Bless his cotton socks

Musical Revelations Of The Week:
Bruce Springsteen - 'Live In Dublin' - A joyous 2CD (and DVD if you're willing to spend the extra) set that simply encapsulates the atmosphere of an excellent gig. Live albums are nearly always a crock of shit, but this one sounds like the crowd were having a riot and The Boss sounds on good form. Mainly drawn from the 'We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions', a fine album in itself, this is the most vibrant that Bruce has sounded in yonks.
Manic Street Preachers - 'Assorted B-sides' - As I think I mentioned, I'm currently attempting to buy up the Manics singles that I missed out on first time around. Hearing tracks like 'Hibernation', 'Too Cold Here' and 'Love Torn Us Under' it makes me wonder how the hell 'Lipstick Traces' ended up with the tracklist it did. Well worth hunting down these increasingly cheap old CD singles to hear some lost gems. And a shit live version of 'Drug Drug Druggy'.
Amy Winehouse - 'Back To Black (vinyl pressing)'- This album finally got a vinyl release recently, and as I said back at the start of the week, it really does improve the listening experience on this one no end. An extra mention in the weekly round-up in the hope that it will spur a few more people on in terms of registering the sonic differences.

Non-musical Revelations Of The Week
The work of Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David: I sort of stopped watching season six of Seinfeld on DVD around the time the Michael Richards (Kramer) story broke about offensive comments made during a stand-up gig. It's what Google's for, kids. Anyway, up till then I'd been devouring the series at a fair old pace but it took its place on the shelf and dozens of other things moved ahead of it. However, a bargainous offer over at Amazon whereby you get £5 off if you buy two TV DVD boxsets from a certain selection allowed me to get Seinfeld season 7 and Curb season 5 for £18.50 delivered. An offer not to be passed up, and thus I felt obliged to finish off season 6 prior to 7's arrival. And what a delight it was. I didn't watch Curb's fifth season as it went out on More4 because of its late-Sunday slot, so I have the delights of that ahead of me too. If you've not bothered with either series, it's not too late. In fact, it's bloody cheap to get up to speed now.
Jekyll - Plot all over the shop, delightfully menacing performance from James Nesbitt and Michelle Ryan looking eerily like Kylie at one point, this was the latest Saturday night offering from the Beeb. It's ace, although I'm not sure why. So much unexplained, although I guess that's the point. The cast is particularly well chosen - Paterson Joseph as the slightly OTT bad guy was a sublime idea. Written as it is by Steven Moffat it was unlikely to be shite, and sure enough it wasn't. Charmingly bizarre, I hope it doesn't get an intellectual panning in the press to blight its run.
Simon Ambrose - If only I was a betting man...

I am an architect

I realised today that I never actually commented on the Manics' concert at Nottingham's Rock City at the end of May. They were, it must be said, bloody marvelous. It was the eleventh time I'd seen them and it was right up there with their best. The venue was absolutely packed and the atmosphere was remarkable for a band who appeared to have slipped out of the mainstream with 'Lifeblood'. The comedy middle-aged baldies congregated in the middle of the floor and virtually ever person in the place seemed to know all of the lyrics. Certainly a different experience to the crowd at the 'Past, Present, Future' gig I attended in Derby, back in 2005. The passion was back this time, not only from the audience but the band also.
Material from the new album, 'Send Away The Tigers' sounded like it had been in their cannon all along, while vintage joys such as 'Sleepflower' were dusted down to keep us keenos happy. In short, it was 100 minutes of delight on an otherwise dull Thursday evening. It certainly rejuvenated my interest in all aspects of the band.
I've since been attempting to track down a selection of early Manics singles via eBay and the like. I had everything from 'A Design For Life' onwards and the six singles from the 'Generation Terrorists' era, but nothing from the 'Gold Against The Soul' and 'The Holy Bible' periods. I remember coveting these rare CD singles ten years ago and being aghast at the high prices being asked for them. However, online auctions and marketplaces have reduced the reliance of guide prices and now things simply sell for whatever they can get in a certain time. In the past couple of weeks, I've tracked down the 2CD sets of 'Revol' and 'She Is Suffering' as well as the CDs of 'La Tristesse Durera' and 'Roses In The Hospital'. 'MASH', 'From Despair To Where', 'Faster' and 'Life Becoming A Landslide' are all in the post. I can't deny that there is a certain satisfaction in being able to fulfill a youthful ambition, however materialistic. On top of all of that, they had some bloody good b-sides. 'Love Torn Us Under' and 'Too Cold Here' are standouts from these discs, and yet they weren't on the b-sides compilation, 'Lipstick Traces'. Manics history tends to get revised and shuffled quite a lot, so the best way to make up your own mind is to do as I have done: keep an eye out for auctions that finish mid-week, ideally in the morning and have fun. These can all be picked up cheap and there's much to enjoy.