The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Pete Doherty interview

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From interviews, I quite like the fella. And I like some of his choons. Yeah, he’s a junkie, a drug glorifier even, and all negative opinions on that are absolutely 100% valid. Still I like him though. He comes over as charming and sweet and vulnerable. Anyway, he’s got a new outfit, the Puta Madres, a new album and is doing the sales rounds. Interviews in today’s The Guardian and this video interview in NME:

Pete Doherty: “Smack and prison are subjects I’ll sit and talk about all day”

https://www.nme.com/news/music/pete-doherty-drugs-prison-marc-blanco-interview-2019-2481182

Brexit petition

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UK friends, please sign and share if you agree. Brexiteers are saying “When it reaches 17 million we’ll talk”. (I’m not usually an online petition believer, but no reason why it shouldn’t.)

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584

Ranking Spielberg

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I’ve been having a bit of a Spielberg-fest recently. Re-watching some of his old films. It got me wondering how his films are rated by the internet. A search of “Spielberg ranked” gave loads of sites. Rolling Stone, Time Out, Esquire, The Independent, etc. Most I disagreed strongly with. Outraged, I was! But what really struck me was the large variation in lists. Films that made top ten in some lists were near bottom in others. So I thought, I’ll ask the AW what the correct order is.

A couple of Spotify recommendations

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A couple of Spotify recommendations that might or might not interest the Massive. 1. Mishka’s 2009 album ‘Above The Bones’ has finally gone on Spotify today. A great reggae album. The “unplugged” version, ‘Guy With A Guitar’, is excellent too (and also on Spotify). 2. (Potentially, I suspect, more of interest) – Were the good and bad people of The Afterword aware that Martin Stephenson had recorded an acoustic version of his masterpiece, ‘Boat To Bolivia’? I certainly wasn’t til today. It’s called ‘Bolivia’, it’s on Spotify, and it’s pretty darn fab.

Sick Of The Flicks

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As a “companion piece” to Bingo Little’s Pick Of The Flicks thread, in much the same way as The God Delusion is a companion piece to The Bible, I’d like to propose a thread dedicated to your worst cinematic experiences of the year. I don’t so much mean “I hated it, can’t see why everyone else liked it” heated debates, but more those films that you would unreservedly tell everyone not to waste their time and money on, in the certain knowledge that anyone would be wasting their time and money. Our very own Golden Raspberries, if you like. So which movies represented -to use a way-too-common IMDB reviewers’ clichè- “two hours of your life that you’ll never get back”?

It’s just the normal noises in here

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Here’s a little something that probably won’t interest anyone: you know that bit at the start of Tom Petty’s Even The Losers where a female voice says “It’s just the normal noises in here”? Well, if you look on the interweb, the voice is generally considered to be that of Mike Campbell’s wife, Marcie. Warren Zanes’ biography of Petty confirms this, saying it was taken from a home recording when Campbell thought their washing machine was broken. But this week Australian rocker and Jessie’s girl Rick Springfield was a guest on Jonesy’s Jukebox and he claims matter-of-factly that the voice is his wife’s, as she was a 16-year-old answering phones at Sound City at the time. (9.15 into the broadcast). So there you go.

I did warn you it wouldn’t interest you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-UZbACrAKw

Springsteen – Freedom Cadence

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I just watched a film called Thank You For Your Service. I won’t write a review cos I’m a lazy feck, but it was ok. Not bad, not great. The based-on-true story of some soldiers who went a bit doolally after coming back from Iraq. Anyways, my favourite thing about it was Springsteen’s take on a standard army marching song that’s used in the end credits. Best thing he’s done for a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbhCPcM-Q8o

Greta Van Sant

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I came across Greta Van Fleet as they played on Jonesy’s Jukebox (video below, performance starts at 6.10). I’ve never been much interested in acts I’ve never heard of on Steve Jones’ show before. (Except I did once really like a performance by a chap called Cobi who played a great solo acoustic song but then I investigated further and his official studio recordings didn’t interest me at all.) Greta Van Fleet grabbed my attention by performing on the show with the full band, which doesn’t happen usually. Then I was really surprised and intrigued by the singer’s voice. Robert Plant meets Geddy Lee. And the music was a surprise too. Retro rock in a Led Zep stylee. There’s certainly an “ooh, that’s an interesting area for a new band to revisit” element to appreciating them, rather like Green Day, The Darkness, The Feeling, and Leon Bridges all had in their time. So, whaddawe think? I’d say “interesting”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGIqHP4gf_E

Afterword Cover Photos

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I’m at the gym, limbs splayed akimbo, eyes full of sweat and tears, and I accidently clicked on Moose The Mooche’s avatar. Well call me surprise! cos I never realised there’s such a thing as a cover photo! Checking other avatars I see very few people have put one on their profile. And why would they? No one ever sees them. Because, that’s why! Moose, Disappointment Bob and Ruff Diamond are the only AWers I could find who have taken advantage of this hidden gallery (having posted photos of, respectively, Ena Sharples, Disappointment Bob and books or records or something). I’ve rectified my omission with a sexy pic (hope that’s allowed) and hereby invite everyone else to join in. Post your cover pics for the delight of no one ever!

New Crosby – Sky Trails

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I’m not going to write a review because I haven’t listened enough yet and haven’t time to today. I have a beach to get to. But initial listen to the new Crosby album sounds very promising indeed. Very, very Steely Dan sounding first track. Gorgeous second track.

http://www.npr.org/2017/09/21/551072317/first-listen-david-crosby-sky-trails