Kirsty MacColl - Electric Landlady

YOURZ

I've been waiting for the pointy stick to land on Ms MacColl only because I knew it would elicit a passionate review from Mine, who is a big Kirsty fan.  I must admit I'm generally ignorant of her work, although I'm very familiar with her duo with Shane McGowan of The Pogues on Fairytale Of New York (if you don't know this classic, check it out here - best listened to with a skin full and preferably loudly late at night).  She's also responsible for a wonderful cover of Billy Bragg's New England, a version I prefer to the original (sorry Billy).

Imagine my surprise when I listened to the first track on Electric Landlady and found I instantly recognised it.  For the life of me, though, I don't know where I've heard Walking Down Madison before (for a moment I was convinced it was covered by the Pet Shop Boys, who I definitely don't like - isn't it curious how the mind works - okay, maybe it's just my mind...)

Anyway, I was kind of hoping there'd be more tracks like it on this album but there aren't.  This doesn't mean the rest of the album is crap, because it's not.  There are some nice tracks on it.  But there's that word again - nice - and I think if you're a regularly reader of this blog you know my feelings on 'nice'. 

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

MINE

I'm crying.  I can't help it. Every time I think about the loss of the songstress who I adored for so many years, I get all teary.  I'm very much a "no regrets" kind of girl but oh how I regret not getting on a plane and flying to London when I heard Kirsty had gotten over her decades-long stage fright and was performing.  I thought to myself, "I can save up for that.  Next year will do." And then she was dead, mown down by a motor-boat driver in Mexico in front of her two sons.

I fell in love with Kirsty when I saw her video for A New England, where she's pregnant (unheard-of for singers even now) and revelled in Kite when it came out a few years later.  I love that the title for this album comes from Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, after he lived in a flat she owned.  I can't say it's my favourite Kirsty album, I love them all.  I can say I love Walking Down Madison, All I Ever Wanted and My Affair.

But so many of these songs are beautiful.  My only problem is listening to them without howling.  I miss her so much and on my next trip to London I'll be sure and make a pilgrimage to her memorial bench in Soho Square, dedicated in her memory and a fitting tribute as it reflects a song on her next album, Titanic Days.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP so you can't hear me sobbing

For more information: http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/

In our collection we also have Kite, What Do Pretty Girls Do?, Titanic Days, Tropical Brainstorm, The Essential Collection and The One And Only

Beck - Midnite Vultures

MINE

I must admit I was never much of a Beck fan before YourZ came along, and I'm still not really, although I do admire his musicianship. It's mostly because I don't really like his voice.

YourZ calls this "Beck's disco album" and I kind of agree, but I think I'd call it "Beck's annoying album" because it's just a bit too clever for me. Not that the tunes are bad or anything, but there's so MUCH in there! So many instruments, multi-tracking, sound effects, bells and whistles, you can't really get to grips with the music. In fact, it's like he snorted a whole bunch of coke in the studio and didn't know where to stop.

It's no Mellow Gold or Odelay - so I'd mark it as the album only for completists.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

YOURZ

Bek David Campbell, aka Beck, is a musical pixie who sprinkles weird-ass instrumentation, samples and stream-of-consciousness lyrics throughout his releases like nose-candy for a drug-free generation. Personally, he's been a source of inspiration ever since I heard his first major release, Mellow Gold, 15 years ago. After this, there was the Grammy-winning Odelay, which saw him become one of the biggest artists in the world at the time.

Three years on from that, he released Midnite Vultures, his 7th studio album, where he channelled disco grooves by way of Bowie and Prince, tossed these with his eclectic instrumentations, assembled a massive crew of musicians, including Johnny Marr, Beth Orton and his producers of choice, the Dust Brothers, and came up with an indefinable musical melding as only he is capable of doing. A typical example of his eclecticism happens at the end of the first song, Sexx Laws, where he drops a banjo line into what's otherwise been a horn-laden piece of white soul.

I saw him live a few years after this album was released and he included a number of tracks in his set. He played up the disco elements of these tracks with some hokey b-boy dance moves and a lot of cheek. It still has to be one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Not one of his best albums, but certainly not one of his worst, Midnite Vultures is still a great example of the eccentric world of the artist called Beck.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (and boogie down, y’all)

Click here for more info: http://www.beck.com/

In our collection, we also have Mellow Gold, Stereopathic Soul Manure, One Foot In The Grave, Odelay, Sea Change, Guero, Guerolito, The Information and Modern Guilt.