Having dusted off my old vinyl a few weeks ago, I've been wondering what to play it on. I was hankering after an old Dansette but they seem to be going for silly money on ebay and I wonder if it's not a very practical or sensible option.

Please can anyone give me some advice/direction?

Ideally I'd like a small, standalone record player.

Is there a better modern thing I should be looking at instead?

All help very gratefully received.

I'm sure there's been something similar up here before but anyway, as it's Blue Monday, and people may be looking for pointless diversions, the premise of the game is, once upon a time Suede were going to be called London Suede when they toured America to avoid confusion with another band there...

So, with that in mind, I give you:

Turkish Dee-Lite
Paris Texas
The Russian Steps

Anyone care to add?

I was very interested in Mr H's thoughts about amateur musicians and small venues on the Half Moon thread. And I also needed to respond to the Johnny Marr thread. And I wanted to raise a question too. So apologies for starting a new topic here, rather than posting in the other places, but...

I went to the Half Moon on Saturday and saw The Smyths play. I was more than a little apprehensive about going but by the end of the gig I was swept away by the atmosphere in the room and the sheer numbers of people going absolutely nuts.

So, what I'm wondering is is:

Tribute Bands? Good or bad?

And in answer to the Marr question, it's Still Ill. Or maybe Handsome Devil. Or perhaps The Boy With a Thorn in His Side. Or should that be There is a Light? Wow, were The Smiths a good band or what?

Can anyone help me out on this knotty musical issue?

Are there ever acceptable moments for those talkie bits in songs? Sometimes they come at the beginning before the song really kicks in and sometimes they're there as the replacement instrumental solo/middle 8 bit.

I was told in no uncertain terms by the GF the other night that they are completely unacceptable but I unsuccessfully tried to find a compelling counter-argument.

The best response I could come up with was The Inkspots, who had them in just about every song, which then led me on to Windsor Davies who, in his version of Whispering Grass, climaxes his talkie bit by telling Don Estelle: "I will not have gossip in this jungle."

Any other fors or againsts gratefully received.

My apologies if this is something of an old chestnut and has already been debated here but I would very much appreciate it if someone can give me the definitive answer to this question which started a fierce debate at work last night.

Are the lyrics to Love Plus One by Haircut 100:

Where do we do from here?
Is it down to the lake I fear?

Or are they:

Where do we go from here?
Is it down to the late café?