Altitude (studio album) by The Blue Aeroplanes

Blue Airplanes from Bristol must be one of the groups where getting an overview the ever changing line-ups. On the one hand, the group throughout its career, which extends over almost 40 years, has had big line-ups often with several guest appearances and on the other hand, there have generally been many people coming and going. Vocalist and frontman Gerald Langley, however, is a recurring figure along with dancer Wojtek Dmochowski. Langley's brother, drummer John Langley, has also been there most of the way. On this 2006 album, there is also a happy return of the fine guitarist Angelo Bruscini, who originally left the group after the album "Life Model" from 1994; here is only a guest-musician on three tracks, though.

Despite the many line-up changes, there has been a fine uniformity in the group's sound and musical development, which is primarily characterized by Langley's most usually spoken way of performing the songs and the generally great melodic guitar playing from various guitarists; most often there have been two or three of them in the group. Here guitarist are Max Noble, Calvin Talbot, Shaun McCrindle, Jon Wygens, Rodney Allen, Ian Kearey, Paul Bradley, Jeff Lawson as well as the aforementioned Bruscini.

On "Altitude" there may be a few fewer really good songs than usual, but the album places itself solidly in the group catalog. The highlights are i.a. "Up on a Down Hill", which is very in a Midnight Oil / R.E.M. style, with great guitar playing (from Wygens, Kearey and Bruscini) and a catchy chorus. Another favorite is the light and equally catchy "Beautiful Ice", where Dawn Lawden charmingly enters in the chorus. “Tree Full of Starlings” and "Bright Star Catalog" are also among the best.
In general, the music is quite varied with elements from folk, rock, punk, new wave and blues, some quirky sounds and harmonies that may direct thoughts towards groups such as Radiohead