Apparently, I buy too many records

My wife Helen, like every other woman i've ever lived with, believes that I buy too many records.

Which, as every record-buying man knows, is a ridiculous belief.

I will concede, however, that I do indeed buy a lot of records and that I don't afford them the same amount of listens and attention that I did 20 or 30 years ago.

To this end, I have decided to blog about the records that I buy, in order to help my appreciation of them - and perhaps to show Helen that I don't buy that many records after all.

Because i'm crap with deadlines the blog posts will be sporadic and probably be about a month or 2 behind but that's just the way i am! The posts will not necessarily be actual reviews (most likely comments, at best) and will generally be pretty damn short due to the reasons outlined above. As a writer in a previous existence i have decided not to worry about writing as art in the pieces but, instead, to attempt to convey feeling over semantic (and often grammatic) perfection.

And 'OCRB'? It stands for 'Obsessive Compulsive Record Buying' - a little known mental health affliction that is potentially damaging to the bank account but ultimately life-affirming. It is sad.......but a nice form of sad.

Monday, 22 August 2011

Invasion of the Mysteron killer sounds Vols 1 & 2 (Soul Jazz)

Another exceptional Soul Jazz release - 4 albums spread over 2 volumes plus graphic novel and poster make this a treat by anyone's imagination. Kevin Martin (AKA The Bug) compiles volume one and Soul Jazz's Stuart Baker does the honours all over volume 2 and it is very much a game of two halves. Ostensibly, both these volumes feature electronic 'versions' (i.e in the dub sense of the word) of dancehall tracks - most of the tracks here appeared on the flipside of 7"s, but Mr Martin's 4 sides are heavier and more punishing (as expected), whilst Mr Baker's sides are spacier and even occasionally trippy (check out World Beat's 'Gold mine' for instance - the rhythm is traditional but the overlying repetitive motif is closer to an acid trance piece). What i found was that these tracks were far more interesting than in their usual vocal-led forms, dancehall is fine but i always feel beaten down by the relentless vocals and rarely listen to the music behind - which is a shame really as said music is much more inventive, interesting and enjoyable than the barked vocals would have you believe.
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