Gertsamtkunstwerk

Simply Red

I have quite a few albums by Simply Red. I know they are regarded as the epitome of naffness nowadays, but when I were a lass they were cool. To be honest - as you may have noticed - I don't really care about the 'image' of the band. what matters is what they do to my ears.

First up, because of the alphabet, is Blue. I have to admit that I haven't exactly been listening with full concentration. However, nothing about it has grabbed me. I think it is the most recent one of theirs that I own, and it is probably the reason why I haven't subsequently bought any more. There is not one track on this album that leaps out and grabs me. I can only conclude that it is way too mellow, too bland, and artistically weak. I am not sure whether to classify it as 'dinner party music' or 'coffee table music'. Either way, it is designed to be used as aural wallpaper. Indeed, the only track that is slightly memorable is The Air That I Breathe, and I only noticed that for its brave attempt at reinterpreting a classic that has been covered far better by the very great kd lang.

So Simply Red's Blue is consigned to the dustbin of oblivion...

However, their Greatest Hits is vastly more enjoyable. A really good combination of self-penned and covers. I am not, on the whole, a big fan of covers, but, in general, Simply Red had a gift for uncovering and covering obscure but good songs,  and doing it with a touch of class.

Whenever I hear 'The Right Thing' I am always shocked at how explicit the lyrics are. Not because I'm a fey prude but because I do not recall any kerfuffle when this was out as a single. I do not recall it being banned from Radio One, or any outrage from the moral guardians of TOTP-watchers. 

Your Mirror epitomises the very best of Simply Red. On first few hearings it really doesn't seem very memorable or that appealing, but the more one listens the more it creeps under your skin and wraps itself around you. In place of a tune it has some sophisticated harmonies that complement intelligent lyrics. Indeed it surprises me how popular they are (or were) with the unwashed masses, I would have thought they would have gone above their heads. Or maybe it wasn't the Great Unwashed but just loads and loads of reasonably intelligent  people.

Holding Back the Years was the song that first turned me onto Simply Red. In Lower Sixth they had a blitzkreig advertising campaign for an appearance - at the Boardwalk? - and extracts from this song just kept playing and playing. So - perhaps by popular demand - the DJs presenters started playing the actual single. And just about twenty years later it still sounds as fresh as it did then.
The same can be said for "Money's Too Tight To Mention"

Fairground is another insidious into-the-bloodstream song. There is something about the way the incessant drum beat drives the song forward unrelentingly,  contrasted with Mick's diva-ish twiddles "And I love the thought of coming home to you.." The strss should be on the 'thought', by putting it on the 'love' it transforms what might have been an everyday melody into something special.

The liner booklet is a pleasant 12-page glossy, featuring song lyrics and plenty of pictures of Mick Hucknall. During one of my 'Single Desperately Seeking Someone' phases I opined that Mick Hucknall ought to be my ideal man - rich, left-wing Manchester United fan. But my friend John suggested that if those were my criteria I ought to go for Alex Ferguson. I conceded he had a point; I've never fancied Mick Hucknall.

You know, I had quite forgotten, or maybe never knew, just how good Simply Red were at their very best. Not just in, nice singalong song, but in their sophisticated mix of rhythm, melody, harmony, and lyrics. That Mick Hucknall is technically very very good. I am making a great big mental note to play this album an awful lot more than I normally do.

There will be more Simply Red when I reach them alphabetically in cassettes...

I would be interested to know the views of commenters and lurkers on Simply Red.

What am I going on about?

If you haven't a clue what the two below posts are about, it's the Troubled Diva which decade is tops for pops? - scroll down the sidebar to 'we played...'

And it starts up again this week...

I still won't know any of the Naughties' Songs.
And I know it will be a toss up between the 60s and the 80s.

...and in 2004

1. Wombling Song - although 'my song' was Wemember You're A Womble
2. Raining Men - very encouraging for a sixteen year old straight boyfriendless girl!
3. Needles and Pins - one of those classic yet shallow 60s ditties
4. Breathe Again - uninspiring, ut I do like Unbreak My Heart
5. Dude - it's just noise

Absolutely truly dreadful. I concur with the majority of people.
Sadly, I have to put Jim Reeves first, closely followed by George Michael.
The other three must come last jointly, but because I have to decide
3. I Like to Move It
4. Somebody's Watching
5. I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing

1. Innocent Man. You're all being really hard on Billy Joel. He's ace. And my auntie's god daughter used to see him shopping in King Cullen (like Sainsburys, only not).
2. Jet - because it's Paul, who I adore, although I'm really not sure why...
3. Kylie - because it's better than the other two. BTW, why is it okay to fancy Kylie but not Jason?
4. Boys Cry - becayuse it's not quite as crap as
5. Enigma.

1. Bay City Rollers. I so loved them in the 70s, and in the 80s we used to do aerobics to this track - more, more, more please
2. Van Halen - the sort of track I have forgotten, but it pumps, it rocks, it it yells passion. If it wasn't for the extraspecialness of BCR< this would be top top top song so far
3. This is only a sliver behind Van Halen. I adore every track on Little Earthquakes. I just think then that she failed to innovate and move on
4. Jamelia - this is really rubbish, although not unpleasing to the ear; unlike
5. Merseybeats - Sheer Drivel. Is the entire top ten of this year taken up with shallow talentless substandard Beatles imitators?

Woot, I'm first!

1. Relax. Ooh, classic, classic, timeless. (and I didn't know what it meant until Mike Read banned it from Radio 1- the innocence of 16!...). This really gets me going. But I prefer Two Tribes
2. Devil Gate Drive - an icon, a star, perhaps the first real female rock star. And would be 1 by a mile for the week so far if it wasn't for holly and the Boys.
3. Flip, it's modern, and it's rap, and I quite like it, actually...
4. Renaissance - not really their best track, is it? They did some good stuff. but not really this.
5. Diane - really dire - the yoof really had it bad in the 60s, didn't they?

First again! Yah boo sucks to the rest of you
3 was Hey Mama, obviously

1. Hello - There is a pattern of me voting for the ones that (almost) everyone else hates. But this is a song full of memories of a time and a place - the place being the school hall, at the post-Ruddigore cast party, when, for the first time in my life, I was truly in love with somebody very very special, the gorgeous Martin, whom I still have great affection for*.
2. You're Sixteen - I really like this, especially the second line of this verse - I can't quite describe the effect, but it sort of swoops low. Can you imagine the outrage if it had been "You're Fifteen"?
3. Just One Look - yet another pleasant, but, ultimately, inconsequential song
4. Girls and Boys - despite really liking Oasis (at their peak) and Pulp, I never really got into Blur, which probably just shows the lack of maturity and profundity in my tastes. So this is quite low, relatively.
5. Not In Love - why bother?

BTW, Enrique's 80-something grandfather is an expectant father. Doesn't that make you want to say 'yeuch'?

1. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World - this is cheesy, containing every cliche that we can imagine from 1970s Country. It also has a fab tune, and because, of course, it's about me, I love it
2. Streets of Philadelphia - in a very bizarre and roundabout way this has reminded me that it's ten years today that I had an operation to repair my dislocating shoulder - I was taken to Philadelphia as a recuperation. The film, that is, not the city. Have you ever been to the city of Philadelphia? Quite a strange experience, especially when you have the thickest tour guide in the history of tour guides. A really really good film, incidentally, that had me weeping buckets. Must watch it again sometime. This clip doesn't do justice to the tune, which, although not one of The Boss's best,is definitely a tune of quality
3. Wouldn't It Be Good - not a bad song, but nothing like I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
4. Mysterious Girl - I would like to say it's forgettable. But I can remember it from first time around. No musical merit but sort of catchy. I haven't a clue why he's rereleased it - I thought he had washed up and become a never-was years ago
5. Not Fade Away - I really feel I ought to get into the Stones. There again, I've been thinking that in vain for over twenty years. This track isn't going to make me a Stones fan

Oh and I do my listening before reading your commentary - so as not to be influenced. Now of course, I just look stupid...

Ooh, but my votes are almost the same as Hg's, which makes me look clever again!

1. The Air That I Breathe - beautiful, beautiful, although kd lang's version is a million miles better. What a wonderful sentiment - all that I need is the air that I breathe and to love you. Can I give it all five votes because the other four are so dreadful as to be beyond dreadful
2. Baby I Love You. I like R Kelly, but I can do without J-Lo. However, this song only gets to be second by accident.
3. Anyone Who Had a Heart A classic song, of course. Classic, as in, you didn't have to have been born then to know it. It's quite a swayey. But Cilla Black is one of those people that makes me wish I have never been born. The Lorra lorra surprises is that this isn't actually the worst song in today's pick.
4. The Sign - it's so bad. OK, they did, all that she wants, which was okayish. But this is so dire
5. Street Dance - oh my god this was Eighties, like, my time, decade, radio on all day during the Easter hols - but I hate this so much it had actually never properly entered my memory.
I can't believe I'm doing this just two hours after getting home from a sublimely beautiful concert.

OK folks. I'm back from my Which-decade commenting hiatus. I haven't read anyone else's comments so I'm probably going to look like a plagiarist. But hey, I was at a blogmeet on Saturday. 200 miles from home.
1.Toxic - I'll vote for this just for that intro. Not bad, but it will be forgotten. Although I am reliably told by a five year old that Britney is rubbish and Kylie's much better. An eight year old says all modern pop music is rubbish.
2.Bits and Pieces. Just because Smiley Miley used to play it on the Radio One Roadshow doesn't mean it is a particularly good song - yet another tired formulaic Beatles-stylee song.
3.Jealous Mind. Nah, not me. I much preferred I Won't Run Away. Ialso felt he was the bastard love child of Adam Faith and Gary Glitter.
4.Joanna. We - and I mean me and the girls- really hated Kool and the Gang. We got to like Get down On It and the soppy one "Let's Take A Walk together along the ocean side." But not this one.
5. Without You. Oh god, I hate cheesy rip offs of ABSOL classic songs. Can I give this minus votes for being such an insult to Nillsson. Even the drum is insipid. Fast forward fast forward. And I hate Mariah Carey.

Oh fuck, I did not copy 'bastard love child' from Hg
Mike, Mike it's not fair. Hg is trying to control my mind

1. Billy Don't Be a Hero - I have just realised that i have always loved this song, and I don't think I even hav eit in my collection. The tune is so catchy, I really like the voice. And the lyrics seem meaningful.
2. Doop - I don't know this but shit give me more more more. I could freak to this. I want want I want I want I want I want
3. 99 Lufthansas -I don't think I appreciated just realised at the time what a kooky, original, innovative and utterly nonsense song this is. Class, but I prefer Berliner Luft.
4. Cha Cha Cha Slide - I really really really really like this. It's so not fair that the number ones are so ace, that this is only number four when in any other chart position it would be so up there.
5. Little Children - I shall just plagiarise what I've said for almost every other 60s record. Clue rearrange - sub Beatles standard.

(Now sneaks a look at what My mind-controller, Hg has said...)
Ooh, not bad. I might even change my vote to the Hg version ;-)
I liked Clint Bestwood, too, but I preferred Solid Air in the buttery.
Does anyone remember the midsummer's day concert from the Trent building. Best observed from the lake?

I might have played all my record collection by then...!**

* And I'll be seeing in concert in April...

**In response to Mike's

Until then, I shall leave you with the combined decade scores for the past two years of the project. Just five more years to go, and then we shall truly know...
Which Decade is Tops for Pops!

What I thought about pop music in 2003

1. ELO
2. Fleetwood MAc
3. Kenny Ball
4. The Beloved
5. Who?*

Hve you got a nifty little Javascript that reads our scores, or are you and K taking turns in hovering and updating?

* David Sneddon, it seems - where is he now

1. Eminem - and I was sure the Naughties were crap
2. Wham - look, I was fifteen, okay. DHSS
3. Brenda Lee - unremarkable
4. Rolf Harris - Good idea until all the young trendies insisted it was cool
5. Focus - the reason punk rock was invented

No, it was D:Ream - easy to confuse, they both start with a letter.

1. Phil Collins - never thought I would ever vote Phil Collins top of any poularity list (actually, I accidentally segued in a tape-off-the-radio a superb fade from Sussudio to 1999)
2. M-People - I actually quite like them sort of.
3. Quo: not their best song, but I lurve SQ in a non-thinking way. they simply do not take themselves at all seriously
4. Mike Berry: nothing like as good as his 81 Smash Hit "sunshine of Your Smile" b/w I'm As Old As Paul McCartney (I know no light above That ever could replace Love's radiant sunshine And your lovely face; Getting Older Every Day)
5. Blazing Saddles - it das naffin for me

I'm sorry Mr Diva but I have to say - you have chosen the chart of the week before half term. The day the 83 chart was released I wrote a running commentary in my then paper-based blog on the British Rock and Pop Awards. I spent the entire half-term shut in my room listening to pop radio, emerging only to buy batteries. I have just checked the chart, and whilst it's hardly on a par with November 81 you will surprise me if my overall vote doesn't go to the 80s. Incidentally, you are remiss at not including number 12, because Wah's Story of the Blues is an absolute belta.

However,

1. Cocker/Warmes - because I like the song, so, nur,
2. Maureen Free because of the tune, which is ancient (and I know the Hello Muddah bit as well).
3. Free - No, it's from that dreary dirgy rock genre that put me off pop music in the early 70s
4. Daniel Bedingfield - I imagine it would grow on me if I let it
5. Snap - no, it's derivative

I think the people have spoken

Sounds of the Seventies

Everybody has to have a Seventies Compilation Double CD in their record collection. You think that is just typical madmusings hyperbolic generalisation, but it is actually a legal fact under Common and Statute Law, confirmed by precedent and upheld on appeal by the House of Lords and The European Court.

This one is subtitled '40 Sensational Hits' which only brings Tony Blackburn to mind.

Watching The Rotters Club is an experience, mostly education, partly memory. The Seventies. A strange decade. A decade of racism and industrial unrest, but also the decade where the Sexual Revolution turned into first tentative steps towards Sexual Equality and racism led to concerted efforts, some more successful than others, to racial equality.

But my quote of the series was when the Rotters Club band were playing progressive, concept rock, inspired by Rick Wakeman.

You know, it was imperative that Punk happened.

Musically, the seventies was not a good decade. But then what was? I despair of the state of modern Naughties Pop Music. The Sixties are viewed nostalgically by those who choose to ignore the gallons of dross that abounded. The Nineties had their glorious highpoints - notably, but not exclusively, Pulp and Oasis - but some quite dreadful lowpoints. The Eighties was *my* decade, and even though I will wax nostalgic, saying 'you don't get class like this now' there was nevertheless, lots of rubbish. The simple answer that most pop is music is transitory and disposable; the class acts I deify transcend genre and defy classification.

This product is quaintly divided into 4 parts - each one side of a double album, even though I have it on CD, and there is no evidence it was ever released as an LP. I have deleted a sentence that states what each part is. There is some coherence, especially Part 1, broadly Glam Rock, and Part 2, black music. But I am not sure of the commonality that links Hot Chocolate with Status Quo or Rod Stewart with Rose Royce.

I have a few of the tracks on artist albums. The best of the rest are I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor. This was big at our Junior 4 leaving disco. It's a classic because the words speak so directly to so many people, but, also, although it has an unchanging (potentially boring) bassline/beat, it has a decent tune, and some intelligent key changes. In otherwords, all the ingredients of a top song, including that wonderful rallantando near the end.

I do rather like Le Freak by Chic, but that may be just born of years old familiarity. My sister bought this single, when we had very few singles, and even fewer albums, so it tended to be played a lot.

I didn't especially like Barry White's "You're The First, My Last, My Everything" back in those days, but I really got to like it with that whole Ally McBeal/John Cage thang especially those drum beats at the start of the chorus. What a build up...

I am also surprised that I like Earth, Wind and Fire's Boogie Wonderland. I know I had their 'September' but I'm not sure we ever had this. I have no recollection of being a 70s Disco Queen, in fact I am positive I wasn't. This is actually quite scary, I might start inhabiting 70s Nights at suburban discos.

I like Blockbuster by Sweet; Can't Live - Nielsen - yeah, I know it's cheesy, but a small amount of cheese is always welcome; I quite like So You Win Again by Hot Chocolate, but my very very favourite song by them is I'll Put You Together Again. I must have it somewhere in my collection, but I can't find it on my Database. Sigh

I feel I ought to like 10CC's I'm Not In Love, but I really can't stand it. It's not actually as bad as all that concept crap, but it's bad enough.

ELO is a band that is massively underrated. Well, maybe not massively, but Mr Blue Skies is not their best - that honour belongs to The Diary of Horace Wimp. Which I've only got on 'taped off the radio'.

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick is a very clever song, and a song I like very much.

So, overall, not a bad compilation, but, really, the Seventies wasn't that great a decade

She says eagerly anticipating the highlight of the blogging year Troubled Diva's Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? - he thinks it will start on Tuesday...

Andrew Dull-Webber

 Bracing myself. I carry a hatred for Andrew Lloyd-Webber based as much on his personality as his music. I actually formulated a theory many years ago that he those who like him overrate him, whilst those who denigrate him underrate him.

You have to take your hat off. With shrewd borrowings from here, and delegating the difficult tasks, like orchestration, there he has hit a winning formula. And, having found it, he is probably wise to stick to it.

I have seen the adverts on the Tube for A Woman in White 'his best score since Phantom of the Opera' The Daily Bigot 'So, not as good as Phantom of the Opera' Gert Blog And I'm not exactly rushing to see the film of Phantom, although I daresay when it comes on the TV I shall watch it. Probably not on Pay-per-View, though.

I taped this album off my sister, and, I have to confess, there are some bloody good tunes on it. I mean, that's what ALW does - bloody good tunes, and some of his best work is greatly assisted by great lyricists like Tim Rice.

My personal favourites include Take That Look Off Your Face and Tell Me On A Sunday (Marti Webb), but that's as much to do with Don Black's lyrics. And Marti Webb's voice, which has an edge and some character.

I also like I Don't Know How To Love Him, good tune, good lyrics and a generally good voice, Yvonne Elliman. She does screech a bit in the middle bit, but it is a bloody difficult song to sing.

My favourite song on this tape is Memory. I even bought it on vinyl single back in the summer of 1980. I think I have blogged it previously.

I don't dislike Don't Cry For Me Argentina, but Julie Covington has a thin wispy bland voice. I saw Evita years ago in Nottingham and the singer belted this out. But I much prefer David Essex's O What A Circus, which isn't on this tape.

But we also have to sit through Cliff Richard and Sarah Brightman singing All I Ask of You. What a totally dreadful combination. I have no sense of whether this is truly a dreadful song, or whether it just seems so because of those two ghastly singers. Maybe it would be worth seeing the film in order to find an answer...

And much of the rest is just aural sherbert.

John Lennon

The Collection. On tape, taped off vinyl, which I acquired very early in 1981 - quel surprise. But in my defence I had already requested (Just Like) Starting Over as a Christmas present before 8 December.

It's actually the only John Lennon album I own, although I have a fair few Beatles albums.

Al of the tracks are at least pleasant to listen to. The album as a whole is greater than merely the sum of its parts.

It was a truly fascinating listening experience. I read something a few days ago where someone offered an opinion that he never listens to pop music these days because he has found that it has nothing new to say him after all these years. I find this an interesting point of view, but not one that I can share.

I have never been a mad keen John Lennon fan. I could go all intellectually and pointy-eared and discuss how he explored different roads. But that's not me. Instead I will point that half of this album contains some really very good songs - Mind Games, Love, Imagine, Jealous Guy, (Just Like) Starting Over , Woman and I'm Losing You.

What makes them  good songs?

Well, obviously, in the end it's just my opinion - ie I like them...!

I suppose it's that each of these songs (except Imagine) is remarkably personal - John Lennon is writing these about his life, his experience, his emotions.

Yet the words speak very directly to me, either because of my direct experience or because I recognise the truth in them. I can imagine that they speak universally and yet they are never anything but personal. That is just the words, but in each case the music is apt for the words echoing the mood of the words. A perfect partnership.

Imagine is not a personal song, and I know that there are people who regard it with this the utmost cynicism - a multi-millionaire singing "Imagine no possesions..." But, actually, for me, it's the melancholy piano line that really gets me each time. In that strange winter of 1980/1 my sister said that it modulates. What's that, I asked. It changes key, she told me. And I still believe it to be one of the most poignant key changes in music.

Unfortunately, these great songs are sandwiched by a fair few shrug numbers that rather deter me from playing the album more frequently.

Rod Stewart Unplugged

Rod Stewart is a singer about whom I am entirely ambivalent. Listening to an album such as this is a really quite pleasant experience. But, no more than pleasant. The songs are...pleasant...including, for the most part, lyrics that narrate a tale.

But, bottom line at the end of the day when all's said and done, there is nothing in Rod Stewart's songs in general that specifically speak to me, whether about myself, or the human condition, or whatever. It's probably no coincidence that my favourites on this album are songs written by 'greats' and recorded, IMNSHO, by better singers than Rod - Curtis Mayfield's People get Ready, Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately, Tom Waits' Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda) and Cat Stevens' The First Cut Is the Deepest.

Big shrug - no real reason to ever play this again, but no specific reason to throw it out.

The packaging is a bit on the cheap - a concertina-style inset sleeve with some fairly amateurish desktop publishing and some mediocre photos.

School Disco

Yeah, I was suckered. I bought them. I don't need to justify that decision. My money, my time.

Gloria by Laura Brannigan; Zoom - Fat Larry's Band; Walk This Way - Run DMC  (always remind me of someone special from Uni days); Ride on Time - Black Box (actually a really crap record but always remind sme of my first disco at my first 'proper' job, hanging out in the bar with the lads and ladettes*; Tarzan Boy - Baltimora, which for a time always played just before the lads ran out onto the pitch at Old Trafford,    all belong in that category of songs that are far from great, but are definitely pleasant, and, because of an association with memories of a time and place, create a personal internal frisson.

And then there is the glorious verging on greatness of The Stranglers Golden Brown (only ever musical tribute to a Chancellor of the Exchequer) and the utterly great Video Killed the Radio Stars by the Buggles.

Imagination's Just an Illusion was one of the best songs of 1982, and one that I like more now than then. If it was just that grinding bass, I would love it. Add to that the funky beat, reasonably good words, the keyboard line. They simply don't make pop music like this any more.

Not to mention Charlene's I've Never Been to Me. I have decided that the next time I do a karaoke (okay never) I shall sing this. Basically is a perfect example of Flawed Genius. The big flaw is the speaky bit in the middle. Take that away and it's a really rather good song. Great tune, powerful words. I am now on a one-woman mission to rehabilitate "I've Never Been TO Me" from the depths of naffness.

The Nolans I'm in the Mood for Dancing is an ignored and underrated classic. Don't you just want to get up and, well, dance when you hear  that?

I will confess now that I adore Barry Manilow's Copacabana. Don't tell my sister or my old schoolfriend, Andrea, because I really don't like Manly Barrilow. Except for Copacabana. Also worth mentioning is the only Cliff Richard song I can tolerate - Summer Holiday.

I also like Britney Spears' Baby One More Time. Nevertheless, I regard her as a one hit wonder...

It's nice listening to Y Viva España just twenty-four hours after booking a  long weekend in Barcelona.

Deadringer for Love - Meatloaf; Cuba - Gibson Brothers; Cruel Summer - Bananarama; Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird - Will To Power; Dizzy - Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff; Africa - Toto; Music - John Miles, which I really like, even though I think maybe I oughtn't...

And I think we have to take our hats off to some genius, somewhere who had the brilliant idea of including such gems as Cat Stevens' 'Morning Has Broken'. Hands up everybody who sang Morning Has Broken in Junior One?

And then there is the utterly fabulous Rupert the Bear by Jackie Lee, which I am going to confess is actually one of my favourite songs, ever...! Not because I became familiar it in early childhood - Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart's Junior Choice. Or because it's about a cute ickle teddy bear. But because it's just a truly great song.

But the discs do contain a fair proportion of turkeys - Maneater; Safety Dance; Everything Counts (I never liked Depeche Mode *then* and I don't like them now - sorry, Depechies,  but I have tried...); I Can Make you Feel Good; In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry, quite possibly the worst song ever written, recorded, covered, played and compilation-included ad nauseam

It's taken me about three months to write this post...

* I started writing the 'best bunch of people, collectively, ever. But then I thought who do I mean - just the Thirteen that formed my induction group; do I add the dozen or so from the next induction group that with us formed a big section Group C for GCC. Or do I mean the entirety of Group C? Or the entire CETC 1989 intake? But then, there were all those fab people in the 1990 intake with whom we merged when so many of us failed P1. /digression.

Sleeping with the Past

This is the only Elton John album I own. I have it on vinyl. I remember clearly when I got it - it was in 1990, and I was so anxious to play it that i didn't bother watching George Best on a mid-evening chat show. Wogan? Parky? The famous one when he was very very drunk and abusive.

There are, of course, at least two Elton Johns. there is the one who has sung - and performed - a vast number of very good songs over a long period of time. And then there's the Celebrity Legend Sir ELton John who is now a Pastiche Parody of something-or-other, and time to say Basta. (Although I did find his comments on Madonna's lip-synching rather amusing...)

This really isn't his best album, nor are the songs among his best. It is nevertheless a decent album that withstands repeat playing, although not when Himself who hates Elton John is home. Some of the tracks are stronger than others, none is so dire it has to be skipped, but, in the final analysis, only one - Sacrifice - is worthy of the best of ELton John. What I like most about Sacrifice is the melodic tune. The words are nothing special, and I have never felt Elton's voice to be his strong point.

Billy Joel

Controversial in blogland. But I do like him. Not so much that I would pay to see him. But I wouldn't turn down a free ticket. Good. Not great. But good.

Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II, taped off my sister's album a good few years ago.

I like the fact that he tells interesting stories with catchy tunes. The best songs - Piano Man; Movin' Out; My Life, Goodnight Saigon, and Uptown Girl. It's one of those albums that's worth giving a close listen to, but also decent to have as background.

Listening to this, I can't help reflecting how strange pop music is - or any other cultural phenomenon, for that matter. Billy Joel never ever quite hit the A List, even at his peak, and he rarely gets mentioned now. But I do like this album. and if the tape ever got eaten, I'd probably replace it on CD.

Madchester Music

Actually, I'm not entirely sure that they are all from Manchester. But being that they were all taped from Dr. Matt's CDs, in the days when he was Mr. Matt or maybe even Master Matt, I can sort of say they're all from Manchester...

I start with the Inspiral Carpets Life. It started, and I thought "Oh god, I've let myself in for an hour and a half of crap, just because I vowed to play my entire record collection by forty."

Then a few minutes later, This is How it Feels came on, and I realised that this is indeed a pleasant song. She Comes In The Fall would also make it to a theoretical compilation of Madchester Music. I thought I wasn't going to enjoy this, but I did.

Next up is Happy Mondays' Hallelujah. As I write this, I'm on the second track, Clap Your Hands, and so far it's dire. I can't see it getting much better, because there's only seven tracks, and two of those are Club Mixes of previous tracks.

Then we have James Live, Stripmine and Stutter by James: one of the great under rated acts of all time, IMO. Some fab tracks - of course, Come Home is the greatest. I wouldn't really single out any others for 'greatness' but I would say that overall, all three James albums are pleasant listening. There's a distinct James sound that pleases me.

I like James.

REM & RFTC

I have very many REM albums on cassette, taped off my brother's CDs when he was still at school. Last Christmas he gave me The Best of REM - In Time 1988-2003.

So, REM. Yet another band that I have liked a lot for over fifteen years. I really can't find a bad thing to say against them. Yet I have never raved about them. In my liking League they are not 'right up there'. Sometimes I think they ought to be.

But this 'The Best of...' is a very good album. I suppose it is a really good illustration of how cutting-edge alternative bands all eventually 'sell-out' to mainstream.  My favourite tracks are Man on The Moon, Losing My Religion,  The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, and , of course, Everybody Hurts, a perennial favourite on pub jukeboxes. Bizarrely it does not contain It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), which I would have thought to be one of their most popular songs. It also doesn't contain very many of my favourite tracks from their albums. But I shall blog these in due course.

The packaging is standard - a twenty page booklet including a narrative written by Peter Buck on the songs. The actual disc is in three colours - black, white and blue, the blue being a repeat of the moon on the front cover.

Rocket From the Crypt's eponymously titled CD  is a hidden gem in my record collection. I bought it about five years ago, with birthday vouchers. I don't think I have played it very many times, which is a shame, because it's really rather good rock. The packaging is nothing to look at- seems almost amateurish - but the music is enjoyable.

I put it on random; the first track that came up was When In Rome. I like this,, I thought, it must be the best one on the Cd. Then Made for You came next. Ooh, this is good. This CD deserves to played more often!

kd lang

As soon as saw that kd lang was appearing at Hammersmith Apollo, or whatever pisspoor pisslager it's now named after, I decided I had to go. I got two tickets, and, to my surprise, himself agreed to come with me.

I did mention to him that the audience would be very female, and very dikey. Which may appear to be a strange, arguably homophobic, observation, but having seen kd before, it is remarkable. As soon as we came out of the tube, we noticed two dykes in cowboy gear "I wonder where they're going..." he said...

Let's gloss over the bit where I nearly got myself killed, trying to follow LBHF's appalling signs from Tube to Apollo, endorsed by the Apollo's own website. They might as well have said "Take life into own hands whilst dodging traffic on the Pedestrian crossing-lacking roundabout underneath Hammersmith Flyover, which is guaranteed to be heavy with traffic at 6.30 on a Sunday evening. Take special care not to place your foot in an abandoned bicycle lock attached to the railings on the traffic island and if you do fall down try not to do it headlong into traffic".

Actually, there is a logical route, involving Pedestrian Crossings - well, Zebras, which ought to be abolished - but that wasn't following the signs!

Of course, the queue for the Ladies was really long - I was not alone in threatening to take the Gents by storm - but in fairness, the provision of many cubicles at least meant that the queue was fast-moving. And when I emerged, my not exceptionally-tall-at-six-foot-partner was easy to spot as one of the tallest people in the packed bar.

In the crowd, I spotted my friend Jude, who I haven't seen for years. That's the trouble with the Labour Party. it's structured and locally organised, so when someone moves away, you don't have the instinct to contact them and arrange to meet up - spontaneous socialising emanates from conversations after meetings and events. she said she would never have expected to see me at a kd lang concert. I did point out that I have most of her CDs and saw her in Brighton a dozen or so years back.

It made me think, though. I'm a kd fan because I love her music and have done so since 1990. Her sexual orientation is not of the slightest concern to me. I wonder how many of the people were there because of her symbol as a high profile lesbian. Which is fine, and I have no grumbles. But I like the music.

The support artist was Amy Smith, who has a really fantastic voice. She writes her own stuff, which isn't very good, but her voice is a dream. Consensus in the loos was "Great voice, same about the songs..."

After the interval kd came on, to hysteria (and that was just in my seat). she sang a variety of songs from over the years, although mainly from Ingenue, Drag, and Hymns of the 49th Parallel. She doesn't take herself seriously at all on stage, which is great. I can't stand these people with attitude. Although she takes her singing very seriously.

Now that is a voice. A truly great voice, with resonance, musicality and beauty. Sometimes you hear people and think they sound much better on CD, but she is one who really has to be heard live. It's a shame she was only on for an hour-and-a-quarter, because I could have happily have listened to her all night. The highlights were Hallelujah - which ought to be riding high in the Singles chart, if the chart means anything, if adults bothered buying singles, if anyone gave a shit. I thought it great on a Leonard Cohen CD, but, wow, kd really is Queen of the Covers; Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray (Patsy Cline tribute); the medley of her hit - Constant Craving; and Miss Chatelaine. I remembered the projected bubbles effect going round and round the arena from Brighton in 1992. I loved it then, but had quite forgotten it, but I remembered it again.

She had a backing band of four, plus 35 strings of the London Phil (well, 140 strings in total, but 35 musicians/instrumentalists)

Just a word on Hammersmith Apollo. I have never been before, but, apart from the difficulties getting there, not least because it lies west of Earls Court, I love it. I reckon it could do with a lick of paint, or, rather, a full refurbishment - although facilities were fine. It is an Art Deco theatre, quite possibly a former cinema, and retains some rather gorgeous Art Deco detail. From Row F in the circle we had clear sightlines (except when people stood up) and the acoustics were really very very good. Acoustics or sound system, or both.

Note to self, this photo was taken by widening the aperture as far as possible - in this case F3. Shutter speed was 1/60.

To conclude, a very enjoyable and excellently high quality concert. Jimmy thoroughly enjoyed it too, believing her voice to be even better than on CD.

k d lang

Interview in the Independent

I'm going to see her on Sunday! Ooh!

The Jam Greatest Hits

I always thought that *everybody* of my generation was well into The Jam. From my cousin, eight years my senior to my brother, seven years my junior.

So it was a bit of a shock back in the summer when I made a passing reference to Paul Weller, to find a stream of invective unleashed in my comment box. And somebody - admittedly somebody trying to get an afternoon's nap - asked me to turn it down when I played it yesterday.

I taped this off my brother. Or rather, he taped it for me, and wrote out the cassette case in impeccable handwriting.

The great thing about a Greatest Hits album is that you get all the best singles on one easy to play cassette. You also get the opportunity to overview the development of the band and see whether they are really great. Or whether they have just produced a few outstanding singles.

One of the things I always liked about The Jam was the fact that they are all so ugly. The counter-pop idols. Punk enough to have credible. Mainstream enough to be safe for nice girls like me.

It's an album that gets better as it goes along. I really don't like the first three tracks, and I get really into it by Eton Rifles. That's Entertainment is a real gem - listen to the words - or read them

My most favourite tracks are Town Called Malice, especially for the lyrics. And beat Surrender. there was something about the way they performed this on TOTP that just grabbed me.

To conclude. The Jam. Good but not great.

Hothouse Flowers

 I taped this off someone, I forget whom. 'This' being Home. It was all a long time ago.  A pleasant album, folk rock with a strong Celtic influence. One that is always worth a play, and probably doesn't get played often enough, partly because it is a boring looking cassette box.

But it's nice chill-out music. All of the tracks are nice, without any one of them being stand-out tracks.

Prince Charming

Adam Ant is 50 today. Later today I shall pen an exquisite tribute to a truly great guy.

In fact, today is Officially Adam Ant day on Mad Musings.

Even though there may, or may not be, some unrelated posts.

Queen

Their Greatest Hits 1 in Tape and I will get round to blogging that eventually. For the moment, I shall concentrate on Greatest Hits II, which I have on CD. This is, basically their hits from about 1981 onwards.

I always have mixed feelings  about Queen.  Andrew a friend from twenty years ago contended that there were only two geniuses, Beethoven and Freddie Mercury. I would dispute the 'only two'. I'm not even sure that I would include Queen.

They were always strange - some really truly glorious stuff, genuine claims to greatness. And then some indifferent stuff.

I put the CD on random play.

• Headlong - starts off so unpromisingly it is tempting to dismiss this. but listen - as it progresses and moves through tempi and styles and I'm thinking, hey this is seriously under-rated;
• Under Pressure - oh my! A definite contender for my Top Whatever to be defined in February 2008;
• Breakthrough - again, seemingly unpromising, but listen to it;
• Radio Ga-Ga - another great classic, musically and lyrically, evocative twice over of a time and place, another Contender; 
• One Vision - too much 70s Glam Rock - and then a fabulous choral excerpt;
• Show Must Go On - beautifully poignant;
• Who Wants To Live For Ever? - a very clever, and poignantly moving, reworking of "Somewhere" from West Side Story;
• I Want to Break Free - fabulously accessible poppy singalong;
• I'm Going Slightly Mad - very strange, and very haunting;
• Innuendo - very ordinary for the first half, but then listen as the mood , style and tempi vary, and again, and again.

Queen are the epitome of the 70s Glam Rock that normally leaves me cold, yet, somehow they transcend the genre. Perhaps Andrew was right about genius. Listening through this afternoon, I'm thinking, someone responsible for writing this is classically trained; a bit of googling reveals that Freddie was.

I will never forget the day Freddie died. I was at home in Streatham on study leave, revising Management Accounting. To this day I can picture where my chair was, picture the gloriously sunny day outside. I was listening to Capital Radio (it was a long time ago) and the news came on. Freddie Mercury has died. For a  few moments the world stood still.

Fairly standard packaging with a 24 page booklet containing many pictures - covers and credits for each of the tracks - no lyrics - and some additional pictures.

I also have CD single with Bohemian Rhapsody b/w These are the Days of Our Lives.

Nanci Griffith and the Crickets

Jimmy and I went off to the Albert Hall last night to see Nanci Griffith in concert.

The ticket just said "with guests", and there didn't seem to be any programmes on sale, so I had no idea who the support act was.

Oh. my. god.

It was the Crickets. Not Buddy Holly, unfortunately: he was indisposed. And obviously, it wasn't entirely the original Crickets, but they did include Sonny Curtis (no relation, unfortunately), and for a couple of songs, Robbie Vee, son of Bobby 'Night Has a Thousand Eyes 'Vee'. A quick google today showed that Sonny Curtis is 67. I wouldn't have thought that to hear him. This is the guy who wrote I Fought The Law and Walk Right Back, both of which were performed last night. Other songs performed included That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Rave On, Real Wild Child and Heartbeat. It never ever crossed mind ever that I would ever hear the Crickets play Peggy Sue. they were pretty good and we were bopping in our seats like real wild child(ren).

Nanci joined them for a couple of songs, then, afterr the interval it was Nanci Griffith and the Blue Moon Orchestra.

Am I allowed to say I was a little disappointed. I have been a fan of Nanci for a good few years and have a good few of her CDs, so I was terribly excited about hearing her live. Jimmy, who has learned to enjoy her music and thinks she has a fantastic voice was mightily disappointed. I think it was something to do with the sound system. I think the balance was all wrong. Let's just say that when she came on to sing with the Crickets, I simply didn't recognise her voice. Jimmy couldn't tell a word she was saying

It was a shame because overall the performance was excellent. Highlights being the ones I expect to be highlights - Gulf Coast Highway, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness and From A Distance. She told a lovely story of when she was performing in Houston, a real live astronaut came up to give her a photo of her CD of 'From A Distance' in Space, with Earth in the far distance. Wow!

I always think people ought to sound better live than on CD. I think I'll stick to my CDs. But I am glad that I went.

Last night

Sonny Curtis The Crickets Nanci Griffith and the Crickets Nanci - with her Nixon/Agnew campaign buttons (there's no difference....!) Nanci Griffith and the Blue Moon Orchestra

Reggae and Rude Boys

A couple of compilation CDs. On a Reggae Tip was bought in 1993, when I had been living in South London just over a year and was still rather dazzled by the inyerface brashness of the place. I visited my mother's nice quiet* suburban white ghetto and realised that it just sounded wrong in this environment. At the time I was tapping away on my P3 Project on a steam driven portable computer. We didn't call them laptops back then. Indeed, 'portable' was a bit of a stretch!

I have mixed feelings about this CD. There is some genuine crap on it, by Material, Mad Cobra, and General Levy. It's just noise. It's aggressive, confrontational and unrelenting. But then you listen to something like Sly and Robbie's Boops (Here To Go) and you hear something worth hearing.

Overall it's a glorious optimistic LP, and an indication that reggae, a valid musical form, has degenerated into the hate-filled hateful cRap of today. Some of these songs have a varying beat and indications of some intelligent musicianship, not like the penetrating bass that thunders out from cars and flats wherever you go. Overall, it's a strange album, some quite pleasant tunes, none worth considering for elevating into a list of 'My All Time Favourites'. I can't see myself playing it again voluntarily...

 Rude Boy Revival, is a whole different matter. Bought maybe two years ago, I played it entirely voluntarily just a few weeks ago, but now I'm playing it agin to blog it!. The person who added the details to CDDB added the note

Fine examples of mod/ska/skin and two tone - get your Cromby and Pork Pie hat out !!!

Great song after great song. The first disc starts with Too Much Too Young and the second disc finishes with Ghost Town, so the person who compiled it is obviously intelligent. Both of these are utter class. Ghost Town is an absolute contender for my top fifty discs, and absolute proof that 1981 was the best year EVER for pop music. But the hits just keep on coming - Geno, Time for Action, Special Brew, Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag, Reasons To Be Cheerful, Louie Louie, My World, Uptown Top Ranking, The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum.

Some tracks are weaker eg Gloria Jones's Tainted Love was bettered by Soft Cell. And obviously, there are few turkeys: the Greatest Cockney Rip Off, anybody?

The day before I played this Desmond Dekker - without his aces - was spotted in the record shop just round the corner on the Hill. Much to the total excitement of the woman who runs it!

* 'nice quiet' being an euphemism for bland, boring, smug, self-satisfied, small-minded...

Assorted reviews

ENO retests market with Bieito's dirty Don - next week

Philharmonia/Dohnanyi /Brendel - Royal Festival Hall - last week

Cosi fan tutte next week

at worst, kd lang's Hymns is thought-provoking, and at best it makes every other covers album this year sound like a waste of time

Pogues and Pulp

Best of the Pogues - I blogged on at some length when I played Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, so I'll keep this short. Just a few t'oughts, as a certain Parish Priest used to say before launching into a twenty minute sermon.

The Body of an American shows the universality of Irish diaspora. 'Fiesta' was the first song ever I heard in Spain - Almeria, as it happens...

The bizarre nature of my living arangements means that I am listening to this whilst other half is watching the news. Guess who's on the news - Ian Paisley (this is Saturday 18th) making a statement about the Northern Irish constitutional talks. You can have no bizarre this juxtaposition sounds...

Jimmy says add Ian Paisley to the Dead Pool.

(Actually, you know how Paisley is a hate-filled bigoted fascist? Well, Jimmy's late father, a Tyrone Catholic held him in high regard. He is MP for my uncle (an Antrim Catholic) and he (and my late Aunt did) speak of him with praise. He's a conscientious constituency MP who fights for his area and for his constituents, regardless of their tradition.)

Alphabetically I moved onto Pulp's Different Class. There was a time, ten years ago or so, when there were three great Britpop bands.  The media tended to focus on Blur and Oasis, trying to create a rivalry that may have existed in Liam Gallagher's mind, but probably not elsewhere. I always felt that Pulp were regarded as Also-Rans. I never really 'got' Blur, and Oasis let themselves down with their crpa third album. But, for me, Pulp are not the least of the three, and Different Class must be accorded a special place in my collection.

I'm afraid I never fancied Jarvis Cocker. I realise that makes me a traitor to the cause of Intelligent Celebrity Crushes, but he just never did it for me.

The liner consists of a twenty page booklet full of photo-shoped lomo-type pictures. The centre page consists of the lyrics to six songs, writen tiny and cramped in white on a black background, which rather militates against reading them, which is a shamebecause the lyrics are worth something in themselves. Indeed, theycarry a warning "NB PLease do not read the lyrics whilst listening to the recordings."

Especial favourites include Sorted for Es and Whizz. I recall there being some faux media storm about this, because it was about...shock! horror!...drugs. Even though the pig-shit ignorant so-called journalists completely missed the point. The point being:

And you wanna call your mother and say, "Mother,
I can never come home again because I seem to have left
an important part of my brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire"...
In the middle of the night it feels allright,
but then tomorrow morning ooh ooh ooh, ooh
then you come down ooh ooh ooh,
what if you never come down

So they were actually saying "Hey kids, just say no." but they were saying it with the credibility of people who've been there, not just read it in the Daily Hate.

Other fabulous songs are Common People, which just rocks!!! (nomination for my top whatever songs!) - ooh, that frantic beat getting more and more frantic; Something Changed; and, of course, Disco 2000.

Pulp - a Different Class

The Gang

I am fairly certain that none of my readers will have any of The Gang in their record collection. Although do correct me if I'm wrong. I have two of their albums. Written recorded and published by, well, the Gang. My ex-housemate Grum and two of his mates, Neilly and Phil, with Dave as special guest star, and replacing Neilly on the second album, Radio.

The first album was recorded in V block in Cripps Hall; the second album was recorded, well, directly, below my bedroom in number 10. I even get a credit on the second album for loan of musical instruments...!

As you can imagine, albums by mates are generally nothing very good, and the lads never had any aspirations to make it big, although they did play Greenbelt in 1989. And the Misummer's Day festival at the Lakeside. And some Hall Parties. Some of the songs are dependent on being in on the in-jokes, or at least, knowing a little about Nottingham University.

My favourites are T2 Coffee Bar - people come from afar, pharmacists, scientists and engineers too, all come down for there's nothing else better to do; Chocolate Hob Nob Blues; Excuse Me Have You Got A Fridge; FN Girls; and Stairway To Tescos (a coverof Stairway to Heaven, with the immortal line "And she's buying her Kit Kat at Tescos...).

It's nice having tapes of friends from fifteen years ago. But great music. Well, you decide...!

Pet Shop Boys - Pop Art (and Mix)

    This is a recent acquisition: I got it last Christmas from one of my sibs.

Having listened to all three discs, Pop, Art and Mix, I can't help thinking about the law of Diminishing Returns. The first disc is just brill. I put it on random and it starts on the glorious - Go West. They just keep on coming - Always On My Mind; What Have I Done - where I singalong with Dusty Springfield; I love the  drums on- Se a vida e; I think Where the streets have no name (I can't Take My Eyes Off Of you) is one of the funniest combination of two completely different songs, ever. The best of all is  It's A Sin

The second has some truly good stuff - Left to My Own Devices, West End Girls, Single-Bilingual, and Somewhere (how many versions of this do I have in my collection), but there are just a few too many tracks that are 'okay' without having any sense of lasting value.

The third disc Mix, barely adds anything to tracks previously aired, except perhaps Love comes Quickly, which has a more languid air than the original (single) version. Most of the rest are just good songs ruined by an irritating disco beat. Being the Pet Shop Boys, it's an intelligent, thoughtful, crafted disco beat. But it's still irritating (and not Che Guevara or Debussy...)

They are a vastly underrated group in my mind. I never cite them in my 'Favourite Groups', but I just love 'em. No song is a turkey, and my criticisms of the mediocre songs are only in contrast to their glorious anthemic contributions. Overall, there is such a sense of light and air.

It's a beautifully packaged CD, a box set with each disc coming in an minimalist envelope. the liner is eight pages, concertina style, mainly of pictures, mainly in bold colours, and then a dense list of credits. I definitely think it's in my Top five of CD packaging, and quite possibly Number one.

Leonard Cohen at 70

70 things you didn't know about Leonard Cohen - Who held a gun to Leonard Cohen's head?

Bryan Ferry and Frankie Goes to Hollywood

I never 'got' Bryan Ferry when I was younger: although it seemed that everyone whose views on pop music I respected worshipped him. To be honest, listening to 'The intimate Colelction' I hear plenty enough of mediocre to reasonably good songs, but the only that lingers in my mind is 'Dance Away'. Which I did not like when it charted; I think I lacked the maturity. Even so, now, I still wouldn't rate it highly.

Next up is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasure Dome. In some ways a Great album, in other ways fundamentally flawed. The beat that permeates throughout is infectious, addictive. The greatness lies in those songs that became singles - especially, of course the two that dominated the Summer of 84, Relax and Two Tribes, plus The Power of Love. Also a couple of other good songs - a decent if inferior cover of Edwyn Starr's War, Born to Run, and Black Night White Light.

But a double album was too ambitious, and, in consequence, there is just too much filler of inconsequential rubbish which should be confined to the eternal dustbin of history.

Of course, I got this album for Christmas 1984. Didn't everybody? I now have this urge to rush upstairs, take the vinyl out of the cupboard and caress the cover...!

I will never forget FGTH. FOr a while they were a phenomenom of pop culture. A short lived flame of genius (Trevor Horn's genius...) and a rapid decline to has-beens. That's showbiz.

Grease and Hits 97

These two CDs sit next to each other on the rack, due to the capricious nature of my filing system. But provide an interesting contrast.

I really don't have to provide any background to Grease, do I? Seminal film, one that I would pinpoint as marking my transition from child to adolescent. The years go by - twenty six years - but it still retains its charm. I have the CD, I have the video. Twenty six years ago I had the clothes.

The very first chord is spot on and it doesn't go wrong from there. Songs like: Summer Nights - who hasn't stood in a disco joining in the community sing-song to the ending of this; Hopelessly Devoted to You - quite possibly my favourite from the entire film; You're the One that I Want; Sandy; Look at Me I'm Sandra-Dee; Greased Lightning; and all those fillers - fillers of the calibre of Blue Moon, and Rock 'n' Roll Party Queen.

Playing this album evokes memories. Memories of Junior 4, of going to the cinema (The one and only time I went to the godawful fleapit in Altrincham). We got hold of the lyrics, and acted it out in the school playground, protecting our territory from the younger kids.

The disc itself is a bit boring, just standard silver-coloured with writing. The liner is an eight page booklet of stills from the film.

I really must watch the film again soon. Listening to the soundtrack album, it struck me that the 'real' star was Stockard Channing. Of course, she was only in a supporting role, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta got the glory, but the adult me says yeah - Stockard Channing 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do'.

And then, next to it on the shelf, is Hits 97. I was entering this into 'Music Collector' and thinking, why did I buy this - the first disc is almost totally dire. Even the best songs on it - Donna Lewis's I Love You Always Forever; Simply Red's Angel - are only, objectively, adequate, but they stand out as pearls among the swine of too-much cRap music.

It's so aggressive that cRap. And it's not music, really. Then there's piss-poor covers of great originals. Bad post-break-up songs from Gary Barlow and Mark Owen. From this general dis, I exempt Deep Blue Something's Breakfast at Tiffany�s, which was one of the reasons I bought this - a really good example of the sort of rock I enjoyed while listening to GLR (before it became crap) in the mid 90s. Intelligent rock for grown-ups - tune, lyrics.

Maybe it was tracks on Disc 2. But really, looking at that apart from some relatively weak offerings from the Manics and the Lightning Seeds, the only songs worthy of attention are Babybird's You're Gorgeous, Divine Comedy's The Frog Princess (Which I later got on a DC CD, anyway) and ETBTG's Driving.

So bit of a dismal compilation, then. Waste of money. Still, the discs are quite pretty, carrying reproduction of the logo from the front cover, one against blue and one against red.

Elvis Presley

Would you believe that I didn't own any Elvis in the last century - I bought these two compilations, imaginatively titled Blue Suede Shoes and Always on My Mind - in this millennium! And I still don't have any Rolling Stones!

Of course, Elvis was one of the voices of the 20th Century, a legend of Rock'n'Roll. A true Great. But actually, I don't especially like him. Of course, if I said I detested him I would be showing my ignorance. Similarly if I said that he was over-rated. There's nothing like a premature death to boost someone's standing in the Pantheon, and nothing like an inglorious death to enhance it further.

But it's my head that's saying Elvis is good, rather than my gut.

Favourites are Burning Love; Way Down (both of which are 'Bonus Tracks'); King Creole, Blue Suede Shoes, Heartbreak Hotel; Can't Help Falling In Love; Are You Lonesome Tonight; A Fool Such As I. He is the only person, ever, to pull a successful cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Many have tried.

I have a general problem with very many of the songs in that there is such a familiarity about them that it is impossible to be objective. Despite the absence of Elvis in my collection, the fact that I have been listening to pop radio and watching pop TV, pop films, living in a pop world pretty much since he died, I can hardly be oblivious to so many of them. I can't decide whether the songs have any profundity, or whether they are just chuckatunes, given an extra woomf by that voice.

I remember when he died. We didn't have a TV at home in those days, but we were on holiday in Chapel St Leonards near Skegness (but not near enough to benefit from the excitement of a proper seaside resort), and the holiday chalet included a TV. The news came on. 'Elvis has died' they said. 'Who?' I said. I figured he must be important because this was a pop singer my parents had heard of.

I suspect that over the years I have been repelled from Elvis by the cult of Elvis, often followed with religious fervour by people of limited intelligence.

But no doubt, one of the most recognisable icons of the 20th century. I mean, I'm making an assumption that everyone reading this has not only heard of him but is also familiar with at least some of his work.