THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Another one we share. Good album that. Obviously didn't buy it when it came out, but I was definitely a punk when I did. I'm guessing late 70's.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Quadrophenia - The Who (1973)

The first double album I ever bought, I splurged most of my Christmas money at HMV in Stratford a few days before New Year for what then seemed an eye watering sum of six pounds and 48 pence - this was in the mid seventies and you could still by 8-track cassettes, and I was only just into my teens

Quadrophenia has been a constant companion and whilst I suspect my original copy with it's fabulous 12 x 12 picture book is somewhere in my sister's record collection - although I can't prove it and I don't have a search warrant - I do have the CD version. I was lucky enough to see The Who perform Quadrophenia about 10 years ago at the NEC, easily the best performance I've seen them give, the whole night had a magical feel almost like a gargantuan family re-union

My favourite Who material, still something I enjoy listening to after all these years

Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub

As with Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, this is another album that I became obsessed with. Indeed I have it on almost every format available. Cassette, C.D. MP3, vinyl, the whole nine yards. Teenage Fanclub are a great band, and this caught them just before their Big Star obsession took over their output. Released in 1991, the same year as Nevermind, Loveless and Screamadelica, this is better than those three put together.

Best track, Star Sign

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHfasfkX8MM

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Songs of Love and Hate - Leonard Cohen

You think you don't like him. You think he's boring and depressing. You're wrong. He is/was one of the things that confirms that life is worth living. Even from the depths of his life-long clinical depression.

That's not to say his songs aren't difficult and challenging. But if a thing is too easy it's usually of little worth. This collection of songs (with the possible exception of "Diamonds in the Mine") is exemplary. And difficult. And challenging. And joyous, ultimately. I think this was the LP I picked as my favourite from the 1970's, in that other thread.

There's a reference to Joan of Arc in Last Years Man, and a whole song dedicated to her too, which is a dialogue between Joan and the fire that's consuming her, as she is burned at the stake. Last Years Man also makes a reference to the weird Nazi thing of binding books in human leather, taken from Jews they murdered ("And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin"). "Famous Blue Raincoat" is possibly my favourite album track of all time, by anyone. It's about a man writing to the lover of his partner. It's Cohen who is writing, so he's the cuckold. But the mysterious lover may also be Cohen, as the famous blue raincoat he wears is something Cohen owned and wore. It's complex. And stunningly beautiful.

But the track I'll give you is "Dress Rehearsal Rag". A chilling song about a desperate man pushing himself on towards slitting his wrists. It's dark, bleak but, somehow, life-affirming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XXGWERfV7I

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Loving all the favourite albums & the passion for them eloquently expressed on here - keep them coming.

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APL Champion 2018 + 2025
APL Hall of Fame Champion 2024 + 2025
140 grounds - 78/92

'Can I expect my team to stay in the Championship when they have to train at a school when the weather is bad?'
'Every year we’re in League 1 is a year too long'
Pete W

Far from the Maddening Crowds by Chicane (1997)

Been enjoying this classic album of the genre for over 25 years now, and it still sounds just as good as the first time, to me anyway.

From Blue to Green:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPDgJuxjTXU

_________________
APL Champion 2018 + 2025
APL Hall of Fame Champion 2024 + 2025
140 grounds - 78/92

'Can I expect my team to stay in the Championship when they have to train at a school when the weather is bad?'
'Every year we’re in League 1 is a year too long'
Pete W

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols

One of the first albums I ever bought. I can still remember my father’s reaction when I brought it home. Which of course made it all the more important for me. My parents had three albums when I was growing up. A Jim Reeves greatest hits, a Johnny Cash greatest hits, and a Dubliners greatest hits. Big on the hits my dad. This album hit me like a slap on the face. I can also still remember hearing Pretty Vacant for the first time, someone was playing it at school, and thinking “fuck me”. Obviously it’s packed with some of the greatest songs ever recorded, but my favourite isn’t one of those.

Best track, E.M.I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb1cOIk3sDw

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

James - Gold Mother

The original release didn’t include the anthemic ‘sit down’ which only appeared a year or so later on re-release. For my money the album was worse for it as it became the dominant track whereas better songs such as ‘come home’, ‘god only knows’. ‘How was it for you’ and ‘walking the ghost’ were somewhat eclipsed and didn’t gain the recognition they deserved.

Purests will prefer strip mine or stutter but gold mother provided all that James were but in a more accessible way and paved the way for the now iconic 1992 Alton towers gig improbably supported by Public Image limited. I was genuinely lucky to go and it remains one of the best live gigs I’ve been too.

Definitely their best. I really like God Only Knows, and How Was It For You is their best song. It's a great album, and I'm listening to it right now.

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They say don't kick a man when he's down. Show me a better time.

Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

KB's most recent studio album (released in 2011) is a kaleidoscopic blend of snowy themed songs ranging from an homage to the abominable snowman to a reincarnation based duet with Elton John, via an erotic encounter with a snowman

For all the eccentricity this works wonderfully both musically and lyrically, it's a highly atmospheric collection of deep story songs and a must listen in cold weather, and certainly during the hours of darkness. I have fond memories of listening to it on the pub stop coach back from Huddersfield in 2013 (was it?) crawling down a very snowy M1 - happy days!

Having been a Kate Bush fan from the start I lost some of my enthusiasm around the Hounds of Love time, finding the following Sensual World, Red Shoes and Aerial a bit of let down after the first four albums, all of which I love and listen to regularly

This made 50 Words even more special from the first time I heard it, and what gives me faintest hope there is more still in the creative tank

One day, perhaps...