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Hi there and thanks for clicking on our newsletter. How are things with you? Surviving, I hope. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I know I say it all the time, but thank God for music and the arts. I’d go insane if I didn’t have records, films and books to escape with. Currently watching World War Two movies is really doing it for me. They always have, but there’s something even more satisfying now about watching Nazis getting their faces kicked in. I highly recommend it as therapy for the times we live in. It’s a good reminder of who the bad guys used to be in the world. This past week I watched a bunch about European resistance fighters foiling Nazi plans and generally f’ing them up. Great stuff. I also watched one of my favorite old Tarzan films, where Nazis are trying to kill the local tribes and steal their mineral resources. Tarzan puts a stop to them, helped by Cheetah who steals a part to their radio and does a good job of annoying them. Fantastic. Got to love seeing a chimp outsmart a bunch of Nazis.
Anyway, back to the music. There’s never a slow week as far as new records coming into my life is concerned. Whether it’s new releases or cool old used records, I always feel blessed when something that I haven’t heard is introduced to me. The reason I am here and why we are all here. Music. It’s the best. It’s what feeds our souls. Not to sound too corny. You know what I mean. When we come to write our staff picks, I think we all try to write from our hearts and tell you about stuff that we genuinely like, and with me it tends to be whatever I am listening to at that moment. So, for this week I am going to encourage you all to check out the album, Even When I’m Not, by Harry Kakoulli. Released in 1980 on Oval Records.
Regular readers might remember that I mentioned him a few weeks back. It was regarding his song I’m On A Rocket that was included on the great compilation All The Young Droids that I recommended you all to check out. We just got that restocked btw. That song is great and one of my favorites from the comp, and it led me to finding a cheap copy of his full-length LP on Discogs that includes the tune. I hoped that the rest of the album might yield at least one more song as good as Rocket and at the very least not suck. It doesn’t suck, but I’m On A Rocket is still the jam in my opinion. However, I do like the rest of the record. It’s got a quirky new wave vibe with a lyrical delivery that could have only come out of the U.K. circa late 70s/early 80s. There’s lots more interesting synth sounds on the other songs, and even the obligatory reggae/dub track that all records at the time had to have. Thankfully, it sounds more like The Clash than The Police.
Kakoulli was the bass player in Squeeze previously and was also in the short-lived band England’s Glory with Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. This was his debut solo album. The Rocket single was the only accompanying 45 and was backed with another track from the LP called I Wanna Stay. He saw out the rest of the decade releasing a few more pop singles and then moved into house music and tribal electro territory.
I can’t talk on any of those records, but can highly recommend listening to Even When I’m Not. It’s a fun record. Lots of good songs. Check it out.
Cheers - Dom