Bit of a Bag

'Manda

After being worried about Amanda Dresden Doll I've now decided she's fine. She's been par-taying in New York for a couple of weeks and is now off for a yoga retreat in the woods somewhere. When she returns to civilisation in two-three weeks time she's straight into the studio to work on her solo album, all refreshed and raring to go. Brian is off doing drum-clinics in various New England academic institutions (how posh) and I think they get back together for a June tour across America. But when will I see my punk cabaret ragamuffins again, I wonder?

Um, and don't forget about the Roundhouse DVD please ...

Poly Styrene

I am an excited thing. I bid for and won Poly's 1980 solo album, 'Transluscence,' on eBay. I think the version of 'Age' on the 'Let's Submerge' compilation is from that album and, if so, I'm going to enjoy it. Well, enjoy it after I've transferred vinyl to digital stuff and burned it...

Maximos and the Minister

O dear. I have a diary clash. I'm off to see me Geordie lads - the delightful Maximo Park - at the Astoria on Wednesday but I've also got a meeting with one of our ministers on Wednesday afternoon for a demonstration of a new digital resource for parents. That creates something of a dilemma - suit or no suit? change at work? traipse all the way home to change and head back into town? or, could I fake it with black jeans, jacket and tie (and then discard the tie)? Decisions, decisions.

Last 10 iPey

The last 10 tracks played on my iPod were:

'Boogie Oogie Oogie' - A Taste of Honey
'Take On Me' - a-Ha
'Emergency' - 999
'Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In' - The 5th Dimension
'Wake Up Little Sister' - Lindisfarne
'Daydreaming' - Dusty Springfield
'Stay With Me' - Rod Stewart & The Faces
'The Other Man's Grass (Is Always Greener)' - Petula Clark
'Eagle' - ABBA
'Carnation' - The Jam

Don't you just lurve an iPod on shuffle? Who knows what's going to turn up next? 'Aquarius' is one of my latest downloads and, unfortunately, has already acquired a less than flattering nickname, but I like it anyway.

Indigo Girls at Shepherds Bush

I had the pleasure of seeing the Indigo Girls - Amy and Emily - at Shepherds Bush this evening. It was a first for me, never having seen them before and it was quite a thrill to have them standing up there on the stage in front of me. They played for about 1.40 hours and then came back on for an encore. The show was all accoustic, just the two of them plus occasional augmentation by a woman playing an accordion. The set was a mix of classics and tracks from the new album, 'Despite Our Differences'.

When I arrived at Shepherds Bush it was full to capacity (which is a good thing) but I've never seen so many women with short hair in the same space before, it was quite strange until I noticed that I wasn't the only man there. Naturally, I find a space behind the tallest lads there... and just beside the women that want to talk throughout the gig... so I moved behind the central bar and not only had an excellent view of the lasses but I had Guinness on tap in front of me.

I've never seen the lasses before so wasn't sure what to expect but they came on to do an accoustic set and they sounded fine. Very simple and very effective. Amy in anti-Bush tee-shirt and red tartan trews and Emily in Soviet star tee-shirt and faded jeans, taking turns at vocal duties and changing guitars after almost every song with a simple light show going on around them.

The highlights for me were 'Closer To Fine', their first hit and a song that will forever evoke walking across Clapham Common to get a bus from Clapham Junction in the summer of 1989. It was excellent and everyone joined in singing it. I also loved the accoustic version of 'Go' (a really powerful song) and 'Chickenman' which I couldn't imagine without Budgie's mad drumming but it worked well. 'Power of Two' and 'Ghost' were quite touching as were 'Three Hits' and 'Little Perrennials' from the new album.

All in all, it was a good night out and I'd definitely see them again.

A Crushed Rosebud

What a sad thing to see on Valentines Day, a crushed rose on the pavement. That's what we saw on Lower Regent Street this evening after a delightful meal, cheeky wine and a charming host at the Val Taro behind Trafalgar Square. It was Chris's penultimate evening working in the West End before moving to the wilds of Old Street so we went out to celebrate. The shop is full of packing crates and the counter and till have mysteriously vanished - bye bye shop/hello office. I await the mammoth moving blog with interest.

My iPod has grown over the last week and I now have 9,192 tracks on it. The ten last played tracks are:

You Must Love Me - Madonna
Sarah's Song - Madness
Poptones - Public Image Ltd
Camel Crossing - Kirsty MacColl
Age (John Peel Session) - X-Ray Spex
Mary Jane - Alanis Morissette
Get Down And Get With It - SLADE
Sunlight - Natalie Imbruglia
Go - Indigo Girls
Hey Ya! - Outkast

My ten most played tracks are:

Sing - The Dresden Dolls
Party - X-Ray Spex
Remember Me - Beverley Knight
Nobody's Fool - SLADE
Mandy Goes To Med School - The Dresden Dolls
Going Missing - Maximo Park
All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! - Sufjan Stevens
Junk Food Junkie - X-Ray Spex
Hole In Your Soul - Abba
The Look Of Love - ABC

I'm listening to my latest record at the moment, 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight' by Richard and Linda Thompson. Julie Covington also recorded that song, of course, but the Thompson's original version is quite different. I'm also enjoying my new lovers rock reggae double album, 'I'm In The Mood For Love', inspired by seeing Janet Kay at the Barbican a week and a bit ago. It's a great selection of songs, both old and new. It's a shame none of Janet's records seem to be generally available.

The Shame

I realised, to my shame, that I don't have 'Boredom' by the Buzzcocks on CD. I don't quite know how I've managed that (I had the vinyl back in the day). I assumed it was on my Buzzcock's singles collection but it isn't. So I've downloaded it. I can't live with the shame of not having it.

While I was hunting through my iPod I also noticed another significant omission. Status Quo. The Quo have probably featured on a few thousand compilation albums so how come I only have two tracks? The Quo aren't one of my favourite bands by any means but they're friends to SLADE and they made a big contribution to rock-pop in the '70s and beyond, therefore I must be sympathetic to them. So I've downloaded 'Down Down', 'Roll Over Lay Down' and 'Whatever You Want'. I *had* to.

Shiney Toaster

I got a brand new toaster at the weekend and it is fabulous. It toasts up a treat.

It has 6 different browning settings and a different setting for bagels (most important). My only sorrow is that I'm not allowed cream-cheese on my bagels, so I have to make do with marmite (which I'm also not allowed, but hey...).

Yummity yum yum.

Flame, Fools and B-Sides

The first SLADE Day of 2007 dawned grey, gloomy and damp. But who gives a stuff? It's SLADE Day and more re-mastered re-issues are available! And, of course, this will be even more interesting since I haven't played any of my old SLADE CDs (and they're not on iPod) since I first heard they were all being re-issued, so I'm hearing them afresh in re-mastered form.

The obligatory trip to HMV took place, like a pilgrimage, first to the new release shelves and there they are, all three CDs. Then over to inspect the SLADE rack to make sure they're there and then to the re-issues display and once again, HMV have done the lads proud. Now, they just need to sell in droves. I clearly wasn't the first one to buy them today since a number were already missing - that's a good thing.

First on the digital turntable was 'SLADE in Flame', the soudtrack to their 1974 film. No bonus tracks on this CD, just re-mastered beauty. There are some nice photos from the film in the booklet and a large photo in the disc tray of Nod in his 'Stoker'/vampire get-up from early on in the film before he joined Flame.

The album opens with the majesty of 'How Does It Feel?' and its nice, crisp sound before descending into the rock mayhem of 'Them Kinda Monkeys Can't Swing' with Dave's mad slide guitar work and the pop of 'So Far So Good'. Excellent sound on all of them and throughout the album. It's great to hear it all the way through for the first time in what seems like ages - some tracks are on 'The SLADE Box' so have already been enjoyed in re-mastered form, but it's different to hear the album all the way through. One thing that jumps out at me is the use of horns on a number of the songs, something new for SLADE, and they all sound so clear on the different tracks. It makes for an interesting mix of the guitar-base of the songs overlaid by horns.

Highlights for me are 'How Does It Feel?', 'Them Kinda Monkeys Can't Swing', 'Far Far Away', 'Lay It Down' and 'Standin' On The Corner'. 'Lay It Down' is an excellent track that came as a complete surprise when the echo-y vocal and psychedelic drumming kicked in, and this was exactly the feeling I'd hoped for by deliberately not listening to the albums.

Big tick for 'SLADE in Flame', now I just need the DVD to be re-issued (I think that happens at Easter).

Next up is 'Nobody's Fools', an album only SLADE fans have probably heard of (it didn't do too well in the chart). It was after the glory years, recorded while they were based in America and it sounds it, lots of different styles, trans-atlantic and even has girl backing singers (a first for SLADE). It has four bonus tracks, non-album singles and 'b' sides from the same period, the best of which are already on 'The SLADE Box'.

I've never really known what to think of 'Nobody's Fools', a sort of inbetweeny album, after the glory years but before they resurrected their hard rock style, trying a bit of funk and almost stadium rock in places. The cover photo of them with red noses probably confuses me a bit as well. It has some killer tracks on it such as 'Do The Dirty' and 'Get On Up' and I've always loved 'All The World's A Stage', their most psychedelic track. I always wondered whether this was meant to be their 'Revolver', lots of things going on musically throughout the album and ending with the most psychedelic sweet in the bag. Unfortunately for SLADE, punk happened and, to mark their arrival, they returned with the hard rock of 'Whatever Happened To SLADE'.

The third re-issue is 'B-Sides', a 40 track double CD of the b-sides from 1969-1991. If nothing else, this album reminds you what a versatile band SLADE were, being more experimental on the 'b' sides of their singles. The first disc contains the 'b' sides from the early-mid '70s, most of which have already been released on the re-issued albums to date but two tracks were totally new to me - 'C'mon C'mon' from 1970 and 'Forest Full of Needles' from 1977. The booklet includes a short paragraph of each of the tracks and I like the final sentence describing 'Don't Blame Me' which states,' ...Holder's voice sounds less like a tool of singing and more like a weapon of mass destruction.' The song is from, 'Old, New, Borrowed and Blue' and Nod's voice is totally over the top - mad, wild and heavy artillery.

The second disc has songs I've never heard before, songs from singles I never knew as singles in the late '70s and the '80s and I feel such a traitor for not knowing them. Some are from the albums, of course. On the other hand, all the better to enjoy them now. I particularly enjoy the inside photo of SLADE growing out their skinhead look and Noddy in a flat cap.

Favourites so far include 'It's Alright Buy Me', a magnificent, relentless driving song I first heard on 'The SLADE Box', SLADE at their best, 'Funk Punk And Junk' which has it all thrown in, 'Mama Nature Is A Rocker', the swing version of 'My Oh My' (a daft thing I wish I'd seen them do live), the hard-rock wall-of-sound of 'Wild Wild Party' and 'Red Hot' credited as the last SLADE song as the 'b' side to 'Universe'.

All in all, a very favourable day. Familiar tracks to be delighted by in their new re-mastered versions and a lot of new tracks to learn to appreciate. Go on, I dare you, try one of the new CDs... you won't be disappointed!

Touts

I've just been browsing on eBay and out of the 360 items for sale that come up in a search for "Maximo Park" a total of 273 are for tickets to see the band. Why do people buy tickets simply to sell them on eBay, denying them to fans? Money of course. The tickets only went on sale last week and sold out really quickly (as ever). It's good for the band, I suppose, that touts think they're bankable but it's not as if they get the money from inflated ticket sales. Part of me would love no-one to buy the tickets so the touts are out-of-pocket, but I wouldn't want the lads to play to half-full audiences, that wouldn't be right at all.

I'm looking forward to seeing them later in February and again in May.

'Sweet mystery of life ..'

'... at last I've found you' sang Richard Tauber - or was it Mario Lanza? - o those many years ago.

That's what came to mind when I saw this article on the BBC about two neolithic skeletons hugging. Of course, we don't actually know what happened, what the circumstances of their death and burial might have been or what it all means. It's a nice image, two young people in love and being buried together, sleeping peacefully for 5,000 years only to be disturbed by us (we're noisey, nosey critters, aren't we?).

That's a long cuddle.

Alegria - Cirque du Soleil

My treat this evening was to see 'Alegria' by the Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall. Every time they come to London I think I must see them but I never do. Until tonight. We were royally entertained by the majesty of circus and spectacle that is Cirque du Soleil.

Spectacular circus acts, acrobats, gymnastics, trapeze, fire-eating, dancing, contortionists, clowns, songs and music, astonishing costumes... roll it all together and you get close to what we witnessed tonight. I loved the hula-hoop girl, particularly how she just flung them away from her; cube-boy doing aerial acrobatics inside and out of a large metal cube; the courtier-elves bouncing high on the thin Russian bars; the trampoline maniacs shooting all over the stage in a non-stop feast for the eyes, threatening violence and disaster; fire-eaters and jugglers; the high-wire swinging, gasping as they fly through the air to be caught, twist and launch themsleves back to the bars.

I'm not altogether certain what it was all about and I don't think I want to know. The grotesques wandering round admiring their breasts and flirting with the youngsters, the strange ring-master, the elves and Mayans, the swan-like nymphs... all of this is a world in and of itself, with its own hierarchies and history. The message around all this seems to be to let your imagination soar, so I will. I even enjoyed the wierdness of the clowns and I don't usually like clowns.

I was very pleased to catch this show and I'll be watching out for the Soleil people on their next visit to London. Excitement and thrills aplenty, stylish and stylised, I loved it.

The only downside was the nearly two hours it took to get home... sigh.

Snow Boy at the Diabeatnik Club

Keeping the theme going here's me in the grounds of St George's Hospital this morning on my way to the Diabeatnik Club. What a huge nose and manic grin but I don't care. I *like* snow and I was being snowed on, so that's a good thing.

It was lovely to wake up this morning and know, from the glow behind the curtains, that the ground was white. The promised snow had arrived. And it was still falling as I sat here in the bay window nursing a cuppa and watching the big fat flakes drift down into the garden. I actually got ready to leave the house sooner than I needed to in case transport was up the spout due to the snow ... but really it was in case the snow stopped falling before I went outside. I take my opportunities to be snowed on very seriously.

Went to the Diabeatnik Club this morning because I've been having problems with one of my feet which my doctor said was nerve damage but the nice chiropodist at the Club said it wasn't, it's related to my back problems and she's referred me to a bio- mechanist (I kid you not). It sounds a bit sci-fi but it's all about how the body works and she thinks I've been compensating for my back by positioning my foot slightly differently when I stand and walk. Oooer. It's all so complicated, but I'd rather it was related to my back than to nerve damage - one can be put right but the other can't.

I got the tube to work and then decided to have a quick detour to St James's Park to see it in the snow. A bit disappointing that a lot of the snow had vanished by mid-day but here are a few photos anyway, including Buckingham Palace at the end of the lake and a cheeky little squirrel that came asking for nuts.

After work I decided I needed to go shopping for a new shirt for my evening out tomorrow. I wanted something I wouldn't normally wear, a sort of 'posh night out' shirt. I headed to John Lewis on Oxford Street only to find it's being refurbished and the menswear department is about one quarter of it's normal size. I found a lovely cream shirt with little blue/turquoise floral boquets scattered hither and thither over the cloth for an extortionate amount of money but thought, 'I *like* that'. Of course, they didn't have my size. My size is (ahem) chunky. Why do they produce these things in ultra-skinny-fit sizes only? It was a nice shirt too.

I remember having a lovely short-sleeved floral shirt in the '80s when I went to Egypt (it sticks in my memory because of taking photos from the roof of the Rameses Hilton in Cairo with the Pyramids in the distance). I loved that shirt. You tend not to get many floral shirts for men so they're memorable.

So I went along to Debenhams to see what they had and made a purchase. A Jasper Conran thing I wouldn't normally wear but it's got some stripey brightness going on and was cheaper than the floral shirt. Watch out for my new stylishness. On the other hand, I might just stick to a plain old checked shirt ...