on the Lily Allen piece, at least - thought it was one the best things I'd read in the mag. Not, admittedly, because of its great insight or fresh approach to the issue, but just because I enjoyed all those pro-piracy pricks being told to fuck off in print. I imagined them reading it and weeping, which made me happy.

Bit of a landmark issue for me as it was my first time as a subscriber. (My best mate Jason, thanks again pal!) However, HUGELY marred by the fact that the plastic had been ripped and the cd removed. Apologies to any Royal Mail employees who feel aggrieved by the title of this post, I know you guys have enough crap to deal with, but if ya can't vent a bit on the Wordwebsite, you're gonna end up screaming at Speakers Corner...Do ya think Hep might sympathise with my plight and resend the cd? nah? Well ok, I'll just suckit up and put it down to the curse of 2009....

Massive massive, hear ye hear ye! Ten minutes after i posted, Fraser emailed me to request address for a replacement.Love The Word! Love it!

Surely it's about time he had a cover. Greatest mixes/Sabres/2LoneSwordsmen/Moody DJ retrospective? There must be about 8 Word regulars that would foam at the mouth for that and at least 2 staffers that could supply the feature. Apart from readership what have you got to lose?

I've rambled on about how good he is before, but I never tire of looking at his images so for now I shall not tire of praising his work. He somehow manages to create photographs that are very contemporary and yet timeless... no easy feat. Often when photographers have a 'signature style' it becomes dated very quickly because fashions change and the style is then deemed passé. But Mr Tanna will not suffer from that indignity in my opinion... he's the real deal, a truly gifted photographer who will be around for a long time.

It's a fantastic image but I couldn't spot a credit.

*edit: I see it now, it's on the seam of the previous page. It was some bloke called Rex.

I know this has been covered before but hasn’t the review section now been reduced to such an extent that it no longer serves its purpose? Now, I’m not asking for ‘179 albums reviewed!’ as your competitors often claim. Quality rather than quantity and all that.

But this month’s really feels even titchier than before. By my reckoning there are only 11 or 12 new albums reviewed. Add a couple of box sets, the odd live album, half a dozen other reissues and that’s your lot.

Rest of magazine appears to be up to its usual fine standards, I hasten to add.

Yes, I know it's popular culture and, since Manuelgate, comedians have been at the forefront of national debate, and I'm actually very happy with the magazine's increasing diversification into non-musical areas over the last couple of years, but just how interesting are comics to read about?

Six pages of the new issue* are given over for people who spout forth for a living to spout forth (Jimmy Carr, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus and Sarah Millican). I mean, it's hardly as if les tiqleurs des ribs have been neglected by the magazine recently. Only last month there was the feature on Viz (four pages) and a double-page spread each for Bill Bailey, Stewart Lee and Andy Hamilton, as well as a page for Steve Martin's take on bluegrass, plus Barry McIlheney devoting his entire TV column to a new sitcom.

With that column and Andrew Collins's, which often also beats the bounds of Chortle-on-Wry, plus the odd feature every now and again - ideally about some time-honoured, dues-paid-with-all-the-bona-fides "doers of comedy" (Clement & Le Frenais, for example, who are not only still alive but still working**) - wouldn't Word have the funnies field covered more than adequately?

Where's me washboard?
_______

* For what it's worth, I thought the Lily Allen piece was a right good read, me - but then again I am a Fitzite and appreciate that others' mileage may vary.

** They're currently knocking out the script for a film version of top pop penman Neil McCormick's seminal Bonostalkenfestbuch, apparently. (I might not have got that title exactly right. It's something German, anyway.)

I've only just finished the last one. It takes me all month as I have other magazine commitments and I like to make them last.

And on threads like these I have skip most of what's said about the features because I've yet to read them, especially when people do nothing but complain about what they've just seen. It kind of ruins it for me.

Don't tell me not to read the thread because I'm interested in all threads, whether I comment on them or not.

Summed up my views of Synth Britannia and BBC4 docs gloriously in the space of a few hundred words. Brilliant piece

Likewise for Giles Smith's Desert Island Discs feature.

Word readers will obviously want to know that Morrissey has been lined up as the guest castaway on Nov 29th btw.

What is Graeme Thomsons problem with Ryan Adams? Firstly in 2005 he stated that Ryan had released two gems of albums by September (Cold Roses and JCN). Ever since then he has backtracked and laid into the bloke at every opportunity. The most recent of which is the review of AA Bondy album- which is great by the way. Thomson states that AA Bondy has the voice that Ryan somewhere lost along the way. Now Ryan has released album after album of quality music. Graeme is it just that Ryan won't kiss your ass or are you so obsessed with him that you have to mention him in what seems like every review you do. Why don't you piss off back to the Guardian for good. Reading your views damages for me what is a great magazine.

A fine photographer. The thought of him snapping Mark E. Smith for the cover is fascinating but, presumably, we'll have to wait until Krupps start making camera lenses.

Found the article with the editor of the classical music mag very interesting (as Mr Ellen had hoped). But it worried me more than slightly when he said that Elgar's Cello Concerto was written "just before World War II". I'm no classical expert but I do know that the Cello Concerto was written just after the end of the First World War, and is in part an elegy to the generation that died in the trenches. Elgar himself died in the early 1930s. If a Word writer had described "Sgt Pepper" as written just before the Millennium we'd all be jumping up and down...

Haven't played the CD yet but am looking forward to the Nyman/McAlmont collaboration - hope it doesn't disappoint

Unforgiven for the nth time, could I also request Shamil Tanna shoot Clint Eastwood?

And Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman.

up to 122 from 114 - though the DVD box set reviews probably accounts for those.

When exactly did The Word start to shrink?

I've got a couple of old copies from late 2005 that weighed in at 154 pages, so a 40 page shortfall is quite a substantial percentage.

Anyone else notice this downsizing?

Is it just me, or did anyone else wonder when Don Warrington joined The Specials?

Having said that, Terry Hall definitely has a Rigsby-type expression.