“We humans are doing a fine job of wrecking everything, all on our own, denying climate change, giving into the same old tricks that lead to WWII and the Holocaust, so maybe it isn’t the worst idea to turn management of everything over to the machines. "
via Dave Winer
Confession: I truly love this album - more so than the debut. I know that’s almost heresy in late 80s, early 90s indie circles but the Second Coming was worth the wait. Sure it’s bloated. It drags on far too long and could have done with some decent editing. It’s worth it for the mix of the funk and some of the killer riffs. It’s also a very bitter album, not surprising given what the band had been through at the time.
I listened to it again this morning for the first time in probably a decade or so. For a short period in ‘95, pre the big Britpop explosion, it was all that I listened to. I became a little obsessed by it to be honest. I’m sure there are some deep dark secrets and messages buried away within. I attached my own personal tales about what was going off in my personal life at the time around the songs. That’s a young person’s thing, right? It’s certainly not how I approach music these days.
I kind of cringed at hearing the lyrics once again this morning and how I used to interpret them. I managed to overcome my embarrassment with the sheer grandness and ambition of the project that is on offer here. The Roses became bigger than they actually were per se. It was the legend that carried this album forward. No wonder they fell apart shortly after it was released. The scale of the Second Coming toppled them. What a memory.
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SHOUT OUT for the new album by JIM, The Curious Case of Existence. This was another find via GP. He dropped a track that sounded almost mid-2000 Ibiza vibes - and then the vocals kicked in.
Woh.
SHIT THE BED. It’s only Jason Williamson from Sleaford fucking Mods. He hasn’t plugged this across any of his channels in the past few weeks. The JIM album is set to drop later in September.
I love the breakbeats and hardcore noise created by Andrew Fearn of Sleaford fucking Mods, but this is quite something else. It allows Williamson to have his distinct NG1 accent against a more chill out vibe.
I often wonder if Sleafords have pushed it as far as they can: two men, one MacBook, and some very, very SHOUTY live vocals over the top. There’s only so much of it that you can take, right?
Actually not. They’ve yet to release a crap album that doesn’t help me to vent my anger.
But this track by JIM opens up all sorts of possibilities for future collabs. Really cool laid-back summer vibes with slightly less anger - and profanities - from the front man.
A woke industrial album before woke and industrial music were even such a thing? Blimey. It’s hardly Marv’s What’s Going On, but I kinda like the general vibe and message here. What saves it for me is the Jam and Lewis production. Jam and Lewis could produce Black Lace and it would still get my feet tapping. It’s such a distinctive production sound that is so tight and identifiable. It’s not a bad album but Lauryn Hill took this to a different level.
⭐ ⭐
What a thoroughly miserable evening with very few positives to take. In fact there were zero positives to take. The best I can offer is the smile I raised when news dropped that Taiwo had scored early doors for Coventry. We’ll miss him when he’s gone…
Shortly before KO it was confirmed that Delap was about to sign for Forest. There’s some neat symmetry there. Farewell Taiwo, hello Delap.
I can’t but help think they are both very similar players in terms of confidence. Leeds at home in the League Cup would have been ideal for Big T.
I was reflecting earlier in the day about the epic League Cup semi against Leeds back in 1978. Yep, I was there. I still have the programme to certify this. That seemed like an absolute proper cup tie. Tuesday evening in August felt less so.
The team news wasn’t any great surprise. Five changes from the 1-0 home defeat against Leeds only three days earlier suggests that OG was taking this competition seriously.
I had to watch the game on crappy ITV. Sadly I couldn’t get Sir Colin of West Bridgford’s commentary as it wasn’t even available on the Forest app.
Forest walked out in what looked like a League Cup walkout kit. That’s going to become something of a collector’s item on eBay in years to come. Almost box fresh, worn once. Whatever did happen to those Europa League whistle and flutes?
Leeds really are a horrid side. I can’t take any team seriously that has a player in goal sporting a man bun.
Forest weren’t poor in the first half. They just lacked pace and attacking ideas. Ola seems to be making progress down his wing as part of his new role. Not so Neco, Surprisingly he was caught out more than once.
Meanwhile Kalimuendo seemed to be playing for his place ahead of the transfer window. It was disappointing to see Diomande look so shaky on his home debut.
It was round about here that I started to lose interest as the first Leeds goal went in. It had been something of a long work day and I confess to resting my eyes on more than one occasion.
I was just about present and correct to see that we’re still as shit as ever at defending set pieces - or even taking set pieces. I can’t see what Delap brings to the table on this front.
The inevitable second goal followed. Heads dropped, the body language looked shocking for Forest. It looked proper miserable to actually be there at the World Famous.
And so we crash out of the League Cup once again in the early rounds. At best this was a Forest performance on par with peak Dyche. SHIT THE BED. That’s saying something.
We had wind and dust to contend with at the Table of Dreams on Tuesday afternoon. It was like a scene from a Sahara, only set in North Essex with some random dogs snapping around at our heels as we tried to focus on the wiff waff.
Apart from the dog walkers there was little other foot traffic around. This is peak holiday season. I quite welcomed the relative quietness. Yep, it may be a public park but I demand peace and quiet whilst I focus for my wiff waff
I got off to an absolute flyer. I stormed to a 2-0 lead, playing power over spin with every shot. The only way my opponent was going to get back into this game was if I was to mess up.
Guess what happened next…
One particular shot summed up the entire game for me. My opponent struggled to return the ball and launched it sky high, ready for me to smash. I paused with the smash, faked it and attempted just to give it a slight tap over the net. The ball didn’t go over the net, natch.
By this stage my opponent was already blaming silly goal for her 2-0 defeat. I sadly had no such excuses in which to fall back upon.
I turned to spin when really I should have stuck with my power shots. I messed up big time, throwing away a 2-0 lead to walk away with a 3-2 shameful defeat.
Like I give a shit.
I had sun, wind and high water for the random anarchic walk on Monday morning. I made my way down Quayside and past the Sailing Club with WivGigs but already putting Varuna away after a morning social session.
I thought I would try something of a change of route. My plan was just to walk with no real intention guiding me apart from a work deadline looming three hours later.
I cut across the marsh, which takes you back up towards Alresford. The marshland was bone dry. It was littered with cowpats, which became quite an obstacle to overcome.
The terrain around here late summer is quite astonishing. Marsh has now become dust. It was only a few winters ago when we actually witnessed a couple of local kids lacing up their ice skates and gliding off effortlessly along the ice that had frozen over the marshland.
It was here when my route went a little wonky. I know, let’s go for a bit of a schlep through Cockaynes’s Wood I thought. I pretty much know all the paths inside out.
Wrong.
I reached one end of Cockaynes’s Wood and then found myself on an empty country lane. I kinda knew where I was but I decided to live dangerously and turn left rather than the usual right. There’s a life lesson in there, Jase.
The lane threw me out back onto the main road. It was pretty shit to be honest. I then stumbled across an unexpected public footpath, which should have taken me back roughly in the general direction of the town.
It was a really quiet and deserted path that was pretty much overgrown. There were a number of small little bridges to cross with absolutely nothing underneath them.
To my surprise the unexpected path brought me back to pretty much where I started, back in Cockaynes’s Wood. I wasn’t expecting that. At least I knew my directions. I made it back to base.
This all sounded new to me. I had no idea about the artist or the album, and then the Cowboy song kicked in. Oh it’s that one. The Cowboy song is pleasant enough and felt efforless. It’s still worth a listen if soft pop rock is your kind of thing. Guess what? I’m not really a soft rock pop kind of guy.
I came close to bailing. I’m pleased I stuck with it. There’s a lot more going off than I had originally thought possible. It’s thoughtful, a little quirky, and I’d be tempted to give it a second listen. Strong Kate Bush vibes. Sometimes you need to look beyond your own musical prejudices.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
To the Sunny Colch Odeon! …on Monday afternoon for the cheap as chips grubby fiver deal. Sitting in my Odeon app and selected less than an hour earlier, was an online ticket for The End of Oak Street.
The trailer has half captured my interest in recent weeks. I confess to not recognising Ewan McGregor in the leading father role during the promo clips.
The trouble with the Odeon cheap as chips grubby fiver deal is that during the school holidays there’s not a lot of choice to choose from. We’re talking crappy kid’s cartoon flicks here. At the end of Oak Street was my only realistic option.
I viewed the trailer once again before making the decision to buy the grubby fiver ticket. Hmmm, that looks alright. Not great, but alright. I read the Guardian review. It got slated. Hey hoe.
No worries I quite enjoy the idea of watching films on the big screen for a fiver that I would otherwise in no way get to see, or at least if I did view them at home they would hold at best 20% of my attention.
The basic plot for At the End of Oak Street is a slightly dysfunctional American family in the Michigan area in the early 1980s. Something wicked this way comes and all of a sudden their neighbourhood is transported into a not very friendly dinosaur park.
I think you’ve seen this one before. The appeal of the early Jurassic Park films was that there was nothing like this previously. You were genuinely in awe seeing the big beasts interacting with humans.
At the end of Oak Street could have quite easily slotted into the Jurassic franchise. The dinos look pretty much the same. There’s also the same US-style goofy humour taking place.
It’s not a bad film, it just tails out rather rapidly. In fact the first 20 minutes or so are really rather enjoyable. There’s a definite innocence in being transported back to the early 80s and seeing the very dullness and routine of family life in a pre-digital age.
As soon as the first dinosaurs appear, it descends downhill very fast and becomes absolutely ridiculous.
The basic play is that classic Jaws moment where everything is quiet then all of a sudden BOOM! GOTCHA! The only trouble is that you can take so many gotcha moments before you are desensitised to them.
It all got very silly when some classic hardcore dinos sex was displayed. A selfie on a polaroid was then taken by the two main characters, natch. That’s something you most defo wouldn’t have seen in any of the Jurassic films. The shark had been jumped, not to mention the two mating dinosaurs who were jumping each other.
The final 10 minutes also just about manages to draw together the threads from the opening scenes. It starts as it ends with an OK-ish film but nothing outstanding. What follows in between is one great big steaming dinosaur shit sandwich.
I really shouldn’t like Rage Against the Machine, all that noise, all that hair. The blueprint for any RATM song seems to be a pounding bass that builds up as the drums crash in, with even more SHOUTY SHOUTY vocals accelerating with every chorus. This is everything I don’t like about music, but somehow I find RATM something of a rallying call. To me it sounds like marching music. The bass and drums are always tight and despite not knowing too much about the content, it’s a message I can generally get behind. Music to listen to when you want to kick against the pricks.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
