Kirsty Maccoll – Kite (1989)

Not quite her first, but the first that made any impact.  Kirsty was the daughter of folk-singer Ewan Maccoll – but he was absent most of her childhood.  Kirsty was a different type of singer completely; she successfully combined a wicked sense of humour with a great voice.   Her songs were covered by Tracey Ullman who had chart success with a couple before the public discovered Kirsty.  She also covered ‘A New England’ by Billy Bragg which also charted.  She released three albums in the early nineties and then took a long break.  Inspired by visits to Cuba she released a late album ‘Tropical Brainstorm’ in 2000, heavily influenced by Latino rhythms.  Later that same year she was involved in a tragic speedboat accident and died of her injuries.  The speedboat had strayed into a restricted area and her death was completely needless.  A great loss, as she seemed to have regained her confidence as a singer and was planning more music.  She is also famous as the female protagonist in The Pogues classic ‘FairyTale In New York’ which she reportedly recorded in one take.  Best on this album are ‘Don’t Come The Cowboy With me Sunny Jim’, ‘Innocence’ and ‘What Do Pretty Girls Do?’

Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim (2008)

Well, back to the almost present day.  I have always loved singer-songwriters, especially women – and Laura is one of the best, not quite up with Joni and Buffy but certainly a contender, and of course, still young enough to go to the very top.  Her father (a baronet) introduced her to folk music – but she has moved a long way from that and into the realm of autobiographical writing (although the songs are poetic enough to present some doubt; some may be imagined).  I think she falls somewhere between Joni and Leonard Cohen in the intensity of her singing and guitar playing, though she doesn’t sound like anyone except Laura Marling.  She started in the band ‘Noah and the Whale’ but left after a short spell to go solo. This, her debut was nominated for the Mercury Prize but failed to win, which may be a blessing as most winners seem to disappear from view pretty quickly.  Her voice at times seems to hover above the music and is almost trance-like.  I love all the songs but maybe the best are ‘Ghosts’, ‘My Manic And Me’ and ‘Your Only Doll (Dora)’….she is rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine and seems to get better with every release.

Maestoso – Maestoso (1980) Maestoso were in reality Stuart (Woolly) Wolstenholme – keyboard player and sometime writer for Barclay James Harvest.  Always of a more classical bent, Stuart grew more and more disillusioned with the more commercial sound the band evolved into during the late Seventies, and feeling squeezed out of composing he left the band in 1978 and reworked some songs he had presented to the band but which were rejected, plus some new songs – the result was this album under the name Maestoso.  He toured for a while and was working on a second album which he abandoned.  He took up farming and turned his back on music but John Lees persuaded him to help him on his late solo career.  Re-invigorated, he completed the abandoned album and recorded a few more albums.  He sadly committed suicide in 2010.  This album was probably the best he recorded solo and sounds fresher than some of the music his old band made in the 80s.  My favourites on this are ‘Sail Away’, ‘Gates Of Heaven’ and ‘American Excess’.

Lemon Jelly – lemonjelly.ky (2000)

Thanks to my daughter Laura for introducing me to this eclectic and bizarrely brilliant band.  The band are essentially Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen – a couple of Brits who got together in ’98 to make brightly coloured records and even brighter music.  Basically, this is electronica but with a humourous or rather absurd side.  Their music has often been used for programmes like CSI and as incidental music by The BBC.  They went on a long hiatus in 2008 and haven’t released anything since then.  Best songs on this almost entirely instrumental album, which may also be their best are ‘In The Bath’, ‘The Staunton Lick’ and ‘Homage To Patagonia’.  I really rather like them, and the humourous interludes still make me smile when they pop up. 

Little Feat  –  Little Feat (1971) Formed by main singer and songwriter Lowell George in ’69 and featuring Ray Estrada, ex Mothers of Invention this band from the South of America managed to combine ‘Rock’ and ‘Soul’, ‘Blues’ and ‘touches of Jazz’ into their very own swampy sound.  I discovered them two years later with their third offering ‘Dixie Chicken’ – which remains an absolute classic.  As is often the case the critics loved it but the public largely ignored it – however in those days record companies were looser and decided to let the band continue making records.  Apparently by ’78, despite success George was unhappy with some of the band members and disbanded the group.  He tragically died a few months later of a heart attack at age 34.  The old band members reformed and have carried on sporadically since.  Best songs on this debut are ‘Truck Stop Girl’, ‘Willin’ and ‘Snakes On Everything’. Not bad for starters.

Lindisfarne – Nicely Out Of Tune (1970)

I am not sure if I first heard this debut album on John Peel or not, but he certainly loved and heavily played it.   And what an album, in some ways it is pure folk, but there is far more crossover into singer/songwriter and even rock territory.  Ironically, just as The Beatles were breaking up new bands were forming and writing and recording amazing music in the first few years of the Seventies.  Extremely talented, both musically and as songwriters this North-Eastern band were among the very best.  The band name is an island just off the coast of Northumberland and they were proud of their Tyne-side heritage.  I saw them a few times and their live shows were riotous and superb.  This album starts off with the haunting ‘Lady Eleanor’ and doesn’t draw breath until ‘Scarecrow Song’ at the end.  The main singer and songwriter was Alan Hull, who left the band after three albums, had a mixed career and died suddenly at age 50.  The band still limps on but hasn’t released new material for 20 years.  Other great tracks on this one are ‘Winter Song’, ‘Clear White Light’ and ‘We Can Swing Together’.

k. d. lang – Angel With A Lariat (1987)

Karen Dawn Lang is another Canadian singer (have I been subconsciously collecting them) born in ’61 but she only really broke through in the mid 80s.  She was in a band called the Reclines and this album is the first under her own name – though the band play on all the tracks.  I don’t really know much more about her except that she has the voice of an angel and seems to inhabit her songs with a sadness and yearning.  She started with quite a country twang but later drifted into torch songs.  This album is quite country really; best songs are ‘Watch Your Step Polka’, ‘Rose Garden’ and the fabulous ‘Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray’.

John was in quite a bad place, just before and after leaving The Beatles; apparently addicted to heroin.  It is arguable whether Yoko saved him or led to his decline, but together they had therapy from a controversial Psychiatrist who thought all our problems stemmed from unacknowledged pain from our childhood. John had certainly a traumatic time, his father left when he was a child, and his mother Julia, a somewhat free spirit, felt she couldn’t cope and left young John with his Aunt Mimi.  Julia kept in touch until she was tragically killed in a road accident when the boy was 10.  These events may well have shaped his ‘Rock’n’Roll’ spirit and drive, especially in the early days.

One result of the therapy was that John wrote and recorded the songs on this album, mostly based on his ‘pain’ and his love for Yoko.  It is a truly incredible record; bleak and yet starkly honest and beautiful.  The most autobiographical of any of The Beatles music it stand way above anything he did after this, although the follow-up album ‘Imagine’ is pretty dammed good too.  The album starts with the words ‘Mother, you had me, but I never had you’ – and ends with the song ‘My Mummy’s Dead’ – but in between there are a few lighter moments.  My stand-out tracks are ‘Isolation’,       ‘Look At Me’ and ‘God’.