Le Bateau Jus Viande

Musical Revelations Of The Week:
Cherry Ghost - Thirst For Romance - I was convinced he'd deliver a brilliant album after I heard him do a session for Radcliffe and Maconie. It confirmed for me that 'Mathematics' was not a one-off. A wonderfully wistful album with more than a hint of the Hawley about him. A few upbeat tracks shocked the bollocks off me at the end of the record, but overall it's the sound of autumnal evenings. Or as we now know them, summer days.
The Chemical Brothers - Greatest Hits - When they were good they were fucking brilliant. 'The Private Psychedelic Reel' is just as beguiling now as it ever was, while the glory of 'The Golden Path', 'Star Guitar' and 'Out Of Control' demonstrate how undervalued this lot are. Not much cop at normal albums, mind.
Prince - New Earth - Ok, so at times it's a little Eighties in terms of production, and he still doesn't know when to end a song, but it's not a bad little record at all. The slower tracks hint at 'Older'-era George Michael while the straight up funk of quite a few tunes hark back to the Prince records that people would actually want to buy in a record shop.

Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:
Grass - The Complete Series - Finally got this BBC3 comedy drama on DVD this week. I refused to buy it as part of an over-priced 'Fast Show Threesome' boxset, as this was the only decent thing in the set. In years to come I genuinely hope that this is held up as a masterwork of its time. I doubt it, because that's never really the way these things work out. Co-written by Simon Day (of Fast Show stock) and Andrew Collins (general media legend), 'Grass' is a delight for every second that it is on screen. Old Fast Show character, Billy Bleach witnesses a gangland shooting and is required to turn grass for the police. As a result he is placed on the witness protection scheme in a little village in Norfolk. The ensuing plot lines - poetry olympics, a rural pub that only serves Moroccan cuisine and two metropolitan police officers embarking on the senior officer's first gay relationship, whilst protecting Bleach - are quite beautifully woven around a superlative performance from Simon Day as as the titular grass. The laughs linger at all the right times, and the throwaway jokes are often the best. The local plod is christened 'Heartbeat' by Bleach, who himself spends much of the first episode inventing as many possible different identities for himself as possible, not quite realising that he may meet these people again. I cannot recommend this show enough. Click on the piccie above to purchase.
Jekyll - Ok, so I already knew this was great, but the back and forth storytelling of this week's episode was captivating. Genuinely great telly and a real feather in writer Steven Moffat's bow.
The Mail On Sunday - yuk. No, really.

No illegal substances

Now, I know I posted a Chemical Brothers video only last weekend, but I felt compelled to bung this one up after being reminded of what an amazing song it is while listening to the Greatest Hits. The Chemicals at their best, with Coyne on form too. Perfect.

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.

That's wordwang!

I find it hard to believe but, as far as I am aware, this morning was the first time I have ever watched the video for The Chemical Brothers' 'Let Forever Be.' It's ace. I was flicking about during half-time in the rugby and ended up sticking with the entire video. Great stuff.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of 'Let Forever Be,' 'how does it feel like?' In what world is that allowed. There's clever twisting of the language and there's talking utter bollocks because it fits the length of the line. That'll be talking bollocks then. Silly man.

Angel Interceptor

For all of my independent record shop rhetoric I caved today. Morrisons are doing their chart CDs for £7, and the new Ash and Chemical Brothers albums were sitting there, luring me in. The Chemicals album might have something about it, but the first listen proved it to be wallpaper with slightly higher bpm.
The Ash album, however, is a beauty. I didn't think they had it in them after the terrible, terrible career nadir of 'Meltdown', but this is the power pop indie of old. It's their 'last' album before they go download singles only on our collective asses. Nice bit of PR but it means bugger all. Shame mind, as this may be their most cohesive album to date.
Sadly, I was correct about Seven Ages Of Rock. At least half the show appeared to be given over to Oasis. Yes, Noel is a cracking interviewee, but he's said pretty much all he's going to say on the subject now. Occasionally I thought, "woo, here we go, some time on Suede or Blur", but having had them on screen for a few minutes of we were back to the riverboat on Gallagher senior's alimentary canal. Where were Sleeper, Pulp, Dodgy, Supergrass, Super Furry Animals, Elastica and so on? It was 50% longer than the other episodes, so the need for a precise focus is bullshit. The film about Britpop, 'Live Forever', managed to cram plenty of indie luminaries into its ninety minutes. It was engaging telly, but another missed opportunity. Part 2 of 'Something Changed', the Britpop review will be on here towards the end of this week. Oh, and fucking Franz Ferdinand at the end. When was this made? May 2005?