Tim Jones - "Rarities"
12 track compilation of 1980s material by Tim Jones, also known for his work with Neon, The Rabbit's Hat, Body Full of Stars, Census of Hallucinations and various other bands, as well as being co-founder of the Stone Premonitions label. Here he is accompanied on various tracks by Kevin Heard, Martin Holder, Mark Dunn, Paul Ellis, and Nick Ketteringham. A few of these tracks previously appeared on the bumper 7 CD Stone Prem retrospective The Phoenix Tapes, but others have, as far as I know, been unavailable for some time. As expected with Tim Jones, the music here covers some diverse territory. Songs like Prisoners of the Real World and Why We Do are hard-edged yet melodic underground rock with funky and experimental aspects. The Caring sets positive, optimistic lyrics to a 1980s pop-rock arrangement with psychedelic undertones - a very strong, catchy piece. The Nightmare begins as a brooding, atmospheric piece, before changing dramatically and unexpectedly into harsh noise-rock featuring maniacal ranted narration with a dystopian sci-fi theme. The Madness is a sort of experimental electronic punk-rock that makes me think of a harsher, weirder version of Punishment of Luxury, a band Tim Jones was a member of for a while (though he didn't appear on any of their records). The Shout begins as a beautiful psych-folk piece before flying off at an angry ska-punk-spacerock tangent. From melodic romantic songs to dark scary noise - it's all here. Well worth checking out if you're curious about Tim's earlier, long since unavailable recordings.
Kim Harten - Bliss Aquamarine (http://www.blissaquamarine.net)