Ricky McAllister
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rickymca.bsky.social
Ricky McAllister
@rickymca.bsky.social
Husband to Jenny. dad to Ethan, Holly, Micah, Benji & Annie. Man U fan for 40 years but losing interest rapidly. Music/film/coffee fan. Reader of books but a failed novelist. SEN teacher.
Show us the last four albums you listened to.

#last4albums

Sunday evening edition.

#musicsky
November 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
#NowPlaying #NP

💿 Deleted Scene

🎤 Stumbleine

My better half was due a lie in so an early start with the young uns…after a busy weekend, this album is just the ticket.

Deleted Scene is a gorgeous, ambient slice of electronica/downtempo, the sort I get absolutely lost in. Well worth checking out.
November 30, 2025 at 8:07 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

1. Roads | Portishead

Never in doubt.

For 31 years it has been a song that stops me in my tracks, no matter what I’m doing.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg1j...

Thanks @tansleyjames.bsky.social for hosting. What a decade of music that was.
November 30, 2025 at 7:44 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

1. Goin’ Out West

A glorious satire of a deluded man heading west, believing he is destined for fame. In typical Bone Machine style, it is accompanied by an abrasive, industrial melody.

And it is utterly stunning.

Thanks for hosting @top10nathan.bsky.social.
November 30, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Tonight’s tipple is a Winter 2025 Hazelnut Vanilla Stout by those fine folks of Kinnegar.

It could go either way, but looks very nice. Public Service Broadcasting & this will hopefully make comfortable bedfellows…
November 29, 2025 at 9:17 PM
#last4albums

Saturday night, putting up the Christmas tree edition.
November 29, 2025 at 9:02 PM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

2. Tom Traubert’s Blues

Only Tom Waits could throw Waltzing Matilda into a song and get away with it. Gorgeous stuff.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=hvFy...
November 29, 2025 at 7:42 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

2. London, Can You Wait? | Gene

The majestic cornerstone of my favourite album of the 90s. The gear change around the 1 min 40 mark makes a great song extraordinary.
November 29, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 gigs you've seen:

Bruce Springsteen

The Frames

Teenage Fanclub

Slowdive

Mogwai
Introduce yourself with 5 gigs you've seen:

Suede
Brian Wilson
Guided By Voices
Tom Waits
The Breeders
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen.

David Bowie
Warren Zevon
The Who
Pink Floyd
B-52s
November 28, 2025 at 11:15 PM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

3. Vapour Trail | Ride

Perfection. And those strings at the end.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=7shA...
November 28, 2025 at 5:59 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

3. That Feel

How wonderful to finish the chaotic, dark Bone Machine on such a note of triumph. My favourite closing track to a Tom album.
November 28, 2025 at 5:57 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

4. Jockey Full of Bourbon

Features strikingly in Jim Jarmusch’s excellent Down By Law (also stars the great man himself). To my ears, this is quintessential Tom Waits.
November 27, 2025 at 6:21 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

4. A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld | The Orb

18 minutes of pure bliss. The story is that this gets played on loop in heaven.
November 27, 2025 at 6:19 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

5. Leave | REM

The highest placed synth siren song on my list. My favourite song by REM was always going to feature at the business end.
November 26, 2025 at 6:24 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

5. Hang on St Christopher

The one where Tom decided to sing through a bullhorn.

It’s a bit bonkers, but wonderfully so.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=-3KJ...
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 AM
#NowPlaying #NP

💿 Blurring/Guided Imagery

🎤 Mo Dotti

Some post-dinner clean-up noise with this fine pair of EPs by Mo Dotti. After the day at work, a sonic assault on the senses is entirely appropriate.
November 25, 2025 at 6:33 PM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

6. Downtown Train

Second highest ranked song from the superb Rain Dogs, still (just about) my favourite Tom album.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=P6j8...
November 25, 2025 at 6:44 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

6. Goin’ Out West | Tom Waits

Bone Machine is one of my 2 favourite TW’s albums, so a song from it was always going to feature high on my list. The high point of a stunning, chaotic, percussion heavy album.
November 25, 2025 at 6:18 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

It’s not a pick but rather just a post about the best acceptance speech I’ve ever heard😁

Worth a watch if you have a few minutes.

“Songs, uh, are really just interesting things to be doing with the air.”

m.youtube.com/watch?v=gTLE...
November 24, 2025 at 8:01 PM
#NowPlaying #NP

💿 Dots & Loops

🎤 Stereolab

Their 6th album was the first to land in the charts I believe…it followed Emperor Tomato Ketchup but to my ears it manages to be more accessible than that yet more experimental. They were firing on all cylinders with this.
November 24, 2025 at 7:11 PM
#NowPlaying #NP

💿 The Best Of…

🎤 Soapkills

Well @plc69.bsky.social and @vgbpw1.bsky.social … I took the liberty of attempting to join your club. Assume you are open to new members?
November 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

7. New Grass | Talk Talk

Lights out, headphones on. Heaven.
November 24, 2025 at 6:22 AM
#Top30TomWaits
#MusicChallenge

7. Come On Up To The House

Glorious finale to the quite brilliant Mule Variations. First Tom album I bought, and still a Top 3 TW album now (IMO).
November 24, 2025 at 6:20 AM
#NowPlaying #NP

💿 A Bridge To Far

🎤 Midlake

This is getting a serious amount of airplay. Some critics are setting this alongside Van Occupanther (it’ll be 20 years before I’ll know for sure) but either way, it is by some distance their best since that album.

Will be a big hitter in AOTY lists.
November 23, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Show us the last four albums you listened to.

#last4albums

Favourite American acts of the 21st century edition.

#musicsky
November 23, 2025 at 8:35 PM