Eggplant (Train) (LP 4710 - 4719)

Train  Train (CD, Columbia Records, 1998) ****  

Train  Drops of Jupiter (CD, Columbia Records, 2001) *** 

Train  My Private Nation (CD, Columbia Records, 2003) *****  

Train  Alive at Last (CD, Columbia Records, 2004) ***  

Train  For Me, It's You (CD, Columbia Records, 2006) ***  

Train  Save Me, San Francisco (CD, Columbia Records, 2009) ****  

Train  California 37 (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

Train  Bulletproof Picasso (CD, Columbia Records, 2012) ***

Train  A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat (CD, Columbia Records, 2017) ***

Train  AM Gold (CD, Columbia Records, 2022) ***

Genre: Pop rock, indie rock, pop, folk rock

Places I remember: HMV, Real Groovy Records, Fives, Fopp, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: When I Look to the Sky (My Private Nation), Hey Soul Sister (Save Me, San Francisco)

Gear costume: Counting Airplanes (My private Nation), Drops of Jupiter, Save Me, San Francisco, Drive By (California 37)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Train emerged, pretty much fully formed, in the late nineties. Their debut is nicely understated. It manages to convey a lovely hybrid of alt country, alt rock (Meet Virginia), guitar-driven pop and light classic rock moves (everything else). The band at this stage comprised Pat Monahan – lead vocals, Jimmy Stafford – lead guitar, mandolin, Rob Hotchkiss – rhythm guitar, harmonica, Charlie Colin – bass, and Scott Underwood – drums. Pat's lead vocals are impressive from the off!

Second album, Drops of Jupiter, amps up the indie rock sound and forgoes any alt country progression, largely thanks to Brendan O'Brien's meaty production. Highlights for me - the title track and the brooding Mississippi which closes the album.

It was actually their third album, My Private Nation, that alerted me to the joys of Train. It was from there that I back tracked to the first two albums and then bought each successive release. I'm a sucker for their brand of fun, bright shiny, hooky pop music.

My Private Nation is a clear peak in their catalogue, with each song bringing something special and different to the party.

In a strong album, definitely their finest album to this point, the highlights are many: Calling All Angels; All American Girl; Save The Day; Counting Airplanes; and my favourite - the emotional When I Look to the Sky.

Alive at Last was the live album that capitalised on this peak moment. It includes a heap of great tunes with a small audience who get fully involved from first track (Calling Angels) to the encore of the Faces' Stay With Me. It's raucous fun throughout! There's even two new songs tagged on to the end. Great value for money!

The next studio album, For Me, It's You, came three years after My Private Nation. The band was still a five piece but only Stafford, Monahan and Underwood remained from the first album.

Although it wasn't as commercially as successful as other albums there are still some great Train songs on their fourth album - namely Cab and Give Myself To You. The rest is good too but without the killer tunes of My Private Nation. In some ways it feels a little like they are running out of inspiration and that something needed to change (this was Brendan O'Brien's last album as producer). 

Another three years would go by before their fifth album, Save Me, San Francisco. It introduced some key changes in producer, personnel and style. During those three years the band went on hiatus as the guys pursued some solo projects. After the hiatus, Train returned as a trio (Monahan, Stafford and Underwood).

The pause worked, as Save Me, San Francisco is a dramatic and impressive return to chart success and artistic success (which is the more important but leads to the former). Five big singles came from the album, including Hey Soul Sister, If It's Love and Marry Me. 

The album kicks off with the brilliant title track which acts as a purpose statement (I love San Francisco and riding on the 101 along the coast), then comes Hey Soul Sister, a song I never tire of hearing. From there it's a buoyant set of pop smart Train moves that add up to a vibrant return for the trio.

It was the trio's last outing on the next album, California 37, as it was drummer Scott Underwood's last album. It again kicks off with two great Train songs - This'll Be My Year and Drive By (this album's Hey Soul Sister moment). The rest is the sunshiney pop Train do so well.

Bulletproof Picasso (who knows what that means) was next, their seventh studio album in the Train production line. It did start feeling a bit like that by this point. Albums were coming and going - most had a few hits and some good songs but nothing was really approaching the glory of Save Me, San Francisco.

Bulletproof Picasso was another okay album but without the big hits of the previous ones. By now the Train formula is pretty well established - Monahan's vocals and over-egged lyrics which people either love or hate (I mostly love them), the big classic pop hooks (again - I love them), the big guitars of Jimmy Stafford, and the infectious pop songs.

Even though Underwood was gone (replaced by Drew Shoels), the band had grown on the back cover to include six members. That included two back up singers, but still - a radical change from the trio years.

A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat was next five years later. That's quite a gap. Jimmy Stafford was gone, so that just left Pat Monahan as the last original member of Train. Even with all those personnel changes, it still sounds unmistakenly like Train.

AllMusic sums the album up well as 'an exuberant album, a celebration of everything that makes Train such a corny band. The hooks are big, the production is so glossy that it shines, and it's so cheerful it's bound to irritate anybody who isn't on the band's wavelength. If you're with them, though, a girl a bottle a boat is a good time because of its eagerness to please'.

AM Gold is the last album on my list. It has such a crappy cover that it's kind of endearing. Same with the music - big bold classic Train. The album displays all of their strengths, even if it's basically a Monahan solo album.

Where do they all belong? There are a few Train albums that are still on my list: Christmas in Tahoe (2015), Train Does Led Zeppelin II (2016) and it looks like they've also recorded a new album for release this year called Mad Dog in the Fog.

Side effects (The Rolling Stones) (LP 4707 - 4709)

Steeleye Span  Live at Last! (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1979) *** 

The Rolling Stones  Foreign Tongues (CD, Polydor Records, 2026) ****  

Anthony Williams  Spring (Vinyl, Chrysalis Records, 1966) *** 

Genre: Folk rock, rock, jazz

Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown, JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rough and Twisted (Stones)

Gear costume: Montrose (Steeleye Span)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: This post reviews three albums from a recent trip to New Plymouth and Palmerston North that cover three very different genres.

The Steeleye Span live album is both their first live album and final album of the seventies. It features Martin Carthy amid the band's gloriously updated folk rock sound. Honestly - any album featuring the combined vocals of Maddy Prior, Tim Hart and the others is worth hearing. 

Maddy is in great form here and she makes the album come alive. The Highlight is the lengthy Montrose and an expanded version of The False Knight on the Road which was originally from their 1971 album Please to See the King.

The latest Stones album has arrived in shops and like Hackney Diamonds, it is produced by Andrew Watt. He again achieves some great results from the threesome (Mick, Keef and Ronnie) plus guests (Macca again plays bass on one song).

It's not as consistently brilliant as Hackney Diamonds, but it is still a solid set of Stones songs with some familiar touches - the falsetto vocal songs, a country song and Keef's song all making an appearance.

Remarkably, Mick Jagger's vocals seem untouched by the years. He's remarkable!

Tony Williams (billed as Anthony here) is an amazing drummer. This was his second album as leader. He assembled a stellar cast for the album -  tenor saxophonists Sam Rivers and Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Gary Peacock.

The sub genre of jazz that is on offer here - post bop or modal jazz, is one step away from free jazz and it's an acquired taste. I don't mind being challenged by music but a lot of post bop is at the outer limits of my taste.

When they settle into a more lyrical stride I'm more on board, as on side two with both Love Song and Tee. That's largely down to the wonderful playing of Herbie Hancock on piano. I'm much more content with those than I am with the wild shronking horns of Extras which leads off side one. Even then though, there are things to learn, and it's good to stretch the taste boundaries from time to time.

Where do they all belong? Three excellent additions in three different genres.

Medicated goo (Traffic) (LP 4703 - 4706)

Traffic  Last Exit (Vinyl, United Artists Records, 1969) ***  

Traffic  John Barleycorn Must Die (CD, Island Records, 1970) ***** 

Traffic  The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (Vinyl, Island Records, 1971) *****   

Traffic  On the Road (Vinyl, Island Records, 1973) ****  

Genre: Rock, prog rock, jazz fusion

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Fives, Spellbound Wax Co.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Gear costume: Medicated Goo (Last Exit)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Last Exit is a weird place for me to start. It was their third album and swansong, as in they'd broken up so this was a cobbled together album with side one being made up of A and B sides and side two a live selection from 1968 at the Fillmore. The original members of Traffic all appear - Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood, and Dave Mason.

Given the cynical approach by Island Records to capitalise on the band's popularity, it's an interesting collection with Medicated Goo being the clear standout song.

After a brief sidetrack into Blind Faith, Traffic reunited as a trio without Dave Mason for John Barleycorn Must Die. The cover always gave me the impression that it was a folk album but instead it's a jazz fusion sound, apart from the title track. Although Steve Winwood is the true star, the players jam and mesh together superbly on this album - a classic from 1970.

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys is my favourite Traffic album. It replays repeat listens as I can attest, given I played this album dozens of times over the years.

The jazz, folk stylings are given full flourish on Low Spark with everyone, including guests Jim Gordon, Ric Grech, Rebop on top of their games.

On the Road is a live album with only four stretched out tracks. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys is three minutes longer than the album version - which I appreciate. It's an excellent song and ripe for some jamming/ extrapolation of themes. Barry Beckett on keyboards is a great addition to Steve's organ.

The whole album is pretty fine, as it happens, although it does come across as excerpts from a concert tour in Germany, rather than a cohesive live album experience.

Where do they all belong? I'd be keen on other Traffic albums if I come across them in my travels, particularly their first two - Mr, Fantasy (1967) and Traffic (1968).

Time is passing (Pete Townshend) (LP 4701 - 4702)

Pete Townshend  Who Came First (Vinyl, Track Records, 1972) ***  

Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane  Rough Mix (CD, UMC, 1977) ****  

Genre: Rock, country rock 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records, HMV

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pure and Easy (Who Came First)

Gear costume: My Baby Gives It Away (Rough Mix)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Who Came First (great cover and great title) is Pete Townshend's first solo album.

It's a bit odds and sods in that it includes some Lifehouse project demos as well as some reworked material from Meher Baba tribute albums and some additional songs. Weirdly, a Ronnie Lane song in which he sings with Pete adding guitar and a song by Billy Nichols without any participation from Pete. So, it's all a bit uneven, although well played and a lot of fun.

Fun is also the watchword for the collaboration with Ronnie Lane. His rollicking sort of folk rock is the stylistic default for Rough Mix, although not as roughshod as his work with Slim Chance (that's a good thing btw). 

It's a relaxed, understated effort that has a universal type of appeal, making it a highlight in both their careers.

Where do they all belong? Only the two solo albums by Pete, although I have a lot of Roger Daltrey's. I put that down to my preference for Roger's vocals more than anything else. That translates to no great desire to buy other solo albums by Pete.

Lucky girl (Marianne Faithfull) (LP 4700)

Marianne Faithfull  Faithfull Forever (Vinyl, Decca Records, 1966, reissue 2024) ***  

Genre: Folk, Pop 

Places I remember: JB HiFi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Tomorrow's Calling  

Gear costume: In the Night Time 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: This was her third American release. Originally released in 1966, it conformed to the American predilection for messing with the UK releases. So this combines some 1966 singles with songs that would show up on her 1967 UK LP Love in a Mist, and various leftovers, some of which were never released in the UK.

All very messy and unnecessarily so, but that's American record companies for you. As for the music - light mid-sixties pop with florid flourishes thanks to Mike Leander's arrangements and production. Marianne appears to be a confident vocalist within this folky, light pop context.

Where do they all belong? As far away from Broken English as she could get really.

Life is all dynamics (Devin Townsend) (LP 4696 - 4699)

Devin Townsend  Infinity (CD, From Keegan, 1998) *** 

Devin Townsend  Ziltoid the Omniscient (CD, InsideOut, 2007) ****   

Devin Townsend Project  Ki (CD, From Keegan, 2009) **** 

Devin Townsend Project  Ghost (CD, From Keegan, 2011) *** 

Genre: Heavy metal, prog metal, dream pop 

Places I remember: Three from Keegan and Ziltoid from Real Groovy Records.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hyperdrive (Ziltoid)

Gear costume: By Your Command (Ziltoid), Disruptr (Ki)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Keegan is a fan of Canadian musician Devin Townsend, so he gave me three of his albums as CD-Rs.

Affinity was Devin's third solo album (he's very prolific) which came after a stay in a mental health facility where he was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. That explains how all four of these albums are so different in approach - from shredding heavy metal to prog to comedy/satire to dream pop.

Affinity has dated a little in its approach, in that its guitar shredding dynamics haven't lasted as well into the 2020s.  

His concept album, Ziltoid the Omniscient, impressed me enough for me to buy my own copy. I'm a big fan of Captain Kremmen of the Star Corps - an invention of DJ Kenny Everitt, and Zappa's shaggy dog stories (Apostrophe, Billy The Mountain). Ziltoid reminds me a lot of that pastiche approach. Ziltoid travels to Earth in search of the universe's ultimate cup of coffee, which he fails to do so invades Earth. Of course.

The album is pretty much a solo one with everything played by Devin Townsend. He's a talented guy. As AllMusic says: Townsend's work is consistently excellent, but here he fully taps his mad genius for an incredibly compelling experience. All of Townsend's signatures -- bright melodies, heavy guitars, complex composition, clear production, and tongue-in-cheek grandeur.

Ki is the first album from Devin Townsend Project and a change in style from previous releases as it encompasses more ambient rock music along with bursts of heavy metal. It dispenses with the busy in yer face loud approach of the past and has a more restrained, fluid sound. I like it a lot!

Ghost is another departure that builds on Ki. It takes us into a mellow dream pop land. The title Ghost is very appropriate as acoustic guitar, flutes and synths provide a lovely bed for DT's quiet is the new loud vocals. 

Where do they all belong? The wacky wonderful world of Devin Townsend - thanks for the introduction Keegan.

Pick myself up (Peter Tosh) (LP 4695)

Peter Tosh  Bush Doctor (Vinyl, Rolling Stones Records, 1978) ***  

Genre: Reggae

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: (You Gotta Walk) Don't Look Back

Gear costume: Bush 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; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: I don't have much of a frame of reference for Peter Tosh, but this commercially minded album feels and sounds like reggae lite to me. Which is amazing given the appearance of the Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare rhythm section.

This was Tosh's third album after he left The Wailers, and has a Rolling Stones connection - which formed part of the appeal for me. The Glimmer Twins produce, it's on Rolling Stone Records, Mick sings on the hit single and Keef even plays guitar on two tracks. 

I'm not a fan of synths and they intrude on a few tracks without much purpose. The songs aren't particularly memorable either, apart from (You Gotta Walk) Don't Look Back. All up, it's a missed opportunity.

Where do they all belong? Sticking with Sly and Robbie, Bob Marley, The Heptones, Toots, Third World et al, rather than trying more Peter Tosh solo albums.