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  1. Watched – Derry Girls. Very funny. Bless the subtitles. The Favourite. Acting better than movie, but movie also good. Not so sure on Russian Doll though.

    Read – Roger Daltrey’s autobiography. Entertaing and straight talking. Peter Englund’s 1915, on WW1’s second year. Haunting.

    Listened – Goran Kajfes Tropiques, Can and various pods on music and history.

  2. Heard
    The Specials new album, “Encore”, with its bonus live CD. Been listening to this a lot. It’s great that The Specials are back with a relevant album where Terry and Lynval sing about current topical stuff. Musically it’s rather surprising in places, almost funky, but there are some lovely reggae type tunes on there too. Great, where it could have been a complacent ska knees up which you suspect might have pleased some of the old skinhead Fred Perry brigade a tad more. Looking forward to seeing them in the summer. You wonder if Jerry Dammers might be secretly kicking himself for keeping out of it.
    Piroshka’s “Brickbat” is the new album by the 4AD “supergroup” (although they hate the phrase) comprised of ex members of Lush, Moose and Modern English. Not quite as drifty or shoegazey as you might expect given their pedigree, this has some highly accessible tunes about some thought provoking mid life issues.
    ACR’s “Set” is the new compilation from A Certain Ratio and very good it is too, although for me any ACR best of without The Big E/Won’t Stop Loving You on is incomplete. I know most of these songs well but it’s great having them in one place.

    Seen
    The rest of Cold Feet, once again really enjoyable and even David seemed slightly less irritating in his more humble status, even if it is sometimes a little difficult to understand what the others saw in him in the first place, all those years before.
    Shetland returned to a rather low key welcome it seemed, but we love it. Good stories, well rounded, likeable characters and great locations. What’s not to like?

    Read
    “Today South London, Tomorrow South London” by Andrew Grumbridge and Vince Raison. This book arose from a blog, “Deserter” which outlines life and loafing south of the Thames, the bit where according to legend, cabbies are reluctant to venture. It’s a kind of local area guide and drinking travelogue which in places I enjoyed a lot but if I spent too much time with one of the characters in it I might end up pouring one of his pints over his head.
    “The Ministry of Nostalgia” by Owen Hatherley. Not quite finished this one yet, but I will. This covers the “growing nostalgia for a utopian past that never existed” and asks why should we have to Keep Calm and Carry On. Hatherley is great talking about austerity and how/why it has provoked such a weird harking back to post war values. Genuinely interesting, and highly angry in places.
    The Afterword…this is going to sound really creepy but I have really enjoyed my first full calendar month as a regular contributor to this ‘ere blog. So pleased to have so many responses to my often somewhat rambling muses. Reasoned debate, well thought out responses, and a variety of taste/opinion deployed politely…once again, what’s not to like?

    AOB
    Very sad indeed to hear about Mark Hollis. Much too young to leave.
    On a completely different note, anyone else feel like they just want this football season to be over?

  3. Seen
    Film of the month for me was Destroyer. Everyone’s going nuts about Nicole Kidman’s performance, which is great, but let’s not get carried away. Go expecting a great film rather than a great performance and I think you’ll have a better time. I particularly loved the soundtrack. Meanwhile, the Abducted In Plain Sight documentary was just as crazy as advertised: a documentary about a predatory paedophile where the predatory paedophile is not necessarily the most disturbing thing about it. Also the Killing Joke documentary, The Death And Resurrection Show, which was very long and focussed too much on black magic and other such hokum, but – this being Killing Joke – was still a great watch. Lastly, how could I forget Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse. I thought I was well and truly over superhero movies, but this one brought me back in the fold, and Lego Movie 2, which I loved (though maybe not as much as the first one).

    Heard
    A pretty good musical month: Jay Glass Dubs’ Epitaph was my most-played album, and I got very excited about a new band, WH Lung. Can’t wait for their album in April. Elsewhere I completed my collection of CDs in the Roots of Dub Funk series (there are six, each as good as the other, although the ‘funk’ tag is a bit of a misnomer: it’s really just heavy, effects-driven dub) while the Killing Joke documentary sent me on a KJ jag, which in turn pushed me in Youth-produced direction and then on to Pigface. Meanwhile, during what was otherwise an illness-blighted half-term holiday, I found a great record shop in Bury St Edmunds (Vinyl Hunter), which was right up my street. It’s not often you find a record shop with Progressive House and Drum & Bass sections, so I was happy as a P in S for a couple of hours and left with a proper haul of second-hand vinyl. Lastly, I snaffled the new Teeth of the Sea album, and the Bonobo Fabric mix (also on vinyl!), but I haven’t yet given them the time they deserve.
    Month in Drum & Bass: the new Pessimist EP, ‘Austerity’ is just brilliant. Damn!

    Read
    Spent a few days in bed ill so I read a lot this month: The Lost Man by Jane Harper, The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce and currently halfway through The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. All pretty good without being wildly brilliant.

  4. Watched – Now up to Season 4 of The Sopranos and every episode is a delight. I’m going to be bereft when I finally finish the lot.
    The fifth and final season of Broad City is continuing nicely. It’s still enjoyable, but they have made the right decision to end it.
    Also enjoying the new season of Bob’s Burgers which is still surprisingly unknown in the wider world.
    Watched the first two episodes of Russian Doll on Netflix. I’ve seen good reviews and it looks promising so far, but it could still go either way at this point.
    And finally, my late night filler after Lady Lemon has gone to bed is Seinfeld. I’m up to episode 6 of season 6. What is there to add? It’s the best. End of.
    Heard – Well, this week has been dominated by Mark Hollis and Talk Talk. Listening again to the Talk Talk albums revealed little in the way of surprise, but the earlier albums are much better than I remembered, particularly the tracks I hadn’t played for years. His solo album was the one that was most revealing. I knew it was good, but after listening to it on repeat I think it may be the best of them all.
    The best track of the month is ‘Summon The Fire’ by The Comet Is Coming.

    Funky, Jazzy and with just a hint of The Magic Roundabout theme.

    Read – Just the one book this month ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ by Celeste Ng. I loved it. A beautifully assembled story that reminded me of Anne Tyler at her best.

    • Oh, how did I forget the new Partridge? Fantastic first episode on Monday. The sequence where he demonstrates how to go to the toilet without using your hands was classic Partridge

    • I concur !
      I got all sorts of ribbing in our office about how we were going to get a stuffing in the week leading up to the game, as England were apparently back to being the best team in the world again!
      It was a lot quieter this week :-))
      Happy St.David’s Day Dai!

  6. Read
    Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky – I rarely read SciFi but this one piqued my interest. In a near future, bioengineering has created militarised versions of animals that are being used to fight wars (legitimate or otherwise) around the globe. The author uses the premise to discuss the practical and moral ramifications of such science and picks up on themes considered by Shelley, Wells and Dick. Plenty of splashy action, too.

    Dodgers by Bill Beverly.
    The plot is straightforward – 4 gang members are instructed to travel from LA to Wisconsin in order to murder a witness who is to give evidence against their boss. However, using prose that is terse and bullet hard, Beverly creates a novel that is more than a tale of gangsters on a road trip but that explores an America that is alien to its inhabitants. I really enjoyed this book, becoming increasingly involved in the story of the protagonist, East, a young man starting to discover the person that he wants to be and the life that he wants to live. The sort of book that, once finished, you want to dive back in and read again

    Heard
    Was February a preview of spring or another reminder of climate change? Hopefully the former, but this month’s unseasonable warm weather was a fine backdrop for:
    The Beths – Happy Unhappy. A jangly summery bit of pop froth with an early 90s indie vibe.

    Also been listening to:
    Under the Covers – Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. There’s always room for music by the sultry Ms Hoffs.

    Eddie Harris – It’s all right now. This featured on a recent episode of The Walking Dead. Lovely, loping jazz – perfect for this freaky February or to lure zombies out of a cinema.

    Seen
    Lego Movie 2 is good fun. Not as sharp as the first, but still smart and funny.

    The Walking Dead has shuffled back. It has enough good moments to keep me returning for more gloopy fun.

    I. Daniel Blake made me sad and angry in equal measure. And a couple of scenes (especially the one set at the Foodbank) that left me in bits. Profound, moving and frightening.

  7. Heard:

    Beirut’s Gallipoli – the usual gorgeous blend of instruments that raise this act above your standard indie fare. Finally getting to see them live after all these years over the summer too.

    Better Oblivion Community Center – The brilliant Phoebe Bridgers combines with the sometimes brilliant Conor Oberst for a surprise release, lovely stuff and a genuinely nice thing for someone who pours over the music mags and sites to have an album just appear as if by magic.

    Jessica Pratt’s Quiet Signs – gentle, wistful but tuneful and a nice find.

    Mercury Rev’s take on Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete – was never going to top the original, but this is a fine effort, the band do their part but it’s the guest vocalists that the tracks really live or die by.

    Pet Shop Boys’ Agenda EP – one of the best things they’ve stuck out in years. My ten year old loves the title “Give Stupidity A Chance”.

    Watched:

    Isle Of Dogs – I love Wes Anderson and I loved this. Full of trademark humour, beautifully designed, it kept both me and the kids happy.

    Roma – Lovely to look at, engaging characters, but I think this is one that I needed to be told was a classic, I may not have realised otherwise.

    Like many others, I am getting hooked by all these quality documentaries that are around. The previously mentioned Abducted in Plain Sight was jaw-dropping, and last night’s Three Identical Strangers on C4 was fascinating too.

    Read:

    The Jeff Tweedy autobiography – a very easy read, told with one eyebrow raised. For the gossips amongst us, obviously gives his own take on splits with Jay Farrar and Jay Bennett that might have other sides to them. Surprised to read he hadn’t touched alcohol since he was about 23… I always presumed the band were hard-drinking types during their ascent.

    Patrick DeWitt’s French Exit – not what I expected from the author of The Sister Brothers but a delight in its own way, he is one of the few allegedly funny fiction writers that actually causes me the odd chuckle.

  8. Watched: Well, nothing spectacular. Started season 3 of No Offence with Sharon, but that’s about all that’s worthy of note. I’m biding my time til Shetland gets over here.

    Read: I have Comixology Unlimited, so a crap ton of comics. Mainly DC, and filling in the gaps of The Flash and JSA that never made it to my bookshelfs. Nancy Wake by Peter Fitzsimon was a good read about a real Australian war heroine. Adventures in the Golden Age by Archie McPherson is an easy fun read about how Scottish football screws itself.

    Listened: What it is – Hayes Carll. After taking a sideways step with what I call his divorce album – and one that I maintain might be his best – he’s back to his ol’ Texan bar style, and very good it is too.

  9. READ – “Slowhand” by Philip Norman, excellent bio of Eric the C. As recommended on Twitter by a former member of this parish, sadly no longer here but his mojo is still working.

    SEEN – Roma. Beautiful, just wonderful.

    HEARD – “Flightless Bird” by Phil Judd – the genius who co-formed Split Enz with Tim Finn, and every couple of years puts out an album of brilliant pop songs. If you like XTC and The Beatles, check it out.

    https://philjudd.bandcamp.com/album/flightless-bird-2019

  10. February?
    Two birds with one stone: Michael Jackson’s career and Tottenham’s chance of winning the League both dead in the water!

    Cinema: “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and “The Green Book.”
    What is it about “The Green Book?” I though it was a wonderful film, it won the Best Film Oscar and yet, a bit like “La La Land,” there seems to be a lot of antagonism towards it.
    Mind you, if Spike Lee (purple suit, gold trainers – oh yes, very classy – why wasn’t he refused admittance for wearing trainers?) doesn’t like it, it has to have considerable merit.

    TV: Not sure about the 60s Bowie doc. It had its moments but … hmm … I’ll watch it again this month. Should have interviewed one of my neighbours, he was in the same class as Bowie and George Underwood at school.
    Saw a bizarre, psychedelic, Marty Feldman film for the first time, “Every Home Should Have One.” On Talking Pictures. Rather excellent.

    Music: Month started with “The Definitive Impressions Pts. 1 & 2” (Ace/Kent) 24/7, and then, steered by the “Keith” Mojo and Floyd Special, gravitated towards Slim Harpo, Bo Diddley et al and the first 5 Floyd singles.

    Reading: Floyd Special and “Goldfinger” again. Bond’s just beaten Goldfinger at golf.

      • Terrific, but the Bond novels and the films are two completely different beasts.
        I like both Goldfinger, the book and the film, they’re just completely different.
        Different setting (the novel’s set mainly in Britain and France; the film in the U.S.) and no character called Pussy Galore for starters.

        The one I’ve never been able to finish is Casino Royale, a book so pre-occupied with the (fantastically detailed) rules of various card games, it’s a wonder Jonathan Cape commissioned a second James Bond novel.

  11. February started well but took a depressing turn and for the final two weeks all I saw around me was death, near death and disease… I hope that March will offer some less awful events to cheer me up a bit!

    Heard:
    Picked up a few missed items from 2018, and a couple of brand new ones.
    I’m rather enjoying Trouble Anyway by Rosali, more and more as I listen. Sort of folky Americana/folk rock I guess (I find that with each year my ability to describe and pin a genre to any artist is becoming more difficult… ) She has quite an impressive cast of fellow musicians helping out on what I believe is her debut album. Not spectacular, but pleasant.

    Foxwarren’s self-titled album has made me feel a lot better this month, I believe they’re Canadian (the singer’s accent is sometimes a struggle to understand) and their music is a bit of a balm for frazzled nerves, without being mawkish. Especially “Fall Into a Dream” never fails to cheer me up (but his accent makes it sound like he’s singing “until you’ve fisted everyone”, which I doubt is correct…! 😀 )

    Thank you to the Afterworder who posted a video from Rosalía’s brilliant album El Mal Querer – sorry, can’t remember who it was or on which thread! Another mood-lifter, flamenco meets pop meets electronica, and she has a great voice.

    The new album from James Blake, Assume Form, is another brilliant one, and possibly his best album so far. The agonies and extacies of falling in love are dissected in painful detail, set to beautiful music. Rosalía pops up on a track here as well.

    Steve Mason’s latest, About The Light is quite lovely musically, but I find that his lyrics makes me squirm…and fill in the upcoming rhymes ahead of him! Some of the laziest rhymes I’ve heard in a while; shame, because he knows how to write a song and his voice is as good as ever. But “I couldn’t take no for the answer – I used to be a very good dancer – I’m looking real hard for the answer – I think I found love with a chancer”…really? What does that even mean? Still, if I manage to not pay attention to the lyrics I do enjoy the tracks musically. Still: not good enough.

    Lisa O’Neill’s voice could probably be a dealbreaker for some listeners; very raw and nasal, but I like it fine as it is. Full of emotion and desperation and strength, singing traditional and her own folk songs in a way that demands to be listened to.

    Read:
    Sleeping Arrangements by Laura Shaine Cunningham, which I liked a lot. Autobiographical about being raised by two very eccentric uncles (and a childlike granny) after losing her mother young. New York and intense friendships play other big parts.

    I found a brilliant book in the charity shop that I’m dipping in and out of daily. A facsimile edition from the 1980s of a book first written and published in 1890, called Nya Stockholm (“New Stockholm”) – it describes in extreme and amusing detail all the modernisations the city had gone through during the latest decade (the 1880s) and how people live and work here, back then. 744 pages long, so it really covers a LOT of subjects, and is wonderfully illustrated with detailed drawings. And written in a style that isn’t dry and lecturing but tries to paint vivid scenes, and succeeds. This may be the best book I’ve ever stumbled upon without previous knowledge that I needed it in my life! It’s now the crown jewel of my collection of Stockholm litterature.

    Seen:
    I bought an awful lot of DVDs for next to nothing this month. Now all I need is to find a shop that can sell me some extra time to watch them all!
    I know I’ve seen a couple of films and documentaries on TV, but I can’t remember what they were, so probably not life changing…

    • Steve Mason is good, but sadly not good enough – it is not as “interesting” as his previous outings. Good, but not a must hear again job (wouldn’t not listen to it if it came up on random, but unlikely to seek it out)

    • Ooh, the Rosalia clip was me I think, and the fact that I have introduced Locust to something when she has introduced me to the likes of the great Anna Ternheim is very modest payback but gives me inordinate pleasure….

      • Ha – this is why the Afterword is great – and bad for the wallet… 🙂
        Thank you again, and I’m glad you like Anna Ternheim! (Sometimes I think that nobody’s listening when I waffle ion about Swedish artists…always nice to be proven wrong)

    • Re: the Foxwarren album
      I didn’t read any reviews of this in the English-speaking media. The first time I read about it was the very positive Dagens Nyheter review by Kaisfatdad’s mate, Nils Hansson.
      I bought the Foxwarren album, and it’s …. well, it’s sort of reasonably good. The main reason I bought it was because of the lead singer, Andy Shauf. Three years ago, Shauf made a brilliant solo album called “The Party”. It must’ve been brilliant, because it reached No.3 in the duco01 Best New Albums of 2016 Chart. It was that good!

      • I missed that DN review, I believe I must have read about it in Uncut or Mojo and thought it worth a punt. I understand what you mean when you call it “reasonably good”, it’s certainly not revolutionary or terribly original, but I’m enjoying it a lot simply because it makes me feel happy when I listen to it – and I’ve really needed music to lift my spirit this month! Sometimes the best music in that moment is just something that makes you tap your foot and hum along. 🙂

  12. Heard
    – The new Specials album – Encore – is definitely worth investigation. It is a proper album, not just a nostalgia trip (although the Live Disk 2 will provide the old favourites)
    – As I have bought my ticket for The Stranglers, they’ve featured quite highly (as have Dr Feelgood who are supporting)
    – I’ve received 3 discs for the CD Swap doo-dah and am getting through those – some I know, some I don’t, but all interesting (and no direct repetition between those received and the one I sent out)

    Seen
    – Happily re-watched Life On Mars – Ashes To Ashes next up starts tonight on (repeat obviously) on UK Drama
    – Couple of Motor Racing documentaries (1) Frank Williams (2) Bruce McClaren
    – New Alan Partridge slightly disappointed (obvious highlights were the Fluck / Clunt gag,and how to use a lav on the train without using your hands), but thinking it will grow in the next couple of weeks

    Read
    – Read this months Mojo cover to cover – that doesn’t always happening as I have found some of the features on stuff I don’t really know about as a bit fawning. This issue though struck the right tone for this grumpy reader (and the cover CD was a bit good this time round)
    I like to think there may be an upturn in Mojo standards, but sort of know that I will not be renewing my subscription next time it’s due (seriously considering swapping to Vive Le Rock, just not done it yet)

    AOBHB (Any Other Big Headed Business)
    I’m currently top of The Afterword Fantasy Football League (no idea how that happened).
    Probably won’t be after this weeks performance

  13. Seen:
    Made a rare voyage to the pictures to see Alien. It’s still great, but you feel that contemporary audiences would be drumming their fingers over the pacing of some scenes. And the jump scares, which never bothered me all that much before, are really annoying at the volume of cinema speakers.

    Read:
    Well, reading Weapons Of Math Destruction by Cathy O Neil, which examines the damage that is done to people by poorly understood and wrongly applied data. It’s eye opening stuff!

    Heard: The Tiggmeister was moaning about Chaka Khan’s Hello Happiness as being just 7 tracks for full album price. Having lived with it for a while, it doesn’t feel so much like an album or even a long E.P. but rather 3 x 12 inch singles where the A sides are all ace.
    It occurs to me that, back in my djing days, I would have paid more than full album price for three twelvers and, it turns out, it only cost me €4.50 on download so I ain’t complaining..
    … and the very act of typing this post reminds me that I haven’t listened to the latest Afterword podcast, so I must rectify that immediately…

    • Yes. Download is where the value is. For me, twelve inch single gives the track a chance to stretch out. None of the Hello Happiness tracks do so and I could do with another minute or two of that Fatback bass. Her singing is amazing, though. When it finds room in all the fancy production.

  14. The arrival of two pre-ordered albums : Lau and The Gloaming. They are worthy of comparison. Both are anchored by a well-entrenched fiddle/guitar partnership. Both are graced by men with the voices of angels, despite an overarching dominance of the instrumental. Both are taken on flights of fancy, which define the music, by restless keyboards. Both give live performances that revitalise the listening of the studio albums.

    Lau’s Midnight and Closedown is more obviously song-based than previous albums, but those songs aren’t remarkable. They left me running back to Kris Drever’s last solo album. Every previous album has had several wonderfully developed tracks that have grabbed me from the off, but only the gently understated closer Riad has anything like that effect. The last Gloaming studio album – the untitled ‘birdscarer’ – gave full rein to Thomas Bartlett’s jazz interpretation of Martin Hayes’ trad repertoire. I’d recommend it to anyone. Could they follow it? First listen left no doubts. The freshness, the unpredictability is still there. It’s little wonder that their tour is all international concert halls; they are major league.

    On the other hand, Lau filled out Bury Met on Wednesday night. They opened with Torsa, which is my favourite piece of music by anyone ever. The second half featured the whole of the (disappointing) new album ‘on shuffle’. The walls of sound built and enveloped. It was ace. The encore was the ever-more-relevant Ghosts, with that angelic Kris Drever voice centre stage. Rapture.

    • Hi Mr Cat,

      I have only two Lau/Kris Drever albums, namely:

      Lau – the Bell That Never Rang
      Kris Drever – If Wishes Were Horses

      They’re both really good, of course.

      What should I go for next?

      • Arc Light and Race the Loser are peak Lau.

        If Wishes Were Horses was the Drever album to which I referred, and indeed has many delights. I’ve got a couple of others of his, which I know less well. I shall relisten and report back!

        • There is an earlier album, entitled and by Drever, Woomble & McCusker, as in Kris, Roddy & John. Being a fan of all 3 separately, it is rather good.
          Kris’ dad, Ivan, isn’t bad either, the driving force in Wolfestone for many a long year and their main songwriter, but with some amiable solo stuff as well.

      • The first Drever solo album “Black Water” is fantastic and indispensable. If you get the right version it has a second disk with the album played solo and live in various clubs which is also brilliant.

    • Meanwhile at home, I have been mostly been listening to dance bands from The Low Countries. Snaarmaarwaar were at Shrewsbury last year; Zef and Naragonia were at bals in Yorkshire.
      This is gorgeous.

  15. SEEN
    Local theatre production with three episodes of Black Adder. Really good production and the scripts are so funny you can’t go wrong. They didn’t have the looks, obviously, but the voices were uncannily present and correct. Saw Dan tribute band Stanley Dee with old pal @feedback_file and new pal @mike_h. They did all of Aja, side one of Katy Lied and a few other hits before we had to leave – brilliant fun and recommended. Also took in a fringe theatre production at the Vault Festival in London called “Half Moon Shania” which was written and produced by a mate’s highly talented daughter Cara Baldwin. It is based around a three piece all girl indy band and examines ambition, loyalty, attitude to and between women, the crappy biz, and the nasty side of club action where male attitudes still leave a lot to be desired. It’s simultaneously hilarious, scary, deeply emotional and rocks brilliantly with a lot of live music played by the three piece cast. It’s on the road so look out for it. They just won something at the Edinburgh Fringe too. Finally, watched the doc on Netflix about Rush – not a band I really know at all but most enjoyed the film and they come across as very level headed and sensible blokes, still in possession of most of their braincells.

    READ
    “No country for old men” by Cormac McCarthy which I’d unaccountably missed when I steamed through most of his books a decade ago. Brilliant. Finally finished the Reacher series which I read in chronological order. The latest one is flagging a bit. Currently reading “WTF???” By Robert Preston which neatly lays out what a mess our society is in. I just reread “What’s Left” by Nick Cohen which is pre-Corbyn but scarily prescient. Also starting into “Dog Soldiers” by Robert Stone which looks promising.

    HEARD
    Lots of jazz guitar as I’m trying to develop my own playing in that style – Barney Kessell, Jim Hall, Johnny Smith, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell. Had a running New country as a pallet cleanser – Tricia Yearwood, Martina McBride notably. Sampling a Rush Greatest Hits (see above) – not really my thing any more. Had a little romp back through a few Climax Blues Band albums which are really good. “Rolled Gold” especially good with hit “Couldn’t get it right”.

    • Forgot to say, we’re binging on “Call my agent” on Netflix. It’s set in a Parisien talent agency and is genuinely LOL with a great cast, but the kicker is real French stars feature in every episode, usually against type. So you get Audrey Fleurit as an ambition free earth mother, Isabel Hupert as a flaky workaholic letting everyone down, Juliette Binoche too fat for her dress at Cannes, Béatrice Dalle refusing to do a nude corpse scene or Monica Bellucci (OK she’s Italian) frustrated because she can’t get a man going out on the pull in disguise. Highly recommended.

      • Rushed typing. Isabelle Huppert of course. Audrey Fleurot évidement. And don’t forget Nathalie Baye and real life daughter Laura Smet (also daughter of Johnny Hallyday) conniving to get fired from a film as they can’t face 3 months on a boat together.

  16. “Mmm, this show Pointless seems to be doing well… Let’s put it on seven nights a week ABSOLUTELY FOREVER. After all, you can’t have too much of a good thing can you, right?”

    …….fucking wrong!

  17. READ: Finally finished off the 1000+ pages of The Patrick Melrose novels. actually, the mini-series was better. It is fabulous in parts but can be heavy going: the section thru’ the eyes of son no. 1 especially so. Prose as purple as AA Gill, with whom I can sense a spiritual kinship with St. Aubyn.
    HEARD: Very little new, loads of old. Had to listen to Varshons 2 for a review, having seen the Evil Dildo around the same time, commented upon elsewhere. I wouldn’t bother buying it (and didn’t)
    The AW swap discs have arrived, and I have listened to two of ’em.
    WATCHED: Lots of TV, with Walking Dead and Shetland both back. The near-dead Walking Dead has found a little bit of new life, post Rick, against expectation and to its credit. I love Shetland, but, with Baptiste also kicking in, I am getting the story lines muddled. True Detective 3 was superb, I thought, making up for the disappointment of 2. On the netflix front I can recommend all of these: Dough, I Think We’re Alone Now, Paris Pieds Nus, Paddleton, The Hanging: Shepherds & Butchers, Hector. O, and the new Alan Partridge of course.

  18. HEARD: Bob Mould’s new album Sunshine Rock is a joyous return to the melodies and dynamics of Sugar. His best new for years.

    Music for 18 Musicians live at Symphony Hall by the London Sinfonettia. A thing of wonder as musicians swapped pianos for marimbas for percussion in perfect sync. Everyone convinced there were only 17 which only added to the musical chairs.

    SEEN: Cold Pursuit (see review), ridiculous latest Liam. The Big Short on the small screen which is excellent. They still never explained Credit Default Swaps so I could understand them though.

    We were lucky enough to get tickets to see Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer in the Pinter shorts, both great in Dumb Waiter. A Slight Ache was also very good as the first half. You would not know who was the TV reality and soap star, and who was the famous film actor as Dyer was perfectly cast.

    READ: Graham Greene is pretty unfashionable, but Our Man In Havana remains a simple pleasure. And on the sci-fi front halfway through the 800-odd pages of the final volume of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion cantos. Unlike almost all sci-fi sagas the quality is still excellent, though inevitably without the freshness of the first Hyperion.

  20. This series of Endeavour has been exceptional. The writers, directors, actors are all taking absolute pleasure in telling the stories of these characters. We all know Morse ends up on his own, drinking real ale, listening to opera and driving a Jag, yet the journey there is full of small joys of recognition. Two hours fly by.

  21. Late to the party again – its been bloody hectic:

    Heard:
    Pretty eclectic this month and have added some back catalogue to my collection in the shape of The Kinks – The anthology, a Creedence Clearwater collected set and Page and Plant No Quarter.
    New stuff that his impressed me has been the Yola album – Walk through fire. Her voice isn’t quite as gritty as live but still a mighty impressive album.
    I delayed buying the last Jayhawks album Black Roads and Abandoned Motels because I wasn’t sure I needed it. Temptation got the better of me when I saw it for £4.99 with the Dodgers. It is their best album in yonks – I love it.
    @Lemonhope introduced me to The Big Red Machine by way of his mix cd and that is very enjoyable.
    And also new to me but not new is Oliver ‘Tuku’ – the Zimbabwean singer and guitarist who sadly died in January. @Junior_Wells wrote a splendid tribute to him on here and the anthology album I got is spectacularly good. Can’t believe his name had passed me by.
    Finally I have a number of Grateful Dead albums – some are very good, some are a bit meh but I picker their 3cd Cornell concert in FOPP Manchester before it close. Scarlet Begonias segueing into Fire on the Mountain is absolutely fucking mind-blowing and I am hoping our resident deadhead @duco01 can point me in the direction of stuff of a similar quality as this. Phenomenal.

    SEEN; Really enjoyed Green Book which I think was very deserving of its awards. To think such racist attitudes prevailed in the USA until comparatively recently is a bit sobering.
    Sad that Cold Feet came and went so quickly.
    Got to see The Transatlantic Sessions at the Symphony Hall – Gretchen Peters stole the show with an astounding version of On a Bus to St. Cloud however the other standout moments were too few if I am honest. Getting a little bit tired – needs a chef in format and getting rid of some of the gentility.

    READ: Completed the Robert Plant biog which was nothing more than alright. It was not authorised and it was clear it was largely cobbled together from magazine articles.
    Just halfway through the biography on Ryan Adams Waiting to Derail written by his tour manager for Whiskeytown and Solo. There are many recollections of drunken, loutish behaviour but yet any tales of misogynistic attitudes. Maybe they will come later. An interesting read though.

  22. “Finally I have a number of Grateful Dead albums…..” ), @stevet
    Another good man done gone, for this way madness lies. I daren’t even go there, beyond an early investment in Live/Dead, the album. I am an odd one in that I like the studio stuff, or much of it, knowing that to lift the lid on their live availability would finish me off. I have time little enough to keep up with what I try to keep up with….
    Might see you when you surface. Maybe 2030?

  23. LISTENING

    The Bob Mould album is indeed very good. I wasn’t quite as sold on Patch The Sky as the posters above seem to have been, but I loved Beauty & Ruin, and this is up there with that. I also bought a lovely red and yellow splatter vinyl version which matches the cover art nicely. In that melodic punk vein, I am insanely in love with an Australian band called Press Club. Full throated super strong female vocals over tuneful high energy punk (the sticker on the front calls it “Stevie Nicks fronting Hot Water Music, but to my ears Nat’s voice is ballsier and less ethereal / wafty than Ms Nicks’), it’s going to be high up in my album of the year lists unless the next nine months are exceptional.
    Also played a lot of the Teeth Of The Sea record, which is good, but one of those albums where a number of okay tracks are hugely overshadowed by one massive banger – in case the closing number “Gladiators Ready” which comes on like Mogwai covering Josh Wink’s Higher State Of Consciousness:

    Like @leicester-bangs I was also very taken with the WH Lung single. Definitely looking forward to the album a lot. And I tell you what else is good, is the new Arianna Grande album. Honest.

    READING
    A short half term break in Hay-On-Wye saw me stocking up as usual, sending the TBR pile to new teetering heights of insanity. Of the books I actually read in the month, two thirds of Len Deighton‘s Game, Set & Match trilogy were good slices of paranoid espionage, and I’m about to start the concluding volume. C.A. Fletcher is a debut novelist (I think) and his ‘A Boy And His Dog At The End Of The World’ was a highly enjoyable slice of post apocalyse dystopia. If you like John Wyndham and dogs, this is the book for you. ‘The Poison Song’ by Jen Williams is the final book in her Winnowing Flame trilogy, which could well be my favourite British fantasy series of recent years. It’s miles away from idenitkit LOTR knockoffs or the equally tiresome grimdark fashion. The lead character is a middle aged gay archaeologist, there’s Lovecraftian cosmic dread in spades as well as stomach churning body horror, and some badass dragons. One slight disappointment was Peter Laws‘ The Frighteners, a non fiction book which purports to investigate why normal, well adjusted people enjoy horror but doesn’t really get anywhere with that (my twopence worth – we are normal, well adjusted people BECAUSE we enjoy horror. It’s the uptight moral majority you’ve got to look out for).

    WATCHING
    Finally caught up with Hereditary. I was expecting to be a bit sniffy about it after seeing some of the horror cognoscenti claim it wasn’t as good as it was made out to be, but I thought it was very decent, and notable for one especially brutal scene about half an hour that came completely out of leftfield. There are a few too many Exorcist III-isms in the closing twenty minutes, but I still enjoyed it a lot. The Expanse is the best small screen SF in years, years I tell you, and I’ve taken out a one month Amazon Prime trial just so I can gorge on season 3.

  24. I must get back to my intended Len Deighton binge. Somehow I got distracted after reading the Harry Palmer Quartet and the Spy Quartet anthologies. I was intending to get stuck into the three Bernard Samson trilogies next but I got waylaid.

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