Blog

Rating 1 stars - Hatred (I really do not like this):

Aaskereia, Chainsaw Dissection, Circle of Dead Children, Clitoridus Invaginatus, The Darkness.
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Rating 2 stars - Annoying (Please switch this off):

Agathodaimon, Brutal Truth, Burial, Cartridge, dalt wisney, Deconformity, Dissection, Eddie Sender, Fuck...I'm Dead, GORESHIT, Guttural Decay, Headhunter, Hellsaw, Hercules and Love Affair, Inherit Disease, Inkvisition, Internal Bleeding, Josh, Moondog, Morbid Angel, Mourning Beloveth, Negator, No Anchor, Ophiolatry, St. Germain, The Bloody Beetroots, The Blue Nile, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Hacker, The Police, Thou Art Lord, Ulaan Khol, Villages, Virgin Prunes, Void Settler, Zombie Nation.
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Rating 3 stars - Dull (This is boring, isn't there something better)

Aïboforcen, Amesoeurs, Animal Collective, Bat for Lashes, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Bohren & der Club of Gore, Boom Bip, Broadcast, C-Lekktor, Congorock, Dead Combo, DilemN, Disease, DJ Muggs, DragonForce, Drumcorps, Editors, Electro Hippies, Element, Fila Brazillia, GAM, Genesis, God Is an Astronaut, Graveworm, Gwynbleidd, Impure Wilhelmina, Insect Warfare, Interlace, Intuit, Ladytron, Lali Puna, Leighton Meester, Lesbians on Ecstasy, Liechtenstein, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Mamiffer, Mortician, Mount Sims, My Bloody Valentine, Panic Lift, Peaches, Pitbull, Planet Funk, Portishead, PQM, Primordial, Realms and Evolution, Ronario, Ryan Farish, Saafi Brothers, Samsas Traum, Sebus Veutgiryn, Septic Flesh, Signum, Síol Na Gréine, Soft Machine, Soulja Boy, Standeg, Telefon Tel Aviv, The J.B.'s, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Shadows, The Smiths, The White Stripes, Thieves Like Us, Tiga, Varathron, Wolves in the Throne Room, Yppah.
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Rating 4 stars - Poor (I will listen to, but is it really worth it)

80kidz, Airlock, All The Cold, Arnej, Asriel, Asriel, Beauty's Confusion, Black Lips, Black Widow, Blue Sky Black Death, Branford Marsalis, Charlie Feathers, ChipHydra, Cougar, Damien Rice, Daughtry, Day26, Digitalism, Einherjer, Faster Pussycat, GirlJoy, Grasstowne, Happoradio, Helen Trevillion, Innerpartysystem, Karmacoda, Kitchens of Distinction, Madina Lake, Massive Attack, Max, Mechanical Apfelsine, Mihai Edrisch, múm, Narkotiki, Noisia, Pain of Salvation, ROUND TABLE, Stone Gods, Strand & NonGenetic, Suga Shikao, Teräsbetoni, The Ambition, The Halloween Singers, The Presets, Tool, Transatlantic, U2, Ulver, Wanda Jackson, Warrant, Wye Oak.
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Rating 5 stars - OK (I have no real opinion on this band)

¡Forward, Russia!, A Bunny's Caravan, After School, Alabama Thunderpussy, Alexander Rybak, Alice in Videoland, Angus & Julia Stone, Artwood, Attack! Attack!, Aventura, Avskum, Bersuit Vergarabat, Blackfoot, Blood Red Shoes, Bracket, Cemetary, Chicks on Speed, Client, Cradle of Filth, Dark Princess, Disclose, Eat, Forever the Sickest Kids, Groove Armada, Hot Bitch Arsenal, Hyper Crush, Jez Lowe, Kickback, Lesley Gore, Lights, Malfunkshun, Mariana Aydar, Mediæval Bæbes, Megurine Luka, Miss Kittin, Moke, Morcheeba, morning musume, Niels Frevert, No Relax, Nosferatu, Old & In the Way, OLIVIA, Once, Patricia Vonne, Rebellion, Sabaton, Sinéad O'Connor, Sonic Youth, Soulsavers, Tenacious D, Terminal Choice, The Attery Squash, The Dubliners, The Flaming Lips, The Meters, The Script, The Sonics, The Strokes, The Thrills, Time Was, Tommy Sparks, xAFBx, Yelle, Zion I.
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Rating 6 stars - Reasonable (I will choose to listen to, I may buy an album by them at the right price)

"Weird Al" Yankovic, 3 Inches of Blood, 3OH!3, A, Abuso Sonoro, AI, Alestorm, Art Blakey, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Big Youth, Blanche, Blutengel, Bob Dylan, Bomb & Scary, Born of Osiris, Broadway Calls, Bryan Scary, Bush, Cage the Elephant, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Converge, Crazy Town, Cruachan, Dananananaykroyd, Delirium Tremens, Dion & The Belmonts, Dolores O'Riordan, Dub War, Dusty Springfield, Eek-A-Mouse, Electrocute, Eric Von Schmidt, Every New Day, Felix da Housecat, Funeral for a Friend, Gama Bomb, God Help The Girl, Goldfinger, Guns N' Roses, I Monster, I See Stars, Icke & Er, Igor Stravinsky, Jason Mraz, John Carpenter, John Otway, Jon Spencer, Kafeína, King Tubby, Korpiklaani, La Roux, Little Boots, Lucky Fonz III, Lush, Mad Cobra, Mims, My Baby wants to eat your pussy, Nachtgeschrei, Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M., Radio Birdman, Robots in Disguise, Rory Gallagher, Rossington Collins Band, Satyricon, Scary Chicken, SDI, Shena Ringo, Starfucker, Stoneman, Styles P, The Beautiful Girls, The Bones, The Boomtown Rats, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, The Doors, The Filmscore Orchestra, The Haunted, The Hellacopters, The Herd, The Home Guard, The Innocence Mission, The Maine, The Monsters, The Radiators From Space, The Rogers Sisters, The Sleeping, The Trashmen, The Tremeloes, Tricky, U-Roy, Vive la Fête, Warface, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Zaunpfahl, Zeromancer, Zootsings, ZZ Top.
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Rating 7 stars - Good (I will choose to listen to, I will buy an album by them)

20 Bulls Each, 3Dbs Down, 45 Grave, 59 Times the Pain, abingdon boys school, Amen, AntiProduct, As I Lay Dying, Asian Dub Foundation, Banda Bassotti, Bauchklang, Béla Bartók, Bessie Smith, Big in Japan, Black Grape, Blood Duster, Boyz Too Sick, Buffalo Tom, Cannae, Capleton, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Chillerton, Chris Cornell, Chuck Ragan, Chumbawamba, Civilized Animal, Cledus T. Judd, co.uk, Cocoa Tea, Crazy Arm, Credit to the Nation, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Cyco Miko, D.I., Damone, Danny Elfman, Datura, Deacon Blue, Del Amitri, DevilDriver, Dilated Peoples, Doom, Dragster, Echobelly, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Elastica, Epica, Eye for an Eye, Five Horse Johnson, FM2000, Foo Fighters, Gigolo Aunts, God Forbid, Gov't Mule, Grandmaster Flash, Green Jellÿ, Habakuk, Hot Water Music, imadethismistake, Imperial Vipers, In Flames, Insolence, Inspiral Carpets, Joell Ortiz, Kaiser Chiefs, Killa Kela, Lady Sovereign, Latterman, Living Colour, M.O.P., Madness, Magic System, Manic Street Preachers, Mary Hopkin, Modern Life Is War, Mr. Bones, Muff Potter, Murder by Death, My Passion, N.O.R.E., Nasum, Natas, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Oh, Sleeper, Operator Please, Over It, Paul Weller, Pearl Jam, Planlos, Pleymo, Pop Will Eat Itself, Psychopathic Rydas, Queens of the Stone Age, Racine, Raging Speedhorn, Rammstein, Recon, Righteous Jams, Roots Manuva, Sack Trick, Saliva, Scanners, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Scout Niblett, Sheer Terror, Sizzla, Skindred, Skinlab, Slapstick, Smash Mouth, Snoop Dogg, Spellbound, Spinnerette, Steve Marriott, Synchromystickz, Tanto Metro, Tard, Terrorvision, That Handsome Devil, That Petrol Emotion, The Androids, The Bottrops, The Butlers, The Coral, The Cranberries, The Fat Cats, The Forgotten, The Goats, The Hitchers, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Know How, The Paper Chase, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Presidents of the United States of America, The Slapstickers, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Wonder Stuff, Thrice, Transvision Vamp, Vacant Stare, Vagiant, Void, Weapons, Will Smith, Wolfpack Unleashed, Your Highness Electric, Zee Avi, Zero Boys.
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Rating 8 stars - Very Good (Music that gives me a good feeling, I will own their back catalogue as eventually)

100 Demons, 25 ta Life, Adequate Seven, Alice in Chains, Angel Cage, Angelic Upstarts, Anthony B, Atreyu, Audioslave, Aynsley Lister, Babar Luck, Backfire!, Banane Metalik, Barcode, Beastie Boys, Big D and the Kids Table, Bionic Jive, Black Friday '29, Black My Heart, Bloodhound Gang, Bloodsimple, Bob Marley, Bobaflex, Born From Pain, Boss Hog, Brotha Lynch Hung, Buck-O-Nine, Bun Dem Out, Butt Trumpet, Calabrese, Cancer Bats, Casey Jones, Choking Susan, Choking Victim, Civet, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Dead End Cruisers, Dead Hearts, Demented Are Go!, Deviate, Die Happy, Die So Fluid, Diesel Park West, Dillinger Four, Distemper, Dog Eat Dog, Dr. Dre, Drongos For Europe, Dropkick Murphys, Dry Kill Logic, Dust Junkys, DYS, Eazy-E, Edna's Goldfish, Embraced by Hatred, Eminem, Evergreen Terrace, Faith No More, Final Prayer, Final Prayer, First Blood, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Turner, Funkoars, Furious Styles, Godless Wicked Creeps, Goldblade, Government Issue, Gravediggaz, Guano Apes, Gutter Demons, Hadouken!, Harry Chapin, Hoods, Howlin' Wolf, Ian McNabb, Ice Cube, Ill Bill, In Blood We Trust, Insane Clown Posse, Insane Poetry, It Dies Today, Jamie Madrox, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Reed, Joanne Shaw Taylor, John Lee Hooker, Kid Dynamite, Kill Your Idols, Klingonz, Knuckledust, KoЯn, Lady Saw, Less Than Jake, Levellers, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lone Ranger, Looking Up, Loudon Wainwright III, Lower Class Brats, Machine Head, Mad Caddies, Mad Sin, Menstrual Tramps, Miss Li, Mr. Hyde, MxPx, My Chemical Romance, My Ruin, N.A.S.T.Y., Nirvana, No Doubt, Ocean Colour Scene, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Olias Fall, Once Over, One Minute Silence, Os Catalépticos, OS101, Otis Rush, OutKast, Papa Roach, Path Of Resistance, Period Pains, Plan B, Primus, Propagandhi, Public Enemy, Pura Vida, Raised Fist, Ramones, Reach the Sky, Refused, Rise Against, Riz Mc, Rob Zombie, Robert Johnson, Sarah Blackwood, Scars of Tomorrow, Scary Bitches, Scribe, Seasick Steve, Senser, Sepultura, Settle the Score, Shadows Fall, Shark Attack, Shattered Realm, Skaos, Slayer, Snot, Soldiers, Sonny Boy Williamson, Stellar Corpses, Strung Out, Sugarland Slim, System of a Down, Tech N9ne, Temple of the Dog, The 57th Dynasty, The B Sharps, The Babylon Whackers, The Banner, The Beautiful South, The B-Sharps, The Code, The Creepshow, The Cumshots, The Damned, The Dictators, The Godfathers, The Grit, The Icicle Works, The Mitchell Brothers, The Offspring, The Planet Smashers, The Porkers, The Selecter, The Spook, The Vandals, The Warriors, This Is Hell, Tiger Army, To Kill, Total Chaos, Van Morrison, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Whiskey Rebels, Wiley, Wiley aka Eskiboy, Wisdom in Chains, Wu-Tang Clan, xTyrantx, Your Demise.
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Rating 9 stars - Great (Really good music, I will own their back catalogue as soon as possible)

(hed) Planet Earth, 4FT Fingers, AFI, Alkaline Trio, B.B. King, Babyboom, Bad Religion, Bane, Billy Talent, Black Flag, Blood for Blood, Brainless Wankers, Buddy Guy, Cheap Sex, Clawfinger, Comeback Kid, Crime in Stereo, Cynical Smile, Cypress Hill, Danny Diablo, Dead Kennedys, Death Before Dishonor, Die Hunns, Discipline, Dizzee Rascal, Eastfield, Elmore James, Eric Clapton, Gallows, Gorilla Biscuits, Hazen Street, HorrorPops, Icepick, Imperial Leisure, Jesse James, Justin Sane, Kelly Kemp, Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Metallica, Minor Threat, N.W.A, NoComply, NOFX, Oxymoron, Pitchshifter, Pulkas, Queen, Reagan Youth, Roger Miret and the Disasters, Schaffer The Darklord, Slipknot, Social Distortion, Soundgarden, Suicide Bid, Terror, The Dead Pets, The Exploited, The Forces of Evil, The JB Conspiracy, The Peacocks, The Suffrajets, The Unseen, Thick As Blood, Tim Armstrong, Walls of Jericho, Xzibit.
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Rating 10 stars - Love It (I have to listen to this band as much as possible)

Agnostic Front, Anti-Flag, Capdown, Frank Zappa, Gash, Green Day, H2O, Hatebreed, King Prawn, Madball, PJ Harvey, Rage Against the Machine, Rancid, Random Hand, Sick of It All, Sonic Boom Six, Subhumans, The Clash, The Filaments, The King Blues, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, They Might Be Giants.
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This is my personal taste and not a criticism of anybodies music, or taste. I set this up so that all the new bands I have found I can easily know what I think of them

A perhaps predictable subject for this week's Tuesday Ten: it's all about space, what with it being the 40th anniversary of the first moon landings this week. I've always thought of songs written to be about space travel, or related subjects, to be a very common theme, but in the event it actually turned out to be a really bloody hard list to collate. I'm sure that readers of this will suggest many more than I came up with, though...

Needless to say, there is a Spotify playlist for this (here - The Spotify URI: spotify:user:asw909:playlist:0HzmArtppDnynJCQDZac68), although one track from the ten is missing due to it not being on Spotify (no great surprise - the label it was released on went bust nearly ten years ago!). So anyway:

David Bowie
Space Oddity
Space Oddity

Where else to start than with the song that seems to sum up the mystery and wonder (and our darkest fears, too) about space travel like no other. Released, of course, the week of the moon landings back in '69, it's apparently been re-released this week (which was news to me). Either way, it's a beautiful song that I'd think that few people don't know just about every word to it, and it perfectly encapsulates the marvel of seeing the earth from space, the worry of how to deal with it all when coming back down - both how...mundane the earth will be, and how to deal with the whole world wanting a piece of you, and then the fear of what happens if it all goes wrong and Major Tom gets stranded up in space (which was a very real fear for the actual members of the Apollo 11 mission). An iconic song for an iconic event.

Inspiral Carpets
Saturn 5
Devil Hopping

An instantly recognisable song from it's very first moment - the Hammond organ line is one of those that sticks in your head once you hear it - this track is probably the Inspiral's finest single. A surging, soaring 60s-influenced track (just check the backing vocals!) with a thunderous backbeat, it's a song that celebrates the age of men first going into space, against the backdrop of the assassination of JFK.

Sleeper
Good Luck Mr Gorsky
The It Girl

A song about an urban legend/joke regarding Apollo 11. No, really. Other than it's slightly odd subject matter, it's otherwise Sleeper-by-numbers. In other words, inoffensive indie-pop with Louise Wener's dreamy vocals centre-stage...

Air
Kelly Watch the Stars
Moon Safari

Talking of dreamy, music about space doesn't get much more dreamy and lush than this. This album was something of a surprise when it came out - few acts have ever sounded like this - but quickly became a favourite in the press and with listeners, mainly as it was so beautifully done, and somehow never crossed the line into schmaltz. This song, more than the other singles, was the glittering peak of the album, presumably about watching the wonders of space at night, and the effects in the background bring the image of meteors shooting across the sky.

Apoptygma Berzerk
Eclipse
Welcome to Earth

Talking of the wonders of space from earth, Apop's creative high-point from nearly ten years ago was seemingly obsessed with space, extra-terrestrial life and questions about our existence. I could equally have picked Starsign for the list, with it taking the idea of wanting to leave the mundane existence on earth behind and go somewhere "where no-one knows my name", but instead it's the sky-gazing love-in of Eclipse I've picked, where the total solar eclipse of August '99 is used as the focal point of a way of bringing people together in peace.

Spiritualized
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

Not everyone uses space in direct terms in music - just take Jason Pearce. The opening (and title) track from one of the most extraordinary albums of the '90s, the spacey bleeps providing the backdrop to a jaw-dropping lullaby where drugs ease the pain of the memories - as the lyrics use the metaphor of space to lose onesself with a lover. It's such a near-perfect song that it's kind of amazing that this version was changed very late on prior to release, due to the refusal of the Elvis Presley estate to allow use of part of Can't Help Falling In Love. Quite whether the inclusion of that would have bettered the final version is something that I'd say is open to debate.

Prodigy
Out Of Space
The Prodigy Experience

Talking of drugs and space imagery, this track is about little more than getting "off your face" and ascending into outer space ("...to find another race"), frankly - and let's be honest, it sounds like a fun idea in the hands of this song. Did they run out of places to go raving on this earth, or was it an early reaction to the clamp-down on raving, and a desire to go somewhere where they weren't going to be bothered by the police all the time?

Hanzel und Gretyl
Komet Ride
Transmissions From Uranus

An album of space-obsessed industrial mentalism that reaches heights this band never hit again, frankly. One of the (many) crazy peaks is this track - the lyrics suggest a (hyper)speedy comet ride, the messy layers of metallic guitars, drums and synth lines take us on a ride to match the music.

Pixies
Planet of Sound
Trompe le Monde

Some may disagree, but for me Pixies have one of the most peerless back catalogues of any band, and they also gave up before they became shit. Ok, so they reformed, but there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with their performances now, either. Anyway, to this song (one of the highlights of this album): Alien receives transmissions of rock music, hunts in vain for source, rocks like a (very crazy) bastard for two minutes and six seconds. Earth to Black Francis...

The Orb
Supernova at the End of the Universe
Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

The whole album (all two hours of it) is structured like a trip into space, getting further and further away from the earth until they reach the "Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain...", but before that there is this, which begins with the sound of a rocket taking off, and then as a languid beat shuffles on, we get various samples from the Apollo 11 mission scattered through the track, which is more than anything why this is here.

Others that didn't make the cut (feel free to suggest more):
Beastie Boys | Intergalactic | Hello, Nasty
Powerman 5000 | When Worlds Collide | Tonight the Stars Revolt!
Laibach | The Final Countdown | Anthems
Babylon Zoo | Spaceman | The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes
Clutch | Spacegrass | Clutch
Fu Manchu | Saturn III | The Action is Go
anything by Man or Astroman
Muse | Supermassive Black Hole | Black Holes and Revelations
The Human League | The Black Hit of Space | Travelogue
anything by S.P.O.C.K.

This is who I had on the gabillions of mixtapes I made in 1992: Pixies / Sonic Youth / The Wedding Present / The Pastels / Sweet Jesus / The Lilac Time / Ned's Atomic Dustbin / Ride / Autohaze / The Catherine Wheel / My Bloody Valentine / Ultra Vivid Scene / Pale Saints / Nirvana / Spirea X / Lush / The Drop Nineteens / Medicine / The Telescopes / The Jesus & Mary Chain / Sea Stories / Sugar / Stereolab / The Boo Radleys / Dinosaur Jr / The Poster Children / Pavement / Silverfish / Babes in Toyland / Superchunk / Afterglow / Swervedriver / Clouds / Teenage Fanclub / Velvet Crush / Captain America / Big Heavy Stuff / Inspiral Carpets / Bleach / That Petrol Emotion / Buffalo Tom / The Beasts Of Bourbon / The Earthmen / Velocity Girl / Luna / Adorable / New Fast Automatic Daffodils / Belly / The Lillies / The Affected / Loop / The House of Love / Ripe / Spectrum / Suede / The Verve / The Bats / The Puritans / Moose / Pray TV / The Vaselines / Moonshake

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool..

*Opening Credits: Genesis - I Can't Dance

*Waking Up:ZZ Top - Viva Las Vegas

*First Day At School: Green Day - Homecoming

*Secondary School: Guano Apes - Open Your Eyes

*Falling In Love: Kris Kristofferson - The Pilgrim

*Fight Song: U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

*Breaking Up: Espen Lind - Baby, You're So Cool

*Prom: Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels

*Life: Techotronic - Move This

*Mental Breakdown: Darren Hayes - Lost Without You

*Driving: Cascada - Lonely

*Flashback: Keith Urban - You Look Good In My Shirt

*Getting Back Together: Rod Steward - The first Cut is the deepest

*Wedding: Rammstein - Engel

*Birth of Child: Gary Allan - Life Ain't Always Beautiful

*Final Battle: Elvis Presley - Always on My Mind

*Death Scene: Brad Paisley - All I Wanted Was a Car

*Funeral Song: Mitch Miller - colonel bogey march

*End Credits: DumDum Boys - Ikke faen

Two great songs for every day of the week:

Monday Morning 5.19 - Rialto
Monday Monday - The Mamas & The Papas

Ruby Tuesday - Melanie
Tuesday - Reamonn

Just Wednesday - Inspiral Carpets
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. - Simon & Garfunkel

Thursday's Child - David Bowie
Jersey Thursday - Donovan

Friday, I'm in Love - The Cure
She Left Me On Friday - Shed Seven

Saturday - Kaiser Chiefs
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting - Elton John

Seven Sundays - Extreme
Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon - Queen
Sunny Sunday - Joni Mitchell

This list is mainly for me. A record of over 20 years of gig and festival going.

First ever gig: The Cult at Wembley Arena in 1987, followed some months later by Cardiacs in Maidstone Kent Hall in June 1988. The first a large scale stadium gig; the second a small sweaty affair with from memory about 75 people. Cardiacs were superb but the gig was interrupted by a fire alarm half way through. I remember huddling on a fire escape while the building was checked before we could go back in and the gig resumed. Still one of the best gigs I have been to.

Most recent: Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara in Bath June 2009.

Best gigs: stand outs include Pixies, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev on a double bill, Cardiacs at Maidstone in 1988 and at The Thekla in Bristol twenty years later, and of course The Fall (every single gig!).

Worst gig: Meat Loaf in 2008. Open air gig, terrible sound, Meat Loaf seemed to be stumbling over the words and was out of tune. And it rained.

Most embarrassing: for the first time ever, I forgot I had tickets to a gig. Gutted. Half Man Half Biscuit in Bath August 2009. and it seems it was a cracking show. http://www.last.fm/event/998380+Half+Man+Half+Biscuit+at+Komedia+on+6+August+2009/reviews . Arse.

Anyway, these are the ones I can remember. I haven't included support artists unlesss I specifically wanted to see them. I am sure there are more but my memory isn't what it once was...(see above for evidence!)



22-20s

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara
Alabama 3 (x3)
All About Eve
Amadou & Mariam
Arcade Fire
Ash (x2)
The Automatic

Balaam and the Angel
The Barenaked Ladies (x2)
Beastie Boys
The Beat (x2)
The Beautiful South
Bellowhead
Belly
The Pete Best Band
Björk
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Blockheads
Blondie
Luka Bloom
The Blue Aeroplanes
Blur
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bootleg Beatles (x2)
David Bowie
Billy Bragg (x5)
The Breeders
Bright Eyes
The Brilliant Corners
British Sea Power (x2)
The Broken Family Band
James Brown
Buddy Guy
Buzzcocks

Cardiacs (x3)
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Eliza Carthy
Carus
Johnny Cash (x2)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (x3)
The Chesterfields
Cocteau Twins
Leonard Cohen
Cold War Kids
Coldcut
Coldplay
Julian Cope (x3)
Cornershop
Elvis Costello
The Creatures
The Cult
The Cure (x2)
Curve

The Damned (x2)
The Darling Buds
De La Soul
Dead Kids
Neil Diamond
Diesel Park West
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
Doves

Steve Earle
Echo and The Bunneymen
Echobelly
Editors
Eels (x2)
Elastica

Marianne Faithfull (x2)
Faith No More
The Fall (x13)
The Family Cat
Feeder
Fields of the Nephilim
The Flaming Lips (x2)
Franz Ferdinand
Fun Lovin' Criminals

Bob Geldof
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Glasvegas (x2)
The God Damn Whores
The Godfathers
Gogol Bordello
Goldfrapp
Al Green
Pete Greenwood
Guillemots

The Handsome Family (x3)
Hard-Fi
Rolf Harris
Hawkwind
Hayseed Dixie
Hole
The Holloways
The House of Love (x4)

Ima
Neil Innes
Inspiral Carpets

James (x2)
Jayne County
Jay-Z
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Jesus Jones
Jim Bob
Tom Jones

Kaiser Chiefs (x2)
Kings of Leon
Kodo
Kula Shaker

Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Seth Lakeman (x6)
The Lemonheads
The Levellers
Levitation
Nick Lowe
Luna
Lush

Shane MacGowan and the Popes
The Magic Numbers
Manic Street Preachers (x2)
The Marley Brothers
Imelda May
Paul McCartney (x2)
Ian McNabb With Crazy Horse
Meat Loaf
Menswear
Mercury Rev (x2)
Freddie Mercury
The Mighty Lemon Drops
The Mission
Christy Moore (x2)
Gary Moore
Morrissey
Motorhead
Mungo Jerry
My Bloody Valentine

The National
Naz Nomad and the Nightmares
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
New Model Army
New Order
The New Pornographers
Nine Black Alps

Oasis (x2)
Sinead O'Connor (x2)
Yoko Ono
John Otway
The Oysterband
Ozric Tentacles

Page and Plant
Pavement
Pixies
PJ Harvey (x3)
Robert Plant
The Pogues (x2)
Pop Will Eat Itself
Primal Sceam
The Primitives
Pulp

The Quarrymen

The Raconteurs
Rage Against the Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Lou Reed
Rilo Kiley
The Rose of Avalanche (x2)

The Saw Doctors
Scissor Sisters
Seasick Steve (x3)
The Sex Pistols
Shakespear's Sister
The Sisters of Mercy
Skunk Anansie
Patti Smith
Smoke Fairies
Sonic Youth (x2)
The Soup Dragons
Soweto Gospel Choir
Sparkadia
Spearhead (x3)
The Specials
Stackridge
Neville Staple
Starsailor
Stereophonics
Stiff Little Fingers
The Stooges
Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros
Rod Stewart
Suede
The Sundays
Supergrass

Television
Terrorvision
That Petrol Emotion
Therapy?
These Animal Men
Th' Faith Healers
Throwing Muses
Tinariwen (x3)
Tunng

The Ukranians
The Undertones

Vampire Weekend
The Velvet Underground
Veruca Salt
The View

Martha Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
The Waterboys (x2)
Roger Waters
Waterson:Carthy
Patrick Watson
The Wedding Present ( x2)
Paul Weller
The White Stripes
The Who
Brian Wilson
The Wombats
The Wonder Stuff

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Young Knives (x2)
Neil Young

Zodiac Mindwarp and The Love Reaction


And still counting...

Sun 25 May – Darwen Music Live 2008

Mornin' all!
Just popping in with another gig journal. This one was just a bit too good to be true...I'm sure it was a massive trap to lure me to a certain place so the government could put a bug on me or something. They're probably reading what I'm typing now...they know I'm onto them! Argh!

Seriously though...as if The Bluetones were playing in Darwen town centre for free. What is that all about?
I'm glad I managed to muster up the energy, too. I'd been up late the night before at The Charlatans aftershow and was up early to see my mate Lorna off on Sunday morning. I went over to my friend Lauren's mum's later that afternoon, all excited and giddy! Well, I had just been left to look forward to it all the rest of the day, sat on my own with nothing to do.

We didn't know exactly where the festival was in Darwen but Lauren's mate Steph dropped us off in town where there was a lot of people and we could hearSame Jeans and were like "no WAY have they managed to get The View too?! " (Not that I'm fussed about The View, but they are pretty big!) Anyway, it turned out that it was a covers band called No Boundarys.



I dunno, I think they might have played some original stuff towards the end of their set (I didn't recognise some of the last songs, anyway) but for the most part they were covering almost every indie band that's ever been popular; Arctic Monkeys, Inspiral Carpets, Dirty Pretty Things...actually I can't remember anything else they did but they weren't anything to write home about. I mean, they were tight and everything but the singer was really annoying for a start. He had the arrogance of Liam Gallagher or Tom Meighan but I think someone needed to remind him that unlike them, he was merely in a covers band. A little too big for his boots. In fact I'd go so far to say delusional.
Oh, and when they were about to play their last song, he was like "everybody looking forward to The Bluetones, yeah? Keep it indie! Can I get a cheer for keeping it indie?!" Bloody indie fascist.

While we were waiting for The Bluetones we literally just wandered up to the barrier. There were some emo kids in the way for a while, who were standing there going "hur, I can't believe we're doing this...hur hur" like it's somehow ironic to be watching The Bluetones, but they got out of the way in the end. Lauren kept telling me off for "edging". "I'm not edging!" "...You're so edging".
...I wasn't edging that much.
In the end we were stood near a little boy and a lady that really didn't look the part but actually knew every single word. Appearances can be deceptive!

It's been two whole days now so I can't remember the set all that well (=P) but they did quite a lot of stuff off Expecting To Fly like Bluetonic, Slight Return and The Fountainhead and quite a lot off Science & Nature (Keep The Home Fires Burning, Autophilia (Or 'How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Car'), The Last of the Great Navigators) and a bit off The Bluetones (Surrendered, My Neighbour's House).
...I remembered more of that than I first thought!

Anyway, to be honest all we needed was some sunshine. It's such lovely sunshiney music...and we had wind instead. As a live act they're nothing massively epic, for want of a better word, but they certainly do the job. They're nice to watch rather than exciting or anything else, but I would certainly pay to see them again. And it was a very happy afternoon, mostly because I was seeing them live for free (for the second time actually, if you count me watching some of their soundcheck on the way home from school back in 2000 or whenever it was!)

Haha...oh yeah, and I totally poached someone's song dedication. There was a bunch of Bluetones fans over the other side of the barrier, and some girls were shouting for Keep The Home Fires Burning, but I was like "Mudslide!!!", after which Mark Morriss was like "who said that?" and I said "MEEE!!!" and he looked at me and went "very perceptive of you, young lady...this one's for you!" and I was like "=D =D =D" dead happy cos of that and also cos I thought they were gonna play Mudslide, but then they broke into Keep The Home Fires Burning. So, it seems I totally poached someone's song dedication.
Oh well.
Teehee...
=P

Here are some cool pictures that I took.











The full set are here.

=)

without a doubt, Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In) is one of the best tracks ever recorded and i dont say that lightly. Julie Driscoll's voice is sent from heaven. this song is that good it moves you and doesn't let you go from start to finish. in fact, you dont want it to finish.

if you like the organ led sounds of bands such as The Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and The James Taylor Quartet then Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity is the band for you.

other Driscoll songs such as Indian Rope Man, Save The Country and This Wheels On Fire are equally as good.