My 1001 Albums Journey

Mysterious, cinematic, unsettling, cool, strong, oppresive, delicate, original, light, dark, beautiful, enigmatic, surprising, edgy, sad, fragile, desolate, inventive, hypnotic, absorbing, elegant, uncomfortable, seductive, intimate, unique.

Cochran x Hendrix = a heavy blues-rock soup! Nothing stands out until the final track 'Second Time Around' which was cool. Not cool enough for me to ever play this again though!

I love noisy guitar bands, Mary Chain, Pixies, Ride etc but somehow I never really got into Sonic Youth. Cool guitar sounds but where are the tunes? 'Sugar Kane' is fantastic, if the whole album was that good it would be 5 🌟 but sadly it is not.

I knew I liked them from 'California Stars' and 'Jesus etc' but didn't expect this. I'm completely hooked and can't stop playing it. Every track, every minute, every moment gets better and better with every listen. So much depth, so immersive. I love it.

I bought the NME every week in the late 80s/early 90s and a name kept popping up in interviews. Robert Smith mentioned him a lot, then Paul Weller, but I never heard or bought any Nick Drake records. Then about 15 years ago I heard 'Northern Sky' on the radio while driving home one evening, the sun setting, and I still remember the moment. He became a favourite in the house and was played a lot (!) but not so much recently so it's great to listen to this again in full. It's a beautiful album, a haze of hushed words, gorgeous folk guitar and jazz bass. An underlying sadness is clear from the start, 'a troubled cure for a troubled mind', but this only adds to the emotion of it all. He worked with great musicians, there is so much feeling in every word and note, it's so sad that he wasn't more widely recognised in his lifetime. Favourite track: 'Three Hours' is incredible