Finally heard Malcolm Middleton's "We're All Going To Die" that everybody's banging on about. Should probably become the Scottish National Anthem rather than the Christmas #1. It's not bad but nary a patch on "Vi kommer att dö samtidigt" ("We Will Die At The Same Time").







Actually, there's a whole bunch of Säkert! stuff on YouTube from the shows last week so off down that particular rabbit hole I go. It includes a version of The Wannadies "My Hometown". "Nothing good on TV anyway..."

Well here's something that's making me feel better than any alleged cold remedy. Keeping the snotters and all that unpleasantness at bay... I keep hearing all this Led Zep and to be honest it's souring any postive memories I have. Bustling hedgerows notwithstanding, the TV ads in between Emmerdale and Coronation Street, were the final straw.

I'd rather have the 5 cd Simon and Garfunkel that followed it. However, if it's supreme rock (dude) thrills you're after then Santa will be hard pushed to come up with anything finer than this. From the liner notes to the presentation to the SOUND!, this is Norton delivering you from the fug bigstyle. And when I found myself mentioned in dispatches then that's gotta be the pinnacle and more than a little humbling. Like a R&R Nobel Prize or something, blimey. So anyway, this vinyl is posively smoking and I'd never heard the Bloodbrothers demos before so it's all something of a revelation. Performance-wise I think that all of these trump the "proper" version.

It's like they're possessed on the intersection of MC5 and E-Street Band. I wonder if Southside Johnny ever considered tackling "No Tomorrow"? It's a real thrill to hear the stuff that is familiar sounding so vibrant and not just hidden gems trapped on cassette or undernourished cdr. For full multi dimensional effect, you should plump for the vinyl but if your deck is on hiatus then dig on in to the compact disc. J mentioned before that this is mandatory and all I'm gonna tell you is that "Stay With Me" is flying out of the speakers right now and those guitars are killing me in the best sense of the expression.

Scott, HD and Andy all document the history along with Rich Nesin to complete an exercise that's been a long time coming. In the end, it's all about the songs and sch beasties don't really come any better than these. You can craw about Bobby Dylan and The Beatles but that slop isn't fit to touch the hem of HD's wrestling jacket! Ha, ha. HAH! They made me what I am today so blame them and I'm telling you, if they were to reform and play for you now then you'd be foaming at the mouth. What is that Eagles strapline that they're using lately? "Remember When Music Sounded This Good?" well, it still does if you know where to look and "Every Day Is Saturday" is positively chocka. God bless The Dictators and all they stand for, then now and for all fecking eternity.

RIP - Karlheinz Stockhausen