I pre-ordered Art Official Age and PlectrumElectrum and tried an experiment where I reviewed them as I was listening to them for the first time. I have fond memories of my first listen of certain albums, particularly Dirty Mind, Sign Of the Times, 2010, Rave, where I am sat in my room and listen to every word and all the music really closely. I wanted to capture my thoughts, even if they were all over the place here for Art Official Age and here for PlectrumElectrum. Anyway, as you can see I had mixed feelings about them, but at least now forever I can go back to what my thoughts were on the day.

Like the other classic albums mentioned above, the first feeling is nothing like you get after a few listens. It's turned out that some of the songs I glossed over, like Way back home are absolute masterpeices! I will always remember falling asleep to "Adore", and only loving it about 2 or 3 weeks later, the same thing has happened to Way back home. I actually always liked Time and still do, and the other tracks, like Breakfast can wait - I still hate, but it's only one song. The title track is just crazy and gets crazier each time I listen to it. In any case the first listen I thought it sounded like Lemon Crush with the weird endings, but it's actually a bit weirder... U Know and Clouds are brilliant, and keep growing on me.On the other hand, I wasnt so thrilled with Plectrum Electrum and still dont know whether I like it. I spend so much time listening to Art Official Age, that I really dont get time to listen to it. The one song I love is Anotherlove, which I jokingly say on my review site is like Anotherloverholeinyourhead, well it is similar isnt it!? (in the words only, song wise its miles apart). In anycase, that song is an absolute cracking pop song, sounding like a Prince & The Revolution/Wendy Lisa classic. If there was ever a single - that was it!

Anyway, keep enjoying the new music bonanza, the first in 4 years! Lets hope the next wait is not another 4 years!

Vin