Hooligan's Lament: February 2008

Wednesday, 27 February 2008

...a different drummer's playing a different kind of beat

Thanks again to all of you who leave comments. Guys like scotsraindog, smacky, boz and barbelith, to name a few, who keep coming back and keep leaving favourable comments, make this all the more worth while.

I look at this as a sort of therapy session with an invisible shrink, where I get to rant about all sorts of crazy shite while sharing some of the music I've found over the years.

I've never really considered the fact that anybody did anything other than skip to the music nor did I expect anyone to leave comments.

I have to admit I was a bit concerned if people did leave comments having seen some fairly vicious stuff left on other blogs. One such comment I came across about a year ago was, to me anyway, so beyond belief that I actually felt compelled, for the first time, to leave a comment myself. It may actually have been one of the catalysts for starting off this blog.

The subject was a Dylan bootleg, put up in mp3 format.
The exchange of comments shocked me.

Alongside a number of complaints about the poor quality, the most significant, was the one branding the blogger as an idiot for diluting the seed.
For posting in a lossy format.

Now, I know that the Dylan bootleg mafiosi are a bit of close knit bunch with all their CD-R and tape sharing, and I know they are very protective of their muse but come on guys, this was a bootleg from 1963! One on which we only have Dylan, his moothie and an acoustic guitar (plus a hat and a 'necklace'). The recording is interspered with interviews and dates from a time prior to digital technology. It was probably recorded onto a tape reel that then sat around in Cynthia Gooding's broom cupboard for years. Granted, it is a great recording and I have heard much, much worse but, having downloaded an mp3 version and a FLAC version, I have to say I found the difference insignificant.

The whole FLAC, OGG thing is a bit beyond me anyway. Why encode to a file that can't be played? Is there some sort of conspiracy going on here between the bootleggers and the software geeks?
I don't really care because if I want something badly enough I'll settle for any format but it is a pain to have to decode from FLAC to WAV to MP3.

If, like me you listen to your music in the car, on an iPod, on a PC or on a docking station, then you're going to get some pretty average quality anyway. Fine, if you have the time and the money to share your 5 grand hi-fi with total peace and quiet as your only friend, go ahead and burn your bootleg onto the crappy, inferior quality CDs that are commercially available. Me, I have to contend with all sorts of background noise, none more significant than an airport less than a mile away.
The recording could be punched by a blind cobbler onto the bottom of a hob nail boot and picked up by one of Dylan's fingernail clippings and I'd barely notice the difference. For me, MP3 on a hard drive will suffice.

The whole torrent business which, I admit, is good to a point, still bemuses me a bit. Why the hell do we have this repeated nonsense where a torrent completes to 98 or 99% then stops. Is this a deliberate ploy to keep people seeding for longer? I guess so, but come on, I once left my computer running for a week and half in an attempt to complete a download (unsuccessfully I may add).
On top of that are all the ads for porn, gambling, shock vids and the like that the torrent hosts support.

That sort of thing doesn't offend me in any way but it ceases to be funny when the face of a twelve year old child appears at my shoulder
In reality though, I'm getting something for free so why should I complain.

Same applies to the guys who complained to my fellow blogger about the poor quality of the recording he put up for free download.

I know its been up at T.U.B.E., which I still think is the best source for boots either directly or by link, but here it is again for you to decide....

Bob Dylan - Cynthia Gooding Radio Show
http://rapidshare.com/files/94007663/Folksinger_s_Choice_1962-03-11_FM_Pt_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/93999497/Folksinger_s_Choice_1962-03-11_FM.rar

Gun - The River Sessions - sorry about the missing track but the torrent didn't complete
http://rapidshare.com/files/89729932/The_River_Sessions_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89661202/The_River_Sessions_2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89693385/The_River_Sessions_3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89716928/The_River_Sessions__CD1_.rar

Danny Wilson - Sweet Danny Wilson
http://rapidshare.com/files/93509924/Sweet_Danny_Wilson.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/93502860/Sweet_Danny_Wilson_2.rar

Roddy Frame - Western Skies
http://rapidshare.com/files/96926325/Western_Skies.rar

Mike Scott - The Lion Of Love
http://rapidshare.com/files/96919101/The_Lion_of_Love.rar

Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
http://rapidshare.com/files/96930738/You_Cant_Hide_Your_Love_Forever.rar

The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops
http://rapidshare.com/files/96938551/A_Walk_Across_The_Rooftops.rar

The Liberties - Distracted (no not the Libertines)
http://rapidshare.com/files/96970655/Distracted.rar

Ron Sexsmith - Other Songs
http://rapidshare.com/files/96911728/Other_Songs.rar

Jackie Leven - Control
http://rapidshare.com/files/93529168/Control.rar

APB - Radio 1 Sessions
http://rapidshare.com/files/96744407/The_Radio_1_Sessions.rar

Roddy Frame - Live in the Round
http://rapidshare.com/files/99576707/Live_In_The_Round.rar

Enjoy

Hooli

ah'm oan ma way from miseree to happee-ness today-ay...

As a post script to last weeks ramble, I was watching the movie 'Once' on DVD on Saturday and actually trying to figure out what it was I loved about the film so much.

I came to the conclusion that one of the factors was the fact it was so un-Hollywood.
If it had been a Hollywood job, the whole thing would have played out very differently.
I won't expand on that in case you haven't see the film. Those who have will know exactly what I mean. Those who haven't, if you like music, above any other, see this film.
This was a typically understated work of realism and simple beauty that is clearly beyond the big Hollywood studios.

Anyway, with the Oscars and the Brits out of the way our attention naturally turns to that other great example of pageantry and wallowing in past glories, the Eurovision Song Contest.

What a laugh it is.
The way a certain sector of the media gets all steamed up about our prospects.
Lets assume, for a moment that, as its name suggests, it has something to do with Europe and songs.
What then, are Britain’s chances of producing a winning entry?

You have to be doubtful don't you.
Firstly, we are forever being told that we don't want to be in Europe.
Secondly, if our past form is anything to go by, we don't have any songs either.

Would you be a brave enough man to bet against it though?
I said we don't have songs but we all know that's not true. We have songs aplenty, it's just that we choose to invest more millions in a daft wee charade, surely designed only to keep Terry Wogan in Guinness tokens until Pudsley Day, than we do in actually getting a decent song out there.

We have a wealth of tradition, a great history of fine pop and rock music spanning over 50 years, a host of new artists supported by the Brit Academy (ok, just a hint of sarcasm in that last one).
But seriously, we have music schools throughout the country teaching our talented youngsters the merits of learning about music, melody, structure and form, running masterclasses across the length and breath of the country. We even have Simon Cowell et al, mentoring young wannabes to great heights.

In reality though, what will we get? Another novelty act with more chance of winning a Karaoke night at Butlin’s.
I saw a glimpse of the TV coverage on Saturday and I have to say, 'Norge, du har ikke noe å bekymre seg om'. No disrespect to Andy Abrahams but he was on the X Factor and didn't win that! Can we honestly say the Norwegians, or anyone else for that matter, have anything to worry about?

No, thought not.

Would anyone who plays with the full deck really bet on a him winning this time?
I doubt it but you know what they say about a fool and his money.

And what of Europe? Well, we are now to believe that Europe extends beyond the Bosphorous to Turkey, Lebanon and Israel, not to mention the southern ex-Soviet states. At least they want to be Europeans.

It's a strange one that. I always wondered where, geographically, Russia or the old USSR ceased to be European and became Asian but, on speaking to a Russian girl recently from eastern Russia, but who lived in Moscow, it was very clear that she was first, a Russian, then a European.

Anyway, we accept that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra are independent so why not Shetland or the Isle of Man or, shortbread tins at the ready, Scotland...

I believe there is actually talk of a Scottish entry.
What would we have? Some bagpipes? Some Shetland fiddlers? Maybe a Gaelic choir? Maybe some accordion?
So long as they didn't roll out the MacDonald Brothers we'd have to be pretty confident.

We could simply pop Craig and Charlie Reid up on the stage, bit of political satire, they wouldn't even have to sing...just turn up, the specs twins, big, mega strums, ...wallop...

...as they say in Euroland, Ecosse - douze points...
...as we say up here, it's in the ingin bag, one - nil, game over, mine's a pint.

But what's this?
Oh F4ck! it's Espana and Italia.

What chance have we got now?

Only one chance and that's...
Nae chance!

And so, with no relevance to Eurovision whatsoever, the music...

The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith http://rapidshare.com/files/97781854/Sunshine_On_Leith.rar

Ian McNabb - Don't Stop Believin'
http://rapidshare.com/files/93521339/People_Don_t_Stop_Believin_.rar

Fionn Regan - End Of History http://rapidshare.com/files/96723009/The_end_of_history.rar

British Sea Power - Open Season http://rapidshare.com/files/89543752/Open_Season.rar

Friday, 22 February 2008

I'm very well acquainted with the 7 deadly sins...

...I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in' quipped Warren Zevon on Mr Bad Example. This leads me to think of excesses like lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.
The Academy awards and the Brits have graced the media with their inimitable furore and their particular take on Dante's 'The Divine Comedy' meanwhile we, the lowly public, are left to sift through the scraps and ponder whether or not the Arctic Monkeys really were more deserving of the best album award than the Editors or if Daniel Day Lewis deserved the best actor award more than James MacAvoy or Tommy Lee Jones.

It's all down to taste really but are such spectacles actually devoid of taste? Are they really anything more than the physical manifestation of sin and corruption?

The nominations party? The champagne fuelled after show parties? The backstage Spas? The showbiz gifts? The pampered Prima Donnas? The pamered Prima Donnas pampered pooches? And that's not to mention the greatest extravagance of all. What the film studios will go to great lenghts to achieve. To make sure their star shines brighter that anyone else. The designer dress.
The statement that screams "I AM A STAR", but by God there have been some real howlers.
But at least with that, no one really goes away empty handed.

The publicity, however bad, is worth having but is such excess really necessary.

If all that is really happening is a load of communal back slapping and ego massaging by the select few who have crept onto pop culture's radar, do the Brits really reflect what is good about British music. Do the Oscars really reflect the best of the world of Cinema?

Because the Arctic Monkeys won two awards and were nominated for a third hardly puts them up alongside the likes of, dare I say it, Oasis and U2. All this shows is that the members of the academy thought they were better than anything else they had heard.
Put them alongside the Chili Peppers, REM or the Foo Fighters and Alex Turner would need more than a country toff's outfit to keep himself from getting covered in his own waz.
Pissing in the wind would be an understatement.

The same applies to those who won awards voted for by the Sun readers or the Radio 2 listeners. Lets face it, the Brits doesn’t really reflect anything more than what is at the front of popular culture.

But that's the point is it not?

Well, with nominees selected by the academy which comprises specially invited members from the music business, the media and journalists, it’s no surprise that it is the media’s darlings, those who court the spotlight, who are the popular choices for awards. What chance do independent bands, relatively unknown outside their own catchment areas, have of getting close to the nomination stage?

Maybe this truly does represent the taste of our nation but I don’t believe that we can all be that shallow. The Oscars, at least, are a bit more broad minded in their approach but no less obscene in the excess that is poured over the ceremony.

I wonder, how close to carbon neutral these events were?

I wonder, how much money was spent over the two ceremonies?

I wonder, how many empty bellies that would have filled?

Of course, I’m being very bad, very cynical and probably doing a great disservice to both Academies but in the search to find answers to the three questions above, I gave up after three hours of trying. Makes you wonder doesn’t it. Were the answers simply unavailable or was there something to hide. Anyway, to redress some of the balance, here are my academy awards for the past 12 months…

Best Actors in a Supporting Role
Spanish referee Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez and late Italian substitute Giorgio Chiellini who conspired to swick Scotland out of a draw and qualification to the 2008 world cup finals.
I know it's sad to play the footy card but we were really in with a good shout there.

Best Album King Creosote - Bombshell

Removed by request

Best Song Effect & Cause – The White Stripes http://rapidshare.com/files/95525860/Icky_Thump.rar

Best Film Hallam Foe
Squeezed out of the BAFTAs
Ignored at the Oscars.

Go and see this movie or buy the DVD.
It is a jewel in the crown of Scottish film making. Should have given this best score too but I was torn between it, Once and Lucky You so to even things out...

Best Score Once, Hallam Foe and Lucky You - couldn't decide between the three

http://rapidshare.com/files/95506471/Once_-_OST.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/95518074/Hallam_Foe.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/95481182/Lucky_You.rar

Best Newcomers Glasvegas http://rapidshare.com/files/95491980/Go_Square_Go.rar

Best New Music Blog http://kokoro-datamp3.blogspot.com/

Best Oldies Blog http://c-60lownoise.blogspot.com/

Best Boots Blog http://theultimatebootlegexperience.blogspot.com/

Most Sadly Missed Blog http://earbleedingcountry.blogspot.com/

and so to the what's hot and what's not section...

Hot
Best Comeback
Led Zeppelin at O2 Arena.
The gig that everyone suddenly wanted to go to.

Perhaps that is the best justification for a tour since the attempts to prevent an eBay auction, only ended up selling the tickets off to people who didn't care so much about the music as they did just being there.

Also, Jimmy Page gets the best 'growing old with dignity' award.
No messy divorces or crummy album releases for him.

A life devoted to charity work and the preservation of his bands legacy will do just fine, thank you very much.

Hotter
Best Hairdo
Cate Blanchett’s Dylan wig in I’m Not There.

What can you say?

Hottest
Best Prosthetic
Christina Ricci’s nose/snout in Penelope.
Not the best of pics but lets be honest here, they could have stuck a whole pig with an apple up its arse on there and she'd still be stunningly gorgeous.
Having actually seen this movie with my kids, I have to say it's not as bad as it sounds but why the hell they insisted on making James MacAvoy's character an American is anyones guess.

That however, is another subject for another time.

This meantime, is simply an excuse for including a better picture of Miss Ricci in all her glory.

Chilly
Best Example Of She Must Be Wearing That For A Bet
You'd have thought her best mate would have told her.

For me, Jennifer Hudson’s unflattering high waisted effort at the Oscars made her look like she’d escaped from a kid's set of Duplo.

Wonder if she arrived in a limo made from Lego?

Cold
Award For Outstanding Achievement
Gordon Brown – for staying in power despite inheriting a festering carcass and lurching from one crisis to another.
This is also a prime candidate for caption of the week. I wonder what Sir Bob is thinking.

Brrrrrrr... Best Hairdon’t
Donald Trump - not so much a hairdon't as a 'how the hell does he do that' and how does it defy gravity?
I wonder how it all stays in position when he visits windy Aberdeenshire.
Surely this is way beyond the realms of Brylcreem, Sunsilk or even... dare I say it...

Cossack for men.

Does anyone know if that's still on the market or has it gone the way of Hai Karate aftershave and Top Deck Shandy?

Enough of the frivolity...
...to tide you over till next time, the serious stuff...

Warren Zevon - Mr. Bad Example
http://rapidshare.com/files/95529835/Mr._Bad_Example.rar

Aberdeen's Finest - The Little Kicks - EP3
http://rapidshare.com/files/95519964/EP3.rar

Stephen Fretwell - Magpie
http://rapidshare.com/files/95511791/Magpie.rar

Elliott Smith - Figure 8
http://rapidshare.com/files/94016579/Figure_8.rar

and finally
Bonnie Prince Billy - Ask Forgiveness
http://rapidshare.com/files/93415400/Ask_Forgiveness.rar

Enjoy.

Hooli

One by one my marbles left me...

Every now and then, something weird happens, and madness apparently sets in.

You have an experience and you think, I'm losing it; how did this happen; it must be my age; how come I didn't see this coming.

I went to my local library today, only to find that I had lost my library card. Nothing particularly unusual about that since I'm a bit of a careless twat at times but what was scary was the fact that I found myself veering, subconsciously, towards the country music section. Without even thinking, I'm flicking through the Tammy Wynettes, Dolly Partons and Billie Joe Spears. Admittedly, the Americana stuff like Son Volt and Josh Ritter is in there too, but could it be that I'm turning into my mother.

Eclectic is one thing but I draw the line at D.I.V.O.R.C.E or Blanket on the Ground. It's not that these are bad songs but the whole spectre of country music has had big, barbed wire barriers around it since I was a teenager.

Listing to Zeppelin while my parents were listening to the strains of pedal steel guitars and the lilting voices of the stacked up blondes, we seemed lifetimes apart. The closest I got to these songs were the Billy Connolly parodies.

Looking back, I see country music as less of a threat and can now put it into some sort of perspective by way of people like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. I guess, maybe now, age is getting the better of me, and the parameters are shifting. I dare say in a few years time, my kids will be thinking of Zeppelin as lightweight and insignificant.

Meantime, though a mix of stuff and not a rhinestone in sight...

The Icicle Works – Best Of http://rapidshare.com/files/93443669/The_Best_Of_The_Icicle_Works__Disc_One_.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/93449077/The_Best_Of_The_Icicle_Works__Disc_Two_.rar

Wayne Robbins And The Hellsayers – The Lonesome Sea http://rapidshare.com/files/93462886/The_Lonesome_Sea.rar

Cosmic Rough Riders – Too Close To See Far http://rapidshare.com/files/93473592/Too_Close_To_See_Far.rar

Damien Rice – Live at WPXN 15th December 2006 http://rapidshare.com/files/93488276/WXPN__15.12.2006.rar

…another fine Dylan bootleg… Bob Dylan – Pecos Blues http://rapidshare.com/files/89634506/Pecos_Blues__Bootleg_.rar

…Natalie Merchant from the classic era… 10000 Maniacs – Live 1988 http://rapidshare.com/files/89737428/Live_1988.rar

Idlewild – Acoustic Set http://rapidshare.com/files/89757353/Acoustic_Set.rar

Michael Marra – Gaels Blue http://rapidshare.com/files/89776830/Gaels_Blue.rar

Apologies for the poor quality of this one… Waterboys – Aberdeen Music Hall http://rapidshare.com/files/88695915/Music_Hall__Aberdeen__9th_March_1989__pt1.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/88685760/Music_Hall__Aberdeen__9th_March_1989__pt2.rar

Bonnie Prince Billy – Ease Down The Road http://rapidshare.com/files/93430974/Ease_Down_the_Road.rar

and finally, memories of all those teenage years, trying to drown out the strangled strains of the Grand Ol' Opry... Billy Connolly - Raw Meat For The Balcony http://rapidshare.com/files/93990946/Raw_Meat_For_The_Balcony.rar

Enjoy

Hooli

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Lay down your weary tune lay down

With Christmas, New Year, Valentine's and last week’s business trip over and done with, you’d think I’d be safe. You'd think that there could be no greater indignity that being traffic jammed on the M61 for two and a half hours, with only a radio for company. It had to be on Valentine’s Day and what did they insist on blabbing about all day? You got it...did so and so really mean it when she told her boyfriend that she didn’t wan’t a card or a present. Should he? Shouldn't he? Oh p-leeeaase – spare us the details.
I have to say, I felt like a little divine retribution was being handed out.

Just when I thought I’d escaped all the silliness of ads for Chrissie pressies, leather settees adorned by fake, smug couples, double divan boingy springy beds adorned with more fake, smug couples, and valentines dining a la M&S.
“This is not just Valentines Day, it’s M&S Valentines Day”, which actually means it’s the just the same but twice the price.
Just when I thought we’d seen the last of The Farniture Fucktory Big January Sale and the last of the Shag Shack January Knockdown, the junk mail starts flooding through my letterbox like a tidal wave.
Junk mail though, is something I can live with, simply by choosing route one to the recycling bin.
What I do have some difficulty with, is telesales and the way it's protagionists hunt in packs.
I wonder if there is some strategy to this. I wonder if they get together at little telesales conventions in faceless little town halls in middle England to discuss, over curled up salmon paste sandwiches, when it’s best to torment the public, within the confines of their own homes.
“Let’s wait until they’re battered senseless by the endless stream of TV ads; until they’re buried under the mounds of hearing aid, stair lift and bank loan junk mail.
When their resistance is so low, we’ll strike a multi pronged, pincer movement, right when they are at their weakest.”
I once had four in one evening all within the space of a single hour. All unsolicited; all trying to sell me something I didn’t want and all encroaching on my valuable, private time.

The trouble with this now, is that you often can’t tell if it is genuinely telesales or if it is some kind of scam.
Sure, you get the double-glazing sales, the conservatory sales, the kitchen sales, the bedroom sales and the re-mortgage brokers.

Generally, you know it’s a load of bollocks, if you get, in fake posh girly voice, trying to sound intelligent...
“Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m calling from Kitchen Makeovers Direct and we’ve been doing some promotions in your area and I’m pleased to say your postcode has been chosen by our computer to receive a full range of kitchen units and matching appliances absolutely free and all you have to do to qualify is to answer one simple question” short pause while she's given oxygen, “If you could have one appliance replaced, which would you chose?”

In reality you can have any amount of units you want so long as they’re made of cardboard. As for the matching appliances? The only thing that matches is the fact that they too are crap.
The only way you’re going to get anything half way decent is to part with the cash equivalent of a Rolls Royce with a couple of Ferraris thrown in for good measure.

You have to be forgiven for thinking 'identity theft' when you get, on fake posh girly voice, trying to sound mature and sincere...
“Hi, May name is Nikki and I’m calling on behalf of the Bank of Oz, I’m updating the bank’s computer records and I just need to confirm your details to ensure you still have an account with the bank. Can you confirm your account number is 0123456789 and could you please confirm your name, address and date of birth?”

Telesales people however, are not scammers. They are simply real people who are only trying to do a job and supplement their earnings with some evening work.
The trouble is that they are all trained by the telesales equivalent of the SAS to talk the shit out of even the most awkwardly defiant of customers. They are brainwashed by men in white coats with jam jar spectacles and high foreheads into believing that, apart from themselves, everyone else is stupid and totally incapable of free choice.

I invariably find myself trying to reason with the caller.
“if I wanted a new kitchen I’d hop along to my local DIY shop or talk to my mate Jim the joiner”
“if I wanted double glazing I’d get myself onto Yell.com and get some people in to give me competitive quotes”
“if I wanted a new mortgage I’d have gone to the bank or spoke to a broker”
“if I’d wanted to speak to an annoying twat who won’t listen to anything I say, I’d have chosen a career in politics”

The thing that really pisses me off though, over and above the fact that getting a word in is harder than squeezing an American Express card up Scrooge's arse, is the fact that you can’t do anything to convince them that you are of sane and rational mind. The fact that you know, in spite of anything they may tell you, that there is a catch and even if there isn’t, you’re perfectly capable of making up your own mind when you want something and how to go about getting it, is totally irrelevant. They know best.
Why, if they’re so f4cking razor sharp, do they have to do telesales instead of a real job in macro biology or quantum physics.

The simplest thing would be to hang up since ending the conversation can only really be done by resorting to rudeness but If you have the time, it’s more fun to string things along for a bit.

All of this is, of course, completely unnecessary if you can avoid the calls in the first place.

Call screening is one answer. The answer-phone is another.
I know someone who once had the answer-phone message, “Sorry I can’t take your call. If you’re a friend or a relative, please leave a short message after the tone. If you are selling something, please f4ck off and don’t call back”

I only briefly tried the answer-phone but the message was so hideously embarrassing that I had the machine removed.

Perhaps it is time for a reinstatement with a new message...

...maybe one like the Dylan one on this 60s bootleg...
Bob Dylan – 12 Curses
http://rapidshare.com/files/93496099/12_Curses.rar
some more fence stuff...
Pictish Trail – Hot Trail
Removed by request
...and another of the bright young things of British folk...
Seth Lakeman – Kitty Jay
http://rapidshare.com/files/86619594/Kitty_Jay.rar

Black Box Recorder – The Facts Of Life
http://rapidshare.com/files/81423069/Facts_of_Life.rar
...rock equiv of the Fence Collective...
Reindeer Section – Y’all Get Scared Now Y’Hear
http://rapidshare.com/files/81382604/Y_All_Get_Scared_Now__Ya_Hear_.rar
having bought the new Kevin McDermott album, I'm strongly resisting putting it up...
Kevin McDermott Orchestra – For Those In Peril From The Sea
http://rapidshare.com/files/89533551/For_Those_In_Peril_From_The_Sea.rar
The Finn Brothers – Everyone Is Here
http://rapidshare.com/files/81409593/Everyone_Is_Here.rar
James Yorkston – Roaring The Gospel
Removed by request
Aerogramme – My Heart Has A Wish
http://rapidshare.com/files/89486219/My_Heart_Has_A_Wish_That_You_Would_Not_Go.rar
Richmond Fontaine – Thirteen Cities
http://rapidshare.com/files/93408862/Thirteen_Cities.rar
...sorry about the quality of this one...
Teenage Fanclub – Live At The Lemon Tree 2000
http://rapidshare.com/files/89787356/Live_At_The_Lemon_Tree_2000.rar
...Waterboys cohort, Steve Wickham and band...
No Crows – Live At The Strand
http://rapidshare.com/files/89772739/Live_At_The_Strand.rar
Garbage – Jacksonville 27th October 2002
http://rapidshare.com/files/89496879/Jacksonville__27.10.2002.rar

Another post hopefully on Saturday.
Enjoy the music.

Cheers
Hooli

Friday, 8 February 2008

The world is collapsing around our ears....

Never having cared much for radio presenters and their incessant, incoherent brand of silliness, I have, over the years, become an avid reader of the music press. I find it much more informative plus it’s much easier if you find yourself reading something that you suddenly find disagreeable, to just turn the page.
Radio, and TV for that matter, despite the presence of the off button, has that annoying habit of reeling you in and keeping you dangling on its tenuous little line. You daren’t turn off in case the next track is a stoater but no, on comes Slimy and Grimy and their posse of pretentious Z listers, gibbering some nonsense in the belief that it’s topical humour.
(you could, of course, say the same about me – and I wouldn’t blame you if you did – but I’m not trying to be funny nor am I getting paid, plus, you can always just scroll to the good bit – come to think of it, if you’re a DJ, maybe you better do just that)

Radio, for me, just seems to have a habit of being…
...well…a habit. And a pretty boring one at that.

Nothing much really changes. They play the playlist. They play the playlist backwards. They play the play list from the inside out and then from the outside in. Then they play bits of the playlist back to back. Then you get the news followed by more playing of the playlist thingy. Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!!!

Even the allegedly clever stations do it. The same 40 or so songs over and over and over until…ZAPPPPP!!!
Like a bolt of lightning, you hear something new, something original, a sound you’ve never hear before. Something bristling with wild, untamed energy that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. You take in every note, every word, right to the end, waiting to hear who is responsible when…

BASTARDS!

It’s flabby, crabby and the pisspots again going on about how they were at the premier of the latest John B Actor movie and ate 12 trays of canapés out of Soapie’s silicone valley, drank the place out of champers, fell over in the toilets and woke up 6 hours later with a furry tongues and smelling of puke.

These radio stations seem to be following the same formula to reach out to every sector of the population with a sweeping, demographic dragnet, hauling in new young audiences all over the country with couthy sounding DJs, appealling a little bit to everyone without ever really bringing anyone to the orgasmic heights.

You turn your radio on and you 've got the breakfast posse, the token, cheeky cockney (who actually grew up in Richmond), the token posh bloke trying to be a bit rootsy in an inverse snob type of way, you've get the Irish bloke, the Scots bird, the 'ay up' Northern bloke, you've got the gay bloke (except he's not really gay, he just sounds a bit like Julian Clary and it would be politically incorrect not to have a gay bloke). Trouble is, they're only playing six songs an hour and it's the same crap over and over and over and over. Even the surfer dude and the black dude play the same surfer dude and black dude music over and over.

You've had enough! You turn on the TV and what do you get.

F4ck me pink -
...if it's not the same shower of pish in a different disguise.

Celebrity bloody family f4cking fortunes with big Vern Northernbloke and his celebrity chums.
Of course, this is not a pop at anyone in particular, I'm sure Mr. Kay is the modern, slightly less shiny, slightly less Tangoed, version of Bob Monkhouse. I'm sure the housewives love him and I do find him a likeable enough host but everything has its place.
Everything, that is, except ubiquity.

For me ubiquity takes the pleasure out of everything.
The French Truffle is the delicacy it is, not because it taste nice.
It's because it is almost as rare as rocking horse crap that it is so sought after.

Perhaps we're now getting to the real root of the problem.
Is it the ubiquitousness of things like the radio playlisters that gets me?

I think it probably is.
Maybe it is best to keep the good stuff where it is, safely underrated...
...Last Resort syndrome and all that, 'call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye, business.

Anyway, I digress, the music press, for me has always been the true shaper of the nations musical culture. Whether it is the NME, Q, Mojo, Uncut, Rolling Stone or whatever, it at least is put together by a collection of people who are educated enough to be able to write an article or fashion a critical review.

The trouble with reviews now though is that, too often, they are condescending or dismissive of things that the writers think just aren’t cool.
Everything has its place. The things we habitually slag off have a position in the grand scheme, even if it is just to make mediocre albums by great artists sound better than they really are. As I’ve said before, there are no bad songs, only bad portrayals.

All of which brings me to one of favourite films, Almost Famous, which I have just watched again for about the 100th time. Nothing to do with Kate Hudson of course but I wonder just what Chris Robinson had to sell to get that hand dealt to him.

Almost Famous OST
http://rapidshare.com/files/89882705/Almost_Famous.rar

Jangly pop / rock a la Big Star / REM
Matthew Sweet - Time Capsules
http://rapidshare.com/files/89872578/Time_Capsules.rar

makes you realise what a loss Stuart Adamson was
Big Country - Eclectic
http://rapidshare.com/files/89869151/Eclectic.rar

...hot hot hot...
Garbage - Roskilde 1998
http://rapidshare.com/files/89812946/G_-_Roskilde_98.rar

...more bootleg stuff from Mr Zimmerman...
Bob Dylan - Broadside
http://rapidshare.com/files/89809084/Broadside.rar

...in eager anticipation of the new album, I'll try to put the remaining three shows up before it comes out...
REM - Dublin Olympia 2nd night
http://rapidshare.com/files/89798523/Olympia_Theatre_-_pt1_Dublin_-_Night_2__01.07.2007.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89803103/Olympia_Theatre_-_pt2_Dublin_-_Night_2__01.07.2007.rar

...like wise, eagerly anticipating the new album and (hopefully) some UK dates...
Counting Crows - Live In Berkley
http://rapidshare.com/files/89751479/Live_In_Berkley_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/89743901/Live_In_Berkley2.rar

Cat Power - Live in Paris
http://rapidshare.com/files/89782287/Live_in_Paris.rar

VA - A Concert For Africa (Delgados, Mull Historical Society & Belle + Seb
http://rapidshare.com/files/89649246/A_Concert_For_Africa.rar

The Waterboys - Too Close To Heaven
http://rapidshare.com/files/81373127/Too_Close_To_Heaven.rar

...and another tenuous Waterboys link, solo album from fiddle player...
Steve Wickham - Geronimo
http://rapidshare.com/files/89789972/Geronimo.rar

anyone who want's this has probably already got it but it keeps the Fence thing going...
VA - Ballads Of The Book
http://rapidshare.com/files/89624927/Ballads_Of_The_Book.rar

and...
James Yorkston - Lang Cat etc
Removed by request

And finally, nothing to do with the Fence Collecive but surely proof that radio once had something uselful to say...
The Shirehorses - The Worst etc etc...
http://rapidshare.com/files/89792636/The_Worst_Album_in_the_World_..._Ever_..._EVER_.rar

...anyone who ever listened to popular radio during the hey day of Britpop will surely identify with this.

Enjoy...

Hooli

Saturday, 2 February 2008

Don't talk to me about love...

So January, with all the rejoicing and frivolity of Hogmanay and Burns Night, came and went, leaving in its wake, the next wave of winter.
The air, crisp and cold. The morning ground, white and virginal.
The washers in the car, frozen solid and the pavements (sidewalks) like a bottle.
All this and we are supposed to be thinking of love.

February is the month of lovers, especially the 29 day bonus edition; at least that’s what we’re told.
It’s certainly the month for card companies, florists and confectioners to cash in on the romantic aspirations of our female contingent. So great is the desire to push the festival of St. Valentine that we now get it force fed from about four weeks prior to the actual date.
Being a romantic at heart but actually really crap at it in real life, I always thought that St. Val had a lot to answer for.
It’s all well and good for those among us who are truly loved up, but what does it all really mean? Who is responsible for the abduction of so many women’s hearts and the ransom demands placed upon their unsuspecting partners?

The belief is that St Valentine, as we know him, could have been any one of three martyred men with the name Valentinus.
Pope Gelasius 1st claimed that one of them, Valentinus, was among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."
So we don’t exactly know who the prime suspect really is and, with the implication that God alone knows anything about Valentinus, the whole affair becomes a little mysterious.
Why do we celebrate, by the exchanging of overpriced cards, roses and other tokens of adoration, the feast of a Saint we know nothing about and, as Tina Turner would say, what’s love got to do with it?

Actually, not a lot, at least not until the middle ages when Chaucer’s 14th century poetic dream vision ‘The Parlement of Foules’ linked St Valentine to romantic love.
With Cicero and Scipio’s amble through the temples of Venus having us believe when the birds could not agree on a mate, that they would trust in Nature and simply be happy to wait until next year, perhaps the work was seized upon as a bit of propaganda in favour of courtship. Fuelled by the need to stamp out promiscuity and its associated ills, it’s easy to see why.
No pills of white mercury or penicillin in those days.

With 21st century estimates now running at over 1 billion Valentine cards sent every year and promiscuity remaining undeterred over the intervening 600 or so years, it seems that it’s old Geoffrey Chaucer, the accomplice, who has a lot to answer for.

And so to the music

Altered Images - Bite (part one of the Johnny McElhone musical trilogy
http://rapidshare.com/files/88655769/Bite..._plus.rar

As requested - sorry for the wait - Hipsway and part two of the Jophnny McElhone musical trilogy
http://rapidshare.com/files/88087441/Hipsway.rar

The Fence Collective - Fence Reunited
Removed by request

James Yorkston - The Year Of The Leopard
Removed by request
plus the bonus disc
Removed by request

Counting Crows - Live at Kalamazoo
http://rapidshare.com/files/88075514/Kalamazoo_pt_1_17.07.1999.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/88080637/Kalamazoo_17.07.1999.rar

Steve Wynn - Live at Aarhus, Willem II
http://rapidshare.com/files/88065188/Willem_II.rar

The Proclaimers - Live At Glastonbury
http://rapidshare.com/files/86614599/Live_At_Glastonbury.rar

Hayseed Dixie - A Hot Piece Of Grass
http://rapidshare.com/files/83105447/Hayseed_Dixie_-__A_Hot_Piece_Of_Grass_1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/83108908/Hayseed_Dixie_-__A_Hot_Piece_Of_Grass_2.rar

Thea Gilmore - Avalanche
http://rapidshare.com/files/81394533/Avalanche.rar

Aynsley Lister - Everything I Need
http://rapidshare.com/files/81417771/Everything_I_Need.rar

Guns n Roses - Self Destruct Era http ://rapidshare.com/files/88666570/Guns_N_Roses_Nakano_Sunplaza_Tokyo__Japan__1988__pt1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/88677484/Guns_N_Roses_Self_Destruct_Era_Nakano_Sunplaza_Tokyo__Japan_1988.rar

George Thorogood - Live 1981 http://rapidshare.com/files/88712682/George_Thorogood_1981-11-08.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/88719556/George_Thorogood_1981-11-08__pt2.rar

Finishing the Johnny McElhone trilogy, Texas - Live in London
http://rapidshare.com/files/88705254/Live_in_London.rar

Thanks to all those who leave comments.
I'll try to keep it eclectic and promote the music I love.
Enjoy the music.

Cheers
Hooli

Hooligan's Lament