List of other people's lists

As you may have guessed I'm pretty keen on lists, so here is a list of other peoples lists of "cool" and less well known music.

"The 100 Coolest Albums in the World Right Now!" . Well according to British GQ Magazine in their August 2005 issue anyway

MOJO Buried Treasure

SPIN Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums 1985-2005

NME 's 100 Best Albums Of All Time by New Music Express (2003)

NME albums of the year since 1974

Pentangle - Manchester Palace Theatre

I was delighted to be given tickets for this gig by generous wife as I have been a fan for quite a while now - mainly as an offshoot of my obsessive collecting of Bert Jansch albums.

Reunited in their original form in 2007 to receive a Lifetime Achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and I guess the time was right for the worlds greatest (only) folk-jazz-rock band to perform again. The band have much name checked as an influence by the likes of Devendra Barnhart and a whole new breed of acid-folkers.

Pentangle took the stage with little fanfare and no support act. The sound was excellent and the playing (although a little off tempo in parts) was for the most part excellent too, with Jansch driving things forward musically and McShee's voice in excellent shape, if anything slightly sweeter and less shrill that on the 70's classics "The Pentangle" and "Cruel Sister".

Jansch swapped between guitar and banjo while Renbourn even had a crack at a bit of sitar at one point - conjuring up the late sixties a treat. The band were obviously enjoying each others company with any animosities well in the past.

My Bloody Valentine – Manchester Apollo June 29th

Okay here’s the back story. Back in the mid eighties there was a struggling slightly directionless Irish/London indie band called My Bloody Valentine they had released a few records and had even supported bands like the Soup Dragons – but they weren’t very good. They had a few line up changes, found their voice and signed to Creation. They released two of the most perfect feedback-drenched LPs ever recorded and some pretty splendid EPs too. “Loveless” almost bankrupted Creation and they were dropped. They signed to Island records but went a bit bonkers and didn’t release anything.

Jump forward in time, it is now 16 years since they last played live and 15 since releasing anything of substance. Support band (Sonic Boom’s) Spectrum have just finished their set of enjoyable, slightly trippy, drone rock that hasn’t progressed much since Boom’s time with Spacemen 3 – but then why change for change’s sake.

MBV took the stage without even acknowledging the audience and roared their way through tracks from “Isn’t Anything” and “Loveless”; I didn’t notice any of the fabled new material. I realised why the venue (or perhaps the band themselves) had supplied everyone with free ear plugs – the volume was intense – really intense and increasing as the band continued through their set. The vocals were pretty inaudible which left a lot of the crowd playing guess the tune a lot of the time – the power of the sound was phenomenal culminating in the 25 minute (seriously we were counting the seconds) mind-melting feedback storm known to fans of old as “The Holocaust” that was used as a segue during the final track “You Made Me Realise”. The only way I can describe it is like standing inside a rocket’s thruster during take off while being pummelled in the chest – many left during this sonic assault and even heard talk of people near the front collapsing and going off to be sick.

Looks like MBV are back … but only on their own terms. Magnificent

Matt Schofield Trio – Manchester Club Academy June 27th

Schofield’s ‘Ear to the Ground’ has been a bit of a favourite of mine this last year. I really like its mix of blues-rock jazz and funk, okay I will admit there isn’t much that is new in Schofield’s music, but his muse is definitely in the right place.

Schofield is a phenomenally talented blues guitar player and is often compared to Robben Ford for the way he mixes jazz lines and unusual chord voicings into his blues. The other thing that sets him apart from the usual blues plodders is the organ trio format (guitar, Hammond organ, drums) – recalling Jimmy Smith and giving everything a tight mod groove.

The trio’s first set was great, playing key tracks from recent albums, but things really took off after the mid set break. Schofield ripping through covers of Albert Collins' "Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home" and the Box Tops’ “The Letter” (by way of Sly Stone’s “If You Want Me To Stay”) allowing Schofield and the trio to demonstrate their impressive blues/jazz/funk chops, eeking out every last drop of emotion from his battered 70’s Strat. In short this was everything that the Robben Ford gig should have been (see recent review), the difference being that Schofield played as though he really meant it.