is augmented and altered by "live electronics". Two are string quartets and one is for solo piano. Is a string quartet still really a quartet if there are meanwhile some other people with laptops busily twizzling the sound? There is a live performance video of the 'String Quartet No. 7', the first work on the disc, where the JACK Quartet are supplemented by a trio of sound boffins to realise the composition. Whether it's properly a quartet or a septet is neithe...

This is a Recording

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