The Beatles have enough catalogue to deserve a blog spot of their own. I am not a completist, which means I don’t have every record of theirs on vinyl, there are some on CD, but I am saving those for another year.

The first Beatles record that I bought was Something New which I just noticed that I do not have a copy of it. I shall have to remedy that situation with a trip to Record Collectors Paradise.

A Hard Days Night is an often-overlooked album, a soundtrack and all. It does have some brilliant moments, and the litmus test is if I enjoyed listening to it or not. I liked it.

Beatles ’65 is a real gem, and I like this album front to back. I won’t bore you with a blow-by-blow commentary. Suffice to say; it is gold to me.

Help! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). I would not be listening to this outside of my challenge.

Beatles VI. This album showcases what the Beatles probably sounded like in the Cavern. It is raw; It has energy; it has McCartney using his vocal cords in a snarl or growl. Good stuff.

That concludes the genesis of The Beatles, so now we move into the intermediate zone, the pivot point where they start playing with sound and trying new things out, including the lyrics. If I kept top album lists, Rubber Soul would be in the top 100 albums of all time. I don’t make such lists, so it is in the I liked it column. I enjoy this album for its sheer listening magnetism. Rubber Soul is 35 minutes of none stop groundbreaking music. I love it every time it lands on my turntable.

Revolver. What can I say? Taxman, Eleanor Rigby and 11 more captivating songs. Another album that broke new ground and ushered in another chapter of The Beatles’ musical journey.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band I am at a loss when making a short summation of this album. I have always enjoyed this album and continue to do so right up to today. Historically this album has been a game-changer for music. It broke new ground that opened the world of music into prog-rock, thematic albums (although that is still a hot topic), cover art, the use of electronica, and several more. An album that shook the world of pop/rock music and that reverberation is still felt today, some 54 years later. That is a good run that few other albums can boast.

Blue Albums 1967-1970

Red Albums 1967-1970

These two double albums are an excellent summary of The Beatles‘ history on vinyl—a delicious end game for a fantastic band.

I used ‘Robin Guthrie’s Springtime‘ as the header because it is most certainly not Norman Weatherly’s springtime. ‘Robin Guthrie’s Springtime‘ may be taken as an optimistic look forward, but even that could be a long wait. It is not uncommon for winter to linger well into March, a swing month that can go either way, late winter or early spring. April holds more hope for spring weather, with the possibility of some lingering snow and the harbinger of spring more determined than previous months. May, now we are talking about serious springtime. Given the timeline I have laid out for your benefit, this EP is either too early or overly optimistic by about five months. I hope for the latter.

What can be said with certainty is that these are four darn fine pieces of sonic dreamscapes. I can get lost while doing some task with ‘Robin Guthrie’s Springtime‘ playing, and before I know it, the EP comes to an end which necessitates me hitting the repeat button. Robin Guthrie, yes, the one from the Cocteau Twins, has offered up some easy listening that hits the sweet spot. Soothing chill music to ease a troubled mind in the troubled times of Covid.

Following the late 2021 releases of the ‘Mockingbird Love’ EP, the full-length album ‘Pearldiving’ and the ‘Riviera’ EP, the new year brings yet another release by legendary Scottish music sculptor Robin Guthrie.

On January 4th, exactly sixty years after his birth, Guthrie is releasing his ‘Springtime’ EP via his Soleil Après Minuit imprint with distribution in North America via Darla and in Europe by Cargo. These four new titles were recorded in the summer of 2021, soon after completing ‘Pearldiving,’ his first album in nine years.

‘Springtime‘ is a standalone collection featuring Robin Guthrie‘s ever-present signature sound and atmosphere. His approach to music is perhaps more akin to that of a painter or a photographer. The adept use of light and shade, melody and counter-melody, the carefully and precisely arranged instrumentation, musical textures, and colourings give his music a depth and level of detail which marks a master artisan.

Keep up with Robin Guthrie

Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | Apple Music | Press contact

Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | Spotify | LinkedIn | Email

‘Springtime’ EP https://robinguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/springtime
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3LOmByf0SD8GqTH0kKhxpu
‘Riviera’ EP https://robinguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/riviera
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/5ZQ3eZrkx5JqeoyQTgqFIE
‘Pearldiving’ https://robinguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/pearldiving
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3qeHLQq8W62NOm4SH9Yya6
‘Mockingbird Love’ EP https://robinguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/mockingbird-love
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/78iqh8E1w21f5RxVUNXPuq

Chalk up another good year full of good music. I am fond of collecting data on what I have listened to rather than compiling a best-of collection. I do this because no artist is better than any other artist or band. That applies to album releases as well. To me, there are just differences. I listened to 585 different albums this year. That number does not consider the bucket full of singles or Apple curated lists that I listened to in twenty twenty-one or some of the albums I listened to on Apple Music, and it got stuck on repeat.

There are some solid contenders for the most listened-to spot. They are all winners to me. The most frequently listened-to album of 2021 was the perennial favourite, Dark Side of the Moon, with seven listens. We have nine copies of DSotM in our library, and I have been a steady listener of this album since it first landed on my turntable in 1973. I listened to other albums by Pink Floyd as well this year, I simply listen to Dark Side of the Moon more frequently. More frequent than other albums by Pink Floyd and more frequent than any other album in our library.

The second most frequently spun was Exotic Quixotic by Lusitanian Ghosts. I didn’t particularly like this album, but I kept repeatedly listening, hoping it would click eventually. Unfortunately, it never did.

There were several other contenders worth mentioning. The Tender Age by Ward White was a good listen. After white, we have black. As in Black to the Future by Sons Of Kemet. Not as strong as Your Queen Is A Reptile but still a good listen.

The most-listened-to band/artist for 2021 was The Beatles, with 18 album listens. It is interesting to note that out of those 18; there was only one album that got heard more than once. That album waw Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band which I listened to twice.

The top runner-up is a perennial favourite that makes a showing in this list every year, Various.

One most listened-to album within the category of various was Spiritual Jazz: The World. A very well-put-together collection of music that works together seamlessly.

The most-listened-to format in 2021 was streaming, with 337 out of the possible 585. Vinyl only had 120, although it seemed like more. We are in the digital era, so those numbers should be no surprise.

The year of release that I listened to the most was 2021. I heard a lot of new music now that I have been blogging submissions from various sources. 1969 to 1972 were all in double-digit listens as were 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982, 2006, and 2020. A bit of shotgun listening going on there.

I was some other music that moved my heart but didn’t make it onto any list. Here are a few, there are too many to mention all of them.

Cannonball Adderley, Sam Jones, Art Blakey, Hank Jones, Miles Davis on the LP Somethin’ Else from 1958.

King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King from 1969 and The Great Deceiver series from 2021.

TRAITRS Horses in the Abattoir 2021

Collect Call on The Golden Hour 2021

Anthony OKS on In The Garden 2021

So there it is, what Norman listened to in the year 2021. There was plenty of good music and none in there that I will call a stinker and never listen to again. It’s all good music, just different ways of putting it together.

I want to give a big shout out to some people who helped me with music appreciation this year:

Shauna McLarnon from Shameless Promotion PR contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com.

Johan Larsson from Mystic Sons johan@mysticsons.com 

Jack Dwyer from Mystic Sons jack@mysticsons.com

Johan Larsson from Mystic Sonsjohan@mysticsons.com 

It turned out that the letter ‘B’ would need smaller parts; the whole package would be too large and cumbersome. So here we go.

The B-52’s first release was their eponymous and, in my opinion, best offering. A flood of good memories came flooding as I listened to this oft-played album—memories of going round and round at the roller skating rink as Rock Lobster blasted out of the speakers. I don’t know who the DJ was, but they knew how to pick good songs.

Bachman Turner Overdrive. I was 18 and had a good-paying job, and a car that I installed a cassette deck in and a frequently played cruiser album was this eponymous offering from BTO.

The other album I have from them is 4 Wheel Drive; while it is a good album, it doesn’t carry the power or the memories that cling to the first album.

Joan Baez. An iconic name in the folk music canon. I don’t have much of her music, just her self-titled album and Joan Baez Vol. 2. I respect her for her contribution to music, and these were two pleasant albums.

Caroll Baker’s 20 Country Classics is next in line. I don’t remember how I came to acquire this album. It’s not a bad album, and it’s just not that good either. She made a small splash in Canadian and western music charts and then faded away.

Long John Baldry

It Ain’t Easy. I should have good memories of this album, but they are fuzzy because I was dead drunk by the time Long John Baldry started his set and not much better by the end. I still enjoy listening to this album and kicking myself for not keeping the original copy and the signed cover that I staggered out with at the end of his show.

Baldry’s Out is a good album, but it is not the same as It Ain’t Easy. This album shows how he didn’t stay in a rut with a sound that didn’t change. He was willing to shake it up and move on with fresh material.

Long John Baldry is yet another good listen but not the same as the other two. Many roads lead to the nirvana of music, and these three show three different and enjoyable ways.

I need to be in a certain mood to listen to Bobby Bare. I vacillate between hating his music and loving every note,I don’t know why but it’s true. I was in a good mood when I heard Bobby Bare on “This I Believe” and “This is Bobby Bare.” “This I Believe” is a gospelish album, not a preachy album, and it is a decent listen as a collection of feel-good music. “This Is Bobby Bare” is a double album best of offering and a good collection of music that showcases his talent. I enjoyed both of these records.

Syd Barrett. The Madcap Laughs. This album was released the same year as Dark Side of the Moon, and that is where the comparison stops. This album sounds very similar to the early Pink Floyd albums. No surprise there, right. I hadn’t listened to this album recently, so it was a pleasant time listening. That is surprisingly good, considering how messed up he was considered by many. Roger Waters and David Gilmour contributed to this record, making it all the more interesting in that it is a Syd Barrett album, not a Pink Floyd album. Or, at the very least, not a contemporary Pink Floyd album. As I stated before, this record certainly has the heritage of early Pink Floyd releases that Syd Barrett was a driving force and a principal player.

Barrett is the next Syd album, but it doesn’t grab hold of me in the same way that The Madcap Laughs did. It is still a good album, although it has a different flavour. David Gilmour contributed to this album as well as Richard Wright. The keyboards of Richard Wright are the high point on this album for me, delicious playing.

An Introduction To Syd Barrett. This album features a series of new remasters and remixes, all overseen by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. The cover art, featuring various images relating to songs contained within the album, was designed and created by long-term Pink Floyd conceptual artist Storm Thorgerson. An Introduction To Syd Barrett was a good overview of his work, and the remixes were splendid.

The Beach Boys
I have three albums from the Beach Boys, “Wow! Great Concert, “Endless Summer” and “1962-1965.” Although I am not a massive fan of them, they can still entertain me. I was fortunate to have seen them live; they are masters of working a crowd with their repertoire.

There we go, part one of the letter B. Stay tuned for part two.

I’m not big on posting singles. I prefer albums. However, this one caught my ear, so I thought I would pop this short note and share it with you. It is Take Your Heart by the band VONAMOR.
I look forward to the album’s release in February 2022 and posting proper post at that time. Thanks for listening.

‘Take Your Heart’ on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/1Z1PVhoEKKebDJ6ZpOdwLm
‘Take Your Heart’ elsewhere https://linktr.ee/vonamor_band
Album pre-order https://timetokillrecords.bigcartel.com/product/vonamor
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/4wJiz8P8rtW1vIjem5Hmsy
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wFRAIUiBGU
‘Never Betray Us’ https://youtu.be/Ll7nO0cXI_A
‘Fast-Forward Girl’ https://youtu.be/kJX7Uujc9E4
Italian band biography https://www.vonamor.it

Postpunk / nugaze / electro artist Revolution Above Disorder presents his debut offering ‘Illuminate,’ a 3-track offering produced, mixed and mastered at Jacknife Sound by Jason Corbett of ACTORS. A melting pot of postpunk, psychedelic rock and electronic music underpinned by raw, sincere vocals, guitar-based rock augmented by synths, drum machines and heavily treated instrumentation with a spine of pure melody.

Revolution Above Disorder is Dubliner Stephen Nicholas White, who is currently based in Vancouver. Revolution Above Disorder’s music is electronic-tinged postpunk with raw, honest lyrics driving the songs.

“Illuminate‘ is the song that kickstarted Revolution Above Disorder. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I’d just come off a European tour with Magic Shoppe, and I found myself having to cancel scheduled plans with The Orange Kyte. In my downtime, I began to reevaluate where I was headed musically, and I realized I’d become dissatisfied with what I’d been doing. As I searched through old demos from the past, some going back over a decade, I was excited to hear songs with real potential that either I’d abandoned or just plain forgotten about. I grew interested in the idea of this modern-day version of myself collaborating with my chaotic and directionless former self. I wanted to finish what I’d started many years prior. ‘Illuminate‘ was the first one I needed to record,” says Stephen Nicholas White.

The original version of Illuminate is a powerful and euphoric postpunk/shoegaze single rooted in new wave and electro rock’ Shannon Hemmett and Kendall Wooding on backing vocals, bandmate Adam Fink on drums, and Josiah Webb of Magic Shoppe on guitar. The original version is a powerful and euphoric postpunk/shoegaze single rooted in new wave and electro-rock. The accompanying video was directed and edited by Eliot Galán of Galán Films, a key creative in Vancouver’s film & tv industry, starring Analissa Longoria and Mat Durie.

This release also features the more dance-oriented ‘Illuminate (Delta Omega Remix),’ produced by Delta Omega, a.k.a. Dublin-based Conor Paxton. “The formidable sonic wizard that is Mr. Conor Paxton AKA Delta Omega is a long-time friend and musical collaborator of mine. After initially bonding over a mutual love of Death in Vegas, My Bloody Valentine and Primal Scream, we formed House of Dolls and duly embarked on many gloriously heady adventures and misadventures across Ireland, the UK and Europe,” says Stephen Nicholas White.

“This remix he has done for ‘Illuminate’ is indicative of just how well he understands the essence of what I’m doing with Revolution Above Disorder. Coming at it with a dreamy, psychedelic sensibility, it calls to mind peak Ecstasy-driven New Order, early seventies Germany, all filtered through an Eno-Esque ambient shoegaze lens. I fucking love it. And I think you will too.”

As of October 22, the ‘Illuminate’ maxi-single was released digitally everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify and directly from the artist via Bandcamp.

Keep up with Revolution Above Disorder

Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Press contact

Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | LinkedIn | Email

contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com 

On November 17, London-based synthpop artist Rodney Cromwell will release two remixes of his new ‘Memory Box’ single via Happy Robots Records with distribution by Cargo Records. Presented as a 4-track offering together with the original version and the ambient track ”Memory Stops’. Features remixes by MOOD TAEG (Düsseldorf / Shanghai) & UK synthwavers AUW

‘Memory Box’  https://youtu.be/aY1Uza7pz8M  

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/6t05EvrYYzpd4AhHinhNPf 

Bandcamp https://rodneycromwell.bandcamp.com/album/memory-box-single 

Rodney Cromwell curated playlisthttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/1o40AoFq36g3VjKjmautGM

‘Fax Machine Breakup’ https://youtu.be/kNBW651pGXE 

‘Comrades’ https://youtu.be/CmRBkZYyo_Q 

‘Black Dog’ https://youtu.be/0RRYNKdSWCw 

‘Barry Was An Arms Dealer’ https://youtu.be/l8jfuc20QQ4 

Irish underground music icons DAVID LONG and SHANE O’NEILL present their new video for ‘Albert The Painter’, a beautiful song based on Hermann Hesse‘s short story ‘The Painter’ about a refugee who prefers to walk the roads alone, gaining inspiration for his creations. In this video, the film footage (now colourised), filmed in Ireland at the turn of last century, blend’s with Hesse’s own artwork.

The duo’s debut album ‘Moll & Zeis’, includes 11 gorgeous offerings from these legacy artists. Having fronted successful 1980’s post-punk / indie rock bands INTO PARADISE and BLUE IN HEAVEN, it’s great to see them still creating genuinely invigorating new music. With such a legacy behind them and having put out both this stunning long-player and 2 gorgeous EPs shortly before that (my absolute favourite releases of 2021) – all eyes (and ears) should be on these first-rate artists.

‘Albert The Painter’ https://youtu.be/XiII4za2htE 
‘Moll & Zeis’ LP https://davidlong4.bandcamp.com/album/moll-zeis 
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/5J99pn4sfP9ywxQyIWi9iR 
‘Moll & Zeis’ single https://youtu.be/mhKqtu4YyCU 
‘Earth Moves’ https://youtu.be/emFlXb8zgAY 
‘Dreams Come’ https://youtu.be/FQBxiZj8Ti4 
‘Far From Home’ https://youtu.be/nGfnDNGS3dE 
‘Dreams Come’ EP https://davidlong4.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-come-3-track-single
‘Far From Home’ EP https://davidlong4.bandcamp.com/album/far-from-home-3-track-single