mostlyharmless

Calypso to the radio

2009-07-10T09:50:42Z

Courtesy of webofevil - one of the most fantastic cover versions I've ever heard/seen. A steel band perform "Transmission" by Joy Division:

Weekend World

2009-07-06T15:04:43Z

This is specifically for rhodri, but all can enjoy the prog-rock/early 80s politics crossover:

Still looking good re: flat, am keeping fingers crossed.

Reflections on a flat

2009-06-30T12:42:10Z

At long last, I've made an offer on a flat and it got accepted. I gazumped (sp?) someone, which I'm not completely happy about, but having been outmanoeuvred at the last minute twice already, that's just how it will have to be. It's a basement/ground floor flat on a rather nice road in Streatham Hill, with a good big lounge that opens on to a patio/light well type thing, lovely bathroom, and a decent sized bedroom (replete with huge mirrored wardrobe on one side of the room - oo-er. Still at least they're not on the ceiling.)

I'm still being a bit cautious, given the circumstances, until contracts are exchanged etc., but still, yay!

111

2009-06-29T13:21:28Z

I am Not Well. Some sort of stomach bug. Running a temperature in 30 degree hot weather is not pleasant.

I took some pictures

2009-06-23T22:24:54Z

Just uploaded to my Flickr page some photos - of Stornoway, a couple from Edinburgh, some from Strasbourg back in January, and a few from the last of Bob's Thames tours last summer.

Stornoway

Gift shop in Edinburgh

Thames tour

Strasbourg

The dragon and the unicorn

2009-06-20T18:22:05Z

I am writing this, to be posted later, on a train heading home from west Wales. I’ve spent the past three of your Earth days with no internet connection, and not suffering as great a sense of withdrawal as I once might; the intense role that the interaction with others on the internet once played in my life has died off in recent months, a fact I reflect on with some, but not unbearable, regret.

Travelling gives you time to think, above all. And I’ve been thinking about my job, what it means, what it means to me and what it could mean to others. Standing in a town council chamber today, listening to a Plaid Cymru AM talk to locals about their experiences of flooding, and of how it affected their homes and their lives, made me realise that what’s important to me politically is changing, not in object or in aim, but in means, in tone and focus. I suspect the lesson of all my years of political awareness, under whatever party, is pointing me in one direction – that of seeking to foster greater understanding of what living in a democracy means, and clearer, more frequent and more useful communication between the electorate and those they elect to represent them.

I’ve also found the experience of the past few weeks speaking to that part of my character that’s always felt peculiarly British. I am the product of a Scottish father and an English mother. I was an undergraduate in Wales, and lived there for five years during a period of my life that profoundly shaped my character. I have lived in London for 14 years – longer now than in any of the places I have ever lived. It is, to all intents and purposes, my home. I speak with a London accent, but peppered with the odd northern pronunciation, the occasional Scottish slang word. I feel like a mongrel, have always felt thus, and am fiercely proud of it.

Visiting, in such quick succession, Scottish, English and Welsh towns, has made me feel more aware than before of the diversity of culture between these nations, but also of the common attitudes and outlook we share, for good or ill. I find myself no longer merely tolerant of, but embracing the desire of Welsh and Scots to revel in their political freedom and identity, while feeling more than ever that the union that binds us together is significant and worthy of preservation.

During the past few days, I have occasionally flirted with the idea of settling elsewhere – back in the warmth and easygoing atmosphere of Cardiff, or amidst the wry intelligence and austere beauty of Edinburgh. None the less, as I head for London, I feel that strong sense of going home once again. It does seem to be where I belong for reasons I’m only partially conscious of. On Monday, I talked about Parliament to a group of over 80 people from over 20 different countries – all from different backgrounds, brought together by a civic group called New Citizens Voice, to encourage civic participation among recently arrived UK citizens and those studying to be citizens. In London, it’s easy to assume a sort of unearned liberal pride in the city’s diversity, but engaging with this group, talking about their problems and ambitions, and seeing their vitality and real desire to be part of a British public life was invigorating. Such an experience is not unique to London, but it’s a definite part of what living here means to me.

It was particularly enjoyable to be in Cardiff once again, especially seeing all the friends I’ve made at the Welsh Assembly, a place full of vivacious smiles and sharp, innovative minds – it’s a wonderful thing to walk into a building hours of travel away from my own place of work and to greet friends; it brings a sort of overarching feeling of the UK, and my place in it, which I suppose I’d always aspired to but couldn’t quite grasp before. I’m also managing to overcome my phobia of eating alone – for if I will not eat alone on these trips, then I do not eat. I watched the sun go down over Cardiff Bay while drinking wine and munching contentedly on pizza, quite enjoying the liberty of it all, before wandering back to my hotel – Take That were staying there, apparently, but as with my near miss with David Tennant the last time I stayed, I saw only evidence of their presence, rather than the boys themselves - drawing reflectively on a cigarette, and feeling the tiredness of the preceding days guide me inevitably to bed.

The task ahead now is – as my old friend Peter L. was pointing out to me recently - a massive challenge, perhaps the most massive I’ve ever faced in my working life, which is to make sense of all I’m learning, the hard data and the emotions and gut feelings, and apply it, make it work in making Parliament a better and more effective institution. Or at least play a part in doing so. And if it makes my life a bit happier and more fulfilled in the process, well, that won’t be so bad. I’m sure no one would begrudge me that.

If you like outdoor pursuits or climbing a ridge...

2009-06-11T21:54:21Z

I'm writing this from Stornoway, where it's 10.30 pm, and it's only just started getting dark. It's very quiet here, and quite beautiful, without being picture postcardy - like Ullapool, which I visited six years or so, it's a working town, full of fishing boats and nets and such, ordinary shops and people making a living. My Dad was right - fish tastes so much better here. I had haddock and chips for dinner - although not out of a newspaper. It's quiet and calm, occasionally cars will speed past the hotel and honk; it took me ages to work out that this is people who know each other saying "hello". And I saw a map with Stoneybridge on it!

kisobel posted recently about not posting, and felt her days of LJ were coming to an end. I sort of feel the same - this is only my fourth posting in about five weeks - but it's more as a result of being fiendishly busy and/or knackered. I've done and seen lots I've wanted to post about, but I've had to travel all the way to the other end of the UK to have the time, space and peace to write any of it down.

The new job is so interesting. I've met lots of people, nearly all of whom have been lovely, and given me lots to think about in my new role. Things are moving quickly at Parliament - ironically, all the expenses malarkey has made outreach more important than before, and ideas that I and others have had to increase accessibility and openness that would have taken months, even years to get attended to are being taken up with increasing speed. We'll see whether it lasts.

I'm still looking for somewhere to live, but if my experience of the past couple of weeks is anything to go by, people are beginning to put their places up for sale, and some of the places I've seen have been pleasant and affordable. Hopefully I'll find somewhere before too long.

Last week, I met up with an old school friend, Peter, who I hadn't seen for about 10 years. We went for dinner at Gabriel's Wharf, and got on as we always had - and he understood my life and where I was at as brilliantly as he always did.

I also went to see the new production of Arcadia at the Duke of York's theatre, with my friend and ex-student, Ana, who was in the A-level class I taught the play to back in 2000. It was such brilliant experience going to see it after all these years, and I thoroughly enjoyed the staging of what might be my favourite play ever. Neil Pearson and Samantha Bond are in it, giving reliably good performances, but Ed Stoppard underplays brilliantly and, along with the chap who plays Septimus, pretty much pwns the show.

I realised that there were all sorts of things I didn't mention about the Saint Etienne gig I saw three weeks ago - the way the gig was so much more impressive than the last time I saw them (1993), the parade of famous Wilsons on the back projection during "Wilson", the sort of blissful, off-kilter trance I was swept into by "Like the Swallow", the way Sarah Cracknell is perhaps more gorgeous than ever, the beautiful art deco ballroom the gig was at, and the brilliant departure of Pete Wiggs from the stage at the end, where he tried to say goodbye to the fans, was hit by a wave of squealing feedback, winced, turned round, knocked over a mic-ed up keyboard, creating more feedback, tripped then turned laughing to the audience and walked off flicking the Vs.

Last night was the fourth ever performance of the remarkable, irrepressible, extra sensory perceptible Hoboerotica, and nudejournal joined me to watch Dr. Cochrane, Ms Churly the esteemed Professor Bobworth Kingham and the gang do their thing and drag the country out of recession with their own brand of funk, jazz and swearing. The gig was hosted at the Cavendish Arms at Stockwell - a genuine hidden gem of a pub - and was perhaps their most focused and polished, even a little somber at points, gig to date. I shall keep you posted of their future activities.

Tomorrow I have to talk about Parliament, the day after look at houses. On the seventh day I shall rest. Next week, Wales.

Linky

2009-05-29T10:11:50Z

Labour MP in spectacular fall from grace

Latvians plan mass festival of racial purity to lift themselves out of depression

Proof, if proof be need be, that all the media's spluttering and fulminating about MPs' expenses is the hyprocritical bullsh*t we should have all known it was

Rambling man

2009-05-18T21:26:43Z

Hurrah for free wi-fi in hotels!

It's been so long since I posted on here I imagine you've forgotten what I look like. Well, I look like that picture of Bob Peck.

My new job is the main good thing in my life right now. I've been to Edinburgh already, where I didn't have my laptop so missed out on a chance to do a proper update, so instead watched "LA Story" and got a tiny bit tearful because I am a big softie, gurly and wet and an utter weed.

I've visited adult learners in Clacton, and round the corner from work on Horseferry road. I've been to lots of meetings with people from Scope, the Terrance Higgins Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, the Electoral Commission and so forth. I've got a new team of lovely colleagues. I've had adventures - of sorts. A train journey back from Edinburgh with a 69 year old namesake who recounted his many previous sexual conquests and several key fights from his career. I've just had a plane journey with a very personable engineer who'd just got back from Algeria, but who was A Bit Of A One, and about whom I exchanged several "What's he like?" glances with a not-at-all unattractive stewardess (it's member of cabin staff, now, isn't it? Sorry.)

I have had zero luck finding a decent flat, and to be honest, I'm getting pretty fed up with the whole business.

I have been out for several excellent meals, and been drinking with pals, and best of all on Saturday got to see my favourite band ever, Saint Etienne, perform all of their first album, Foxbase Alpha, live, plus a selection of hits. I was moping a bit earlier in the day, saying to lowlowprices that maybe I'd just rather stay in and watch Eurovision and eat snacks, to which he correctly retorted something like, "Oh yeah, it's such a chore that you have to go out and see your favourite band in the whole world." It was a telling point. The gig was splendid - they've come a long way in terms of live performance since I last saw them in 1992 (or was it 93?) I now have "Like The Swallow" stuck in my head all the time, which is, as they say, A Good Thing.

I'm sure there were lots of other things - end of Mad Men, more plz. New series of Ashes to Ashes, big improvement on the first, which I enjoyed anyway, but this is a lot more three-dimensional. Haven't seen Star Trek yet, though I really want to.

If anyone knows of a decent two-bed flat for sale in the London area that the owner would let me take of their hands for about 165 grand, let me know would you? It'd save an awful lot of aggravation.

Facebook

2009-04-30T09:37:10Z

Anyone else unable to log in to Facebook, or is it just me?

Offer fail

2009-04-28T14:44:04Z

No art deco flat in Streatham's "posh"* Crown Point district for me. But it apparently went for above the asking price. In the middle of a housing crash. Like, WTF? Is this recession thing on?

* posh, in this case, means "profusion of fried chicken shops and off licences".

Don't hate on me because of how I roll

2009-04-24T11:10:03Z

So - dinner with thefairmelissa and kisobel at the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Wednesday night:

Followed by drinks in Claridges bar last night with my cousin Sylvia and some of her friends

and we then went off for dinner at Hakkasan on Hanway Place:

followed by delicious milk shakes at the Eagle Bar and Diner. Yeah baby!

All of this has nothing to do with my new job, a fact of which I have to keep reminding myself. I'm going to Clacton on Tuesday, where, if I'm lucky, I might get a bag of chips on the sea front.

(Hakkasan is brilliant, BTW - not cheap, but brilliant. The fact that it's round the corner from the Spanish bar and the Troy is a lovely bit of inappropriate London juxtaposition.)

It was my understanding that everyone had heard

2009-04-22T14:11:44Z

I'm three days into my new job. Today, among other things, I sat in on a session for four Russian MPs from St. Petersburg. In the main, however, my activities will be confined to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as London. I'm working with voluntary organisations, civic groups, adult learners, museums and libraries to explain the role of Parliament and explain how people can get involved. I'm going to Edinburgh, Cardiff, Aberdeen and Stornoway next month, and Clacton next week. Yes, Clacton. Look impressed.

Yesterday, I put in my final offer for a rather nice flat near Crown Point, just off Streatham Common. I'll put more details up if I actually get it - it's all authentic 1930s art deco loveliness. I spent all of my easter holidays looking at houses, and if I don't get this one, I'll have to start all over again, which is enough to make me hope my offer is accepted.

How are you all? I'm rather sad that LJ isn't as popular as it once was, but I'm as much to blame as anyone, and it's not even because I'm on Twitter all the time.

There was new Family Guy on BBC3 on Sunday, and lowlowprices and I were laughing ourselves to tears at this:

Get around town

2009-04-06T12:40:07Z

I went to Black Plastic on Saturday! I haven't been clubbing much in the past year or so, and when I have, I've usually relied on ultraruby to hold my hand (which she did again, with usual aplomb). I was really nervy and jittery when I first arrived, and I really am beginning to feel like I've got a big sign over my head with "THIS MAN IS 38 YEARS OLD" when I go out among the young and the beautiful. But there were lots of friendly faces there, and I settled in as the evening drew on (and was perversely reassured by p_dan_tic's desire to kill everyone there.)

Anyway, the most important thing was that the music - in large part courtesy of exliontamer and class_worrier - was fantastic. I got to do a secret, we-are-a-bit-older-than-everyone hi-five with Iain cos we both recognised "I Travel" by Simple Minds (early, GRATE, Simple Minds, mark you), and indeed, I felt we were both time-travel ambassadors for the 80s for the evening. I also remembered, probably about 30 seconds into dancing to "The Village" by New Order, why I still want to go to clubs: because, even though I'm probably a bit rub, I love dancing. I like it a lot.

It all went a bit post-modern and mental when everyone went crazy, but in a restrained, hemmed-in 80s electopop dancey way, to an extended workout featuring "Sound of the Crowd" by the Human League and some track by The Bug featuring Warrior Queen (if anyone can point me in the direction of this uber-mashup, I'd be most grateful). I found myself, as someone who can actually remember the Human League from, like, being around and watching Top of the Pops at the time, dancing alongside people who were almost certainly not born when the record came out, but wearing clothes that echoed the style of the era, which I was too young to be part of as a square boy with a pudding bowl haircut who'd just started secondary school. In my head, at least for a moment, we were all recreating this:

All this, and I got to have a major chat with class_worrier about devolution. I know how to party.

This week I am on holiday, and supposed to be looking at flats, but am really finding activities to distract me from calling up ESTATE AGENTS. Because then they will know I want a flat, and will insist on calling me up all the time to make me look at things I don't want.

outreach for me

2009-03-19T12:01:51Z

I got the job! I was utterly, utterly convinced on Monday afternoon/evening that I'd completely f*cked up the interview - going over and over bits where I thought I'd really made a fool of myself. But I got it, and did a "very strong interview", apparently. I know this is blowing my own trumpet, but I'm so pleased. This job of parliamentary outreach officer looks so interesting and fun - I get to travel around the country and meet vol orgs and civic groups and explain how to get involved with Parliament, and I get to travel to the devolved Parliaments in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast - three places I really, really love. And I might get to work on projects with ultraruby! So made up - fantastic.

A man can lose himself in London

2009-03-17T15:35:57Z

I have been busy. I saw Watchmen on Friday, at the IMAX in Greenwich. Despite tucking into to a big meal beforehand, I still made sure I stocked up on the "free" nachos, popcorn, chocolates and pop that my £23 ticket entitled me to before I went in. My verdict is essentially similar to that of martylog (his thoughts are here, but YOU MUST BE A FRIEND OF MARTYLOG TO ENTER) except I quite liked the Thin White Duke-like Ozymandias. I had a couple of reservations - Nixon is a bit more sympathetic in the book, as is Ozymandias - I missed the bit where he says, almost in desperation, "someone's got to save the world". Also, minor quibble, but why Ronald Reagan at the end and not Robert Redford? Seemed odd to change such a small detail, but one I'd always rather liked.

Over the weekend I did two things: prepare for an interview that I had yesterday for a new job at the HoC, and go on a long walk with my friends Bob and ornette from St. James's palace in the west of London to Arnold Circus in Shoreditch in the east.

The interview yesterday was...okay. I thought it had gone alright at first, and as yesterday dragged on became more and more depressed about it for no real reason. Just a gut feeling that I'd screwed it up. I still feel a bit like this today, but more resigned to it. It's a shame because I am pretty keen on the idea of it (it's an outreach job, promoting Parliament to the public) but I may be able to have another go next year.

The walk was brilliant. The weather was warm and springlike, and London looked wonderful - intriguing, spectacular, quietly beautiful, all hidden treasures and odd secrets. I took lots of photos, some for Bob to use in his next project, and some for me.

There are more on my Flickr page.

My mood has been all over the place. I was going to call this post "The sun makes you feel worse anyway" because I went for a walk from Knightsbridge through St. James park to work earlier, and at first, was unpleasantly reminded of how rotten it is feeling sadness and self-pity in fine weather - the whole world seems to be jeering and mocking you. But the walk in the fine weather actually did its work, and along with the random act of kindness of showing a tourist where Buckingham Palace was (when he was standing about 500 yards away), I perked up a bit by the time I got to Parliament.

I saw a bit of "House of Cards" on Yesterday (the new, rather foolish, name for UK History) earlier, and was surprised a little by how alien it all felt, when it seemed such an incisive picture of politics in its day, particularly the idea that the audience are supposed to accept as given that the Tories will always remain in charge, no matter what. Even now, on the verge of the Conservatives' return to power, this still seems v. odd and a hundreds years away.

WTF?

2009-03-09T14:35:35Z

Is anyone seeing a strange anime character in the userpic for this post?

(It should be my "Strictly Saved My Life" pic that webofevil made for me.)

ETA - seems that everyone is seeing the anime thingy. How annoying. Will have to try and re-upload the right picture when I get home)

I never take off my hat except when I'm out of doors

2009-03-08T17:47:16Z

No news on the job/internal post yet, but I've decided that even if I don't get an interview, I'm going to ask the woman in charge if there's any chance of doing some shadowing or a secondment or something.

Anyone see the first part of the Red Riding trilogy on Thursday? It was a beautifully shot thing, with a superb cast which all recreated the austere, bleak and doomy atmosphere of the David Peace books very well. However, as someone who doesn't usually get too precious about what is and isn't dispensed with in TV/film adaptations of books, I was v. disappointed to see exactly how much and exactly what had been eviscerated from the novel to make the transition to TV. The plot changes really were to the detriment of the overall effect, and there were some really key scenes in the book that would have been really gripping on TV, I thought, which will now never be seen. Moreover, given that they're apparently squashing four books into a TV "trilogy" I can only assume that this process will accelerate. It doesn't help that I've a nasty suspicion it's all being squashed into such a short space because C4's "event television" mentality won't tolerate anything running for longer than three weeks.

Oh yeah, on the subject of David Peace, the trailer for The Damned United is out - looks a lot less bleak than the book, but interesting, all the same:

I was listening again to Now Listen Again the other day, and was arrested by a sample that turned out to be a fantastic poem, "Jumbled in the Common Box", by W.H. Auden Jumbled in the common box
Of their dark stupidity,
Orchid, swan, and Caesar lie;
Time that tires of everyone
Has corroded all the locks,
Thrown away the key for fun.

In its cleft the torrent mocks
Prophets who in days gone by
Made a profit on each cry,
Persona grata now with none;
And a jackass language shocks
Poets who can only pun.

Silence settles on the clocks;
Nursing mothers point a sly
Index finger at a sky,
Crimson with the setting sun;
In the valley of the fox
Gleams the barrel of a gun.

Once we could have made the docks,
Now it is too late to fly;
Once too often you and I
Did what we should not have done;
Round the rampant rugged rocks
Rude and ragged rascals run.
, and I got thinking about the recent meme on favourite/influential albums, and about samples, and some of my favourites.

"Rock and Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)" by Handsome Boy Modelling School starts off with an Irish bloke, presumably from some show band album, declaring "When you have talented young men making music it's something. But when they're all from the one family, well, it's worth hearing. And what's more, they're brothers as well!" which is a cracking opening, and always makes me smile.

"Mario's Cafe" by Saint Etienne starts with a slightly weary voice saying "A cigarette, a cup of tea, a bun", which turns out to be from a world war two poem by Dirk Bogarde, called "Steel Cathedrals". It's rather good.

I mentioned "Megatop Phoenix" by Big Audio Dynamite the other day, and that's chock full of terrific samples. It opens up with the "This is the universe. Big isn't it?" line from "A Matter of Life and Death" (you can check the opening of this wonderful movie here, about 1.58 in.) and goes on from there, via David Niven, Bernard Cribbins, an advert for Bird's Trifle and on to the "The Great Escape".

I think I've mentioned the "A Perfect Day to Drop the Bomb" by Carter USM before - kings of quirky UK samples on their first album, this track not only starts with the sound of a Spectrum loading, but ends with a recontextualising of the sample at the end this advert:

"You can't sing, you can't play, you look awful. You'll go a long way."

Somehow, the way they've placed it on the fade out of what is already a pretty apocalyptic track makes it sound like the most unsettling thing in the world.

These are just the few that spring to mind - it's not much of a meme, as such, but consider yourself tagged if you're interested.

Daily Mail: explodes

2009-02-27T14:31:38Z

Radioactive paedo?

Just play music

2009-02-19T23:42:15Z

I've had a good week off - got the flat straightened out, a proper spring clean. It feels like a time of renewal, time to visit dry cleaners, sort out bills, see doctor/dentist etc etc. Got six new shirts for work for £100 - score! Bought lots of new albums, watched some more of series one of The Wire. All good.

Anyway, drinks with ultraruby, and inevitable talk of the top ten albums meme. After almost no arm-twisting at all, I agreed that I'd have a go. Consider yourself tagged if you're that way inclined. In keeping with the spirit observed elsewhere, I've listed those that had the biggest effect on me in one way or another, not "the best", or my favourites (no Saint Etienne, or "Pet Sounds", for instance.)

BBC Space Themes
The first album I recall buying with my own money. Lots of good stuff here - the original version of the Doctor Who theme, the full-length Blake's Seven theme with the odd jazzy wandering-off in the middle, the Johnny Dankworth iteration of the Tomorrow's World theme, which I used to use to finish off my DJ sets in years gone by, and watch in amusement as the drunkest man present tried to dance to it as the lights went up. The influence on my later musical tastes isn't as obvious as some of the other choices, but the electronic weirdness of Delia Derbyshire's Who theme, and one or two other choice Radiophonic workshop cuts, must have penetrated my subconscious, as probably did the big band arrangements of some of the other pieces.

Tomita - Snowflakes Are Dancing
I didn't listen to a lot of pop music before I was 15 or so, I came to the world of albums, singles and the charts comparatively late. I taped stuff off the radio, certainly, but didn't buy singles or have a favourite group or anything like that until my late teens. However, I did listen to albums, and they were nearly all of this ilk, or multi-instrumental things like "Tubular Bells". I had lots of tape copies of Tomita's stuff - he was a Japanese synth wizard, pioneering what synths could do at about the same time as Kraftwerk, but without the Euro-cool. This album is all synth versions of Debussy's stuff and it's rather lovely, as I discovered when my Dad bought it for me for Christmas on CD. This, and his other works, definitely began my life-long love off electronic music.

The Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
This feels like an obvious choice, and I'm sure my experience of it is similar to that of many. I forget whether it was Dad's copy or my Mum's, but when I went through their albums in search of interesting things, this was one I kept coming back to. Partly it was the familiarity of the tunes - there was always music on at home or in the car, and the Beatles stuff was instantly recognisable and memorable. But of course, there's the oddness of it - stuff that was fun, like "When I'm Sixty-four", stuff that was loud and bouncy, like "Good Morning Good Morning", stuff that was, to my young ears, pretty unlistenable, like "Within You Without You" and stuff that was captivating - particularly "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and "A Day in the Life". I was totally fascinated by the cut-up segments of fairground organ in the former, and the cataclysmic ending of the latter. I had no knowledge of things like mixing, production techniques or sampling when first listening to these songs, but knew they were something very, very special.

Peter Gabriel - So
Okay, this is where it all started for me. I was lent a copy of this by a mate in fifth form, loved it, and instantly got copies of all his other albums, and was then into pop/rock music in a big way, mainly via friends, borrowing stuff from the library or even - gasp - buying it. I know Gabriel has a reputation as a bit of an old fart, but I love this album still. It's known as the one with "Sledgehammer" on it, which I still reckon is a fine pop song, but it's other tracks like "Red Rain", "In Your Eyes" and especially the quietly beautiful "Mercy Street" that make it something special. Seeing Peter Gabriel on the So tour was also my first gig, just after finishing my O-levels in 1987, and it remains to this day one of the most fantastic live performances I've ever seen. Kate Bush turned up to duet on "Don't Give Up", and I had no idea at the time that this was one of the only - if not the only - times she had performed live on stage since 1979.

London Calling - The Clash
If "So" got me engaged with the idea of pop music, and albums and such, this really blew the lid off it all. I started off borrowing and listening to lots of fairly proggy and rocky stuff, some of which I liked, some of which I thought I ought to like, but then Steve Thomson lent me a tape copy of "London Calling", and I realised that this was something I really, really liked. I loved the variety of it, the anger and the humour of it. Most of my mates were into various sorts of rock and metal - Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Whitesnake etc - most of which I just didn't get at all. But this made sense - lean, tight, cool, speaking of worlds I was fascinated by - London, rude boys, lowlifes, the city, crime, defiance, politics. I understand those who find The Clash po-faced, but they never sounded that way to me, and I always dug the way they picked up and used whatever musical forms they liked the sound of - jazz, reggae, rock, punk, ska, which is why I've always thought they were miles better than the Sex Pistols and still do. And they made me go back and dig out all the stuff I hadn't paid proper attention to in my earlier years - The Jam, The Specials, a million and one punk and post-punk singles.

New Order - Substance
In a similar vein to "London Calling", this was something I listened to on spec, and which totally blew me away. I had heard, and liked, "Blue Monday" of course, but none of the other song names meant much to me, other than "True Faith", which had just got in the charts, and I loved straight away. But these songs hadn't prepared me for what else was on here - I couldn't get over how something could be so pure and electronic and clean, yet so powerful. The segue from "Perfect Kiss" into "Shellshock" was so fantastic, I can remember rewinding it several times to see if I could recapture the buzz. I loved the shape of it, too, the way it started with the gloomy majesty of "Ceremony", and progressed into the austere disco of "Blue Monday", the calm and genuinely affecting romance of "Thieves Like Us" and then into the breezy, relentless jauntiness of "Bizarre Love Triangle". "State of the Nation" still sucks, but you can't have everything.

Talking Heads - "Stop Making Sense"
A bit of a cheat this, as it's the concert film, rather than the album per se, that made the biggest mark. I remember taping it off the telly in about 1988, and watching it over and over again. I couldn't get over the sheer energy of the performance - I had never imagined live music could be this funky and quirky and odd and consuming. I remember "Found a Job" and "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel" (which ironically weren't on the original pressing of the album) being stuck in my head for weeks and weeks afterwards. And I thought David Byrne was one of the coolest people I'd ever seen. Prior to this, I had never conceived of being the frontman for a band (with good cause, really) - frontmen were macho, shouty, aggressive types. But here was this odd, lanky, quirky fellow, bounding around the stage, dancing like a maniac, singing his heart out and besting all the light shows and guitar solos in town by turning up in a massive grey suit. The hype is right in this case - the best concert movie ever.

Big Audio Dynamite - Megatop Phoenix
I fell in love with Big Audio Dynamite from "E=MC2", which I taped off the radio in 1985, long before I'd heard of The Clash, or knew who Mick Jones was (or Nicolas Roeg come to that). I loved BAD - they were my band - which I suppose was shorthand for nobody else seeming to give a toss about them, but I didn't care. I got the first album a year or two later, and then "No. 10 Upping Street", but I think it's this that made the biggest impression. It must have came after "Three Feet High and Rising" by De La Soul (another v. big album for me that didn't quite make the top 10) because I loved the idea that they took from it - a seamless album with all the songs linked by weird audio doodles and obscure beats and samples. But, and this is the important bit, unlike De La Soul, BAD took bits of British ephemera and pop culture to join the tracks. The songs themselves aren't always that great - although one or two are excellent - but it's the overall scope and ambition of the thing I love, and which made my play it to death. It starts with a sample of the opening of "A Matter of Life and Death", and the final track begins with a sample of "The Great Escape" - it's a lovely attempt to weave British pop culture through house music and dub and breakbeats, and although it doesn't always work as well as I might have wanted, I love it, and I love BAD for having a go.

The KLF - Chill Out
There's a lovely sample on "Little Fluffy Clouds" by The Orb, which goes something like "Over the past few years, to the traditional sounds of an English summer - the drone of lawnmowers, the smack of leather on willow - has been added a new noise". I think this is from a Radio 4 documentary about ambient house, and I think I actually heard it. As I recall, it was made in the wake of the release of Chill Out, which I got hold of while working for HMV in the summer of 1989. By this time, I had started listening to and enjoying dance music, but I hadn't been clubbing to really get the full force of it. "Chill Out" instantly made perfect sense to me, though. I loved the idea of an album being a big audio collage, and the sounds and phrases of music that rose to the surface then submerged painted amazing pictures. I also recall falling asleep to it - which doesn't sound like much of a recommendation, but it was usually after a good night out with friends drinking, and I remember putting it on, on hot summer nights, and falling asleep listening to it while lying on top of the covers, and feeling very, very content. Beyond happy memories like that, it was responsible for getting me into lots of other ambient and electronic stuff, like the Orb, Orbital, Global Communications and so on.

Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish
An odd choice, perhaps, as it's not my favourite Blur album by any means. But I remember reading an interview with Blur in the NME not long before it came out, with a preview of the album, and thinking that I totally got what they were up to, and was really excited about it. I was not a fan at all of grunge (although I do really like some of Nirvana's output) mostly because of what it had done to indie nights at university. When I arrived, indie-dance was the thing, and indie nights were a hotch-potch of all sorts of interesting things - from the obvious Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and Stone Roses, to things like Colourbox or The KLF, and lots of other stuff you might expect (Smiths, REM, The Cure etc.) Grunge suddenly seemed to mean lots of dull American college rock or old punk songs. Nothing wrong with the latter, of course, but a lot of the fun had gone, and for me, a lot of what made indie music interesting. In hindsight of course, it's easy to deride Blur for the latter tedious excesses of Britpop, but that would be unfair, and records like "Modern Life..." show why. It wasn't the record I wanted it to be (I had to wait for "Parklife" for that), but I remember hearing songs like "For Tomorrow" and thinking that this was the way I wanted things to go. I loved the mod-ness of the look of the band at this time, the sleeve art, the simultaneous decrying and celebration of Britishness.

Which brings me to the end. And on that point, it's worth noting that there's no American stuff included (although Three Feet High and Rising should get another honourable mention) - I suppose it's a little odd for someone like me who's so fascinated with American history, politics and culture, but my musical tastes are pretty firmly anchored this side of the Atlantic.

Off the back of this, ultraruby and I got chatting about "American Boy" by Estelle, which features Kanye West rapping about Ribena, and "Rerhbish", and I started excitedly waving my hands about and talking about songs like that one, and "Quid Control" by People Under The Stairs and DJ Yoda, and "Bristol" by Ugly Duckling, which all have American perspectives on UK ephemera. I couldn't think of any more though - there must be some. I like them because we take a lot of our cultural similarities with the US for granted, but even a cursory listen to De La Soul banging on about Twizzlers or the detritus on the kitchen floor in "ET", or about 50 per cent. of the gags about TV personalities in "Family Guy" show that we inhabit separate, if English-speaking, universes. It's rare though to see how odd our stuff looks from a US perspective. Anyone know of any more?

Monday morning

2009-02-16T12:47:34Z

It's all bright and airy and springlike outside. Slept with my window open last night for the first time in months, and as I write a cool breeze is slipping into the flat, breathing new air into it.

Thanks to all those who left me Valentinr messages, especially shimmerdance, but all the anonymous comments were lovely, and a great thing to read of a Valentine's morning. No filthy ones, but you can't have everything. I spent Valentine's Day evening watching An American In Paris while drinking champagne with lowlowprices and i_jobot. In a spectacular gender role-reversal, I and lowlowprices were captivated by the colours, the dancing and the romance, and i_jobot got bored, and ended up doing sudoku. "I thought we were going to watch the game and sink a few cold ones", she complained. Gene Kelly is brilliant, isn't he? He even does a song and dance routine with kids and it doesn't suck.

I had decided to dedicate this week to chores, housekeeping etc. and have somehow managed to end up doing all the boring stuff on Friday and Saturday. I have to see a mortgage adviser on Saturday. Gah - grown-up things!

Also, after 55 hours of gameplay, two and half full days of my life I'll never get back, I finished Okami! Go me. I have to say, it is a fantastic game - if you have a Wii, I thoroughly recommend it.

Also, also, I put the radio on (George Lamb - Booooo!) and they were talking to some bloke on the phone. "Who's that old geezer?" I thought. Who was it? Step forward, Tim Westwood. NOW DROP THA BOMB. Yes, you like that, don't you? Yes. It's your favourite, tha bomb.

Appeal

2009-02-12T15:01:16Z

I wouldn't normally bother with this sort of thing, but feel an acute need to counter the major disappointment that was Valentine's day last year:

Get your own valentinr

In other news, it's cold, grey and miserable. I am tired and I want to go home, and I have just heard that a very dear friend may be seriously ill. Apart from that, everything is just peachy.

What do you think a stimulus is?

2009-02-09T22:48:02Z

I don't think I mentioned how brilliant webofevil's birthday was. Well it was. We went to South London Pacific, and there was booze and cigs in the freezing cold and lots of excellent music, including this by the Torpedo Boyz, Hot Chip, Talking Heads, and lots of Brazilian stuff, lots of Balkan stuff and lots of dub reggae. Pretty much the best mix of music I'd heard in a long time. I got to put my jacket on backwards while wearing it with someone else (a long story, but not as intriguing as it sounds), talk to someone about feed-in tariffs without either of us getting bored, get imperiously ignored by flaneurette, who temporarily mistook me for a club-botherer, and dance like a fool.

I have now reached the official point where I am fed up to the back teeth with winter. I have felt slightly numbed all day, walking around carefully as if everything around me was fragile and might get broken, or maybe that was just me.

So, US politics then. After a few days dominated by wackos, people who take Naomi Klein terribly seriously and Nader voters, Daily Kos has returned to some sort of an even keel on President Obama (who, incredibly, a minority had already were trying to describe as a "failure"). I think the key reason might be contained in this link, which features an utterly fantastic speech by the O-man, witty, smart and rousing in equal measure, which not only might be the best speech he's done so far, but truly indicative that a new sort of politics really has begun in the US. If you've got the time, I really recommend watching all of it.

I also found this article debunking the idea that FDR's New Deal didn't alleviate the depression particularly interesting. The writer is correct in stating that this assertion is baldly made in the press by writers of various political persuasions, and the case he makes against it is refreshing, astute and inspiring for the present political situation.

I found Considering a Move to Memphis by the Colorblind James Experience on YouTube - does anyone know if the album was ever on CD?

Fck off snow fck

2009-02-02T11:27:12Z

I have nearly fallen over twice, been smacked in the back of a head with a snowball, Tescos was shut, there are no buses and I have to go to work as normal but probably do more work because people can't make it in. F*cking snow.

The old ways will not do

2009-01-21T01:00:46Z

I had hoped to write this on the day itself - the day on which Barack Obama, the first black President of the United States, the 44th President of the United States, was inaugurated, but I was too waylaid by politics as usual here at home, which today seemed all the more dull, stuck in a repetitive groove than ever.

I didn't get to see the speech in full live, but here's what I did see. I remember the last inauguration I cared about anything like this deeply - that of Bill Clinton - in 1992. I guess I would have been at work at HMV, as I didn't see it live. I still have it on VHS somewhere. Today I was in a long office in the House of Commons that is just that little bit too small for all the people in it, in front of a flat screen TV that spends most of its days telling me which MP is speaking. I turned on to BBC1 just as Joe Biden was inaugurated, smiling broadly in the winter sun, a wise man, a good man - in the West Wing parallels that have been much discussed on this LJ and elsewhere, his role as the Leo McGarry to Obama's Matt Santos has often been overlooked.

As with the election itself, my experience of watching the event seemed to come, always already, distilled into images. Biden smiling, his hand raised; Yo Yo Ma drawing his bow across his cello (more West Wing echoes!), his shock of black hair dancing in the winter wind; the endless, endless streams of people fading into the DC horizon - a colour, life-filled rejoinder to the sullen, drained, unsettling shots in All The President's Men; Obama's hand on the Bible with Michelle smiling proudly; and President Obama speaking to the crowds, the nation, the world, his gaze steady, the sun catching the gold edging on his flag lapel pin.

I saw the first three or four minutes of his speech - I couldn't hear it that well, and couldn't have the volume up too loud in case I disturbed my colleagues (one or two of whom were by my side watching with similar emotions). This phrase stood out straight away though:

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

By the time I had come back from 10 frustrating and dull minutes in the Chamber, the speech was nearly over. But I did hear the peroration, which I think might be my favourite bit of the speech:

In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

It's a crystallisation of all that is good about this speech, and about Obama, and about America - the history of an idea, initially for a few million white, male colonists, that has gradually expanded, and is still expanding, and a reminder that despite those forces that oppose and seek to negate it or roll it back, within America and without, it continues, it lives, it grows and it cannot be extinguished. The speech was sober and hopeful, weaving its way subtly and powerfully through American history - the revolution, the civil war, the depression, WWII, the struggle for civil rights. Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, MLK, even Ronald Reagan, are all part of Obama, but, and here's the amazing thing, this speech suggests he just might be more.

As the speech ended, a chap in the Press Gallery saw the final line coming and said, only mocking gently, "God bless America". I walked away, back to my office, and found myself saying with a mixture of sincerity and reflection and a little wryness, "Absolutely."