Category Archives: records

Below the Salt – Steeleye Span

First of all – what a great album cover. The frisky play on being peasants well and truly ‘below the salt’ is riotously captured by the band playing up to the camera. I cannot help thinking they are also saying to the traditionalists that actually we do not care what you think but this is our version of traditional folk. This album captures all that is wonderful about these old songs but does so in a way that is more palatable, shall we say, for the non-devotee of traditional folk. This album will never, can never date. The songs are so old anyway at the time of recording that another couple of hundred years will not age them.

Musical Reflections: Uncovering the Stories Behind My Vinyl Collection

Today, as I listen to the Bruce Springsteen ‘River’ album, I am wondering what it is that shapes our love of music and particularly a genre that we seem to stay with for life. To be fair I did come to Springsteen a little later in life although the seeds were already there for him to step into my collection. My reason for starting this journey through my past, to paraphrase Neil Young, was my father’s vinyl collection. My father died recently, and he left a vast collection of vinyl including 78’s which I suppose are technically shellac. His CD collection was even more extensive, but it was the vinyl that fascinated me.

Joni Mitchell – Court & Spark

Blue is my favourite Joni Mitchell album and that will never change. However, I listen more often to Court & Spark. This is probably because of the musicality of the album and also it coincided with the only time I saw her perform live – at Wembley stadium in 1974. That was a never to be forgotten day when she blew all the cobwebs out of that old stadium with an exhilarating performance with Tom Scott and the L.A.Express. Please enjoy my new book of Musical Memories & bit.ly/bookneal

Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel Of all the albums I have ‘reviewed’ in my Vinyl collection up to now I would say this is the most difficult. Views on it will always be subjective, so I am writing this as an objective view looking back fifty years rather than how I may have felt backContinue reading “Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel”

Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight

Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight I have to say this album scared the life out of me. To say Richard is at his bleakest is a genuine understatement. Love it – it is darkly beautiful. I was heavily into Fairport Convention around this time. In fact, theyContinue reading “Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight”

Barclay James Harvest – Live

Barclay James Harvest  –  Live At the time an interest in the English band Barclay James Harvest was a bit unusual, moving me well away from the mainstream – no ‘glitter & the rouge’ with these Northern lads that is for sure. In some ways it was quite natural I should see what they hadContinue reading “Barclay James Harvest – Live”

Simon & Garfunkel – Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

I had been familiar and enjoyed Paul Simon’s songs for some time because of a friend’s obsession with him. This album was the first one I bought featuring his writing. Maybe not my favourite album that Simon & Garfunkel produced – I prefer ‘Bookends’ personally. It has not entirely stood the test of time as there is an element of being stuck in the time period with a couple of songs. Feeling groovy – well not these days really. It was an important album for me in that the writing was intriguing, deep in places, but captivating. It also has some songs and singing of exceptional beauty. Paul Simon’s guitar playing is farther up the mix on this album and all the better for it. The production is crystal clear and still sounds fresh through the headphones.

Jackson Browne – Late for the Sky

It would be fair to say that Jackson Browne has for me brought out more feelings about life and all that it can throw at you than any other writer. He is my go to songwriter if I want to feel better about just about anything. That may seem strange as he is to some perhaps viewed as a melancholic, slightly cynical writer. True in part, but for me no one captures the human spirit and condition better than he does. For a writer to do that from such an early age is astonishing, as shown with his mature writing of ‘These Days’, one of his first compositions.

‘Late for the Sky’, released in 1974, actually the day prior to me seeing CSNY at Wembley Stadium, a concert that opened for me by hearing ‘Take it Easy’ blasting out over the sound system as I entered the arena. That song would be my first introduction to his work.

Fairport Convention – History of Fairport Convention

I wish I could tell you definitively how Fairport Convention became such an important part of my musical life, but I cannot explain it. No one I knew had ever heard of them let alone had an album to share with me. I suspect it was my friend Chris’s guitar playing brother who left this album lying around. I don’t think it could have been his as he was into introspective guitar playing songwriters. Maybe Sandy Denny prompted an interest. However it happened, one day this album found its way onto our shared turntable and for a time rarely left it – I bought my own copy shortly afterwards.