Middle-aged Dan

#10DaysOfManics&Suede Day 7 Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against the Soul I seem to enjoy this album more than most. It's a little too hair-rocky in places, but there are several really good songs on here. Depending on my mood, this can be one of my favorite Manics albums. #Vinyl #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #223 The Pogues - If I should fall from grace with God A tour-de-force of an album. So many of the tracks feel like an energetic stream of consciousness, but one done is a consistently strong musical style. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity

Forgot to post last night... #10DaysOfManics&Suede Day 6 Suede - Antidepressants Their most recent effort and the best in a long time. How they've adapted their style to suit Bret's changing voice and yet created something more mature and great is impressive. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #222 De La Soul - 3 feet high and rising Feel like I've waxed lyrical enough about this album of late due to the debut votes, but I never tire of hearing it. That one of my favourite albums comes from a genre I usually avoid says it all. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #NowSpinning

#10DaysOfManics&Suede Day 5 Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible Took a while to warm to this back in the 90s. Heavily influenced by Richie Edward's pain and musically a world away from their other 90s work. But as my tastes changed this has become much more my wheelhouse. #Vinyl #NowSpinning

#10DaysOfManics&Suede Day 4 Suede - Dog Man Star A really polarizing album. Seemed to disappoint those who wanted a more Britpop feel but please those who enjoyed the variety of styles. For me, it's a brave shift that showed Suede were more than just a lad-band. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #NowSpinning

Today's #AlphabettiDischetti Smashing Pumpkins - Gish A really fun debut. As with most Pumpkin's work, it is musically diverse with elements of alt-rock, melodic rock, gunge, and even a rare dream-pop track with D'arcy on vocals. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#Dan'sDiscSlog Album #221 MGMT - Orangular Spectacular Another album discovered through the debut poll that I've really gotten into. A really upbeat album and a style that works song after song. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

Day 3 of #10DaysOfManics&Suede Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go At one time, when it was new, this was my most widely played album. Since then many albums, including other Manics ones have surpassed it, but I still love returning to this. #CDCollection #NowSpinning

Tonight's #AlphabettiDischetti is one of the greatest and highly reviewed albums of all time. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen Fueled by grief and Cave and Ellis's collaborative improv, which had reached symbiosis by this stage. This is frankly peerless. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

Next for #10DaysOfManics&Suede Suede - Coming Up Due to my age, this album was how I discovered Suede. Whilst I'd go on to find they had even better albums, this will always hold a special place for me as a favourite sing-along album. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #220 Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted A recent discovery but I'm really impressed with it this second time around. Should have given it more time in the debut polls. Love the stripped back, distortion heavy sound. Feels both of its time and ultra modern. #MusicSky #1001Albums

I'm going to see both next Friday, so I'm going to enjoy #10DaysOfManics&Suede .This one also fits the G theme of #AlphabettiDischetti Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorist. An energetic debut. Contains a lot of great songs but may be a little bloated as a double album. #Vinyl #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #219 Beyonce - self titled Not really listened to much Beyonce as it is not in my usual wheelhouse but this is very good and really well realised. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

#NowSpinning Fontaines D.C. - Dopamine Chamber Following the trend of recent releases, this is their most 'produced' album yet. Whilst some will lament the loss of their raw sound, there's still a lot of variety in this album and Chatten's vocals keep it unique. #Vinyl #NewMusic #VinylCommunity

#NowSpinning AC/DC - Back in Black Brian Johnson's transition into the band was a huge success. Not only is this one of the best selling albums of all time but a yardstick for energetic metal albums. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #MusicSky

First up as usual on a Saturday so straight into some #AlphabettiDischetti Geese - Getting Killed One of the best albums of recent years and an all-timer in terms of art-rock. Geese completely nailed this one and it gets better with every listen. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #218 The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night The first Beatles album to be completely written by Lennon and McCartney. It's a bit one dimensional but at the time that dimension was pretty innovative. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

#DansDiscSlog Album #217 Yes - Fragile More evidence that I just don't get prog-rock. I can see how someone who loves the genre would love this, it's extremely well executed for what it is. But to me it feels like 10 minutes worth of songs stretched out over 40 minutes. #MusicSky #1001Albums

Tonight's #AlphabettiDischetti Garbage - self titled An album and a band that doesn't seem to age. This still feels like a fresh and cutting edge album that remains pretty unique after 30 years. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #216 Cindi Lauper - She's So Unusual Feel like teenage Dan would have dismissed this if he'd been around in the 80s. But he'd have missed out. This is a unique snippet of confident 80s pop which has stood the test of time and earned its place. #Vinyl #NowSpinning #1001Albums

#NowSpinning Fontaines DC - Romance With their new album coming out this week, I thought I'd return to their most recent work. Been listening to the earlier stuff a lot of late and had kind of forgotten what a hit fest Romance was. Excellent album. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #MusicSky

Next for #AlphabettiDischetti Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity Not the peerless quality of Cave's more recent work. But this mix or art-punk and chain-gang style seems to grow on you more and more each time you listen to it. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

No album #214 for #DansDiscSlog so straight to album #215 The Isley Brothers - 3 + 3 A smooth, soulful album that is crammed full of hits. You can't really go wrong with this one. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

#DansDiscSlog Album #213 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands A band I've only really delved into in the last 18 months but I like everything I've heard so far. Their mix of Goth-Rock come Jangle-Pop come Psychobilly come Shoegaze is unique and really good. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

#NowSpinning James - Whiplash The older I get, the more I appreciate James: for their music and attitude. This is an interesting album that contains some real bangers and all sorts of different genres. Not all of them fully hit the mark, but it is an impressive creative flex. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity

#DansDiscSlog Album #212 Finley Quaye - Maverick A Strike Loved this album when it came out. But Quaye's success seemed to burn fast and bright and soon you didn't really hear much about him anymore. Make no mistake though, this album is still really good. #CDCollection #NowSpinning #1001Albums

Today's #AlphabettiDischetti Pulp - Freaks The first of several notable lineup and style changes from Pulp's early years. This is a big step forward from their debut, but is much darker. Cocker's swagger is growing, but some of this is in too low a key for him. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #211 Eagles - Hotel California A triumph of songwriting craft. There isn't much that challenged the popular styles of the day, but its excellently crafted music, lyrics and harmonizing style more than makes up for a lack of innovation. #MusicSky #1001Albums

Tonight's #AlphabettiDischetti Foo Fighters - self titled Essentially still a Dave Grohl solo project, this doesn't quite hit the heights of the later stadium rock style. But it does have an interesting experimental note that later albums lack. #Vinyl #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #210 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain Pretty unique album. Smooth funk but interrupted by a lot of randomness. An experimental, almost psychedelic funk. #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

Been a busy day but found time to squeeze this classic in. Joy Division - Closer Less urgent, but more varied in style than Unknown Pleasures. Like its predecessor though it drove post-punk forward in leaps and bounds. Which you prefer is a matter of taste. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #NowSpinning

I'm nothing if not a bandwagon jumper!

Next up for #AlphabettiDischetti Phil Collins - Face Value Easy to forget how good Collins' early solo work was. This is a raw, emotional slice of pop that is an interesting divergence from from his Genesis days. Also has one of the all time great opening tracks. #VinylCollection #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #209 Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill Got a lot of recent airplay in the debut list (despite technically not being a debut) but happy to return to it. Not A1 tier but an albums that still keeps a high standard up. Pretty much all bangers. #Vinyl #NowSpinning #1001Albums

#DansDiscSlog Album #208 Slayer - Reign in Blood The content is just plain weird, the thrash style is so intense it is hard to distinguish one song from the next, yet somehow this is excellent. If you like thrash metal, I imagine you'll love this #MusicSky #VinylCommunity #1001Albums

#NowSpinning Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon A mid-point album for Mitchell, with one foot in hear earlier folk days, and one in the more mature and expansive work of future albums. The mix works really well and produces a strong album from start to finish. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #MusicSky

#DansDiscSlog Album #207 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon I'm often critical of prog rock going too far and becoming self-indulgent. Pink Floyd themselves are guilty of that on some albums. But this is perfectly pitched and deserves its status as an all time classic. #MusicSky #1001Albums

Today's #AphabettiDischetti The Wonder stuff - The Eight Legged Groove Machine Love this album and another one that Mel and I bonded over in our early years. Used to regularly text lines from 'It's yer money I'm after baby' to each other. #VinylCollection #Vinyl #NowSpinning

#DansDiscSlog Album #206 Rush - 2112 I continue to not get Rush, or this style of music. But I can tell that for this style it is well put together. No objections from me, but it doesn't do anything for me at the same time. #1001Albums #MusicSky #VinylCommubity

Absolutely gutted to wake up to this news. First saw PAC in Doncaster when he was 20 and he already stood out. He was a major catalyst for the incredible growth in British Wrestling, and British wrestlers, over the last 20 years, leading the line for most of that time. RIP fella.

Also returning is #DansDiscSlog Album #205 Public Image Ltd - Public Image: First Issue I'm quite vocal about not enjoying The Sex Pistols but this seems like a big step forward to me for Lydon. Musically diverse with a strong vein of early post-punk. A more mature release. #MusicSky #1001Albums

With the Debuts done, I've got time to return to some dormant listening lists, starting with #AlphabettiDischetti #NowSpinning Bluetones - Expected to Fly Overall, a decent but not peak Britpop album. A lot of family just okay album tracks, but boy could they write great singles! #CDCollection

#NowSpinning The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds Remember my mates laughing at me for having this on CD as a teen.Time and various best albums polls have proven me very much right. A huge step forward in album production at the time, and blending numerous genres, this is an all time great. #VinylCommunity

#NowSpinning Idles - Brutalism Was a real shame this didn't get into the Debut Album final (anti 21st century bias and all that). But it made a real impact on me and I went out and bought it. Raw and brimming with rage at a number of injustices. Yet musically striking too. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity

#NowSpinning Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Get Happy Appropriately named. This saw Costello ease back on the justified anger of his earlier work for a more commercial feel. The results were an upbeat and critical success, though it does feel a little less vital than Armed Forces. #Vinyl

#5DebutAlbumsFinal Match 27 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures Vs Patti Smith - Horses The final match up of the debut contest for me. Two albums taken from the edge of the first waves of punk, one a defining achievement pre-punk and the other the same for post-punk. #Vinyl #NowSpinning

#5DebutAlbumsFinal Match 26 R.E.M. - Murmur Vs Pixies - Surfer Rosa Probably the two most quirky albums left, be it R.E.M.'s nonsensical lyrics, or Pixies musical non-sequiturs. #Vinyl #CDCollection #MusicSky #NowSpinning

So this finally arrived: #NowSpinning Hole - Pretty on the Inside Been wanting a copy of this for years so was very pleased with this month's re-release. The start of a great three-album ark. Much rawer and grungy than future albums, but an excellent entry point. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity

#5DebutAlbumsFinal Match 25 PJ Harvey - Dry Vs Portishead - Dummy Two 90s debuts that still get very regular rotation from me. One of them will make my final 5 vote. #Vinyl #VinylCommunity #MusicSky #NowSpinning