There's few things nicer than knowing you've got an hour or two to curl up with a book (thank goodness children do eventually get old enough to become independent) but I really like some music in the background while I read.

I cant get to grips, though, with anything that has words - I just can't seem to switch off completely from the music if it's "songs" (I think there might be some scientific proof behind this, but whatever)

So, given the restriction, what's your favourite stuff with no words (whole albums, preferably). Genre is no real issue, excepting classical, but stuff that IS actually interesting when you do listen properly, would be good.

Any chance of a convention here to always type the name of the video when embedding videos in posts. If you read on a mobile device the vids don't always appear (even on a desktop sometimes) but I still want to know what was being suggested.

Here's the best thing since sliced bread :

(see what I mean, annoying isn't it)

...Ok, perhaps not history, but can I please heartily recommend you to take a look at the Hue & Cry Album Studio Blog 2010 over at

http://hueandcry.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hue-and-cry-album-studio-blog

Greg Kane is documenting the birth and development of H&C's forthcoming album in an amount of detail that will lift the hearts of even the most hardened Massive members. I suspect many here will find it fascinating regardless of what you think about Hue & Cry's music (and I confess myself a big fan - just a fan, no connection blah blah blah)adding as it does to both an understanding of the recording process and to how things get done these days when bands like these can't use major label support to go and decamp to the country for months.

I suggest when you get there that you go the end (the first posts) and work backwards.

Genius or complete waste of time ? You decide.

Either way, there's a whole album of it

Is it just me, or was the "Rock Trumps" section of the podcast this week, just that one step too far. I think it's the first time (I think I started with podcast 30 or something close) that I've ever thought "well that's great for you, but this isn't meant to be about YOU, even if it's a reflection of your opinions and experiences".

Perhaps I'm over-reacting and I'm sure I'll get told if I am, but it annoyed me for a few minutes before normal service was resumed.

Having moaned about this before, I felt it right that I should say how much better the sound quality on the podcast was this week.

Whatever was different made a BIG difference - for a change, I didn't have to suffer hearing damage from the ringing treble in order to get the thing loud enough to make out what everyone was saying while I was listening in the car.

Top job and can we not go back, please. I leave it up to you to decide on the quality of the content, of course.

I should probably have Twatted this, or whatever it is, but I am right now ironing and listening to "Close To The Edge" very, VERY, loud.

And my kids don't think I'm cool. More fool them.

I had not realised (and I hope I didn't miss a post here) that Micky Jones, probably the only constant in the 40 year career of the band that apparently must be prefixed by "the welsh wizards" - MAN passed away earlier this month. Inconsistent, yes, but on their day they transcended their roots and produced fantastic stuff like this. My only regret is that I never saw them live. One of the good guys.

Jedward not really any good after all. Cancel the Word cover illustrator for the May edition.

http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/817612-jedward-axed-by-record-label-son...

Just out of interest, when a video on this site says "embedded video disabled by request" who has requested it ? Is this a copyright issue - just wondered given that I can go to the internets YouTubes and watch away merrily.

Someone recently posted a video which I think was I am Kloot. I can't find it again (I don't think the band name was actually on the original post) but the post was something like "My new favourite best thing ever " or some such title.

Can some kind soul please point me to the right place or re-post the video

Thanks

It’s a cold December evening and I was bored, OK. So, in preparation for the time when they run out of celebrities and they they have to dredge the barrel down to the people who’s main successes in life have been “ enjoying themselves a bit” and “getting 3 children to their teenage years without stabbing old ladies for crack money”, I decided to think about my music choices for Desert Island Discs (how quaint that sounds nowadays).

I have often wondered how on earth anyone distills a lifetime’s love of music down to 8 tracks, so I decided to start by listing ALL tracks that were important to me. Not just stuff I really like, you understand, but those tracks that I know I would scream out for, the ones that I just can’t imagine never hearing again, the ones I could slap other people for not caring about enough. These MATTER(iTunes makes this much easier, by the way, if you have digitised everything you own).

The Rules :

1. I had to own it. If someone else gave it to me or I downloaded it, borrowed it and never gave it back etc. then, clearly, I don’t love it enough to include it.

2. I had to REALLY love the music – sentimental attachments on their own are not enough.

3. The scourge of all those “vote for your favourite No,1 of all time” charts where some dingbat with the attention span of a haddock votes for last week’s – nothing under 6 months old. even if I like it, it’s too early to tell.

4. Be ruthless – if there’s the slightest hesitation, it’s out.

Eight tracks is clearly nonsense. My interest was in what size the first cut would be. Wait for it…

264

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. I know I could knock a handful off for various reasons, but 8 – forget it. I think that just about scuppers me and Kirsty ever cosying up a la Morrissey (that and a lack of any discernable talent, of course), but I can dream.

It's probably a mark of a vacuous existence but I felt proud today to enter the "Hot Topics - Last 7 days" list for the first time ever.

For coves like Valparaiso in 5c this may be a workaday occurrence but it has made my week. My only worry is that perhaps I really owe this to Hepworth Major for kicking it off (on E-book readers) in the first place. I will blot out this thought with another glass of Merlot.

Go on, admit it, you want it too.

Well written, of course, nicely argued and contains plenty of truths, but overall...WRONG.

E-Readers will not fail. The only things between them and world domination are price (which will fall) and the fact that no-one has yet managed to get the balance right between a written page that looks like a proper book on the one hand and a page that has the vibrancy of a magazine page on the other.

When that happens (and it will - who'd bet against Apple's infamous "tablet" getting that right) the growth will be huge.

I hope actual books are never killed off for all the reasons that DH gave and more, but I fear that may be wishful thinking. The online mag we've just received looks great, the only problem is I have to look at it on my PC screen. Get the hardware and the price right and I could happily forego the glossy paper.

Sitting in my garden with the paper and a cuppa I was gripped by the urge to finally use the technology (an iPhone and a wireless connection) to post something pithy and illuminating just because it feels so much smarter than being in front of my PC and a desk.

But it isn't.