Nottingham Blues Explosion

They have some record shops in Nottingham, notably Selectadisc and Fopp. I did my best to keep them in business.

Kate Bush Aerial

You know, Kate Bush returns after years away with new album about cleaning her young fella’s kecks. It does not have the far-reaching madness of her earlier works, yet it is rather engaging. I struggle to remember any of the individual tunes (bar the washing machine one and the pi one), but the record washes over me oceanically when I listen to it, so on balance I will judge this a HIT.

The Fall 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong

They were playing The Fall in Fopp while we were in there, I had had a little drink, and this little puppy was the result. And this is not even the record they were playing. This covers the band’s career from its earliest days to the relatively recent past. One thing I was struck by was how relatively stable the line-up was for a long period of time, with essentially the same people being in the band from the mid-1980s until the New York unpleasantness. This contrasts with the perception I had had of the Fall having a line-up that changed every week or two.

It was nice to renew my acquaintance with ‘Totally Wired’, though it’s a pity that neither ‘I’m Into CB’ nor ‘Who Makes The Nazis’ made the cut. And where’s ‘Glam Packet’? And all those other songs?

Cornershop Hold On, It Hurts

Bought so that I can complete the Cornershop album set on teh iPod. This is their first full album, still rather guitar heavy but with occasional twinges of sitary stuff or Wiija spoken word. I have always loved it, and demand satisfaction from anyone who asserts that ‘Born Disco, Died Heavy Metal’ era Cornershop somehow represents a time before they chose quality.

Joy Division Substance

Again, iPod fodder. Also, my vinyl copy skips on the odd track. My new theory on Joy Division is that people go on about Ian Curtis too much. Great as he is, he is not what makes the band, and Joy Division is at its least interesting on songs (like ‘Atmosphere’) which hang solely on his voice. You really see the converse on tracks like ‘Dead Souls’, where Curtis is almost irrelevant to the track’s brooding power.

I’m still waiting for some pop slappers to cover ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ in the style it deserves.

Ramones [first album]

The first couple of listenings had me thinking that this was grand but that all the songs really do sound the same. I’ve got into it more since then and started to realty get off on tracks like ‘53rd & 3rd'… man, being a psychotic rent boy in mid 70s New York, that must have been cool.

v/a Keeping The Faith: a Creation Records Dance compilation

What, fifteen years late I get a copy of this popular Creation Records dance compilation? This is great fun, featuring many of your favourite tunes, including the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy’s cover of ‘We Love You’, Terry Farley’s mix of ‘Loaded’, the dancey mix of ‘Soon’, and much much more. I like it.

“Charley Says”

This being a two DVD sets of public information films. It was nice to be frightened once more by old favourites like that one where the spectral figure lures children to their deaths in canals, or to marvel again at the extreme seriousness of the “Think Bike!” guy. There were also some I’d forgotten, like the water safety one with the grim voice over “She survived. You drowned”. What was it with the 1970s, were people always falling into stagnant pools of water?

The overall effect, though, of endless ads about people getting run over by cars is to generate a fear of leaving the house. But of course, you’re not safe there either, given that you could accidentally burn the place down around you. Blimey.