that the Sex Pistols debut single – Anarchy In The UK – was released.
Less than 2 months later, the band were sacked from their record label and this single deleted
It Was 40 Years Ago Today
by 27 Comments
The Avalanches: Are They All That?
by 19 Comments
As tiggerlion’s great Album Of The Year poll approaches, AWers are making their lists and checking them ..ooh.. dozens of times. One record that will feature in a lot of people’s thoughts is this year’s surprise new Avalanches release Wildflower. It’s certainly going to appear on Arthur Cowslip’s list following his excellent and fulsome review in Nights In (which you should definitely read If you have not already). Now I’ve not done 200 listens, but I’ve spun this quite a few times and, well, I’ve been wondering why all the fuss? It’s not that I don’t like it. I do. But not …much. Last time I played Devil’s Advocate it yielded Bingo Little’s fantastic Frank Ocean post, so I ask with anticipation: are The Avalanches all that? I’m not asking for a justification of the turntable/mixer as instrument (although, hey, bring it on!). There are plenty of djs-as-band platters I like (as as f’rinstance I really like Visioneers’ Hipololgy album, but I absolutely love the bonus disc – and I emphasise “bonus disc” – where all the tunes flow in a single mix), but the Avos (I speak Australian – drop all but the first syllable, add “o”) seemed to » Continue Reading.
2016 Otro más que muerde el polvo. Hasta luego Fidel!
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Fidel Castro has left the building and Swedish radio this morning is awash with commentators. What a Marmite chap he was. For some he is the heroic Latino David who stood up against the Yankee Goliath; for others the ruthless tyrant who supressed civil liberties and his political opponents.
Rather surprisingly for a Cuban, he did not like music or dancing. But he did like giving extremely long speeches in blazing sunshine. His political rallies made a Springsteen gig look like the Ramones.
He also features in this song by Was (not Was): I feel better than James Brown.
Anyone else got any other songs, films, comic books, novels etc in which this most iconic of political leaders makes an appearance?
Lush
Venue:
Academy 1, Manchester
Date: 25/11/2016
This gig was originally scheduled for April when Lush had just released their (excellent) new EP Blindspot and were about to embark on a victory lap around the US and European festival circuit. The wheels fell off the reunion however a few weeks ago when it was announced that debonair Bass player Phil King had decided to quit with just 3 tour dates left to go. I wasn’t sure if this gig would go ahead but they decided to call in the help of Michael Conroy (of 4AD Labelmates Modern English) and honour the Manchester gig – so by accident rather than design this has become their farewell performance.
A final, boozy shindig in a Camden venue packed to the gunwhales with ex music journalists and faded 90s hellraisers would have been more fitting. Instead Lush end their career in freezing cold barn in Manchester in far too big a venue a long way from the ‘Scene’ that once ‘Celebrated itself’. I don’t spy any former members of Chapterhouse or Th’ Faith Healers or any former NME/Sounds hacks. Miki later quips that her own daughter has skipped her Mum’s last gig in order » Continue Reading.
If You’re a Peter Cook Fan You Should Watch This.
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Previously unseen/heard footage, anecdotes and audio plus interviews with his widow Lin.
Some extremely NSFW (or for playing within earshot of sensitive flowers) Derek & Clive material included.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvQq_tqB0jA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0830jyr/the-undiscovered-peter-cook
The Afterword #50: It’s the jazzcast!
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At last Twang, Morrison, JazzJet, Pencilsqueezer, Mike_H and Tiggerlion don berets, dark round sun glasses and co-respondent shoes to discuss the wonderful world of jazz. Chins are stroked, names dropped and Skype does its best to remove Tigger from the proceedings all together. A splendid time is had by all and Sting gets a shoeing along the way. Doo be doo be doo.
http://traffic.libsyn.com/theafterwordpodcast/Jazzcast_master.mp3
Amazon Black Friday – half price Gibson guitar
by 8 Comments
If only I had the money to buy it even at half price… (or the time to play it, or the talent to be worth a nice guitar)
The Only End of Year Poll That Really Matters
by 125 Comments
The Mighty Tigger has offered (foolish, foolish boy) to host the 2016 AW Best Records of 2016 poll. I tried this last year: I was rejected and then what happened – Sufjan Stevens, that’s what bloody happened.
In order to avoid such a travesty reoccurring can I re-suggest we adopt the Formula 1 point scoring system ie 1st : 25 points 2nd : 18 points 3rd : 15 points 4th : 12 points 5th : 10 points 6th : 8 points 7th : 6 points 8th : 4 points 9th : 2 points 10th : 1 point
I’ve done the maths on the 2016 poll and it seems (although some peer reviewing may be in order here) Taylor Swift’s “1984” would have won last year if we have followed Bernie Ecclestone so surely everyone can agree this is the way forward?
Seriously, what I think happens if we use a more standard voting system is that the record lots of punters put in the middle-ranking of their votes ends up as No1 so the averagely good record that most people think is ok rather than outstandingly good (or even polarising) wins?
What think you lot?
ps here’s a hint as » Continue Reading.
Journey to Infinity: Escher’s World of Wonder
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Venue:
ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Date: 12/11/2016
Not exactly a night out but more an afternoon / early evening out, the MC Escher exhibition at the ArtScience museum showcases more than 150 pieces of his works. It runs fairly chronologically from his early landscapes from Italy, through his exploration of tessellation and metamorphosis to the mathematical / optical illusion works that we all know and love. Almost all of the famous pieces are present along with album covers, videos and film clips inspired by him. A couple of ‘hands on” areas for the youngsters.
I guess I better not include an image – definitely in copyright !
The audience:
Mixture of young and old, locals and tourists. All seemed to be taking their time to enjoy the works.
It made me think..
I’ve always loved Escher from being a teenager and so seeing all the works in one place was amazing, What I did not know about were his early landscape stuff (none optical illusion). The other thing that struck me was that these are incredibly detailed pictures, yet they were even woodcuts or lithographs – how the hell does he get that level of detail » Continue Reading.
ATM IPad Upgrade
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I need your help as a non-Apple user myself. I want to buy my wife a new IPad as a surprise gift. She uses her current one a lot, so I want to get a high-end one, but am struggling to see why she might need an IPad Pro rather than an Air 2. (She mainly uses it for emails, Twitter, podcasts and some music listening.) Also, what memory size will she need ? Finally, before I waste too much time researching it, am I likely to find any real Apple bargains on Black Friday ? If so where? Thanks in advance for your help.
Theatre Of Hate – Westworld (Exanded 3cd edition)
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What does it sound like?:
Theatre of Hate. One of the most Marmity of Marmite bands. Built around the uncompromising figure of Kirk Brandon – and his startling voice – they were a hot live act in the 81/82 post-punk scene. After a run of scorching singles (IMHO) came their solitary studio album in 1982, now the subject of a 3-disc set expanded edition reissue. Full disclosure – this album or a digital stream of it at least, was provided by @bargepole.
The album proper (CD1) If you’ve heard the track ‘Westworld’ you’ll have a pretty good idea of the TOH sonic palatte: tribal drumming, and a twin-wail attack of sax and Kirk Brandon’s sandpaper-blasting voice. These come at you quick – as in the title track, or slow (Love Is A Ghost). ‘Angular’ guitar and bass are drawn from the templates of post-punk. There really is a lot of sax from John ‘Boy’ Lennard – , so don’t go here if you don’t want that. Apart from tribal drumming (it was not just A Ant of course at the time, Bow Wow Wow, King Kurt, Tenpole Tudor, Tight Fit and many others ) the » Continue Reading.
Prince4Ever: Moonbeam Levels
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Prince has a new album out. Well, no, he doesn’t. He has another greatest hits package on the shelves and on Internet retail outfits. It’s his third Best Of and his previous one was in 2006. This isn’t quite as bad as Bowie whose recent Legacy follows on less than two years since Nothing Has Changed.
Prince4Ever is a pretty decent collection of his singles, plus one B side, up to 1993. (I think the world is crying out for a half decent post 1993 Prince collection. If the Purple People want some help, I’m willing to make suggestions.) The thing that upsets me is the inclusion of one, just one, previously unreleased track. It’s called Moonbeam Levels and was originally written in 1982, for 1999, and adjusted in 1989, but never actually issued. Elvis Costello covered it during Prince’s inauguration to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. I have all the other 39 tracks. Let’s hope I can download it separately. It’s rather nice but not worth forking out for the whole ‘album’.
The good news is the the Purple People plan to release a Purple Rain legacy edition next year, followed by a whole collection of » Continue Reading.
Honeyblood + PINS
by 15 Comments
Venue:
The Fleece, Bristol
Date: 23/11/2016
More of a double bill than headliner/support this was a chance to catch up again with a couple of bands first seen last year. PINS are a Mancunian 5 piece playing punky-pop with a touch of northern sturm und drag detectable even before the Joy Division cover. They are obviously quite persuasive – first time I saw them (here) was supporting Wire who they joined for a thrashing encore of Drill – have Wire ever done this before? Next up were Honeyblood – 2 piece with a rather good album just out. Quite in yer face songs drugs, gangs, vilolence (plus some Corrs) but rather charming banter – tonight it was singer/guitarist Stina Tweedale’s birthday so she was got a round of Happy Birthday from the audience and regular presents from drummer/co-pilot Cat Myers. Mittens and fluffy slippers. Aww. And for the encore – why its PINS joining them on stage again. Obviously party time.
The audience:
Sold out. Young Guns. Smily face. (No sign of Jeff – busy night in Briz)
It made me think..
Was tempted not to go out after a rubbish day but very glad I did. Time to » Continue Reading.
Del Amitri, Their Facebook Fan Page & Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland
by 9 Comments
24/11/2016
A few months ago Justin Currie became involved with a Glasgow based charity offering to auction one of his songs to raise some cash. The Del Amitri fan page that I enjoy immensely under another of my on-line pseudonyms, picked up on this and a chain of events has unfolded that brings me to posting this notice here. This week there is an album of Del Amitri covers being released from which money will be raised to go to Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland. https://www.sbhscotland.org.uk/del-amitri-cd All chosen from a vast selection of songs sent in by professional artists, amateurs and just fans of the band. Ricky Ross, The O’s, Tom Mcrae, Naomi Bedford and Travis to name just a few. “Nothing Ever Happens” by Travis is being released as a Christmas single. Now I realise we can all become charity jaded but this album has come from a seed of an idea, developed by fans of the band, surpassed all expectations in sheer volume of songs recorded and quality and will give you a fine collections of songs “Pasted Beyond Recognition”. Of course I’m biased, I’m Dave Amitri but if you’re struggling for a gift for one of your music » Continue Reading.
Planet Earth II
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In these dark times it’s never been more needed. It gets my son off his ipad, daughter off snapchat and all of us screamin laughing and generally enjoying every thrilling minute of Planet Earth II. I am not a nature doc type of person, but it’s just television of the very best order. Didn’t see I but like all sequels its got a bigger budget, there’s space marines and a glass office – ok maybe not the last two, but the HD camerawork from the microscopic to the epic is astonishing. The ‘breakout moment’ I believe they say was baby iguanas v snakes in the first episode. You can find versions on Youtube cut to Messi scoring, William Tell, boss scenes from video games and so on. I’ve included it in the comments, but there’s been several gob-smacking moments every episode – this week the see-through kung-fu kicking wasp attacking micro frog, the eagle fight in the mountains, leopard v crocodile, the crazy surfing penguins, the incredibly sad blind crabs – catch up right now if you haven’t. I’m imagining a version recut with Adam Curtis’ voiceover from Hypernormalization….
This year’s UK Xmas Number 1? My money’s on a dejligt Danish delight.
by 64 Comments
“Have yourself a hygge little Xmas!” Woollen socks, candles, Lars Von Trier boxsets: British retailers have decided that the only way to have a cosy Yuletide this year is to go Danish. Much as I love Denmark, not least the wonderful Roskilde Festival, this recent hyping of hygge really is a smörgåsbord full of byllshytte.
Over here in Scandinavia we’re all a bit baffled by the fact that the Danish word for cosiness is suddenly a buzzword in the UK. And strangely enough, it’s not the Danes who are responsible for the current wave of hygge hysteria. Yesterday I read an excellent Guardian article (see comments) about how it was all larged up by London publishers (see comments for link).
How ironic that Denmark, which has put itself on the map thanks to excellent but often bleak TV series like The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen, and the films of the Dogme movement such as Festen, The Idiots, Breaking the Waves and Italian for Beginners (all of which are so powerful precisely because of their lack of cosiness), should suddenly be presented in this way. Goodbye Nordic noir, hallo Nordic cuddly?
It got me thinking about other untranslatable » Continue Reading.
Uncut’s Best of 2016 Lists and Cover CD
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We’ve had Mojo’s list of the best of 2016. Frowns have been frowned and scorn has been poured.
Now we can do it all over again to Uncut.
I’ve only just got in from the supermarket with my copy, so I haven’t looked at their lists (75 best albums, 30 best reissues plus ratings for books and films.
On the cover CD, which I’ll be playing right after I hit Submit, we have: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree Hiss Golden Messenger – Heart Like a Levee Eleanor Friedberger – Cathy With the Curly Hair Drive-By Truckers – Filthy and Fried Ryley Walker – A Choir Apart Sturgill Simpson – Call to Arms Margo Price – Hands of Time Bon Iver – 33 “God” Teenage Fanclub – Hold On Angel Olsen – Shut Up Kiss Me Wilco – We Aren’t the World (Safety Girl) Shirley Collins – Pretty Polly Thee Oh Sees – Plastic Plant Cate Le Bon – I Was Born on the Wrong Day 75 Dollar Bill – Beni Said
Donald Trump’s The Wall
by 21 Comments
Thought some of you might enjoy this.
The Wake
Author:Paul Kingsnorth
Buccmaster Of Holland is a Lincolnshire farmer, a prosperous man and the owner of three “oxgangs.” He has bonded servants, land, power, he is a big man in town, a pagan and, quite possibly, a bit mad. As the book opens he is full of grim forebodings; there’s a “hairy star” in the sky and the sight of “a great blaec fugol it was not of these lands it flown slow ofer the ham one daeg at the time of first ploughan” adds to his sense of impending doom. Then the Normans invade, he loses both of his sons at Hastings, his wife is raped and killed and his “ham” is burnt to the ground. He takes to the fens, becomes a “Grene man” and resolves to fight the invaders.
As you can tell this story is not written in plain English, it’s written in a version of old English and it oddly works; a thousand years ago was an alien time and the writing emphasises this. It’s a struggle at first, but you quickly come to understand things. And I truly wish I had read this before I took part in the post apocalypse podcast because » Continue Reading.
The Devices Trilogy
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Author:Philip Purser-Hallard
In early twentieth first century Britain, the Knights of the Round Table are alive and well. Kind of. They exist as ‘devices’, a thought pattern similar to a Jungian archetype, semi autonomous memes that get into people’s heads and lead them to take on the characteristics of that device. So when our lead character, Jory Taylor, bears the device of Sir Gawain, it means he becomes more like Gawain (eg an unfortunate penchant for decapitation), but also that his life also becomes more like Gawain’s narrative in the original myth. Great if you’re a dashing good guy, but not so good if you find yourself bearing the device of Mordred or Morgan le Fay. Taylor, like the other Knights, works for the Circle, a secretive government organisation modelled after the Round Table, MI6 with broadswords if you will.
The Circle is very much on the side of the State and government authority, but of course the Round Table is not the only myth sewn into British culture, and during the course of his work Jory encounters another, equally strong, manifestation of our national id. I’m not going to tell you who it is, because the revelation was » Continue Reading.
Dylan Sydney 1966 double LP
by 5 Comments
Ozzie Bob fans might like to know that a vinyl version of the Sydney date from the big 1966 set is chalked in for December the 2nd. I think it’s to be released worldwide too, as there are placeholder listings on various amazon sites, but I’ve included the link for JB HiFi. There may be one or two of you who find this of interest, hopefully!
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/music/Whats-Hot/folk-rock/bob-dylan-live-in-sydney-1966-vinyl/327304/
When satire doesn’t go far enough.
by 4 Comments
See comments…
Songs that let themselves down.
Isn’t it odd that some songs are great in places and then render themselves unlistenable by being awful in the space of a few bars? Case in point : I came across this link to a pretty ropey live version of Them’s Here Comes the Night, but even here the opening bars/chorus are louche and soulful and dirty and , thus, great. But then that awful rinky dink verse comes in and kills the whole song. The verse really ought to apologise wholeheartedly to the chorus for cocking up what could have been a majestic song. And how can the same writers/musicians have produced both sequences?
So : songs that let themselves down. Any more?
The pain of getting rid
by 37 Comments
I’ve spent the last couple of days decorating the living room, which means that I have had to move all the piles of CDs, DVDs and books for which there is no longer room on the shelves and, for the moment, pile them in the spare room ready for selling or charity shop disposal. It hurts getting rid of this stuff, doesn’t? I’ve done it before and honestly not regretted losing my precious possessions, or re-bought them, but I still hate to see them go.
Yesterday I went out for a walk after being cooped up in my flat for so long and came across this heart-breaking sight. I asked the couple in the house before having a rummage and it turns out they are moving somewhere smaller but none of the local charities could take such a large donation (about 2000 books, they thought). I rescued some of course, including firsts of Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler. No great financial value, but I couldn’t let a copy of The Quiet American that someone had cherished so much that they had stored a 1967 newspaper clipping about a screening of the film inside go to landfill.
http://i.imgur.com/JO1jtQm.jpg
Can the Can
by 4 Comments
Apparently Heinz are in trouble because their advert might cause people to beat razor edged tins with their hands until they bleed. While this is unlikely, and is simply a great opportunity for a) Heinz to get some free publicity and b) little Englanders to froth about ‘elf’n’safety gone mad’, I’d like it to be kicked into a pit and molten lead poured on it for completely different reasons.
One: It’s the soft-focus, grab-a-ukelele, twee guff that really boils my soup. Two: It’s close to theft. Theft of another theft, really. Remember Lulu and the Lampshades and their ‘Cups’ song? It was championed by David Hepworth in his blog some years ago, and in the old magazine. It’s quite charming. LATL even played a Word in Your Ear gig. Here’s the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWCOYJg9ps4
This was then borrowed (ahem) for the film Pitch Perfect, in a scene starring Anna Kendrick. Here it is, at 1:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSbXsFE3l8
A few months ago, I was at some arts centre evening of entertainment (a freind dragged me), and a shit-awful ‘Glee’-style acapella group did their turn. You can probably guess what their centrepiece of the set was. The most annoying thing was they didn’t say » Continue Reading.
