One of my favourite albums of all time is 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' by Richard and Linda Thompson. 'Down where the drunkards roll', 'The calvary cross' and the title track are all masters of the folk genre. I was a bit wary then when I began to listen to their later 'Shoot out the lights'. Apart from the opening track 'don't renege on our love', which is immediately engaging, the rest of the album left me cold. Five listens in I felt the same. Ten listens in I felt the same. Fifteen listens in I began to change though. Suddenly this album sounded richer, darker and more mature than 'I want to see the bright lights tonight'. I now listen to this album more.
Is there an album you can think of that you didn't like at first but was a slow burner for you?

My two purchases for this week are 'Hard Candy' by Madonna and 'Third' by Portishead. I've heard some tracks from 'Hard Candy' on the radio and I conclude I don't feel she's hooked up with a killer producer this time. 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' is pure genius from start to finish, it's a few years old now but I listen to it daily on my Ipod. Her greatest work.

Portishead's 'Dummy' reminds me of a happy, carefree summer in York when I was 22 and very much in love. The new album is hard, the audio equivalent of brutalism but there's still the same lazy, sexy, summer excitement lurking underneath.

I hold out more hope for Portishead making the forthcoming summer one to remember.

It's a constant battle for me to decide whether to stop smoking completely or not. I do only enjoy the odd one or two a day, but nonetheless it would be nice to stop altogther.

Folklore has it that Dylan quit the herb during the recording of Nashville Skyline and as a result his voice sounds almost boyish, and I like this album for that reason.

Does anyone know of any other vocalist's albums that have been enhanced by either giving up smoking or the opposite, their sweet tones markedly improved by hammering fags til the cows come home?

I just heard on the R and M, Radio 2 show that Elvis has actually been in London after all and indeed visited the houses of parliament with none other than Tommy Steele.

Blimey.

How is this amazing news story only surfacing now? Apparently him and Steele became pretty good friends and I can imagine them skirting around London in the 50s, swinging from the back of a routemaster perhaps?

I can't help feeling sorry for Prestwick airport though. Their only claim to fame shot to smithereens.