Various Artists - The Lost Boys OST

When I was at college a few of my friends were really into skating and BMX-ing (as is probably true of every teenager everywhere, regardless of time or place). Tom and Nick were really into both sports and, along with Hugh, we spent a lot of time at Tom's parents' house watching skate and BMX videos. I always found the flatland BMX bits the most fascinating and eventually bought an old BMX from Nick with the intention of learning how to do some of the cool stuff I'd seen. The notion of understanding where my weight was and how to move it wasn't something I'd figure out until I tried snowboarding many years later, so trying out these BMX tricks usually just involved me falling off the bike a lot. I learned one trick and pretty much gave up there.

In one of those videos - and it's important to note that this was the early-2000's, so YouTube wasn't a thing; these were actual videos - there was a section of someone BMX-ing to Cry Little Sister from the film The Lost Boys. It was nothing like the music I was listening to at the time, but I was crazy into it. That choir! It was perfect. The song is dark and brooding and the layering of the vocals is brilliant. The organ adds to the gothic feel along with all the reverb on the vocals. I know nothing about Gerald McMann, but he had a stroke of genius with this song at least. I can't remember anything about the BMX video but setting anything to this music is a bold move, especially something that is so commonly soundtracked by shitty punk bands, so fair play to them.

I can't remember the order of events - I'd either seen the film before seeing that BMX video or I hadn't. I think I hadn't, so must have looked up the song from the closing credits, researched it on the internet and seen it was from the soundtrack (I'm reluctant to use the verb "google" because at this point in time it probably would have been Yahoo search or even Ask Jeeves - reminiscing about the early days of the internet makes me feel like a grandad). I've watched the movie a good handful of time over the years, and it's a great vampire movie but I certainly don't consider it one of my all time favourite movies. I imagine it's riding the wave of 80's nostalgia really well though - the second song here Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys) wouldn't sound out of place in a montage in Stranger Things.

I've just been reading about the soundtrack on Wikipedia and never released how many of these songs were covers - mostly because the originals and people playing them here are largely unknown to me (Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me being an obvious exception, here recorded by Roger Daltrey, who I feel like I should know was in The Who, but they're just not a band I care enough about to store these things away in my mind. My initial thought was a strange mix of James Bonds: Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. That's not who he is). The feeling isn't consistently "incredibly 80's", in fact Good Times is really upbeat and ends quite far away from a typical 80's sound. The Echo and the Bunnymen cover of People Are Strange doesn't try anything similar.

Every song that appears after Cry Little Sister just makes me wish I was still listening to Cry Little Sister. I've not played this album a huge amount over the years, but it's always a waiting game until that song, then a case of letting side-B play out pretty much out of pity that the songs aren't as memorable or interesting; almost like it's rude to just play the song I want to hear and skip the rest (in case you needed any more clues that I'm not embracing the Spotify-generation). I Still Believe by Tim Cappello has something going for it; it reminds me of Talk Talk a bit, which, having just googled who Tim Cappello is, is probably pretty offensive to Talk Talk.

Anyway, a few years later on Christmas Eve as we headed out for the tradition of getting Christmas-ruiningly-drunk back in Winchester, Hugh gave me this copy of The Lost Boys soundtrack that he'd found in a charity shop that day. It was an unexpected gift, and I appreciated the thought. It was something of a pain carry it around the rest of the evening, but I managed to avoid it getting covered in drinks and it's mostly still in the condition I was given it in. It doesn't get much play, so I'm just going to listen to Cry Little Sister one more time before I put it back away...

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: Free second hand
Bought: Gift
When: 24/12/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Nils Frahm - Spaces

A few years ago, in November, I was visiting my friend Hugh in Cardiff. I hadn't been to Cardiff in a while, and that weekend Mclusky and Jarcrew were playing a reunion show and we'd got tickets (I was never a huge fan of either band, but both were hugely important to a lot of people I knew who'd been at university in Cardiff before I moved there). It was shortly after my birthday, so after a few beers in town, we returned to Hugh's flat and he presented me with this record as a birthday present. Afterwards we watched Alan Partridge on TV.

I'd started to hear the name Nils Frahm around the place, but really knew little about him. I'd certainly never listened to any of his music before the needle hit the record. From the off I was enjoying what I heard. I'd been listening to post-rock bands for a number of years and had not long been listening to Max Richter, having been introduced through his excellent Infra record. In short, I was perfectly primed for Nils Frahm's post-classical piano works.

Spaces is a collection of live recordings, and contains some text explaining that it came to life because his live shows and his studio recordings often feel very different. Having seen him live twice and listened to a few of his studio albums I can say that the studio albums only capture a fraction of the enjoyment I got out of seeing him live; they're great albums, but I was astounded by his live show (the first time I saw him was in the Roundhouse in May 2015, when he opened the show with a 45-minute long piece over three pianos; I didn't want it to end. The second time was at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall with a £5 ticket, quite the bargain).

It's not often I'd recommend a live album as a starting point for someone wanting to get into an artist (or a best-of for that matter - both feel a bit like cheating), but I'd 100% recommend Spaces to anyone wanting to get into Nils Frahm's music. It's got a bit of everything - on the first side alone you have post-rock with Says and classical with Said and Done. The real star of the show is side 3 featuring just one track made up of four songs seamlessly strung together - For, Peter, Toilet Brushes (where he literally plays the stings inside his grand piano with toilet brushes) and More. In terms of getting close to the live experience, this is excellent - both the way the songs flow fluidly from one to another and the length of song that creates is very much how I remember his live show. Hammers is also worth a mention for being instantly fun and a more concise highlight.

Format: Double 12", die-cut sleeve, two inserts
Tracks: 11
Cost: £0 new
Bought: Gift
When: 14/11/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Blacklisters - Adult

I was given this record as a gift, and there's a very good chance I'd never have heard of the band had I not been; I know basically nothing about them and they've never come up in conversation with anyone other than the friend who gave me the record. I'm sure the internet could tell me many things about the band, but I'm kinda enjoying the (minor) mystery.

My friend Hugh and I occasionally give each other records for birthdays or Christmas. Sometimes they're great (he introduced me to Nils Frahm, I responded with Restorations), other times it's not been so good (there's really no need for James Blake to exist in my collection). Two years ago he visited me in Oxford with his girlfriend, new puppy, and our friend Vicky, and gave me this Blacklisters record for my birthday. I mentioned I'd never heard of them and he had nothing but praise for the album. I had no idea what to expect when the needle hit the record and, two years later, I'm still not very sure what to call this music.

On the surface, this does seem like a record that I should really enjoy - it's noisy, dark, awkward and there are some pretty big riffs (the outro to Big Ticker and Priss are particular highlights). There's also a nice mixture of sparse instrumentation and heavy onslaught (see Weasel Ticker) that characterise bands I love, like Shellac and The Paper Chase. But somehow, they lack the charm of those bands (or at least the charm I associate with them). I should love this record, but for reasons I've never been able to put my finger on, I can't. I listened to it a few times at the start and Hugh recommended I tried harder when he asked my opinion and I said I wasn't that into it. I've played it periodically since with the hope that one day it'll click. It hasn't yet, but ask me again in another few years.

I guess it's intentionally hard on the ears, in the same way a band like Silent Front is, but I rarely turn to it when I want something very abrasive and difficult to listen to. Perhaps I've just not been in the right mood for that music recently. Silent Front really clicked when I was commuting in London and the bleakness of the record against the bleakness of my shitty commute really hit something. Maybe I'm just too happy these days. When you put it that way, I kinda hope I never really get this album.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £0 new
Bought: gift
When: 17/10/15
Colour: Pink
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Dub War - Cry Dignity

Approaching the end of Dub War Week now. This is the 7" of Cry Dignity from Wrong Side of Beautiful. My friend Hugh had picked up a bunch of Dub War cd singles at a record fair at some point (CD1 and CD2 of Cry Dignity and one of the Million Dollar Love cds), but decided he'd prefer a little extra cash, so sold them to me. He'd also got this 7" at some time along the way too, and sold the four of them for a fiver. There were a scattering of interesting b-sides (including a very nice acoustic version of Cry Dignity and the jam-track, Glover's Weird, which appears here) and a bunch of remixes which all made it onto the remixes album.

Format: 7", two promotional postcards, numbered 1431/3000
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.25 second hand
Bought: Hugh
When: 11/04/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Rocket From the Crypt - Paint as a Fragrance

I bought this record from Hugh. I imagine it was one of those many times when he was selling off half his record collection to pay a bill (not that this is a place to discuss his finances). All I can really remember was that it was while we were living in Cardiff. I think he'd bought it not that long before, possibly from Kai, possibly with a whole bunch of other records. Anyway, there's no particularly exciting story to go with it. I'd got the live album R.I.P. for Christmas and the song Velvet Touch caught my ear. I think that's probably why I ended up buying it from Hugh.

The record isn't in great condition, but I imagine its had at least four owners, possibly even more since its been knocking around since 1991. The sleeve is looking fairly healthy all considering. If it ever had an insert, in doesn't anymore. The first side pops and crackles in that way that people love, but actually kinda makes them wish the record had been taken better care of.

Musically, its got some tunes (French Guy, Velvet Touch, Stinker). If it was a cd I'd skip Basturds pretty much everytime. That song does nothing for me. And it is very different to their later albums. I don't know Circa Now except for a couple of songs, but Hot Charity and Scream Dracula Scream are certainly a change (although awesome in their own way - I remember when On a Rope came out. I was only 10 at the time and my sister wanted to buy the single but didn't in the end because it was only on cd and we couldn't play those in the car. I still love that song. A couple of years back they played it a silent disco I was at to the great joy of my friends and I. I should probably stop ranting about On a Rope, but I don't have any other RFTC vinyl, so this is my only chance to do so. Massive tune).

It's another short record. In fact they all have been so far. At some point I'm going to have to make some time to sit down with some of the double and triple (and the one quadruple and one quintuple) LPs I have. Not this week though. I don't have the time. Unfortunately.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £7 second hand
Bought: Hugh
When: 01/04/09
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no