Jason Parkes' profile

Nite Flights material worth the price of admission..., 8 Mar 2008

'If You Could Hear Me Now' is one of many Walker Brothers' compilations, like 'The Singles Plus' & the 'A Very Special Collection' it focuses on the reformed Walkers' of the 1970s. This takes in the albums 'No Regrets' (1975), 'Lines' (1976), and 'Nite Flights' (1978), with the addition of several out-take tracks of differing quality.

Having a compulsion to buy most Walker/Walkers' compilations, this one doesn't feel in any way definitive, but does highlight great material ('Lines', 'Til I Gain Control Again', 'Brand New Tennessee Waltz') that didn't make 1992's best-selling 'No Regrets' compilation, which took 'No Regrets' and perversely 'We're All Alone' over the 'Nite… Read more

Santa = Satan, 15 Dec 2007

While an advocate of Low's Christmas e.p., Mogwai's My Father the King & buying Malcolm Middleton's single as it would be better than the X Factor (despite certain Radio 1 DJs giving themselves hip points for supporting the former Arab Strapper), my Xmas record of choice has to be Christmas Number One by the Black Arts.

For some reason the Black Arts have only released this on green vinyl 7" - so clearly not going with a mass of formats, they aren't expecting to get to Xmas #1. I have a feeling this song will become an anthem in the future and will feature on many a compilation, leaving songwriters the Deverell Twins to live the Rio-lifestyle Duran Duran did in the 1980s… Read more

Reissue of classic Can primer..., 6 Dec 2007

This two disc compilation, which like much of Can's back catalogue bar Out of Reach, was originally on cd in the mid 1990s - now it's lovingly remastered and tweaked and definitely worthy of attention. These days Krautrock is very well known, we're a decade or so on from Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler (reprint and annotate from the present day please Mr Cope!)and mungbeans like Kasabian mention Faust now...But if you're not yet acquainted with the wonder that was Can, this two disc Anthology is a pretty decent primer - taking in most of their career and a precursor to the excellent two disc compilation of remixes that tied in with the splendid Can DVD a few years ago.

Can… Read more