According to an article on the Today programme this morning, sales of single tracks have risen by something like 80% while sales of whole albums have declined by a lower amount than would be expected when compared to other consumer goods. The Man from the record industry put this down to the huge benefits of the internet and that people apparently spend more in music during a recession.

I know I'm buying much more music now that it takes merely a couple of clicks on a mouse and now the outlay is so much less than it was a couple of years ago. The Man from the industry did not touch upon the fact that album and single song prices have fallen dramatically.

I wish I could have been more precise on the figures but I can't find anything on the net to back this up but I really did hear it.

Kate Rusby has a new album "Sweet Bells" of "Carols and seasonal songs from in and around South Yorkshire." She has been hit by the failure of Pinnacle distribution so you can't buy the album in the shops in time for Christmas. But you can download it from Kate's site http://shopping.katerusby.com/item-79-Sweet_Bells.aspx or from iTunes. I did and it's well worth it and will make an excellent accompaniment to your Christmas morning.

Kirsty MacColl died. I'm not in London but anybody around Soho Square, please go and sit on the bench.

Apparently the BBC has a hierarchy of who decides which swearwords are suitable for broadcast:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/28/bbc-swearing-jonathan-ross-s...

I just typed a long rant about over-reaction to swearing but deleted it as I think this story shows the absurdity of the situation on its own.

Last night I went to see Show of Hands and had a really good evening. Steve Knightley and Phil Beer were, as ever, excellent with superb singing, playing and interaction with the crowd. The addition of Miranda Sykes on double bass and backing vocals has also been a success. I'm convinced that if they were American they'd be absolutely huge (well, Phil is absolutely huge but I mean in terms of popularity).

The support act, Ruarri Joseph, looked a bit like James Blunt but did some interesting songs and I'm sure we'll hear more of him in future.

But, given some recent discussions about the problems with live gigs on here, there were additional reasons I enjoyed it.

Firstly, it was at the Brook, Southampton which meant I could walk to it.

It only cost £15.

The staff are friendly and they serve Courage Best Bitter for £3 a pint.

The sound was excellent.

Nobody chatted through the performance - including the support act.

The Brook was as packed as I've ever seen it which meant the only downside was fighting through the crowd to get to the loo.

All in all, a pretty perfect evening.

Danny Baker gets the Jonathon Ross R2 Saturday morning slot (hooray!) until Rossy returns late January. Danny will be with Zoe Ball. Good pairing? Discuss.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/14/jonathan-ross-sachsgate-radi...

OK we've done all the arguments about who did what, why it wasn't funny and why "something had to be seen to be done." But why do I have to be punished?

Jonathon Ross on a Saturday morning was a cheerful accompaniment to my Saturday morning chores. He sometimes made me laugh out loud and his guests were usually interesting (much more so than his TV show) plus he had the odd live music session. Are we really going to have to put up with Richard Allinson for 12 weeks (or longer if Ross never comes back)? In the bits I heard yesterday he was actually asking listeners to text in what they were doing providing it was "mundane". I know this is sort of post-modern irony or some such bollocks but it made a very dull programme even duller.

Honestly it was awful. I am outraged that my licence fee should be spent in this way. If we can't have Ross can we at least not have someone who would be rejected by hospital radio? Even sick people don't have to be asleep all the time.

I was reading this rather poor comment blog in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/oct/08/pink.floyd.not.pro... which basically says: "I like Pink Floyd, I don't like prog rock therefore Pink Floyd can't be prog rock." And it got me thinking.

A great many of the Word's readers must, like me, have lived through the golden age of prog in the early to mid-seventies. Yet, although we have retrospectives on Dylan, the Beatles, Van Morrison etc you never read much about Keith Emerson or Jon Anderson.

Now I don't listen to that stuff much nowadays (although the free WE7 downloads have got me reacquainted with Tarkus recently) and my tastes are much more "authentic" in folk, country and more acousticy stuff. But I can't deny my past. When I was 17 I loved ELP, Focus and Gabriel-era Genesis. So did millions of others - some of whom will be reading Word today.

I don't buy the idea that just because a sort of music is no longer fashionable it suddenly lacks any merit. Our individual tastes may have changed but I'm sure that many of us think back to those times with some fondness while also remembering the overblown excesses that sometimes characterised them.

So how about a "where are they now?" type feature that treats the prog stars with respect rather than derision? Or a vintage prog track on the CD? Or just a discussion here?

When I previewed this piece it had been dated 1970, which I guess is apt.