the benefactor

hello there


i find myself, dear reader, within the confines of the most humble indebted gratitude towards a most generous benefactor. this is a benefactor who, for reasons which may or may not perhaps be related to no requirement for revelation of nobility, seeks only anonymity as reward for their exceptional generosity.

around about here i would say "let me explain", but there seems to be little point in doing this. should you wish for an explanation you would, surely, all of you, simply carry on reading and in doing so have the quite reasonable expectation that i would in fact use the time to give such clarification. thus, i shall not state what i shall do and simply get on with it, as this would be highly beneficial in terms of saving time, providing clarity and showing some considerate editing to you.

such is the nature of human life and the ways of our society that i recently had cause to celebrate the coming of another milestone in terms of a birthday. yes, true - if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know i generally tend to measure time in relation to the anniversaries of when i saw Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Tin Machine, the Manic Street Preachers and The Stone Roses. but i do still celebrate birthdays.

kindness in others saw me receive many gifts in celebration of this event. one gift, however, has not been posted here. until now.

yes, dear reader. the above is the mystery gift which has, up until now, not been shown off here. this is in deference to the wishes of the giving benefactor to remain anonymous in some small measure, but mostly due to me simply not getting around to doing a post on the subject.

what is it? why, it is an item from that place which is most beloved of me, Fortnum & Mason. it's not just any old item from them, i shall have you know. no, my mysterious and anonymous benefactor has facilitated it so that Fortnum & Mason have extended an invitation to me, requesting my presence at their most elegant of premises.

an invitation to what, you may ask? it is for me, humble and simple me, to have my beard trimmed and styled by one of their personal grooming stylists. something i believe, as it happens, i am in dire if not consequential need of, looking at this rather recent and somewhat misty lensed image of me, taken within the confines of an elevator located in one of the more prestigious multi storey car parks of a province i frequently frequent.

indeed in the above i am clad if not clothed in the legendary jacket off of the back of Johannesburg taxi rank, the very same which Zama procured for me with some kindness. the very one he assured me would be exceptional and excellent in protecting me from the rain and snow in England, and one which has not been all that much good in doing so as such.

further, yes, that is my sensational and controversial somewhat self-styled 'thug life' beanie that i have on.

the best way to describe my feelings towards the gift at hand is to suggest i am indeed euphoric and ecstatic. for the most part. in my quest and hope for a simple life, it would be a delight to get any item at all bearing the name of Fortnum & Mason, for such a gesture is wonderful. to be presented with an invitation to attend their premises for services is just sensational.

also, dear reader, it is frightening and scary. as in i am terrified of humiliating myself. on the occasions when i have visited them it has taken all my resolve and stamina not to break down in tears, falling to the floor, pleading that i am not worthy of their magnificence and begging them to forgive my intrusion. and now i must seek greater resolve, for i need to walk in and instruct them in the services which they are to avail me of.

i can tell you know that when i go i will just become a stupefied, stuttering shambles of a mess (more so than even usual) and mumble something of how their stylish must just do whatever they feel is appropriate to my beard. it shall be with pride that i will accept that my beard must and should look precisely as any representative of Fortnum & Mason instructs it to be.

one of the most remarkable things about this is that i, simple me, shall be going to have my beard styled at the same place where the aristocracy and the nobility go. not the Royal family, of course, or at least not the proper members. they are not allowed to have beards, to be sure, lest they be mistaken for Catholics, and end up either losing their succession place in line to the throne, or otherwise hung.

when shall i go? hopefully soon. i shall have to arrange a date in which to engage Spiros to do this, which is reliant on a time when he is in London. as the greatest legal mind of his generation, he does tend to roam the world with his skills. whilst he would not require such a service himself ("beards are for twats", he once told me) i have no doubt that he would quite like to come along, as i believe they serve alcohol to patrons, and Piccadilly Circus has plenty of black cab taxi drivers which he may engage in a bout of fisticuffs.

my great thanks again, then, to the benefactor why may not be named. i trust that i shall be able to give the benefactor and all of you and update on how it goes, as and when it happens. obviously there will be no images of the process itself, for one should not do something so vulgar, crass and downright common as take selfies within Fortnum & Mason. except, of course, for those incidents in which i did.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my name is mercy

hello people


there remains a place in this world, to be sure, for those who simply create something for the sake of it. if it happens to generate some coins of money then that's nice, look you see, but at heart it remains in being because someone wanted it there and had the talent to do so. and it is, make no mistake, always wonderful when someone else stumbles on it and happens to quite like it too.

indeed, yes, one of my talented friends has laid down some new vibes, man. actually, a few have of late, and as an aside i am getting very frustrated with you, Steven Legget, for you've not given me the green light to say the awesome new track you previewed for me is rendered and ready for release. leaving that aside, let's be all more focused on what is now available.

Jonny Granville, dear reader, has released or if you like 'dropped' a new EP on the fans. actually he's been fairly prolific in the whole releasing / dropping scene, just for one reason or another i have not gotten around to giving him as much coverage as i should.

i hereby extend an invitation to you, dear reader of this and fellow enjoyment seeker in all things quality vibes, to go right ahead and give the My Name Is Mercy EP a try. and yes, clicking on the title in green will take you to where the tunes reside, where you can listen to them and, if you are of a mind to do so, purchase them for a very reasonable fee.

what's the sound like in store for you? well, Jonny, it says here on his website section of that Sound Cloud thing, describes himself as a 'wet eyed acoustic poet' who happens to layer this with some formidable drums, synth and inspired guitar. on the EP, the inspired guitar kicks in about halfway into the title track, and there's a dazzling synth sound on These Things Go Away, sounding at once like both a homage to the 80s and something fresh and relevant.

all things electronic and synth sneak in here for Jonny has seen that T2 Trainspotting 2 film what i am waiting for the DVD of. by all accounts the soundtrack to it revisits the 90s original, and that means some lovely, lovely electropop synth stuff. that inspiration is reflected here, and is it would seem a prelude to the sound which shall come soon across a full album. one which i might have suggested i might do some cover artwork for, so let  me get MS Paint running. although, of course, once i was fortunate enough to feature on the cover of one of his releases.

well, there you go. i am certainly enjoying giving it a spin. and yes, in the interests of transparency, i can happily confirm that i bought it, and was not given it as a freebie to plug here. not, i suspect, that i am exactly the biggest place on the web to give someone a push or plug, but am always absolutely happy to do so when i hear something smart. which this EP most decidedly is.

hopefully you head off from here and click on the first link above to check out the EP. it would be most excellent indeed, to be sure, if you like it. if not, well, you gave it a shot, and dig what you dig.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for Australia

g'day


there is little, look you see, which cannot be achieved by my colleague, friend and erstwhile co-pilot, Magic. he is a man of magnificent resolve, to be sure, and his application to any task which he happens to be of a mind to undertake generally ends up accomplished with ease.

those who have, if i may so modestly put forward this notion, earned the trust and a degree of respect from Magic are known to be able to know the rich benefit of the resolved achievements which he sets out as a priority. which is how i managed to receive some most splendid of biscuits off of Magic recently.

Magic is one of those quite remarkable chaps that takes the time to learn and understand those who he values likes and then sees if he cannot in some way consolidate such preferences into one magnificent gesture. to this end, to be sure, Magic has taken my penchant for Australia and my passion for things what have had lemon rammed into them for no apparent reason and given unto me these rather delightful Australian Lemon Puff biscuits, out of Australia.

is the reverse true? good heavens yes. should you cross or in some way distress Magic, you will learn his approach in a manner that you will find most disagreeable. as an arch predator, Magic always deconstructs and evaluates all aspects of his quarry, so that his dismantling of them may be memorable and serve as a warning to all those who may consider similar trespass.

i would advise you, then, not to do so. but let us not be distracted by such unpleasantness, not when we have some magnificent Australian biscuits, off of Australia, to admire and learn of.

as you can see, and as indeed the title of this post reflects, these biscuits were made and packaged with a view to them being for Australia, and for Australia only. how is it, then, that Magic was able to procure or otherwise obtain these as a gift for me, some slight miles south of 9500 miles away from Australia? i do not ask such things, i just accept.

what is particularly interesting about the packaging here is that it reflects how many biscuits one should consume at once, if we assume that one consuming of biscuits session is accepted as a single serving. the packaging stipulates that one should eat three biscuits per serving, and three alone.

i have no doubt at all that the above is always honoured, respected and acted upon in Australia. they are quite keen on all that obeying the law business, which makes a degree of sense when you consider the predominant link in ancestry across the majority of Australians. the absolute love of and passion for the law in Australia means that the average Australian police officer has very little to do with their time beyond appear as guests on select daytime TV quiz shows.

no, as it happens, i did not obey this serving indicator. i fail to see how the fact that i once spent some years there makes me forever subject to their laws, and thus i ate four. actually, it might have been five, for they were very tasty indeed. also, it would not do to upset Magic when presented with such a gift.

and are these biscuits any good? absolute fair dinkum, i reckon. they are quite frankly superb, being as they are Australian, having lemon in them and by the fact that they are biscuits. i must arrange some brief conference or congressional time with Magic to discuss with him where exactly he obtained them from, so that i may obtain further more.

it would be fair to say that there is only so much anyone could reasonably be expected to say about Lemon Puff biscuits. i would believe that i have reached such a point.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

blues pills

howdy pop pickers


it is once again, look you see, that i am indebted to that smart Vintage TV channel for introducing me to some class new vibes. and, indeed, phew that it was restored as a channel to that 'Freesat' thing, for this is the only form of broadcasts we can get in our home, to be sure.

but anyway, the vibes. Blues Pills would be the name of the new group which i have recently discovered. yes, indeed, that's why the title of this blog post is what it is, and no it is not a reference to Quadrophenia or any such 60s British Mods concern. but let's pause and take a moment, since i have mentioned it, to remember how brilliant Quadrophenia is.

right, with that out of the way, and yes with me stalling a bit to compose my thoughts about what exactly to write, on we go, then, to the majesty and excellence of Blues Pills.

the above, in appropriate Commodore 64 mode, reflects the two albums which Blues Pills have released, and are as point of fact the two my (considerably) better half and i elected to purchase after hearing some two, possibly three, songs by the band on their Vintage TV session. they were, frankly, just that good that we could not see a way in which either album would disappoint.

i have been wrestling with what, specifically or exactly, to write about the band. my (considerably) better half suggested i just write "they are awesomeness". also, she has apologised in advance for when i next get in her car (she quite kindly allows me to go and replenish the petrol reserves for her), as the stereo will be quite loud with one of their CDs in.

where to start? at the beginning, i guess. Blues Pills "happened" in 2011, with their debut album, the self-titled Blues Pills, coming about in 2014 and the follow up, Lady In Gold, landing in 2016. which just shows once again how excellent 2016 continues to prove to have been for the vibes. it would appear that they have a quite prolific passion for performing live, as they seem to be doing gig after gig.

what sort of music do they do, then? i am happy to settle on it being called rock, but Wikipedia reckons it is correct and right to call them hard rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock. as Wikipedia have gone to great lengths to show how right on and correct they are this must be true. also, the bio section off of Blues Pills official website just links to their Wikipedia page.

as it happens, the Wikipedia entry is quite correct, for they are all of those things at different stages of each of the two albums, and then some.

the most frequent comparison, for comparisons make things easy, i have seen for Blues Pills is to the excellence that was Big Brother & The Holding Company. this is certainly valid as and when Blue Pills turns on the psychedelic rock switch, for a lot of it is reminiscent of the 60s West Coast psychedelic movement. it's also a touch lazy, however, and has more often than not probably been made as a comparison simply due to both bands having a lady of the female variety as vocalist.

more than once i have seen and heard the vocalist out of Blues Pills, Elin Larsson (no relation), compared to Janis. this is unfair and misleading. undoubtedly Janis was an influence, and it is true that Elin is one hell of a powerful vocalist, but she sounds little if much like Ms Joplin. she is very much her own voice, and it remains that the only real revisit of Janis Joplin the world has had since 1970 was when Axl somehow channelled her voice for Guns N Roses' bizarre re-reading of Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

who, if i was called upon to do so, would i rather compare Blues Pills to, in order as to give you a hint or gesture of what sound to expect? Big Brother is not entirely wrong, but i'd lean more towards Jefferson Airplane. at least when they were cool, and before they went all corporate rock as Starship. there's also a healthy and heavy Hendrix influence on the guitar at times, and the rolling drums from time to time remind one of why exactly Led Zeppelin were so powerful. and, in terms of drumming, you can throw in some Spinal Tap too, i suppose, since they seem to have a different drummer on each of the two records.

one of the biggest influences i am detecting, however, is the earlier, more blues driven sound of Fleetwood Mac from the days when Peter Green was in the band. one track on the debut album, Astraplane, could easily have slotted onto one of the earlier FM records from an instrumental perspective. 

yes, it is indeed true that a lady vocalist of the female persuasion is rare in rock; an exception rather than a rule. i am not going to get bogged down in all of that, unless i have already. for me it's a fairly simple and straightforward case of her being a stunning vocalist, and i don't really care what colour or gender someone is so long as the vibes are awesome, man.

so where should you start with listening if you want to discover Blues Pills and sample whether their vibes are your bag? i would be sure there's stuff on that there You Tube thing, not sure about "streaming" services. we picked up both albums for south of £20 in total, and that includes a fancy DVD of them live with the 2nd album. no, not gotten around to watching it yet.

yes, you could absolutely go right ahead and say that Blues Pills are rehashing and "remembering" classic songs and sounds from years gone by. isn't that, though, what all bands have done since around 1969? there's a distinctly familiar feel to the sound they do, but yet still it all feels fresh, new, a different spin and regenerated. i might not have much to me in terms of being a voice of influence, but all the same i would not be encouraging people to discover this most smart band if they were simply some sort of tribute or rip-off act.

anyway, i am off to listen to some more Blues Pills. and maybe have a gander at this DVD.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i like to watch

hi there


recently i have been attempting to coax, if not overtly bait, a kookaburra or two into our garden. this is not quite as preposterous as an idea as you might think. yes, the kookaburra is indeed native to Australia - indeed it is widely accepted to be the 5th best living creature from the place, look you see - but sightings of them have been made here in Yorkshire, or if you like the proper world.

my efforts in this respect have not so much failed but rather just disappointed. to this end i have sought distraction in the news and current affairs of the day, going with this as far as buying a newspaper recently. much of what i have garnered from current affairs has been suitably distracting, true, but also terribly depressing. for a start i note that the little one off of that Top Gear show has for some reason been allowed access to the controls of the nations finances, and in a stunning lack of imagination has used this to increase the price of cigarettes by some 35p per packet.

a distinct event horizon looms in this regard, ladies and gentlemen. on the one side they wish to rid the country of people who smoke, on the other the system of generating taxation relies very heavily indeed on the idea of people continuing to buy cigarettes. one shall break, and it shall not go down well.

also, as a consequence of indulging the news and current affairs, i have but of course once again encountered this hideous, ghastly woman who for some reason has a vendetta against me.

yes, her. Theresa May. the woman who hates British people in general and British families in particular, and yet somehow managed to wrangle her way into being the Prime Minister of the people she loathes and detests so much.

i am but one of the many who have suffered her anger and hatred. as friends, family and regular readers of this blog shall be all too aware, we were one of the victims of her Draconian laws and requirements for British people married to non-EU citizens coming home. we managed to beat her system, but we still remain at risk of her wrath. no, i am not kidding, for her i should rather choose between living in my country of birth or my (considerably) better half. never mind that she is the mother of British subjects. indeed, yes, if i had married a Polish or Romanian lady, or even a Frenchie, she would not only have been happy about this would would have allowed such a spouse to lounge around, claiming benefits and watching television for the term of her natural life.

and that brings us quite nicely to why this wretched, horrible woman has surfaced upon my radar once again. television, dear reader. apparently now she wants to not so much know what we are watching on television; she wants to watch us watching television.

according to that "WikiLeaks" thing the Americans, with as ever the generous and giving assistance of us British, have been enabling some sort of cameras in 'Smart' television sets. this, in turn, enables them to watch us watching television, if they so wish to do so.

by British i took it as a given then meant Theresa May. she has formidable, if not quite spectacular, form in expressing an interest in being kept up to date with what everyone else is doing. this, up to now, has been shown in her fascination with my private life - something she as Home Secretary wanted explicit details of before she would allow me to come home with my (considerably) better half, and indeed in her wish to know the internet habits and uses of absolutely everyone in the country. but watching us watch television would seem to take it to a new level.

on the subject of her wish to know all that we do on the internet, Spiros was most excited about it. i am certain i have told this story before, but anyway. when it was announced that the Government wished to know what he was looking at, he was thrilled as he thought they wanted to be his friend. he quickly printed off a list of sites he had bookmarked. further, he went as far as grading them with a star system, drawing five stars next to sites he considered, in his words, to be "wanktastic", to one star for "left me as flat as Holland".

it has always been my assumption that the below image of Theresa May was taken just after she had, as much as it disgusts me to say this briefly in her defence quite bravely, ventured into the 3 and 4 star sites what Spiros had sent her on some slightly soiled printing paper.

yes, quite. anyway, what she wishes to do now - watch us watching television - really strikes me as some sort of perversion. has she really, as leader of the 5th best economy in the world, not got anything better to do with her free time that have a gander at us watching a bit of tele on a night?

perversion, yes. indeed i do know that there is some popular television show, Googlebox or similar, which encourages the nation to watch others watching television. a conspiracy theorist would step in here and say that was all set up to soften us all up to accept this. i think not. what i saw of that series was all clearly quite well scripted and staged. that does not mean it was not entertaining for those who liked it, but it does mean it's not quite the same thing as what Theresa May is getting up to.

how is it that our friends in America hit on this idea for us British to help with? did all that fancy, smart wterboarding stuff they do suggest that terrorists have a proclivity to plan atrocities and construct bombs whilst sat around the tele? i very much doubt these are questions Theresa May asked; she will have just been "oh, yes, it will be spiffing to watch the unwashed masses this way, let us help".

as far as i know, whilst they are smart to watch none of our teles are "Smart" in the sense that they connect to an internet or have cameras in them. should that not be the case, do i, as one of the population, really care if Theresa May wants to watch me watching television? not really. she will, i suspect, be disappointed to learn that usually all i watch are repeats of 90s and 00s American TV shows what have the letters I, C and S in them. whilst i watch them i am usually reasonably dressed, and tend to flick through a magazine or book - a volume of Auberon Waugh, for instance - as i watch.

there are, however, some quite scary people in this country. every day we pass in the street people who seem reasonably normal, yet carry the suggestion that when they get home they quickly change into a tutu, or even perhaps a big massive badger or fox styled onesie, as this tremendously enhances the furious masturbation they subject themselves to before the altar that is the most recent episode of The Chase, or maybe even a provincial broadcast news report on a mayor or some roadworks.

it is possibly best not to think or contemplate such things, let alone willingly watch someone do it. this would be bad enough to stumble upon by accident, but no, Theresa May wants to see it. she wants to see it all.

considering i am already in her bad books for doing things like marrying the person i love and wanting to live in my country of birth, you are probably right - i should not further risk my life by writing such things. but hey, i've written it now. to write it i must have thought it, and surely we can't be all that far away from her also expecting us to record all our thoughts and dreams and post them to her.

actually, if you are British and have had some impure thoughts, then why not write them down - in as much graphic and explicit detail as possible - and send them to Theresa? she might have nothing better to do should the internet be down and thus cannot access the links Spiros sent her, and the monitoring equipment on televisions might not be working. a 2nd class stamp - and you really wish there was such a thing as a 3rd class one for her - only costs 55p.

the correct address for the things you'd like to share with Theresa May that she can't work out all by herself from your internet and television is :

Theresa "I Like To Watch" May
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA

or of course you can use......


The Prime Minister [respect the office, if obviously of course not the present office holder]
10 Downing Street
Westminster
 London
 SW1A 2AA

and after you have sent that off, you must of course go straight to the nearest police station (any one of the 12 in the country which have not been closed down) and surrender yourself for being guilty of the crime of not being liked by Theresa May. this shall make you many things, but lonely is not one of them. 



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so the singles chart just died

hi there


make no mistake, dear reader. i want to make it clear that this is absolutely not a bashing of Ed Sheeran session. whilst he's not quite doing the sort of vibes i would be interested in, it would be but a fool who mocked or knocked someone who has achieved the level of success he has. more importantly, he's entertained the many millions who do find his music pleasing. which is, like totes cool, dig what you dig, man.

it's not him or what his songs have done which should be bashed. no, it's the fools in charge of compiling the charts and their silly changes. in some bizarre and perhaps misguided attempt to make the singles chart "relevant" to the kids of today they allowed "streams" of a song to count instead of "sales". this was thus an accident waiting to happen, and that accident happened to day, when, on Friday March 10 2017, the latest theoretically singles chart was published.

many "thanks" indeed to the BBC for bringing this chart. and no, that's "real" in terms of what them who compile the charts - the presumably self ordained Official Charts Company - say is the singles chart. as you can see, Ed Sheeran's new album takes up the top 6, and as you can see below takes up a lot more of the top 20 too.

how was it possible for every track of Ed Sheeran's new album, called simply ÷ i believe, to be counted as a single? that's the chart change. as Ed Sheeran released the album in full on the day of release on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, each play of each song counts as a "single being played", even if the person listening is playing the whole album. the same is true of those who play the album through less well known places to stream albums off, like them X Box space invaders machines.

the immediate question is how come Ed Sheeran could do this, yet the same did not happen when equally big selling records - Adele, David Bowie and Coldplay, for example - came out? that's due to those artists, or their labels, not making the whole album available for streaming from release day one. that meant, it seems, only "streams" of songs indicated as being singles counted. oh.

despite saying the intention here is not to knock Ed Sheeran, it's quite difficult to see how this hasn't been down to a marketing ploy. by exploiting the loophole in the chart system, Sheeran and their record label he is signed to have managed to achieve something that no one - from The Beatles to the Spice Girls - has ever done before. closest i can think of is back in 1984, when Frankie Goes To Hollywood held on to the top two spots in the chart with Two Tribes and Relax. something they did via people going out and actually buying the records, note.

that's the full top forty above, and i really hope clicking on it makes it appear larger for you, at least large enough so that you may read it. read and indeed see that yes, every single track off of this album has counted as a single and is in the top twenty.

from what i can ascertain Ed Sheeran is both embarrassed and proud of this. as he should be. it's not his fault the chart now "works" the way it does, and there's no point aiming for success if you cannot celebrate it when you get it. the biggest plus, and the thing what seems to make him happier, is the fact that the  ÷ album is number one mostly due to physical sales. some 60% of the album chart position (1, of course) comes from people buying the CD and vinyl. nice one - i am delighted to see that people are, once again, falling in love with the idea of owning music as a physical experience.

does it really matter that the singles chart is now effectively dead? coming from someone who loved it and lived for Sundays for when it was announced, no, not at all. the generation now takes in music in a different way from that which i. and a couple of generations before me, did. we're never going back to actual, proper singles being sold. it is convenient and great that you can "stream" or download the single you want, as sad as it is that the social experience of going and buying the latest hits has gone. what you cannot do, with a straight face, is say that counting people streaming an album at home or in their place of work is comparable to the effort and success of music which people went off and bought the actual, physical single of.

just bin the singles chart, then. the album one is fine - people still buy albums, and my understanding is that people have to "stream" the album via a paid for or commercial service in full for it to count. but that this has been allowed to happen shows that the singles chart has become a confusing, bewildering and badly thought out irrelevance.

and yes, i would like to think i would be saying this no matter which artist happened to exploit the weakness in the system for their own success.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a liar's autobiography

Hello


Non-fiction, in particular anything biographical or autobiographical, has seldom been of interest to me. It’s just not my sort of thing. The statement it’s not where you’re from it’s where you’re at has always held some truth for me, look you see. What’s interesting to me is what people do, not where they are from.

There are times, granted, when some background knowledge or information on someone can give a more rounded, indeed fuller, understanding of what they’ve done. Ultimately, though, when an artist or other such entertainer delivers a work or performance, it must be able to entertain, impress or otherwise make an impact for what it is, and cannot rely on previous knowledge for success.

Exceptions come up in this regard. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, for instance, which was the book Warren Zevon requested those who he left behind construct, was a work I very much wanted to read. And, erm, I think that’s about that. When, however, you’re given the chance to have a look at the life of someone who lived a life like Graham Chapman, it’s difficult to find a reason to pass it. Thus, when one of my website shop things offered me A Liar’s Autobiography – The Untrue Story Of Graham Chapman for just north of ₤1, I took it..

For those unaware of this film, this is no ordinary look at a life. Rather than being a flat documentary or re-enactment, the approach here is to present elements of Chapman’s life via several different forms of animation, with the overwhelming majority of the soundtrack being recordings Chapman made a couple of years before he died.

Is A Liar’s Autobiography any good? Yes and no. It held my attention for the 82 or so minutes it runs, as in at no point did I pause or let it play and wander off for a cigarette or similar. But then, at the end of it, I had something of an overwhelming, compelling sense that I’d gained nothing at all from the experience of watching. And I really, really love the work Graham Chapman did, whether as a Python or in those rare instances of him working away from them.

Why no gain? Part of it is, presumably, from the fact that I had a fairly good working knowledge of what was shown. The parts of his life concentrated on in the animated segments have all come up time and again in documentaries, interviews, articles and what have you. There was no “mysterious” or big reveal here.

Another part of it is, in the words of Graham Chapman himself, there’s not all that much of interest to tell, really. Decent parents with a relatively normal childhood, bar one or two incidents the likes of which everyone has similar too. He wrestled with his sexual identity, but it certainly didn’t beat him – whilst not minding either, he just worked out he rather liked boys more than girls. Further to this, he battled with alcoholism, but to a degree won the fight.

This all sounds a bit harsh as I write it, when it is not meant to be. Graham Chapman had an incredible talent which brought him fame and fortune and entertains us to this day. Whilst I’d be reluctant to say he had an easy or straightforward path to achieving this, it is fair to say that the life story of Graham Chapman is not the story of how a black, blind, one legged lesbian overcame the odds to win the hearts and minds of people.

It feels exceptionally mean of me to say this, but there’s no point not being honest. The animation – as good as it mostly is – is a total irrelevance to A Liar’s Autobiography. It’s hearing the wonderfully eloquent, beautiful voice of Graham Chapman that’s the point of interest. No doubt it was necessary to do animation to get this together as a film, but alas the best thing that can be said of them is that they don’t distract from what you are listening to.

Distractions play a big part in reviewing the film. Whilst Cameron Diaz as a “gratuitous guest star” is welcome and funny, Stephen Fry is not. The film is yet another incident of Stephen Fry indulging his “woo hoo, look at me, I like Oscar Wilde a lot and if I keep associating myself with him perhaps people will accept that I am his reincarnation”. I wonder if we all just said to him “yes, Stephen, you surely are” then the whole thing could be dropped and we could all move on.

A tale of two Pythons provide the other distractions. The first of these would be the fact that it’s an animated film, you have Terry Gilliam – famed animator from the Monty Python team – in the film and yet he doesn’t do any of the animation. It is the second that is the most ominous. Eric Idle is the only Python not to be involved here. No reason is given as to why, and I can’t find anything online. I have a vague recollection, however, of there being some money dispute affecting the Pythons around this time – maybe royalties for that whole Spamalot thing, perhaps something else. From what I do remember John Cleese took to that Twitter thing and referred to Mr Idle as “Yoko Python”.

Speaking of internet things, if you look up A Liar’s Autobiography on that IMDB thing you see it suggests you might also like Anatomy Of A Liar, with Anatomy having a more that 2 point average higher user review score. Anatomy is the “making of” or behind the scenes documentary. It is on the very same DVD, and it is very much a more enjoyable experience to watch. Hearing the stories of the animators, and the interviews with the Pythons involved, is wonderful and I dare say better than the actual film.

Further on the internet, most have taken the name of this film as an excuse to describe it all as a “fictional” life story of Graham Chapman. Methinks many have missed the comical tone intended. Outside of some obvious altered for dramatic effect and some partial hazy memories, virtually all you see and hear here is how his life went. As in, yes, he really did meet the Queen Mother and she she really did encourage him to go and do the tour that would essentially establish him as a performer and actor. You’d have thought people would, by now, know not to believe taglines or descriptions on things associated with Monty Python, for to do so would be to assume they’d missed a chance for humour.

Is this DVD worth getting? Yes. The actual film you will watch and possibly forget all about. The making of documentary and the 8mm footage which appear as extras, however, make the disc all very much worthwhile.

I feel kind of bad not being too complimentary about the actual film. Undoubtedly a lot of work, talent and effort went into the animation, and the whole thing was made with a lot of love and heart. Huge amounts of effort does not in itself make something assured of being good, though. But, still, blessed be those who worked so hard to come up with a suitable means of letting us hear Graham Chapman’s story in his own words and very much in his own voice.



be individuals, think for yourselves, you are all unique, etc......

koala channeling

g'day


indeed yes, as the title more or less gives away, this would be yet another post about personal hygiene products which have some form of connection to Australia. in this instance, look you see, it is at the least a very real sense in which all is connected, for there are few things quite so Australian as eucalyptus. cricket excellence, perhaps, but not much else.

a little while ago - i suspect in a post called 'Full Tilt Australian' or similar - i mentioned that i had found a form of body wash, or if you like shower gel, what had eucalyptus in it. as things turned out, indeed transpired, both i and my (considerably) better half quite liked it. more so than the decidedly non-Australian Australian shampoo i purchased at the same time, with that one getting a post of anger all by itself, so stringy it left my hair.

but of course the moment we found one which provided mutual pleasure it would transpire to be that we could no longer find it. no, the makers were off being all too busy mixing lime with coconut and banana with bamboo milk to be bothering with eucalyptus infusion.

after some searching, though, i managed to find not one, not three, but two different brands of body wash, or should you prefer shower gel, which has eucalyptus at the core of its being.

yes, indeed, as you can see in Commodore 64 mode (with scan lines on) above, these are eucalyptus products from two of the giants of the soap related industry, Radox and Imperial Leather. note please that i said Radox and not Rodox, with the latter being a most splendid company what makes some very interesting products but not ones which i would show off here.

for the most part it has been quite rare for me to stray away from someone called Original Source, or something like that. this has been for a number of reasons, and just about all of them to do with them being the cheapest. from time to time Imperial Leather have, however, been even cheaper when on special, and so i am well versed in their quality. as Original Source, or whatever they are called, have elected to abandon eucalyptus as a primary or even secondary aspect of their products i have been left with little choice but to abandon them.

as something of an aside, although not really, in terms of value the Imperial Leather one here will take some mighty fine beating. it's a "get 100% extra free" bottle, which means it contains 500ml rather than the regulation 250ml. basically, half a litre of eucalyptus infused body wash for £1 off of Poundland. you simply cannot go wrong and i would be impressed if you could do better, and no shoplifting or other forms of theft do not count in respect of that challenge.

which of these two would i be most excited about? i find it quite hard to accept, indeed it beggars belief, that you, the reader of this, would be particularly interested, but i suppose the Radox one. the fact that in that one the eucalyptus has been infused, or if you like blended, with citrus oil is, to me, exciting. aside from the obvious and overt Jason Donovan connection to lemon shampoo it just strikes me as being the most Australian of the two.

that said, let us not assume that the Imperial Leather shall be a default second. i am somewhat wary about the fact that they place peppermint as the primary ingredient, but who knows this might well work out rather nicely.

anyway, should for some reason this have been of interest or use to someone, well that's just grand, that is, to be sure.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the empire strikes bag

hello there


the obsession Tesco has with a Star Wars tie-in continues, then. this is something which more or less started, look you see, in late 2015, when the store elected to have a Star Wars themed weekend. it was a themed weekend which saw absolutely everything in their stores re-branded to reflect the popular series of films, with particular attention paid to the then most recent of films, Episode VII : Mission To Moscow, or whatever it was called.

a legacy of this branding has been the constant if not perpetual availability of "bags for life" being sold by Tesco - for £1 a go - which feature images off of Star Wars. well, selective ones. thus far one has been able to purchase bags what feature the first of the films, and the above mentioned one.

it was with some interest, and financial investment thereafter, that i saw they have now moved on to a third film released under the guise of the Star Wars series, and this time related to what many would argue as being the best and most treasured of the films. no, not that one, the other one.

yes, as you have probably worked out from all the clues and the title of this post, Tesco in their infinite wisdom now allow, or if you prefer encourage, patrons to purchase bags what have The Empire Strikes Back on them. indeed the above is presented in Commodore 64 mode, and to be sure a non-Commodore 64 mode version appears below if for some reason you want to see that.

and yes further indeed the above is one of the more iconic images off of the film, with Lord Vader, or if you like Darth Vader, reaching out to Luke after battering him. i can't say too much of what's being said in the above scene captured for it might be all spoiler related.

the other side of the bag? well, when you consider The Empire Strikes Back as a whole there are numerous iconic images they could have lifted. some would be predictable, others not. it would have been a wonderful opportunity to showcase two of the most endearing and popular characters from this film - Lobot and Lando Cardassian or whatever he was called, but instead Tesco went with something else. a less obvious image, granted, but something else.

that is indeed an image of the robot couple, C3PO and R2D2, watching that spaceship off the film - the Enterprise, or whatever - blasting off on some sort of space mission adventure quest thing. not, as i said, quite an obvious image for one to select off of The Empire Strikes Back, but also one what they would not have to pay too many royalties or image rights for using, since no faces feature.

i actually suspect that this image was used as a heading off sort of retaliation response to the criticism which Tesco did not quite get for not using the more recent Rogue One, or rather more appropriately called Renegade Ten, for branding and profit purposes. that most recent of films overtly implied a loving relationship between two gentlemen of the rebellion, and perhaps Tesco did not want to get involved or otherwise embroiled in a whole mass debate around homosexuality in made up stories.

Tesco turning around and using an image of the gay robots from the films -  two dearly loved characters who dominated the first 20 minutes of the first film and paved the way for other male relationship films like Brokeback Mountain and The Lord Of The Hobbits - would, you think, stave off any criticism of being against gay relationships in space.

it would be quite fair to say that Tesco are much, much better at being a supermarket or retailer than i am, but this should not be a barrier to throwing some criticism their way. the bags are, to an extent, rather shoddily made. have a look.

no, that is not me holding the bag up to a mirror. at the top, where the seam is to really tie the whole bag together, they have just used the same material. that's a bit wasteful of the prints that is, and is somewhat distracting when you use the bag for shopping, or whatever. well, what do you expect for £1 these days, i suppose. quite a bit from Poundland, actually, but not so much, i guess, from the of the prestige grocers.

there is but a limited and finite number of things which i could say about Tesco shopping bags and gay robot adventures in space, so to mix it up a bit here is what March has brought for me to gaze upon in regards of my "concept art" Star Wars calendar, what i have hanging in my shed.

for some reason Blogger has elected to load this up sideways as i type. with good fortune you will, however, be able to see it the correct way around on whatever device you happen to be looking at it on. if, indeed, you are looking at it. which you must be if you are reading this, otherwise i am partially wasting time typing it all. but i enjoy doing it, so there.

what is being seen here in this concept art? well, the top half shows what i presume to be a scene at that bar on that planet with two suns and that. the second, lower image would appear to hint at a proposed earlier confrontation between Darth Vader and that workshy, fake orphan sibling abuser called Luke. it's not, so far as i am aware, a scene which was filmed or ended up in the movie.

a look at the Darth Vader side of the bag, with that annoying mirror image thing along the seam, in non-Commodore 64 mode to finish off with, then.

i do look forward to seeing what Star Wars film them at Tesco use next. it would be nice if they used something off of the ever popular, highly celebrated "prequel" ones, as there were some absolutely amazing visuals in them. if they are going in sequence, however, we will probably get something showing that fat ugly slug thing off of Return Of The Jedi next. and, at the rate in which they produce them thus far, this will probably only happen next year, any how.

until then, then, or at least until the next post here,



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a lesson in linear notes

howdy pop pickers



A good opening paragraph should give one, or if you like you the reader, a pretty firm and easily understood indication of what is to follow. This enables you to know if you’re going to be interested in it prior to electing to commit time towards further reading. In this respect, yes I have been guilty of not doing this, and yes I shall continue with this ubiquitous sin.

In this post I propose to travel, dear reader, from the whim of wishing to listen to some unobtrusive, decidedly non-threatening quasi-folk music to what must be the most daunting, intimidating, striking and quite possibly brilliant work of psychedelic rock which I have ever heard. This journey shall go through the wonder and beauty that is linear notes on a proper, physical release and subsequent ownership of music.

Somewhere around here should be a picture of the album we will reach on this journey, hopefully presented in the glory of Commodore 64 mode. This is presented early on to let you know where we are going with all of this, in case you wish to decide that you have been far enough.

Right, back to the start. As a select few friends and members of my family know, I really quite like the Vintage TV channel. As in there was some panic when it went off of Freesat for a bit, as we don’t have that Freeview thing on our massive yet non-digital tuner blessed television set.

A consequence of frequently having Vintage TV on is the one hears the same batch of songs again and again. And, for good measure, again. They seem to have a fairly limited number of tracks which they play the videos of. To this end, if you relied on Vintage TV alone for musical information you’d swear that David Bowie was a one hit wonder and that wonder was All The Young Dudes, despite the fact that his own recording of it didn’t actually ever come out as a single. But, I digress some.

One track repeated is called Fire & Rain, off of someone called James Taylor. It’s soft, unchallenging and rather beautiful music and lyrics grew on me to such an extent that I thought yes, I will have some of that, and so purchased – via one of them “internet” things – a suitably priced set of his recordings, featuring this song.

And yes, at the same time I bought (yet) another CD of Jon & Vangelis. This I did in the hope that somewhere out there is a recording by them that matches the eloquence and excellence of The Friends Of Mr Cairo. So far this has not been the case. And still not with this, Chronicles as it is called, which purports to be a “best of”. A best of which features something from The Friends Of Mr Cairo but, bizarrely, neither I’ll Find My Way Home or State Of Independence. Hey ho.

To be honest I did not really enjoy much of Chronicles, and I suspect the disc won’t be played again. I will also, most probably, resign myself to the fact that The Friends Of Mr Cairo is a one off for me, and it is the only Jon & Vangelis album I am going to enjoy and play on a frequent basis. An advantage of owning the CD, however, was that it came with a booklet, and a booklet that had some lovely linear notes for me to read

Hang on, what’s that I read? Vangelis, prior to being a renowned film and tv composer and occasional recorder of stuff with Jon Anderson, was in an avant garde, progressive psychedelic folk hippie band called Aphrodite’s Child? With Demis Roussos? As in, the Demis Roussos? How is it that I had not ever before heard of this band?

It would be fair to say that I’ve always appreciated and respected Vangelis, but it had not dawned on or occurred to me to investigate the chap beyond what I knew, which was soundtracks and The Friends Of Mr Cairo. It never occurred to me that he might have started off in a more mainstream band. And it certainly never struck me that he might have been in a band with the legendary Demis Roussos.

This all intrigued me. I went off to have a look at another one of them “internet” things, then, so as it may share with me knowledge of this band Aphrodite’s Child. The first thing that cropped up was a music video, or sorts, for a song entitled Four Horsemen. And so I clicked on it to watch, and soon after I did what my (considerably) better half would describe as a little giddy dance of joy and excitement, for it felt like I had just discovered the bestest and most totes awesome thing ever.

Without knowing the context of the song – a searing, soaring amazing slice of unbridled psychedelic funktasia – I thought this was amazing, man, and wanted to explore more. Some further exploration revealed that Four Horseman was from a double album sized concept record called 666. A record that I did indeed go off and purchase on the basis of Four Horsemen, and indeed the video clip I saw for Aegean Sea.

Yes, we are getting to the record itself soon, but for now this. Thank you, then, linear notes. I am indebted to them existing for without them I possibly would not have stumbled upon Aphrodite’s Child. Whilst I understand the ease and convenience of all this “digital download” business, my fear remains that there’s a generation which does not appreciate the fact that the music itself is only half of the love of music. You don’t bond with data files. With a physical slice of music, you do however take in the artwork, take pleasure in holding it and can glean all sorts of information from what has, in a most considered and informed way, been included with the packaging. But this is a case I have argued before. Far be it from me to try turning the tide of what people find easier now.

And so on to this record. Mostly. If the title of it sounds rather Biblical, well, that would be because it unmistakably is. The album name, and the theme explored in this psychedelic rock opera concept, comes straight off of The Book of Revelation from the New Testament.

What is the concept? The album depicts people watching a circus show which has acts based on the events from Revelation, whilst outside the circus the actual events described in Revelation are sweeping the planet. Yes, quite meta, post-modernist, etc. By all accounts, and I have read as much as I can, the intention of the band – or perhaps rather Vangelis – was to unleash a concept record which, in terms of structure and scope, fell “between Sgt Pepper and Tommy”. Whilst I would never ever tolerate a word against the latter, I dare to suggest that the band met and exceeded this scope.

If we leave aside influences on this record, once heard you cannot avoid or ignore the clear influence it had itself on what was to follow. Upon playing I was very much “oh”. Whilst, as we shall have a look at in a bit, this album was not all that big a seller on release, it ended up on the turntables of all the right people. Elements of the post-1972 works of Pink Floyd, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and dozens more were clearly influenced and inspired by what they heard here. And beyond, as it happens. On one track, the instrumental The Wedding Of The Lamb, you can hear guitar parts and refrains which echoed all the way to appearing on the song Blackstar by David Bowie.

It would be disingenuous and wrong to say those bands “stole” from this 666 album. But to hear this record is to learn to where those artists owe a debt of thanks.

As I said earlier, this is a brilliant record, but also a daunting and challenging one. In terms of the psychedelic vibe it transmits, if my understanding of how hallucinogenic work I believe if you took LSD, or if you like acid, and listened to this in a darkened room then you would go on a trip from which you would not return. Perfectly sober it’s still quite something.

This is perhaps none more true than on a track called ∞, or if you prefer Infinity. This is a track which reminds you that, once, music was created in a way to be truly powerful, overwhelming, dangerous, challenging and menacing. The primordial sounds of this track are unmistakably and quite intentionally sexual in nature, ranging from sacrificial to offered to taken to submissive to orgasmic to bliss to fatalistic and beyond. Whilst ∞ runs for some five minutes I am led to believe the original version ran for closer to forty. The band was instructed to edit it down and Vangelis yielded. Part of me hopes that the full blown version still exists somewhere and will get released one day; part of me fears hearing it as it was fully intended.

Infinity, or as Vangelis named it ∞, was one of the most prominent reasons why the record label refused to release this album for about a year. Despite the fact that the record seemed in no way to be commercial or likely to sell well, they sensed danger and controversy with it. Is it in fact blasphemous? Yes, no, maybe – it depends on how you interpret, read and understand the Bible. In whichever way, you’d be neither wrong nor right to say it is or it isn’t, for it just is.

The label, as it turns out, was quite correct in their fears of financial success eluding this record. It, for the most part, failed to chart anywhere in the world, and was routinely overlooked or ignored. Except, of course, by other musicians.

Many interesting stories surround the recording of the record. The most prominent is that whilst the members of Aphrodite’s Child loved the creative process of making this album and generating music together, they were drifting apart as people. And as we know today, two of the members – Vangelis and Demis – went off to achieve such incredible success and recognition as solo artists that their membership of Aphrodite’s Child rarely registers anywhere. Except linear notes.

Would I suggest that you, the reader of this, go off and buy or otherwise obtain a copy of 666? Frankly, yes. It’s genius, and what’s more it sounds good. Have a look and a listen to the parts I have highlighted above on one of them “internet” things. Hopefully it will inspire you to give the whole album a go. If not, the Aphrodite’s Child material before this was all pop and a little hippie – maybe give that a go.

With a diminishing, if not decreasing, level of new and exciting music being generated this century it is something of a blessed relief – revelation if you like – to learn that there are wonderful secrets left in the last century still to be discovered.

If you’re reading this after reading all of the above and are not just here from a slim form of skimming it, you’ve endured some two thousand words off of me. For that I thank you kindly, and I really hope it’s been mostly interesting for someone somewhere.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's really interesting

hi there


no, actually, i suspect this is not all that interesting to many of you. to some, however, it will be. this latter comment i make boldly in the light of a recent resurgence in popularity for a post i did on the subject of the 'Sky Blue' branded cigarettes, or if you like fags, look you see, off of Benson & Hedges.

in a reasonably recent post, and one that i cannot be bothered to search for and link to here, i observed a most strange peculiarity which happened with the legal changes to how cigarettes are sold here in England, or if you like in the UK. the oddity was that the per cigarette price of B&H Sky Blue had someone got marginally cheaper as a result, rather than more expensive as feared.

my most recent trip to stock up on cigarettes (man, how i miss Makro at Woodmead or Crown Mines for doing that) revealed that, for some reason, they have now got even more cheaper. as you can sort of see in the below, should you have been following this on my blog.

also please note the warning label, which yes i have discussed recently. the whole change and alterations to how cigarettes may be sold was done to accommodate warnings like this, so do please pay attention to the message it gives.

yes, a packet of 20 Benson & Hedges Sky Blue now costs £6.50. if you bear in mind that the packets of them, presumably to circumvent taxation or simply to make profits, had but 17 in them, the cost per cigarette has dropped some.

in the course of the last year, then, the following changes have kicked in -


17 B&H Sky Blue at £5.99 per packet - 35.2p per cigarette
20 B& H Sky Blue at £6.90 per packet - 34.5p per cigarette
20 B &H Sky Blue at £6.50 per packet - 32.5p per cigarette


wowee, that's some change, man, and seems somewhat out of kilter with the efforts to make people quit for economic reasons. perhaps too many have indeed quit for economic reasons, and the Government, noticing the substantial loss of tax revenue, has elected to make it all cheaper again.

it would be amazing if such a price blessing could affect the one thing in the world i miss the most, Marlboro Red, but so far one must still pay a premium price for the prestige brand. no matter, Benson & Hedges will do. as i've pointed out, B&H were once a luxury brand, and smoking them was reserved purely for the higher ranking members of society, such as the clergy, low level politicians and the landed gentry. Royalty was always known to be fond of JPS, or if you like John Player Special.

also, as i have said before, had George Osborne campaigned along the lines of "vote to stay in the EU and we will make cigarette tax fair and in line with the far cheaper prices paid for them in the rest of Europe", he'd still be in a job, as i would have been a one man army campaigning to stay in; even going as far as being pleasant and civil any time i had to reference a Frenchie. but, he didn't, so f*** his negative threatening campaign, he got what he deserved.

it would be a most splendid of things if this post was of use to any of you.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

neil's heavy concept album

boom shanka


it does rather feel like posts on this blog of late are tending to lean towards being of a celebration of music, or if you like the vibes. i don't believe this is too bad a thing, for there are far worse things which i could write of, look you see.

anyway, on with the vibes. this time we go back some 33 years to a sort of semi celebrated release from the year 1984. i would not call this an obscure record as such, but also i would not refer to it as one which frequently comes up in conversations. or "best albums ever" lists. but, still, you know.

oh yes indeed, this is a bit of a recollection, or if you like celebration of or indeed if you prefer shout out for 1984's partially noticed Neil's Heavy Concept Album by Neil Pye.

i would imagine that most who have found this off of one of them internet searches need not have me tell them this, but on the off chance the information is useful, Neil Pye was of course one of four students what shared a house in the superb early 80s documentary The Young Ones. this documentary series ran for two series, or "seasons" if for some reason you are American.

this album was after, or if you like post, the highly celebrated documentary series, and is a rare glimpse at one of the students which was followed in the documentary did after they completed their studies. it was, now that i think of it, never quite clear what Neil was actually studying at the time, but maybe it was music related. that would make sense, what with him doing an album. and not just any album, of course, but a concept album.

provenance of my copy? rather more 2017 than 1984, i must confess. this is not an album i bought at the time of release. no, for me 1984 musical purchases were limited, if not reserved, for Frankie Goes To Hollywood. they released quite a bit, and how much pocket money is it that you think i got?

my (considerably) better half got this CD re-re-rerelease of it for me for all that Valentine's Day business; a gift that somewhat put my offerings to her to shame. but that's pretty much standard for this event.

i can, at the least, recall seeing Neil on Top Of The Pops, doing the single which was his pop debut. it was a cover of Traffic's Hole In My Shoe, and was not bad at all. not good enough to be number one, for i think it stalled at number two below a Frankie Goes To Hollywood release. not difficult to have done that, really - Frankie were at number one for a total of 15 weeks out of 52 in the year, and for a while also held the second spot. so well done, Neil, for getting as high as you did.

if you'd rather go and look at Neil off of The Young Ones doing Hole In My Shoe on Top Of The Pops as i watched it at the time, here's a link to what seems to be the only copy going. sadly, the quality is not what it could be, but better this than nothing. relax, click away - it's John Peel what is host, and not any DJ who has had allegations made against them.

should it be the case that you're rather more interested in the commercial promotion of this album and you are capable of watching videos here on this blog, then here you go. here's a video below of an advert for the album from the time. an advert which seems to be aimed at the American audience, or possibly the Australian one. a market which is rather more used to Dollars than Pounds, at the least.

there is a compelling case to say that if i had bought the 7" single of Hole In My Shoe that i would have gotten to number one. i bought the cover of Living Doll he and the rest of the students out of The Young Ones documentary did with Cliff Richard, and that went to number one. but then again, that single, as i recall, was rather more dominated by the politics of one of his student friends, Rik, than anything.

so, anyway, is Neil's Heavy Concept Album any good? yes, indeed it is. whilst there isn't exactly much of a concept to it, heavy or otherwise, bar "hello i am Neil and this is my record", it's entertaining enough. granted, for the most part it is propped up by the two singles, Hole In My Shoe and White Bicycle, although there are many other highlights. well, a few. Lentil Nightmare, for example, pretty much gave every post-80s metal band - and later The Darkness - the full inspiration for their vocal style.

this CD brings together with the original album an assortment of b-sides. there's also tracks which were at the time exclusive to the cassette release, which is interesting. yes, back then they sometimes made different versions of albums for different format releases. sure, mostly this was done to try and convince people to buy the same record twice, but all the same it was a nice touch. 

now that i think on, one of the extra tracks here from a single is a cover of Hurdy Gurdy Man off of Donovan. i know this because my mate Stephen Legget bought that single and shot it onto a tape for me. so, in a sense, i did make some sort of small contribution towards trying to get Neil to number one as a solo artist.

would there be any value in the target audience of pop records today - the young ones, as it were - seeking out this record? i am not so sure. whereas people of my years would recall the documentary series of The Young Ones rather fondly indeed, i am not certain that it has lived on in a way that has seen you, the kids, go out and seek it. perhaps they have their own, similar natured documentaries that speak to them and their era the way that The Young Ones did to us.

i haven't really said all that much about the record in amongst all this waffle, have i? oh well, these things happen. if you've stumbled upon this as part of a trek through your own nostalgia or simply found it by accident, then i can but hope that it is, for what it is, was of some interest!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!