Americans largely know what they would be getting with Trump; more of the same scowling, insulting, reactionary ‘leadership’. They will also get someone who justifies using violence as a means to an end and who […]

Barry Ryan’s “Eloise”, the whole damn song. I find it’s totally uplifting – from the opening, when the full orchestra kicks in, through the quiet bit that ends with four strikes of a drum, and then, at 5:06, t […]

Big fan of the Only Ones, or, rather, some of the Only Ones’ stuff. ‘Even Serpents Shine’ is an amazing album and John Perry must rank as one of the most underrated guitarists around. That said, I am not overl […]

I noticed recently that the lead singer in the Arctic Monkeys started to sound like that. I hope it was a short-lived thing. Who is the narrator who ‘has a wheezy Keith Richardesque quality to her voice that […]

Numerically, in recent times, the Democrats have always been supported by more Americans in presidential elections than those supporting the Republicans. It is an anomaly of the US electoral system that a few […]

Kenney Jones was great in The Faces but he was no Keith Moon.

I don’t know Taylor Swift’s songs well enough to comment on their merits and equally hold nothing against her for being popular or voicing strong views. It is fascinating to see the adulation with which she is reg […]

Just watched it and found it very enjoyable. Thanks for the head’s up. Still think Taste was the bee’s knees but I must explore some more of Rory’s later stuff. Of which there is no shortage.

The Putin vs Greenpeace documentary on BBC is worth a watch. The six short episodes are quite gripping and capture a very interesting time in recent Russian history, when Putin began to turn away from the west and […]

Thanks for the feedback. Hit The Road is a film well worth catching but I suspect it will pop up elsewhere, and good luck with your season. As I say, I belong to two clubs, both of which are in local small […]

I am a member of two film clubs and the outstanding movie shown this year has been Hit The Road, an Iranian film that is funny, sad, intriguing, beautifully filmed etc etc. I sing its praises as often as I can and […]

Great to see the excellent Ethiopiques series get a mention with Mahmoud Ahmed’s Ethiopiques 7. It is, indeed, superb. But to my mind the standout album in the series is Ethiopiques 4, Ethio Jazz, which features M […]

Perhaps another reason The Beatles turned down Godard was because a year earlier he had filmed The Rolling Stones in Sympathy For The Devil, a pretty chaotic movie as I recall.

Gove and Leadsom are going too

I wonder who will provide the “Portillo moment” this time. I am betting on either Jeremy Hunt (my MP, who is up against a well-financed campaign run by the Lib Dems) or Rees-Mogg. Braverman perhaps? Truss? There […]

I tend not to play whole albums these days as there are far too many distractions to allow me the luxury of 40 minutes’ listening time. These are the albums I can find time for though: Pavlov’s Dog: Pampered M […]

I concur with the Splinters recommendation (it was already a bargain at £10) and would also endorse Karl Jenkins’ Penumbra II (Nucleus in all but name, with Alan Skidmore as a bonus).

Just voted. It was only for the Police Commissioner and so I voted the way I will vote in the general election – Lib Dem, because Labour has no chance here in Jeremy Hunt territory (but the Lib Dem candidate has a […]

Another good one. That Splinters package is still available at JiB at only £10 (plus postage) which, to my mind, is one of the bargains of the century (so far). The band’s music is not particularly easy listening […]