Elvis Sings

hello there

close to six months in and i am still not at all tired of all this wonderful postal system thing. with the exception of two items, both of which were refunded, every item sent to me has arrived and in exceptional time. i have said it before and i shall say it again, try living with a truly unreliable postal service for a while, where strikes go on for months and when the staff are not on strike they simply steal or destroy your mail.

anyway, rant over. today was the day that an item arrived for me after being posted only yesterday. that's smart that is. almost as smart as the item that was sent to me.

yes, oh yes. it is indeed a CD featuring the works (not complete works, just selected works) of The King, Elvis Presley for the enjoyment of us lesser beings.

an interesting set this is, in two distinct respects. the first of them would be that this was released on June 16th. that would be one day after Father's Day, being as it was on June 15th (there, i saved you reaching for a calculator). a clever bit of marketing that by Sony, who seem to be all over this release. had someone there had the vision to release this a mere week, or even just 4 or 5 days, earlier, they would surely have gathered a good deal more sales, for little would be as good or as appreciated as a Father's Day gift than this CD. even if it was only bought on a "f*** it, this will do him" basis, the music and enjoyment would have remained upwards of the top levels. hey ho.

the other interesting element is the selection of tracks as performed by The King, Elvis Presley. they are all cover versions, look you see, or if you like versions that are covers. granted, his excellency The King, Elvis Presley rarely wrote tunes himself, if at all, but these are all songs that were reasonably well known before The King, Elvis Presley made them all better.

oh yeah, this particular set is called Elvis Sings, and is all of, at time of going to press, £5.99 to you, squire, plus postage unless you order over whatever amount it is amazon wish to bless you with free postage for doing so. 

i was very, very excited indeed by the cover picture in the light of the tracklisting for this set. why? because it is a clear, present and real image from a famous, celebrated 1970 rehearsal session at which he did this version of Words, the Bee Gees, as it were, "number". alas, it is a live recording of the song, which is still awesome, but i was hoping for that particular version of Words to be on this shiny CD. well, shiny-ish. 

and indeed, kids, a fair few of the cover versions on here are recorded live, something the box/cover neglects to mention. no real harm in that, as they are all superb recordings, but it is a touch cheeky not to make it clear at any point one is getting a mix of studio and live recordings. 

yeah, i know you can't really make out the track listing there, sorry. just click on the link on the album name and you can see it all, anyhow.

you may also not be able to make out the fact that Sony have, for a moment, forgotten that they are Japanese and have opted to go all Chinglish with the description of The King, Elvis Presley as "one of the most famous talents of all time". that's not showing enough respect, as far as i am concerned, and if the person who wrote it would like to get in touch with me to express how sorry they are i might see my way clear of not letting them find out how hard i can punch.

Elvis Sings comes in one of them cardboard case things that seem more popular than "proper" CD boxes these days. probably something to do with being cheaper and that, as well as environmentally friendly and what have you. "oh look, we saved a dolphin by not using plastic"; that sort of thing.

hmn, blogger keeps throwing out "you have logged out from your present location" messages at me. i am not sure if this was an error i worked out the reason for before, or if i am being hacked once more. we shall, no doubt, find out together.

anyway, these cardboard covers are not bad at all, as they give a sort of "record" feel to CDs, and they allow for some class, creative artwork on the inside. unless, of course, they are made by Sony.

yep, an all black inside, bar two red lines. cheers for that. they could have put even more class pictures of The King, Elvis Presley right there, but did not.

what, for the money, is the actual music on the CD like? what do you think? his interpretation / improvement of Words has already been mentioned, and the same is applicable to everything on here. if you want more praise, well then the recording of The King, Elvis Presley doing Sweet Caroline is breathtaking, Something makes it make sense that such a thing as The Beatles existed, even in some way making up for the fact that the legacy of the band would appear to be Ringo Starr. Bridge Over Troubled Water, My Way, You've Lost That Loving Feeling - all of them amazing. so go get the album, Father's Day or not.

yep, indeed that is the CD and the booklet there. the emphasis on the CD was, it seems, "serviceable" or how you spell it will do, with them insisting on carrying on with this black / red line thing.

the booklet is nowhere near as half-arsed as it could have been or as i feared it might be. really good, as it happens. there's a bit of a rundown on each song, some history of it, that sort of thing. where possible there's also some input (a few of the comments historical, "obvs") from the original composers / artists, with a few of them expressing their pride in the fact that The King, Elvis Presley chose to elevate their humble work by agreeing to perform it.

also there are some class pictures included. here is one of them.

damn, wish i could do either of the looks on display there.

i would trust you to have worked out that everything in this blog post is a statement along the lines of "yes, this is very much worth getting for all of six english pounds", but should you have missed that, this set is well worth getting. 23 excellent vibes from The King, Elvis Presely and, unlike assorted Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix releases, there is no doubt at all over the provenance that it really is who it says it is on the box.

if for some reason you do not like The King, Elvis Presley, go away. in fact, if you haven't gone away, just why is it that you have read this far?

an extra bonus to all of this, for me, was this whole "amazon rip" business. being outside of the UK i was unable to even try it before. as they offered it to me as part of purchasing the CD, i thought i would give it a go. this enabled me to have a listen to it on the stroll to the bus stop on Monday morning. another sort of "day of release thing", if you like.

what was even better, as you can get a fragment of a glimpse of here, is that all albums that were applicable for an "auto rip" which i have purchased over the years were sat waiting for me, even though i technically bought them outside of the UK. which kind of underlines the farcical nature the record labels have got themselves into a right mess with this "cross border digital rights" nonsense. hey ho, have them now, and it's not like i could not have simply done a "manual rip" all by myself anyhow.

as these are all 70s recordings (as far as i am aware), the sound of The King, Elvis Presley is enhanced further by the presence of that twangy guitar thing and oompah bass. sorry, forgot to mention that bit earlier, but i have done now so there you go.

have fun ordering this CD and do dig it all as and when it lands.


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

President Ray Gun EP launch

hi there

President Ray Gun, a band which the bass player out of President Ray Gun assures me is the best thing ever to come out of Manchester, are at long last finally almost ready to release their debut record. i have seen pictures from the recording session, and believe me the boys are excited about it.

CLICK HERE FOR PRESIDENT RAY GUN ON FACEBOOK

yes, as you can see this all happens at the Kraak Gallery, wherever that is (maybe Stephenson Square) in Manchester on 12 july 2014. Glastonbury will be all forgotten by then, so there is no reason not to go.


CLICK HERE FOR PRESIDENT RAY GUN ON SOUND CLOUD OR WHATEVER IT IS CALLED

are the band any good? honestly, i have no idea at all. none whatsoever. they probably are not the worst band in the world, so you should certainly give them a try, or pause for thought at the very least.

here is the cover for their class (presumably) EP.

get down on it, dig it, enjoy and all that stuff, you crazy kids.


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

Dennis Waterman

hi there

and to start

**** WARNING THIS POST FEATURES DENNIS WATERMAN ****

here is the cover off of that single that Dennis Waterman did. it was the theme for a TV show, the name of which escapes me for the moment. as does the title for the theme song.

also here is Dennis Waterman, showing just how ready he was to replace either Chas or Dave out of Chas & Dave if one of them ever wanted to quit, doing the song on Top Of The Pops, a show sadly no longer with us.

i took the video from here, where they have incorrectly described Minder, the show for which Dennis Waterman did the song I Could Be So Good For You as the theme, as a comedy-drama. it is in fact more of a drama-comedy. unless you consider the idea of cockney criminals as being one that is naturally associated with mirth and humour.

if you are wondering did Dennis Waterman take his theme song to the natural conclusion of recording a whole album, the answer is yes, oh yes, yes he did.

distressingly, this album has never been issued on CD. also, no one has even done one of them "vinyl rip" things and "upped" it to the net, so far as i am aware. this means that the music of the Waterman of Dennis is mostly unheard across the 7 or so billion people on the planet.

i will leave you to think about that.




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

parade, fair, fete, fun

hello there


yes, i know. toothpaste, partial glimpses of haircut and now the big village day out. it is all kicking off here, as it were, and it's still a good 6 or so hours to go before that England vs Italy, or if you like Italy vs England, match. a busy, long day and night ahead, then.

today was indeed the day of the village fair, or fete, or even parade. or combination thereof, really, as it was in equal parts all of them, but just go with whatever word is correct and use that. the skies this morning contained elements of drizzle, threatening at any stage to burst open and upon us all. it is with some thanks that it did not, and all of us could enjoy the day out in a way that was characterised, or even characterized, by being dry as we did so.

and there were many, as you can sort of see in this picture of people lining the streets for the parade.

yeah, i just had my blueberry with me, so as you will be aware the pictures are not going to be all that great, sorry. for a better class of picture i may well one day buy either an update blueberry, or one of them Samsung Galaxians or a Pear iTwat. but probably not one of the last two, as they don't do buttons. do that Danish lot, Nooki or whatever, still do them phones with buttons?

moving on, and the people were gathered to watch the parade, as i mentioned before, if only in passing. we were eagerly awaiting the parade too, keen to watch and see.

we were quite fortunate to find this vantage point very much under-populated, in truth. the village was, as later pictures shall reveal, truly packed, so to find an empty bit of path, with a barrier no less, was a bonus. most happy day!

the parade itself was magnificent. bravo and a very well done to all of the people who put so much hard work and effort in. a particular well done to all the owners and users of the vintage vehicles, who have kept them all working in magnificent condition. a labour of love if there ever was one, i believe.

a parade, of course, is completed and indeed complemented by the presence of a big marching band. this we very much had on the go, but i do not have a picture for you. instead, i have a most spectacular video - with sound and that - for you to enjoy. 

enjoy, of course, so long as you are not on an iTwat or using Safari, for i believe those elements of the net of inter do not allow one to watch video. 

yes, that is an extra special amount of bass on the go there, is it not?

the boys loved the entire parade as it was, but if a highlight were to be selected, it would be the band. both were very impressed with the sound and just how loud it was.

i would say i suspect the match tonight will end in a draw, but i expected the match between that Spanish lot and that Dutch lot, the exact names of the countries involved escapes me, to be a draw. i will, then, rather suggest, that England might win, or Italy might. but it could also be a draw.

back, i am sure you want to go, to pictures of the parade. here you go. look at the fantastic work and effor that went into these floats.

brilliant work by all involved, well done. well, yeah - i mean, this is Yorkshire. we do not do anything less than what people from lesser areas that are not Yorkshire would be amazed at doing. to us it's all second nature, as it happens. or possibly first nature.

i believe these pictures are further giving a clue as to how many people came out and indeed about today to see all of this. lovely.

i have been thinking about my match prediction a bit more. where it could be an England win, an Italy win or a draw, it might also be that it gets abandoned for some reason. so there, that's my conclusive and direct prediction on the score for you. if i can stay awake, i will be watching it in the company of an absolutely enormous bag of M & Ms.

with the parade procession past, it was time to walk up towards the green. as you can see, the skies still tormented and teased us, with rain looking like a possible way forward at any moment.

here is a picture of the good people taking a walk towards the green, then.

to the left, if you are interested, in between those two buildings that you can see is the library, or if you like discovery centre, where i from time to time purchase books for reading on the bus. on a Saturday, of course, as i am unable to get there at the times on the other days that they are open.

anyway, as you can see, and as i may well have mentioned in passing, the place was a healthy level of heaving. nice to see, all and sundry having a splendid time.

as for the fair / fete side, well, it was all a lot of running around after the boys, going on various rides and stalls and that. which was kind of the downside to the day, really. they had great fun and that, but all the rides and games were either £2 or £2.50 each, which struck me and many others as being a little high. £2 for each child on one of them swing boats for 5 minutes was a particular lowlight.

i am a firm believer in everyone needs to make a living, right, but that costing was just ridiculous. it does not bode at all well for Stokesley Fair later in the year at all. i may have to sell a kidney or a lung or something for that one.

but hey, it was free to watch the people dance a traditional dance with swords.

onwards then to the formalities of any good village fete or fair, which would be awarding the best and the finest of those involved with the day. that was something that saw, rightly, everyone be awarded, rewarded and acknowledged for their efforts. it was a particular delight to see both schools involved be awarded too, for those kids and the teachers worked very hard on everything.

oh yes, up there on the stage, that is indeed our MP, the rather well known William Hague. he of the government of the day, and of some involvement in the policies and plans of that government that prevented us, most directly my (considerably) better half, from being here this time last year. alas no, i did not get the chance to meet and greet him and thank him for all those barriers he helped put in place.

to get back to the stalls, hopefully without too much more moaning and grouching about the costs, here is a selection of the things you could win for catching a duck. at £2.50 (R45.50) a go.

we have ended up with one of those dinosaurs and a car that is in a condition which suggests i have driven it. although, in fairness, it was a lot easier to put the wheels back on with the toy version.

anyhow, time for some coffee, and perhaps some experimental taster M & Ms, and wonder how on earth i shall stay up for this match to see if the result i predicted happens.

hope you've all had an excellent Saturday too!



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

toothpaste, special edition and hair

hi there

a few people tend to get quite upset - so upset it's almost like they are being Australian about it, really - about them 'special edition' versions of Star Wars. according to some vocal fans, the man who wrote, created and owned it all should not be allowed to fiddle with it or change it unless he has had the approval of some fan in Grantham, Basingstoke or similar locale in America.

i think they forget that the special edition versions gave us this.

yep, more Boba Fett. an unused scene, visible only without special effects on some "making of" VHS for years, was fiddled with to include Boba and shoved into the "special edition" of the first one of them Star Wars films. that in itself makes the special editions the most awesome things ever, as they have more Boba.

with some good fortune there will be, by some miracle of resurrection or escape, an appearance by Boba Fett in the new film, Epsiode Whatever. i seem to recall reading that they were doing a Boba, and Boba only film too. well, not Boba Fett on his own, presumably it will feature him chasing people around. if it is Han Solo he seeks again, it should be easy enough to catch him.

it has been headline news that Harrison Ford, he who plays the Solo of Han, knacked his ankle a bit whilst making the new film. that hobble should slow him down a touch, you would think, making it all too easy for Boba Fett, or any lesser bounty hunter, to catch him.

what bothers me, and what few others have said about this picture posted in celebration of his injury, is that it would seem in the new film Han Solo will be wearing a common, mid-priced watch and will have some sort of goatee beard on the go. neither i like, but i am prepared to give it a go.

Boba Fett would never have a goatee. Boba Fett also has no need of time, although there are some class watches featuring him you can get.

watches must be pretty strange in Star Wars land, anyway, what with all this "parsecs" business instead of minutes, hours and that.

no doubt the new Star Wars films, even if they are the best thing ever, will attract the usual abuse from fans who believe they could have made much better films with their ace ideas. i am happy to believe that they could make better ones, of course. if they are that good, it should be easy enough for them to raise about US$10billion or so, buy the rights and then make the films themselves as they should be made. as they will be very busy raising the money and hiring actors, i and i suspect everyone else will be happy for them to shut up about it and get on with it.

i went for a bit of a haircut and a substantial amount of shave today.

i am not really in the mood for a "full on" selfie thing of it all, in truth. however, it seemed like a not too bad, if not too good, idea to give you a fragment, or if you like preview, of how it went.

i am reasonably satisfied with it, i suppose. as there is less hair about my face and head there is, as a consequence, less grey, so that's nice. one or two strands seem to have escaped the blade of the barber, but no matter, i can soon fix those parts up with a knife, a ciagrette lighter and with the drive of the hammer of the gods.

anyway, another look at Boba Fett. this one shows off his ace rocket and jet pack thing. smart it is.

on the subject of Boba Fett, New Zealand. as regulars here are only too aware, usually when i hear from New Zealand it in some capacity features toothpaste that has love beads shoved in it.

today i heard from New Zealand, and indeed it was all toothpaste.

that is a most impressive haul of the stuff, is it not? blessed be the person who bought this and took it over for my Dad; for it saves me having to buy and post any of the stuff any time soon.

am i a failure for sending only two tubes recently, not twelve like featured here? yes, i suppose i am. i could not argue with being accused of being a disgrace either, really. i have, over the years, sent him a maximum of 10 at one go, so even in the grand scheme of things i have, i suppose, offended my Dad by not paying the right amount of respect in offering tributes of toothpaste with love bead toothpaste in.

i shall try to do better next time.

anyhow, that will do for now. until the next time, then




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

hardcore bookmark action

hello there

well, that's me puzzled, yet again, by the reaction i get from you, dear readers. of the excessive, long and probably tiresome post i did yesterday, or if you like the day before today, or indeed earlier if you are not reading this today, it seems that most interest was generated by the ad hoc, temporary bookmark i was using prior to the purchase of a saucy one or two. well, two.

i don't understand why exactly the bit of card that came with a badge would be of all that much interest, but it's not for me to throw questions at you that warrant an answer.

here to go, then, here is the "temp" bookmark, or book mark if that is the right way of saying it.

i am not sure what all the fuss is, but there you have it. admire away, enthusiasts of temporary markers of book passages and that.

why, if i have fancy new saucy bookmarks, have i not thrown this one out? because of the latent resilience it has. this thing has, intrepidly perhaps, ensured a class badge got to me, and has served me well with my books on the bus. it does not deserve some sort of Game Of Thrones styled disposal. it shall stay with me, then, on the off chance that i tire of the cheeky, saucy bookmarks.

now then, some of you regular readers will recall earlier in the year - as opposed to later - of that time when you were bored to tears by my account of a knacked bridge, yet were impressed by the presentation of images of it in Commodore 64 mode. i am thrilled to say the bridge is, at last, being fixed so that it is less knacked. many thanks to Uncle Trev for this picture of the bridge as a, if you will, work in progress.

it should, according to all them signs and that, be fixed and done by the end of this week. which is rather close, i believe. splendid, nice one.

it's not, in fairness, that the temporary bookmark was the only matter to solicit comment. there were some positive noises about the amazing vibes of the new Kasabian album too. i mention that before anyone gets all Australian about it and makes a comment saying this was the case. as it was.

i understand that some of you will not be of a mind to enjoy the softcore image of a temporary bookmark, so depraved and twisted has your mind become from exposure to filth on the net of inter. very well, for you i present some hardcore bookmark action - here it is, as it were, performing.

oh yes, that's the magnificent Sepulchre, or however you spell it, by James Herbert. i really enjoyed this book, man, but more on that as and when i do my regular book review thing. this was and indeed is at this stage the last book to have used the temporary bookmark you all, and by all i mean some if not one or two, seem to think of as being so f****** amazing.

presently, with the saucy bookmark of the umbrella nature, i am reading something called How It Ended by Jay McInerney, as supposed and so-called comtemporary of that Bret Easton Ellis chap. thus far all indicators point, as indicators are prone to do, to it not getting all that good of a review. but it cost a quid, so there you go. i wouldn't wish to pre-empt reviews, but i do look forward to the day that i read a book by the Jay and it's actually worth it, even if it all happens quite by accident.

anyway, that's quite enough on bookmarks for now.



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

day of release

hi there

blimey, really. i seem to have built up quite a few pics over the last couple of days, all for you to enjoy or, if we are honest here, ignore. well, for those of a passing interest, let's see what i have snapped away, or snapped up, and for some reason have decided to post here.

first off, a most practical and astute purchase was made over the course of the weekend in the form of these two cheeky magnetic bookmarks. no, it's not that the magnetic element is cheeky (no more than usual, at the least), it's the images on them.

they are, and i appreciate that the limitations of the blueberry camera obscure your pleasure here, some sort of throwback reference to them saucy postcards one could purchase at seaside resorts. they had a few different types, but these were the most cheeky of the cheeky ones, and the ones that took my fancy accordingly. it is with nothing but pride that i display these - presently the umbrella one - as i sit and read my book on the bus. all us British like a bit of cheeky sauce, look you see.

what is it that i am presently reading now? i think you spell it Sepulchure, and it's by that James Herbert fellow. bloody jolly good it is, and nearly finished. i think i have about 10 pages to go, so i will finish that tonight. thus, i will be reading something else tomorrow. with a saucy bookmark.

now then, elements of this post were due to be posted yesterday, but that rather sad news that came through to the world seemed more important to reflect on. moving onwards, then, and here is a poster on display dans le HMV at 8:30 in the morning; a time at which HMV are not open.

one of the albums featured in that poster was released yesterday, hence the title of this blog post. i was very, very excited about this for all sorts of reasons. we shall, however, get to those reasons a little later. or right now, really, if you scroll down i guess.

now, then. back to Saturday. on Saturday i was promised cricket, as i had been invited to an event that was being held at a cricket ground as a game of cricket was scheduled to be taking place.

it did not work out quite as it should have.

oh the event went well - very well indeed, as it happens. superb, in particular the magician fella. but no cricket was played due to the moat-esque swamp the rain had created of the field. gosh darn it.

yes yes, at the risk of making this all sound rather like one of them nationalistic, jingo jolly boy things, it is of the most exceptional of standards for cricket to be rained out here in England. i just wish, you know, that it did not happen quite so often as it does.

to get all the distinctly English / British things out the way though, a number of friends and family in South Africa - Zama in particular - were all very excited about just what cream scones were or, in a very real sense, are.

for those curious and interested in that way, here you go.

we did, on Saturday, of course go and check to see if the rain had stopped and the field dried out enough to allow a bit of an over or two, of course. by rights, i should have sat there for the entire day, reading the Daily Telegraph in the rain, waiting for play to start. it was, however, nicer inside and anyway i did not have a copy of the Daily Telegraph at hand as such.

here, then, is my (considerably) better half and i at one of the points where we decided to see if play had, by any chance, commenced at all.

no, as you have possibly ascertained, no play had commenced. and nor did it, so treacherous was the rain and the drainage to the hopes and ambitions of cricket. what a rotter the weather can be.

my mate Norman was, obviously and understandably, very disappointed with the cricket not going ahead too. he went so far as to make a speech, apologizing for the shortcomings of the weather and expressing his regret that none of us could see any being played. so emotional was he on the subject that he did not even mention the cricket directly, instead using his talents and skills of metaphor to refer to it all via means of discussing how happy he was to be married for some 15 years or so.

a very noble and magnificent gesture, i am sure readers of this will agree. certainly everyone there to hear his formidable speech did.

will there be other times to watch the cricket? yes, for sure, certainly, of course. cricket shall out live us all, indeed it will exist when civilisation does not; for civility is impossible without cricket.

back to yesterday, then, and that album getting released. it was, as you can perhaps work out from this picture (or from scrolling ahead), the new Kasabian album, with the imagination loaded title of 48:13, that i was so excited about.

being able to walk into a shop, right, and buy an album on its day of release, as if it were the most perfectly normal thing in the world to do, is a dream that i have had for a while. it has not happened for quite some time, alas, due to the sadly lacking and awful approach adopted in South Africa. oh, sure, they managed to put out for sale any quick session Phil Collins did on the day of release, and selected works by Rod and Bob Dylan, but never anything i wanted. regular, long suffering readers here will recall that last year they could not even be bothered to put the new Bowie album out for sale until two weeks after its release.

so i was excited, look you see, to be going and buying an album by a famous band that other people had actually heard of. nice one.

oh, go on then, another look at those saucy, cheeky bookmarks for you.

what was i using as a bookmark before getting my hands on these saucy, cheeky ones? quite an exotic range, as it happens, since you ask. my (considerably) better half, knowing how loathe i am to simply fold pages in paperbacks, fashioned for me a splendid and perfectly servicable one of paper, shaped in the style of one of them loveheart things. i have also been using the backing cardboard that accompanied a badge featuring him with the hood thing in South Park. Kenny, as i recall.

anyway, Sunday.

on Sunday i took a number of strolls. for some of them i had my new vibes machine on the go, as you have probably worked out.

what was i listening to? walking around with a Mod / Lambretta t-shirt on? why, i had Travellers Tune by Ocean Colour Scene on the go. the 4 track single of the song. top, it is - four quality vibes that is.

rarely have i felt as at peace and as at one with your humble narrator than i did as i strolled around home with this music on the go.

and yes, indeed i believe my beard does indeed need a trim.

if you are wondering what review i would give this Bush mp3 player thingie, the answer is just about a pretty good one. it can be a bit fiddly, and the headphones that come with it are rubbish, but just work out what album you want to play, put on it the albums you want to hear, and off you go.

best of all is the fancy light display it does when you power it up. i have tried to make a video of it for you, here you go.

yes, i say, yes it is a "buy". i will probably, maybe one day do a proper review of it, although i imagine the above covers it for you. does the job just fine on the bus, where ones does not really need nor require all that fancy stuff an iTwat does.

back to Saturday, then, and as you would expect Andrea was just as distraught as Norman was about the lack of cricket on the go.

yes, indeed, Andrea and Norman had gone to sensational lengths to dress in style for the cricket. most admirable. i had a suit on too, of course, but i do not look at all good in them. and my (considerably) better half always looks good.

so, day of release purchase business. the things one misses, really. i know in this day and age the idea of waiting for the shops to open to actually buy a record is somewhat alien and unusual, and i suspect the world is a lot sadder because of it.

yes, i appreciate that i could have gone along to the iTwat or the Amazon store and bought a digital download of it, since i will for now be listening to it on portable vibes machines alone. yes, i too am also aware that i could have simply plucked a less than legal copy of it off of the internet for the last week. i did not want to do any of that, though.

not out of any moral or legal obligation, and not out of wanting it "proper", i just wanted to experience once again the delight of walking into a store and buying an album that other people had actually heard of.

what was the experience like? well, for HMV, it was pretty much just a standard, conventional transaction, all done in a nice, polite way. for me, though, it was just excellent, man. a good feeling to have once more.

what's the album like? well, as you can see, mostly it is black text on a pink background, which is quite class.

the music is ace. it starts off with what sounds like Primal Scream crashing into Vangelis, which is as brilliant and smart as that idea sounds. so get the album, by whatever means suits you.

i will, with some good fortune, see them live at some point. in the mean time, the vibes on my vibes machine will do rather nice and splendid indeed, thanks.

and that will do for now, folks.

more as and when something of interest, as it were, happens!



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

Obituary - Colin Grigson

Colin Grigson, widely regarded as the 4th most talented member of the heavy metal overlords Bad News and routinely voted as the worst bass player in the world, has died at his home. He was 56.

News of Grigson's passing has come as a shock to the small, limited fanbase Bad News - by some miracle - retained. It has also been a shock to the many millions of fans who took a shine to any one of his alter egos, most notably "The" Rik Mayall; a persona which allowed Grigson to gain the adulation, the praise and, mostly, the groupies he craved, only without needing to know the difference bewteen a G note and a D one. Which, as former bandmates will testify, he didn't.

That a significant percentage of the other members of Bad News, rhythm guitarist Den Dennis in particular, were unaware of the fact that there was even a G note, let alone that it was different from a D, was mostly irrelevant to the disdain and contempt shown to their much admired band member, whose ability to pay for any PA rentals or van repairs underlined his sole value to the group.

The road to heavy metal medicority for Grigson was an unusual, difficult and for the most part easy one. The devil may care, king of the road but ensure that library books were returned on time lifestyle he did not really get to live were probably, in some capacity, inspired by his younger years - true in particular as it would have been impossible, after all, for him to be inspired by the future.

Grigson's University days were perhaps the biggest key to understanding the incredible lack of talent he was to show throughout his life. His obsessions with the two pillars of modern society - Leon Trotsky and Cliff Richard - led to countless volumes of dull, boring and impenetrable poetry being published. None of it helped him attain any of his ambitions, be they of having sex, getting an ounce of respect from his patience-tested roommates or any credit from any of his lecturers.

Grigson's student days were not a total failure, of course - just exceptionally close to it. Of all his ambitions, he did get to fulfil one; an appearance on University Challenge. His performance, however, turned out to be notable only for his expected poor knowledge on subjects he was was supposedly partially aware of being displayed to the 15 or so viewers who continued watching after the sensational opening credits.

Not long after Grigson "left" University, with it being entirely inappropriate to suggest that he in any way graduated, he was lured into the sordid world of heavy metal by notorious painter & decorator Alan Metcalf. Metcalf, using the stage name Vim Fuego, saw Grigson at an early Mary Hopkin based set he was performing "by accident", and immediately identified him as a potential cash cow, owing to the lavish way he was buying Malibu & Coke drinks for ladies in the hope that one of them would so much as let him look at their foo-foo; if he was lucky perhaps more. Whereas Grigson remained unlucky in love, he was fortunate to be embraced by Fuego. He was given the opportunity to express his gratitude by not only partially furnishing Fuego's home recording studio, but also by paying for a new clutch for the bands van and by advancing the money required to obtain a PA system.

Fuego and Grigson were soon joined by Den Dennis, a half-arsed painter in the employ of Mr Metcalf/Fuego for unspecified wages, and Spider Webb, a drummer who seemed on the club circuit to have the lowest level of drug dependency of any auditioned. Which, in retrospect, is quite a thing to say.

The band soon adopted the name Bad News to perform under, as these two words were the most frequent ways conversations started with the group in relation to bookings, ticket sales, clutch repairs and checking on the status of library fines.

Mixed fortunes tended to follow Bad News, so long as you accept that the mix was of "worse" and "awful" fortune. Even the opportunity of a TV documentary failed to lift the band to any significant status, with the recording of the ill-fated gig in Grantham serving only to ensure that it would be five years before they were ever allowed near a stage again.

In the intervening five years, with Metcalf/Fuego not requiring any new furniture or van repairs, Grigson drifted away from Bad News and sank to the depraved, dangerous and dark world of corporate banking. In an attempt to deflect away from his fame as a member of Bad News he informed his fellow junkies in the world of corporate banking that he was in fact the "less frightfully groovy" brother of Colin, Trevor. His efforts were successful, as no one at the bank ever associated him with the world of heavy metal. No matter how many hints he dropped.

Just as Grigson was drowning in an endless circle of corporate values, minor share manipulation and sensible accounting, the lure of heavy metal - and a substantial cheque from Channel 4 - saw him rejoin Bad News. A fifth year anniversary gig was planned for The Flying Horse, a pub celebrated for the fact that Bad News had never played there before.

The proposed gig fell apart after an ill-advised meal of 100 pints of lager and 4 poppadoms, but for a rare - possibly unique - change good news followed. The band, through the efforts of Vim Fuego, were able to secure a record contract with the homosexual specialist label Frilly Pink, and it was through that record contract that the band secured the ultimate dream - if you like Valhalla - of any metal band, a slot at the Monsters Of Rock Festival, Castle Donnington.

This opportunity, as you would expect, was pissed away with some considerable comfort. Their performance ended in a riot, with the fact that Grigson was able to place a few strategic kicks to the head of Vim Fuego being of some comfort to him. Exactly what comfort this gave him as his throat was slit by the rioters is something that he never revealed.

That was to be the last time that the original line-up of Bad News would feature in public. A version of the band without Grigson appeared on a BBC charity telethon. Critics who saw it agreed that the best part of the performance was the bass.

Little is known of what happened to Grigson after the band parted ways with him. It is believed that he briefly lived in Hammersmith, had a spell as a guest house manager, pursued a healthy interest in amateur gynaecology and took an interest in quad biking.

Reactings to the passing of Colin Grigson have been mixed to none from his former band mates. Den Dennis, for reasons best known to himself, took an unauthorized leave from a painting job in Hammersmith to take a taxi to Grantham to announce that he had no comment at this stage as he was busy with a painting job in Hammersmith. Spider Webb is currently orchestrating the global economic recovery and advising the NSA on what spying techniques are and are not "metal".

Vim Fuego was last seen sat on a mountain he had constructed from crates of Lager of Lamot, singing Those Were The Days.

Although given "just about" the amount of credit he deserved in life, it remains the case that many will miss his talent a very great deal indeed.


Hey, Mr Bassman.........