things and time will tell.

Simply Red – Infidelity Elektra – 0-66807 Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, US, 1987 info For those who are already giving me side eye, here are three reasons Simply Red are potentially cooler than you remember: 1. Durutti Column - I'm pretty sure "Simply Red" eventually became the name for "Mick Hucknall plus whoever he has backing him these days." In their earlier years that we all remember them from though, they were real band with a pretty steady lineup. Three of the founding members of that lineup had also been founding members of the Durutti Column . "Durutti Column," by the time their first records were released in 1980, had essentially come to mean "Vini Reilly plus whoever he has backing him these days." But for a brief moment, Durutti Column had existed as a traditional band, assembled by the bosses over at Factory Records to play arty, post-punk rock. When Riley decided that wasn't for him and planned to quit the group, Factory inste...

Al Green – Don't Look Back BMG, RCA – 74321 16310 2 CD, Album, Europe, 1993 info Today is my wife's birthday. She's turning one of those ages that people notice, that might provoke you to do a little assessing of where you're at in life... or make you a little self conscious about whether you've become "old." I've never been an expert at keeping her from worrying, but, for whatever it's worth, here's my reflection. She has become happier, healthier and stronger over the last 10 years. She is at once both infinitely more mature than then me and far more full of life, taking on new challenges and adventures adventures at both home and work (when she could have slowing down and sinking into easier routines at either).  She can be shy and hates being embarrassed more than anything in the world… but focusing on that can make it easy to miss that she's also become damn near fearless.  One of the few joys I've found hidden behind all the tensi...

Grace Jones – Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions Island Records – 314 524-501-2 2 x CD, Compilation, US, Jun 16, 1998 info In my last post I said that Sly & Robbie's work with Grace Jones "sounded like the future." Seemed like that made it a fitting post for a new year... Happy New Year, everyone. Wish everyone peace, health and strength as we head into 2022. _______________________________ In 1979 and 1980, Island Records completed construction on their new Compass Point recording studios in Nassau. Label chief Chris Blackwell was worked to pull together his dream band of in-house musicians to work with the stars he'd soon begin flying to the Bahamas to record. Blackwell had lived in JA in his youth and had some success promoting the reggae artists he'd signed to Island abroad (especially some guy named Marley), so it's not completely surprising that he'd decided that he wanted a Jamaican rhythm section for the new house band. Sly Dunbar and Ro...