The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Joy Crookes

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Any other Joy Crookes fans here? A quick search suggests she’s barely merited a mention on the site so far, but I am very much in love with her latest album at the moment. Elements of soul, jazz, pop, even trip-hop all mixed together to create something immediately familiar. Her first album is worth a listen too. Any other admirers here?

The Afterword Album Of The Year 2025

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December is here and it is time for the only end of year poll that matters – The Afterword Album Of The Year. I suggest the same rules as usual. Name your Top 20, preferably using the format number, artist, album name (e.g. 1. Radiohead – OK Computer). Your number 1 choice will earn 20 points and the rest will be awarded 19, 18 etc.down to 1 point for your number 20. I know there will be those that think we should do it differently but over the years this seems to be the method that has ticked most boxes. Any questions of albums’ validity will be judged on a case by case basis, but I’m not looking to fall out with anyone over these judgements – it’s just a bit of fun innit?

The poll closes on 31st December at 11.59pm – results to be posted early in the new year.

Thanks everyone, and may the best album win….

Mods – any chance this could be pinned near the top of the blog?

EVRi Delivery a Disaster – the Remix Version

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It’s only a few weeks since the EVRi thread established beyond reasonable doubt that Britain’s least favourite delivery company is responsible for off-the-scale levels of incompetence. Since then I’ve had numerous occasions to rethink my previously sanguine view of the delivery company from hell, and feel duty bound to share the misery.

Okay, it’s Christmas, it’s Black Friday, it’s Cyber Weekend or Virtual Wednesday or whatever, and delivery companies are stretched, parcels will be late. Late yes, but lost? Again and again and again? But there’s more! EVRi have begun trialling something new to speed things up – drive-by deliveries. When I found my first delivery dumped at the bottom of the drive and tried to work out how it got there, only one conclusion seemed to fit the evidence. When it happened for the second time I saw the driver slow down, wind down the window of his van and hurl Mrs B’s Christmas present over the gate where it landed crushed and broken in a puddle. He slowed down long enough to take a delivery photo then sped off without even getting his feet wet.

And so to EVRi’s customer service. Impossible to speak to a human being » Continue Reading.

alliterative adjectives and addresses

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It’s a quiet start to December, and I wondered if anyone wanted to fill an idle moment with some creative thinking?

Describe a band or artist AND the place they come from. You can make it a game by leaving the name of said act out of your comment.

I came up with these in the Joy Division oven gloves thread:

○ The Mancunian miserablists ○ The Cantabrigian concept album creators ○ The bringers of badinage from Birkenhead

I’m sure you can do better!

The Ashes thread – Brisbane

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So we will soon be seeing the willow on err pink ball with a day night Test. So Capt Pat is not in , Uzzie still is and Mark Wood was wearing a moonboot and knee brace not unlike mine after the attempted assassination by tree. Starc reputedly best swinger of the pink ball going around. I get England’s decision to train in Brisbane rather than a game in Canberra. Canberra is dry and quite cool at the moment. Brisbane is hot and humid and building ip to the wet. I think you are far better acclimatising up there.

Predict Khwawaja to open and Australia to win if it is not rained out.

ATM or ATAdmin – major problem posting

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Recently I did a big update to my iPhone 15 to version to 26.1

Since then I have had no end of trouble posting a thread or commenting on the threads of others. I can’t post a screenshot of what happens and if I could you lot can’t use imgur.

Ok So I click on the relevant panel to commence typing. As soon as I do that a new panel drops down concealing whatever it is I am typing.This shows a blank patch an up cursor and a down cursor and to the other side a tick. Below that is a QWERTY board. When I type I can’t see what I am typing.However, if I click on tick it shows me what I have typed and I can press submit. Given my reputation for typos as it is, this makes the process rather thwart. The cursors on the other side don’t appear to do anything. Doesn’t happen on any other site.

I will see if Thep can post the image I am trying to describe.

Vice Squad – time for a reappraisal?

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While the rejuvenated Cockney Rejects are out there playing anywhere that will have them, Vice Squad have taken a different path. I don’t think they’ve performed live since lockdown – deliberately so – taking the route of recording at home (Rebecca & Paul’s place, VS vocal/guitar & guitar) and creating social media videos from home. Very effectively, it seems to me – and good luck to them.

There’s little or no money in touring at the club level, and a lot of risk, so the Squad seem to be a good example of a heritage act (I’m sure they’d hate that phrase) operating a firmly DIY operation to get their music out to fans from their living room/kitchen without schlepping around the country playing to 40 people a night or whatever it may be.

They have a new ‘best of’ just out – titled ‘Punk Rockers’ (lest there be any confusion), own label, own distribution – featuring newly recorded versions of classics. I salute them for ignoring the remains of the trad record industry and doing it themselves.

They have a knack for decent tunes, adding aspects of pop to their metally punk. Speaking of which, on this number, ‘Punk » Continue Reading.

Insects Mix

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The end of November marks the end of an era, as Edinburgh based station Tak Tent Radio sadly closes down. I have contributed many mixes to them over the years, on subjects as diverse as dreams, Afro-Funk, Rockabilly, natural disasters, etc and my final one is on INSECTS. The Garden of Earthly Delights mixes will carry on of course without subscription on my Mixcloud page. Meanwhile I hope you dig this Skylarking groove!

Anthology

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I watched the first 3 episodes last night. First time I’ve watched it since I bought the dvd box set when it came out. So that’s almost 30 years I think. At the time I suppose it was something of a revelation but now, with so much more information out there, I found myself mentally filling in the gaps.

Also – John George and Ringo seem upfront and straightforward but McCartney just can’t help being self conscious and aware of the camera. Even in the early footage you can see him not really knowing where to look. John was half blind and probably singing into a blur and George was kind of serious but having a good time. Ringo was just having a good time.

I suppose I should really wait until I’ve watched every episode at least once, let alone six times, but I thought it a good idea to share a couple of initial thoughts

And finally, for now, I really like the Anthology 4 CD. I’ve read a lot of criticism (Apple scraping the bottom of the barrel etc) but really it’s great to hear them making mistakes and laughing and being lads.

V R Headsets ATM

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So, reality sucks. I’ve decided to investigate the world of VR for some temporary escape. I don’t know a lot about the options as far as VR kit is concerned. I see Meta Quest 3S and the more expensive Meta Quest 3-512GB online. I wonder if anyone has any knowledge and advice. I’m not a gamer although I do have a very old Nintendo in the attic. It’s been there since we saved the princess in the 90’s

‘If I don’t meet you no more in this world I’ll meet you in the next one, and don’t be late Don’t be late’

The Ramones

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I’m amazed to see the Ramones chart history … they never really made it big in terms of sales. According to Wikipedia.

US charts no top 50 singles UK charts 4 top 50 with Baby I Love You reaching 8

Surely that’s not right?

Is Farage on the ropes?

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Watching the interview with Farage about his behaviour at school, a couple of things occurred to me.

Firstly, he looks really uncomfortable – shifting in his seat, perspiring, switching from defensive to aggressive and struggling to work out how to fix this with his normal approach.

Secondly, he is trying to call out around 20 people as liars whilst categorically not denying that he said those things he has been accused of, only that he did not deliberately intend to cause any hurt.

It raises the interesting question of how much bigotry and arrogance is going to be too much for Reform to retain the current levels of support. Is this Farage backstory going to work in their favour or is it going to be a step too far for those floating voters.

Video in the comments.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

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I was talking to a work colleague the other day and he told me how pressure his son, currently revising for his GCSE mock exams, is under. Far more than I ever experienced for my O levels at my bog standard 1980s comp.

In addition, he, the son, is constantly being told he has to decide what career path he wants to follow and to target his efforts accordingly. That struck me as bizarre on two grounds – first, we are always being told that young people today will typically ‘build portfolio careers’ (jargon for insecure employment), and second, I’m 58 and have no idea what I ‘want to do’. I’ve quite enjoyed most of what I have done but they have always been jobs I have fallen into rather than worked towards.

What did you want to be when you were a child? I have vague memories of wanting to be a policeman or fireman when I was primary age, something that seemed heroic and came with an impressive uniform. Either that or a dolphin. By secondary school I think I had an aspiration towards architecture, but my technical skills wouldn’t have been up to it. Instead I just » Continue Reading.

Jimmy Cliff RIP

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Very very sad to read this on the news. When ever anyone asks who is the best singer you have ever seen in the flesh, this is the answer. He was wonderful live & I was always blown away by the sheer power he had

Oops!

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Check this out. Don’t bother watching the video – it’s the young CEO of the company that makes smartglasses for the deaf being interviewed on Zoom by some elderly people from a deaf association – but watch what happens at 53.20. OOPS! I’m wondering if I’m the only person so far to have noticed (or was that a brief smirk from the CEO guy?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwB4ljcC-Fk

International Men’s Day

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Very late in the day to mark it. Without Richard Herring’s heroic marathon Twitter sessions where he would respond to any tool who posted on International Women’s Day “Yeah but when is International Men’s Day?” it had slipped my mind this year until this late hour. I can’t say I’ve marked it in any significant way today but as I never miss an opportunity to throw some Roddy Frame into the spotlight, here’s a suitable tune…

(see below)

The Ashes thread

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In order to keep it nice and tidy.

Well it’s almost upon us and we know how well we do with that first ball. Australia seem clear favourites but the odds for the results have England about 7/1 to win 3–2 and 6-1 for Oz to win 3-2 so somewhat mixed.

There are injuries for the Ozzies but if we can stay fit esp Stokes I think we can do this. History says there is a 50/50 chance of one game being drawn through rain, I don’t think any others will.

We probably need to win in Perth … we definitely need to win in Adelaide and I think we will win the day night … I’m going 3-2 to England … at least 2-1 up after 3 if not 3-0