The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Eg and Alice – 24 Years of Hunger

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This came up on this weeks Bigmouth Podcast (former Word writer Andrew Harrison’s current ‘vehicle’ – like and subscribe if you haven’t already). I vaguely recall this record coming out at the time and some excitable reviews in the press but I ignored it – to be fair in 1991 the last thing I wanted to hear was a collaboration between a BMX Champion/Model and a former member of Brother Beyond (I wanted to hear Primal Scream, The Orb and Spacemen 3). It tanked at the time and this record is long out of print and has never been re-released, it’s not on Spotify or iTunes. It is that most unusual thing of our time – a genuinely lost record. Someone has uploaded bits of it to YouTube and flipping heck it’s really good – immaculate, elegant Blue Nile/Prefab Sprout/Japan style 80s pop with a dash of Steely Dan. I’ve tracked down a CD from 1991 on Discogs for a reasonable price. I wonder why it’s never been reissued especially when Eg White has gone on to write billions of hit records including tunes for Will Young, Adele, Kylie etc and this offbeat, 80s hinterland music is all the rage » Continue Reading.

You can’t see depression,

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It doesn’t come in a sling. It doesn’t wear a bandage. It doesn’t use a crutch.

Perhaps, if it did any of those things, it would be more recognisable, more important, to those lucky people that don’t suffer from it.

But it doesn’t.

Depression is not a choice. It is not a state of mind to ‘get over.’ It is not something we can control. We would love to decide when it hits and when it doesn’t.

But we can’t.

Yesterday I told my boss that I have suffered from depression for 43 years. He wasn’t even born 43 years ago. He was brilliant. Supportive, helpful, compassionate. I wish everyone who suffers worked for as good an employer as I do.

But they don’t.

Please help. You can’t see depression. You can’t hear it. You can’t touch it. But, really, you can do all of those things.

You can see your friend’s moods, and how they change. You can hear your friend, and how their voice lowers, how their speech slows. And you can feel their tears, their emotions, how everything is right at the surface. You can touch their pain.

You can’t help us depressives.

Oh, but » Continue Reading.

Albums saved by an epic final track

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Ok been listening to The Blue Nile’s High. It’s OK – but is that enough for a Blue Nile album. Some atmospherics, a lot of Americana in the lyrics, but not much in the way of Blue Nile epic moody tunes….until the final track which brings everything the album has been about over 7 and a half minutes of epic Nileness, all geared around a simple but georgeous melodic line. In retrospect I can see the first 8 tracks as mere prologue to this mighty closer. So what other albums are saved by an epic final track (and I’ve got another I’ll post in the comments)