One record at a time: 385. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 03 (Music From The HBO Series)

Volume 3 of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's soundtrack to the TV series "Watchmen" is a much more "ambient" and minimalistic than the first two instalments. In fact this music here is so spartan that I have read of people playing the record at the wrong speed without realising it.

This album has none of the raucous or heavily synth driven pieces found on the first two volumes, but cues like "The Waiting Sky" or "A Stronger, Loving World" are still mildly entertaining. 

This album is probably intended to be given your full attention and experienced as a continuos flow of music. However, I can think of better things to do with 45 minutes than listening to a drone. In all honesty, I can't see me playing this record again anytime soon.  

The real genius of this record is the artwork that credits it to "The Nine Inch Nails" with the fictional title "The Manhattan Project". The record itself is a very nice pressing and, unlike many others, mine has no issues on playback. 1/5

One record at a time: 384. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 02 (Music From The HBO Series)

The second volume of music from the soundtrack to the TV series "Watchmen" was issued in a sleeve masquerading as the soundtrack to a fictitious show called "American Hero Story: Minutemen".

The real credits found online tell us most of the cues were created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with two traditional jazz tracks by John Beasley. My copy plays very well and includes a facsimile newspaper clipping included in some pressings.

As far as the music goes it is more of the same really. Standout tracks are "Squid Pro Quo" which begins as an atmospheric drone before launching into a powerful analogue sequence. "Seven Years of Bad Luck" and "He Was Never There" are also very interesting to hear and the creepy "Kicked in the Balls Again" never fails to affect. 

The afore mentioned John Beasley contributions are traditional jazz recordings that fit within the context of the programme, but are of absolutely no interest to me. So whilst this isn't quite as good as the first volume it is still very interesting to hear. 2.5/5

One record at a time: 383. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Watchmen: Vol. 01 (Music From The HBO Series)

When I first saw the film "Watchmen" in 2009 I was totally mystified by it. I'm not a comic book fan and I had absolutely no knowledge of the lore required to fully enjoy the film. Clearly this wasn't the sort of show for me.

Yet, ten years later I decided to watch a new TV series based on the same characters. This time around I enjoyed things much more and I'm sure that this was due, in part, to the fantastic music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the band Nine Inch Nails.

Here we have the first volume of the soundtrack that features artwork for a fictional album called "The Book of Rorschach" by the equally fictional band Sons Of Pale Horse. Whilst I have no doubt this fake sleeve approach was artistically satisfying (and nothing I have seen before) it is a bit annoying as you have to look online to see what any of these tracks are actually called.

When I received this album it was quite badly scratched and had all kinds of clicks and pops straight from the manufacturer. After a little resistance the band's official UK webshop sent me a replacement that wasn't scratched, bit it doesn't play quite as flawlessly as I expected either.

The first few opening tracks of this album are atmospheric wonders that set the scene for both the TV series and this record. I can't imagine sitting down and coming up with something as good as the fourth track "Nun With A Motherfucking Gun" and not having the biggest smile on my face. The analogue synths, rapid percussion and throbbing bass combine perfectly on what is one of the highlights of all three volumes of the soundtrack.

Cues like "Kattle Battle" and "I'll Wait" sound like they have been lifted straight from a Nine Inch Nails album and it is clear that Reznor and Ross put just as much effort into their soundtracks as they do for their other work. Another highlight is "The Brick" which somehow manages to sound new and innovative but clearly carries the distinctive DNA of the composers. The music here is much more electronic than more recent Nine Inch Nails releases and I prefer it as a result. 4/5

One record at a time: 382. RAH Band - Mystery

For many years I worked in environments where people would leave a radio playing all day. The majority of the time this meant I had to endure whatever ephemeral pap was in the charts, but now and again I did discover something exciting via the airwaves.

One such occasion when Ken Bruce played the full 6'45'' album version of "Clouds Across the Moon" by RAH Band on BBC Radio 2.

As soon as the song began I was intrigued by both the lyrics and the vocalist. There was a very tongue in cheek operator talking about valuable deep space communications and some plastic horns that thrilled and appalled me in equal measure. I also thought I could hear a TR-909 drum machine mixed in with the Simmons toms and lush orchestral arrangement. 

Whilst I found this heady brew quite hard to place, I knew I wanted to hear it again. Once at home I researched the song and was genuinely surprised to find it dated back to 1985. Why hadn't I heard this record until 2006? I quickly downloaded an mp3 file of the song and enjoyed it very much.

Fast forward to 2019 and I came across this copy of "Mystery" whilst perusing through my regular second hand vinyl store. When I noticed the opening track was "Clouds Across the Moon" I decided to pay the £8 asking price and finally delve further into the world of RAH Band (I'm still not sure if the band name uses the definitive article or not, but as it's not on this release I will omit it). 

Whilst the vinyl I own is in fair condition, someone has written the duration and writing credit for each track on the back of the sleeve. Each time I look at the defaced cover I take comfort in the knowledge that the culprit probably served jail time for such offences.

RAH band are the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and all round clever clogs Richard Hewson. All of the songs on this disc are written by Hewson and sung by his wife of the time Liz. Whist "Clouds Across the Moon" is their commercial peak they are from being a one hit wonder. Hewson is clearly a very talented musician and his jazz-funk influences result in a rather unique take on eighties synth pop.

After the brilliant opening track we hear "Night Wind" which you will be pleased to hear isn't about nocturnal flatulence but is actually seven and a half minutes of funky disco. Yes it sounds a bit chintzy to modern ears and would benefit from an edit to reduce the run time, but you can tell the composer knows what he is doing.

"Sorry Doesn't Make It Anymore" has an amazing string arrangement but like many songs on here it sounds little too stuck in the seventies. "Out on the Edge" and "Float" are highly competent funk instrumentals but the incessant saxophone solos can be tiresome. "Mystery Boy" and "Are you satisfied?" move more closely to a pop sound but the saxophones and funk guitars are never far away.

The only song that really comes close to matching the opening track is "Shadow of your Love" which deserves much wider appreciation. The superb synth work on this track is complimented perfectly by Liz's backing vocals and I almost get a sense of 'the Minneapolis sound' emerging from the speakers. 

The slightly kitsch nature of the music on this album means it will always be something of a guilty pleasure; but if you're in the mood for something from the eighties that is slightly off the beaten track then you can do a lot worse than investigating RAH band. 3/5

One record at a time: 381. Project D - The Synthesizer Album

You may notice that the artist who created these recordings isn't credited prominently. This is a deliberate tactic designed to increase the likelihood of us mistaking this for a compilation of original recordings rather the 'sound-a-like' cover versions they actually are.

Albums of this type had existed since the seventies with the "Top of the Pops" series being one of the most notorious examples. By the nineties, a shift in technology meant that people could use synthesizers and high capacity sequencers to make a myriad of albums with titles like "Synthesizer Hits", "Synthesizer Greatest" or "The Most Spectacular Synthesizer". As these albums were sold quite cheaply they were rather popular - especially with 'financially challenged' teenagers such as myself. 

The first sound-a-like album by Project D was imaginatively titled "The Synthesizer Album" and was released in 1990. A second volume appeared later in the same year (with the shocking title "Synthesizer 2") and I bought both on compact disc at the time of release. Teenage me definitely got some enjoyment out of these albums and some tracks were so good they almost sounded like remixes of the original. Yet tracks like "Balero", "Winter Games" and "Tubular Bells" felt like very strange and disappointing choices to represent 'synthesizer music'. 

The next I heard of Project D was when "Synthesizer - The Ultimate Sound Experience" was being marketed and sold directly to customers via a TV campaign. This four disc box set featured the same content as the first two "Synthesizer" albums but also included two additional discs. To my mind it is the second two discs where things go wrong here. I mean badly wrong. No...worse than that.

Alannah Myles country song "Black Velevet" is pretty awful in its original form, but played on synth presets it is in a whole new world of terrible. Other abominations include Elton John's "Sacrifice", "Kingston Town" by UB40 and the "Star Wars" theme tune all being mercilessly butchered at the alter of MIDI file mediocrity. I could go on but the horrors are too much to bear. I think it is sufficient to say some of the song choices on these last two records are frankly bizarre.

I am not certain what instruments were used to create these monstrosities but I can definitely hear a Roland D50 and possibly some Ensoniq SQ80 and a Korg T3. I hope group members Chris Cozens and Nick Magnus made some good money from this venture as they truly sold their soul to the devil in creating it. 

If you feel compelled to subject yourself to this music then listen to the first album and please skip the rest. I think I only own the box set out of curiosity and looking at it now I sense I will be making a charity shop donation very soon. 1/5

One record at a time: 380. Pet Shop Boys - Interview Picture Disc

I used to see this "Limited Edition" picture disc being sold in almost every record shop in the late eighties and early nineties. Rather than music, this record contains a poor quality recording of an interview conducted by an unknown journalist with a German accent. The conversation seems to have been held around August 1987 when the Pet Shop Boys were promoting their album "Actually".

Fans could learn quite a lot from this interview where an unusually verbose Chris Lowe gives us details on the recording of the album and some of the instruments used. We learn that J. J. Jeczalik of the Art of Noise was the Fairlight programmer on "Shopping" and that the mix of "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" on the album was the second version created. 

Everyone becomes a little coy when discussing the vocal samples on "Heart" as the interview is going to be published in Italy and nobody was ready to risk being sued (years later they would reveal that Pavarotti was one of the voices sampled). Further on Neil talks at great length about the inspiration for the songs "Rent" and "Kings Cross" and there is a brief mention of the then current litigation regarding "It's a Sin" which finds the journalist firmly on the boys side.

The interviewer mentions a reprise of "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" being listed on his promo cassette that didn't seem to play. This comes as a relief to the boys as they had decided to remove it from the finished record. The interviewer also asks if the drums on "Hit Music" are 'real' only to be told they are from a Fairlight III. As the discussion moves to the writing process and how the songs were demoed, the record ends abruptly with Neil mid sentence. 

This item is strictly for collectors and I almost considered not including it here; but it didn't feel right to miss anything out. I have two copies of this record as one was a casualty of my poor record handling in the eighties. I haven't listened to either for over twenty years so it was good to spin one of them today. 1/5

One record at a time: 379. Pet Shop Boys - The Collection

This bootleg is quite an oddity. From what I can make out it was supposedly pressed in France circa 1988 and is a compilation that includes a twenty minute megamix as one of its 'highlights'. There are only seven tracks included and the assertion that the phonographic copyright in the recordings is owned by "ALLHITS LTD." seems more than a little doubtful. At least the artwork is a good effort.

I'm really not a fan of listening to mega mixes and they only make sense as a tool for lazy DJs. The effort by "Italian Sound Inc." included here is pretty terrible as the added elements are either out of tune or intensely irritating. Another annoyance is the fact that many of the songs play the wrong speed. As a result of beat matching the Shep Pettibone remix of "What Have I done to deserve this?" sounds slow and laboured and the samples added to "In The Night" drive me to distraction. The constantly repeating thunder claps and orchestra hits that are all over "It's a Sin" provide the icing on the cake.

The other tracks included are "Heart", "Always on my mind", "It's a sin" and "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" For whatever reason we are treated to the the album version of  "Suburbia" and "West End Girls" fades out rather unceremoniously after about three minutes. This record is quite a bizarre experience. 2/5