Why does someone need to be pointed in the direction of an “album mood?” I was looking at an entry for an artist I’m interested in on a major music website. And under the heading of this particular well thought of instrumentalist’s most recent work there was a collection of relevant moods to accompany the data. “Cerebral, complex, elaborate, sophisticated, and ambitious”, the site that deserves to remain nameless endeavoured to list. There was more. “Atmospheric, dramatic, earnest, fiery, and freewheeling.” Not one of these descriptive terms sums up in the slightest the artist whose music I had heard in my head as I read the list. Suddenly I felt as if there were two albums of the same name, the work of two artists of the same name, one I knew and the one this site I was looking at knew, such was the clanging sound of these mood indicators. By the time the site had relayed the remaining mood indicators... “insular, meandering, passionate, poignant, refined, searching, spacey, visceral, witty”... I began to wonder if this was a big joke. Clearly the compilers were unable to see that many of the words contained in the list quite clearly contradicted earlier mood markers it had trotted out. Is it possible to be ‘dramatic’ and ‘earnest’? Or ‘insular’, and also ‘passionate’? Turning off the 'poignant' bits and whipping up something a little more ‘refined’ must be quite tiring. There’s a wider point and it’s to do with the kind of “dinner jazz” debate people have. The one that insists a mood is set to suit the occasion, particularly if it's involved with eating. Or the thinking behind compilations that target somewhat preposterously the ‘mellow’ side of an artist not usually known for being a pussycat, although sure enough look hard enough and voilà it’s there. The mellow side of Peter Brötzmann is an album I'd like to hear. But at least if you're holding such an album in your hands you were hopeful enough to have bought into the concept in the first place. Mood music managers make A&Rs look overworked. SG

Blue Moods, from 1955, by Miles Davis: mood manager heaven?