Veering wildly from style to style, it would have been so easy for their focus to have become blurred - to spread themselves too thinly - but their sheer conviction and commitment to their vision pulled them through to create some of the most inspiring and visionary music of the late twentieth century.

Together with Level 42, Mike and the Mechanics and of course Bryan Adams, they set the clock back to year Zero.

Live albums get a bad press from music critics, but many live albums rank among my overall favourites - for instance, my favourite Stones album is 'Get Your Ya Yas Out', possibly because it was the first one I bought (I liked the title).

Other live albums I love:

Allman Brothers - Live at the Filmore East
James Brown - At the Apollo
Iggy and The Stooges - Metallic KO
Happy Mondays - Live (even most of their fans hate this but I love it)
Johnny Cash - San Quentin
Oasis - Familiar To Millions
The Clash - From Here To Eternity
Supersuckers - Live at the Magic Bag
Guns N' Roses - Live Era
The Kinks - Give The People What They Want
Nirvana - From The Muddy Banks Of The River Wishkah

Not to mention countless bootlegs that I have grown to love...

So - live albums. Contractual filler or a window into the heart and soul of a band?

I love this - the O2 is hell on earth.

Oasis' singer/guitarist Noel Gallagher has rubbished rumours that his band are set to play a residency at the London O2 Arena, saying they will never play at the venue.

As previously reported on NME.COM, the Sunday Mirror quoted an anonymous source as saying that Oasis were close to announcing a ten-date London O2 Arena residency at the venue for Autumn.

Despite quashing the rumours, speaking to BBC News, Gallagher hinted that Oasis had plans to play live dates in the UK in 2008.

"We'll never play the O2," he said. "We went there to see Led Zeppelin [last December] and to be honest the gig was fantastic, but it was the most soul destroying venue I've ever been to.

"Much to our manager and agent's disappointment we came back and said we would never play there. So it means we are going to have to do 640 nights at Earl's Court, I would have thought.

"It's [the O2 Arena] too Americanised for me, and it's too far away. Any gig you can get to by boat that hasn't got a beach is wrong."

What are the longest gaps between albums?

I was thinking about this last night. Big bands seem to make an album on average every three years nowadays, I guess due to the 18 month promotion schedule. The fuss over The Stone Roses taking five years to make an album now seems rather quaint.

But who are the real idle bastards these days?

There is a feature in the new magazine, and I'm not making this up, called Women In Music.

The buyer's guide this month - 'How to buy..............African'.

Can anyone think of a more patronising article? Is it worse than The New Asian/ Lesbian Kool in the otherwise faultless Select?

Can anyone recommend a good Jimmy Webb compilation? There seem to be lots of dodgy looking efforts on amazon and after having bought a Glen Campbell compilation for Wichita Lineman and Galveston, I don't want to get my fingers singed any more than they already are.

I've always meant to get around to giving Half Man Half Biscuit a go, and after the Trumpton Riots came up on my iPod this morning, I think the time may be now.

Does anyone know where to start?

I reckon the band that attracts the most criticism on these pages has to be Oasis. It seems that most people posting are able to drag them in to every discussion as an example of What Is Wrong With Music.

I'm going to nail my colours to the mast here and say I LOVE Oasis.

Possibly this has much to do with me being 16 when they came out and them soundtracking the best years of my life, but I also think that most of the people who say they don't like them are trying to make some kind of statement rather than not actually liking anything they've ever done.

Here's what I think for anyone who's interested.

1) They don't sound like the Beatles
2) Accusations of plagiarism are rich coming from a board whose members are so (rightly) fond of Led Zep, Dylan, blues etc
3) The big singles are just over-played. Listen to Gas Panic, Shakermaker, Slide Away, Sad Song or Roll It Over instead.
4) Is there any Oasis album that is entirely without merit? I'd argue not, but then I quite like Be Here Now and Standing On The Shoulder of Giants
5) Liam is the best white soul singer alive today.

I eagerly await my kicking.

Any nominations for the worst venue in the UK?

I'm going to go for Milton Keynes Bowl.

It reminds me of the building in Ghostbusters - a structure designed as a superconductor for evil. "Whoever designed it was either an authentic genius or a certified wacko".

I've never seen so much fighting, puking and screeching in my life. Four separate brawls on that terrifying walk to the station. The most frightening bar queue I have ever been in, including one chap punching a black female bartender while calling her a 'n****r bitch'. Nice.