Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down in the Light

There was a period of time when I bought lots of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy records, and a period where I slowed way down and tried to make much more considered purchases from his back-catalogue. William Oldham's music is not something I universally love; in fact, he veers into territory that I don't like almost as much as he makes incredible music.

On one hand, he released I See a Darkness, one of the best and most interesting folk records I've ever heard, not to mention the darkest. I also have a couple of great live albums of his, and I really enjoyed the album with The Cairo Gang. On the other hand, I can't listen to Sings Palace's Greatest Hits, and there are a good handful of albums that are completely unremarkable. This album, the third of his I bought (after I See a Darkness and There Is No One That Will Take Care of You), falls into the latter category.

I bought this album about a week after it came out as my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers that week. The first disappointment (albeit a small one) was that it wasn't blue vinyl, which would have been such an obvious choice. The much bigger disappointment was that none of the edginess of the two albums I knew was present - despite the two being very different, both had a lot going on that made them interesting; Lie Down in the Light was kinda bland, with little excitement. It did nothing for me then, and every attempt to get into since has been equally underwhelming.

There was one incident that meant the album made some impression on me, but it literally the only one - in May 2012 we saw Bonnie 'Prince' Billy play a special show with Trembling Bells in the Union Chapel in London, although it was much more "Trembling Bells featuring Will Oldham" than the other way around. I suspect the vast majority in attendance that night also wished it was the other way around (they supported him when I saw him play an incredible set in Shepherd's Bush in 2010). I was there with a handful of friends, three of whom decided halfway through that it was so bad that they'd rather be in the pub. Somehow, the message didn't make it the whole way across the pew so Rich and I didn't know they were actually leaving, but probably would have watched the rest of the show anyway.

After they left, the band played the best song of the evening by far, a song I later realised was So Everyone from this album. I recognised the song; despite not having played this album a huge amount, the catchy chorus had lodged itself in my mind and I made an effort to figure out which album it was from when I got home. I was surprised that it was from Lie Down in the Light, partly because I didn't think I'd played it enough to remember any of it, but partly because I didn't think there was anything on the album remotely memorable. I stand corrected - it has one memorable song. If I was making a compilation of my favourite Will Oldham songs, it'd make the cut.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 27/05/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Weezer - Weezer (The Red Album)

I feel like when I bought this record the idea of buying the new Weezer album the week it came out wasn't a thing to be embarrassed by, but looking back at their discography it must have been. I'd had Make Believe for a year and a half by that point so knew they were capable of writing bad albums. But The Green Album and Maladroit weren't uniformly terrible, so it was possible, I'm pretty sure, at the time at least. that Make Believe was just an anomaly. Of course, we all know it was next step in a slippery slope; a slope that steepened with The Red Album.

The Red Album came out whilst I was doing my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and seemed like a solid purchase that week. My colleague Hywel was really excited for the new Weezer album and I think some of that rubbed off on me. As has been discussed at length by everybody on the internet for years, Weezer built up a lot of good trust with The Blue Album and exactly how far that trust went varied depending on who you asked. For me, I definitely went into this wanting to like it. But I never really did. Pork and Beans has something classic Weezer about it, but is ultimately a very stupid song (which eventually became their modus operandi). The Greatest Man That Ever Lived was a ridiculous concept that didn't translate into a good song, and there's basically nothing else I remember about the rest of the album. I can't think how many years it's been since I last played The Red Album, maybe there'll be something to redeem it I'd forgotten about. Update: I'm at the end now and there isn't. The Angel and the One isn't terrible, but that's not exactly praise. I'd also forgotten that Cold Dark World contains one of the worst lyrics I've ever heard.

The Red Album turned out to be the last new Weezer album I bought. Raditude came out a year later but I had no interest in buying it. Weezer's downwards trajectory was well-established and the good trust they'd established with me was finally wearing out. Some friends gave them a few more chances, others stopped before I did; everybody has their limit with Weezer-Blue-Album-good-faith and I quite like seeing where that line is for other people. This album pushed me to the other side.

Format: 12", gatefold
Tracks: 10
Cost: £15.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 23/06/08
Colour: Red
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Alexander Tucker - Portal

I was convinced I'd written about this album years ago, but apparently I haven't. I'll get straight to the point - I've never really gotten into this one. I've definitely tried, but it's never happened and I suspect it never will.

I bought this during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and the main reason for doing so was because it was on ATP Recordings. A few months before that I'd been to my first ever ATP festival and was beginning a journey that would last years and introduce me to more bands than I care to count. My friend Aled had passed a comment at some point about how great it is discovering records because they're on a certain record label - how that was essentially a stamp of approval. Whilst I agree that's true in some cases, there are many examples of it going the other way. I can totally see why this album would get released on ATPR, but that's not to say I like it.

Alexander Tucker plays all of the instruments on this album and, generally speaking, that's a worrying sign for me; there's a lot to be said for other people reining in ideas sometimes. Of course, I didn't know that when I bought it. In fact, beyond the fact it was on ATPR and whatever positive things Spillers had written on the sleeve, I knew nothing about it but figured it'd be worth chancing £10 on. The music is nice enough - mostly acoustic guitar and various layers sounds - but his voice grates a bit. It's not a very powerful voice and, intentionally I'm sure, floats somewhere behind the guitars. I imagine Alexander considers himself a guitarist first and foremost, and is very talented at it. I'd often had trouble with music I've called "guitar-players music" - music that people who play the guitar love, but because it's complicated and strange, not necessarily because it's good (I put Sonic Youth firmly in this category). Maybe I'm just unfairly dismissing it because I'm not talented enough to play the guitar, who knows.

Every now and again through this album, there are some pretty heavy guitars, and I'm a fan of that. But they're always paired with that same acoustic guitar and background-y vocals and it's just a shame. The label (the only place on the sleeve where there's any information) thanks Stephen O'Malley (of Sunn O))) fame), a name that wouldn't have meant anything to me when I bought this; I can see how the two might get along. Belljars, the first song on the second side, has a strong riff and pairs heavy electric guitars with the acoustic ones and works quite well until the point where it turns out that it's not an instrumental song.

When I was buying my weekly record from Spillers I was routinely recording the albums I bought onto cds to play in the kitchen (via my shitty USB turntable) and the pile of cds that resulted in still sits in a spindle in my car. Every time I go through there I see this album and I absolutely never think to play it. With a few of those cds I think "maybe I could be in the mood for that", but I never get that with Alexander Tucker. Playing it now will probably tide me over for many years. Like I said, I've never cracked this album and I'm increasingly sure I never will.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 8
Cost: £10.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 02/09/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

I was convinced I'd already written about this album, but apparently I haven't - I googled to check and everything. I've told the story about the time I saw The Shins so many times I figured I must have written it here too, but I haven't, so here it is for the first time.

It's not a great story - nothing particularly exciting happens - in fact, it's hard to write it such that it sounds anywhere near as good as it was. Basically, we saw The Shins play at Leeds Festival, the sun was shining and everything felt right with the world. We'd got a bunch of free Jack Daniels cocktails (we were working on another bar, so alcohol was a currency) and were still a while from starting our shift. The weather had been a bit miserable, but the sun peaked out for almost exactly the length of The Shins' set on the main stage, and we all sat there a bit far back from the stage, drinking our drinks and just having the best time. I'm not even a big fan of The Shins; this is the only album of theirs I own, and I wouldn't even consider it a favourite. But for that hour, in the sun with those friends and those cocktails, their music was the greatest thing ever. I count it as one of the best sets I ever saw at a Reading/Leeds Festival, and there is some steep competition in that list.

The order of events is as follows: in 2002 I bought a cheap Sub Pop sampler that had The Shins' legendary New Slang on it (although, I was much more into the song by the Murder City Devils). In 2005 I bought Give Up by The Postal Service and heard The Shins cover of We Will Become Silhouettes (although I was much more into Iron & Wine's cover of Such Great Heights). At some point after that, I saw Garden State and wondered why Natalie Portman played him New Slang when she should have played him Such Great Heights. In 2007 we watched The Shins at Leeds and I had the blissed-out hazy summer moment the band were designed for. In January 2008 I bought this album in Spillers as part of my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year. In 2011 I moved to Kingston and Banquet Records made sure New Slang had a new meaning yet again (although I was much more into their New Noise nights).

There's a common theme above of The Shins taking a backseat to something else that grabbed me more at the time. Maybe I've never really let them have a moment to shine (other than for an hour at Leeds). The music they play is really nice, but the 60's feeling it invokes just isn't a winner for me. Between this album and The Olivia Tremor Control I have my fix of 60's-sounding bands (and, I rarely get more than halfway through Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One in any one sitting). I don't think anyone could really object to The Shins, but New Slang aside (and maybe Caring is Creepy) it's hard to find any really exciting moments (oh, maybe The Past and Pending too - that's three, not bad). I would say I should maybe check out their other albums at some point, but this is the only one I've ever heard people rave about, so my chances of getting much more from the others is slim.

But - and this is an important "but" - every time I scroll past this album on my iPod, or run my finger past it on the shelf I think of that afternoon at Leeds and how perfect everything felt. I almost never stop and play the album because just seeing it reminds me of the warm sun and alcohol buzz and I have more fun than I probably would from actually playing it.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 31/01/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

The Verve - Forth

Forth probably isn't a bad record, but it's certainly not one that needs to be exist. That sounds bad, but it's proving to be the case for most new-albums-from-reformed-bands. I listen to the first three Verve albums a lot still, each with it's own charms; I almost never play Forth. 2008, when it came out, was eleven years after I'd got Urban Hymns and eight years after I'd got A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul; moreover, I was 24 rather than a teenager, listening to punk-rock and had just been to my first All Tomorrow's Parties - The Verve weren't a cool band in the same way the other bands I was listening to were.

That said, 2008 was also the only time I'd ever see The Verve, and I was so fucking excited. It was Glastonbury and we were working on the bar in exchange for free tickets. I was pretty gutted that our Sunday shift was when they were playing, but our bar faced the main stage, so I got to watch from behind the bar, and took my break in the middle of their set. I sang along to Bittersweet Symphony with a bunch of drunk people I'd just sold beer to. I don't want to understate the impact that song had on my life - it was the first song that made me genuinely feel anything about music and I wouldn't be sat here writing about my records had I not heard it. Watching The Verve that day was purely about satisfying teenage-me, and it more than did the job.

If The Verve making a new album is the price we had to pay for them to reform and play shows, then this album is worth it. I got to the see The Verve, which is something I never thought I would do. I remember watching their Haigh Hall set live on the BBC and hearing that they were breaking up and feeling so annoyed that I came to them slightly too late. I'm very pleased I was there the second time around.

Is it a bad album? I mean, maybe. There's no way to hear it without the context of the three albums that came before it, the three albums that had already been played more times than this album could ever expect to be heard. Richard Ashcroft had started his dubious solo career and that would taint the enjoyment here - Rather Be is crazy-catchy but feels like a step further away from the direction they'd gone on Urban Hymns, and sounds more like a Richard Ashcroft solo song than a Verve song, which isn't that surprising when you see that he has the sole credit on it. Love is Noise is somehow both really annoying and one of the best songs on the album. Not sure how they managed that. Valium Skies was also a highlight, and the song I find in my head after playing the album. The closer, Appalachian Springs finally sees them letting loose, which is a long time coming. A whole album of songs like that would have worked for me.

Side B is entirely underwhelming - there are hints of the spaciness of the earlier albums, but executed in the most unexciting way. It's early for the album to start dragging. I See Houses has a chorus that has some bite, but musically is still too restrained; if they'd let themselves go for it, it could have been one of the best songs on the album. Noise Epic has one of those titles that you just know isn't going to deliver - it was a big promise and the six songs that proceed it suggest that they're never going to get as noisy or epic as they used to. It gets going eventually, but in the context of the rest of the album feels a bit out of place. There are two bonus tracks that aren't on the cd album: Ma Ma Soul and Muhammad Ali. The first sounds like a mid-career b-side, that is to say, I actually quite like it. The second has a bit more power than a lot of the album tracks, but isn't particularly memorable.

Partly to appease teenage-me, but also because I had genuinely loved seeing the band play that summer, I bought Forth on the day it came out as my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers that week. I knew it was never going to be the "classic" that the hype sticker (quoting the NME) claimed. Nearly a year later, the Virgin Megastore in Cardiff was closing down and everything was dirt cheap, so I bought a lot of cds. One such album was the cd and dvd edition of Forth for £6. The LP hadn't come with a download code so it felt worth it to get the mp3s, plus I wanted to watch the dvd to see the band play live again (the reissues of the original albums would provide much better live shows on dvd, but I wasn't to know that back then). I remember seeing the ridiculous boxset version of the album quite cheap a few times as well, but given that it just contained this double LP and the cd and dvd, I had no need for it.

Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 12
Cost: £19 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 27/08/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy

When I was doing my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, sometimes when I'd get back to the office my colleagues would ask what record I bought; they mostly knew very little about the music I was into but liked to look at the covers and ask what sort of music it was. When I came back with this LP that summer, I remember praying that no one would ask me - I snuck in and hid it by the side of my desk. How do you explain that cover to anyone? The band name alone would raise some eyebrows, let alone the album title. What if they looked at the song titles and saw songs like Let's Fuck, Insect Whore or Gash Wagon? Thankfully the lyrics for Let's Fuck aren't printed because I definitely don't want to be doing any explaining around that (I'll let you Google that one if you're not familiar with that particular slab of punk-rock).

This is the only Dwarves record I own. I knew roughly what I was getting in for and get some enjoyment out of it - Drug Store is actually quite a good song - but I very rarely ever think "yes, I want to listen to the Dwarves". There are many uneasy-listening hardcore records in my collection, and most of them are recorded better - the quality here varies from just about ok to appalling - Detention Girl is just a smudge of noise for the first half. On the other hand, it's a very short record, so at least you're not listening to it for long. I've definitely had £8 of enjoyment from it over the years, so I can't complain. On the other hand, I do worry my children will see it one day and judge me.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 11
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 03/06/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us

For a good number of years, All Tomorrow's Parties dominated my musical discoveries. 2008 was the start of that - Explosions in the Sky curated a weekend and had one of my favourite bands, The Paper Chase, playing. We saw some excellent bands that weekend, and went to the festival as often as I could for the four years that followed (and beyond, but they ran into actually-holding-the-event issues, which was a shit). That EITS weekend I saw Broken Social Scene for the third time. I'd been introduced to them by the song Ibi Dreams of Pavement on a mix cd I'd been sent from Australian Kate in 2006, and saw them play an incredible set at Pukkelpop that summer.

The ATP performance in 2008 has come to be my main memory of seeing them - they had musicians from so many other bands on stage with them and the set was just perfect. ATP later gave out mp3s of the whole set to anyone who became a "member", a paid-for privilege that I definitely got my money's-worth from - every so often they'd offer free tickets to gigs for members and I was living in London at the time, so went to a lot of shows. They also gave you advance booking, which meant I got to see Mogwai in the tiny Hoxton Bar and Grill. Anyway, all that means I'm very familiar with the set from the recording, but I also have distinct visual memories of seeing Explosions and J Mascis on stage with them, as well as seeing them play Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, a song I absolutely love. I've seen them six times now, and they basically alternate between blowing me away and hugely underwhelming me - I think I tend to remember how great the last time was, build my hopes up to unreasonable proportions, get underwhelmed, then go in with very low expectations and get blown away again. The last time I saw them was great though. Broken Social Scene were a prime example of the sort of music my ATP-years involved, and I bought many albums from all the related bands from that Canadian Arts & Crafts scene.

In July 2008, Virgin Megastore was in a dire situation and closing stores all over the place. Loads of cheap stock was getting sent to the Cardiff store before it finally closed, so there were constantly cardboard boxes of random cds appearing. I spent more in those last few weeks than I did at any other time in a Virgin Megastore, which probably says a lot. One find was Kevin Drew's solo album, billed as a "Broken Social Scene Presents" album, which ticked by BSS / Arts & Craft box very nicely. He's clearly the member of the band that wants them to be a rock band, and the album is quite basic rock music, but enjoyable.

In December I found the second in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series, Brendan Canning's Something For All of Us in Spillers. Brendan is clearly the member of the band that is the opposite of Kevin Drew. The intersection of these two albums is almost BSS in entirety, and the exact reason why they're so good. It seems that Kevin is pulling them in one direction, and Brendan the other and somewhere in the middle they meet and write excellent music.

All of this is a long way of trying to describe this album without actually committing to do so. The reason for that is that I'm struggling to find the words. Being a mathematician, I'm left with

BSS - "rock" = this album,

which is probably the closest I can get. There are songs on the BSS albums where it's just a bit of a soundscape and less of a song; there's a lot of that here. There's a 60's-ish, floaty feel to it all, which doesn't do it for me. I couldn't tell you of any highlights because nothing really stands out. Kevin Drew's album felt like it was made of traditional, simple songs, so it's easier to break it down and feel some sort of connection to it. I don't get that here. (It's worth noting that the Kevin Drew album isn't great by any stretch, but it has many aspects of good music that I'm missing here). This song is okay, Churches Under the Stairs, but I fully acknowledge that it's because it sounds like a perfectly average BSS song, the sort that sits between the good BSS songs that I suspect Kevin Drew had more of an influence on. There are some fun horns on Love is New, but I'd prefer it considerably as an instrumental song.

I hoped, as is often the case, that writing about this album would finally endear it to me more, but that hasn't happened. They can't all be winners.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 09/12/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Palace Brothers - There is No One What Will Take Care of You

In 2006 I bought I See A Darkness by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which was the perfect introduction to his work - by complete chance I started with one of Will Oldham's best albums. Over the years that followed I continued to buy albums of his pretty much at random. The second album was this one, his first and recorded under the name Palace Brothers.

It was the sixth week in my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers week and the week before I'd just heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the first time, so we were on a good roll. I can't remember much of what the description on this sleeve said, but it would have mentioned that it was a Will Oldham album and probably said some other things that drew me in. I was certainly keen to hear more and £9.50 now sounds ludicrously cheap for an LP.

I struggled with this album a lot at the start - there were moments I really enjoyed but it didn't hit anywhere near as hard as I See A Darkness. It's a difficult listen, and I strongly suspect that's intentional. There are simple-sounding songs that remind me of Daniel Johnston (like (I Was Drunk at the) Pulpit and I Had a Good Mother and Father) but I always thought Will was trying to create that persona of naivety and simplicity rather than actually having it; the fully rounded songs like Long Before, the title-track and King Me fly in the face of that, and are some of the stronger moments.

A while later I bought the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings Palace's Greatest Hits cd, which was the nail in the coffin for the Palace albums for me. I really should try the others properly (Days in the Wake has some songs that I know to be great from other records) but it's not happened yet. My scatter-gun approach to his back-catalogue has been more miss than hit, but that could be bad luck. It's been fun dabbling though.

When I was buying a record every Tuesday from Spillers, I made an effort to record them all onto cd to play on the kitchen hifi - that stack of cds ended up in my car and I tried to play this one recently. I don't think we made it to the end of Idle Hands before my wife suggested we listen to something less abrasive.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 12/02/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

The Desert Sessions - Vol V. Poetry for the Masses (Sea Shed Shithead by the Sea Sore) / Vol VI. Poetry for the Masses (Black Anvil Ego)

I started writing about this record last year when I wrote about Volumes 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 but completely forgot to finish it off. Volumes 5 & 6 are a strange bag of things, Vol 5 features a huge opener in the form of You Think I Ain't Worth..., full-on punk-rock on both I'm Dead and an early version of Punk Rock Caveman which found greater fame as a Queens song. But the problem with Vol 5 is that they ruin it with Letters To Mommy, a terrible joke song that doesn't even stand up to being a hidden track on the end of an album. Not only is it shit, it goes on far too long too. I get that they were probably high when they thought it'd be worth including but it just ruins the flow entirely. Goin' To a Hangin' is nothing to get excited about either.

Vol 6 similarly has its highs and lows; A#1 is just a classic stoner tune and Like a Drug might be my favourite across the whole series. It's smooth and unlike anything else - if all the experimental songs sounded like that I would be very happy. Rickshaw is quite fun too. But then there are songs like Take Me To Your Leader, which the series would be better without.

One of my complaints about this series of, admittedly slightly shitty, bootlegs/reissues is that the sleeves are paper thin. I've never seen an LP on such flimsy cardboard. However, my copy of Vol 5 & 6 has a further annoyance in the form of a large defect in the vinyl at the start of I'm Dead - it looks like a bit of something got caught in the pressing and has left a dent in a few grooves (see the picture below). It's a shame it had to be there, and not a few millimetres further out and ruined Letters To Mummy instead

If I had to sum up the six volumes of the Desert Sessions that I'm familiar with, I'd say that there is a lot of shit that could be culled easily but you'd then be left with one (long) album of incredible songs; the good songs are so good its a shame that they're surrounded by some really bad ones. The problem is, of course, that on vinyl it's not so easy to skip the bad songs (especially when you're already changing the record so often) so I basically don't listen to these records very often. It's a shame because there really are some great songs and I don't give them the time I should.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 04/11/08
Colour: Blue
Etching: None
mp3s: no

William Elliott Whitmore - Untitled

I recently completed my William Elliott Whitmore LP collection after finding a copy of Ashes to Dust on vinyl, an album I'd had on cd for years. This record, conversely, was the start of the collection.

During the Tuesday-Record-From-Spillers year, I found this six-song EP in their racks and quickly decided that was going to be my purchase that week. I'd been introduced to his music a year beforehand and his name kept coming up from people I knew in Cardiff; a year later he played a sold-out show in The Globe on easily the hottest day of the year and it was incredible. I think everyone I knew in Cardiff was there and he wowed us all.

At the start of the Tuesday-Record-From-Spillers I was diligently recording the records I bought onto cds (via a USB turntable) to play on the kitchen hifi. Despite never having proper mp3s of these songs, I knew them so well because that cd got a lot of play. It still lives on, in the spindle of cdrs in my car, and the short duration means that I often end up playing it a couple of times over. The version of Sometimes Our Dreams Float Like Anchors is billed as the "Winter Version", and I'd go to say that it's less warm than the album version, but that's all relative - even at the end when the banjo stops and we're just left with Will's incredible voice, it's hard to describe it as anything other than warm. I know this version much more than the original from all those plays in the kitchen.

The first two songs are from Song of the Blackbird, which I think was his newest at the time; Anchors is from the excellent Hymns For the Hopeless. The first song on the second side is Have Mercy, a song that wouldn't appear on any record until 2015's Radium Death. I was very confused when I got home to play the record (with the appropriate level of excitement for a new WEW record) and heard a song I knew very well. Buildin' Me a Home is a traditional song, but such a fine example of William's voice - it's like being wrapped in a thick blanket. The final song only appears on this record, as far as I can tell - it's one of his more upbeat southern-country style songs.

This record also introduced me to the concept of the Latitudes Sessions, a series I now have a few releases from - this was the fourth in series (indexed at 0) - I also have Dälek (#6), Gowns (#19) and A Storm of Light (#23), but looking through the list there are a few others I'd be keen to hear. The list of artists who have recorded a session is incredibly mixed and interesting. As I've mentioned in the other posts, I love the artwork used across the series. This is the red vinyl of the WEW record, which was the more numerous (800 copies, and 200 on green).

Format: 12", die-cut sleeve, insert
Tracks: 6
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 26/02/08
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Jeff Buckley - Grace

There were a number of years when my record collection was spread across two houses - mine and my parents'. I was moving every year (into increasingly small rooms in London) and it wasn't practical to have them all with me. One trip back home, I was flicking through the LPs I'd left there and stumbled across Grace by Jeff Buckley, a record I had no memory of buying. It didn't take long to realise I bought it during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, but I was pretty shocked that I'd forgotten that I owned a copy of it.

My relationship with Grace goes far further back, back to my first year of college. My local record shop had just started stocking vinyl for the first time, in the form of 180-gram reissues of "classic" albums. I was browsing them with my friend Guy, who got very excited over a copy of Jeff Buckley's Grace, an album and artist I'd never even heard of (my musical education at that point came from Kerrang!, so I'd never heard of Tim Buckley either). He told me it was a classic and insisted on lending me his copy. I played it and really didn't get the fuss. Whilst I thought I was open to many types of rock music at the time, it was very different to most of what I listening to and I remember being distinctly under-whelmed.

A short while later, Guy and I were at our friend Tom's house playing poker and Jeff came up again. Tom insisted on playing the album whilst we played (people like to insist on listening to Jeff Buckley it seems) and it sounded better. In particular, Eternal Life sounded excellent and I enjoyed the whole album more than I had the first time. Sometimes you just need the right time and place. In the second year of university I eventually bought a copy on cd, having spent two years hearing my housemate Matt routinely tell me how great it was. Very slowly realising that the album was indeed a "classic", I bought the LP three years later, on a Tuesday with few other records I fancied in Spillers.

So I'm not an evangelical Jeff Buckley fan (like so many of my friends), but I am a fan. A lot of the songs have heavier moments than I remember and build to some real highs. Of course, everyone knows and loves Hallelujah, which is a highlight. The slower moments like Lilac Wine and Corpus Christi Carol still do less for me, but I can still appreciate them for Jeff's great voice. At times, I'd be tempted to say it's a bit over-produced - there are just these moments every now and again that don't add much to the song and the album could easily live without - but it's a very small criticism. The other small complaint is that the LP doesn't include the bonus track on the cd that I have come to love, Forget Her - it's a great song, far better than you'd usually expect for a song tacked onto the end of an album.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Kingston
When: 04/07/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

One Last Wish - 1986

I bought this album towards the end of the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year. I almost certainly had never heard of One Last Wish before going into the shop that day (were they mentioned in Our Band Could Be Your Life? Even if they were, I doubt that registered at the time). I can't remember perfectly, but I strongly suspect the sticker Spillers had written on the sleeve said something about them being a legendary hardcore/emo band featuring members of Fugazi and Rites of Spring, which was definitely sufficient to get my interest.

1986 was recorded in 1986, released on cd on Dischord in 1999 and then got reissued on vinyl in 2008, which is when I got it. I'd got the Rites of Spring album two years before (after hearing a song on an NME compilation (!) that my friend gave me - the theme was bands that Kurt Cobain liked) and was pleased that One Last Wish sounded similar. That said, over the years, I've found myself turning to Rites of Spring more often than One Last Wish. 1986 is a solid record, but has fewer stand out moments (Loss Like a Seed is strong, as is One Last Wish). Guy's vocals are a highlight in general - they're very distinctive and passionate, which I like.

Very broadly, there feels like there's a few less-heavy influences mixed into their sound. It almost feels at times like someone took 95% Rites of Spring and 5% Beach Boys, if that's not a completely ridiculous thing to say; it works quite well.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Spillers Records
When: 02/12/08
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "R.I.P. Rodrigo Rjoas de Negri" Side B: "O.L.W. = B.W."
mp3s: Download code

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia

The Gutter Twins were a Tuesday-record-from-Spillers discovery in late-July. I'd long been aware of both Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli, so figured it'd be interesting to hear a collaboration between the two of them. For £11, it was definitely worth the punt.

I knew they both had great voices, and they work wonderfully together. The songs are quite varied but ultimately fit within the category of "rock" - a lot of the edge that set these guys apart in the 90's is a bit watered down, but that's to be expected. If you're after some heavier-than-middle-of-the-road rock songs with some incredible vocals, then you're in for a treat with The Gutter Twins.

I don't listen to this album that often, but I enjoy it a lot more than I remember each time I do. In my mind it's quite a long album, and at 12 songs and nearly an hour long, it's on that side of things. When "super-groups" release albums, there's always that fear of the album being bloated from no one telling them to stop (something Them Crooked Vultures were very guilty of); I would probably have enjoyed this album equally, or maybe more, if it was a couple of songs shorter, but that's just my preference. It's a perfectly enjoyable album, but certainly hasn't changed my life in any real way.

Format: Double 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 29/07/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

I'm a moderate fan of The Decemberists - I have all their albums either on cd or vinyl. Getting into them was a fun experience, starting with The Tain EP and the excellent Picaresque, bought on the same day in Cardiff based on a seemingly endless list of people telling me I should get into them (I bought The Tain on my first ever trip to Spillers Records, the same day I bought All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky - a good start to a long relationship with that shop).

A few months after moving to Cardiff I finally had enough disposable income to start buying records again (it had been tough few months) and decided to start the Tuesday-Record-From-Spillers year, a year where every Tuesday I'd go to Spillers and buy an LP. As mentioned many times before, it was a very good year. The very first record I bought was this one, The Decemberists' first album. It was a fitting start, since the shop had helped me get into the band in the first place.

Castaways and Cutouts is a very strong debut - it sets up everything we've come to expect from the band so well - deep, interesting characters (Leslie Anne Levine, A Cautionary Tale), slow melodic songs (Cocoon, Clementine) and huge indie-pop songs (July, July!, The Legionaire's Lament, California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade). A lot of people would argue that The Crane Wife was the high-point, but for me it was always Picaresque - of course Castaways and Cutouts has long had to live in its shadow, but it does a good job. These days I play it rarely, but enjoy it more than I remember each time I do (although I rank July, July! amongst the band's best songs, so I look forward to that appropriately).

I've found I get less out of the band as I've aged - I've often wished for them to be more serious, but some of the moments I love the most are the exact opposite - but I still think highly of them. Maybe it's not an age thing and one day they'll be a favourite again, you never can tell. They certainly have potential and I'll continue to buy every album until I have a strong desire to stop.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £10 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 08/01/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Black Flag - Damaged

Every genre has records that are essential; the ones that everyone has in their collection. If you're a fan of hardcore, Damaged is surely one of those records. Everything about it is legendary and classic and all those words.

My introduction to Black Flag was roundabout - I first heard of Henry Rollins on the pivotal Kerrang! free cd The Devil's Music Vol. 1 (a cd that introduced me to so many bands) - the cd included Rollins' Illumination from the recent Get Some Go Again album, which I eventually bought when I found it on sale in Southampton. Some time later, I bought Rise Above - the compilation album of Black Flag covers to help the West Memphis Three. The list of artists appearing on it was incredible, so I wanted to hear it. Not only did it introduce me to 20+ Black Flag songs, it introduced me to the all-important genre of "Black Flag covers" - I have more Black Flag covers in my collection than actual Black Flag songs; I've also seen countless bands try them live. It's a punk staple.

Two years later, I got The First Four Years (on a friend's recommendation) and My War (having read good things about it and thinking it could be a good starting point for the band proper). Finally, another two years later, I bought Damaged in Spillers. It took me seven years to get around to buying them album most people would have started with.

Having spent years listening to Black Flag covers - including the notable and strange Dirty Projectors' album where Dave Longstreth re-imagines the album from memory (to odd results) - there were very few surprises to be had in hearing Damaged. I knew almost all of the songs in some form, and had a very good idea of how they'd sound. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, so Damaged should feel very flattered indeed. Some of the songs are far more enjoyable here than I expected - Depression is far more intense than I could have imagined, for example. The second side has a few songs that haven't been routinely covered throughout my record collection, which are good to hear (although you wonder if there's a reason they haven't been covered much). They also seem to be the ones that bridge the gap more closely between The First Four Years and My War, two albums that are otherwise very different. I like them, but the first side is where the album really shines.

I don't consider myself a huge fan of Black Flag - my collection is far from complete, but I'm content with the albums I have and sometimes it's just nice to play Damaged and enjoy the astounding significance of the album.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 15
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 25/03/08
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Comin at ya - the neolithic gelatinous think" Side B: "Sizzled that neo-orthodoxy into my, uh,... aaah,... what the hell!"
mp3s: no

Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

I have three Atmosphere albums - Godlovesugly, Seven's Travels and When Life Gives You Lemons... , their most recent back when I was getting into them. A week after I found Godlovesugly in London I found this copy in Spillers in the hip-hop section, which I didn't check out anywhere near as frequently as I ought to have during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year. I had been enjoying Godlovesugly and was easily convinced by the limited edition coloured vinyl.

When Life Gives You Lemons... is a mixed bag for me. Much like the other two albums of theirs I have, there are some great songs - really genuinely brilliant rap songs. But, like the other two, there are far too many songs and a few of them that are either really annoying or really unnecessary. Case in point is the opening duo: Like the Rest of Us is both annoying and unnecessary and does nothing for me except to ruin the opening of the album; Puppets on the other hand is one of the best songs on the album and would make for a far better opener. If I'd heard Puppets as the first song on the first listen to this record, I'd have been in a much better mood than I was after hearing Like the Rest of Us. (Incidentally, Seven's Travels tries that approach with Trying to Find a Balance as the first proper song. The result is that the rest of the album can't hold up what they've started, so maybe there's method in their madness).

There are some other interesting moments on the album - Dreamer is a fine example of Slug crafting a rich story (which makes for a pleasant change to his usual self-loathing), Your Glass House is a bleak tale that most people can relate to a bit and Guarantees is the highlight of the second record by a long way. Wild Wild Horses and The Waitress are good songs too.

What it comes down to, I suppose, is that I'm just not that much of a fan of Atmosphere. After this album I got Seven's Travels a few months later on cd and realised I should probably stop buying Atmosphere albums. I don't think they're incapable of writing an album of songs that I want to hear, I just don't think they're ever going to make such an album. And that's fine - it just means they're not the band for me.

Format: Double 12"
Tracks: 15
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 23/09/08
Colour: Yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: no