From Cyprus with Love...

This month I retire from the usual format as I am holidaying on the island of Love, Cyprus. The music that crackled out of my hire car radio on the drive from Larnaca would have probably sounded great after a couple of bottles of retsina in a taverna, but not so good in 45 degrees heat after a four hour flight, so we’ll stick to the UK/Stateside music scene for the moment. Having said that, the Cyprus Mail reports 50 Cent has promised the islanders he’s definitely on his way, which was a bit of a shock! So in my moment of relaxation, I would like to take this month to share what’s on my mind with you.

If you don’t already own Panic Prevention by Jamie T, then its worth considering. A musician of immense talent, the price of the cd is worth it for the track Salvadoralone, and has just been nominated for this year’s Mercury prize. Their debut was stunning but the Artic Monkeys second record is better still. The band has grown and the new tracks show a greater depth and groove. It took me many years to understand John Coltrane, but once you ‘get it’, it can please like no other music. Sun Ship recorded in 1965 is Trane’s last record with the classic quartet and will require your undivided attention; what becomes clear is coherence throughout and a man at the peak of his talent. The accolade of best live album has been debated for years. The Who’s Live at Leeds, Kick Out The Jams by the MC5, Metallic KO by The Stooges and so it goes on...

Live In Japan by Primal Scream was recorded not long after Xtrmntr and with the now absent Kevin Shields. Put simply, it is just high octane Rock & Roll and although Primal Scream are still a formidable live act, they have not yet managed to recreate this level of sonic assault.

Elsewhere, on the web, ex Minuteman Mike Watt has a superb podcast available on i-tunes entitled The Watt From Pedro Show. A three hour programme, raw in places but totally compelling, features the unassuming Watt trawling his vast music collection interspersed with chat. He also has interviews with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, ex Nirvana bassist Krist Noveselic and a brilliantly revealing 90 minute chat with Stooges drummer Scott Asheton. Non i-tunes subscribers can download the show direct from the homepage www.twfps.com. The June 19th show contains aqui en mi nube by Sonia which is a Spanish cover of Get off My Cloud by The Rolling Stones which just has to be heard. Finally, one to avoid - and I will leave you with the words of Q Magazine’s John Aizlewood on ‘B Boy Baby’ (yes I know!), a reworked cover of Phil Spector’s Be My Baby on ex Sugababe Mutya Buena’s debut solo offering; ‘its so bad, someone should really lose their job over it’.

Gary Mitchell