On the turntable today...Fleetwood Mac

It's a 70's lockdown...The multi million selling Rumours by Fleetwood Mac is on the turntable today. Released in February 1977 Rumours was the bands 11th album release and it was massive, selling shedloads of copies across the world. It turned the band into a hugely successful touring and recording act. 

The album was a diary of events for the band as it told the story of internal love affairs, relationship bust ups, fights, splits, parties and tensions within the band itself at that time. The subject matter proved to be the catalyst for a hugely successful and popular album. The lyrics cut straight through to the heart of the matter and musically the band were very strong with melodies to die for. Rumours garnered critical acclaim and was an instant commercial success selling over 40 million copies worldwide.    

What a nice nice way to welcome in the weekend. 

On the turntable today...Joni Mitchell

It's a 70's lockdown...Today we have Joni Mitchell’s For The Roses on the turntable. Released in November 1972, this follow up to the hugely successful and startlingly honest Blue, took Joni away from her folk roots and into a new and different direction.

 
The often overlooked Roses is a fine piece of work and lyrically one of her very best. Her vocals and musicality are not to everyone’s taste but as an album it’s in a class of its own.

In 1974 this change in style would lead to a more jazzy feel that would reach its peak with her critically acclaimed and most commercially successful album, the magnificent Court and Spark.

On the turntable today...The Beatles

On the turntable today we have the lovable fab four with their groovy 1968 double LP offering The Beatles, better known as The White Album. This double LP was a revolution when it first came out but as soon as you hear it dontcha know it’s gonna be alright.

How a band of mop tops could go from Please Please Me to this in just five years is nothing short of astonishing musical progress. The mix of songs on this album is simply amazing. We have Ob La Di, Ob La Da sitting alongside other tracks such as Revolution 1, Revolution 9, Julia, Helter Skelter, Good Night, Birthday and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. A more diverse collection of songs on the same album you would be very hard pressed to find. 

It's the diversity of this bunch of songs that is its attraction. You will find stuff you love (Blackbird) and other stuff that's perhaps a tougher listen (Revolution 9). It's a must have album though, especially the 6 CD deluxe set with the Esher sessions. On this edition you can hear the germination of songs that would reappear later on Beatle solo albums. Lennon's Child of Nature would eventually evolve into Jealous Guy on Imagine and McCartney's Junk would return for his first solo outing.

Not as commercial as earlier Beatle albums but still an essential part of any Beatles music collection as it highlights the bands progression from Love Me Do in '63. The Beatles White Album is a part of the bands closing chapter and was to point the way forward for their musical future as it entered the 70's after the group split. Although on the pricey side the 6 CD box set with a Blue-ray disc and lavish hardbound book does represent good value purely for the high quality packaging and enclosed comprehensive collection of rare rehearsal tracks and the Esher demos. You can view the product on Amazon here. 

Travel on a journey with Passenger

Album: Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted
Artist: Passenger

Release date: January 2021

What a stunning new album this is by Brighton based singer songwriter Passenger (Mike Rosenberg). Unbelievably it’s his 13th album release, all of them excellent but this one is truly a real gem. A genuinely brilliant piece of music that is sure to be my favourite album of the year even though it’s only February.

The wistful music is hauntingly beautiful and superbly arranged. It’s a strongly emotive piece of work and whilst the subject matter of heartbreak, loss and longing may seem desperately sad the beautifully crafted songs are in fact surprisingly uplifting in their openness and honesty. The subtle guitar playing and heartfelt vocals are on point throughout. It’s a truly magnificent album from a singer songwriter right at the very top of his game.

The deluxe edition is spread across two CD’s and the acoustic versions on disc 2 give an added dimension to the songs that makes you appreciate just how well written they are. Gentle music that is simply perfect for any lockdown. This comes highly recommended, please give it a listen.

Click the album image at the top of this page to follow the Spotify link.

'Phenomenal' Brighton win at Liverpool

Liverpool 0, Albion 1
Anfield
Wednesday 3rd February 2021

This is my team in a nutshell: Brighton play attractive, free flowing football with lots of possession but until recently the team lacked that killer instinct in the final third, they needed to be more ruthless. Sometimes you have to win ugly when you're near the bottom of the table. There have been too many draws and narrow one goal defeats for the fans liking, compounded with the managers tendency to frequently change team line ups causing even more frustration. However, it's also true to say that Brighton are a very hard team to beat and as a fan I would far rather be watching attractive attacking football than a boring defensive style of play. It's not often Brighton have been well beaten, Leicester away springs to mind, but fans can get notoriously fickle when things aren't going the way they would like or expect. 

Brighton manager Graham Potter tends to look at things as a long term project even though some fans are impatient for results and look worryingly at the league position. Relegation is not something the Albion board desire but they, and particularly chairman Tony Bloom, have every faith in their manager and getting rid is not an option in their eyes. They believe in what Potter is trying to do. The manager is not afraid to introduce younger players into the starting eleven, his brave decision to let first choice goalie Maty Ryan move on loan to Arsenal and bring in rookie Robert Sanchez as his replacement showed a remarkable amount of bravery and confidence in the 23 year old shot stopper.

So it was that Brighton travelled to Anfield on the back of some good results having recently taken seven points out of a possible nine in their last three games against Spurs, Fulham and Leeds. Perhaps more significantly Albion hadn't conceded any goals in those three matches. Having only lost one game since the turn of the year (a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Manchester City) Brighton fans were beginning to wonder if the tide was about to turn. And so it proved to be. 

In the pre-match press conference the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for Graham Potter and the style of football that he is trying to introduce on the Sussex coast. Indeed, Klopp was more complementary than many Albion fans of late about what the Brighton manager is trying to achieve. The possession based brand of football played out from the back is attractive but not always fruitful in terms of results in Brighton's case. 

Was this to be the match where some of those doubting Albion fans began to believe in the Potter project? The team took to the pitch to show what they were capable of and to a man they were strong, calm and magnificent. They passed the ball consistently well all game, they outplayed Liverpool for large spells and defended like lions when they had to with a solid wall of blue shirts between their goal and the Liverpool forwards. And for once Brighton took their chance when it presented itself after some beautiful intricate one touch passing movement which led to young midfielder Steven Alzate thumping the ball into the corner of the Liverpool net in the 56th minute. It was 1-0 to the Albion and Liverpool never really looked like they were going to score as their lackluster front line huffed and puffed but found no way through. The Brighton players worked their socks off, with Adam Webster looking particularly assured in the solid back line of three centre halves. Even Dan Burn had a wonderful game, foraging forward from his left wing back position to create several opportunities for himself and his team mates. It was a pleasure to watch this team at last realise the potential that they have.

Believe me, this was no lucky win, it was fully deserved for a Brighton team who showed courage, commitment and a sense of belief in the plan that their manager had given them. They were not overawed or intimidated by the Premier League champions. The team finally showed us what Graham Potter knew all along, that they can play attractive football and get the desired result. It was an outstanding performance that will live long in the memory and will surely raise the players confidence levels. They visit Burnley on Saturday and that will be a physically tough battle, Albion will need to work hard and be on their mettle if they are to gain all three points. The victory at Liverpool pushes Albion up to 15th in the Premier League with a comfortable 10 point cushion between them and third from bottom Fulham. The team now need to carry their recent good form into their upcoming matches, in particular the home match against Crystal Palace on 22nd February which all Albion fans will want to win.

Brighton have generally been playing well all season but just not taking their chances. The defence is now starting to look rock solid and the team appear to have learned how to grab their goal scoring opportunities when they come along. Onwards and upwards, hopefully. 

Click on the image below to watch BBC's Match Of The Day analysis of Brighton's performance. Look out for pundit Danny Murphy saying that Brighton were 'phenomenal'. Who am I to disagree. 

Fulham hold Albion in yet another draw

Albion 0, Fulham 0
Amex Stadium

Wednesday 27th January 2021

A dogfight between the two teams in 17th and 18th place in the Premier League resulted in the inevitable and predictable draw. In this proverbial six pointer it was Albion who dominated play for most of the match, had more possession but missed a hat full of chances and almost threw it away in the final minute. Sound familiar? 

It was a match that Brighton should, and could, have won. Once again it was pretty football with fluid passing movement that lacked the killer punch in the final third. Having spent 90 minutes trying to find the back of the Fulham net Albion almost threw the point away in added time when Ruben Loftus-Cheek had his goal bound shot spectacularly cleared off the line by the ever dependable Lewis Dunk. It would have been a snatch and grab result that Fulham hardly deserved.

Fulham made so many poor passes and gifted Albion countless chances but the Seagulls failed to put them away. It has to be said that Areola in the Fulham goal was in outstanding form for the visitors but it was the same old story for Brighton, attractive to watch but with no end product. The home team probably deserved to win but why Graham Potter didn't make further substitutions towards the end of the game was a little baffling. 

With the team crying out for some more firepower up front Potter decided to bring on midfielder Davy Propper and take off MacAlister who was actually doing okay. It was a like for like change and hard to see how just that one change could make a significant difference or have any impact up front while the likes of Aaron Connolly, Percy Tau and Adam Lallana remained on the bench. What the team needed was a goal and although Trossard (who had a decent game) and Maupay came close it was clear that more firepower was needed. The boss decided to just make the one change when perhaps bringing on another striker might have proved the solution to winning this game, I guess we'll never know.

In the end Albion were left ruing their spurned chances yet again. Another good performance but this team are now the league's draw specialists with nine draws, no other team has drawn that many matches in the Premier League this season. Pretty football and the lion's share of possession doesn't necessarily win matches, if Albion are to progress and avoid relegation they need to be more ruthless and start turning those draws into wins...and quickly.   

Some tough questions to answer

Click on the image above to watch Sky News presenter Niall Paterson ask some tough questions to poor Robert Jenrick who is the unfortunate minister left holding the government to account.

I have to say that I’m not a great fan of the blame game, it’s more important to me that politicians recognise what lessons they have learned from this awful pandemic so that the same mistakes will never, ever be made again when the next one comes along.

You may not be surprised to read that I’m not a huge fan of this government but I do give credit to them for the furlough scheme and to the NHS in getting the vaccine program roll out moving so quickly. I would question some of the judgement calls made by our government during this pandemic and some ministers have been extremely poor in getting their messages across. 

I could mention the dreadfully belated response the government took in responding to the explosion of Covid that swamped our care homes early on, the shambolic world beating track and trace app that became a laughing stock, Dominic Cummings who broke all the rules and managed to come up with such a lame excuse that nobody (except his boss) thought was acceptable or 'Operation Moonshot' that disappeared into outer space never to be seen or heard of again. Nope, you won't hear me mention any of those moments of madness during the coronavirus crisis.

However to be fair and balanced it’s also probably true to say that no matter which political party was in power at the time of this pandemic it was inevitable that mistakes in dealing with it would have been made. 

It’s time for politicians to accept and acknowledge that mistakes were made in their decision making, albeit under extremely difficult circumstances in a worldwide pandemic. There’s no shame in admitting those mistakes, anyone with common sense can see it’s been an almost impossible job trying to manage the country in these unprecedented times.  

Over 100,000 lives lost in the UK due to Covid is such heartrendingly sad news. It is not the time for recrimination, for now it is more important that lessons have been learned from the way this pandemic has been managed so that we can prevent such a dreadful loss of life in the future.

It's Alright Now

It's alright now, we've got a little bit of Free on the turntable today. I had forgotten how nice it was to turn over a piece of vinyl halfway through the set 🎸