A Weller best of list? Your 10 best, covering his whole career,...here's mine...

1. Bitterest Pill - The Jam
2. Going Underground - The Jam
3. That's Entertainment - The Jam
4. My Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council
5. Brushed - Paul Weller
6. English Rose - The Jam
7. Eaton Rifles - The Jam
8. Long Hot Summer - The Style Council
9. Into Tomorrow - Paul Weller
10. A Bomb In Wardour Street

Could it be that Jim Kerr and co have been tipped off about Word talk and enthusiasm for their early work? .....or simply that one of the albums of the year, "Skying" by The Horrors has more than a passing resemblance to those formative albums. Anyway, whatever the motivation ver minds embark on the "5x5" tour, playing 5 tracks from each of their first 5 albums, from "Life In A Day" to "New Gold Dream",....with 2.5 hour sets said to be in order, 2nd March Roundhouse,.....count me in,.....anyone else?!

Bbc Desert Island Discs website have nicked our idea and are asking listeners for their 8 d i d selections. They are also compiling an definitive chart at the end though....so thought fellow Word muso types should know. Can't work out how to post the link from this poxy phone....so maybe some other kind sort could?

Ok, i have to get this off my chest. The huge success of The Foo Fighters mystifies me. There's something about their sound that leaves me cold. Don't get me wrong i have my fair share of what could be loosely termed 'shouty music', but somehow they make the wrong sort of racket.

If for instance you play Negative Creep by Nirvana first and then follow with any one of FF's tracks, there's something missing in the sonic department, it appears to lack sonic range and therefore definition. Maybe it's just too trebly, and fails to hit you in the gut the way my favourite piledriving tunes do.

To my ears, good examples of this would be "i Wanna Be Your Dog" or "The Ace Of Spades" or the "At Action Park" album by Shellac, a band with more than a few connections to The FFs and one that Dave G has professed a desire to emulate. Indeed i could be wrong but i think Steve A might have produced them at some point, but to no avail.

The sticking point for me was when Dave G was voted NME's "Godlike Genius". When asked about why, the editor's answer was something about him being 'the nicest man in rock', something that's been mentioned here a few times. And i'm sure he is, and we all love someone who embraces that lifestyle whilst appearing to be like one of us a nice regular guy, but Godlike Genius, pleeeaase!.
I've got a feeling it could be about Dave Grohl the brand rather than Foo Fighters the band.

Is it my ears or does anyone else think any of this?

On one of my aimless wanders around Youtube, i found this great clip about legendary trio The Crucial Three. You may or may not know they were a band comprising of Pete Wylie, Julian Cope and Ian McCulloch. Makes interesting viewing, but also got me thinking about the somewhat incestuous Liverpool scene of the Seventies and Eighties and the original Mersey beat scene too.

So my question to the massive is, with so many bands and so much great music coming from that city, but excluding The Beatles (because, well they're The Beatles arent they), what is your all-time favourite track, by a Liverpool band!??

According to an advert on this page the line-up of Latitude festival will be announced in just under 2 hours, and counting. Any predictions or hopes who might headline? You can probably discount certain acts because they're not "on brand" for Latitude or are headlining one of the other fests, most festivals like an exclusive.

What dyer reckon?

I hope this spreads like wildfire, because i think everyone needs to see it!

We have occasionaly discussed the relative merits of art produced by pop stars on this here site. The conclusion reached is usually that it is at worst shocking, and at best derivative. But wait, i might have found an exception. Richard Butler, frontman for The Psychedelic Furs, i would suggest is producing highly credible, and slightly trippy paintings.

Anyway, just thought you might like to see them, follow the link below.

www.richardbutlerstudio.com

On the latest lovely free Word podcast, part of the discussion is about band names and the current trend for whole sentences as names. Whilst on another thread a proposed moniker for a group is the eye-watering Genital Topiary. To take the graft and arguments out of band name choice, you might like to try this fail proof method. Simply go to Wikipedia and press 'Random Article', and whatever article name appears first is the name of your new band. Well, at least me and the rest of The Exploits Of Moominpappa are happy with the results.

Give it a whirl and let me know what your new four piece are trading under.

(Inspired by another thread)

Ok, couldn't leave it at just the 3, for some reason. Despite it not being asked for or possibly wanted, i feel compelled to blurt out the contents of all 50 of my most played tunes. (lucky you hey?)

If you asked me my 50 fave tunes it would ommit some of these and would be far too self-concious, because what i like and what i think i like don't always tally up. For example the inclusion of the Keane track makes me slightly wince, but why?... i obviously like the tune a lot, and despite the temptation to leave other tracks on repeat to rig my own chart, i've so far resisted.

So here it is, .....that most played 50, warts and all. Anyone else care to take the Fess-up 50 challenge?

1. Of Moons Birds & Monsters - MGMT (124 plays)
2. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen (97 plays)
3. Check The Meaning - Richard Ashcroft (97 plays)
4. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones (96 plays)
5. I'm A Man - The Spencer Davis Group (93 plays)
6. Sonny's Lettah - Linton Kwesi Johnson (90 plays)
7. The Ground Beneath Her Feet - U2 (90 plays)
8. Who Knows Where The Time Goes? - Sandy Denny (84 plays)
9. The Funny Bird - Mercury Rev (80 plays)
10. On The Beach - Neil Young (79 plays)
11. Going To Town - The Afghan Whigs (77 plays)
12. Success Has Made A Failure Of Our Home - Sinead O'connor (74 plays)
13. From Time To Time - Ride (73 plays)
14. 7 Nation Army - The White Stripes (72 plays)
15. Baby Boom - The Crimea (69 plays)
16. All Of This And Nothing - The Psychedelic Furs (69 plays)
17. The Unforgettable Fire - U2 (69 plays)
18. New Rose - The Damned (65 plays)
19. Chrome Waves - Ride (65 plays)
20. Jenny Was A friend Of Mine - The Killers (63 plays)
21. Ball Of Confusion - The Temptations (60 plays)
22. Addictive - Truth Hurts (60 plays)
23. Dreams - The Game (58 plays)
24. Summertime - Janis Joplin (57 plays)
25. 7 Seconds - Neneh Cherry (55 plays)
26. These Days - 10,000 Maniacs (55 plays)
27. Too Nice To Talk To - The Beat (54 plays)
28. Comeuppance - Thousand Yard Stare ( 54 plays)
29. Witchita Lineman - Glen Campbell (53 plays)
30. Uncle Jonny - The Killers (52 plays)
31. I Never Came - Queens Of The Stoneage (51 plays)
32. When You Were Young - The Killers (50 plays)
33. (JayZ v The Cure) - Popchop (50 plays)
34. Abandon Ship - Blaggers ITA (48 plays)
35. The Model - Kraftwerk (48 plays)
36. Emma - The Sisters Of Mercy (48 plays)
37. Candy Cane Crawl - The Twilight Singers (48 plays)
38. Wild Is The Wind - Cat Power (47 plays)
39. Aint Nobody - Chaka Khan (47 plays)
40. Bedshaped - Keane (47 plays)
41. Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag (47 plays)
42. Fall On Me - R.E.M. (47 plays)
43. Since I Left You - The Avalanches (46 plays)
44. Love & Communication - Cat Power (46 plays)
45. Heartbreaker (Rehearsal Version) - Free (46 plays)
46. How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths (45 plays)
47. Rubber Ring - The Smiths (45 plays)
48. A Man And A Woman - U2 (45 plays)
49. Blackened Blue Eyes - The Charlatans (44 plays)
50. You Really Got Me - The Kinks (44 plays)

Too much time on my hands? Possibly. :-)

I've just heard a rather good snippet of a track that appears to sample, or is a mash-up that features Wonderous Stories by Yes. Can i ask the massive musical head that is The Word Massive, if they know what it is?

No prize i'm afraid just a warm sense of purpose.

I've noticed an increasing level of the word readership sticking their collective oars in (myself included) about matters Word related. From the suitability of cover art through to the ethnicity balance of artists featured and i'm sure there's been more to support my thin argument.

Is it therefore time for The Word massive to leave the nest and start up a bastard offspring fanzine/mag?
If so what would it be called and how would it differ from the mother publication? (just a bit of fun...i think)

It seems we Word folk like a list, if your top 10 albums are anything to go by, so i thought i'd feed your habit. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it before. So which are they, the 10 films in whose company you haven't felt cheated.

Just so it doesn't descend into chaos. 1 go, & 10 only...so if you don't already know, then give it some thought, before you commit. ....and then hopefully that all important chart rundown.

My 10 are:

1. Withnail & I
2. An American Werewolf In London
3. Naked
4. Broadway Danny Rose
5. Memento
6. The Deer Hunter
7. Play It Again Sam
8. The Life Of Brian
9. Jaws
10. Lawrence Of Arabia

Over time i've made a mental note of some great band names. The ones i'm talking about are usually not chart-bound and sometimes with very good reason. But just because a name is not radio-friendly does not necessarily take away from their wonder. Here's some gems i've enjoyed, can The Word readers throw light on more doosies of this calibre?

Some of my faves:

Kunt & The Gang

The James Dean Driving Experience

Lawnmower Death (& their wonderfully titled albums "OOh Crikey It's Lawnmower Death" & not forgetting "665 The Neighbour Of The Beast")