lemonstar

I don't hear this on the radio that often but heard it a few days ago.

This song - as I remember seeing them live at B'ham NEC in the 90's - spine-tingling live "I saved my money"

Finally managed to get this (Lana Del Rey - album ‘Norman f***ing Rockwell!’ ) - and it's interesting - the hit-me-make-me-bleed-maybe-I-deserve-it-maybe-I-like it lyrics won't suit everyone - there's a lot of artistic input in the lyrics, music, recording, production - no wonder it got positive reviews - I like some of the squidgy lead synth lines.

I'm also listening to everything I've got by Tommy Stinson, Bash & Pop etc

More monologue than music but the man has talent.

The seller pulled the item for some unknown reason - they were asking £200 and it didn't attract any bidders. I did message them asking about the origin of the item but didn't get a reply - maybe my question triggered the decision to pull the item - maybe it was acquired in suspicious circumstances. I also bought and returned the album to Woolies.

I have wondered for years what happened to an album that I bought as a teenager. It was a factory pressing error - quite a big one - it was King Crimson album on one side and Status Quo on the other side! I was about 16 at the time and I simply took the record back to the store and got it exchanged. I had no idea at the time it might be worth something - as a oddity or rarity. I've not thought about it until today and wondered if it was a figment of my imagination - it seems so strange - I wondered if there were many of these pressing errors - I have no idea how many might exist. I just had a quick search and and found one copy currently on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ultra-rare-King-Crimson-mis-pressed-In-the-Court-of-the-Crimson-King/303559103381?hash=item46ad885395:g:ftwAAOSwS7xesGNU What a dunce - I wished I had kept it now. I haven't looked any further so I might find out there were quite a few copies. I think I'll message the seller and ask them how they came across it. Anyone else have anything rare? I have a Pistols bootleg, a lot of punk era singles and a pristine copy of the Giles, Giles & Fripp album - I've only played it once. I wished I hadn't sold my PIL metal box - I needed a train ticket once to see my girlfriend (now wife) and sold a good number of punk-ish albums - Clash, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, SLF, Dead Kennedys, Banshees, etc

Once there was a time when I could and probably wanted to be identified with particular artists and genres but that was a hell of a long time ago - in the past 25+ years I've just been flowing from one artist, one song to another and in many different directions at the same time so for me it's more about the process of discovery and the joy of finding new things to listen to.

Well that's the Fripp-iest Frippy thing I've read in a Fripping long time. Still no nearer the normal.

I still can't really come to terms that these two are together - I'd like to know how that started. This - is just too weird to even think about.

By way of clarifying my thinking on this - firstly I didn't class Kraftwerk as over-rated - I put them in the "disappointed" category precisely because I AM a fan - seen them 3 times live, read the biogs, bought all the spin off band/solo albums etc. When I like a band I look forward to new albums/releases and really don't mind them going off piste or taking risks as a means to try and grow even if it is not to my taste - I just think their body of work is a bit thin - basically I'm disappointed because I feel they didn't fulfil their potential - I don't think they made enough good albums - it is tragic reading what was going on behind the scenes - so many disagreements and problems with producers leading up to the issue of Electric Cafe and The Mix albums. I think it's OK to neg a band so long as you try and give some reasons. On the under-rated part of this - I'm eternally grateful to other people who suggested bands they were passionate about that I'd never heard of - e.g. Nada Surf, Jellyfish, Popol Vuh, Steven Wilson, Courtney Barnet, Palehound, The Wondermints - and a ton of others that I might not have come across for a long time, if ever.

OK one half of the premise for this thread sounds like a local radio invitation to a heated debate - the other half might make some of us curious about what we've been missing. I'll keep it to one of each and come back for another bite of the cherry later on perhaps. Kraftwerk - I'll file under disappointing. WTH were the doing in their Kling Klang studios for years!? They produced so few albums and only a few of them are really that great imho. I'm reading "I Was A Robot" Wolfgang Flur's memoir - the world of Kraftwerk is as strange as you might like to imagine but some of Flur's accounts of sexual exploits are hard to believe tbh - anyway - with all the big issues they could have addressed in a concept album e.g. global warming - they could have left a lot more music to know them by. Under-rated - not sure how well known or otherwise the Australian band Smudge are in general - Tom Morgan is the key member - songwriter/singer - they are a late 80's/early 90's grungy/indie band - Tom co-wrote a lot of songs with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads which helped the sweet singing poster boy up the ladder to global success. Dando is a great talent but a normal faulty individual like the rest of us but Tom Morgan is a great lyric writer imho. Some well known Lemonheads songs are actually Smudge songs or ones co-written - e.g. Outdoor Type, Down About It, Tenderfoot, Divan, No Backbone, baby's Home... Here's a link to a collection of Smudge songs. Album recommendation: Manilow

I love love love XTC - I shall be taking a look at this - I've bought fan albums in the past and enjoyed them a lot.

I don't quite know what it is but sometimes an album that you just don't "get" has a moment when you suddenly connect with it - maybe it's my internal mood, connected with the time and place and attention you can give it - I listened to this again walking my dog in the rain. I've been watching Normal People on iPlayer on BBC - I think that has had something to do with it - I was reading it's having an affect on a lot of people. Anyway - it was this track "Groatie Buckies" from the Erland Cooper album "Sule Skerry"

I don't know if John Wetton was technically that adept but I've got a strong emotional memory of his playing with later day Crimson - maybe helped by the musical context and his singing which I always think is under-rated. Quiet a lot of names on that list I've never heard of anyway and the ones I know - not many really hit me in the heart straight away when I think about them - some do but I'm going off what is instantly in my head and it's all about what these players brought to the music for me - well - the music I've listened to over and over over several decades.

I've listened to this Jonn Serrie album (Sunday Morning) hundreds of times either as part of my falling asleep routine or when needing to concentrate when working for long periods of time without distraction - it's dreamy electronic music that really doesn't invade your headpace or vie for your attention if you keep it at a low-ish volume. The whole album is great imho - probably my favourite of his.

Frank - after watching a TV doc last night

Art of Fighting - Runaways - small label band you probably don't know - don't let the stupidly inappropriate name put you off - it's sweetly sung music for sensitive souls. This is them live 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdDXL8VYGg Destroyer are another great (basically one man) band with an off-putting name - that are also worth checking out.

I've been listening to a lot of ambient lately - which is actually quote a normal thing anyway and I'm not sleeping well atm - which is pretty normal for me - and if I'm not listening to a podcast as I fall asleep I'll be listening to something ambient on quite a low level. ATM it's Marconi Union

Good shaving, painting and decorating music imho:-

@Frank Blank he's a unique, oft forgotten talent - his wiki page tells of his sad demise. Simon Armitage(singer, songwriter, poet, wordsmith, raconteur and wit), current poet laureate was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and "Jake" Thackray (singer, songwriter, poet, wordsmith, raconteur and wit - spot the connection?) was born in Kirkstall, Leeds - Kirkstall is only 20 miles away from Huddersfield and I wondered if there was a not too distant family connection because and the maiden name of Jake's mother, Ivy May, was Armitage! ancestry.co.uk says that "The name (Armitage) is very common in Yorkshire, where it has been traced to Hermitage Bridge, near Huddersfield. " I read that "language ability and disability and the normal range of ability with language" are known to have a very strong genetic basis (check out "Genetics and the development of language disabilities and abilities" (2002) if interested) - I know I'm flirting with the facts but I am curious to know if JT and SA are related.

Well, I, like a good friend of mine (Dewi), were Beatles fans at heart although I think I was more open to the Stones than he was about a decade ago but take a listen to one of his latest songs - I think it's pretty good Stones influenced track - he's come a long way. Drop him a comment if you like it - I'm sure he would appreciate it.

Exile is my No.1 Stones album too! I was brought to it through the story of Gram Parsons, who Keef really liked, GP was around the villa for a while when Exile was recorded and I'm a GP fan because of his song writing and he was introduced to me by Evan Dando.