Gareth Williams & Mary Currie - Flaming Tunes (CD)

Now this is a very charming record indeed. Originally issued on cassette it would eventually get a CD release in 2009 but until now has never appeared on vinyl.

This is of course Gareth Williams of This Heat who sadly died at the tender age of 48. I've always thought that people who leave music with us are in a sense immortal, and live on through their music. So it's fantastic that Blackest Ever Black have reissued this relative obscurity as it really does deserve to be enjoyed by a different generation. I could waffle on for ages about this record but you really just need to hear it with it's lush hypnotic piano, Syd Barret moments, wonderfully written songs, earthy kitchen sink feel, strange instrumentation, loose free improvised moments, detuned sounding almost honky tonk piano parts etc. 

The sleeve is great too, almost looking like a Ian Brady and Mira Hindley pastiche. Hats off to Blackest Ever Black for this public service. Oh and there are some great darker moments on here too such as 'It's Madness'. Recommended.