sound of the suburbs

Got Back yesterday after my two week break on the Island of Corsica, the above view is what greeted my eyes each morning as I climbed out of my bed. Maybe you can understand why it's my destination of choice each summer, I guess it's a great place for me as I get to revitalise my tired body, it being such a simple life style and the pace is rather gentle add to this the fact that boys love, they get to spend four weeks in their paradise and are not at all happy when they have to come back.

I had treated myself to a 20 giga Archos MP3 player at the beginning of the year, treat really being the word as I don't get to use the thing that much. When we went to Paris in spring this year I loaded up some random songs for the journey, and so I thought this time round I would treat the hard drive to whole albums, now maybe this does sound rather has been but generally speaking this is the way artists intended their works to be listened to. So in no particular order the following is a list of the audio delights that have been bombarding my ears these last two weeks, some of which will be turning up sooner or later on the blog:

Malaria - 'Compiled 1981/1984'

Catpower - 'The Greatest'

Swell Maps - 'International Rescue'

Zounds - 'Curse Of The'

Nikki Sudden - 'The Last Bandit'

Epic Soundtracks - 'Everything Is Temporary'

Fugazi - '13 Songs'

Betty Davis - 'Nasty Gal'

Bettye Lavette - 'I've Got My Own Hell To Raise'

Moose - 'Live A Little Bit Love A Lot'

Delta 72 - '000'

Thea Gilmore - 'Rules For Jokers'

Zen Guerilla - 'Invisible Liftee'

Black Box Recorder - 'The Facts Of Life'

Brian Jonestown Massacre - 'Bravery Repetition And Noise'

Felt - 'Absolute Classic Masterpieces'

Gillian Welch - 'Revival'

Go Kart Mozart - 'Tearing Up The Album Charts'

Jackie Leven - 'Elegy For Johnny Cash'

Jackie Leven - 'Fairy Tales For Hard Men'

Little Axe - 'Hard Grind'

Elvis Costello - 'Imperial Bedroom'

As you can see I had had a good time! For the some of these albums it was the first time I had listened to them, for some it might well be the last time I give it a spin and for certain others it was more a case of rediscovery, and each and every one of of them I listening to in their entirety and in the correct running order, though not necessarily in one sitting.

All through my two weeks I had in mind posting an old song from Harry Belafonte (ask you grandparents who he was) called 'Island In The Song', the only problem being that I don't actually own in it. Then last Friday while listening to Black Box Recorder I remembered their cover version of Terry Jacks (ask your parents about this one) one big hit from 1974 'Seasons In The Sun', I Know it's really about suicide, but I like this version and the original brings back memories of when I was a school boy and had long summer holidays...............................

When I was young the middle East was a trouble spot and as we can see very little has changed, and despite the ceasefire that started today I'm not that optimistic that things are really going to improve. Patti Smith has written a song called 'Quana' about the recent civilian killings that is well worth a listen and can be found here.