Links News

Pinehurst #2 by Robert Miller is now firmly established on my current play list for Links alongside Augusta, which at this time of year always sees a dusting off and a few replays, with some amazement at how close it really is to the television coverage. Despite its difficulty it remains one of the greatest to test your game. On Bombers tour it is Crystal Pines which is the latest venue, again reminding me how far Mike Jones took the design world some 4 years ago now. Links golf is currently the only game I am actually playing on my PC of late, a testimony that it will probably be with me forever now.

Hi-Fi News

My greatest interest remains with music and hi-fi at the moment. My new Arcam / Epos system is almost complete, although I am still toying with changing the speakers. I sold off my old NAD amplifier, CD and Cambridge Audio speakers and so created a little more budget for me to play with.

Mostly though i am trying out different music. My collection has largely remained unchanged for years, adding in only the occasional new release, but i am now trying a few CD’s that normally i would not have taken a chance with before. I had added a classical compilation to my collection, but my latest key finds include PJ Harvey and two relatively new releases which are recommended and reviewed below.    

The Long Blondes - Couples

PJ Harvey - White Chalk

One of my latest CD purchases was an indie group I stumbled across over the loudspeakers of my local record shop. The group is called ‘The Long Blondes’ and their new album ‘Couples’ is proving a great find. Not quite making my top 30 chart permanently but with 5 or 6 tracks that I really do like. Describing them is very tough, with electronic elements, guitar and female vocals there are some elements of Elastica on certain tracks but they seem much more inventive overall. The title track ‘The Couples’ motors along and blends electric and acoustic guitar and is simply excellent, complete with the repeated catch line ‘people have the nerve to tell me the’re lonely’. Other great tracks include the single ‘Century’ which is a more electronic based sound, ‘Nostalgia’ which uses a lovely reverberating piano and the final fast paced build up in more punk style ‘Im Going To Hell’. Their image is called Glamorous Punk which pretty much fits the bill as a good description.    

Polly Jean Harvey is musically like a chameleon, often completely changing her style and sound from one album to the next, making it almost impossible to know what to expect. I doubt even her most avid fans saw this one coming, there is no angry, edgy guitar here, just an acoustic composition driven by piano, and with Harvey singing with an ethereal quality at the higher reaches of her vocals. The album is almost out of a horror novel, and you can imagine it being recorded in a dusty room overrun with cobwebs and dark shadows. This is a short album of fleeting songs lasting less than 34 minutes long with traces of loss, childhood, death, family and abortion, and evoking a bewitching imagery and deadly atmosphere. The lyrics are captivating and will draw you in with their moody quality. This is a stark album, but intricate and detailed where you will listen out for accompanying instruments to the piano. It will definately take a few listens, and will never appeal to everyone, but once well known it can endear itself to you completely. This is an album that belongs as a whole, you really dont need to skip tracks here, just follow the mood of the music from start to finish. The standout tracks are ‘The Devil’, ‘When Under Ether’, and ‘The Piano’, with ‘The Mountain’ not being out of place on an early Genesis album. This gothic sounding, haunting piece of work is still quite new to me and I am playing catch up now with her earlier records but PJ Harvey has quickly found her way as one of my preferred artists.