The latest Desert Island Discs has the normally good-value Tim Minchin. But my enjoyment of the programme was spoiled by one part where he talked about a song he'd written in response to a particularly bad review he got in the Guardian (links below*, if you're interested).

His basic point, which I think I've summarised accurately, is that it's cruel of critics to give someone a mauling, because that someone has quite possibly poured their heart, soul, time, effort and cash into their art/performance. If the artist/entertainer hasn't done a good job then, in Tim's view, the review should concentrate on what areas need to be improved upon. In other words, critics and their reviews should be more like supportive teachers.

Now, is it just me, or is that just rubbish? (To be fair, Kirsty put up a brief devil's advocate counter-argument, but it's not really that kind of programme so they didn't particularly discuss the point back and forth.)

Neither I, nor any critic, *owes* any given artist/entertainer anything; not one second of our time, not one penny of our cash, not even a 1% favourable review. It's our time, our cash, our opinions: and the critic is just a paid member of the public in that sense.

The flip side is that, when something does appeal, then we lavish our time, money, effort and praise on them. That's the deal. And if I don't like it then I'm sure someone else does.

Tim seems to be taking all this very personally, which I don't doubt he will, but then he's almost trying to make a special pleading case on behalf of artists (actual and would-be).

So, am I being unfair, or does Tim have a point?

* Review:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/aug/16/comedy

Response:

In among the various gratitudes expressed to loved ones and helpful strangers, this:

"A belated thank you to Frank Zappa who gave us the best album ever, Hot Rats. Please give it a play - it's special. Mike, via text".

He's not wrong.

As has been well documented and discussed, we are assailed by multi-media, algorithmic recommendations and F*cebook-led targetted advertising. It therefore comes as a joyful surprise to find out something the old-fashioned way, with no prior expectations.

For instance, I saw a support band the other day (for the excellent Pelican), called The Little Mill of Happiness: they started inauspiciously enough, but a combination of occasional points of interest in their songs, a cheap CD EP on sale by the door, and the persuasive words of a friend of the band, meant I am now listening to said EP for the severalth time.

Maybe if I saw them headline a bill, or appear on a Word CD, I would have been less impressed. But their unassuming approach, and lack of obvious links to the music (or any other) biz, mean they pique my "British underdog" interest.

Any other similar experiences by the Massive?

Is it just me, or have I missed an announcement telling us Word had dropped its association with the mp3 store?

Some of you will occasionally watch Dave, I'm guessing, and so will have seen their rather wonderful trailer for Taxi Driver, re-shot as a romcom:

I know the interweb has loads of these, usually as media student projects, but why isn't there more of this on actual TV? A tad more entertaining than "Girl on the platform, smile" ads.

Watching the BBC4 documentary last night about the making of "So", I was continually struck by the similarity between Mr Gabriel and his namesake from Throbbing Gristle / Psychic TV / Coil / etc Mr Christopherson:

The curious thing is that, as young men in the 70s, they looked nothing like each other, but by the 21st century it's as if they were gradually morphing into the same face. A further interesting twist is that Peter Christopherson is credited with the sleeve design for Peter Gabriel's first three solo albums.

There must be many more look-a-likes in the Word universe: any suggestions?

We tend to think that our experiences fall into two groups: those we remember (pretty accurately), and those we've mostly forgotten. But there's a fascinatingly little-investigated point, that there is a worryingly large third group, namely things we think we remember but in fact very inaccurately.

I was surprised today to find an example of this. Listening to the R4 documentary on the 70 years of Desert Island Discs, Sue Lawley describes to Kirsty Young her time as DID interviewer, and in particular the Diana Mosley episode. [continues in first comment].

So, over to you: what things could you have sworn blind about, only to discover you were completely wrong?

I know there are plenty of DID fans on this site, in which case you may be interested in the BBC Radio 4 podcast "Documentary of the week" which has just been put up, an hour on the history of DID.

I haven't listened to it yet, so can't comment whether it's particularly good or not, but the BBC usually remove the podcast after a week so get this quick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16425522

Well that explains a lot about this site then, doesn't it?

OK, so there are a million mash-ups out there, and this particular one may well be old hat to you, but I only recently found out about it and have to say it's one of the most uplifting things I've heard in a while:

(Ce Ce Peniston vs Sex Pistols - "Finally Did You No Wrong")

Nothing else to add!

I don't remember these West Country types being mentioned much on the threads recently, so here goes.

There's precious few bands who made three albums, with each of them getting steadily better, but Portishead are definitely one of them (IMHO, of course) - lots of people seemed to rave about Dummy, but I always preferred the second one.

And then the startlingly-named Third came along, and still gives me goosebumps - I love the has-he-bothered-to-tune-it? guitar at about 1:50 in this: ("We Carry On", live on Jools)

So why is it that their only official live album, Roseland NYC, is such a dud? For most of the time you'd hardly notice they've got a whole whacking orchestra behind them (except the last track). But the greatest crime is on the normally sublime Roads: what diddy in the audience decided that what this song really needs is a mass clap-along? And why leave this woefully ill-conceived audience participation in the finished edit, thus ruining what could have been a great recording?

I dunno, bloody thirty-somethings ...

Peter Gabriel's "Word To The Wise" in this month's issue contains something which I'm really not sure I agree with: he describes some idealised form of music provision as "a system that would be able to read our moods properly".

Is it just me, or is one of the main joys of music its ability to surprise? I know David Hepworth has mentioned this more than once on the podcast, and it's something I tend to go along with.

Sometimes you're just in the mood for one type of music (or even just one artist/album/track) only, but more often your brain is open to other possibilities. It's what makes good music radio sometimes infuriating and sometimes joyful.

Recently "Long Tall Sally" popped up on shuffle on my iPod, and I thought it was glorious. But if you'd asked me a few seconds beforehand, what was I "in the mood for", I doubt I'd have said Little Richard. Am I missing something?

OK, this is firmly in the "you had to be there" category, but I do know that at least a couple of the Massive will be familiar with this excellent club night.

I came across this YouTube clip, possibly the only known film of the club, and it fair brought back memories to this forty-something: check out the anoraks, a Pastel and a BMX Bandit, at least. There's also something enormously appealing watching a bunch of youngsters happily bopping to the joyous sounds of "Let's Submerge".

(Before anyone asks, no I am not in this anywhere).

There's also a blogspot with a few interesting comments:

http://splashonehappening.blogspot.com/

from which I started this Spottylist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/douglasgreen43/playlist/6juqnpyKc2pRXw61QLI...

Fellow veterans, feel free to add to this & any of your own memories!

I didn't know much about Ms Hobbs, and was prompted by her appearance in this month's copy of the Word (specifically her references to mis-treatment of her records by her dad) to look further. So I went to Wikipedia and was directed to the following extensive interview:

http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/279014161/mary-anne-hobbs-part-1-o...

There's a lot of it to wade through, which you may or may not like, but in the second part there's a story which really appealed to me - see her answer to the second question:

http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/279015188/mary-anne-hobbs-part-2-o...

We all love a bit of come-uppance don't we?

This is possibly of interest to many members of the Massive, an eclectic show from (I'll 'fess up) a friend of mine: he's done various radio shows over the years, but his career high point may have been when used to read out the official football results on BBC1 on Saturday teatime!

http://www.phosphene.debrett.net/soundwave.htm

If you're reading this between 10 and 11am on Saturday morning, you can listen live online right now:

http://www.radiosix.com/

Plug over.