All present and correct in South London.

Many beards on the cover. Should please everyone.

A few Slits. (ahem)

...count 'em, two appearances by a Housewifes' favourite.

on the mat just now it's probably too early to start being picky but....

but I shall be strolling down to the postbox as soon as I see his van pause there.

This does, of course, mean I'll now be sitting here staring out of the window instead of plugging up this here synthesizer

...absolutely no sign of it in Belfast. Still, I feel sure that even here in this all-but unreachable outpost of the UK we probably get it a day earlier than all those subscribers on the Isle of Lewis, Benbecula and Fair Isle...

... on the cover?

*Swoons*

It's Roberta from Spotify...aaarrgh

A big smiley photo of Roberta from Spotify and Victoria Coren - you spoils us

Oh and you could have thanked Adam and Joe and their listeners for the ideas in that 'what we don't want to see at gigs' piece*

But you missed a trick not having Cat Stevens\Yusuf on the Island artists cover collage. There's some great beardage across the years right there.

*(I fully accept that no idea is original and that any resemblence to a Text The Nation living or dead is purely coincidental.......Stephen!)

a man who used to be a regular at the Albert Hole folk club in south Bristol. There to see Steve Tilston one night, a mate said to me, "There's Keith Warmington over there" as I went off to the bar. On my return five minutes later, I said to him, "Who's Keith Warmington?". A voice behind my right ear piped up, "I am.", and there he was. Nice chap.

reading the mag. This is unusually quick so it was either super interesting or a bit lightweight. I think the former. I have the "Nice enough to eat" sampler and the later double "El Pea". It would be great if these were reissued on CD or download (or perhaps they have been).

Strangely strange but oddly normal, that was one of theirs (as EJ Thribb would say).

The May edition popped through my South Coast letterbox yesterday. The Island records article is a treat.

I thought I'd seen nearly every picture of Roxy Music in their early glam prime, but the one accompanying the Roxy first album piece is an absolute cracker. Ferry poses archly and awkwardly (is there any other Ferry pose?), Eno does come-hither in leopardskin, gold lamé and highlights, while less typically Paul Thompson and Andy Mackay look as if the previous night was a rather heavy one - particularly for Andy Mackay.

Surprised Mark Ellen let that one in...

...(and it's not often one gets to use that phrase) there was indeed an otherwise unavailable Quintessence track on one of those Island samplers - a live 'Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Guaranga'. It struck me that the existence of this track and of the two earlier live cuts on the band's self titled second album suggested that at least one if not two full concerts were recorded by Island (helped by the knowledge that whole sets by Free, Tull, R&L Thompson and other Island acts of the same era were also recorded by the label but not released in full at the time). And, lo, it was true! Universal/Island have no less than three vintage Quintessence shows in their keeping, which will - later this year - be debuting on CD. Well, it certainly makes ME happy!

I think I'd be better off on Rockall after all! Anyone else here live in Northern Ireland and received their subscriber copy? I've had 2 occasions in the past 2 years where the copy has not arrived at all. Which is annoying. And clearly just 'one of those things' (ie. the consequences of the Royal Mail).

But if others in NI HAVE received copies, at least this time I'll be able to ring Word central and get a replacement sent (or failing that, go into a shop and buy one) without waiting till the middle of the month just in case...

I live in Belfast and got mine on Monday.

OK, today's delivery from Her Maj's usually fine postal service has not yet arrived in remotest Chester, in the beating heart of middle England, but I still shiver with antici-------------------pation.

...then I'll try becoming Victor Meldrew. Or maybe just call Wordcentral and sheepishly suggest that just maybe the Royal Mail are, well, no good and could they perhaps get hold of a carrier pigeon and take pity on a poor soul from Ultima Thule, yea, the very outer reaches of the known world, many days travel beyond the furthest outpost of the Royal Mail, across uncharted deserts and wildernesses, the lairs of dragons and unicorns, a dark and terrible rumoured land at the edge of thought etc etc etc

Missing in action in sunny Manchester. :(

The May issue bound for Australia was just seen covering itself in lard to keep warm whilst floating on the tides to the Antipodes. Hopefully it will drag itself up the beach sometime in August... Why, in this day and age, does it take so long!! Surely, pumped full of steroids, it could increase its stroke rate and make it here a few weeks sooner?

...when you're finished with it, KC... :-)

Not in today's post either. Is there a designated ear to nip ?

... appears to be Chester to Manchester and all points in between (including my little village). Fingers crossed it's on the mat when I get home tomorrow or there'll be tears for the Easter weekend...

ditto to the above, not in rural west Lancashire yet either

I got a sub for BBC Music Magazine for Christmas, and when I go into WH Smith this morning both mags are on the stands but my matt remains resolutely unplopped for either. And I assume Postie is on hollybags tomorrow ? Something fishy going on (mutter, mutter....).

...that the Word is on the street. Specifically, Botanic Avenue, downtown Rockall... er, Belfast... I'll find out later if the carrier pigeon has managed to find my letterbox... but I'm not holding my breath!

Good job I took someone's advice on another thread and ordered the Bill Bruford autobiography. It arrived yesterday and, 50 pages in, it's already the best book by a musician I've ever read. When Bookshop Dave up Botanic Ave rang my (nearby) place of work yesterday to say it had come in, I must admit to thinking... ahem... At Last - Something To Read!

It seems my copy has indeed popped through the letterbox, as my wife (off work today) just phoned my place of employ and happened to mention what post had arrived.

Had a bit of fun with it earlier, mind: having recently secured a new job, yet to commence, Mrs H needed to call her new employers to try and pin them down with agreeing certain aspects of the offer - or, as she put it colloquially, 'To see if there's any word there yet.'

'Oh? You think they might have posted it there instead?' said I.

Obviously, she had no idea what I was talking about.

Premier delivery no longer applies to Newcastle it seems.

I'm sick as a parrot.

It's not just drummers..... it's a truth universally unacknowledged by many other instrumentalists.

You've made me want to read the book, though I can't recall what he's played on.

Spike was better than Angel, surely?