I Are The Music Man

There used to be a shop in King's Lynn called "We Are The Music Man". It was a rather stripped down music store, nothing flashy, with a constant background barrage of country music set to a poppy beat. I often popped in there to see what was in the bargain £1 section, and ended up with a few worthy albums as a result. I just bought what looked interesting, and at £1 a time, it was hardly going to be much of a waste if I hated it. Here's a few that I remember :

Mimi - Soak
Ex-Hugo Largo vocalist goes solo and releases a beautiful melodic album. Mainly atmospheric but with some bizarre rockier moments. Just the sort of thing that I like.

The Tiger Lillies - Shockheaded Peter
Imagine The Pogues playing Tom Waits music with vocals by Dame Edna Everage. That's sort of the area that this album comes from. Martyn Jacques' falsetto voice can take a bit of getting used to, but these fairytales of children meeting gruesome endings work so well. Great stuff.

Another Girl - In The Galaxy
Decent female singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. A nice variety of rock, pop and acoustic. Enjoyable.

Pond - Rock Collection
Reminds me of Granddaddy, a mixture of well crafted songs, sometimes moving and sometimes bland, with a few instrumental bits.

Holly McNarland - Stuff
I bought this as the artwork featured a dog's arse. Female singer/songwriter with guitar based acoustic and rock music. Strong vocals and no nonsense lyrics pull this album up.

Pet - Pet
Apparently the first group on Tori Amos's record label, and they do end up sounding a bit like what Tori would, if she fronted a straightforward rock band. Nothing that special, but worth the odd spin.

Anyway, I popped into Lynn and was delighted to find that a Fopp had opened. I like Fopp. Even better was a stand of £1 and £3 albums! Yey! Now although I am on a tight budget at the moment, I still walked out with 6 CDs. Renaissance, Deep Purple, Dolly Parton, Spiritualized, Captain Beefheart come to me! Cheap music rules.