Record Marathon Part 2
Adam & the Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox. I bought this because Justine from Elastica would always rave about it. It’s actually pretty good, & does not bare much similarity to the dandy highway mans later work, having much more in common with Rough trade/ early post  punk bands i.e. lots of treble on the guitar & the bass pushed high in the mix. Good stuff. Incidentally the Dirk in question is Dirk Bogarde, veteran British actor of Victim & The Night Porter & other classics
The Action Suits: Fun Flies/Cancer Father/your soft light/4-track mind. 4 singles from the action suits featuring ace cartoonist Peter Bagge on drums (and drew the covers to all the records) from the mid nineties. Great 60′s influenced jangle pop in a Big Star/ Posies type vain. Especially love Fun Flies.
Barry Adamson: Moss side story/ These boots are made for working (single)/ What it means (single). Moss side story was Barry’s first album released not long after leaving Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. It is the soundtrack to an imaginary film & works very well conjuring up noirish atmospheres, mixing jazzy lounge music with snatches of industrial clanking/ Diamanda Galas building up a head of steam & other moods. Well worth a listen. The 2 singles are also pretty good, but I prefer the unified feel of the album.
Cannonball Adderley: Somethin’ Else/ Mercy, Mercy, Mercy/ Why am I treated so bad. Somethin Else is a blue note classic, & the last record Miles Davis ever played on as a sideman, which he did purely because he loved Cannonball so much (although he gets higher billing than Cannonball on the back of the record, which seems a little unfair). Beautiful tunes in hard bop/cool jazz mood from that pivotal jazz year 1958. Mercy mercy mercy & Why am I ... are both live albums from 1967 & are both in a joyful Soul jazz vain & should be capable of cheering up even the most miserable git. Both albums are produced by David Axelrod, although given these are both live gigs, there is not a lot of opportunity to sprinkle much of his sonic fairy dust, but he does insure an excellent clear mix.
Adolescents: S/T. Welcome to Reality. The CD of the Adolescents first album & EP, which is absolutely great. Mostly 2 minute blasts of melodic hardcore before the sound took over the world 15 years later . Also includes Rikk Agnew’s solo album All by myself, on which he plays everything. Some good tunes (possibly left over from the Adolescents second album), but also others that have not aged too well & have a bit of a cheesy eighties after taste. Nevertheless, this does not spoil a great CD.Â









