gone are the days

bah, humbug

well, here we are again. tradition dictates, look you see, that i try to capture the excitement of days gone past for this one special time of the year. i speak, of course, of the thrill that once was getting the bumper, super, massive edition of the Radio Times and/or the TV Times, featuring listings of all the goodies what were to be broadcast over Christmas and New Year. 

for the last few years i have put myself through this, and shared my plight with you. whined about it, if you like, and it is fair to say that i have, to be sure. my complaint has been both the lack of quality of these two big name magazines and, of course, the fact that no, the broadcasters have long since ceased to make festive television choices exciting or surprising. a particularly lower than usual low has been reached this year on both fronts. 

let this be said up front (right now), then. the television selections for Christmas, and indeed New Year, by the so-called "big" channels, is predominantly sh!t. there are one or two things of interest, but mostly they have gone mediocre, dreadful and/or dull. a partial (justified) excuse for this is, of course, the fact that for most of 2020 we have waged the invisible war on the new plague, making the creation of any new television stuff tricky and difficult, if not impossible. yet still what gets served up is disappointing. 

my first challenge, then, was coming to select exactly which TV guide i was to purchase for the festive season. usually this is a toss up between the two "big ones" mentioned earlier, namely Radio Times and TV Times. still i can recall, and long for, the excitement of the day in December every year when Mum walked in with both of them off of the paper shop. back then it was so that Radio Times only had BBC stuff whilst TV Times had only ITV and Channel 4, so you had to get both. unless you were really, really anti one of the channels, i suppose. or were content to just get daily TV listings out of the newspaper, which people bought in the 80s, or even just get the listings off of Ceefax or Oracle. 

as both of them magazines now list all channels going, there is simply no need to get both. well, you could do, i guess, if somehow it was so that each had worthwhile articles in them. i doubt that this is so, but to each their own. 

for the most part it has been that TV Times has won in the last few years, for it has been considerably cheaper. i have no idea why, but Radio Times seems to price itself in a range designed to attract only those who wish to look posh and wealthy buy purchasing it. this year, the Christmas edition of Radio Times is neither north nor south of £5, whereas TV Times was unexpectedly north of £4. it was so that i nearly splurged on the TV Times, but in the end i decided (and i feel wisely) with that sort of pricing, both of them could f*** right off. 

quite a few of these newer, more recent and discernibly (apparently) obsessed with soap opera tv guides seemed to have their Christmas edition on sale for a mere £1.40. of those options, i went with the one which is called What's On TV, for it was all shiny, and i think i even recognize one or two of the people on the cover of it. since i knew disappointment was surely going to be in the pages of whichever periodical i selected, it made sense to go cheap. 

surely, and most decidedly, the choices or selections put forward by the so-called "big" channels for this Christmas are simply dreadful. yes, there are one or two of the usual "specials" of shows that are loved and well known (whether you happen to like them or not), but around those fractured moments one finds very little of interest or ambition. '

too much (far too much) time is given over to people who for some reason broadcasters are quite determined to make a "thing" no matter how little appetite there is for such. by far the worst of this is just how much Richard f*****g Osman we are exposed to. yes, he is tall, yes, he is related to someone off of Suede and yes, he is good at reading stuff off of Google, but the man is a personality void. as in, if you are in a double act with Alexander Armstrong and you are the boring one, the world of entertainment is not for you. Alan Carr also gets far too much (as in any) airtime; i have no idea what the fixation is that programme makers have but you simply cannot drag talent out of someone if there is patently none there to fetch. 

above is BBC1's New Year's Eve line up. i have selected them as they seem to be the only channel what is doing something "live" for the big event, the farewell to a wretched year we shall all be delighted to see gone. unless you own shares in PPE stuff or toilet paper. it all starts off well enough with that Paddy McGuinness (no relation) bloke, but then drops off formidably. to say that Graham Norton's one trick thing is now stale is perhaps unfair, but it is a loaf of bread on the afternoon of two days after the best before date. bravely you use it, but you know satisfaction would be binning it, or feeding it to the ducks. 

worse comes after, of course. sure, they can't do the usual New Year's Eve concert thing. but, really? of all the musical acts all around the world, they squander taxed and threatened to get licence fee money on Alicia Keys doing something or other from LA? oh dear. the break at midnight for the chimes of Big Ben is also going to be amazingly depressing too, since squatter mayor of London has binned off the fireworks and that. 

no, i have not forgotten or neglected the classical Christmas days (roughly or ostensibly 24, 25 and 26) on the tele. it is just that there is not so much to say, really. once again, sadly, there is no repeat (that i could find) of Chas & Dave Christmas Cockney Knees Up 1981 on Channel 5. i think this is the second or third year in a row what they have denied me my annual pleasure of it. 

it is at least the case that Challenge TV values putting decent stuff on over the festive period. one really cannot go wrong on New Year's Eve with them, then. yes, that's 16 (sixteen) hours (or is it 14) of The Chase, followed by a very satisfactory 3 (three) hours of Bullseye. at least it had better be proper and correct Bullseye, featuring Jim Bowen, and not that horrid variation they did with some false prophet. 

really, really bad news is that ITV have jettisoned one of the greater traditions of Christmas television, which is to say no proper James Bond film on from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day (inclusive). nearest closest (and this is quite far away) is very late on the Eve, with the complete sh!t "spoof" 60s variation of Casino Royale is on. in the life i knew, Boxing Day television was all about watching Sir Roger Moore save the world and then doing a sex. only via my DVD collection shall this happen this year. 

on a more positive note, the radio is looking (well, sounding) good. Zoe Ball is on holiday for Christmas, as too is Steve Wright, but he seems to only work for 14 - 18 weeks of the year anyhow. a massive plus is that (oooh) Gary Davies (on your radio) is on a lot on Radio 2 over the festive period. quite a bit of that Rylan Clarke fellow, too. i have taken a shine to him, i have, to be sure. yes, when i first heard him i clocked he was hopeless, but have embraced that he is hopeless in a lovable, fun and thoroughly enjoyable way. further, the brilliant Nick Abbott appears to be on LBC every single night over the Christmas season. 

between the boys and their computer games and all them "streaming" services, i suspect it shall be so that little, if any, of the stuff being broadcast over the two week Christmas tv window will end up being watched. perhaps some Bullseye and The Chase, maybe the usual Big Fat Quiz Of The Year and in all likelihood Doctor Who, if we can work out where they have put it since they have shifted it from the usual, traditional Christmas Day slot. 

am i (should i make it that far) going to bother with the tv guide next Christmas? not sure. here i could say no, i don't think i will, but i will probably end up doing so. 

perhaps this is presumptuous of me, but i suspect the only help anything i have written here will be of to you is in telling you not to worry so much about buying a Christmas tv guide, and indeed to seek something other that television for entertainment over the period. unless, for some inexplicable reason, it is so that you are one of these thought not to exist people who quite likes Richard Osman and/or Alan Carr. if so, then you are in for a treat.

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

seven at the edge of heaven

howdy pop pickers

yes, i would agree, look you see, that there has been a decidedly (distinct) slant towards vibes in posts this month. and i am aware that more musical ones are to come. well, Christmas is the time for song and dance, as well as some other stuff. 

in this instance, then, the vibes in question (or being written of) are of a varied, various artists nature, for what i have here is the latest (or most recent) of the Now That's What I Call Music albums what are being issued (kind of) on CD (compact disc) for the first time. to recap, the first few never got a digital disc release at the time. 

also to recap, they issued the first such volume on CD at the same time as volume one hundred (100) came out, as a "celebration" sort of thing. then a decision was made (presumably based on sales and general interest) that the first 10 (ten) volumes of Now were to be given the disc treatment. so, here we are at volume (or edition) seven (7).

unlike some (perhaps most) of the reissued (if that is the right term) volumes so far, this was one i had no direct connection to and very little knowledge of. certainly, at the time, i did not own it on tape or record, and nor do i recall any of my mates having it, either. there was, then, some intrigue and interest in finding out what it would feature. 

on getting it, things became clear in respect of why i would not have got it at the time. and this is certainly not because of a lack of quality on the record. just the briefest of glimpses at the tracklist, which yes is pictured here somewhere, reveals that i have the overwhelming majority of the finest of the best of the songs on the set in 7" single format. presumably my thinking would have been not to waste money on purchasing a set of songs i already had, then. 

certainly it is so that, once again, there are many who have issues with the tracklisting of this compact disc variation of Now That's What I Call Music 7. their quarrel is justified. up to now the reissues (if that is the correct way to describe them) have not been at all faithful. in many instances a different version of the song which feature on the compilation has been used, with the most upsetting and annoying one being Two Tribes back on (i think) volume 3. also, certain tracks have been omitted. in some instances this has kind of made sense (the removal of Gary Glitter from one, for instance), but in others less so. 

the big gripe, or complaint, with this one (7) is that Absolute Beginners is absolutely missing. quite strange, this. in an earlier volume (i think 5) another Bowie, This Is Not America, was absent. and yet the Bowie Estate allowed Modern Love to feature (as it should have) on one of them. no word has been given as to why it is absent, but if i were to guess they probably declined use due to the rather ill-advised decision to re-release the whole Absolute Beginners soundtrack earlier this year. 

people complaining about the missing songs, or different versions of some songs, being used are not being precious, pedantic or picky. they have a valid point. if you are going to "recreate" or reissue something, just doing it properly and faithfully is not much to ask. what would you say if, for instance, they decided to issue Sgt Pepper on CD, but omitted (for example) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, yet gave no reason for doing so. 

still, anyway, in concentrating on what we do have here on Now That's What I Call Music 7, that which remains is not bad at all. mostly excellent, in truth. which hopefully comes out relatively clear in the more blurry than i thought it was picture above. 

let me be honest and say i was totally thrown by the inclusion of Lady In Red by Chris De Burgh on this volume. for some reason i thought this song came out much later on, say late 1988 or even 1989. but, no, apparently 1986 it was, then. oh yes, there are some stories i could tell of that song and indeed the singer, but no. an exceptionally dear friend shares those tales with me, and may she be smiling if she is reading this.

in sticking with disc one, right at the start is an all time favourite, then, with Sledgehammer (or Sledge Hammer) off of Peter Gabriel. an instance of an amazing song and an even more amazing video. Art Of Noise and Max Headroom together was ace at the time and brings back some good memories. the song Camouflage remains bonkers to this day. even the Genesis song is good, great to hear Brilliant Mind for the first time in probably 30 (or so) years. probably, if push came to shove, the best of the best here for me is All The Things She Said off of Simple Minds. 

moving on to disc two, then, and also an emphatic, excellent start with Edge Of Heaven off of Wham!. Owen Paul with the great My Favourite Waste Of Time is probably the personification of one hit wonder, in truth, and i mean no disrespect. like many chaps, i suspect, i have excellent and great memories of the video for Venus off of Bananarama. and i would be fairly sure that it was the Doctor & The Medics cover of Spirit In The Sky that tuned me in to how awesome bass was. 

on and on i could go, but let me not. except to celebrate When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going off of Billy Ocean. and to celebrate the most outstanding, greatest song on disc two, which is of course A Kind Of Magic by Queen. man, what a song. what a f*****g song. oh, for trivia fans, the Bucks Fizz one is, i think, the single they released after the band survived a very nasty crash in their tour bus. good song, but i think we all bought it out of a sense of "we are sorry what happened and we are glad you are all right", mostly. 

whilst (once again) respecting those who complain about track omissions and different versions of songs being used, my biggest issue with the Now That's What I Call Music CD releases is pictured above. that's just annoying on the shelf, that is, to be sure. and by "that" i mean the change of font between the first and the rest, the use of Roman numerals on 2 (II) and regular numbers on the rest, and now the fact that they have decided to save ink on the title for 7. quite happy to have the changing colours, but is it really so bad to have wished for them to look all more uniform in my collection?

no matter how decent this (abridged) release of 7 has turned out to be, my favourite remains 4. a happy bonus is that it was so 4 had the entire tracklisting in tact, making it unique in terms of these releases. at the other end of the spectrum, or rainbow, disc two of 5 is the one which is most likely never ever to get played again. 

assuming (and it is brave to do so) there is anything left of the human race by the time 2021 comes to be, it should be so that 8, 9 and 10 get a CD release, and that (so far as i am aware) would be that. it would have been nice for them to do all 80s ones, but ten shall just have to do. 

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

hang out with all the boys

hey you

there was much merriment off of Sprios recently. i was on my usual travels when i spotted a place that he is particularly fond of, look you see. sadly, or alas, he is not permitted to go into too many of them all that often any more, for reasons i would not care to disclose but are not really related to any "lockdown" measures. 

most, but not all, of you reading this will have deduced exactly which, or what kind of, establishment that i spotted and sent images of to Spiros. others may have discovered this via one of them "google" search things, if the great oracle has little or nothing else better to do than "index" what i add to the internet. but, for those not falling (or featuring) in either category, here you go.

yes, as you can see quite clearly in the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode, it was on a particularly sunny but not overtly warm day that i happened to glace across a street and see a chapter of the YMCA on display. as buildings are, of course, so prone to be. 

no, i have not ever, so far as i am aware, actually ever been in a YMCA as such. of course there has always been a curiosity or interest, but truthfully no opportunity to do so has presented itself, or been created. this is a shame, as it all sounds rather splendid. assuming the song is accurate. 

some of you shall have already identified this, but for clarity, indeed this is the branch, or chapter, of the YMCA a gent could find in Scarborough. one really does not wish to lower the tone or anything like that, but such information of course prompts questions concerning Sir Jimmy. i have no idea if he ever attended the place, or was a patron, but it is likely. at some stage in the early 2000s he was, and in retrospect somewhat hastily, awarded the "Freedom of Scarborough" for his great work as an ambassador for the otherwise wonderful place, so yes, probably, he may well have exercised this freedom to visit the YMCA and do, well, whatever. 

it is my understanding that presently no one is attending any YMCA for any reason. this is not for some reason of boycott or similar, but that it, like so many places, is now legally closed down as we all fight the invisible war on the new plague. should we ever be allowed to go out and about and do "normal" stuff ever again, maybe a way to embrace that return to freedom we once enjoyed shall be to pay a visit to one of these places, see what it is all about. 

of course, or indeed, my chum Spiros seems to have an exhaustive knowledge of what goes on in a YMCA. certainly, he knows what goes in there with regards to being asked to leave for doing such, and then having a legal obligation placed on you never to visit again if you go back and do it some more anyway. exactly what that is, well, i would not care to mention it here. 

well, anyway, there you go (or have it). a few posts ago, somewhere around a month or so before now, i did give fair warning that i have possibly exhausted all subject matter i could write of here. this post quite possibly gives substance to such. but, well, maybe someone found this interesting, for some reason or another.

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

every christmas we're rockin', rockin' all the way to the bank

ho ho ho

well, 'tis the season, look you see, for me to moan and groan and be all (as) old (as i am), complaining about how this, that and the other are "not what they used to be". in this instance, however, it might just be that i am far from alone with this complaint. 

yes, but of course this is a grumble about, with it being (at time of publishing) that time of year, how the Christmas number one is no longer as "special" or as "important" as it once was. sure, this is in fitting with the fact that the "singles" chart is now an irrelevance, since it is no longer based on sales and few release actual singles anyway. also, of course, the entire importance and point of the singles chart was desecrated and destroyed when they let that twat Ed Sheridan (or whatever) completely corrupt it, having all the songs off his dull album with a dull name qualify for the chart, then changed the rules so that no one else could do it. 

indeed, the above is some of what to expect in my moans and groans. but i shall, however, also try and have a look at the where, when and why the concept of having the number one single at Christmas was a big deal. but first, an image of Bad News performing Cashing In On Christmas. 

no, alas, sadly, Cashing In On Christmas by Bad News was not a Christmas number one, or Christmas top ten or twenty single. or thirty. maybe the marketing was all wrong, or just vast swathes of the British music buying public have no taste at all. 

to stay on (relatively) safe ground for me, as in letting me write from a point of view that i might actually know a little of, i've opted (or elected) to stick with the Christmas number one singles of the 80s. narrowing that down, i mean any year of which the first 75% of the numbers were 198. before i looked it up, i challenged myself to name all of them from that decade. i only recalled, for what it is worth, the last seven, and did so in order. so yay, bravo me. unless you have already scrolled down to the images and had a look, you go ahead and feel free to try and guess them yourself. or not. 

festive drumroll if you please, for here, thanks to that smart Wikipedia thing (yes i made a donation to them so i guess i am all right using this), are the Christmas number ones of the eighties. 

something of an oddity which dawned on me, looking at this, was that for all the competition in respect of Christmas themed singles being recorded and released, not as many "Christmasy" songs as you might think claimed the top spot. right off the bat, the yuletide number ones from 1981 and 1987 would have been big, massive huge hits whenever they were released, for they were, are, and forever shall be, outstanding works of pop music. 

my suspicion is that it would be quite (as in very) boring to go through each of the number ones listed above. but, that said, a lovely piece of trivia for the 1985 one. just one of those pop facts which seem to forever float around in my head, so let me place it here to avoid it being lost with me, one day.

it was so that Merry Christmas Everyone by everyone's favourite self styled 'Welsh Elvis', Shakin' Stevens, was all set and ready to compete and contend to be the Christmas number one precisely one year before it became so. the management of Mr Stevens knew this was a solid hit, but were hesitant about the chances when it looked like the 1984 Christmas top spot would be a fight between Wham! (Last Christmas) and the unexpected juggernaut which has spent some 28% of the year at number one, Frankie Goes To Hollywood (The Power Of Love). just as soon as Band Aid was announced, recorded and released, the management of Mr Stevens persuaded him to pull the single, delaying the release for a year. as wise a bit of guidance, and indeed management, as you shall ever find in the history of popular music. 

one surprising, or "odd one out" on that list of ten sits centrally, for 1986 is kind of sort of in the central like middle part of the decade. not sure how or why this soul / proper r & b / rock jive classic got a re-release, but i do recall most people being a lot more impressed than i was with the "claymation" video which the song had, and which i think the proliferation of broadcast helped sell the (make no mistake, great) song. 

what took me quite by surprise when i looked was the fact that the Christmas top forty for 1986 was virtually bereft of any sort of festive themed single. as in, the only song in the official chart (at least up to 40) to even partially reference the subject of the season was Santa Claus Is On The Dole by Spitting Image, a single not quite as good as The Chicken Song. make of that statement what you will. 

no, sorry, no idea if it was the case that by 1986 all the pop stars were "Christmased out" and had no wish to do a 'novelty' record, or if it was so that we, the singles buying public, had simply grown tired of such records being added to our collections. perhaps (maybe) a combination of the two. mostly the former, i think. from what i recall Frankie vaguely threw Warriors Of The Wasteland in the direction of the charts just before that time of year, and surprisingly there was no Space Sex Santa Christmas Baby or similar off of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. also, maybe by this point all of the "big" artists really had no need to try and tap the lucrative Christmas market, for they were coining in royalties from the unexpected (yet very welcome) surge in back catalogue sales, inspired by appearing on Band Aid or at Live Aid and facilitated by the dawn of the CD. 

and yes, once again from what i remember of it all, we did kind of assume that the 1988 number one was a sort of "swan song" farewell off of Sir Cliff. it was assumed that he, like many other artists to have found fame in the 60s, would probably be retiring quite soon. there is every chance his new album shall be the number one album this Christmas (2020, for clarity). 

exactly where, or when, did the importance attached to the Christmas number one fall off? very much a matter that is eye of the beholder, in truth. i would argue that it has remained an important badge of honour for any (at least UK) artist (or band) to claim they held the festive top spot, but by the nineties i don't think many, or any, went off and recorded a specific Christmas tune. 

for we, the record buying public, it was probably the latter years of the 90s that we all went "well, you know what, this has been hijacked, let us not bother so much". the last three years of that decade, and thus that century, saw the Spice Girls take the top spot as a bit of a formality. soon after it was all manipulated to enable winners of various talent shows to claim the crown. until, of course, some facebook or similar campaign spiked it and saw Rage Against The Machine take the top spot one Christmas. that incident says to me there are many like me who also miss the special nature of being the big record of the festive period. and the less said about some efforts - the Manic Street Preachers throwing the dull, dour, depressing average Some Kind Of Nothingness at the Christmas market and being surprised when it failed, for instance - the better. 

to the best of my knowledge, the last (or previous) two Christmas "number one" songs (being the years 2018 and 2019) were both by the same lad what does something or other on you tube, and featured him shouting "sausage rolls" over some middle of the road soft rock classic or other. i am not particularly interested in whatever claims the title this year. 

bah, humbug, etc. 

ode on justice

hello there

from what i can remember there is some saying, look you see, which goes along the lines of how it is not enough for justice to be done, but that justice must also be seen to be done. or it could be that as long as justice is perceived to be carried out, whether it actually has or not becomes something of an irrelevance. 

if i am speaking (or rather writing) on the subject of justice, then yes, of course, it is so that the Christmas edition of Viz is out, and as has now become tradition (i believe this is the third year of such) there is a court case which we, the readers, must act as jury and determine justice. 

but first, yes, of course, a look at the Christmas edition of Viz, in the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode, since it is the festive season. 

whilst there is little (as in none whatsoever) chance of me saying anything other than Viz is excellent, it is a truth that from time to time some editions are more excellent than others. in this instance, they have, as i believe our friends in America would say, knocked it out of the park. the majority of favourite characters feature in this edition, with the most recent adventures of 8 Ace and Drunken Bakers being a joy to read. further (or also), as it is the Christmas edition, we get an adventure of Bad Bob, The Randy Wonder Dog. it really does have to be read to be believed. 

now let us focus on justice. yes, Christmas is the season to be jolly, happy, merry and what have you, but also we must not shirk or hide away from civic duty. it is regrettable, and deeply unfortunate, that criminals operate so close to Christmas, but such is human nature. as and when they are apprehended, they must stand trial (in this instance in Fulchester Crown Court) and face judgement by peers, accepting what sentence is passed. 

cases brought before the Viz Crown Court of Fulchester are often of an unusual nature. one which always comes to mind (it would be amiss, and indeed unprofessional to call it a favourite as such, but still) was the case involving a gentleman who was alleged to have tried to engage in an act of intimacy with a reptile. which is to say some bloke got caught seemingly trying to bum a crocodile. 

quite an unusual case, this one. in it a gentleman is accused of committing an action which would be regarded as perfectly normal if done in the privacy of his own home, or indeed with a group of fellow like minded gentlemen, gathered around a car, doing it as they watched two people inside the car engage in a most enthusiastic but ultimately short termed friendship. or, indeed, if he had done it off of a balcony. 

rather regrettably (and indeed unfortunately) it is so that the gentleman on trial stands accused of doing it whilst at work. also, whilst actually working as one of them people who make coffee and give themselves a posh name for it (barista or something). making it worse was that he did so as he prepared a coffee for one of the more respected MPs serving today. the prosecution, on the basis of witness testimony (and the taste buds of the MP), allege that he did so deliberately and maliciously. 

having considered all the evidence, i have, of course (and as usual) submitted my verdict to the Clerk of Fulchester Crown Court, which interestingly has a Whitley Bay address. as usual, i have included a stamped self addressed envelope, so that they may send me pens as recompense for my civic duty. 

should i remember to do so, yes, i will update you on the verdict, due (presumably) in the January 2021 edition. but, for now, go and buy this edition, it's well smart, it is, to be sure.

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

curated christmas chimes cheer

heya

and so we are well and truly "in the zone", look you see. which is to say that Christmas looms. no matter how peculiar, strange or odd it shall be this year, what with the invisible war on the plague still, in theory, being fought. 

it is a time, or period, or era even, for tradition. there can surely be no greater, nor more important, tradition to engage in at Christmas than to spend £1 on whatever the most elite of Christmas CDs what Poundland has on the shelf. except this year rather than handing over a shiny new one pound coin to purchase the disc, one has to make payment via a "contactless" card thing, so as to avoid passing on diseases to others. 

usually, or normally, it is so that Poundland have (quite) a range of Christmas compact discs to browse, select and purchase. this is 2020, though. we have for some reason traded in ideas of choice, freedom and what have you to just accept what we are given. and in this regard, Poundland only has the one disc of Christmas on the shelf. well, i only saw the one in the branch (or chapter) i went into, and i did not spend all that long a time looking. 

so, Santa's Christmas Playlist is indeed, then, my choice or selection of Christmas CD off of Poundland for the year. nice one, i guess. although i am still not comfortable with a collection of "various artists" doing Christmas songs, when i am more used to just selecting the one artist to hear the singing celebration of the season by or from. 

the years have been kind to me, for they have let me obtain special Christmas CDs by the three greatest recording artists of the twentieth century off of Poundland for £1. for those of you who are for some peculiar reason interested in such, here are the links to those editions - 

Chas & Dave - read more by clicking here. 

The King, Elvis Presley - He may be seen by clicking here. 

Mr Sinatra - details of the chairman's yuletide merriment found via clicking here. 

hopefully (if you are interested in such) you can make out the overwhelming majority of the tracklisting for this set in the above picture. as you can see, yes, two of the three recording artists mentioned earlier do indeed feature here, with Chas & Dave missing out. not at all sure why one of their splendid Christmas recordings was not included, but what do i know of how the record industry works.

being staunch advocates of tradition means that Poundland have stuck to the usual here, and so every possible expense has been spared in creating this compilation. one is immediately struck by a sense of all the songs curated for the collection being selected less for relevance or quality, more for a lack of needing to pay any royalties or licensing fees. it is how they do things. 

above is an image, of course in the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode, of this particular Christmas compilation CD on the shelf at Poundland. they don't even have a special display section for the festive discs this year, they have rather just shoved it with the regular stuff. which is no bad thing, as it allowed me to spot a copy of Collected by (or of) Massive Attack, which i picked up at the same time, cheers. 

one quite strange thing about this CD is that it is (probably) banned from sale, distribution, playing or even private ownership in the EU. this is due to some obscure EU directive (maybe), which prohibits you claiming a musical compilation as being someone's playlist without the express consent of that person. as the producers of the compact disc failed to produce the regulatory documents to satisfy the claim that Santa agreed the music contained on (in) the compilation was his choice, it got banned. 

going on some comments i have seen online (and if it is on the internet then it must be true), it is only a matter of weeks, if not days, that Scotland will be an independent member of the EU. so, presumably, if you go into McPoundland, you will not see this disc on the shelf there. unless those seeking independence for Scotland are just using the EU thing as an angle to get what they want, and then yes, probably you could get the disc up there. no idea, really, i shall ask someone. 

do i imagine, or expect, to play this Christmas CD much over the festive season? not really, no. a priority for me at this time of year is to play the b-side of the 12" of The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, on which various Frankies bestow their Christmas blessings upon us, the devout and loyal fans. after that, them other three discs what i linked (actually four since there are two of The King, Elvis Presley) are more likely to get played. 

why, exactly, then, did i buy this with little chance of it being played much? as it happens i might throw it into my verk vehicle to play as i drive around. but, other than that, it was purchased for the tradition of such things. 

in conclusion, then, that picture above may (or might not) be a bit clearer on the track listing for you for the disc. nice one on including Johnny Cash, now i look properly, and the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole do add a touch of class to proceedings. actually, this does look decent, maybe it will get more plays that i suspected at first. 

right, then, time for me, and for you, to get down and get with it, but just no longer on this post. 

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

yet another scam message

heya

just another of my infrequent, informal but (hopefully) informative things when someone elects to send me one of them scam messages, look you see. this is for the benefit of anyone unsure of how to spot fakes, irrespective or no matter how obvious they look to some of you. no, i am not really an expert and am not trying to make myself so, rather handing over info on the off chance it assists someone. 

ever since they changed the laws about marketing and using people's contact details here in the UK there has been a distinct fall in the volume of this kind of rubbish being sent. con artists are, however, always going to seek to con; criminals will behave so. 

the most recent attempt to pilfer coins off of me and countless others (probably millions) came in the form of a text message. in short, and more detail to follow, this one claimed to be off of HSBC, and gave rather unclear information on someone or other being added to my account. which presumed i had an account with the financial institution. no, i shall neither confirm nor deny the latter. 

once again this is a scam message which (more or less) instantly falls over and is exposed as fake due to the rather appalling grammar on the go. yes, if me, a quite sh!t writer, is calling you out on grammar, you have issues. unless you are telling me the statement "a new payee to MRS P COOPER has been added to your mobile banking" makes any sort of sense. not to me. 

spotting the fakes is as straightforward as looking at the domain name, or name of the web page if you like, that it wishes you to go to. everything just before the .com (or .co.uk or similar) is the actual website you are being sent to; all or anything which comes after (in this instance /hsbc) is a page on that website. never assume that because it has a name of a real company in it that it is what it says. 

in this instance, then, the website is called "untrusted-device". credit where it is due, for that is a spectacular name to register to use to dupe and con people with. sounding all authoritative and official is the key to any scam, really. but if HSBC, or any reputable (as far as banks go) company, was sending a link, you would expect and need to see their name right before the ".com" part. 

above are the registration details for this "untrusted device" website, then. information is from the most excellent website resource, who.is. which you can visit by clicking here. visiting there lets you see who has registered what website, and various other bits of information. unless, of course, they have paid money to hide that information. 

which, in this case, but of course they have. apparently (and yes i know you can see this above), the website is registered in Reyjavik, Iceland. a nice change from these scam sites being registered in Russia, i suppose, but all the same clearly nothing to do with HSBC. believe me, honest and reputable businesses do not hide their contact details. 

be very careful and very wary of any random text message (or email, or similar) advising you that you need to login to some site or other. usually, this is complete rubbish. most banks set up their own alert system for customers for this sort of thing. if you are concerned, contact your bank and ask them how to set it up. but, of course, make sure it is really your bank you are speaking to.

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

 

closing time

heya

so here we are (in theory, look you see), the last month of a truly wretched year. unless you happen to own a decent amount of shares in some toilet paper business or pasta making concern, or any other trading enterprise which people panic bought off of during the invisible war on the new plague. a war which, one suspects, shall rage for a while yet. 

to misquote a famous quote from a musician i quite like, not only is this the last calendar update for the year, but (probably) the last one i shall do. you, the people, are quite capable, i have every confidence, of finding date information somewhere else. i really think i have exhausted the theme, actually quite some time ago, but for the sake of being complete i figured rounding out the year was the decent and right way for it to all go. 

finishing the year with something of a flourish is the Star Wars calendar in the kitchen. as you can see, via the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode, that is the "classic" line up of ostensible heroes from the original three (or so) films. to go from left to right, the shiny gay robot, the bin, the fake orphan nancy boy farmer, the impostor princess, the criminal enforcer and the people smuggler. all fine role models. 

probably the biggest issue with the more recent films (editions seven to nine) is that they went to all of the trouble to bring these characters back into some more films, yet did not give them one final, or last, adventure together. i believe they call this "subverting expectations" these days, but more commonly one would refer to it as denying the fans that which they would pay money for. 

any dates of consequence or significance in the month that is the month December to highlight? plenty, really, but here are a few key ones. 

1 - a very happy birthday to Neil "Colin" Warnock, the prolific football manager, born this day in 1948. he, with affection, gets called Colin by the fans, as his name is a perfect anagram of Colin and then another word i shall leave you to have fun working out. 

2 - Frankie Goes To Hollywood were declared number one in the singles chart on this day in 1984, for the third time and with their third single, The Power Of Love. it was to be the last time they were at number one anywhere outside of the heads of their devout fans. of which i am one.

fair use of image

4 - in keeping with a musical theme, it was on this day in 1956 that the Million Dollar Quartet made their now legendary recordings. the four were Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and The King, Elvis Presley. 

5 - originally planned as a standard Stallone action film, Beverly Hills Cop was released on this day in 1984. a quite brilliant film, holds up well to this day. 

6 - this was the day when Finland, in 1917, told the Soviet Union to Отвяжись!, or words to that effect. 

8 - on this day in 1980 Mark Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, apparently after considering shooting and killing David Bowie. most hold him (Lennon, not Chapman) up as a symbol of peace, love and harmony whereas others are baffled that a man with a dubious reputation for (to be as diplomatic as i can) "mistreating" women, drugs and generally being unpleasant would be elevated to such a level. what the others don't understand is that they won't care what you did, they won't care what you said, because everybody loves you when you're dead. 

9 - they have everything for men to enjoy, you can hang out with all the boys mostly thanks to the first ever YMCA being opened on this day in 1851. Montreal, if you were wondering. 

11 - fans and admirers of the film GoodFellas (and there are many) will note that on this day in 1978 it was so that the 'Lufthansa Heist' took place. 

12 - the chairman of the board, ol' blue eyes, Mr Sinatra, was born on this day in 1915. 

14 - cinema in 1984 once more, as Runaway was released on this day in that year. i vaguely recall that it featured him out of Magnum and her off of Cheers what was not Dianne, but my abiding memory of the film is Gene Simmons out of Kiss and some really smart robot spiders. 

17 - on this day (give or take) the Aztec Sun Stone, more commonly called the Aztec Calendar Stone, was discovered way back in 1790. feel free to read up on it, but in short using it to work out the date is complex and a right f*****g headache; our system seems far simpler. 

thank you for the picture

19 - Zuzana Hejnová, regarded as the best, greatest and most important Olympiad of the Czech Republic, was born on this day in 1986. she happens to share a name with the person considered to be the best, greatest and most important tennis player of the Czech Republic, which offers some symmetry i suppose. 

20 - today is International Human Solidarity Day, apparently. no, me neither, but it seems that it is something what the UN came up with in 2005. nice one. 

22 - what do you call someone in a pub, playing pool (or billiards if posh), with a pint on their head? Beatrix Potter. this much loved, cherished and admired author passed away on this day in 1943.

24 - according to the UK singles chart announced on this day in 1972, the members of the British public what bought records opted for a Utah-centric Christmas. some (as in exactly) 30% of the top ten was Osmonds related. for the record (excuse the play on words), Donny Osmond was at 9 with Why, all of them as a collective were at 5 with Crazy Horses and Little Jimmy Osmond was the Festive Number 1 with Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, which he was not.

25 - Shane MacGowan, probably the most famous Irish person to ever have been born in Kent, celebrates his birthday today (1957). which makes it all the more of a shame that Fairytale Of New York never made it to the Christmas number one spot. 

27 - on this day in 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. much of that mess is with us today. the two most notable aspects of this were how it showcased the fact that the Soviets were completely sh!t at war, and also Rambo III. 

29 - if you are looking for a reason to prolong festive celebrations, then why not join in with the celebrations today being held in honour of Independence Day in Mongolia. probably the best record to play for this is (of course) Warriors Of Genghis Khan by Bad News. 

31 - let me take a guess at this one; in 2020 no one was particularly bothered, fussed or upset that this day was the last day of a wretched year. 

but, as has been the case on just about each instance of these updates, i would encourage you to simply celebrate and cherish dates which mean something to you. don't worry so much about what everyone else is doing, or what others may feel obliged to insist you do (and do not) celebrate. 

in giving a finale, then, either just for this year's calendar updates (2020) or for updates here which may well happen no more, a look at the splendid New Zealand calendar off of Mum & Dad. thank you once more for this, it has been lovely having it up in the shed. yes, indeed, a look at Rocky Bay up in the north island, and my apologies for the shadow i appear to have cast over the dates in taking the picture. whereas i know not as fact, i am going to assume (or presume) that it is called Rocky Bay due to it being a bay with rocky areas, and it has not been named as a well intended but ultimately needless tribute to that boxing film, the name of which escapes me momentarily.

anyway, right, then, that's that for this. may the month ahead be a decent one. if you are reading this at the start of the month it is relevant to, of course. that said, may all your days be decent.

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

emissary and messenger

hello there

oh. so it is true, look you see. a certain delivery company in the UK - one that tends to fill customers with dread when, at the last moment, it is revealed that they shall be "delivering" whatever they have ordered  - actually do something what i had heard about but never experienced. until now. and yet all went well. 

it is not my place to name and shame this company. let it be said that it is the one what takes its name from a deity out of greek mythology. of the many things, aspect and roles ascribed to this olympiad (and many would highlight his association with thieves), presumably the company in questions elected to embrace this name for his assignment as the "messenger of the gods". well, if you are going to start something, don't p!ss about i suppose, name yourself as the strongest and best and try to do that. 

whilst i cannot quote a specific number of instances, it has been the case that i have been the benefactor of their services on several occasions. rather on auto-pilot i groaned upon the discovery of this, for their reputation for failed deliveries, and indeed damaged or "missing" items, is now an established part of the English way of doing things. and yet on each instance of them delivering something to me it has been flawless and perfect, all fully tracked and always landing within the impressive two hour window they advise me of. 

but, then again, i have always been home when they have delivered (mostly by default rather than design, but still). on instances when no one is around to accept an item, they have been known to leave said item in a "safe" place and email you a picture. i had heard legends of these images, but here above is the one they sent me. this was in relation to a parcel recently received (obviously), with the item being a secret thing that i care not to disclose the details of. rather unusual it was, as point of fact, to get this picture, considering it was seen to be collected by me by the happy go lucky driver delivery dude who left it on the doorstep, knocked and then "socially distanced" to make sure i got it, as per the prescribed methods and ways of the invisible war on the new plague. 

no, i have no clue as to what aspect of our home the above picture represents. if, indeed, it is any part of such at all. conceivably it might be a really blurred close up of a glass pane on the door, i suppose. just as well it was, then, that i was home when delivery was (successfully) attempted, for know not do i where i would seek it out if i were not. 

for enthusiasts of such things, the item in question arrived (safe and sound and in fine condition) some 48 hours after i ordered it and just north of 24 hours after the company i purchased it off handed it over to Herm.... to the company named after some greek fellow. putting that it context, it took Royal Mail precisely one (1) week to deliver the most most recent of Bowie releases this year (although one shall be more recent by the time this is published), that Metrobolist (or whatever) 50th (!) anniversary release of The Man Who Sold The World, and that was posted first class.  yes, with some good luck and life, review of that to follow.

absolutely no idea (as ever or usual) who may be interested in this sort of thing, but many thanks indeed for having a read. 

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

understanding what brilliant might mean

howdy pop pickers

yes, indeed, this is another post pertaining (or relating to) David Bowie, look you see. it is so that the Bowie Estate has worked out a way to extract yet more money from me. sure, in fairness, that is not all that difficult for them to do, just wave some music with his name on it at me. but not, as they are trying, a water bottle with his name on, which they want £50 for. fifty, that is not a typo.

i had really rather assumed that the year was done with Bowie releases, to be honest. so far we have had, after all, Is It Any Wonder? and ChangesNowBowie, as well as (yet) another live thing from the 1974 tour that was a record store day release. further, soon (hopefully before this is published), the 50th anniversary release thingie for The Man Who Sold The World (renamed Metrobolist or something, certainly begins with an M) is out / due. yes, this is overlooking the Absolute Beginners soundtrack, too, which i felt obliged to pick up. 

quite the surprise, then, when the Bowie Estate (via the official site) announced that they were releasing a series of, get this, six (6) live albums, entitled the Brilliant Live Adventures series, covering concerts from 1995 to 1999. starting with one from 1995. 

that is indeed a most excellent cover for this first of the "brilliant" live "adventures", made even more better thanks to the greater glory of Commodore 64 mode. it is a really, really good thing that this album, Ouvrez Le Chien (which James tells me means something along the lines of out the dog, and his French is a lot better than mine), has such a splendid cover, for that is just about the best thing going for it. a Bowie fan i am, yes, devout so, but that does not mean i am going to praise any tosh. buy it, sure. 

want to address some of the controversies around this release, and the whole concept, first? sure. it is most decidedly so that we, the fans, have come well and truly used to needless attempts at being completely f****d over by the Bowie Estate, simply for being fans and, you know, wishing to buy music. generally i overlook these as (mostly) i have been able to get the releases i wish for. many have not. in this instance, they really did a number on collectors who are more avid and devout than me. 

for some inexplicable reason they decided to sell - separately - a cardboard box in which one can house all the cds or lps as and when they have been lucky or fortunate enough to buy them all. these boxes, selling somewhere north of £15 (for an empty cardboard box), were "strictly limited" in availability but not, alas, limited in how many one person could buy. oh yes, indeed, the more entrepreneurial types bought as many as they could, and the last i saw they (empty cardboard boxes) are exchanging hands on the great car boot of the internet for north of £200 (two hundred). 

also, once again it is that the Bowie Estate have elected to make these CD (and vinyl) releases a strictly limited edition number. this first volume is already sold out on the UK / EU store (so far as i am aware one could only purchase there), but is available on the USA store. so, they underestimate the demand for Bowie recordings in the UK (and Europe) but overestimate the demand in the States. oh, if only they had, say, some 50 or so years of sales data to work out who may want what. 

right, with those complaints and grievances aside (for now), time to get on to the problems and issues with this album, along with where relevant (not too often) highlight good aspects of it. for context, then, this was recorded on Bowie's first solo tour for some five years, specifically a gig in Texas in October 1995. which was 25 years ago, blimey. 

one important thing to note was that the solo tour prior to this, the Sound+Vision "greatest hits" thing, was yes, mostly, a lucrative way of topping up the bank account, but artistically Bowie "freeing" himself from any obligation to play "the hits" ever again. he made it abundantly clear that on any future sets after the greatest hits tour was done, the songs would be his choice. that might involve some well known bit hits or, as is predominantly the case with this gig, it might well not. 

nice picture on the back, too, but yes i prefer the cover one. anyway, it is a bit harsh to say this is a set bereft of hits or well known songs. for a start, there is the small matter of a massive number one single there, being as it is in the form of Under Pressure. also, The Heart's Filthy Lesson was a reasonable hit, and if i remember right Breaking Glass got a single release (and film named after it) too. oh, yes, i know that there is a song on that setlist which has or had indeed become extremely well known, but we shall get to that. or, i will, you will if you stick with reading this. obviously.

bearing in mind that the tour was in support of the 1.Outside (to use most of the full title) album, this is a set dominated by songs from it. not necessarily the best songs from that convoluted, overtly too long concept album, but some of them are. six songs on the disc are, to be precise. if vast swathes of the full record were pretty much incoherent and (possibly deliberately) inaccessible, then it makes somewhat less sense to have sporadically plucked some of the songs from it and play them in isolation, not to mention out of sequence. should that be possible with a "non-linear hyper diary" or whatever he called it. 

still, out there somewhere is someone who really, really likes 1.Outside, possibly rating it as the only Bowie record which counts. bonus if they managed to get a copy of this, and all the better if their most favourite songs are the ones plucked to be performed. the slightly less good news for such a person is the overall sound quality here. which is not very good. not quite bootleg levels as such, but very much heading in that area. 

with no musical ability or talent whatsoever, i am unfamiliar with the right phrasing or terminology to describe this. but, i would like to think, i know what i hear. huge chunks of this sound of the calibre and quality of a badly designed, ill advised FM broadcast. much of the album has assumed, or taken as a given, that what anyone wishing to buy this recording was interested in the most was the drumming. it is mixed, or placed, right at the forefront, with all else sounding muffled. across huge chunks of the album it is so that whenever is Bowie is singing - and let me suggest that this is predominantly what people who bought this record would wish to hear - someone went "oh, f***, David is using the microphone, quick, throw a blanket over the recording equipment". i am sure they had good reason to do this, yet i cannot comprehend what that might have been. 

interestingly, or perhaps suspiciously, the one vocal not to be blighted in this way at all is the final track, a superb performance of Teenage Wildlife. also, on that one, the recording equipment is blissfully moved away from just the drums. on the sleeve it says this was produced by David Bowie. either he prepared it for release and thought better of it, or had every intention of it sounding exactly like it does and wanted anyone listening to have the abiding memory being of how excellent Teenage Wildlife is. 

a surprising and yet not at all surprising inclusion in the set is, of course, The Man Who Sold The World. this was a song Bowie was known never ever to be happy with his recordings of, yet he knew it was strong material. at one stage it was even hurled at Lulu to try and make it the song it seemed to be to him. ultimately, of course, it got widespread attention, fame and adoration via Nirvana's MTV Unplugged take on the song. which turned out, or has come to be seen, as Kurt Cobain's swansong moment. 

most of us, i would think, took Bowie's decision to all of a sudden start performing the song as some sort of part acknowledgement, part tribute, part, oh yeah i had forgotten about that one thing. now, i am not certain. listening to it here again, it seems Bowie quite deliberately (maybe his subversion fetish) removed the distinct guitar solo bits, making it quite different from the Nirvana revival. also, it has come to light that Bowie told Dave Grohl, the drummer out of Nirvana and the self-styled "nicest guy in rock", to f*** off. perhaps it was rather more "that is my song, thank you, i am taking it back". 

to my ears, in looking at another track, the version of Under Pressure here is "different" to the one which appeared on the Hallo Spaceboy single. although that is listed as also being recorded in 1995. yes, the one on the single is much much better quality. so either there is a better quality recording of this gig which (at least once) existed, or a better concert recording lurks. 

going on the title of these, i am not really certain that this album is "brilliant". for qualification, i have played it through some 8 or 10 times, possibly just to extract some value. whether it is an adventure or not, i suppose, is down to the listener. should you be a fan who failed to secure a physical copy, well sorry, i know what a gap in a collection feels like. but this is neither dazzling nor essential.

just where next for these Brilliant Live Adventures? there is a limited pool for the next five. on the plus side, from what i recall as the 1.Outside tour progressed into 1996, the song selection was less that album, more some real gems of a set list. but on the negative, or down, there shall no doubt be at least one release related to the Earthling tour. perhaps the celebrated London Astoria 1999 gig, arranged purely to record and release, will finally get an official issue, then. it is possible some sort of "remastered" or "expanded" version of Vh1 Storytellers could be included, but they have only recently issued the as-is version on vinyl. we shall find out, i guess. 

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

know that hmv knew music once

heya

just a touch of nostalgia, look you see, in a dual format i suppose. i took it upon myself to wander and to browse hmv recently; just before the most recent lockdown. whereas i had no intention of purchasing anything as such, to do so would have been a most splendid thing. 

to eliminate any false (and needless) sense of suspense or drama, no i did not buy anything. an outcome which, alas, has been far too frequent the case with my most increasingly infrequent visits. unsure if there shall be further, frankly. maybe i just own already all the decent albums what one can get off of a shop, perhaps no great albums which have a conventional retail release are likely to be created. 

ostensibly, then, HMV still operates as a store which was known as the home of music. there above is the window display, and indeed music is advertised. no clue what the bottom two albums are, but above are more easy to identify. the one is Cliff, or Sir Cliff, which probably has a built in target market and will be quite handy for random Christmas gifts. as much of a fan of U2 as i am, also featured is the utterly pointless All That You Can't Leave Behind anniversary edition. the two disc reissue consists of the album and a "highlights" live CD, for £14.99. for context, you can go into most branches of Poundland and get the album for £1, whereas the 2 DVD set of the full concert they offer CD highlights of can be bought online for £2 or £3. i am not sure i see the value in paying for a slightly different booklet with slightly different pictures of Larry the drummer and whoever. 

as for the remainder of this section of window, as you can (kind of) make out it features many things not specifically music related, but all the same pertaining to "pop culture". with particular emphasis, of course, on the frog out of The Adventures Of Buckethead And The Frog, or 'Baby Yoda' as he (or she, or it, or whatever) is most commonly referred to. this serves as a hint as what one shall find inside. 

diversification is, of course, a good thing for any business, and makes sense. however, to walk into HMV and find some music shoved on the end of a large aisle filled with sweets was, in truth, depressions. yes, this is what we have become, i suppose, turning our back on the sheer beauty of physical format music, instead opting for illicit downloads and "streaming". you can't touch, feel, hold or own a stream, you can't bond with it. but i am a dying breed. 

in addition to the sweets they also had a whole stack of seemingly unsold "blind box" things full of "merch". these were on offer for £9.99, with an indication that the contents were worth "at least" £25 on amazon. well, maybe. but then again anyone can register to sell things on amazon, and list those items at any price which takes their fancy, so that's not much of an indicator of actual value. surely, i was kind of tempted, but ultimately no i did not buy one as it might well have been "merch" for something i had not the slightest interest in. 

some consideration was given to a purchase. by, or rather at, the time of my visit to HMV, the order i had placed online for the four (4) CD version of Flaunt It off of Sigue Sigue Sputnik was two weeks overdue. whereas i was in no rush to hear it, i was getting a trifle miffed. it seemed wise to investigate just buying it in a music shop and cancelling the (seemingly) forever delayed online order. sadly, or alas, HMV had opted to charge £10 more for it in the shop that the online price. no thanks, waited and it did indeed turn up within the week. yes, some sort of post of comments on it all, eventually. 

whereas i have no official confirmation or experience of such directly, i am imagining or assuming that someone somewhere has decided that HMV is "non essential" and taken it as a given that they are now closed under the new lockdown thing. or maybe they have just started selling sweets as a "food product" so as to be allowed to remain trading. chances of me returning seem, alas, sadly slim. 

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