I hardly said a word

I've had a thoroughly splendid week in terms of listening pleasure. I had an interesting conversation about musical snobbery and what makes a good pop song during several hours in bar that played the most chronic selection of shite I've heard in some time. A quick comment about how the Girls Aloud track playing when we went in was probably the best thing that they'd managed in about two hours spiraled off into something far more complicated. Anyway, the conversation leads me nicely to my first point of interest this week, Lily Allen.

A few months ago I read that she'd posted a couple of new tracks on her Myspace and I made a mental note to have a listen at some point. I finally did that today and I'm pleasantly surprised. There were some decent tracks on debut album; sampling Allen Toussaint is always good by me and 'Alfie' is pop genius, but for the new record she's gone in an electro-pop direction. The two new tunes are splendid, in particular the first offering, 'I Don't Know' which has an enjoyable quiet/loud Girls Aloud/Sugababes feel to it. Not that I imagine she'd be especially thrilled with the comparison. The second track, 'I Could Say' sounds a little like a Pet Shop Boys ballad. Anyhoo, whatever I think, I'd recommend having a listen via the link above.

Speaking of the PSBs, they recently recorded a cover of Madness' 'My Girl' while rehearsing for a live performance with Suggs. On this delightful demo, Neil takes lead vocals and it's a wonderfully quirky take on a classic tune. You can access it via the 'exclusive tracks' page in the 'Product' area on their website. Or you could just click here. You choose, why don't you?

A final true 'pop' moment before moving on. As I'm pointing out rather splendid bits of popular music that I'm rather fond of, I'll give a quick mention to Rihanna's 'Don't Stop The Music'. Now, I know this isn't exactly new and I know that you probably cut your ears off after the ninety-seventh time you heard 'Umbrella', but this is a true pop classic. Meticulously crafted, never quite as fast as you think it's going to be and yet deceptively uplifting. Ver Tube allows a listen below.

I've been living with Weller's '22 Dreams' for a week now, and it's almost as good as the reviews are suggesting. Let's get one thing straight before we go on - it ain't a five-star kind of album. It can't be, really, because of its quite deliberate ebbs and flows. A few tracks add nothing, and the final, noodly instrumental track, 'Night Lights' really outstays its welcome. But it's a definite four-star kind of album and one which repays repeated listens. That's not especially surprising when you bear in mind that there are 21 tracks to absorb. Apparently, the deluxe edition has sold out already, but you'll not be missing much if you've not got it. 'Rip Up The Pages' and 'Love's Got Me Crazy' are the additional tunes - both rather good, and probably more deserving of a place on the main album that some of the more fanciful farting about, but all of that stuff does rather add to its charm. Have a listen via the link below and make sure you do it in one sitting; it works better that way.

I should just finish by noting the fact that a true great, Bo Diddley died earlier this week. If you know nowt about the man or his music, you should probably get that sorted. One of the 'Chess' collections should suffice. Some far more professional and worthy tributes can be found via the following links:

1. Richard Hawley's tribute on the BBC site

2. First ten minutes of Gary Crowley's show, filling in for Tom Robinson on 6music on Friday 6th June

3. Mark Lamarr's 'God's Jukebox' from Saturday 7th June. Various tunes and references throughout.

Click here to listen to God*

 

The NME website is currently allowing you to stream the new Weller album, '22 Dreams', ahead of its release on Monday. My advice would be, do so. It's really rather good. Perhaps even as good as some of the recent orgasmic reviews have suggested. Listened to 'As Is Now' on double vinyl today for the first time. It really is a wonderful record and I remain baffled by its failure to sell. If you haven't bought it since it's come down to, oh I dunno, £1.27 or thereabouts, then you're a muppet. I know I risk alienating the casual reader with a remark like that, but there you go, eh? Life's too short to hold grudges. Apart from in the case of George Lamb, obviously. What was I saying? Oh yeah, go here...

NME Weller Page

and scroll down to the Paul Weller Media Player section. You'll need to register, but they don't want much info. Then click and you're off. Enjoy.

*It's a track on the album.

Plus, you can hear the new album from, the rather fabulous, Ron Sexsmith here. I've not listened to it all yet, but if you like the old stuff you'll like this. A little like Spiritualized, each album has plenty in common with the previous one, but if you like one, you'll like them all. Have a listen. It's free. That seems less of an endorsement than I'd meant. Never mind.

What do you mean, 'how predictable'?

I thought I'd use this Bank Holiday for some record shopping. Not an especially innovative idea for me, I know, but that doesn't stop it being thoroughly enjoyable. I spent a rather splendid few hours mooching around Birmingham's (open) record shops and have picked up some nice little bits and bobs. The new Weller single came out today and I've added both 7"s to my collection. One of them has been advertised on pre-orders as 'dinked'. I was curious to find out what this means and, it would seem, I'm going to have to remain curious. I'm buggered if I know in what way either of the pieces of vinyl I purchased are 'dinked'. Still, both sides of this double a-side are brilliant and I'm genuinely quite excited about the release of the new album, '22 Dreams', next Monday.

Also picked up the 7" of The Young Knives' 'Turn Tail'. I already own the album, but this version is from a lathe recording. A quite magical version recorded with the band standing round one mic and cut straight onto vinyl. Wonderful stuff and to be encouraged.

I appear to have been duped. Back in my reviewing-occasionally-for-a-national-magazine days, I was less than polite about Green Day's 'American Idiot' album. It's shite, by the way. I wasn't wrong. However, today I was merrily browsing through the racks in HMV to decide what to go and buy for a quid less in Zavvi (they're a big independent now, you know) when I happened across Foxboro Hot Tubs' new album, 'Stop, Drop and Roll'. It's packaged like an old 60s garage band, and while I knew it was a new recording, I figured it would be the sort of thing I might well enjoy. So, I added it to the pile and it was duly purchased a little while later. My suspicions were first aroused when, stopping on the way back home for bread, milk and a lemon meringue pie, I noticed it was in Asda's album chart. Surely not? Anyhoo, got home, bunged it on and was tapping my foot along to the rather pleasant opening numbers when Google hit me for six and left me wondering if the world is really as I took it to be. It's fucking Green Day using a pseudonym! Plus, and this is the bit that's really fucking with my mind, it's actually pretty good. Really. A couple of songs have normal vocal style  of the twattish lead singer (he has a name? Oh, well I've always called him that) coming through, but overall it's a bit of loving pastiche. So, all was not lost there.

Also picked up the new album by The Shortwave Set, which has been on my mental list for a little while now. It's playing as I type and it sounds bloody good. Different to the delightful debut, but nevertheless it's a cracking set of songs. Apparently it's produced by Danger Mouse, but then isn't everything these days?

The new Futureheads is in the pile to play, as is Richard Swift's 'As Onassis', on which he comes on all 'sixties garage rock'. As long as he doesn't come on all 'Green Day' I'm sure it'll be excellent. Plus, it's one of the splendid recent vinyl releases that gives you a free digital download to allow it to become a portable listen. Great idea.

Will comment on The Shortwave Set, The Futureheads and Swift in due time, as well as the new 2DVD 'Later...The First 15 Years' set, which Zavvi are knocking out for a very reasonable £14 off the shelf. Not the cheapest online price, but bloody good for high street prices. I've only watched the sublime performance of 'Electrolite' (one of my all-time favourite songs) by R.E.M. so far, but with over sixty songs I'm sure it'll keep me amused.

As you were.

Weller-Weller-Weller-Uh, tell me more...

Despite receiving middling reviews for most of his albums since 'Stanley Road', Paul Weller is one of those artists who are almost entirely above critical opinion. They're safe from attack and have pretty much carved out their own corner of cool, in which they will reside forever. Having witnessed him in action last night at Derby's Assembly Rooms, I'm reasonably certain I get it.

Firstly, and this was the first time I'd seen him, he is a quite wonderful musician, whose boundless enthusiasm radiates from him for the duration of the gig. You can tell he really fucking loves the songs he's playing, and it's a sense of abandon you don't see at many live shows.

Secondly, he's just about got the art of building a set sorted. Admittedly, after the years he's had to perfect this he should really have it perfected, but the material he played ensured that a state of rapture was duly bestowed upon all present by the point it was time to head homewards. Sadly, 'The Eton Rifles' got the biggest cheer of the night. While I understand this from the nostalgia angle, I'm a firm believer that much of what Weller has done solo is worthy of attention. Ok, so 'Illumination' is hardly an album that'll appear in Mojo's 'Buried Treasure' feature in twenty years' time, but can you honestly deny the quality of 'Stanley Road' and 'As Is Now'? A friend I was with suggested that the audience looked like they were here just for 'You Do Something To Me'. I'd argue that that was far too modern for many of this audience. Not to say it wasn't a great audience, mind. Weller seemed genuinely chuffed with the response he got - presumably this was at least in part down to the plethora of new tunes being debuted - and as a result we received a bonus encore of 'All You Need Is Love', which was thoroughly charming and almost as good an end to a gig as walking out of Richard Hawley's Buxton date to the strains of Louis Armstrong's 'What A Wonderful World'.

Thirdly, the new album is likely to be shit-hot, based on the material offered up. Only the odd song ended up chugging as he was prone to do around the turn of the new millennium, and the upbeat stuff sounded urgent and, most importantly, fantastically soulful. I've long been of the opinion that he could release a truly beautiful soul record, in the mould of the live version of 'Broken Stones' which builds on the already brilliant foundations of one of my favourite Weller tunes and takes it off into orbit. It was last night's joint highlight along with 'Wild Blue Yonder', the recent one-off single that was supposed to launch a whole run of stand-alone singles. Ah well, he'll do whatever the fuck he likes, one supposes.

Fourthly, and this is the weird bit, I don't think I'll ever feel the need to see him live again. Taking nothing away from what was, in the main, an excellent performance, there's slightly too much of the self-indulgent guitar wankery that is so acceptable to fans in possession of rose-tinted ocular matter and the overwhelming sense of 'hope he plays a few from his days in The Jam' that hung over the crowd a little to visibly is a little hard to ignore. I'm glad I saw him, and he kept me entertained. But with ticket prices at £30 and upwards, I'm not sure that's the most likely route for my disposable income in the future. I can't be the only one who feels like this after certain gigs, can I? Great, but once is enough.

I've pre-ordered the new album, '22 Dreams', mind. Here's the new single.

Sunday Shuffle - Take Five (more)

1. Jimmy McGriff - Cash Box

Funkier than the proverbial Mosquito's tweeter. Whatever that mad-as-a-table songsmith Nina Simone was on about, it's a cracking phrase and damned appropriate for this swinging bit of organ work from the really rather splendid McGriff. You only really need one album of his and, rather splendidly, 'The Best Of The Sue Years 1962-1965' was release a couple of years back at a bargain price. All the tracks match this hip-shufflingly high standard and never fail to raise a smile. Even when your rugby team has been booted out of the Heineken Cup by Toulouse. Smile along.

2. Freddie Hubbard - Hub's Nub

Cards on the table, I'm not sure I've ever played this before. I got myself a bulk load of jazz not all that long ago and I'm still working through it. Classy enough from the get go as it hails from the Blue Note stables and thus can't be anything other than good and is likely to be great. My foot's tapping at a fairly swift rate. Splendid trumpeteering throughout, although I'm finding it hard to passionately care one way or the other about this. I hate to say this about any piece of music, but it's, ahem, nice.

3. Radiohead - Something To Hate

From a bizarre Radiohead rarities collection that I dug up over at atease.com, this is nothing to write home about. In fact, it's an absolutely dreadful piece from the early peroxide days. What were they thinking. Thankfully, it's only 1:15 long!!

4. Laura Marling - (Interlude) Crawled Out Of The Sea

Technically, the next track was a Nick Abbot phone-in programme from 1998, but I've decided against including those. The next musical track was this, a brief moment of musical majesty from Laura Marling. To understand just how great she is, feel free to scroll down through this blog to see me rhapsodising at length about her on numerous occasions. Here she is performing it in a Brighton record shop, although it comes after 'Cross Your Fingers', as per the album tracklist.

5. Paul Weller - I Wanna Make It Alright

Quality tune from the somewhat overlooked, 'As Is Now'. After the somewhat bloated 'Illumination' and the pleasant enough covers album, 'Studio 150', this album was a surprisng return to form from Weller and this one is a lovely, Swinging-Sixties style piece that demonstrates what a wonderful, soulful voice Weller has.

Here's a live performance to enjoy

"This is the way they would have come, if they hadn't not come this way"

Musical Revelations Of The Week:

The Go Team! - 'Proof Of Youth' - Ok, so they're not reinventing the wheel, but there were some quite sniffy reviews of this album in the 'serious' papers recently. It's meant to sound like it's all coming through a transistor radio. That's what made the first album so charming. This one's a bit more vocal-heavy than the debut, but still rides a wave of euphoria from start to finish. I wasn't convinced by the first singles initially, but I'm glad to say I was wrong and if 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' was a favourite, then take a punt on this too. Purchase early for a rather splendid free bonus disc of oddities.
Andy Lewis & Paul Weller - 'Are You Trying To Be Lonely?' - A cracking Northern Soul stomper that is a logical continuation of one of Weller's teenage compositions, 'Left, Right & Centre' having similar treatment at the hands of Lord Large and Dean Parrish not all that long ago. As I've said recently, Weller's voice has matured like a fine wine, and his covers album, 'Studio 150', demonstrated that he can apply it to a variety of styles. This is a resounding success, and far more heavyweight than the collaboration with Graham Coxon from a few months ago. Single out tomorrow.
Bat For Lashes - 'Fur And Gold' - I've already said a fair bit about this, but for anyone who likes their female singers quirky but affecting then this is for you. No peaks and troughs, just quality throughout. Still cheap at the moment due to excess Mercury-influenced stock in shops, but may not always be the case.
Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:
Argentina's rugby team: To be fair to myself, I'd had more than a slight hunch that the opening game of the Rugby World Cup 2007 might go against the home team, France, but what a bloody great game it was. I shouted myself hoarse cheering on the underdogs, despite the fact that I reckon France deserve their time. It blows Pool D wide open, with Argentina, France and Ireland all competing to get out of the group and on to the quarter finals. Gripping stuff. Unlike the England team who looked like there's a slight risk they may not come even second in their pool. As for my lot, it's a good job we finally managed to play well in the second half of a game of rugby for a change, as we were fucking awful in the first half. I fear for us against Australia. Here's a cool picture of Shane Williams from the BBC website, although likely to be from Huw Evans' Welsh Rugby Pics website, which is full of wonderful Welsh rugby photos to buy.Sky News - This morning a slightly flustered member of the Sky team attempted to fill a huge chunk of airtime stood by the side of a road waiting for the McCann family to arrive at an airport. She spent much of the report turned sideways on to the camera as she appeared to also have the job of looking out for the relevant vehicles. It was one of the most pointless and ill-conceived bits of 'news' reporting I've ever seen. Quite what would have been gained by seeing the cars I'll never know. Such is the problem with rolling news. It's got to be filled with something. Rather charmingly, she was determined to make up for failing to being us live pictures of a moving car, so she showed us the airport, and how it would have been for the McCann family if they hadn't gone through the private entrance. So, in other words, here's some footage of an airport for absolutely no reason at all. Bizarre.
Outnumbered - Some of it might have been improvised apparently, but who really cares, because it was funny. Starring Hugh Dennis and the delightful Claire Skinner, this was a comedy based around some brilliant child actors who spent the majority of each of the six episodes pushing their parents to the edge. Laugh-out-loud funny at times, and nothing less than chucklesome at others, this was another fine piece of telly from the team behind Drop The Dead Donkey.

No more than seven years behind the times

Musical Revelations Of The Week:

Paul Weller - 'Heliocentric' - Yup, finger on the pulse of yoof music, once again. As I said a week ago, I've finally picked up the two Weller solo albums that were missing from my collection, this one and 'Heavy Soul.' I won't go over the reasons for the delay again, but suffice to say I've been proved wrong. Somebody I work with is absolutely obsessive about Weller and recently attempted to persuade me that this album was far better than critics judged it on release. I allowed him to blather on for a little while, before dismissing such fanciful notions with but a waft of my eyelashes. However, I think he might actually be right. I've been playing it quite a lot this week - that and 'Lady's Bridge' - and it's really starting to win me over. It's not so much individual songs that stand out, but the overall mood that it creates. It's soulful, it's got that earthy-rock sound that has more than a little blues in there and his singing is marvellous. There is, however, one tune that does stand out, and that's the closer, 'Love-less.' One of Weller's heart-breaking, piano-led ballads that just floors me. A delight, not to mention a surprise. The spiffing chap himself was in the Sunday Times magazine today which I happened upon as a result of switching from the Sindy as a result of the free World Cup guide. I'm such an oval-ball whore. That seems so much worse written down than it did in my head.
Booker T. & The MGs - Picked up the 'Stax Profiles' CD from Fopp the other day because a) it was £4 b) it's compiled by Elvis Costello. I've always been quite fond of BT&MGs, but the 'Complete Stax/Volt Singles' and their 'Green Onions' album had always seemed to suffice. This album was something of a revelation and Costello must take some of the credit for his wonderfully enthusiastic sleevenotes. Sitting between the speakers and giving it my full attention I realised that I'd done this lot a disservice in the past. Don't just judge them on 'Green Onions' and don't write them of as background music. At this price, you can just buy it rather than have me try and capture the raw power of these tracks on a blog on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Super Furry Animals - 'Hey Venus!' - I was convinced that, having waited an extra week for it, the vinyl edition was going to be a shit pressing that sounded like somebody was eating a bag of salt and vinegar throughout, but no, the LP of this quite marvellous record sounds ace. In addition to that, you've really got to get it just to see that artwork in its 12"x12" glory.
Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:
The Smoking Room - Got series two on DVD this week and it reignited my love affair with this programme. The laws of the land ensure that a third series would be highly improbable, but that doesn't stop the two that exist being laugh-out-loud funny throughout. A beautifully observed bunch of regular characters reaching into double figures spend each episode doing little more than talking. This would be shit, but for the perfectly crafted dialogue and the meticulous performances from the cast. Video samples from here.
The Likely Lads - It's my firmly-held belief that 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?' is one of the all time great comedy shows but I'd never got round to buying the DVD of the surviving episodes of the original, black and white series from the sixties. The Beeb, back in the days before archive material was the never-ending source of money, had wiped a great deal of legendary material - Pete and Dud and Dad's Army suffered similarly cruel fates, but these seven episodes remain. They're bloody funny. To be fair, it's the later episodes that stand up the most, but still, I remain hugely jealous of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, writers of not only this, but the follow-up series and another of the greatest shows of all time, Porridge and its follow-up, Going Straight. The Likely Lads owes a great deal of its entertainment value to the performances of Rodney Bewes and James Bolam who are superb throughout. Their entirely believeable relationship adds a dramatic elements to events, as well ensuring that every gag is milked to its full potential. Wonderful stuff, and currently going rather cheap. (You can get the surviving episodes of this series, plus both series of 'WHTTLL?' in a box for £17.99 here)
Gideon Coe on 6music moving - I was rather dismayed to learn that one of the most under-rated presenters on British radio is being moved from his morning slot to the equivalent show at the other end of the day. From 22nd October, Gid will be hosting 10pm-1am, while shouty E4 tyke, George Lamb will do a straight swap into the mid-morning show. Is it a genius move to provide music lovers with an excellent late night listening experience now that Radcliffe's been moved up the schedule or is it yet more dumbing down of 6music to the point that intelligent presenters can no longer be heard during daylight hours?

Here's The Good Tunes

Finally picked up Weller's 'Heavy Soul' and 'Heliocentric' today in one of those '2 for £10' offers. I've always avoided the latter due to some truly mediocre reviews on release, and for some reason I've always associated the former with some notion of 'Dadrock' from the tail end of Britpop. And yet, one of my favourite Weller solo tracks, 'Peacock Suit' is on it and it seemed about right to cave in as I absolutely loved 'As Is Now' and have recently been on a bit of a solo Weller binge thanks to the documentary DVD, 'Into Tomorrow', that came out recently.
So, today, a selection of Weller stuff from Ver Tube.
Ain't the weather lovely?

Apparently they are getting back together

Paul Weller and Graham Coxon have just released a three-track EP thingy via the usual download services. In a couple of weeks it'll also be on 7". What's interesting is that two commercially potent artists get together and bash out some spikey indie rock and yet the one format they don't touch is CD. People who get paid to talk bollocks about the future are already announcing the death of the CD. A load of old cock, naturally. But, what's more interesting is the strength of the 7". Indie bands are releasing singles on CD, download and 2x7" these days. Yes, part of it is about being collectors' items, but surely part of it is also because vinyl is cool. Anyway, the EP is decent enough, although nothing life-changing. But then I don't imagine you thought it would be. Best place I've found to purchase is 7 Digital, with 320kb/s mp3s of all three tracks for £1.77. Can't complain.
Speaking of vinyl and Graham Coxon, I nipped down to the sorting office this morning to retrieve another lovingly mauled parcel from the care of Royal Mail. Inside said parcel was an item I've been after for years, the double-vinyl, gatefold edition of 'Blur' by Blur. If I was being Sherlock Holmes I'd say that the previous owner was an alcoholic based on the scratches at the start of each side of vinyl, a la the scratches around the keyhole on Watson's father's watch. Snap, crackle and pop aside, it sounds bloody brilliant. I'm well aware, as indeed I've said before, that I tend to listen to vinyl through, er, rose-tinted earphones but it definitely sounded more alive than either CD edition that I have. (Yes, I own it three times now.) It remains one of my all-time favourite albums. For a while I thought I'd have to demote it because 'Think Tank' had made it into the top list too, but then realised that nobody gives a flying fuck what my all-time favourite albums are, and thus it could be a list consisting entirely of Blur and it wouldn't matter.
And finally... The Chemical Brothers' greatest hits record turned up from play.com today. At £2.99 it seemed rude not to. I enjoyed it much more than I expected to. I haven't returned to the new one yet, despite intending to do so. Some of the vintage tunes are surprisingly fresh a decade on. 'The Private Psychedelic Wheel' sounds better now than it did back then. 'The Golden Path' is probably the best Flaming Lips song ever made, and they didn't make it. Still £3, and well worth a punt.
P.S. Just finished watching 'Grass', the sitcom starring Billy Bleach, a bit-part character from The Fast Show, turned police informant. Bloody marvellous and yet no bugger knows about it. Full, gushing review in the revelations on Sunday.