Marden Hill - Lost Weekend (1998)

Lost Weekend is a Cherry Red released compilation consisting of earlier material from a really versatile and proficient El Records group who, much to my dismay, I can't seem to find any information on whatsoever. From Cherry Red: "marden hill, were-along with would be goods, bad dream fancy dress and the king of luxembourg-one of the mainstays of el records; an artifactual pop art group created to simulate the sensual sixties styles of ennio morricone, sergio leone, piero piccioni and nico fidenco. no instrumental group has ever strived with such creative ambition and such numbers as 'curtain' 'oh constance' 'masque' and 'the execution of emperor maximillian' are widely regarded today as unquestioned masterpieces. in the wake of marden hill followed the james taylor quartet, combustible edison, air and ultimately austin powers for whose films they really really should have written the soundtrack." Another criminally under appreciated band responsible for putting the 'el' in elegant....don't miss.

Rating: 8.5/10

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McCarthy - The Enraged Will Inherit the Earth (1989)

The Enraged Will Inherit the Earth is a musical molotov cocktail that’s a mixture of power chords and virile, virtuous lyrics. I’ve always liked McCarthy because of their keen sense of political awareness and proactive mentality of “less talk, more action.” They go as far as to advocating violence to start a coup - which is a lot more effective than hippies sitting on their asses singing songs in a peace protest. Yeah, I've stolen, dumpster doven, train hopped - I know real anarchy from the fake. Their polemic (how often can you use that word when referring to a band?) is strong and convincing, as any should be. This is a record to provoke action through intelligent liberal ideals and had it more exposure it could have sparked a much needed revolution. Probably not, but we can think wishfully, can’t we?

As a triad, all three of their albums in their repertoire stand strong, but I think they hit their zenith with the middle child, The Enraged Will Inherit the Earth. The songwriting is tightly forged and their knack for producing raw pop is at its finest here. Another impressive quality worth noting is the amount of tracks on this album; its sheer fruitfulness is almost overbearing. There’s so much to take in on one listen – this album contains 19 songs and is over 70 minutes long; it’s superfluous to say the least. However, with an album with so much sheer material, you’re gonna come across a dud or two. Also a few of the songs sound a little too much alike one another and the album tends to favor a recumbency to the front a little, but not too much. Nitpicks aside, The Enraged Will Inherit of the Earth is a powerful weapon that didn’t get enough of a user base to make its intended impact. If the question was ever proposed, "can art be a weapon?" I think this album answers with a bold and resounding “yes.”

Rating: 9/10

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In Embrace - Passionfruit Pastels (1982)

Another Cherry Red classic! You can never have enough Cherry Red in your collection - they were arguably one of the best labels of the 80s and put out some amazing releases. In Embrace's Passionfruit Pastels is no exception, their sound is uniquely crystalline and chameleonic. I don't know what you'd classify it as really. The only recurring attribute is acoustic guitar accompanied by a keyboard or organ, but that doesn't really tell you much. The album starts off relatively accessible with some percussion driven pop ("Half Awake (Mountains)") then progresses towards the cosmic chimes backing "Our Star Drawn Through Panes" and proceeds to hop around from piano threnodies ("Tears Turn Fresh") to just plain curios ("At East") to sincerely sung psychedelic hymns ("To Friends (An Open Letter)"). In summary, an exotic, fragile, and pristine album from a short-lived, overlooked band.

Rating: 7.5/10

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Felt - The Splendour of Fear (1984)

For those of you who are not acquainted, let me tell you plainly: Felt were the greatest band to have ever existed on the planet. Felt consisted, in their initial incarnation on Cherry Red Records, of two key members: Lawrence Hayward (or just Lawrence, by preference), the brainchild and song-writer, and Maurice Deebank, a classically-trained guitarist and general technician for the band. Maurice Deebank has some amazing and profound solo recordings which I'll eventually get around to posting at some point, but for now let's focus on Felt's The Splendour of Fear

The Splendour of Fear is one Felt album of particular importance. It has no peers, either in its time, nor to this day. It is a truly unique creation and stands apart even from Felt's later work. The song titles, like all Felt song titles are evocative and meaningful and feel like they have some relationship to and further embellish the songs themselves. The music itself is subtly epic. It ebbs and flows as artifice reproducing the natural world and contains within its pulsating veins all the beauty subsumed within. It calls to mind great voyages: The Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepción sailing proudly across the Atlantic, The the unflinching boldness of the westward expansion into unexplored territory, the conquistadors, entire histories. It is the alluring soundtrack to affairs of ages past. This is truly a timeless album and one of the finest works of art in modern composition.

Rating: 10/10

DOWNLOAD: http://rapidshare.com/files/407118852/Felt_-_The_Splendour_of_Fear.zip