Buys Of The Year: 16. Double-sider of 1966 Texas punk frenzy - Zakary Thaks' Bad Girl / I Need You. First reached the wider world via 1979's Pebbles 2. Bad Girl:  youtube.com/watch?v=nLWf...

Buys Of The Year: 15. Jan 1964. George Bean's Will You Be My Lover Tonight? / It Should Be You. Hugely weak two-sider of ALO-produced non-Stones Jagger / Richards songs. Anyone really think this was a goer? Still, Mr Bean did go on to Privilege. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=i0O4...

Looking back at 2025’s Music Reissues. Yeah Man It's Bloody Heavy!!, Sly and the Family Stone, John McKay, Johnnie Taylor, Chip Shop Pop. @rockingbob.bsky.social, @tinyglobalmusic.bsky.social,   @acerecords.bsky.social. On @theartsdesk.bsky.social today: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/be...

Buys Of The Year: 14. The Flat Earth Society's Waleeco - Boston, 1968. Only available by collecting vouchers from Waleeco chocolate bars, and then buying by mail order. Such a tremendous, accomplished record. No weak moments, no follow up. Total non-sequiteur. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=nSvd...

Buys Of The Year: 13. Roxy Music. Cool 1973 French PS of Pyjamarama w smart photo from the session also used for the inside of the For Your Pleasure... gatefold sleeve.

Buys Of The Year: 12. Yardbirds - the 1966 German version of the Roger The Engineer LP. Originally owned by "Cedrix". Interesting track-by-track commentary. Blue scribble on the back might be an autograph, or might not.

Buys Of The Year: 11. As Greg Shaw said "a remarkably successful attempt to create the drugged experience in music." The March 1968 final single by Borgholm's  Lea Riders Group - Dom kallar oss mods. First heard on Pebbles 3. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=EQM_...

Buys Of The Year: 10. Not old, not a rarity - amazing though. The 2-CD Beatles set Magical Mystery Tour Sessions. The long It's All Too Much is a mind blower. Jissie's Dream (sic) sounds like early Residents. Stuffed with the fantastic. Great sound quality too.

Buys Of The Year: 9. David Bowie, the sax version of John, I'm Only Dancing recorded at the Aladdin Sane sessions - which escaped on single in 1976. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=NUlX...

UK prog-rock nirvana - the two LPs and the 1970 Isle of Wight fest appearance by home-counties prog rockers Gracious! are collected in the The Recordings 1970-1971 box. Out on @cherryredrecords.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

2025 – Best Of + Highlights. Benedicte Maurseth, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Alina Orlova, Midlake. More. @ampersandPR.bsky.social @soundslikegold.bsky.social @ilkamedia.bsky.social @mrsimonraymonde.bsky.social @bellaunion.bsky.social. On @theartsdesk.bsky.social today: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/ki...

Buys Of The Year: 8. The Del-Vetts supercharged June 1966 45 Last Time Around. First heard it on the ripping 1982 comp Off The Wall. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=XSlu...

Buys Of The Year: 7. It Happens All The Time, the B-side of a one-off Jan 1969 single (Honey Do = OK A-side) credited to Crackers. Amazing, Left Banke-ish, no guitar. Presumably, the single barely sold. Crackers was Billy Kinsley and Tony Crane: a rebranded Merseys. Here: youtube.com/watch?v=s9wU...

Buys Of The Year: 6. November 1976. A-label promo of Sex Pistols' Anarchy In The U.K. (these didn't have the black sleeve and all - as they were 1st out the door after white labels - have B-side w wrong producer credit)

Buys Of The Year: 5. Hawkwind, nice - slightly grubby - Spanish PS of Silver Machine. Wrong line up - no Lemmy. Dave Anderson line up instead. Where was the pic taken?

Buys Of The Year: 4. April 1965 US red-vinyl promo of The Byrds' Mr Tambourine Man - with pic sleeve, and signed.

Five-disc edition of Tangerine Dream’s 1975 Rubycon LP is stuffed with eye-opening bonuses - and is a reminder of how they were integral to inventing the future of music. Out on @cherryredrecords.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Buys Of The Year: 3. May 1967 UK A label of The Byrds' My Back Pages with a barely interested "Byrds + Dylan = a winner" shoulder-shrugging press release.

Buys Of The Year: 2. November 1964 UK promo of The Beefeaters' - ie The Byrds - Please Let Me Love You single.

Buys Of The Year: 1. Not sure how many of these there'll be, but the first ones will be The Byrds. So here's a June 1965 mono radio promo of the 1st LP, Mr Tambourine Man.

The new @mojomagazine.bsky.social is out. On the cover, David Bowie. Inside, me (@kierontyler.bsky.social) on Plantoid’s Flare (on @mrsimonraymonde.bsky.social’s @bellaunion.bsky.social).

An absolute gem, a valuable addition to British jazz maverick Michael Garrick’s catalogue. Late Autumn Sunshine collects 2 previously unissued BBC sessions (Nov 1973 & Dec 1978). Out on My Only Desire Records. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Just got this - the fantastic March 1979 EP by the University of Exeter's The Scabs. 2nd press. Fold-out sleeve a bit distressed. "Clubland punk. Four awful tracks" said Record Mirror. A sample, taking a shot at the university's Amory Building & what it represents: youtube.com/watch?v=YX0c...

When – without understanding the language – it is clear emotion is central to what is expressed. Ólöf Arnalds’ all-Icelandic Spíra is out this week on @mrsimonraymonde.bsky.social’s @bellaunion.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/ol...

Bold As Love is a too-often below par box-set version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience album which used to be called Axis: Bold As Love. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/index.php/ne...

Archetypal American harmony pop – but with a distinct freeze-dried character. The two 1968 albums by Eternity’s Children are reissued on vinyl for the first time by High Moon Records. I’ve looked at them today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Mélanie Pain has no need to be a guest voice on records by anyone else: her new solo album How and Why stands apart from her involvement in Nouvelle Vague. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/me...

Orange Juice were “15-year-olds trying to play like Ry Cooder." The full story of electropop-inclined duo Leisure Process is told by The Complete Epic Recordings. Out on @cherryredrecords.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Went to Latvia for Riga Music Week which - in its inaugural year - is instantly indispensible. Blues-infused shoegazing, full-force folk, synth-pop thrills & much, much more. I’ve looked at it for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/ri...

The new @mojomagazine.bsky.social is out. On the cover, The Smiths. Inside, me (@kierontyler.bsky.social) on Sister Ray Davies’ Holy Island (@soniccathedral.bsky.social) & Melody’s Echo Chamber’s Unclouded (@dominorecordco.bsky.social).

A tour-de-force folk-leaning psychedelic album, and a career milestone. Midlake’s A Bridge to Far is out this week on @mrsimonraymonde.bsky.social’s @bellaunion.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mi...

1974's landmark album Hall of the Mountain Grill has become a box set for @cherryredrecords.bsky.social, telling the story of how Hawkwind moved forward from the Space Ritual era. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Went to see @toddrundgren.bsky.social at the London Palladium last night. It was quite something: mostly a bold, soul-inclined makeover. I’ve looked at it for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/to...

Crepuscular, evoking clandestine ceremonies in forest glades and covert rituals. Former JJ72 bassist Hilary Woods’ spectral new album Night CRIÚ is out this week on @sacredbones.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/ir...

Outer space, the hereafter, spooks, vampires, more. The A Curious Mind box set digs into Joe Meek’s preoccupations. Out on @cherryredrecords.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

A gem. I Can’t Let Go is a diligent, treasure-packed tribute to @eviesands.bsky.social, one of Sixties’ America’s great vocal stylists. Out on @acerecords.bsky.social. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Worth a listen - just turned up on YouTube. From Mars, to Little Richard in a twink.

The new @mojomagazine.bsky.social is out. On the cover, John Lennon. Inside, me (@kierontyler.bsky.social) on Hannah Frances’ Nested In Tangles (on @firetalkrecs.bsky.social through @inhousepress.bsky.social).

Over 1982 & 1983, Marc Almond took time out from Soft Cell with Marc and the Mambas. The great Three Black Nights Of Little Black Bites documents this parallel path at the Duke Of York's Theatre in April 1983. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

When Lancashire and Texas united to fashion a modern psychedelic landmark. 2004’s superb These Were The Earlies by The Earlies is reissued for its 21st anniversary (out through @inhousepress.bsky.social). I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Happy to have given this its new home.

Great LP. In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper - the 4th album from  Slovenia’s Širom - opens the door to inner space (out through @ilkamedia.bsky.social). I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/sl...

The Most Up Till Now – A History 1966-1970 is a deep-digging, last-word box-set celebration of the great California hippie-popsters The Peanut Butter Conspiracy (out on @cherryredrecords.bsky.social). I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Happy to see my review of Mirra, Benedicte Maurseth’s great evocation of Norway’s uplands and its wildlife, is the most-read piece on @theartsdesk.bsky.social today. Out through @soundslikegold.bsky.social & @ampersandPR.bsky.social. Here it is: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

portals//polarities, the debut album from Estonian-voiced, London-based electro-popsters Night Tapes, marks them as one to watch for (out on Nettwerk Music Group). I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/al...

Can anyone help? Playing David Ackles' American Gothic - it still has the price sticker from where it was bought. But I can't recall which shop it was. I may have got it from Cheapo Cheapo on Rupert Street. Does anyone recognise the price sticker?

The First Family: Live At Winchester Cathedral 1967 is amazing. Must-have, first-ever release of the earliest document of Sly and the Family Stone. Out on High Moon Records. I’ve looked at it today for @theartsdesk.bsky.social: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/mu...

Went to see Brìghde Chaimbeul at Hackney’s Round Chapel (through @ilkamedia.bsky.social). Wrote about it for @theartsdesk.bsky.social. Here: www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/br...

New @mojomagazine.bsky.social is out. The cover=Bob Dylan. Inside, me (@kierontyler.bsky.social) on Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’s Corporal (@soniccathedral.bsky.social), @theantlers.bsky.social’s Blight (@transgressive.bsky.social), Dead Famous People’s Wild Young Ways (@tinyglobalmusic.bsky.social).