Celebrity skin (Hole) (LP 2768)

Hole  Celebrity Skin (CD, DGC Records, 1998) *** 

Genre: Rock 

Places I remember: Hope collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Celebrity Skin

Gear costume: Dying

Active compensatory factors: Third album by this grunge band fronted by Courtney Love, and it's a more mature sound - less grunge. Ironically, that's possibly the influence of Billy Corgan (main man of prog band Smashing Pumpkins) who is heavily involved a number of the songs (Love writes all the lyrics though).

It's all okay but it would have been a five-star effort if it had all had the quality of the opening song - the title track. The rest is good, but nothing spectacular.

Courtney Love has a good voice for alt-rock and Hole has certainly been a very successful band, this album was nominated for some Grammy Awards.

It's always hard to separate the tabloid Courtney from the rock star Courtney. Is she a nice person? Discuss.

Where do they all belong? I have no great desire to collect other albums by Hole.

Pretty girl (Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band) (LP 2767)

Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band  Have a Hogsnort Rupert's Summer (Vinyl, HMV Records, 1970) ****  

Genre: NZ music, pop 

Places I remember: Vikings' Haul (Woodville)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Aunty Alice (Brought Us This)

Gear costume: Aubrey, Pretty Girl

Active compensatory factors: There's no denying the presence of Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band in the early seventies in Nu Zild. They shortened the name after this album, their second.

Before destabilising changes in band personnel, the original band had some weapons - Alec Wishart's distinctive vocals (sadly - he passed away in 2016), Dave Luther's songs, and brilliant NZ producer - Peter Dawkins.

Pretty Girl's inclusion on the Loxene Golden Disc was my introduction and luckily, I heard it before snotty teenager music snobbishness kicked in - then this kind of humorous music hall/ skiffle sound would have been ignored in a teenagery cynical way.

Instead, I have a lot of nostalgic affection for this album and the Hogsnort Rupert sounds. It has many charms. Apart from a fun live selection (including a great Got My Mojo Working), it also includes Aubrey, Pretty Girl, and Aunty Alice (Bought Us This). All hits in 1970.

Where do they all belong? If I come across it, I'll pick up a good copy of the first album - All Our Own Work!

Lifting the lid (Hogarth + Barbieri) (LP 2765 - 2766)

Steve Hogarth + Richard Barbieri  Not the Weapon but the Hand (CD, KScope Records, 2012) ***  

Steve Hogarth + Richard Barbieri  Arc Light (CD, KScope Records, 2013) ***

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: Fopp (London)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: A Cat With Seven Souls

Gear costume: Oil

Active compensatory factors: Steve Hogarth is the lead singer in the prog rock band Marillion, while Richard Barbieri was the keyboard player in Japan, and more recently - Porcupine Tree.

Together they produce some unique music outside of those other bands. It's a perfect combo in many ways - Hogarth sings and provides lyrics while Barbieri provides the music. So they work with each other's strengths.

It's a textured series of soundscapes on Not The Weapon but the Hand and Arc Light (the first and second of three albums with Barbieri) which float by without leaving a lasting impression. Perfect late-night music!

Where do they all belong? A nice sidebar to their day jobs.

This is how it feels (Robyn Hitchcock) (LP 2763 - 2764)

Robyn Hitchcock  Moss Elixir (CD, Warner Bros Records, 1996) ****  

Robyn Hitchcock  Robyn Hitchcock (Vinyl, Yep Roc Records, 2017) *****  

Genre: Alt-rock 

Places I remember: Fives (Leigh-on-sea); JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Want To Tell You What I Want

Gear costume: 1970 in Aspic

Active compensatory factors: I love Robyn's voice and left-field approach, but he has a daunting catalogue. I need a 'How To Buy...' guide in Mojo to navigate it.

Previously, I have taken a punt on each of these albums and not been disappointed at all, so maybe I just need to charge on in there. Or else I've fluked it (a review of Moss Elixir on AllMusic says it's his best album for ten years, there's a similar response to Robyn Hitchcock).

I was living in Essex and bought Moss Elixir from Fives - a shop that was 30 seconds from where we were living. The purchase was prompted by watching a documentary on Syd Barrett - Robyn appears in the bonus section playing Dominoes in his back garden. I was mesmerised!

So, Moss Elixir seems a perfect album for me to buy after watching that, but it was a fluke. It's quite an acoustic album - he's a wonderful musician! And the lyrics flow, as he says, into 'word thickets'.

The Syd influence is there, but so is The Beatles' catalogue of brilliance. 

Robyn Hitchcock from 2017 is his 21st album (I really need that 'how to' guide) and without knowing for sure, I have a hunch it's considered one of his best.

Throughout, he sounds confident, the instrumentation is sympathetic but also experimental in nature. As one reviewer said at the time - it seems familiar but also fresh.

Where do they all belong? Why haven't I bought more of his albums??

Spring breeze (Hiperson) (LP 2762)

Hiperson  Bildungsroman (Vinyl, Panda Records, 2021) ***  

Genre: C-pop (pop from China)

Places I remember: Keegan sent me a copy of this as a present a couple of years ago.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Spring Breeze

Gear costume: Crashing Into Daylight

Active compensatory factors: Although the cover features only one person, Hiperson is a five-person band from Chengdu (China). Three men and two women make up the Hiperson band.

They play a blended mix of futuristic pop with vocals in Sichuanese (a branch of Mandarin). It's quite an exotic, hypnotising sound that I like a lot. Maybe, because Keegan chose it and sent it to me from China, it takes on a special significance for me, but so what.

It's quite tricky describing their sound, as it includes some traditional flute, some rock elements, some alt rock guitar, solo vocals, spoken word, some punkishness, and some ambient sounds as well. Often all that happens on one track!

Given that, the appeal is pretty obvious - and the vocals become part of the texture of the songs. Another thing I love in foreign language bands.

Where do they all belong? Always keen to explore more of C-pop.

Aim (Jimmy Woods Sextet) (LP 2761)

Jimmy Woods Sextet   Conflict (Vinyl, Contemporary Records, 1963) ***  

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: Little Red Bookshop

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Aim

Gear costume: Look To Your Heart

Active compensatory factors: I didn't know anything about this album before buying it from Little Red Bookstore in Hastings. Adrian often has interesting jazz albums in his shop, so I took a punt.

Given the title, I was a tad fearful it would be some horrific angry jazz honkfest (plus there's trumpet on it), but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's certainly fairly intense music and not easy listening jazz, as Jimmy channels his anger into his playing in a lyrical way and Elvin is a muscular drummer.

Elvin Jones is of course a drawcard (and he gets a few drum solos throughout the album which don't do much for me) but it's the alto sax of Jimmy Woods, the tenor sax of Harold Land and pianist Andrew Hille that make the deepest impressions.

AllMusic's Scott Yanow says, "While all of the soloists are impressive and Jones' powerful drumming fuels the horn players, the leader's adventurous alto sax is not to be missed".

Couldn't agree more.

Where do they all belong? A cool addition, even though it has trumpet.

One brotherhood (Herbs) (LP 2759 - 2760)

Herbs  Whats' Be Happen? (Vinyl EP, Warrior Records, 1981) ***  

Herbs  Light of the Pacific (Vinyl, Warrior Records, 1982) **** 

Genre: NZ music, reggae

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: French Letter

Gear costume: Dragons and Demons

Active compensatory factors: Growing up in Auckland in a middle class white family and going to Mt Albert Grammar was an education in more ways than one. MAGS introduced me to Pasifika from an early age. It even introduced me to reggae!

Pacific Island students from Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue were a small percentage at MAGS in the early seventies but it felt like there were masses of them. A few were bullies, but mostly they were warm, noisy, boisterous boys. And they sure could sing! 

Reggae and the rhythms of Pasifika and waiata are an adopted part of my DNA.

These were the first two releases by Herbs, the first of NZ's home-grown reggae bands, and an inspiration to other musicians, but also to middle class white kids like me. French Letter became an anthem to all of us in Aotearoa.

Whats' Be Happen was their first EP - three songs each side (apart from Dragons and Demons it sounds a bit tentative) and set the template for Light of the Pacific (a much more confident set), their first real album but still with only 7 songs on it!  

Where do they all belong? The CD Listen: The Best of Herbs is probably the first place to go.