Pozi - The Nightmare

Not been the best of weeks. Raging toothache over the weekend and a bit of a temperature which, in these times, set off the old alarm bells. Cue calls to the Doctor, a remote diagnosis of a possible abscess...nice eh, a Coronavirus test, and three days of self isolation until the all clear came through (fair play to the NHS...or whoever's doing this stuff, tests delivered on Tuesday, sent back and received by them on Wednesday and results by Thursday morning). Then all I had to do was find a dentist willing to see me, which thanks to the loveliest bloke in the world happened yesterday. Okay, so the whole thing was wrapped up in a week but I'm persistent, persuasive and other words beginning with 'p'...how do older people (and/or those without access to tech) cope these days? Gawd help us all if we end up with another lockdown in the winter too, that's almost too grim a thought to imagine. Oh well, at least we have a great tune courtesy of Pozi to soundtrack it all. Enjoy!   

Nice and CD does it...

Still buying CDs by the sackful when I dare venture out to this strange new world that we find ourselves trying to live in and last week picked up The Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore East 1971 for 25p. Yes. 25p. That wasn't the biggest bargain of the day though, that accolade's reserved for the box set of Madonna's first 11 studio albums that cost a whopping £1...that's less than 10p per CD. The 18 year old me would have flipped his lid if you'd told him that one day he'd be buying CDs for less than the cost of a carrier bag but I guess that's progress for you.

Tarred and Feathered by Cardiacs

RIP to Tim Smith of Cardiacs who died today at just 59 after spending 12 years 'locked' in his own body following a heart attack and stroke, poor bugger. I've really not investigated the band as much as I should've done but judging by this piece of beautiful insanity (surely an influence of Modern Life Is Rubbish/Park Life era Blur and quite possibly Mistys Big Adventure too) I really must.
  

Thank Q for the music

I could ramble on for weeks about the sad decline of the physical music press (and the physical world in general...don't get me started) but suffice to say that without the likes of Smash Hits, NME, Melody Maker, Record Mirror, Q, Vox, Select, Mojo and Record Collector my life and musical education would have been a lot less rounded. Most of those names bit the dust ages ago but Q battled bravely on for 34 years only to fall yesterday. I stopped buying it and migrated to Mojo (free CD with every issue) quite some time ago after Q went with more of a list based formula but I must’ve been a loyal buyer and reader for 20 years or so. Goodness knows how many great bands and albums it turned me onto and how many hours I spent happily trawling through every issue (and back in the 80s and 90s some of them were epics)...  

Joy Division Oven Gloves by Half Man Half Biscuit

Friday banger courtesy of HMHB. I bet you can actually buy Joy Division oven gloves these days too...yep...here you go. Quite possibly not authorised by Barney and co though I'm guessing.

Dark Necessities by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Gave the Chili Peppers' most recent album (2016's The Getaway) a spin last night over a cheeky pint of Venton's Apple Vice. The single from it's racked up a mere 271 million plays on You Tube so there's no chance you'll have heard it eh?

Gotta Get Up - Harry Nilsson

Dug this out the other week and it seemed appropriate this morning when I was trying to heave my aching old bones out of bed at 6.27am. Gotta love a little Nilsson on a Monday...

Cud - Through The Roof

Spent a very happy hour or so on Wednesday night lying on the floor listening to a bit of Cud. Did they ever make a duff record? Nope, I don't think they did. And yet they hardly get a mention or any airplay these days. Hang your heads in shame DJs.

Take Back The Radio - Katy J Pearson

I've been meaning to post this track up for weeks now but weeks mean nothing in this strange semi locked down limbo land do they eh? I mean what month is it? April? June? March? Buggered if I know. Anyway this track's as close to pop perfection as you're likely to get with its upbeat catchy chorus, ear wormingly insistent synth line and trumpets...oh yes...trumpets. Why aren't there more trumpets (and brass instruments in general) in music these days? Come on pop kids, get blowing. Hmmm...that sounded better in my head. 

PS: Want to hear a little more from Katy J? Try this...

Melt Yourself Down - It Is What It Is

I was supposed to be spending my 50th birthday back in May with these dudes but the gig was postponed for...well...you know. It was rescheduled for October but that date's just been scrapped too and the gig's now due to take place in March. It sucks for me but it must suck 100% more for the band whose album, 100% YES, comes out today. Still, it is what it is (see what I did there?)...let's hope 2021 is 100% better than 2020 eh? 

Sunflower - Vampire Weekend

Heard this on 6Music this morning and was reminded how great the album (Father Of The Bride...bought for 50p from a charity shop about a month after it came out) is. Plus the weather's so relentlessly shitty, as per the usual British summer, and the crappy coronavirus is still with us that we could all do with a sunflower or two in our lives.