I am reminded of all this when I hear an artist I had previously not heard of who deserves wider recognition and that artist is Kevin Heard, a compilation of whose music has had a much overdue release on Stone Premonitions. Now, let me start by saying that Kevin is more from the 'new wave' than the 'punk' era and is obviously an accomplished singer, musician and song writer. 'The Foggy Road' from 1982 sounds like a forgotten 80s classic, the type of thing MOJO would eulogise about while the additional synth on ska inflected 'The Scorpion' is very effective. What a 45 this would make! The majority of the material here is from 1988 starting with a fine ballad 'Sing Songs of Love' followed by some great guitar arpeggios on 'Prophecy', embellished by Tim Jones' legendary engineering. The emphasis is on catchy melodies ('This Tapestry' is an excellent example) with a nod back to the 60s and 70s, to psych, well played and well produced.
There are also all instrumental keyboards material with drum machine from 1993 including the spooky 'The Stranger' and the reflective beauty of 'Heresy', an interesting parallel with a great hero of mine, Bill Nelson, here. 'Airborne' reminded me of Nelson's 'jazz boy' period, a real foot tapper! There is much to treasure on this collection which is obviously a labour of love for all concerned. The variety of sounds and influences is to be commended. There is literally something for everything. Kevin's music is progressive in the truest sense of the word. Btw if you listen to some of the music Kevin's group The Carpettes was producing in the 80s you will see what I mean about how much brilliant stuff there is to rediscover.
And then there's Tim Jones unleashing some 'Rarities' (should be called 'Gems') from, yes you guessed it, the eighties. It's taken Tim a while to get round to releasing what I think is his best album yet. It is an album literally of two sides starting with the thoughtful and incisive 'Prisoners of the Real World' (if this had been an XTC number people would rave!), the sad tale of 'Stevie', Tim at his growliest on 'Beautiful Rose' and, another absolute standout, the sinister, salutary tale that is 'No Heart'. The second side begins with 'The Nightmare' which sees Tim and co at their most creative, ably aided and abetted by none other than Kevin Heard (as he is on most of the CD). The anger and concern for the underdog that realised fullest expression in Census of Hallucinations is evident in the titles 'The Madness', 'The Nation' and 'The Shout' and the music, while a time capsule of some of the 80s music- remember the slap bass and early synth sounds- better examples of it are here- is far more adventurous than most. Sometimes the music is just downright funky as on 'Why We Do' and also very personal as on 'My Heart's Breaking'. I strongly advise listening at the earliest available opportunity!
*An urban myth. After all, didn't John Lydon cite VDGG as an influence? The long-term reader will detect that I have revised (to an extent) my earlier theories about punk! After all, despite what Rolling Stone and others said, good music is good music however determined some are to pigeonhole it!
by Phil Jackson