So Susan Boyle has released her version of the Rolling Stones classic 'Wild Horses' which to be fair isn't too bad, I can't deny that the lassie has got a damn good voice. However it's not a patch on the sublime cover done by The Sundays way back in 1992. This song was featured on the album 'Blind' which to this day remains one of my favourite albums.




It's one of these albums that I've returned to over and over again since it was first released. I was an angst ridden, spotty 16 year old when it first came out and I'd read a review in  Melody Maker (remember that?! ) eulogising about Harriet Wheeler's voice. Off I popped to Engebretsons garage in Stornoway to see if they had a copy. Decent record shops on Lewis were few and far between or just downright nonexistent. We had Woolies on the High Street but new releases seemed to arrive just after they'd finally dropped out of the top forty and there was an electrical shop on Francis Street that occasionally had more recent releases. But if you wanted anything other than the poptastic offerings of the charts then the place to go was Engebretsons garage on Sandwick Road. They sold everything from petrol to newspapers to videos to tapes and cd's. Their selection of music was always a wee bit more eclectic and it was a popular stop for pupils at the nearby Nicolson Institute. It was here that I bought my first copy of 'Blind' on tape and its been with me ever since. That is the music has been with me ever since! The original tape has long since been lost and I've moved on to CD and Mp3.




The whole album has a haunting quality to it, the chorus laden jangly guitars  join perfectly with Harriet Wheelers fantastic voice, it is one of those albums that manages to soothe frayed nerves after a busy day in the office. In my case it soothed injured pride and calmed me down after the usual verbal and occasional physical batterings from the school bullies.  In later years it was the soundtrack to sleepless nights where nothing but the opening bars to 'I feel' would take the edge off things after drink, drugs and suffering the consequences of not giving a damn about other people had taken its toll. Now as I'm older and more mature (stop laughing at the back!) it's an album that I can chill out to whilst crashed out on the sofa reading with daughter.



I feel fine...
don't wake me up yet
oh the young & the old they get everything
& it's my turn...


The perfect album? Well I like to think so!