You Forgot It In People

You Forgot It In People was one of those albums from the early years of the century where a growing weight of on-line recommendations eventually piqued my curiosity. Pre-streaming, I don't recall how much of the album I'd actually heard, if anything, before buying. Perhaps I nefariously obtained it in mp3 form first. The re-issued version came out in 2003: I must have purchased my CD copy late that year or early the next.

I loved this album at the time and might have loved it even more had I been ten years younger, with its being shot right through with the passions & pretensions of youth. The subdued instrumental opener 'Capture The Flag', I subsequently learned, was akin to the mellow tunes on the band's debut album Feel Good Lost. After that, the sharper-edged 'KC Accidental' kicks in, the first of several twists and turns as the show goes on. David Newfeld's excellent production helps give the songs a vivid presence.

With a rotating roster of a dozen or so contributing musicians there's a pleasing variety of textures & voices, including my first exposure to the vocal talents of Emily Haines and Leslie Feist. For me the closing few tracks are something of an anticlimax after the splendid 'Shampoo Suicide', so I'll tend to press the stop button after Track 10. Other highlights for me are 'Stars and Sons', 'Almost Crimes' and 'Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl'.

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All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk

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