Re: seeing a symphony in person, I would agree that there is no substitute. Unfortunately the local symphony where I live right now is very much LCD, catering to the bland, old crowd. When I lived in another city, the local symphony had a much more diverse range of patrons and a repertoire to match that. I may be relocating again soon, so a better symphony is something to look forward to. I've not seen any live classical music in about five years or so.

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The Colourfield - Virgins and Philistines - Japanese CD

One of Terry Hall's post-Specials projects. I'm sure some people cringe at this sort of mellow, jazzy sophisti-pop or whatever you want to call it, but I dig it. The Japanese CD I have is tough to find, but it's the version to get. It has the album, their s/t 12'' and some bonus tracks, all mastered from good sources. The more recent Cherry Red CD actually mastered some of the stuff from vinyl. Although I'm grateful for some of the reissues Cherry Red has done, they are really hit or miss in the sound quality department.

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Vicious Rumours - Anytime Day or Night




Fairly melodic and catchy Skinhead/Oi!/Soccer Hooligan punk rock from the mid-80s. I don't think these guys are very well-known outside of the UK and even their albums on CD are a pain to find. I've only got this one, which is their first, never heard the second one.

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Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen - 2xCD Deluxe Edition

I played this album the other day before going to bed, but forgot to post about it. Too lazy to dig it out for a real pic, sorry. At any rate, this has become one of my favorite albums over the last few years but I didn't get it at all when I first heard it over a decade ago. At their core, these are finely crafted guitar pop songs, but the production on this album (by Thomas Dolby) will make you think of 80s blue-eyed soul and sophisti-pop. Listen a bit closer and the songcraft becomes a lot clearer. From interviews I've read, many of these songs were actually written in the late 70s, even though they weren't recorded until this album (1985). In the U.S., this album was released as "Two Wheels Good", which is how I first heard it. You can probably find a U.S. LP copy dirt cheap in great condition if you're patient. However, I actually recommend getting this CD version in addition to it or instead of it. Reason being it has some of the songs from the album recorded many years later by Paddy McAloon solo, in stripped down acoustic versions. His voice has obviously gotten rougher over the years, but the quality of the songs shines through even moreso than the original album at times.

Album/Period Versions













Later Acoustic Versions

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^Great breakdowns Lionsmouth.

Come to think about it it's been at least 5 years for me too since I saw a live orchestra. My wife and I loved it, it was all strings, but my son had ants in his pants at the time and I didn't want to be one of "those parents" so we left after he started crawling under the aisles.

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“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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