Powerhouse sod (Jack Bruce) (LP 969 - 970)

Jack Bruce  Spirit: Live At The BBC 1971 - 1978 (CD, Polydor Records, 2008) ****  

Jack Bruce  Live On The Old Grey Whistle Test (CD, Strange Fruit, 1998) *** 

Genre: Blues rock

Places I remember: EMI (Vienna); HMV (East Croyden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: A Letter Of Thanks (Graham Bond on keyboards on the Spirit version but it's not available on Spotify)

Gear costume: Powerhouse Sod  

Active compensatory factors: There is a bit of crossover on these live session CDs. The first eight songs on Live on The OGWT from 1975 are replicated on Spirit disc 2, but it then adds a further eight songs that aren't on Spirit.

Spirit is a triple CD package and is the one to get if you want a more comprehensive wrap up of Jack's BBC dates in the seventies.

The sound on disc one (from 1971) takes a bit to adapt to - it's a bit lop-sided with the guitar by Chris Spedding heavily on one channel, but Jack is superb throughout - all impassioned lead vocals and his usual sublime bass lines. Once they've taken a couple of songs to warm up the band clicks into a mighty unit.

Disc two is that OGWT set from 1975. Mick Taylor is the featured guitarist this time out, with Carla Bley contributing as well, on keyboards. The sound is a lot calmer and less jazz fusion than the 1971 one - maybe the presence of Carla Bley and her mellotron? Whatever the case there's definitely more space around the instruments in this set.

What I love about Jack is that he was forever questing for different sounds, so the music is never formulaic or easy.

Disc three covers a 1978 concert with Simon Phillips and Tony Hymas as the rhythm section and Hughie Burns on guitar. It concentrates on tracks from Jack's How's Tricks? album. Times is particularly effective in this live version. 

Making up the numbers over the three CDs are songs from a trio - John Surman  on sax, Jon Hiseman on drums. It's a great vehicle for more musical experimentations.

Where do they all belong? And that is it for the Jack Bruce collection to this point! More Clapton is next up in this genre.

Jazzy (Bolling/ Rampal) (LP 968)

Claude Bolling and Jean-Pierre Rampal  Suite For Flute & Jazz Piano Trio No. 2 (CD, CBS, 1987) ****  

Genre: Jazz piano 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Jazzy

Gear costume: Vagabonde 

Active compensatory factors: I finally completed the set of these collaborations a few months ago.

Spring/ summer seasons are not complete without the beauty of a Claude Bolling jazz trio with Rampal guesting on flute.

There is an ethereal quality to these records. The sounds just float around, form into curlicues, and then drift heavenwards.

Where do they all belong? This completes my catch up of Claude Bolling's albums with Rampal. The others can be found here and here.

Blue Aura (Passport) (LP 963 - 967)

Passport  Hand Made (CD, Atlantic Records, 1973) ***  

Passport  Doldinger Jubilee '75 (CD, Atlantic Records, 1975) ***  

Passport  Cross Collateral (CD, Atlantic Records, 1975) ***  

Passport  Infinity Machine (CD, Atlantic Records, 1976) **** 

Klaus Doldinger  Passport Live (CD, WEA Records, 2000) ***

Genre: Jazz fusion 

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi); Virgin Megastore (Dubai)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Abracadabra (on Hand Made and Jubilee '75 as a live version)

Gear costume: Cross Collateral (album of the same name); Morning Sun (Infinity Machine)

Active compensatory factors: As Klaus Doldinger continued to lead various versions of Passport lineups through these years and albums the consistency of music and style is remarkable, all linked by those iconic covers.

The music varies between Spirogyra pleasantries at one end of the continuum (Morning Sun), with some ferocious ensemble playing at the other (Infinity Machine) - sometimes, as in those two songs, on the same album. 

Indeed, if you want to pick one out of the bunch, I'd go with Infinity Machine as a good starting point. The band and Klaus are in good form.

Truth be told these are nice to have, but none are essential purchases. 

The live albums do add another dimension though. Buddy Guy even makes an appearance on Jubilee '75!

The live album released in 2000 is another fantastic recording by Klaus. I think this one includes his best tenor sax playing. He's in full mastery mode throughout these German concerts. It is a tad long though - one point deducted for that.

Where do they all belong? That concludes the Passport CDs that I racked up in the Middle East. No need for any more (but I do love those covers!)

Tune up (Stan Getz/ Albert Dailey) (LP 960 - 962)

Stan Getz & Bill Evans  Stan Getz & Bill Evans (CD, Verve Records, 1973) ****  

Stan Getz & Albert Dailey  Poetry (CD, Blue Note Records, 1984) *** 

Stan Getz  Heart Place (a.k.a. The Sound Of Jazz Volume 11) (CD, Memo Music, 1988) ***   

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: The two collaborations - Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi); Heart Place - The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: My Heart Stood Still (Getz & Evans)

Gear costume: Funkallero (Getz & Evans); Autumn Leaves (Heart Place)

Active compensatory factors: I really like the Getz and Evans collaboration. It comes with the brilliant Elvin Jones on drums and Ron Carter or Richard Davis on bass. What a line-up!

There's something magic about a quartet anyway but when the musicians are titans it makes for something extra special.

Poetry is just tenor sax and piano and it has taken me a lot of listens to open up to it. It was recorded in 1983 and finds Getz and Dailey reaching for different types of sounds from their instruments. It's going to take a few more listens I think.

Heart Place is an inconsistent set with the eleven minutes Billie's Bounce being the most challenging to listen to. Autumn leaves though highlights the Getz brilliance well.

Where do they all belong? That's it for Stan Getz. next up in the jazz CD section is The Frank Gibson Quartet.

Everybody heals (Anderson/ Stolt) (LP 959)

Anderson/ Stolt  Invention Of knowledge (CD, Inside Out Records, 2016) *** 

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: Fopp (Covent Garden)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Chase and Harmony (from Knowing)

Gear costume: Everybody Heals

Active compensatory factors: Jon Anderson has one of those voices that is instantly recognisable. It doesn't matter much if he's performing with Yes or solo, or, as in this case, in collaboration with others.

I'm a fan but I understand how it's an acquired taste - liking one vocalist, but disliking another is in the ear of the beholder after all.

Roine Stolt is a Swedish prog musician who has had two significant bands - Kaipa in the seventies, and now The Flower Kings. 

This album is a collaboration between Anderson and Stolt, two big names in prog, but also features members of Stolt's band.

It's a very successful venture. The music has prog flourishes but doesn't sound like Yes, while Jon Anderson sounds like Jon Anderson and his lyrics are the usual hippy cosmic-centred vibe he's made his own over the years.

My one gripe is that the music floats by in four lengthy suites, without being distinctive enough to hook inside my brain. That makes it difficult to highlight some 'songs' to highlight.

That said, it sounds brilliant!

Where do they all belong? A one off project from Anderson and Stolt.

Pretty baby (Blondie) (LP 956 - 958)

Blondie  Plastic Letters (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1978) ***  

Blondie  Parallel Lines (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1978) *****  

Blondie  Blondie Live (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1999) ****  

Genre: Pop/ rock

Places I remember: The Warehouse (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hanging On The Telephone (Parallel Lines)

Gear costume: Sunday Girl (Parallel Lines); Rip Her To Shreds (Blondie Live)

Active compensatory factors: Blondie's second album, Plastic Letters, is interesting as it still hangs on to some punkish sensibilities while expanding into rock and pop areas at times.

The hits were Denis and (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear and they stand out from the rest of the album. Fan Mail would have been a good single too IMHO.

Nothing on Plastic Letters prepared the world for the mega success of Parallel Lines though. It signaled a giant leap in production, song-writing and sheer presence (dear). It's a pop master class.

Blondie and Debbie Harry were everywhere in 1979 - that video for Heart Of Glass alone had an immense impact. It managed to skirt around the fringes of disco and was just palatable enough for rock fans like me in 1979.

By 1999 the band had broken up, Debbie Harry had split from Chris Stein and had had an intermittently successful solo career. 

The live album was recorded during their successful 1998-1999 comeback tour with most of the classic lineup present (Harry, Stein, Jimmy Destri and Clem Burke).

It's made up of songs recorded at a variety of gigs but sounds like one unified concert. All of the big hits are there from their career to that point so it doubles as a great retrospective.

It's recorded really well and the band are in fine form. Debbie is, of course, the iconic star of the show as is right and proper!

Where do they all belong? That's it for Blondie. Next up in this genre is Bon Iver.

Keep a light on (Dave Dobbyn) (LP 955)

dave dobbyn  the islander (CD, Columbia Records, 1998) ***  

Genre: NZ pop rock 

Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown (New Plymouth)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: waiting

Gear costume: beside you, blindman's bend (yes - everything about this album is in an unassuming lower case)

Active compensatory factors: This was a big one back in the last century - went number 1 in NZ, and, in retrospect, it's pretty clear why.

First of all everyone loves our national treasure (now Sir DD) and second of all it includes some great playing by the usual suspects (Neil Finn, Ross Burge, Ian Morris included) during, third of all, a fine collection of songs sacked in the experience of being a New Zealander.

The best of his solo albums? I'm not sure because, although I have three of them and have owned another two at various times, I'm not a huge fan (like my bros GK and KS). It's certainly my favourite if anyone is asking.

Where do they all belong? That's it for Sir David Dobbyn for now (I have kept coming back to him over the years so I may well add other albums by him to the collection yet).