Various Artists: 'Back To Mine: Guillemots'

Another band get round to showing us how cool their record collections are. And let’s be fair; while Guillemots themselves may be a distinctly middling outfit, if this is an accurate approximation of what they actually listen to at home, then we’re very impressed. Contained within they’ve got bona fide classics (The Supremes’ ‘My World Is Empty Without You’, Buffalo Springfield’s ‘Expecting To Fly’), cult indie (Daniel Johnston’s ‘Speeding Motorcycle, Kenickie’s ‘I Would Fix You’) and unheralded cuts from innovators (Björk’s ‘All Neon Like’, Four Tet’s ‘Joy’). Put together it’s a surprisingly cohesive listen, and from it you can draw the conclusion that a night round the Guillemots’ pad would be a highly entertaining and illuminating one. And after a few ales, it’s worth suggesting
to them that they don’t have to look too far for that second album inspiration.

Alan Woodhouse