I'm So Straight I'm A Weirdo - Rick Wakeman

How great/weird is this! Rick Wakeman channelling his inner Ron and Russell Mael. As an added bonus the video features an array of 1980's more interesting characters, including a pre fame Boy George! 

Feed The Pigs - Oscar Jerome

Another great recent charity shop CD buy, Oscar Jerome's The Spoon. Some of the tracks have a laidback Durutti Column/John Martyn vibe, others, like this one, are prime cuts of nu jazz (or whatever name they're giving to the new breed of Brit jazzers these days). 

You Are The Best Thing and the Worst Thing - Devil Doll

One of the great things about the price of CDs at the moment is being able to just take a punt on something that looks interesting (as I don't have a mobile phone let alone a 'smart' one I'm unable to listen to stuff while I'm out and about, just like in the good old days when you'd buy stuff purely on the look of the cover or the label it was on...imagine that eh kids?). With that devil may care attitude I picked up Devil Doll's Queen of Pain album a couple of weeks ago and gave it a spin last night, with this track in particular floating my boat. Take a little Latin rhythm, stir in a pinch of rock, roll and rockabilly sass and add a generous dash of bourbon and that'll give you some idea of the vibe we're talking about here. Or you could just give it a spin of course. Ain't technology grand? 

Call It What You Want - Credit To The Nation

I never saw Nirvana back in the day (yes...I know) but a week or so after Cobain's suicide (today's the 30th anniversary of his death) I did see the Smells Like Teen Spirit sampling Credit To The Nation. Not sure if Kurt ever heard this track but I reckon he would have approved. 

If you're new to Credit To The Nation check out these tracks too. 

The Stars We Are - Marc Almond

Dug out my copy of Marc Almond's The Stars We Are last night and it still sounds as great as it did the first time I heard it back in 1988. (Some) Bizarrely neither the title track nor it's follow up single made the top 20. Nuts!

Thoughts - Spock's Beard

Picked up Spock's Beard's Beware of Darkness album on Saturday and then, a little later, a signed copy of Leonard Nimoy's autobiography 'I Am Spock'! Spooky. Or should that be 'spocky'. 

Town To Town - Microdisney

I think I vaguely remember this from back in the day but the recent Microdisney doc on BBC sent me scuttling off to You Tube to look up some of the band's greatest misses. Incredibly this track only got to number 55 in the charts in 1987. Hang our heads in shame children of the 80s.