Hey! Where'd all these cobwebs come from? Not much traffic around here lately. Or I should say, even less than usual


Got some old Opal on this morning from their Early Recordings, David Roback and Kendra Smith from 1983-1987. Kind of hard to find nowadays, but lots of good music here for fans of that 80s psychedelia that later became Mazzy Star, with Kendra replaced by Hope.

Listened to some Joe Henry from his Blood from Stars CD a couple years back, and like that one quite a bit, though I don't usually listen to the whole thing like I do with my favorite Fuse or Scar. I guess the musical style on the later releases doesn't fit his voice quite as well, so gets a bit tiring, or maybe too pronounced. In any case, some of it does harken back to those simpler days.

Like Swimming by Morphine got a listen, and maybe not their best, but still pretty nice. I think this was their big label debut, but not really much different from the earlier ones, maybe a little less distinctive, and with some added production elements and fuller sound.

Power, Corruption & Lies by New Order got my weekly listen, not sure when this started to happen, but I've had a revitalized interest in early New Order lately and this is the top of the line for me. The original SON 15 CD here, don't really need the double CD remaster collectors edition, though I do have it, and it really doesn't sound bad at all, not totally compressed to death or anything like that. But the original still just sounds perfectly right to me.

Portishead's Roseland NYC Live was in there too, just the first half. Always liked this one, kind of a different perspective on the songs with the string backing and somewhat changed arrangements, more stylized and even more big screen cinematic, though sometimes not too different. Heard they are set for a big North American tour soon, first since the late 90s I think. Seems odd to hear the audience applause after the songs, listening to a band like Portishead is normally such a private affair

Jean Michel Jarre Zoolook came out for a listen last weekend. Funny, I never listen to anything else by Jarre, but love this one.

Listened to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for the first time in a long time, and smiled a lot.

Same thing with Cheap Trick's debut. Great stuff.

Anybody else out there? Hello ......