I've just listened to Cock Robin's big hit The Promise You Made again on youtube. I love this song. There's something wonderful about the groove, and some lovely, hypnotic stuff going on in the background, presumably courtesy of producer Steve Hillage.

Anyway, one of the unusual things about it is that the two voices are singing in unison, an octave apart; at no point in the song is there any harmony. Somehow, it works, partly because the voices are so different, his very smooth, hers with a delicious edge.

I was trying to think of other bands who use this sort of unison singing; obviously, Squeeze spring to mind - is there anyone else?

I recently finished reading Then We Came To The End, Joshua Ferris's debut novel, recently the springboard for a long thread here. Unlike the orginal poster, I enjoyed it a lot. I'd worked long enough in an office to get some of the references; found the characters mostly engaging and well-drawn; and It had many Laugh-Out-Loud moments.

So there I was in a little restaurant in Covent Garden, just finishing lunch with a friend, with whom I swap books. I'd been warmly recommending this one, and handed it over as we got up to put our coats on. A woman from the next table leaned over and said "Excuse me, I couldn't help overhearing that you were talking about that book, Then We Came To The End." Yes, I replied, it's great. "Well," she continued, "would you like it signed by the author?"

Yep, he was sitting at the next table! What are the chances, eh? Can anyone else report a similarly serendipitous meeting?

There has been a fair bit of coverage recently of performers like James Taylor and Jackson Brown combining the concert with "An Evening With" anecdotage. This, and a review of Kris Kristofferson's London show in the Telegraph today, got me thinking about which live performers are best between songs.

For those non-believers who think Word is a thinly-disguised Richard Thompson cult, I may as well get this out of the way first: he is brilliant between songs, the very embodiment of the term "dry, English sense of humour". His rant about Kenny G, introducing his song "I agree with Pat Metheny", is a masterclass in how to skewer someone without raising your voice.

RT's sometime protege Clive Gregson was always good value for between-songs banter, although he did nick RT's immortal "I'm going to play a medley of my greatest hit" line when he was touring with the wonderful Christine Collister.

Maybe the best of all is - no, it's a conspiracy! - yet another RT-connected performer, Shawn Colvin. In addition to being a sublime singer, songwriter and guitarist, she has the natural comic timing of a stand-up comedian. Did anyone catch her when she was touring with Larry Klein and Steuart Smith. That gig had it all: Shawn's all-round excellence, Steuart Smith's ear-boggling virtuosity and Larry Klein's Neil Diamond impersonation. Shawn's little monologue about the intro to Shotgun Down The Avalanche morphing into the theme from The Good The Bad And The Ugly provoked real belly laughs from the audience.

Who else gives that little bit extra in concert?

There's a HORA that the first time Roger McGuinn heard Tom Petty's American Girl, he exclaimed "I don't remember writing that!"

There's always talk about who sounds like whom, influences worn heavily or lightly, and so on. What I've been thinking about goes beyond that. An example: the first time I heard Tracy Chapman's first single, Fast Car, I didn't think it SOUNDED like Joan Armatrading; I thought it WAS Joan Armatrading.

Similarly with Athlete: I thought it was Coldplay, albeit sounding even more downcast than usual.

I'm slightly embarrassed to confess that the first time I heard Careless Whisper, listening to Radio 1 with very dodgy reception in the south of France, I believed I was hearing the new single by...Sade.

Anyone else been thus blindsided?

Oh, incidentally, I'm bemused that when reading about Duffy, I find she's constantly compared to Dusty Springfield and, occasionally, Lulu and Helen Shapiro, when I haven't seen anyone make the, to me at least, deafeningly obvious connection - PP Arnold. Is it because she isn't well-known enough, or is it just me who finds such a striking similarity in timbre and phrasing?

The "Kash" was a big part of my life for five years. I went at least once a week, most weeks, and ended up writing reviews for their web site. It was my favourite music venue; I took friends, family and girlfriends there. And I was deeply saddened when it was forced to close. For a quick primer, go here.

In addition to the acts mentioned in Wikipedia, a lot of performers played there before anyone had heard of them. Not all of them have gone on to be household names, but they've all achieved at least a base level of national recognition. A partial list would include:

KT Tunstall
Ben Christophers
Rosie Brown
Ben & Jason
Tom Baxter
Damien Rice
Lucie Silvas
Imogen Heap
Ed Harcourt
Nerina Pallot
David Poe
Tamara Williamson

Other notable appearances were by Lewis Taylor and one of my favourite artists, Jane Siberry.

The Kash wasn't just about that: it was about the vibe, about Tony Moore's droll compering, about the fact that it was genuinely an enterprise that didn't involve money, where the next act might blow you away, whether famous or utterly unknown. The food was great, too.

I'm sure I can't be the only Word afficianado who will always have a soft spot for the Kashmir Klub

It was the marvellous film Master and Commander: Far Side Of The World which drew me to the Aubrey-Maturin books of Patrick O'Brian - that and finding the first ten in paperback for £8. It occurred to me that, assuming I get through the whole series (on the 5th so far and counting - they are so much more than seafaring yarns), I'll have read 20 novels by O'Brian, far more than by any other author. This got me thinking about which novelists' works have featured most in my reading life, and the slightly surprising (though I'm not ashamed) fact that number two on the current list is JK Rowling! I already knew that when it comes to the Classics I'm virtually illiterate, especially as I'm excluding books I had to read at school and university.

Robertson Davies - 11
JK Rowling - 7
Patrick O'Brian - 4
Stephen Fry - 4
Sarah Waters - 3
Jonathan Franzen - 3
Philip Pullman - 3

I'm sure I've left out someone, possibly an author who'd boost my credibility, but there we are for now. Anyone else care to share?

I listened to Madonna's Erotica album the other day - in sequence and all the way through, as per the other recent thread. I'd liked it at the time, but it had been a while, and it has tended to be either ignored or tarred with the brush of ridicule that was used heavily on the contemporaneous Sex book. Does it sound any good now?

Well, it holds up very impressively. Of course there are some good grooves (and isn't Deeper And Deeper a monster ?). There are also some bloody good songs here, such as Bad Girl, Rain and In This Life. On the latter, I swear I can hear some real emotion in her singing. Even the up-tempo cover of Fever isn't the disaster one could be forgiven for expecting. And the second version of Did You Do It? is actually quite brilliant, combining some sinuous rapping from two guest performers with a pointed mocking from Madonna on the chorus.

My only criticism would be that over nearly 70 minutes a certain saminess creeps in, particularly with Thief of Hearts and Words, which are next to each other and share a virtually identical groove. No outright clunkers, though.

With some performers, one "likes the idea" of them more than the actual records (Franz Ferdinand, the Magic Numbers, insert your own choice). It seems the reverse can operate too: Madonna epitomises many unlovely aspects of superstardom, such as overweening self-importance, pretentiousness, lack of a sense of proportion; and of course, there's the whole question of exactly how much real talent she has. It's unfortunate that this can deafen us to the worth of her best records.