I have now been to a number of mingles and hugely enjoyable events they are too. Not sure whether I have been to enough yet to be considered part of the clique but getting working on it.
I have to say one of the unexpected bonuses have been the number of excellent Massive Compilations that have provided many pleasurable hours of joy listening to stuff that had never before appeared on my radar. On the drive to work this morning I was listening to Drakeygirls Time compilation - Bloody hell is that Dread Zeppelin track good or what? Their name put me off ever considering them. That will all change now. Great stuff.

Just took delivery of Chimes of Freedom. 78 artists having a stab at Dylan songs for Amnesty International. Most offer very good interpretations, even the less successful are passable. Except Sting. His take on Girl from the North Country is an absolute joke - worst thing I have heard in years. His voice is reedy and he hams up his impression of a Dylan accent to the point where I almost fell about laughing. Except that his performance appears earnest and I am sure he is proud of his attempt. He is an artist whose stock has been in freefall for years now - I remember seeing his Symphonicities in the bargain bins barely a month after release and I doubt his lute music pulled up any trees either. Shame because as part of The Police he made some classic pop songs that have stood the test of time.
Give it up mate, you clearly have nothing left to offer.

Her new album Voyageur is really beautiful - great songs and her voice fits them perfectly. The final song on the album floored me as I was driving home from the Liverpool mingle last night. I have played it 5 times today - there is something about the tune, her voice and the words that is just so haunting that i needed to share it with you guys:

In the songwriter post I forgot to mention Stephen Duffy who undoubtedly is one of our finest. I love this song which is on the Memory and Desire compilation. Go out and treat yourselves:-

In my teenage years it was fashionable to have books on your shelf that supposedly increased your coolness. When I think back there were an awful lot I never read, preferring instead to read the latest Frtederick Forsyth thriller. From memory I give you these:-

Erica Jong - Fear of flying - read about half of this, filthy but dull.

Zen and the art of motorbike maintenance - cant remember the author, never read it but was on my shelf for years. No idea what it was about.

Eric Von Daniken - Chariots of the Gods - actually read this one, file under mystical mumbo jumbo. Inspired loads of discussions between stoned teenagers who had even less idea than the author.

Leonard Cohen - Beautiful Losers and its companion book whose name escapes me. Read these as well, made little sense at the time.

Others that adorned my shelves but were never read included Jack Kerouac - On the road and Even Cowgirls get the blues (cant remember the author).

Flicking through the channels the other night we stumbled across a film with Sean Connery in it. My wife - what a class actor he is" or something along those lines. I said 'I don't really think so to be honest, he is a bit one dimensional'.
'You've got to be joking, he was the best James Bond ever'
'Yes, but do you need to act to play James Bond?'

Anyway I think she has based her viewpoint on the fact that he is Scottish and she was born in Perth to a Scottish dad.
I alos dont think he was the best James Bond.I give that accolade to Roger Moore although I know many will disagree with that.
Anyway what are your thoughts and can you direct me to a Sean Connery film worth checking out and please dont suggest the Presidio or whatever it was called. Complete tosh.

I just watched the Sky Arts programme about the Isle of Wight performance by Miles Davis and his band. I have to say that the drumming by Jack DeJohnette absolutely blew me away. There is seemingly little physical effort but his timing and groove with Dave Holland seemed almost psychic. Anyone recommend any of his other stuff - only know him through Miles.

For Laura Marling fans out there you will be pleased to know there is a free cd with tomorrows Observer with tracks from all 3 albums, many of them live versions and a commentary by Laura on each track.

Took delivery of the deluxe version of Some Girls last week. The bonus disc includes a version of the Waylon Jennings song 'We had it all' which I first heard by Green on Red on their Here come the snakes album. It is sung by Keef and to be honest is the best thing on the bonus disc by some distance.

Songwriting is an art that can reap immeasurable rewards often unexpectedly. There must be several examples of songs written for others or loaned to tv/film companies that have provided an unexpected windfall for the writers. Examples:-

1) Chip Taylor writes Wild Thing - lives off the royalties for many years thanks to Jimi Hendrix and The Troggs. Never a massive star in his own right he also scored well with Angel of the morning.

2) Alabama 3 - Woke up this morning. Gets picked as the opening tune for The Sopranos, the royalties fund their own studio and record label.

3) Nick Lowe pens (What's so funny about) Peace, Love and Understanding?.
Curt Stigers sings it in the film The Bodyguard the soundtrack of which apparently sells 17 million copies. Cue new mansion on the hill for Nick.

Must be many others out there.

I would love to know why Word decided to review his latest release in this months issue. Was it a deliberate attempt to subvert the readers into believing he is a cutting-edge artist worthy of our attention?
Failed with me if that was the case. FWIW I find him to be intolerably smug and his attempt at humour is embarassing. Apart from the ability to tap dance can someone please explain what he has ever done to warrant his status as one of the countrys leading entertainers? Amazing.

We are at a crossroads in our house. My daughter is 12 and finding her feet in the World. Our natural inclination as parents has always been to 'give her wings to fly but roots to come home to'. All very well until you get to that stage that we have now reached where she wants to go shopping with her friends without adults around. Do we acquiesce or do we put a block on it? Are there really an inordinate amount of nutters around or is it parental paranoia. I lean to the latter on this - my parents gave me freedom as a child in an age without mobile phones. However there is the 'what if' consideration that is driving me nuts. At present we have tried it out a couple of times in Lichfield which is a fairly condense market town. She wants to do Birmingham but we are reluctant. However I did Birmingham at her age. This is a bloody minefield. Views please.

The Mahavishnu post got me thinking that I love their albums more now than when I first heard them at 16. I think in their case the music was too complex for my young ears to fully appreciate. I also had a roadblock on any form of Reggae possibly because it wasn't cool amongst my elitist friends. Now I love it.
Similarly My life in the bush of ghosts by David Byrne and Brian Eno sounds much better now than when I first bought it.

Contrary to this I can no longer listen to Deacon Blue, most hard rock that I liked and almost anything with a syn-drum.
Oh and today I heard the Cranberries for the first time in years and they sounded abysmal. Did I really used to like them? What was I thinking?

Apparently she recorded a new album that was going to be released in June but it seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Anyone know anything.

tour by Elvis Costello and the Imposters is finally coming to UK in May 2012. A cause for celebration in this household. Know Dogfaced boy will be there - give us a shout DFB and will see if we can meet up. I will obviously be doing the Birmingham gig and hopefully the Albert Hall too.