People of a certain age tend to have fixed musical tastes. And I’m no exception. Therefore when I heard this cd it came as a surprise. How did this Acid House cd end up on my deck? (Quaint word heh!) But the shock of the new (1997 is new for me) didn’t collapse my brain.

Their lead singer and writer Jake Black died and was given a major obituary in the Guardian. Back in 1997 their song Woke up this morning was the theme tune of The Sopranos. As this is one of my favourite series and the music was compelling I turned to my (non-premium) Spotify account and played it. And was blown away.

Acid House turns out to be a mix of folk-rock with elements of gospel and some very challenging lyrics. More-or-less impossible to disaggregate without destroying the magnificence of it all. The amazing U Don’t Dans 2 Tekno Anymore is shocking. A wonderful sing-a-long tune telling of drug deaths. The dysfunctional tune with challenging lyrics jars producing cognitive dissonance. Other songs worth paying attention to include Bourgeoisie Blues and Mao Tse Tung Said. By ‘paying attention’ I mean listen as opposed to letting it drive you into ecstasy – unless you can do both simultaneously of course.

Ditch your prejudices and give it a try. My commitment went so far as to get the cd.

Chris