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Album, Reviews

The Köln Concert | Keith Jarrett

Jarrett is one of the most
important jazz pianists from the
60s, a superb improviser and
member of Miles Davis’ fusion
group in the late 60s and early
70s. This classic album,
completely improvised on the
night, at the Köln Opera House,
Germany, 1975, has a unique
sound indebted to unforeseen
circumstances. Firstly, Jarrett’s
piano was not the best, so he only
used the middle registers. He’d
also put his back out, so he was
hardly flexible. However, Jarrett
was known to pull out superb
performances in the face of
adversity, and this is the result. A
work of genius, up there with A
Love Supreme and Kind Of Blue.

ECM | 810067
Reviewed by Paul Rigby
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Billy Ocean/City Limit

For any DJ who must admit to
built-in-lightshow disco crimes
in every decade since the 70s,
there are surely only a handful
of singles you can reach for in
every set, whether catering for
a 70s pop, disco or soul crowd.
Billy Ocean’s Red Light Spells
Danger is a propulsive,
spiralling slab of Northern-inspired
rockin’ soul…

Without A Word

Still capable of scoring big hits by keeping his mouth shut (2004’s Hank reached the Top 10), Marvin’s laidback but dextrous guitar wraps itself around 15 of his personal favourite songs on this fun compendium. “Songs” may be a stretch for Doctor Who or Theme From Poirot, though it gives us an insight into his weekend viewing habits.

The Affectionate Punch, Fourth Drawer Down, Sulk

“We just didn’t fit because we were too bloody barking mad,” laughs multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine, attempting to describe the sense of otherness that distinguished The Associates (the duo that he formed with vocal contortionist extraordinaire Billy Mackenzie) from what else was happening in pop at the beginning of the 80s. In…

Sunglasses After Dark

It’s interesting that Cherry Red have chosen to place Sunglasses After Dark among its goth reissues, as the band were always notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. After forming in 1981, in North West London, the quartet found themselves tagged variously as psychobilly, post-punk and, yes, goth, but the truth was that elements of each were disc…

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