...cut the cackle cos we're getting to the facts now...

Everybody has their thing.
For some it’s cars. For others it’s bikes.
Some do sports, others do movies.
Even the most brutally challenged of imaginations finds something to capture the little niche that remains unoccupied by the events of their daily life.

For most, it’s a healthy interest in some form of escape; something that takes them to another place. A place where they can be someone else or, in some cases, where they can stop pretending to be someone else and actually just be themselves. Like an imaginary friend, who never tells you the bad stuff, everybody has their crutch. Everybody has something to lean on when the need arises; something that is a comfort in the darkest of times.
For some it’s the church or religion
For others, maybe it’s a wee bit of a bevvy on a Friday night. A little bit of self-medication to cleanse the shit that has been sucked in during the week; maybe a bit of chocolate, a guilty pleasure to make amends for a week of starvation and a diet of rocket and goji berries. Maybe even a little dabble in the world of narcotics or the secret red lit and wax dripped world of the gimp.
Who knows?
Quite frankly, who cares.
Everybody has their thing and, so long as they’re not pissing in my porridge, I couldna give a toss.

As I guess anyone who comes here has noticed, my thing is music; that incredible journey through all 51 states, Europe and the world beyond.
I say 51 states because everybody knows that England is the 51st of the United States of America.
Music is a journey and whatever I’m listening to will be what I’m playing and vice versa.

Having recently read books by Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie, it’s clear that I’m not alone in this lifelong journey. So impressed was I, by their anecdotal styles and the intimacy of their stories that I toyed with the idea of a similar musical travelogue myself. I had it all planned, a chapter a month; the twelve musical phases of my life. I even went to the bother of writing it. I got as far as chapter eight which, if I’m being honest, and honest is something you have to be to do that whole autobiographical thing, was a piece of piss. It’s actually making it interesting enough for someone else to want to read that’s the tricky part. That said, and having convinced myself that it’s not the sort of thing to grace these pages for the next coming year, I still have to decide what to do about this blog.
It’s time for a change as I can’t maintain the grumpy Jack Dee persona forever.
Not sure what that change will be or even if it will be noticeable.

Meantime, taking the long way round to a subject that is close to our hearts, I consider that with every passing day, I learn something new and so, with a strange sort of similarity, with every passing week, my musical appetite demands that I hear something new.
No longer being a radio fan, I rely on a combination of the internet and the music press to fulfil this appetite. As I do from time to time, I was flicking through the music monthlies the other day before consigning them to the recycling bag that is my daughter’s bedroom.
Generally, I read the same columns first and then plough through the uninteresting dross at my leisure.
It was during this perusal, that I stumbled upon something that interested me.
Sir William of Barking, Billy Bragg no less, had entered the great file sharing debate and, as you would expect from a man of his intelligence, was being very pragmatic as he surfed atop the veritable pishwave churned up by Lily Allen.
Much has already been said and there can be no doubt that a great deal more pontificating will abound from the industry flat earthers.
I have already made it plain what my feelings are on the matter and will reiterate this only by saying that a large percentage of the files I download or see made available for download are either total or partial shite.
On average, before I started in this two ring circus, I was spending around fifty quid a month on CDs, 90% of which were crap. This peaked in the mid eighties when, during the CD revolution, I had more disposable income than ever before. I was buying out of curiosity or out of loyalty. Sometimes on the basis of a single track heard on the radio. I expect I’m pretty average in that context. Still, that amounts to a sizeable annual outlay. Factor in gigs and the travelling costs; TV/Radio licence and the 50 quid a year I was paying to the public library to borrow CDs and DVDs in order to satisfy my curiosity; it all adds up to more than I could really afford. In truth, gigging was a luxury I couldn’t really afford.
OK, so the rock star isn’t to blame for my poor choice of home town but having spent in excess of 500 nicker to see a band, I think I can be forgiven for feeling a bit pissed.
Seasoned visitors here will no doubt be experiencing déjà vu by now but the point is, putting on my best American sitcom accent, I don’t actually buy all that shit about impoverished artists and how file sharing is sucking the lifeblood out of the most creative industry in the world.
A visit to Tom Robinson’s website puts it all in perspective.
He has a number of albums up for download and an option to donate what you think they’re worth.
He has a nice little equation showing how much or rather, how little, he would get if you downloaded these from iTunes
Interesting to see this point of view so blatantly endorsed on his own website.

Another interesting thought I saw on a website tried to explain the modern concept of copyright and I quote:

“The modern idea of copyright in the UK began with the 1710 Statute of Anne, the full title of which was An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned.
The purpose was the encouragement of learning, rather than the increase in printers' profits.
So basically, copyright is a bargain between a creative person and the public. The public, via their elected representatives, say: "We will make a law which gives you a monopoly, for a limited time, on copying some creative work you have made. This financially enables you to create more works without needing a wealthy patron. And it gives us those works to enjoy, and eventually all the rights to them we would have in absence of the law."
The "Time therein mentioned" by the Statute of Anne was 14 years. Today, for musical works, the copyright term is 50 years, which means that the work of some major artists from the 1960s we still listen to today, such as The Beatles, is not far from coming out of copyright.
The record companies therefore have a financial interest in extending the copyright term on existing works. So, they have responded to the Gowers Review by rolling out major artists like Cliff Richard and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull to get all indignant about how their creative output is not being valued if they can't continue to make money from it.
But the entire multi-million pound record industry has been founded on a 50-year copyright term. The executives looked at the law, said "yes, this is a bargain we are prepared to strike with the public" and got on with the job of finding and promoting artists - very successfully.
Clearly, the copyright term is doing its job. Production of creative works has been encouraged. But now, when the patient public is coming close to getting its end of the bargain, suddenly they want to change the deal.
Let's do a thought experiment. What would happen if, tomorrow, the entire Beatles' back catalogue was suddenly out of copyright?
Firstly, it would quickly become much more widely available and listened to. High-quality copies would appear on all the legal peer-to-peer filesharing networks, and on music sale services like iTunes (where currently it's prevented from appearing by the rightsholders).
Several budget CD labels would issue box sets of the entire back catalogue at a low price. The Beatles' record company might well do higher-priced deluxe versions with bonus content such as videos or interviews to which they still had the rights. Someone would press some Beatles vinyl so scratch DJs could get their hands on copies more easily.
New music, such as dance or hip-hop, which sampled the originals, would be created and commercially released. Beatles music would become the soundtrack to many budget films, as artists jumped at the chance to use something recognisable without having to go through the hassle and expense of clearing. In short, there would be an explosion of creative output.”

Whichever way it’s tarted up, the balance of power always lies with the record companies and the industry because the law protects them and when the law cannot protect them anymore, they just make up some more laws.
As I’ve said previously, I’ve fallen foul of the takedown shakedown gang to the point where I am only posting ROIO or bootlegs.
I have heard that even that is under scrutiny with King Crimson flashing their takedown badge.
Why anyone would want to download such pompous drivel is beyond me but hey, its music Jim but not as we know it.

The best one I’ve heard recently though has to be the one where Edwyn Collins has been told he can’t put A Girl Like You on his My Space page. A song that he wrote, distributed and therefore, owns.

Totally bizarre.

And so...


Sector 27 – Live
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lwv8mk

Various Artists – A Scottish Songbook
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4u73rx

Emma Pollock – Echo
http://www.sendspace.com/file/q1gp34

Mike Peters – Radio Wales, December 2008
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4wht24

Tenacious D – Wellington , NZ, 27.12.2004
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ygh2nf

Bob Dylan – Edinburgh Playhouse 1995
http://www.sendspace.com/file/5396dc

Tom Waits – Christchurch, NZ, 04.09.1981
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ya61ns

Dave Sharp – Live in Greenock, 16.01.1991
http://www.sendspace.com/file/l7yldd

The Twilight Sad - KEXP at the Doug Fir Lounge, 17.09. 2009
http://www.sendspace.com/file/blzn5u

American Music Club – Live at the Venue, Edinburgh, 26.01.1992
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wbqlqx

The Blues Band – Live at the BBC
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4rn0dy

The Bangles – Bristol, 30.06.2008
http://www.sendspace.com/file/0menk4

The Primitives, Birmingham Powerhouse, 08.05.1988
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dzg71c

American Music Club – Calton Hill, Edinburgh30.08.1994
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6alzry

Hugh Cornwell – Wasted Festival
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kqyjpe

Laura Marling - St Pancras Old Church, 23.11.2009
http://www.sendspace.com/file/cmffyu

Twilight Sad – Neumos, Seattle, 16.09.2009
http://www.sendspace.com/file/004xzk

Blood Red Shoes - Madame Jo Jo's London, UK 2006-09-26
http://www.sendspace.com/file/1a1fqm

The Boomtown Rats - Live in California,
http://www.sendspace.com/file/v607dy

Drever, McCusker & Woomble – Live at Pocklington
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lzd71z

Joe Pug – Poe Pug
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y4hq3n

James – Festival Les Eurockéennes, Belfort 23.06.1991
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wfybsz


'til next time,

enjoy.

Hooli