D566. Jana Varga: Chicory Listening in advance of seeing her perform in Windsor. There’s a strong Joni influence, but that’s no bad thing as she has the vocal and instrumental chops to make lovely songs. Looking forward to the gig! 8/10

D565. The Staves: Dead & Born & Grown Inspired by their appearance at the Prog Prom. This is a gorgeous album, packed with lovely 3-part harmonies. You don’t get better folk albums than this. 9/10

D564. Shania Twain: Little Miss Twain Bland AOR/Country fare. Entirely forgettable. 2/10

Y2D198. Noah Kahan: Busyhead Lovely, upbeat and tuneful. He has an appealing voice and writes great songs. Easy to like. 8/10

Y2D197. Panic! At the Disco: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out Sparky pop/punk which fizzles along in a brash style. Reminded me of Hoosiers. Didn’t love it, but suspect it would improve with repeated listening. 7/10

Y2D196. The Maccabees: Marks to Prove It First I’ve listened to of theirs and I liked it a lot. Very tuneful and tasteful. Will definitely return to this. Vocally it’s a little like Mumfords. 8/10

Y2D195. Fred Again.. & Brian Eno: Secret Life Delicate blend of ambient music and noise with highly processed vocals. It is strangely enveloping, with the minimum of content seizing your attention. Terrific 8/10

A new challenge for me..

Y2D194. Fit for Rivals: Steady Damage Punchy pop/punk songs delivered with verve and vigour. A surprisingly mainstream suggestion from my son. Enjoyable and gets the toes tapping and the head banging. But lacks a point of difference.. 6/10

Y2D193. Beth Orton: The Ground Above I’ve not listened to her before. I can’t say that I’m a fan of her voice- it’s emotional, but lacks musicality, range or much in the way of melody. Not the cheeriest of albums. Very samey. 4/10

Y2D192. Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues Opening track starts as Spirit in the Sky and ends as Jean Genie. After that it settles into very familiar territory, but remarkable given their advanced years. Doesn’t shift the needle on my disinterest in all things Stones. 5/10

Y2D191. Jack White: Frozen Charlotte No surprises here, though it starts like a tribute to Led Zeppelin. If you like White Stripes, you’ll be happy. If you’re not a fan, this won’t convert you. 6/10

Y2D190. David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra: Who Is the Sky? I’ve not listened to anything post Talking Heads. This is quirky and upbeat mixture of styles with no fixed genre. Surprisingly sing along choruses. Reminds me of TMBG at times. Fun 7/10

Y2D189. Birdy: Portraits Her latest offering moves on from her plaintive style to embrace more mainstream pop, though influenced by Kate Bush in some of the arrangements and vocals. Somehow she loses what was her greatest point of strength, but pleasant nonetheless. 7/10

Y2D188. Jason Aldean: Wide Open A solid collection of songs by a host of different writers. Pop rock production values, but it’s the vocals (and some pedal steel guitar) which mark it as Country rock. Nondescript voice and I’ve just read he’s a Trump supporter. Now I feel soiled. 7/10

Y2D187. Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch! Weird but strangely entertaining jazz. Made me think of Pink Panther cartoons. Cool. Thanks Martin. 7/10

Y2D186. Lainey Wilson: Whirlwind Mainstream Country and Western. Recommended by my friend Brian. The slow songs are ok, but the line-dancing/ cowboy stuff sets my teeth on edge. 5/10

Y2D185. Stephen Wilson Jr: Son of Dad part 2 More from this mammoth album. He’s convincing when they veer towards rock (almost grunge) and the quieter atmospheric, reflective pieces. His voice is very reminiscent of Willie Nelson. 7/10

Y2D184. Birdy: Young Heart A beautiful collection of co-written songs of love and loss. A step up in maturity in the decade since her excellent debut. Lovely. 8/10

Y2D182. The Retrograde: That’s the Spirit American rockers teleport back to early 70s where they sound utterly convincing. Led Zeppelin reborn with Def Leppard vocals. 7/10

Y3D181. Jessie Buckley: Wild Rose Splendid country. I listened to her collaboration with Bernard Butler last year, but this one is a belter- revealing a glorious voice. I’ll have to watch the film. A mixture of covers and original songs. Beautiful. 8/10

Y2D180. Steve Winwood: Nine Lives Most recent album from a man who’s back catalogue is extensive and stellar. The muse was clearly still strong in 2009 when this came out. Great playing, of course. But there are congas everywhere, like everywhere, man. 7/10

Y2D179. Greg Brown: Covenant Country/blues from 2000 from an improbably deep voiced talk/singer. Suits sitting in the sun in a countryside setting. Sounds like he’s lived a long life. 6/10

Y2D178. Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps After an amazing surround listening to Hand Cannot Erase, most albums would come up short, but this is a corker! Soulful country vocals haunt plaintive songs with delicious instrumentation. 9/10

Y2D177. Muse: The Wow! Signal Bleep, thunk, grunge pop/bombast with breathy falsetto vocals. I got to seriously dislike the clicky drum sound and lots of songs that sounded the same. Apparently the singer cares very deeply about something or other, but for the life I couldn’t tell you what. 2/10

Y2D176. Queen: News of the World Surprises me that I don’t think I ever heard this before, beyond the big singles, though I had the albums ether side of it. It’s a mixed bag of less layered songs than hitherto, often missing band members. A bit like the White Album. Freddie’s voice is raw. 6/10

Y2D175. Mudcrutch: Mudcrutch 2 Final one of albums inspired by my late brother. We both enjoyed Tom Petty. This is perhaps less country than their previous album, often just sounding like the Heartbreakers, but allowing other writers and vocalists to have their share in the spotlight. 7/10

Y2D174. Mary Fahl: Love and Gravity So my oldest living brother passed this morning. We used to send each other things to listen to. This was his final recommendation: Dawning of the Day. R.I.P Richard Percival 1/7/1945-23/6/2026

Y2D173. Eliza Gilkyson: Paradise Hotel My niece has been playing music to my big brother Richard who is close to death after a long fight with cancer. The last track, When You Walk On, is particularly appropriate. Elsewhere it’s a rather wordy country album.

Y2D172. Rialto: Neon & Ghost Signs Newish album from discovery of two weeks back. Less Britpop, more stylish magpie scavenging across classy pop- Stephen Duffy, Lightning Seeds even Gary Glitter. It’s beautifully crafted and has some cracking songs. 8/10