50 quid bloke

Not a cool name I know, but we spent many brilliant nights there (and in the equally wonderfully named Cagneys…but not Valentinos, which was a bit scally). There was one song everyone loved: Rick James, Super Freak (later sampled and brutalised by MC Hammer). Anyway, tragically Rick James died yesterday, aged 56. Thanks for the memories, as they say.
(Oh, and Tuxedos? Eventually turned into a great big barn of a club called Cream, or something like that..)

Amazon continues to play cruel tricks on me by holding on to everything I’ve ordered for weeks and weeks. However, thanks to Garret, for steering me in the direction of some stuff which was both excellent and managed to arrive quickly.
So, three albums I can thoroughly recommend (in no real order).
- Sons and Daughters: Love The Cup Bought this skeptically after an initial claim that ‘they were great live’ (ie scratchy nonsense you can never listen to at home), but - and I’m trying to remain vaguely calm and dispassionate on this one - it’s probably the best new guitar based album I’ve heard all year. It’s sort of new wave meets country (urban hillbilly as the Guardian called it), which means that while it’s a bit familiar, it’s also got a bit of individuality and voice without simply feeling like the 80s rehashed. Buy it. Buy it. Buy it.
- The Album Leaf: In A Safe Place File this one next to Ulrich Schnauss and Mogwai, it’s really lovely ambient electronic stuff. The sort of album you’ll listen to over and over again without ever quite knowing it, or ever getting tired of it. Yes, we like it a lot.
- Headland: Touchy Feely OK, I have to declare an interest. I work with the brother of one of the guys behind this. I’m therefore very keen that it’s a huge success as it will increase the number of successful popstars I have a vague connection with by 100%.. Someone on Amazon said it sounds like “Air, The Kinks, Royksopp, The Beta Band and The Avalanches all rolled into one”, which is a pretty fair description, although it makes them sound slightly more derivative than they deserve. It really has the feel of two talented blokes and a computer adding one layer of sound on top of each other, noodling and tweaking for days/months on end. The result is a wonderfully different mix of anything and everything: rocky, dancey, ambient-y. Or as The Guardian says: “subtly psychedelic dreamsongs that are evocative of the early 90s when rock and dance blurred to map out a mythical future that never quite happened.” or something like that. Buy. Buy.
I haven’t had time to get to grips with: Razorlight’s album - but it feels a bit like Indie Rock by numbers. And Garret’s other recommendation: Codename:Dustsucker by Bark Psychosis (I kid you not), which I’m sure will be lovely.

Just finished watching the final episode of The Long Firm, fantastic. I loved the book, but it actually improved on TV thanks to Mark Strong (revealed in Word as being a big fan of Eno and Byrne’s My Life In the Bush of Ghosts…something we can talk about later).
And the final tune as our hero sails into the sunset? The Jam’s Thick As Thieves. Perfect.
And, The West Wing’s back (yes, the plots are getting sillier and sillier, but it’s still the best thing on telly). Oh, and the Sopranos and Six Feet Under both start on E4 next week. And, did I see trailers for a new series of the truly deviant Nip/ Tuck? And isn’t The OC back soon? Haven’t we suffered enough Big Brother?

I’m currently waiting for so much stuff, the suspense is killing me. All that’s arrived in thelast week or so is the Razorlight album. Meanwhile….where’s Headland’s Touch Feely and all the other goodies I’m waiting for. If this carries on, I might even go to a record shop. Not that I’d know what to do if I went there.

…can be found here. Just in case you were wondering what I listen to all day.
Obviously, this is just a front, and I’m really playing ABBA greatest hits on the CD player…

Media Guardian has a piece today about Q’s i-Pod influenced relaunch (reg rqd).
Their cover feature this month is 1010 tunes you must own - as chosen by a collection of various artists and celebs etc.
This is a great idea for a feature: and it was even better when Word did exactly the same about four months ago.