It seems like half the sites I visit have now have suddenly become infected with these bloody Infinityads that pop up as soon as you begin reading a page and you can't get rid of the fucking things. Clicking close makes the screen blank and does not return to the main page. This is not good for my blood pressure and I am not far away from chucking my mac through the window. Anyone know how I can get rid of them and return to the page I am trying to read????

Hi everyone, just to let you know there is a free Richard Thompson track to download on his website. Taken from his forthcoming album it sounds like we might be in for a treat.

Saw Trevelyan Wrights review on last nights concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall and it was spot on. I commented to my wife that Natalie reminded me of Miss Jean Brodie so it was funny to see this reference in the review. She was ultimately very playful and funny after starting off quite serious. A great show and the acoustic guitar playing by both guitarists was of the highest quality. I had been wanting to see miss Merchant for many years and as good as the new album is I had reservations that it wouldn't work in a live setting without any breaks. In the event it worked perfectly and the humour and seriousness of different songs worked well together.

It can be a pleasant surprise when a band or artist known for a particular sound or style comes out with something totally unexpected.
Some examples:-

Led Zeppelin - D'yer maker. Some people think this cod reggae was a turd. I was always quite partial to it - summery and groovy.

Deep Purple - Anyones daughter - detour into country from the Fireball album. Again pleasantly surprised.

Slade - Kill em at the hot club tonight - bit of a strange one this as Slade mimic Stephan Grappelli/Django Rheinhart and pull it off quite nicely thank you very much.

Any other examples???

Here is a nice Sunday night freebie -get yourselves over to the Yep Roc website - they have free 13 track sampler of their biggest artists. Includes a lot of unreleased stuff and features the likes of Dave Alvin, Chuck Prophet and the Gourds.
Anyone else got any free stuff they can tell us about?

I am 53 years old and have been quite partial to Brown Sauce since the age of 10. HP is without question the definitive brand. It is quite funny that at the age of 52 I first realised that HP stood for Houses of Parliament. Call me slow on the uptake but it never dawned on me that the picture of the Houses of Parliament that adorns the bottle may have been something of a clue.
Anyone else have examples of the penny dropping long after it should have done?

Believe all the reviews you are likely to read about this album. It is sensational. Perfectly crafted pop songs with Midlake and some excellent orchestration providing a superb backdrop. If you can locate it, make sure you get the version with a 4 track bouns cd. It is not like the album proper but the first song is an unbelievable (and funny) pastiche of Krautrock - it highlights the complexities of the man and I am pretty positive this early in the year that it will be a strong contender for the year end best ofs. If your Word subscription is up for renewal it is free with a new subscription this month (you can pay me later David).

April 17 is International Independent record store day. This is the third one I believe and it would be great if everyone on this site could make a contribution to preserving what is left of a much cherished industry. I propose that each of us find the time on that one day to find an independent record store and make one purchase. Anyone up for it. Perhaps we could then compile a list of items bought by the massive??

There are some excellent musical anthologies around but there also far too many very poor compilations. Following a visit to FOPP this week and a purchase of a Sly and Robbie compilation disc it got me thinking. The music on the disc is excellent although the packaging and short playing time are pretty awful `(less than 35 minutes). It got me thinking that Sly and Robbie with their numerous colloborations and appearances with much of the rock/reggae cognoscenti would benefit from the anthology treatment. Another artist I would love to see anthologised is Steve Earle - the current compilations/best ofs are dreadful and he must have loads of unreleased and rare stuff.

Who would you most like to see on an anthology?

I am hoping David H allows this. 90 percent of the time I listen to my IPOD I do so on shuffle. Occasionally I can get a whole wad of songs I don't recognise or even artists I don't recognise.So I thought it would be fun to take five random songs and identify the artist, the song title and the album giving 1 point for each correct answer. Maximum 15 points, minimum a big fat zero. Same rules apply, no cheating etc:-

Can't get you outta my head (1), Julian Cope (1), You got a problem with me (1)
Over the hill (0), Loudon wainwright (1), Unrequited (0)
Winter birds (0), Ray LaMontagne (1), Gossip in the grain (0)
King of Rock and Roll (1) Prefab Sprout (1) 38 Carat collection (1)
Ophelia (1) Natalie Merchant (1) Ophelia (1)

Total score 11 which is higher than the next 2 goes I had and probably higher than my average.

It must be difficult to review a new album release. How many times do you listen to it before committing pen to paper? 5? 1? Just a partial listen?
The reason I ask is because i strongly disagree with the review in Word of Peter Gabriels Scratch my back release. However, had I have listened just once my conclusion would have been pretty similar to the review. It is a strange album for Gabriel as there is no percussion. Strange because he is an artist I most associate with rhythm in popular music. Taking that aside he has done a brilliant job of reinterpreting some pretty unusual choices of song to cover.For example Paul Simons The boy in the bubble. One of my favourite songs from Graceland I could never reconcile the lyrics with the jauntiness of the tune. Gabriel has slowed it right down and allowed the menace in the words to come to the fore. He does an equally impressive job with Randy Newman's I think its going to rain today and does an excellent impersonation of Guy Garvey elsewhere.
So my question is 'does the reviewer still believe this album doesn't cut it? or is there a re-evaluation of its merits? And if so, what other albums have reviewers changed their mind about?

Up until very recently I have not really downloaded too much music. Certainly not from Amazon or ITunes - never saw the point - physical product was always more attractive and still is in most instance.Some pricing doesnt make sense. Following the recent blog about Steely Dan I decided to update my IPOD with all the Dan/Fagen stuff not on there. Unfortunately it appears my 'Countdown to Ecstacy' has gone walkabouts. The choice on Amazon is £4.99 to buy it and over £7 to download it. Er guys, it is a no-brainer.
Anyway cut a long story short I found by accident there are bargains to be had - the latest David Ford album not even released here yet is available for download at £4.49 and for sale at over £13 - another no brainer. Sun Ra - Space is the place for less than £4.00. I ordered the latest Bobby Charles cd from Amazon and the bloody thing hasn't arrived yet - could have got the download instantly for half the price.
I think we should have an alert system when bargains become available so that we can all take advantage of them should we so wish.

So far we have had London, Glasgow and Manchester shindigs arranged for the massive. I really would like to attend the London one but as it would necessitate an overnight stay and it is a week before a holiday I have to decline. In the interests of serving the Midlands community.I propose a Birmingham bash for late April or early May. Since we have the opportunity of an erstwhile ex guitarist of a Scottish punk band promising attendance if we hold it on a thursday night this is the night I am proposing unless the massive have objections to this night.
Lets show the rest of the country what a real knees up should look like. There will be a prize for the best 'Funky moped' impression.

Recently I sought out on cd the first 2 Peter Case albums that long ago I had on cassette (remember them little plastic things that got clogged up in the car stereo?).These albums are over 20 years old but still sound fresh and valid. It is a crime that he wasn't more prominent and at the time I had the impression it was something to do with the fact that he had split from Victoria Williams who got the sympathy vote because of her illness. Whatever, he was an under appreciated talent.

Our very own Carl Parker got me a copy of the Matraca Berg album South of Heaven because I stupidly failed to buy it at the Wine,women and song tour last year. Put simply, it was the best album I heard by a female artist last year. She can't even get it released in this country. Another case of talent being suppressed. Who else should get nominated for the 'travesty of justice' awards?

Stumbled across King Curtis while listening to Allen Toussaint linked artists on Last FM. Really liked what I heard and then checked him out on Spotify - there was a pretty extensive choice of stuff to listen to. In fact it was pretty daunting. Anyone care to recommend any specific albums of his - my preference would be to veer away from the lighter side of his catalogue.