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.

Inside outside (This is the Kit) (LP 4641)

This Is the Kit  Careful of Your Keepers (Vinyl, Rough Trade Records, 2023) ***  

Genre: Folk rock, alt rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Goodbye Bite

Gear costume: This Is When the Sky Gets Big

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 Is the Kit is a tad confusing, being the alias for British musician Kate Stables, and also the name of the band she leads.

Careful of Your Keepers is the band's sixth studio album. I picked up a copy for $5 from JB Hi Fi in Palmerston North - mainly because I liked the cover and what I read in the quick check of reviews while I was in store. 

I'm not quite sure what to make of the record really. I tend to like alt folk rock stylings but the pace of the songs and the jittery music from This Is the Kit holds me at arm's length too much for my wholehearted liking.

Where do they all belong? I still love the shoegaze cover and I'm prepared to give this a few more goes around.

Emerald (Thin Lizzy) (LP 4637 - 4640)

Thin Lizzy  Jailbreak (CD, Vertigo Records, 1976) *****  

Thin Lizzy  Live and Dangerous (Vinyl and CD, Vertigo Records, 1978) *****  

Thin Lizzy  Black Rose: A Rock Legend (CD, Vertigo Records, 1979) ****  

Thin Lizzy  Life (Vinyl, Vertigo Records, 1983) **  

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi, Marbecks Records, Chaldon Books and Records (Life)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Don't Believe A Word (Live and Dangerous)

Gear costume: Jailbreak (Live and Dangerous)

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: Jailbreak was the big breakout album (sorry) for Thin Lizzy. At that time Phil Lynott was part of a classic fabulous four with Scott Gorham/ Brian Robertson on guitars and Brian Downey on drums. Together they made a fearsome racket, but it's the songs that stand out.

Five of the nine songs from Jailbreak would enter the set list for the double live Live and Dangerous - that's how good the Jailbreak album was. Even the songs that didn't make the setlist are great. There are no duds on Jailbreak.

If I could only have one Thin Lizzy album it would be Live and Dangerous from 1978. The live album comes from the Hammersmith in London 1976 and shows in Toronto and Philadelphia in 1977. The whole record is presented as a complete gig and for once a double album is warranted to capture all the excitement.

It is Brian Robertson's last album before he left the band, so Live and Dangerous becomes a fitting tribute to him and his twin guitar foil, Scott Gorham.  

The road-tested songs are delivered with complete confidence, and the performance of each song is superb. It's still all about the songs. The band and Phil strut imperiously throughout the set, knowing that each song is a peak, definitive performance.

Where to go from there? Black Rose is where. Guitar hero Gary Moore replaces Brian Robertson on this album and he and Scott weave more magic as a dual axe attack. The songs are effective again - more varied than the older version of Thin Lizzy. Indeed AllMusic called it 'one of the '70s lost rock classics'.  

Life is another double live album - this time from 1983. It was recorded during the band's farewell tour. As it was a farewell some previous members were invited to appear - former Thin Lizzy guitarists Eric Bell (1969–73), Brian Robertson (1974–76 and 1977-78) and Gary Moore (1974, 1977 and 1978–79). 

Given all that and the fact that Live and Dangerous is one of the greatest double live albums of all time, I had high hopes for Life. Sadly, it's a shocker in comparison. Sound and playing - everything is muddy and shoddy. It's going into the for-sale pile.

Where do they all belong? At their best, Thin Lizzy is a massive hard rock band and Phl Lynott at his best is a brilliant writer, singer, bass player and band leader. Remember him that way!

Look what I've done (Think) (LP 4636)

Think  We'll Give You A Buzz (Vinyl, Think Records, 1976, reissue 2025) ****  

Genre: NZ music, Prog rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Stringless Provider 

Gear costume: Look What I've Done

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: Think were a rarity in the NZ music scene in the seventies. Basically, I can only think of Ragnarok as being another progressive rock outfit.  

The band was made up of five long-haired guys: Alan Badger (bass, vocals), Phil Whitehead (guitar), Neville Jess (drums), Don Mills (keyboards), Ritchie Pickett (vocals). Phil Whitehead is maybe the best known - he was also associated with Human Instinct before Think.

Think play a mix of driving rock songs (Rippoff) and long form prog (Look What I've Done, Stringless Provider) on We'll Give You A Buzz, their only album. It's those longer songs where they excel in my opinion. There they can stretch out their ideas and all are excellent musicians so the longer pieces work well.

The only weak song is the hippy-soaked social awareness of the final song - Our Children (Think About). Apart from that it's a brilliant debut.

Where do they all belong? Special mention to the awesome cover painting by Neil Vesey - perfect for prog rock NZ style.

New fang (Them Crooked Vultures) (LP 4635)

Them Crooked Vultures  Them Crooked Vultures (CD, RCA Records, 2009) ***  

Genre: Rock 

Places I remember: Hope family collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Dead End Friends

Gear costume: Gunman 

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: Them Crooked Vultures is a modern supergroup with Queens of the Stoneage's Josh Homme (vocals, guitar), Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and Nirvana/ Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl (drums). While it's clearly a democracy of three equals, Josh Homme's vocals and guitar riffs dominates proceedings and means it sounds like a Queens of the Stoneage album more than anything.

Therein lies the problem and the reason I didn't rush to buy a copy back in 2009. I like a lot of Songs for the Deaf (which has Grohl on it) but the hard rock of that band doesn't especially move me to collect more of their albums.

That said, the drum sound and the bass are both massive! The riffs are generally fine and the three jell well together throughout. There are no clear standouts though in the song department.

Where do they all belong? They all went back to their day jobs after this collaboration.

Time of the season (The Zombies) (LP 4634)

The Zombies  Odessey and Oracle (Vinyl, Big Beat Records, 1968) *****  

Genre: Pop, Baroque pop. chamber pop, psychedelic rock 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Time of the Season

Gear costume: Care of Cell 44

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: The Zombies was a band that had to exist in the late sixties in England. Their time, their sound, their place (Abbey Road studios of course) - a perfect marriage.

Band members on their second album, Odessey and Oracle (the misspelling was not deliberate, but very 1968!) were: Colin Blunstone (lead vocals); Rod Argent (keyboards); Paul Atkinson (guitar); Chris White (bass); Hugh Grundy (drums). 

The recipe included a heavy dollop of Rod's mellotron and other keyboards, mix with Colin's smooth/ otherworldly lead vocals, the massed vocal harmonies, all set inside melodic rock songs that are bright (sunny) and breezy.

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Where do they all belong? The indifference that met the record meant the band broke up and Colin Blunstone's solo career and the Argent band was born. Sometimes the path reveals itself.