Small town girl (Tracey Thorn) (LP 4651 - 4655)

Tracey Thorn  A Distant Shore  (CD, Cherry Red Records, 1982) ***  

Tracey Thorn  Out of the Woods  (CD, Virgin Records, 2007) ****

Tracey Thorn  Love and the Opposite  (CD, Strange Feeling Records, 2010) ****

Tracey Thorn  Tinsel and Lights  (CD, Merge Records, 2012) ****

Tracey Thorn  Record  (CD, Merge Records, 2018) ****

Genre: Alt rock, Pop 

Places I remember: HMV, Real Groovy Records, FOPP

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Long White Dress (Love and the Opposite)

Gear costume: It's All True (Out of the Woods) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: It will come as no surprise, by now, that I'm a big fan of anything Tracey Thorn does, whether it be her books, the two albums by The Marine Girls or her sublime work in Everything But The Girl. Clearly, she is a really talented writer (non-fiction and songs), singer and musician. Now my attention turns to her solo career.

That started in muted style with 1982's A Distant Shore - an acoustic album that came after The Marine Girls and before Everything But The Girl got going two years later. The understated nature of the album allows Tracey's voice to assume more importance. Her guitar work is also pretty impressive.

Solo album number 2 emerged in 2007, 25 years after her first (she'd been busy with EBTG and raising three children). It turned out to be a terrific pop album - full of great dance floor fillers.

She uses a wide range of collaborators on the album (none of which are her husband - Ben Watt) but the whole album sounds and feels like a Tracey Thorn solo album. What a remarkable and singular talent she has, and egoless!

Love and the Opposite again employs a lot of collaborators to great effect, as she pivots away from synth pop and embraces a more organic folk rock sound. That's appropriate, as it's definitely a more grown up record - as she said, it's "a record about the person I am now and the people around me ... about real life after forty". 

She succeeds brilliantly as she chronicles the changes life throws at us all, and that voice! Always brilliant.

Tinsel and Lights is her fourth solo album. It concentrates on Christmas songs by a range of modern songwriters, as well as one standard (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas). Ben Watt appears on most tracks, and even their three children join in with some backing vocals on Tracey's song Joy.

Record is her latest solo album, as EBTG became active again in 2023. It's a return to the impressive  synth pop of Out of the Woods.

Where do they all belong? I'll always be there, thanks to Tracey Thorn's warm vocals, thoughtful lyrics and sympathetic collaborators.

You take me up (Thompson Twins) (LP 4650)

Thompson Twins  Into the Gap (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1984) ***  

Genre: Pop, Synth pop 

Places I remember: Margy's brother's collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hold Me Now

Gear costume: Doctor! Doctor!

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Thompson Twins eventually became a trio (ha!) comprising Tom Bailey (vocals, keyboards, guitars), Joe Leeway (keyboards), and New Zealander Alannah Currie (acoustic drums, percussion, marimba, xylophone).

Into the Gap was the sixth album by Thompson Twins of various configurations and it was also their most commercially successful album, thanks to Hold Me Now and other singles off the album.

Despite my distaste for synths and programmed drums, I retain a soft spot for the band thanks to Tom's vocals, Allanah's presence and the cover which has the globe stopped to feature NZ. Nice!

Where do they all belong? That said, one Thompson Twins album is definitely enough.

Mountain top (Paul McCartney) (LP 4647 - 4649)

Paul McCartney  The Boys of Dungeon Lane (Vinyl, Capitol Records, 2026) **** 

Joni Mitchell  Miles of Aisles  (Vinyl, Asylum Records, 1974, 2022 reissue) ****  

Joni Mitchell  Rolling Thunder Revue (Vinyl, Rhino Records, 2025) ****  

Genre: Pop, folk rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Home To Us (Macca)

Gear costume: Both Sides Now (Joni)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: These three albums came from a recent spending spree at JB Hi Fi during their 20% sale. That takes away some of the pain of paying nearly $90 for a new slice of vinyl (that was the price on the new McCartney album).

There aren't too many artists still around who I make a special hour journey to the record store for, to buy their latest album on the day of release. Macca is certainly one. His latest is The Boys of Dungeon Lane. The boys he refers to are his mates back in Liverpool's Speke district, where he grew up.

The whole album has a lovely nostalgic vibe about it - from the cover illustration that leans on a street sign from the Speke district, to an inner sleeve with copious photos of John Paul George and Ringo plus others (such as Brian, Mike McGear, and Neil Aspinall), to Ringo's appearance on one track - Home to Us, a real standout. I'd love to hear a complete album of songs like this - with both of them playing and singing up a fab storm.

It also sounds absolutely current thanks to Andrew Watt's presence and Paul's brilliance (he plays most of the instruments and obviously is the main writer). Yes, his vocal abilities as he approaches his mid-eighties aren't what they used to be, naturally, but he still sounds recognisable and full of vitality. This won't be his last studio album, I'm sure.

Joni Mitchell released her first ever live album, Miles of Aisles, in 1974. For some bizarre reason, it's taken me until 2026 to buy a copy. Bizarre because I love Joni and I've always wanted a copy of this album. When it was re-released four years ago it was priced well above my comfort level. so when I spied a new copy for $50 (with JD's 20% reduction) it was time to finally make the purchase.

Tom Scott's jazz fusion band (LA Express) are a perfect foil for Joni at this point, in between Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns. That is balanced by half of the album being Joni alone with her guitar - so, you get the best of both worlds.

Joni's Rolling Thunder Revue was a Record Store Day album that is of historic significance. She hitched aboard Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and this album includes material she was working on for Hejira (my favourite Joni Mitchell album). Two reasons why I enjoyed the album immensely.

Where do they all belong? Full credit to the delights of JPM and Record Store Day releases!

Walking on a wire (Richard & Linda Thompson) (LP 4646)

Richard & Linda Thompson   Shoot Out the Lights (CD, Hannibal Records, 1982) ****  

Genre: Folk rock 

Places I remember: Hope family collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Wall of Death

Gear costume: Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Richard Thompson and his wife Linda had a lengthy back catalogue before all turned sour in their relationship. Shoot Out the Lights was their final album together.

It's more rock than folk rock when Richard sings, and more folk than rock when Linda takes over the vocals. Her singing is a joy - even if she's singing about painful circumstances.

The AllMusic review highlights the production by Joe Boyd (clean, uncluttered), the arrangements (Spartan), and Richard Thompson's guitar work (wiry,remarkable, displaying a blazing technical skill that never interfered with his melodic sensibilities).

Where do they all belong? The only album of theirs in my collection.

Love is the key (Ray Thomas) (LP 4644 - 4645)

Ray Thomas  From Mighty Oaks  (Vinyl, Threshold Records, 1975) ***  

Ray Thomas  Hopes Wishes & Dreams  (Vinyl, Threshold Records, 1976) ****  

Genre: Prog rock 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hey Mama Life (From Mighty Oaks)

Gear costume: In Your Song  (Hopes Wishes & Dreams)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Ray Thomas was (he passed away in 2018) the flautist and multi-instrumentalist who is known best for his work (playing and songwriting) in The Moody Blues.

These were his only solo albums, released in the mid-seventies. An open mind is required to enjoy these albums. Having an affection for The Moodies may also be a pre-requisite. Otherwise, the gentle, folky, pastoral, soft rock that is Ray's stock and trade may become an annoyance. 

The covers to both albums by Phil Travers are worth a side comment as they perfectly capture all that gentle, folky, pastoral vibe.

The songs on his debut, From Mighty Oaks, glide by very pleasantly, starting with the orchestral sweep of the opening title track which serves as a kind of fancy overture. Nothing stands out too much however, and they probably would have found it difficult to find their place on a Moodies album.

That's not the case with his second album so much. A few of these songs could have been easily used on a Moody Blues album. Ray is in fine voice and the musicians appearing on the album are in tune with his ideas. The brass inclusion adds another dimension to the songs as well.

Where do they all belong? His best work was with The Moody Blues - where he is one writer and singer amidst others, but I'm thrilled to also have these two solo albums.

Waves become wings (This Mortal Coil) (LP 4643)

This Mortal Coil  It'll End In Tears (Vinyl, 4AD Records, 1984) ****  

Genre: Dream pop 

Places I remember: Margie's brother's collection.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Song to the Siren

Gear costume: Barramundi

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: This Mortal Coil wasn't really a band - more a loose grouping of musicians put together by 4AD's label boss as an experiment. The 'group' included two members of The Cocteau Twins - Elizabeth Fraser and Simon Raymonde. Howard DeVoto also appears on one song.

Turned out to be a great experiment as a series of covers and original songs were chosen and performed by a variety of different voices. 

The AllMusic review makes a good point about how the album helped 4AD evolve their signature sound -  a heavily reverbed wash of treated guitars and atmospheric keyboards with vocals treated as another instrument in an amorphous wash of sound.

That's certainly the sound conjured up by the musicians on It'll End in Tears.

Where do they all belong? A one off in my collection. Apparently this is the best (a cult favourite even) of the three albums under the This Mortal Coil name.

Angel baby (John Lennon) (LP 4642)

John Lennon  Roots: John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits (Vinyl, Adam VIII Records, 1975) *****  

Genre: Pop, Rock 

Places I remember: Nick Marfell (via Facebook)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Stand By Me (YouTube version)

Gear costume: Be My Baby (YouTube) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: Roots (for short) is a rare item in the Lennon discography that I used to own before a traumatic incident during a house move meant I lost it and all my Beatles bootlegs. Bit by bit, album by album I am managing to replace them but they are hard to find and when I do they tend to be expensive. If I want to sleep at night, needs must!

Thanks to Nick Marfell, I've just collected Roots again which is VERY important in Wozza's world.

Originally, it was a mail-order album that came out shortly before the Apple album Rock'n'Roll, through complicated circumstances, all based around Lennon's 'debt' to Morris Levy for ripping off You Can't Catch Me in Come Together.

It consists of rough mixes of songs that he was working on as an oldies project with Phil Spector and was only available through television sales for three days in January 1975 before a lawsuit pulled it off the market. Only 3,000 copies were sold by that point - making it a rare item in his catalogue (beware fakes though).

The two songs that initially made the album different to Rock'n'Roll were Angel Baby and Be My Baby. These have been made available on other compilations since Roots appeared but it's still great to have them as part of an alternative universe Rock'n'Roll.

Where do they all belong? Phew - one less record that haunts me in my sleep.