I posted last night about some recent 'heritage' acts making a comeback and hitting the nostalgia circuit. But where did it start...who was the first act to make a big comeback where the audience who liked them 20 years ago returned for old times sake?

...a famous Salfordian once said, “..Then it's The Fall”.

The same cannot be said for many other bands, and indeed in the current climate when everyone suddenly needs to put bums on seats, and plastic glasses of warm lager into punters hands, the words 'Original Line-up' on a poster carries a huge amount of weight.

It's been thrown into sharp relief for me as the bands I followed in my youth queue up to tempt me down to my local Enormodome, hoping I'll part with some hard earned cash to see if they can still 'Rave On'.

The latest to join the party are the original Happy Mondays. Just as the Stone Roses would never have sold out any gigs with just Ian Brown, Mani and..er...Cressa on Bongos, so the Happy Mondays management know very well that, in spite of the fact that half the audience probably can't name more than two members of the band, nothing less than Shaun, Bez, Gaz, Clumpo, Baggsy and Clag will do.

So here they are, ready to entertain us. A heady mixture of two brothers who swore they would never share a stage again, a (brilliant and hugely under-rated) guitarist who Shaun Ryder hasn't got a good word to say about in his autobiography, a female backing vocalist who has 'history' with at least two other members of the band, a Maraca player from Urmston who last hit the headlines after being been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, oh and a Keyboard player referred to throughout Shaun Ryder’s book only as 'Knobhead' or 'Penis'. It should be fun.

Elsewhere, New Order are about to tour without Hooky, who has asked m'learned friends to take out an injunction against them touring under that name without him.

So I'm sort of tempted to see the Happy Mondays, since Mark Day really was a tremendous guitarist and on a good day their Rhythm section could flatten a small village. I certainly wouldn't have been interested in the slick, funky session musician version that was gigging a few years back (the evidence is on YouTube).

But New Order I'm rather sceptical of. In spite of my aversion to nostalgia gigs and my vow not to go and see any reformed bands in 2012...I've fallen for the 'Original Line-up' crap!

What do you think? And who else would you definitely see an 'original line-up' of, but baulk at a partial version of?

This is the Archos Jukebox 20, the first Mp3 player I ever owned. An heavy, ugly brick of a thing in tacky silver plastic with wobbly push button and blue shock absorber things on each corner. What it lacked in looks it more than made up for in sound quality and the fact it had a line-in and a built in mic so you could record very high quality audio from any source in real time.

I've since got through a few more. After the Archos failed (Battery issue I think) I went for the iRiver H320 which is still to this day the best player I've ever had. A bit chunky, fiddly to use but incredible sound quality and when that finally packed up (battery failure again which I attempted to replace myself..ahem) I was quite shocked when I got my first iPod (Classic 80gb) at how thin and feeble the sound quality was. But I'd gotten used to high capacity and that was the only game it town.

Well, the iPod Classic has finally given up the ghost after 4 years of mediocre (albeit very easy to operate) service. Hard drive failed. It has gone to meet its maker (cheers Mr Jobs).

So, I'm in the market for a new device. Alas, it seems the iPod Classic is still the only game in town if you want more than 32gb of storage. Now I know its a bit silly to carry so much music around but I love the fact its all there whenever I want it and I don't have to be too selective with what gets synced to the device, so lets just take that as a given.

I'm loathe to get another iPod, but there is seemingly nothing else out there. I've read good things about the new Sony Walkman but these are only 32GB and ludicrously expensive for that. I've also heard great things about the Cowon players but alas don't work with 64 Bit Windows apparently. So is it really iPod or nowt?

In theory I could sign up to Spotify and access everything over the cloud via my Smartphone. However, even if I had an unlimited 3G account the network simply isn't up to it and I wouldn't need to go far even in this major conurbation to find myself unable to access my music. The concept is ok but I don't think the network or the battery life of smartphones is up to it yet.

So do any of you tech-savvy/early adopter types know what's on the horizon? How close are we to 3G streaming working anywhere near reliability? I'm aware hard drive based iPods are positively archaic now, but how far are we from portable solid state drives with comparable storage? Or is there some other magic technology in R&D?
What about DAB on a mobile?

We must have done this. Apologies if we have (I did search the blog but couldn't find it) if not Check these out. Word-friendly LP covers with Kittens. Yesss!.
These are but four, and loads more here:
http://thekittencovers.tumblr.com/

Which one is your favourite?

http://thekittencovers.tumblr.com/

Some wonderful festive silliness from Vic, Bob and a fine supporting cast...not available on any commercial DVD and seldom repeated if at all. Turkey flavour Cup-a-Soup and Stuffing flavour crisps all round...

I'd forgotten all about this, so guys n gals howz about a bit of Sir Jim'll, in his boudoir in the company of Mr Sheffield Pop star..like this:

Very much enjoyed reading the 'Where are they now file' bit on page 29 of this months swingorilliant new edition of Word.

I noted with interest that the 'Ooh To Be Ah' hitmakers have a new single out, and couldn't help but Google to see what haircuts they're sporting nowadays. I was not disappointed. Check this action out!

They have a new album out too, which features a song about Lady Di, Versace's murder and 9/11 and a solo piece for Chapman Stick by Nick Beggs (the one sporting the slightly unnerving Swedish au-pair pig tails above). Ahem.

You can scoff but there aren't enough crazy barnets in rock and pop these days. I say, find out who is styling ver 'GooGoo these days and set them on Midlake, Fleet Foxes, Will Oldham and Wilco. That'll liven things up a bit.

Walking back to the office earlier this week I noticed a small crowd gathered outside the apartment block which now stands on the site of the legendary Haçienda nightclub in Manchester. There were cameras and a TV crew, and I could see that there were small curtains affixed to the wall and a plaque had been unveiled.

So, Massive, can you guess who, or what the plaque was commemorating?
(If you know the answer keep schtum, and no Googling).

I know there's a fair few fans of the mighty Field Music on this list. Here's the new one from them, available to download for free here:

http://field-music.co.uk/

Field Music - (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing by memphisindustries

the name of, bassist with the mighty Can, Holger Czukay?

I'm just back from a gig in Salford. Since you're asking I went to see a tremendous band from New Jersey called Real Estate, supported by an equally tremendous band from Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire called Spectrals. The gig, like many others I've seen over the past couple of years was promoted by an outfit called Now Wave. They seem to have a knack of putting on bands I like, or cottoning on to bands that are generating a lot of attention and making sure they get them for a Manchester date while they're still hot.

They've built up a great reputation which means you can generally trust that if they've booked a band it's gonna be worth seeing. They have a very definite 'house style' with their poster design and the way they present themselves which reminds of the way record labels work. As I walked into the gig tonight, I was presented with a rather glossy brochure detailing up and coming shows, with posters for each one beautifully presented on each page. They're approaching the live circuit much like a Factory Records or a Rough Trade.

A few years ago I never gave too hoots who was putting the gig on. It was usually someone at the local Student Union, a big promoter like SJM or Mean Fiddler, or some grizzled old Bob Dylan fan who ran the local Indie fleapit. Nowadays, certainly in Manchester the Student Unions seem to be sticking with the established names, the tribute bands or the perennial old favourites (Gary Newman, It Bites, The Alarm come around every year without fail). If you want to see something new and exciting, then certainly in this town it's the likes of Now Wave and other promoters like Wot God Forgot, Akoustik Anarchy, Pineapple Folk and numerous others will be behind it. You probably have similar set-ups in your town. They're all run by young, enthusiastic enterprising folk..the same folk that maybe ten years earlier would have started the next big Indie record label.

Indie Record Labels are as important as they ever were to artists and the industry. The DIY approach is still a myth..you need a record label of some shape or size to get anywhere both in terms of selling either digital or physical product, getting your music on the radio and getting on the gig circuit. But for all they do, it's likely that consumers don't have the same relationship with the Labels they once did, indeed if you download something from iTunes or Amazon you'll quite likely not know what record label it's on. Click 'properties' on one of your iTunes tracks..there in nowhere to see what label it's on. The same is not true of gigs, not in this town at least.

"yeah but look...It lights up...HOW BOUT THAT?!"

Just over a week to go before SMiLE is finally unleashed on the world and I find myself remembering the heady days when the Pet Sounds box set came out which retailed for something in the region of 40 quid for which you got the record on Mono, remastered stereo, a few more discs of out-takes and a book. That is really all anyone needs.

SMiLE, inevitably is coming out on a variety of configurations. There is a lunatic fringe version for $6,000 which comes with a SMiLE Surfboard (entirely inappropriate since this is their least surf-tastic record...a bit like including a Beatles mop-top wig with a copy of the White Album).

There is a $700 light-up version demonstrated by the 'I Get Around' hitmaker in the clip, right down to the cheapskate £20 version which contains two CDs. There are numerous other options including signed stuff, T Shirts and so forth.

Fine, and if people want to pay stupid money for whistles, bells and tat good for them. What I have a real beef with is that I am really only interested in the music. However, in order to get the full set of music across 5 CDs you need to purchase a deluxe version for around £120. That works out at a ludicrous £24 per disc. For this you also get the same music duplicated over a Vinyl LP, a couple of 7" singles, a box and a book.

I can't afford, and don't need, any of the extras. I really just want to buy the music. I probably won't listen to the out-takes very often (how many versions of 'I Love to Say Da Da' does anyone really need to hear more than once) nevertheless I'd like the option to buy the CDs and un-bundled from the other stuff. I can't,..so, I will buy the no-frills 2 CD version and I'm afraid I will be looking to acquire other 3 CDs worth of content via foul means rather than fair.

Anyone else fed up with Box-set Frippery used to bump up the price? (TMFTL)

This is atop Mondays' (semi-virtual) pile of new releases to get through and blimey it's splendid. Spectrals, like a lot of 'bands' in these austere times is actually one bloke, a 21 year old called Louis Jones from Leeds, and his guitar playing is most splendid in the Johnny Marr/Roddy Frame mode, and the lad is a fine tunesmith.

It's lovely, breezy guitar pop but what really adds the magic for me is it has a dash of early Prefab Sprout where you never really know what chord is coming up next. He's not an E-B-C#m-A merchant that's for sure. It's 'Indie' like it was before this month's cover star came staggering in with his crashing power chords and oversized anorak and ruined it.

The album is called Bad Penny, it's less than 30 minutes long it's got a (presumably deliberately) crap sleeve that David Hepworth would probably immediately toss in the bin, and opens with this (note splendid middle8 at 1:50)

Just finished watching Jools, and noticed Lana Del Ray was appearing. She went down a storm, carefully framed with Peter Gabriel's bonce nodding sagely along..

She was introduced as "The latest Internet Phenomenon". Not that old chestnut again? (see also Arctic Monkeys and S*ndi Th*m). Isn't all new music principally discovered via the Internet these days? Nobody really believes that this artist casually put some Youtube videos up recorded in her bedroom and magically became an overnight sensation all on her own. Of course not, it's all part of a very carefully orchestrated marketing strategy.

Not that I have a problem with carefully orchestrated marketing strategies, and hats off to 'Team Lana', they've done a cracking job. However the manner of her coming to 'market' is pretty much the model with all new acts these days. In these post-Myspace times it generally goes like this:

1. The unreleased tracks go up on Youtube/Sound Cloud to test the water.
2. They get picked up on blogs and sites such like The Quietus or Pitchfork and create 'a buzz in the Blogosphere', no doubt assisted by some old-style marketing behind the scenes.
3. Maybe get a couple of low key gigs, preferably in Islington or Shoreditch.. the sort that people will later claim: "I swear I was there"
4. Get the 'ear' of Alexis Petridish or someone on the Guardian and get on the phone to BBC 6 Music ("Hello is that Steve Lamacq..?" click - brrrr etc.)
5. Wait for just enough steam to build up behind the artist and then put the new single out (including a limited 7" of course), preferably the Monday after appearing on 'Later..' and if you're really clever, Indie record shops will be restricting the single to one per customer (which they are!)
6. Hey presto everyone is suitably 'stoked' for your debut LP and no doubt there is a place already reserved for you at Latitude 2012, The Big Chill and Bestival. Hurrah!

Not knocking the artist whatsoever (although not my cup of tea), and I think there was some genuine amazement at how quickly her videos took off on Youtube, but surely this 'online' route to global megastardom is the norm these days...I fail to see why the media are seeing this as such a novelty.

They were magnificent in Manchester tonight and they're coming to your town any day now. Tour dates below. Do try and make the effort to see them, They're a fantastic band, energetic, powerful, completely engaging and very entertaining. Leader Eddie Argos is the kind of frontman that is all too rare these days..an unlikely combination of Ian Dury, Mark E Smith, John Cooper Clarke, Chris Difford and Half Man Half Biscuit's Nigel Blackwell.

Do Not Miss.

Remaining Tour dates for October
S 8 Coventry, Casbah
S 9 Bath, Komedia
M 10 Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
T 11 Brighton, The Haunt
T 13 Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
F 14 Preston, 53 Degrees
S 15 Darlington, Inside Out
S 16 Derby, Vic Inn
W 19 Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
T 20 Kingston, Hippodrome

November
F 4 London, Garage

Highlight tonight was when Eddie broke the fourth wall and came among us to improvise an extended 'Modern Art Makes me Want to Rock Out'...it was a bit like this (filmed earlier this year in that London)