I was driving into work this morning listening to this...

Perfect spring morning: bright, sunny, warm (with a slight sea breeze coming in) and I reckon this is the perfect soundtrack. I always dig it out around now, possibly 'cos there is a song on it called 'April 5th'; which sticks in my mind. One of the best albums of the 80's, probably because it isn't mired in Fairlights and Linn Drums; everything just sounds... "woody".

Anyone else got an album which they reckon is redolent of a particular time of year?

Was at a record fair in Dublin over the weekend, and was frankly amazed at the number of people (boys & girls) under 25 carting around freshly purchased vintage vinyl. A random spotted sample - Joy Division - 'Closer' (fair enough the film is out), The Police - 'Synchronicity' (off the back of the tour?), Bowie - 'Young Americans' (well, everyone should own it) and Rod - 'Every Picture Tells A Story' (ditto). And lots of Led Zeppelin II and III, which I suppose shows the Mothership campaign is working. While part of me is entirely heartened to see good music prevailing in these fashion 'n' fad-centric days, another part of me wanted to go up and say "you know these'll be up in loft in five years time when you need that room for a nursery?" When these albums get sold on again, which they almost certainly will, should I expect to see 'Regatta De Blanc' being handled like holy scriptures in 2018?

So there I was, driving along last Saturday; when Nirvana's cover of 'The Man Who Sold The World' from 'Unplugged' comes on the radio. Good oh, turn it up. Second verse - Kurt changes the lyrics...

Bowie - "I gazed a gazely stare, at all the millions there".

Kurt - "I gazed a gazely stare, we're multi-millionaires".

Laugh? I nearly crashed the car. Old Kurt eh, what a wag!

Apologies to all present if this is a very old war story, I'd never noticed it before. I'd post up a youtube link were if not for those copyright crazy kids at Universal Music have blocked the embedding.

If anyone else has subtly changed lyrics which were possibly done without consent of the publishers, let's hear 'em.

By the way, if anyone can explain exactly what a gazely stare is, I'd appreciate it.

I've enforced a new level of self discipline on my music spending habits this year. Briefly - one new album a month and one "classic" album a month. I'd started to find that too many things were being played once or twice, hadn't particularly grabbed me, and were being filed away. I suspect this is me trying to get back that teenage feeling of playing Be-Bop Deluxe's 'Modern Music' or 10cc's 'Sheet Music' to death simply because I didn't have much money to buy more than a few albums a year. Whatever your personal feelings on those records, I know every note of them; and I'd like to try and recapture that level of intimacy with some new music. Has it worked? Sort of. I'm still persisting with The Aliens album, it's a grower that might've been dismissed under the old regime. The Richard Hawley album gets better with every listen. Of the old stuff, I can now see what all the fuss is about with 'Surrealistic Pillow' and 'Talking Book'. However, half the battle is trying to find the time to listen, really listen, to albums in the way that I used to. Modern adult life makes it all but impossible. Overall, I reckon it has been a worthwhile exercise and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to curb their CD habit and reappraise their existing music collection.

Saw 'Control' last weekend and it's worth a look. Reminded me of listening to wunnerful Radio 1 in 1979, Peter Powell was doing an on air trailer for BBC 2's new "yoof" programme 'Something Else':

"So that's 'Something Else' on Tuesday night, BBC 2, with music from The Jam and Joy Davison!"