Pete Cogle. Podcaster & Grassroots Music Advocate

Category: Listening and Learning

  • Lotus Unfolding

    I stumbled across Lotus Unfolding by Ozric Tentacles late in 2025 and gave it a good listen. I’ve known about the band for years but never really gave them a thorough listen before. Then I saw they were playing live at Concorde 2 in Brighton, with System 7 as a support band and decided to get a ticket. What an amazing concert!

    Lotus Unfolding is the band’s sixteenth studio album. The album was released on 20 October 2023. Written, recorded and produced by frontman Ed Wynne and his son Silas Neptune on keyboards and synth, Brandi Wynne on bass, and Saskia Maxwell on flute, as well as several other musicians.

  • Kobaïa

    I’ve listened to many, many concept albums, especially during the prog rock era. Floating planets, Armed armadillos, Puerto Rican gang members contracting syphilis, Massive towers in the middle of a jungle. You name it. I’ve heard it, and loved every minute.

    But I missed out, for some reason, on  Kobaïa by Magma. That changed recently. Formed in Paris in 1969 this collective of artists produced this debut album – a double album at that – after hiding themselves away in the French countryside for three months.  It’s the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the fictional planet Kobaïa. The first song, which is sung mostly in English, all lyrics are sung in the Kobaïan language which was invented by the band.

    It’s Jazz meets Prog Rock. It’s mad. It’s wonderful. Give it a listen.

  • Bitches Brew

    The next album I’ve chosen in this series is Bitches Brew by Miles Davies.  It was recorded in New York between the 19th and 21st August 1969, when the world was watching the Apollo 11 moon landing, and came out in 1970. It features so many great musicians that went on to perform for many years (Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Handcock, Lenny White, and many more).

    One of the key thinks I like about the album, especially if you listen with headphones, is that you can imagine yourself in the room with Davies in the centre and two groups of musicians, one on the left and one on the right. If you concentrate you can really hear the differences between the left and right channels. On the first track Pharaoh’s Dance you can clearly hear three pianos: Joe Zawinul (left), Larry Young (center) and Chick Corea (right) plus two drummers: Lenny White (left) and Jack DeJohnette (right).

    Apparently most tracks were edited later in the studio, repeating sections and adding effects, but I can’t say I’ve ever found the joins.

    It’s a double album and runs to 1h45 so you’ll need a nice comfortable sofa, but your earls will thank you for it.

  • Jazz Gone Dub

    The next album I’ve chosen in this series is Jazz Gone Dub by Gaudi .  It’s an album that just came out in December 2025, but it’s something I’ve really enjoyed in it’s entirety. Apparently it took four years to create, and includes David Hinds of Steel Pulse, Jah Wobble, Ernest Ranglin, and the legendary rhythm duo Sly & Robbie.

    I recommended it to my buddy, Peter Clitheroe, and he purchased it minutes after his first listen. If you like Jazz and you like Dub, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

  • Afrodisiac

    The next album I’ve chosen in this series is Afrodisiac by Fela Kuti .  It’s cited as a major influence on Remain In Light, my favourite album by Talking Heads and there’s an unfinished outtake on the deluxe version on that album called Fela’s Riff, which draws heavily on Alu Jon Jonki Jon, the first track on Afrodisiac.

    This album was recorded Abbey Road in London in 1972 and released the next year. I like afrobeat but know little about the classics, so this has been an exploration for me.

  • My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

    I wanted to start 2026 with a new way of listening. I’ve been dabbling with individual tracks here and there for many years. Primarily because of the podcasting. But I remember years ago spending time listening to whole albums. Listening to the whole thing, filler tracks and all. I used to enjoy reading the lyrics and admiring the notes of gatefold sleeve vinyl albums. OK, so those days have gone but I’m trying to listen more deeply. So I have embarked on a listening and learning process to discover whole albums, both old and new.

    The first album I’ve chosen is My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts by Brian Eno and David Byrne. It’s an album I’ve known about for years but not one I’ve ever really listened to.  It’s an iconic album recorded in 1979-80 using loads of samples over African and Middle Eastern rhythms. It may seem simple to achieve these days but this was before digital technology transformed the recording process and must have involved enormous amounts of tape being manually spliced together. It was recorded before Remain In Light, my favourite album by Talking Heads and one I have listened to intently for the last 45 years. Listening for the first time I can hear how My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts clearly influenced Remain In Light. 

    The version available online today differs from the original 1981 vinyl because the track Qu’ran was later removed after the Islamic Council of Great Britain objected to the use of samples.