Generally the prospect of the silly season in September is somewhat gut-churning but being that this little blighter is available from October 14th, then I'll bend the rules a little. I hope that Ben Vaughn will make the tune that was on his myspace last year. And that Hello Saferide will issue "Ipod Xmas" as a 7"... Anyway, eagle scout Ben Gart discovered that you can sample the Super Rock Crimbo here.

I've discovered that there's an Attic Lights sampler with today's Scotland on Sunday. Usual deal, if you want one, let me know by 2pm-ish UK time and I'll sort it out. Cover price plus postage. Tomorrow's hits today...

RIP - Earl Palmer

Dig It! 44 - Coming Soon!

Just watched The Roxy Music Story that aired last night on BBC 4. Excellent doc that brought many memories of the early years flooding back. Not sure what countries have access with regard to viewing over the net but it's well worth catching. The Whistle Test sequence of "In Every Dream Home, A Heartache" is to this day like something being beamed in from outer space.

Hello Saferide is headed for the USA. Please make her very welcome!

This'll move those Saturday morning cobwebs (link courtesy of North Fork Sound blogspot)

Watch out for Scots tribute combo, Motörheid...

You know what drives me up around the proverbial bend and beyond? People who can't do their supposed job. Then, in addition, there are institutions that purport to provide a service then don't. The customer or client is always right, right? Isn't that the cliche? Well not always and if someone tells me they'll do something or they'll call then I expect them to bloody follow through.

That's the trouble, the concept of following through seems to have gone by the wayside.

The David Simon thing at GFT was pretty great. They screened the second episode of the fifth season prior to the Q&A. It was Alan Taylor of the Sunday Herald that was guiding the conversation and he had a good beat on the tempo of the show. You can get an idea of how it all went with this Wirecast from The Word magazine website.

A woman next to me was a huge fan of the programme and decreed the event to be "massive". She had come to the theatre purely on chance and scored a ticket in the foyer. Jonathan Watson of the BBC's "Only An Excuse", that records his "Watson's Wind-up" show at this venue was at the other side of me. Strangely I didn't recognise anyone else there.

The only bummer about the whole thing is that they were selling pre-signed books after the session. He didn't hang about to meet the audience and that meant that the copies I had to get signed for gifts never got the necessary scribble. You win a few and indeed some things do not come to pass. Qué whassname.

Incidentally, on Sunday the GFT has a doors open day on Sunday 21st September (this weekend)... Special events: Meet the staff and find out how one of the UK’s most successful independent, specialist cinemas works. Its legendary predecessor, The Cosmo, opened in 1939 in this modernist European building (with clear Dutch influences) which still boasts much of its Art Deco interior

I did sort out the tickets for next week's Ronnie Spector visit after Mr Duff telling me she was a revelation at Ponderosa Stomp. It's at The Arches so I hope there isn't a groundswell of fuckers with mobile phones in the audience. I still have a bad, bad taste from the disrespectful tosspots that attended the Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham show there.

And talking about these devices of doom, they're nothing to do with the devil, I'm sure he or she hates them too. Have you seen the furore about Metallica's James Hetfield allegedly acting like a baby at the O2 arena show? All he was doing was reasonably asking these fucking idiots to switch the bastard things off for a while. Unfortunately these life support systems must now be on at all times. Entire generations are utterly controlled by these portals and their constant need to photograph, record and upload to Dufustube.

This weekend I will mostly be selecting tunes to play at my "Andy Dunkley" (if you click the link, scroll down to March 16th entry) stint in Spain that's coming up in a wee while.

And as a footnote, The Spice Dragons reunion trounced the comeback of Led Zep. Page must have had wind of that when he "did" the Olympic ceremony. Hold on to that integrity folks. It's the only one you've got. Use it or down the slippery slope to bathe with the other dunderheids.

Am I relieved that it’s Friday? "nor’alf "(apply Alan Freeman impression here).

RIP - Norman Whitfield

The technological tribulations continue.

Today at work, there were countless interruptions due to this and that too. I'm a little sick of it. Maybe the worldwide web is wobbling like the financial markets? Or is it just a big stunt?? Anyway, let's get things in perspective and remember that yesterday was the release date for the Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby album on Stiff. You need to snag one as soon as possible but holding out until they swing around your locale is acceptable too. They're doing America as I rattle away here. Here's visual proof from Brother Randall in Dallas.

I'm not really up to yattering at the minute and am decidely not down with the big shakedown.

RIP - Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)

The Weejvegas thing continues to be a source of debate both via the comments and e-mail. To draw a line under it all, let's see how it stands the test of time. I'm not sure what it is about them that I "get" but I'm a sucker for that sound. It's like how I always get suckered into going to see movies that compared to "David Lynch". With no where near as positive results. So until their Transylvanian Christmas record shows up, let's leave it at that.

Let's see, what else... although I haven't had it confirmed, Wooden Shjips are supposed to play at Sloans in Glasgow on November 2nd. It's a great venue. More about that when it is indeed definite. Tickets will be available at Monorail when it is.

So far many of the reviews that have appeared with regard to this have tended to err on the "not for the squeamish" side. In my opinion, there's another aspect to this snapshot of a period in the evolution of one of the most important acts that has ever existed. The contents of this box, culled from front-line field recordings provide a documentary-like timeline from the period where Suicide entered the mainline of music for the rest of eternity. The reverberations have been felt worldwide ever since.

As Alan Lomax did with the dawn of folk, Howard Thompson and co developed a pathological need to capture the sonic fermentation. Irrespective of the recording gear, the primitive nature of the equipment complimented the primordial ruckus that was unfolding in these unsuspecting venues.

By the time they got to Europe and were opening up for the biggest acts of the time. They'd captured the ghost of Elvis in a jamjar and processed it through electronica that was at total odds with any of their hosts. The hostility of the idiots that never got it fed the energy. That Suicide suffered for their art is not in question. I guess that the reward has been that they've permeated every strata of music ever since.

There was never anything premeditated. Anything could have and often did happen. To this day, the appropriation of Suicide's ouevre continues unabated. The most successful aspects of this generally happen by accident. In much the same way as it did when these recordings were made.

In many ways, this is a companion piece to the Red Star original as co-produced by Marty Thau and Craig Leon. This gathering of these soundscapes was made possible as a direct result of Marty hooking up with Bronze here in the UK. One of the coolest things about this package is the inclusion of Miriam Linna's original manifesto press releases. I hope that when a film documentary comes to be made about Suicide, that all the players can be assembled. I believe, that if Kevin Patrick hadn't sent HT the first album and that he hadn't had the gumption to go to NY and do the deal with The Chairman then the entire map of musical history would be way, way different. We're talking Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard proportions here. And there would be no Billy Idol either. Suicide and its individual components have made many recordings over the years but the legend is founded on what happened during the 1977/78 slipstream.

There's nothing out there now that could have the same traction. There are approximations but nothing so pure. Alan Vega and Marty Rev's unique chemistry begat something where seismology met an (un) popular music form. It sounds as unique now as it ever did. A lot of folks never got that when it first crawled out of the NY sewers. As it continues to morph, and when somebody like Springsteen can forge a version of "Dream Baby Dream" like he did, then maybe the slow burn of their sonic pop-art domination is just something that will twist and turn through the bloodstream of music for the rest of time. 1 cd of most artists is more than adequate but in this case, a half dozen doesn't feel like enough.

As the Glasvegas thing gathers momentum, it seems like it’s not a hoax then. Somehow these folk who have largely portrayed as the next O*sis have made a record that those donkeys could never come close to. The subway posters say it’s their “Definitely Maybe”, I say your arse. True, we’ve heard it all before, most recently courtesy of The Raveonettes, but it’s a pretty glorious racket all the same. Those who don’t reckon that there’s a touch of the Bay City Rollers/Slik thing to it are deluded. That’s not a slur, merely a statement of fact.

So I headed into Glasgow last night after work. Got the train at Larbert and when I sat down, I looked across the carriage and a girl who was the absolute double of Annika Norlin was sitting reading. Now if I didn’t know better I’d have sworn it was. I nearly spoke to her to make sure but didn’t want to appear as even more of a weirdo than usual. Anyway, as I was going into town to work the HS campaign a wee bit, it was a tad disconcerting.

Picked up the ticket for this coming Thursday’s David Simon event at GFT, another major coup for the venue that ties in with the republishing of “Homicide” by Canongate. REALLY looking forward to this…

So ultimately, I hooked up with my old bud Barney Hoskyns who was in town with fellow Rock Backpages colleague Mark Pringle to spread the RB gospel at a Glasgow University event. The concept of going to University and learning about rock music or it’s place in academia at all is surely going against the grain but that’s the way of the world. Good luck to ‘em. My being installed with the belief that music was the devils work surely steered me to where I am now. Spotting Annika looky-likeys in the train and having to admit that I think the Glasvegas record is top fucking banana. If it comes with the territory...

My grandmother is somewhere, shaking her head and saying that she told me so. If I’d stuck in at school, things could have been so different. If it weren’t for being so obsessed with music then I might have made something of my existence. Maybe the next stage of my development lies in this academic twilight. Nothing is clear cut and I have just as many delusions and low-folluting opinions as the next guy. Maybe more. Bill Drummond was on the wireless expounding his latest fallacy this morning, evidently he hasn’t heard “It’s My Own Cheating Heart...”.

Anyway, I hope this posts after all this. Maybe it’ll just fly off into the ether and maybe that’s for the best. Either way, I’m on this rocket. Nothing to do now but see where it lands.

I'm still having intermittent problems with this technology lark. All attempts to rectify this general pain are being made but I'm not one for over confidence. Colour me Mr Half-Empty.

Meanwhile, check out this small but groovy Sounds Film Festival that's coming up in Glasgow soon.

Listening to the Glasvegas album, it's a damn sight better than I expected it to be for sure. They've got quite a wall of sound thing going on and for my tuppence worth, that percussive drum throb is perfect. In this world, Del Shannon is a denizen of the Bar-L and he's discovered the missing link between the Mary Chain and Suicide. Visions of The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las and Julee Cruise are rattling around the pot too. This almost has me convinced that I need to see them. In a bid to figure out whether it's a hoax or not. Where did this come from? Why the hell does it hit the spot?? Even when the vocals sound like Slik era, Midge Ure??? And will there be a subtitled version for consumption outwith this country of ours???

It sounds like Badalamenti scoring a West Coast of Scotland Irvine Welsh type fable and these are anthemic supercharged folk ballads. The doo-wop element of The Ramones is right here too, shit, "Daddy's Gone" sounds like he's channelling Joe at one point. You gotta be powerless against that. Maybe that's the kryptonite that got me, I really can't explain it and as the fugue of "Ice Cream Van" fades you may well get a chill like you're standing too close to the freezer.

I still don't like the band name and the McGee association still niggles but in spite of myself, this sound is the stuff of champions. Past, present and future.

Razzia are on a roll...

The Droid play on the lawn of the Black Lodge...



and check out the David Sandström Overdrive!

I need to rustle up my column for OX Fanzine so this will be short and sweet.

Evidently my powers of recall are not happening. Stop sniggering at the back...