Yo all,

Firstly, sorry for the delay in announcing this one. I’ve been on holiday and it was my choice this week.

I have opted for quite a seminal album from my adolescence: The Decline of British Sea Power by British Sea Power (unsurprisingly).

The Spotify link is here.

I remember discovering this back in the days when I wanted to know bands before everyone else and regularly discovered little gems. I was on a train home from Brighton after trying to track down Electric Soft Parade to give them my demo (true story) and picked up a copy of whichever Brighton music culture magazine was around at the time. I found a fascinating review of British Sea Power in there and an amazingly kooky image of these weirdos in army clobber, in a forest surrounded by wildlife… I (quite correctly) thought that I was going to like them!

I went out to get hold of their debut, The Decline of… at my earliest convenience and took it home for a listen. I didn’t like it. I listened again. It was marginally better. I was determined to stick with it after paying good actual money for it, and I wasn’t disappointed. What a grower! I grew to love and cherish this album and often ensured that Track 2 or 3 would get played at parties, leading to baffled disapproval from my ignorant friends. Hoorah!

I have seen British Sea Power 3 or 4 times since then and the songs off this album are always the best live.

I hope you dig this as much as I did, and, if you didn’t, please do not hesitate to suggest why, below.

All the best,

Luke