Pad's Playlist

Here's what's been exacerbating my tinnitus over the last week.

Anna Calvi - Baby It's You (Youtube clip)

A cover of the Shirelles' song covered by The Beatles on their first album Please Please Me. With her imaginative treatment Calvi makes the song her own


The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

There seems to be a bit of a Beatles theme progressing here! This was their third album, and their first to be completely self-composed, which was both an unusual and pretty major achievement in 1964. Albums at that time comprised a hit single or two surrounded by undisguised filler. The first side of this album consisted of songs from the film, whereas side 2 comprised what would now be classed as bonus tracks. Top quality was maintained throughout.


Cream - Royal Albert Hall, London, May 2005 

The aural record of Cream's first (and thus far, only) live gigs since 1968. The 'secondary' market inflated ticket prices to such a degree (and they weren't cheap to begin with) that they couldn't be obtained without either taking out a second mortgage or sacrificing a limb.

However, the good news was that Eric, Ginger and Jack were on top form and the musical quality was astounding. Also the band were better at editing themselves than in days of yore. So whilst there were lengthy jams, they never became anything near aimless, which wasn't something that could always be said of their late sixties performances.


Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory

Whilst seemingly not viewed by some as one of the best Creedence albums, this still sounds like something of a greatest hits collection, featuring as it does Travelin' Band, Lookin' Out My Back Door, Run Through The Jungle, Up Around The Bend and Who'll Stop The Rain. The guitar intro to Up Around The Bend must be one of the most joyous sounds ever committed to record!!!


Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante

More of a collective than a band, CBP specialise in dark, psychedelic progressive rock. Standout tracks on this album are Bastogne Blues, evoking the frozen horror of the Battle Of The Bulge in late 1944 / early 1945, and Of A Lifetime. Highly recommended. 


The Cribs - The New Fellas

The debut album from Wakefield's finest. Apparently they used refer to bands they liked as "the Fellas", hence with their recording debut they became the new 'Fellas'.


The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant

For this album and its subsequent tour they were joined by fan Johnny Marr. It's good, but not quite as good as the sum of its parts. 


The Arctic Monkeys - AM

The latest from the ever maturing and evolving Arctic Monkeys. Apparently some early fans feel alienated by the band's recent work. A pity, because this is fine stuff. Don't be too put off by talk of R'n'B grooves by the way. There's not much more than a hint of that here.


Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors

Worthy follow-up to the career resuscitating You Are The Quarry. This displays the effortless confidence that Morrissey so much needs to recover. The Youngest Was The Most Loved and The Father Who Must Be Killed are particularly good.


Biffy Clyro - Opposites

A sprawling double album that doesn't let down celebrated representatives of its genre such as The White Album, Physical Graffiti, and Melon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. A canvass this size gives the Biff opportunity to display the sheer breadth of their highly dynamic oeuvre. 


Jake Bugg - Shangri La

Definitely not 'more of the same' from the Nottingham bard. From the spiky indie of What Doesn't Kill You to the delicate Pine Trees, Bugg demonstrates the kind of onward momentum that it would take comparable artists four albums to achieve.


The Beatles - Beatles For Sale

With their second album of 1964, The Beatles failed to emulate its cover-free predecessor A Hard Day's Night. However, you could hardly blame them. When they weren't in the studio they had been on the road, conquering most of the world including, most emphatically, the US of A. This was a fine album which included no singles, although Eight Days A Week was certainly worthy of a single release. 


Crosby, Stills and Nash - Crosby, Stills and Nash

In which Graham Nash escapes the stultifying 'straightness' of The Hollies to join Crosby and Stills, alumni of The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield respectively. Apparently the three first harmonised together at Mama Cass's house in Laurel Canyon, and thereafter could not return to their previous lives. Or something like that anyway. This is a fine debut, featuring Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and Marrakesh Express.


Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Deja Vu

For their follow-up, CSN added the mercurial Neil Young to their mix. He brought the seemingly effortless Helpless to the party for this album. 


The Cure - Pornography

In which The Cure mine the dark stuff. However, they possibly surpassed this with Disintegration in 1989. Possibly best not listened to alone..... 


The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground with Nico

This was their debut album recorded under the sponsorship of Andy Warhol. With its Warhol designed sleeve, and with Nico on board at the artist's insistence, this album could have been construed as a Warhol 'project', but was none the worse for that. Nonetheless, the band loosened ties and emphasised their independence for their second album.


The Velvet Underground - VU

This collection of unreleased Velvets material was welcomed with huge excitement on its release in 1985. There was good reason for this, as the quality of its contents was very high indeed. One could only wonder why songs as good as I Can't Stand It weren't released the first time round.


Lou Reed - New York

Reed's 1989 album was a terrific piece of work, albeit one that was almost unremittingly dark. Many songs (Romeo Had Juliet for example) had a particularly Velvets influenced groove. Optimism was in short supply. See Busload Of Faith and The Great American Whale for proof.