BUZZING OFF ME TITS, innit 💥

Clever songs, but never too knowingly. Prefab Sprout have always navigated the fine line between polished and smart arse when it comes to their craft.

Appetite is a statement alone; When Loves Breaks Down is lush.

Overall the album does well to capture that transition from early 80’s indie pop to the arrival of the CD audience. It has a delicate touch, but still sounds professional.

Very decent.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Blimey. I missed this one: the Betas are back playing together live once again. There was a couple of Roundhouse shows earlier this month.

Twenty one years after one of the most spectacular fuck ups in music history, they’re back making a familiar glorious racket.

Brilliant.

The Beta Band should have been a stadium band. Somehow we ended up with shitty Coldplay instead.

Life - and in particular the music industry - is never fair.

They didn’t exactly do themselves any favours back in the day. The £4k velcro suit is the stuff of music industry legend.

But it’s good to have them back, albeit briefly. Just don’t go raising your expectations.

Meanwhile, In Bowie News: I managed to blag a ticket for the V&A Archive for next week.

Hurrah!

Billy Bragg has a new book out. Billy Bragg often has a new book out, and they’re all bloody good.

The Andrew Collins biog is pretty much the Bragg Bible when it comes to the official detail, documenting his forty years or so of being the One Man Clash.

Progressive Patriot is worth a re-read during these times of social division.

The new Bragg book is The People’s History. A grand title for what looks like a grand read.

It’s essentially a scrap book of material put forward by fans and Uncle Bill himself. He adds in the commentary to give each artefact a little context.

I really should have kept my ticket stub from the old Mean Fiddler in Harlesden during election night back in 1997 - probably the best gig I’ve ever been to. I hope the dude who bought it off me on eBay appreciates it.

Bragg is a guest on the latest Word In Your Ear podcast - always a decent listen. He’s on fine form as well, promoting the book.

He describes how the contribution of fan culture has led him to questioning his own understanding of what took place twenty, thirty and forty years ago.

It’s a dangerous game to mess with other people’s memories as you put over your understanding of what actually happened.

Which is why a blog is such a bloody good idea.

Ha, bloody ha.

I confess to making little inroads in the fourteen CD Bragg box set that I bought over the summer.

Blogs, box sets, and Bragg - some projects you never really finish, and that’s often the point.

Too much to take on board here - especially during a working morning.

It served the purpose of background music that didn’t do my nut in - which sometimes, is all you want from a background music working album.

Nice analogue sound with a warm bass and drum thing going off. No shit, seeing as though Tusk was from the analogue era.

Oh - and it’s bloody long. I persisted, only because I couldn’t be arsed to break out of the working mindset.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

It’s obviously decent, but a little too dreamlike for my tastes. I want some more BALLS in my electronic music. Otherwise it’s just digital folk. The Hall and Oates sample just about saved it.

⭐ ⭐

A new album from Sleaford Mods is coming.

Hurrah!

It’s been a while.

In true amateurish fashion, the mailing list fails to provide a release date. November sounds about right.

Ahead of the release, there’s the usual first drop from the record - The Good Life. Dark beats, potty-mouth lyrics and a pantomime video to match.

“You wear crap clothes like Jasper Carrott…”

Joining Sleaford Mods on this track is Gwendoline Christie. They always seem to have the best collabs: Billy Nomates, Amy Taylor from Amyl and the Sniffers, Dry Cleaning, Orbital, Perry Farrell.

Decent.

There’s some Rock City dates coming up as well. They’re going to be a bit bonkers, right?

Probably my fave Albarn album. I love the London Music Hall head nod, the bass, the random off beat drumming. A true English melting pot.

Yer man Damon should be spoken of in decades to come as one of the greats of English songwriting. I love it that he has the balls to do what the fuck he wants, when the mood suits. It’s helped here, obvs, that he is backed by a stellar cast.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐