'Hate' by The Deladoes

Where did this one come from? I honestly don't know. I remember hearing 'No Danger' on the radio, and liking it, but it's not on this album, which is the only Delgados album I own. I'm certain I bought it very cheaply - as in a pound, or so - but I don't know when, or where from, or even why. I've also barely listened to it since, so a pound (or so) well spent.

So I wasn't expecting this to be a big deal. However, I've been listening to it on rotation for a week partly because I'm not too fussed about the next album on the list, but mostly because it's actually really good. Good in a 'why have I not paid attention to this before' sort of way. Good in a 'look out for more albums' kind of way. Who knew? Not many people, it would seem - I don't the Delgados every achieved any real success.

So, to the album content. It swoops along with a certain amount of melancholy, but in the most enjoyable of ways. 'The Light Before We Land' is a stately and assured opening track. 'All You Need Is Hate' has a surprising title (which I assume is tongue-in-cheek) but is far nicer to hear than you'd expect from the title. 'Woke From Dreaming' and 'The Drowning Years' are delicately constructed with a hint of Mercury Rev about their arrangements. 'Come In From The Cold' would be a good Belle and Sebastian track. 'Child Killers' is a an expansive epic which entirely justifies it's 6:42 length. Similar adjectives would suit the rest of the album from this point on as it maintains its quality through to the glorious end of 'If This Is A Plan'.

This was the last but one Delgados album. I've no idea whether the others were this good or not, but I'll be looking into it. Wonderful stuff - I wish I'd paid attention before hand.

'Happy' by Why?

My first experience of Why? was at my first Soul Survivor. I knew of them, and was interested enough to see them play. The following day I gathered up as much back catalogue as possible. Their charm as a live band was infectious, and the recordings did a reasonably good job of matching up to this. A few years later, the band played at Spring Harvest. A lot had changed since then. They'd always had a fluid line up, but their basic instrumental mix of guitar-bass-mandolin-fiddle-drums had always remained constant. Then Nick Parker, co-founder and joint lead vocalist, left the band with his mandolin. The band that remained didn't replace him, and swapped violin for keyboard. Their Spring Harvest gigs that year were the sound of a band re-working their identity. The new recording on 'Look Back', the best of that they were selling at the time, were not career highlights, so 'Happy' really could have gone either way.

Fortunately, 'Happy' was the sound of a band carving out a new sound, and doing so very well. Ant Parker proved more than capable of leading the band on his own. His lyrics throughout 'Happy' were full of wit and imagination, and the musicians around him were probably the best line up Why had ever had. The album was produced by Craig McLeish who, as a member of Fat and Frantic, knew a few things about making music like this.

So, the songs roll out in an ongoing wave of cheerfulness, and even the weaker moments are covered by an overall sense of charm. Only the rap in 'Not Enough Room' is a genuine mistake. 'Think Yourself' and 'Spit' are on the edge of being a little too earnest for their own good, but the latter is redeemed by it's rhythmical trickery, and the former is saved by the audacity of rhyming 'perm an' all' with 'terminal' - surely a first.

The album essentially ends with 'Rock Idols of the 21st Century' - a tongue in cheek anthem which sets out their mission statement for the future. Sadly, the point was somewhat undermined by the band breaking up soon after - Ant Parker left, and that was that.

Except it wasn't - the last time I saw Why live was at Greenbelt soon afterwards. Astonishingly, even after losing both frontmen the band kept going. The result wasn't pretty - though once the remaining members ditched the name and reinvented themselves as a completely different plan, they did pretty well. Not the same, though.

‘Happiness In Magazines’ by Graham Coxon

Ooh, here’s an interesting one. Released in 2004, this wasn’t Coxon’s first solo album, but it was the first to be released after he’d been dumped by Blur (who had gone on to release Think Tank without him). Pretty well acclaimed on its release, it didn’t make him a solo star, though it remains his best known work outside Blur.

It’s not a bad listen seven years on, though it’s rather inconsistent. Its greatest strength is also something of a handicap – the best songs sound like early Blur which is all well and good, but a bit of a regression at the time, and in stark contrast to what Damon Albarn was up to.

So what are the good bits? ‘The Good Time’, ‘Bottom Bunk’ and ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’ would all have sat nicely on ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. ‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’ works well as a sequel to ‘Coffee + TV’ and is a definite highlight. ‘Freakin’ Out’ and ‘Spectacular’ are undeniably simple, but they work well. Weak points? ‘Are You Ready?’ is a bit dirgey, and ‘People Of The Earth’ is horrendous – like a bad studio in-joke that ended up on the album by mistake.

Coxon does a good job of restraining his guitar through the album. He’s one of the best guitarists of his generation I’d say, so it would have been easy to self-indulge on this front. It’s also a downside as his guitar work is far better than his voice – he struggles to carry some of the material here. There are also some real lyrical clunkers throughout the record – ‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’ only just manages to get away with rhyming ‘beautiful’ and ‘really cool’ – if the tune wasn’t so good, it’d be virtually unforgiveable.

Ultimately, when the history of Blur is written, ‘Happiness In Magazines’ will be nothing but a footnote, but not a bad footnote. Could be worse – it’s not like his career doesn’t contain a lot to be proud of.

'Hail To The Thief' by Radiohead

What a pleasure it is to listen back to an album you’ve not heard for a while, and find it’s as good as you remember, if not better. In the history of Radiohead, ‘Hail To The Thief’ is liable to be a bit overlooked, sandwiched as it is between the ‘Kid A’-‘Amnesiac’ double act and the pay-what-you-like ‘In Rainbows’. It shouldn’t be overlooked – it’s worth more than that.

The album, I think, was the point at which Radiohead managed to comfortably straddle the line between their rock band origin and the experimental electronic identity they’d been cultivating. You wouldn’t know it from the singles – ‘There There’, ‘Go To Sleep’ and ‘2+2=5’ are all pretty traditional to be honest, but there’s a lot going on across the rest of the album. Despite this, it hangs together as a cohesive work very well, and it maintains a pretty consistent quality. After the riotous opening of ‘2+2=5’, ‘Sit Down Stand Up’ builds from a cautious beginning into a brief but effective piece of dance music. ‘Sail To The Moon’ is a textbook Thom Yorke piano led ballad, and so the album continues, touching all the bases nicely. There’s a great sense of attention to detail within the album as well – favourite moments include the break before the second chorus of ‘Backdrifts’, the additional 2 beat bar halfway through verse one of ‘Where I End And You Begin’, the exceptionally dischordant harmonies that begin ‘A Punchup At A Wedding’ and the vocal delivery of ‘Wolf at the Door’.

There are a couple of weaker spots. ‘The Gloaming’, despite being a pivotal part of the album, doesn’t do a lot for me, and ‘Scatterbrain’ is easily skippable, but neither song is bad, and they’re certainly made up for by their surroundings. Wonderful, all in all.

'Guero' by Beck

I’m not entirely sure of the chronology on this one. I think my first Beck album was ‘Odelay’, bought well after release as one of those ‘this is an album I should probably own’ purchases. I also have ‘The Information’ in my collection, and this. I think this one came first, and I think it was bought (or given to me – not sure) after seeing Beck perform an extraordinarily inventive set at the V festival in 2007ish. Anyhow, I’d listened to it a bit and enjoyed it, but it hadn’t left a very strong impression.

Determined listening pays off, however. It’s an album of varying accessibility – even across the first three tracks, ‘E-Pro’ is instantly catchy, ‘Qué Onda Guero’ sounds like a directionless jam, and ‘Girl’ is perfectly radio friendly – but even at its most impenetrable, it’s a good listen. It reinforces the common perception of Beck, as a talented and experimental musician who can turn his hand to more or less whatever he likes. It goes on a little longer than its optimum length, but probably only because of the bonus tracks stuck on the end. Though, in fairness, ‘Send A Message To Her’ deserves its place, even if ‘Chain Reaction’ is a bit Beck-by-numbers.