Cary Grace 'Covers Vol 1'

We arrived hope from our morning walk to find a delivery. Oh, happy day.  It was my copy of Cary Grace's fabulous 'Covers Vol.1'. I'd missed the initial release and due to licensing laws the tracks weren't available as a download or to listen to, other than the tracks I'd heard Cary perform live I could  only imagine what they sounded like. Now, I thought I had a good imagination, though clearly not, as Cary's interpretations of some hefty classics by the likes of Dylan and the Stones easily exceeded my already high expectations. I imagine covering other artists work must be trepidatious, so undertaking a whole album of covers must take bravery (more so than Ulysses maybe), though Cary appears to have taken it in her stride. The interpretations go well beyond simple covers, Cary's taken some well established and much loved classics and imbued them with that Cary Grace magic, and the results speak for themselves, she's made each track her own. What an excellent album, throughout the quality and production values are consistently superb, kudos must go to Cary et al for their always immutable high calibre performances. It's impossible for me to single out one track as a favourite, which ever one I'm listening to at any moment is my favourite. That said, the Bowie covers are really quite sublime, especially 'Queen Bitch' with it's dope New York proto punk aesthetic, but then there's the divine 'Black Country Rock', and hey, both Floyd tracks are truly something else.....see what I mean, impossible to choose. Being a multidiscipline artist Cary's attention to detail is immaculate, the CD, inner and sleeve all nicely mimicking a vinyl album, the lovely touch of a hand written thank you, all beautifully packaged in white and black tissue and housed in a tidy black cardboard box, with a hand drawn spaceship on the front. Pure class, man, and a pleasure in itself, even before you hear the music. I reckon these'll sell out quick, they did the first time! So don't hang about. Go here, buy one.          

Custard Flux 'Echo' vinyl release............the bonus CD

With his upcoming release, that respected ambassador of psychedelia Gregory Curvey is really spoiling us. Custard Flux's fabulous 2019 second album 'Echo' is due out on quality raspberry vinyl in April, and as if that wasn't cool enough, with it comes a 6 track bonus CD of new material. I've been lucky enough to hear said CD, and well, Gregory continues to set a high bar for himself, the new material is fabulous! To my ear there's a subtle difference in the sound, some feel stripped down a bit maybe.  Curvey's guitar lends a late 60's flavour to a couple of the tracks, a Laural Canyon-ness, if you will, giving them a psyche folk air and a nice natural feel. Whilst his guitar on 'Indian Ocean Road' takes you soaring on the thermals created where the land meets the sea; the involvement of harmonium and harpsichord really adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the tracks. It's nice to hear Timothy Prettyman return on double bass too.  You can give 'Indian Ocean Road' a listen here, it's a lovely track. They're all lovely tracks, all individual, all flying off on different psychedelic vectors, though all audibly originating in the creative flux of Curvey's Custard cauldron. And, ere, come in a bit closer to the screen...if you're digging the Custurd Flux you've heard to date, word is there'll be a third Custard Flux album 'Oxygen', arriving, maybe, maybe by the end of the year. As I said, we're being spoilt. If you haven't already, check out Echo here (and Echo's equally fantastic predecessor 'Helium'). They're wonderful albums... your ears will thank you.