top ten albums - no. 10

Dear Sheddists,

I've always adored left-field artists, and they don't come more left-field than the late Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart.

He burst onto the music scene in 1967 with the awesome debut, 'Safe as Milk' channeling the spirit of Howlin' Wolf on peyote.  Things got progressively weirder from then on in, culminating in 'Trout Mask Replica', widely regarded as the Captain's master-piece. 

I beg to differ.

Trout Mask is a fantastic mix of blues, rock, free-jazz, beat poetry and goodness knows what else but it lacks the beautiful love ballads for which the Captain had such a deft touch. The utterly brilliant, 'Clear Spot', combines both in a tightly scripted album produced by Ted Templeton. Its inter-locking drum patterns, slide guitars and the rich, deep voice of Beefheart combine in an album utterly sublime and almost totally ignored on its release. 

If you want to explore more of Don Van Vliet's amazing musical legacy try this documentary hosted by John Peel.  You won't be disappointed!

'Mister Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note and let it float.'

Don Van Vliet 

(January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010)

top ten albums - no. 5

Dear Sheddists,

those of a certain age will be familiar with the term, 'mix-tape'.  It refers to the recording of favourite tracks onto a cassette tape, usually with the purpose of impressing either less knowledgeable aficionados or the current teenage crush of the recorder.  From such crude early beginnings sprang a vibrant, new phenomena known as the DJ mix.

Pre-eminent among the early exponents were the pairing of Welshman, Alexander Paul Coe (better known as Sasha) and a native of Hastings called John Digweed.  Cutting their teeth at the legendary Renaissance club they became superstars of the emerging electronic dance music movement with the release of the first of three mixes under the Northern Exposure banner. It's a truly magnificent work in which songs flow seamlessly from one to another.

I've always loved electronic music with a passion from the early works of Tangerine Dream to the modern-day sounds of Floating Points and Ulrich Schnauss so the free-flowing Northern Exposure mix was an obvious choice for my top ten albums.