Probability is a rum old discipline.

Sometimes I put my trusty iPod on touch and comes up with nothing but a random slew of tracks from inferior covermount cds.

Other days it pulls a hat trick of breathtaking beauty and pacing. Like just now:

1. Cinema Show - Genesis
2. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco
3. Parce Nihi Dominum - Jan Garbarek & Hilliard Ensemble

Anyone else had a breathtaking iHattrick today or lately? Care to share?

I was taken on a whim to the My Space page for long-forgotten 'next big thing' circa '76: Cafe Jacques. A bit Steely Dan, a bit Chris Rea (before such a thing existed.) And still a pretty good - if not earth-shattering - listen.

I then looked at their 'friends' and was confronted with a Who's Who of 'next big things' from just before Punk: The Movies, Cado Belle, Sad Cafe,Racing Cars...

It got me thinking about 'what if punk really hadn't happened?' - and thought it would be rather fun question for Word and/or its blogging chums to ponder - a bit like one of those 'What if the Nazis had invaded Britain?' type essays.

So,what would have happened next?

- Would Split Enz have been headlining Wembley Arena supported by Deaf School?
- Would Yes and ELP have continued to pack stadia/ums or were they losing the plot anyway?
- Would bands like XTC have still risen from obscurity, albeit without the patina of post punk?

Or - to be a bit controversial - would things have actually been that different for most rock fans (I'm leaving out the joys of Disco here). Bat Out of Hell, Kate Bush, Dire Straits, War of the Worlds and City to City all happened within 18 months of punk, and face it, they all did pretty well for themselves sales-wise.

Your thoughts please...

OK after 12 years with no other mention of it anywhere ever ever ...

Is that the voice of actor Stephen Moore aka Marvin buried deep in the mix of Paranoid Android by Radiohead. He appears to be saying

"My name is paranoid/I am an android"

Is this actually Stephen? He doesn't appear to be credited on the headache-inducingly small sleeve notes "We hope you are OK,thank you for listening". Did he drop into Air studios?

Having listened yet again with bass turned down I am now wondering if it could also be the Hawking-esque text-speech engine used on Fitter, Happier.

Somebody help me out here please!

A link to the rather fine-sounding new Sparks musical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, the 'slightly translated' version from Radio Sweden.

http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=db&Id=1898771&BroadcastDat...

Just finished listening to David Hepworth's excellent Radio4 show on the history of bootlegs. It reminded me of a fantastic story I read in Sounds back in the late 1970s.

It concerned an unnamed band who were staggeringly successful in the US, but lacked one thing: they hand never been bootlegged (as in turned into proper vinyl bootleg LP, which was more of a big deal back then). So concerned by the damage to their cred this represented, that they recorded and mixed a whole live show and handed it over to one of the big bootleg manufacturers of the day, virtually begging them to press some copies.

No sooner had the bootleggers complied than they were raided and the entire pressing run was confiscated by the feds.

Has anyone else heard this story? I would so love to know who the band was(I'm thinking Toto/Cars FM rock without the cult cache of a Springsteen or Zep but might be being terribly unfair.) Any ideas anyone?

Is this just me: Every time I hear about the multi-trillion pound re-flotation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I immediately imagine them to be two characters from a Bob Dylan song circa 1963? Probably prefaced by "The Ballad of ... "

Has anyone else come across similar examples life imitating art/rock n roll? Does Sarah Palin bring to mind a character from a "Nebraska" out-take? Do you picture "hurricane Ike" strumming a dobro and puffing on a harmonica? Do tell all...