Absolute Hits and Misses

Apple - An Apple A Day: I think this was someone's idea of a pop-psych joke. 2nd track 'Doctor Rock' is an all-time bad taste classic: "doctor rock is the rockin' doc" indeed.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus: Loathe as I am to admit it, these 2 cds contain the most digestible Cave I've ever heard. That probably means that his long term fans will hate them.

Elvis Costello - The Delivery Man: All those C&W starlets can't help you now EC. Please give up.

Deep Purple - Deepest Purple: On my recent holiday I taught my 'nephew' to play the riff 'Smoke on the Water' on guitar. This was amazing as (a) I can't play guitar and (b) he's only 9. This is my gift to him for eternity.

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection / Captain Fantastic... : As always, one great track and a couple of OK songs mixed in with the absolute maudlin madness that is EJ.

Herbie Mann - Do The Bossa Nova / Latin Fever / Memphis Underground: Surprisingly lots of bad musicianship on these unaccomplished but rather pleasant fol-de-rols.

The Monkees - Head OST: Too many drugs, too little time, too far up the celebrity ladder to really acheive anything weird.

Tom Waits - Real Gone: Throaty rumblings galore and barely a tune to be discerned.

Brian Wilson - Smile: Apart from the truely glorious complete songs already released on Beach Boys albums (but maybe not so fully realised) there are just far too many bits and pieces to make this really fab.