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Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Fab songs from artists that went to sh*t in the 80s.

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Bamber’s thread on artists losing it made me think of all the greats of the 1960s and 70s who turned to shit in the 80s, mainly due to running out of songs and/or try and failing to adapt to new technologies and fashions. From Elton to Clapton, Rodders to poor old Bob, the list is huge, but there must be a few gems in their output from this decade. But what are they?

My pick is from Diana Ross’ patchy 1985 album Eaten Alive, wot I got at a car boot yesterday. It’s actually not that bad thanks to Bee Gees Inc., but far and away the best is the UK chart-topping Chain Reaction, which surprisingly tanked in the US, and unsurprisingly went to no. 1 in the Gibb brothers’ homeland.

What’s yours?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaYHRx9-v2MVideo can’t be loaded: Diana Ross – Chain Reaction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaYHRx9-v2M)

Rod Stewart & A$AP Rocky Carpool Karaoke

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This could be a bit hard going if you’ve a James Cordon allergy, but Rod’s a total legend in this Carpool interview, talking about drinking, shagging, The Faces and more, plus plenty of singing along to his own tunes. A most cheering ten minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndj6xn2P0cVideo can’t be loaded: Rod Stewart & A$AP Rocky Carpool Karaoke (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndj6xn2P0c)

HP Saucecraft’s “I Love Pussy – Songs About Cats” Thread

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In a private email, HP Saucy confessed to me that although he has a great fondness for dogs (particularly as an accompaniment to noodles), what he’d really like to see is a thread of songs with a tenuous connection to felines. Bless. He’s a bit shy about expressing his deep love of pussy (and indeed his love of deep…sniiiip….(that’s enough! Ed.), and asked me to kick things off instead. Please do join in, everyone, and make the old boy happy.

Here’s David.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWX_MFNOL_YVideo can’t be loaded: David Bowie – Cat People (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWX_MFNOL_Y)

New 2048 tile game: the Bob Dylan Album Covers Edition

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I got too good at the Beatles tile game (hastened by the sinking of the old site) so I’ve made a new version using Dylan album covers. I had to choose just 11 images, so it goes up to 1970. I know it’s something several of us here like to play in a spare few minutes (paging @tiggerlion ), so I hope you enjoy it. First one to get to the end can brag here.

http://community.usvsth3m.com/2048/bob-dylan-album-covers-edition/

Album merchandise inserts

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Today on Twitter someone shared one of their vinyl bargains with me (Hounds Of Love, £2, fab). It came with a leaflet advertising merchandise available by mail order, including a Hounds Of Love t-shirt, sweatshirt and ‘art prints’ which were really just photos of Kate in a variety of super poses. This reminded me of a spiffing insert in a Bee Gees LP I bought earlier this year, plus a merch leaflet in my old copy of S’Express’ debut album from 1989.

As you might be able to see, the 14 year old me hopefully filled in the order form for an S’Express hoodie, but never got the funds together to actually get it. God knows why I selected x-large; I was 7 stone at that age (*sighs*) and although baggy was in, it would have been tent-like. Anyway, what merchandise leaflets, or indeed other interesting inserts reside in your record collections? And did you ever actually buy anything?

Spotify player not working?

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I don’t seem to able to embed a Spotify player to a blog post anymore. When I right-click on an album or playlist I get the options to copy a link or a URI, but no code for a widget. Is this a new thing or is something wrong? Ta xx

Empire

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Holy heck, Gladys Knight just popped up in Ep. 3 of Empire! Has anyone seen this corking series on E4 yet? It’s like the hip-hop Nashville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLSVU2kf098

Paul Heaton tunes

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It’s Housemartin/Beautiful South-er Paul Heaton’s birthday today. He’s a man who knows his way around a melody. I was listening to The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death last night; as I’ve mentioned before it was the first album I bought that wasn’t a Now! compilation ( I must have been 12 or 13 and used good old Record Tokens). Anyway, aside from the fab lyrics and bouncy playing, it’s a record of wall-to-wall TUNES. What’s your favourite Heaton-penned song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qd1cozcCK8Video can’t be loaded: The Housemartins – I Can’t Put My Finger On It (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qd1cozcCK8)

BobBox price drop alert (paging Rigid Digit)

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I’ve been keeping an eye on the fluctuating price of the Dylan Complete Album Collection, and it’s dropped on a certain popular website from £143.32 on Monday to a much more favourable £101.57. If you’ve been humming and haa-ing over it, or just need cheering up after last night’s debacle, you might want to grab it before it shoots up again. I’m looking at you in particualr @rigid-digit !

Rock equations

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Based on the rather wibbly equation below (sorry, I’m new to Paint), whose music might I be listening to at the moment? Also, please feel free to come up with your own stupid Rock Equations.

Classic Rock Mag – Vinyl Issue

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Some of you might like to know that the newest (May, no.209) issue of Classic Rock magazine is a ‘vinyl special’, with page after page of yummy goodness such as side-long songs, fancy-schmancy packaging, doubles and triples, cover art, classic opening/closing tracks, picture discs, modern classics, turntables, bootlegs etc. etc. and even a charity shop challenge. It’s a bit ‘listy’, but perfect for an, erm, listless bank holiday weekend. Plus there are articles on Vinegar Joe, The Pretty Things and some geezer called Peter Hammill and all the usual reviews, etc. (I don’t work for Classic Rock, just thought some here might like to get it while it’s still out). Mwah xxx

Now That’s What I Call Bonkers

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This chap is going to listen to the first 14 Now! albums back-to-back from Thurs in a 28-hour marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support, blogging + tweeting his way through: https://noaxnow.wordpress.com/ https://www.justgiving.com/Andrew-Spokes https://twitter.com/NoaxNOW He set out to raise £433, i.e. £1 for each song, but it’s up to £850-ish now. He’s got my support, as well as sympathy.

Overpackaging

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This enormous box arrived today, with two records hidden under yards of brown paper. One of them was also inside a cardboard LP mailer. (Yes, I know, serves me right for using amazon/buying an Ed Sheeran record.) Once the postie and I had finished rolling our eyes he told me that he’d just delivered a box about half this size to a neighbour which contained… a dongle.

Do you have any similar examples of stupid overpackaging?

*rolls eyes*

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An album to be released in 12 different formats: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/feb/23/an-album-in-12-different-formats-trevor-jackson-mines-audio-history