CD86

From the absolutely fantastic Indie MP3 - Keeping C86 Alive site, news of a CD release of (most of) the seminal NME compilation C86, plus extra tracks.

I had a copy of this on tape which was played so often it literally wore out and snapped, a sad day indeed.

Included are tracks from classic bands such as The Close Lobsters, The Darling Buds, Primal Scream (when they were good, although their last album wasn't bad), The Mighty Lemon Drops and early Soupdragons (when their songs ended before the track length exceeded the two minute mark).

Also included is the Wedding Present track that first got me hooked, This Boy Can Wait, plus probably the best pop record ever made, Therese by The Bodines.

If you never buy another CD again or if you never listen to a blind recommendation I ever make again, go out and get this. Released October 23.

(p.s. I am fully aware of the hypocrisy of this latest post when put against my recent post building up new music. The Indie MP3 site includes MP3's of many modern classics. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

It's a fair cop, guv, and no mistake # 1

Saturday October 11 2003, England need a draw away in Turkey to qualify for Euro 2004. I'm in Scotland 500 miles from Nottingham, but travelling down, so I need to put my foot down to get back to the Nelson in Old Basford for the mid-afternoon kick-off.

Early November 2003, I received a letter advising me that I'd been caught driving at 84 mph on a particularly barren stretch of the M6 trying to get back to Nottingham in time to see said England game (I did, we drew, we lost on penalties in the finals).

My spot prize was 3 points on my license and a £60 fixed penalty. Bugger.

However, did I complain about it ? No. Did I whinge on about civil liberties ? No. Did it make me slow down while driving ? Damn right.

Unlike this muppet who thinks that HIS human rights have been violated when HE broke the law when HE was caught speeding. Even Liberty have stepped in. Why shouldn't you be allowed to speed and get away with it is their basic premise.

If we had cameras that stopped gun-crime, no-one would complain. If we had cameras that stopped paedophiles, it would keep your Daily Mail readers happy. But stop a selfish minority driving basically deadly weapons at unsafe speeds around built up areas and there's uproar, campaigns and cases to the courts.

But, they argue, some of the cameras are positioned purely because a lot of people speed and it generates lots of money in fine income. Well, don't speed near them then, idiot, and you won't get caught. A speed camera that stops everybody speeding generates no fine income at all.

Car driving in this country is getting to the same level as owning a gun in the US, somehow people have got it into their heads that when they're in their car, the rest of the country can go to hell. From parents dropping little Timmy off at school parking on double yellows endangering pedestrians to avoid a 200 yard walk from home, to people who think it's acceptable to drive banned with no insurance, all the way through to stuck up tossers like this who think when HE's in HIS car, HE can drive how HE likes, endanger everyone else at will but complain about human rights when HE's caught.

I hope the courts throw HIM out on HIS a**e.

Complete rubbish, isn't it

A new book claims Robin Hood didn't live in or around Nottingham, but instead came from Wales.

This Welsh outlaw lived 100 years earlier than the Robin Hood legend would have you believe and had a different name.

Couldn't be a different person, then ? Or is that too obvious a solution ?

Far easier to latch on to an existing legend and claim it for yourself. Just ask the people who build airports in Doncaster.

Go anywhere in the world, say you're from Nottingham and the first thing people will ask you about is Robin Hood. Speak to anyone about Robin Hood worldwide and replies are always the same, Sherwood Forest, Maid Marion & The Sheriff of NOTTINGHAM.

There is no case to answer on this, the claim Robin hood was Welsh is complete rubbish, a stunt to publicise an otherwise unsellable book.

Wales' current cultural icon is Charlotte Church and her woeful attempt at hosting a chat show.

It's no wonder they want to cling on to the coat tails of a proper legend.

Tell me why, I don't like .....

If you had a time machine, where would you go ?

The signing of the Magna Carta ? A grassy knoll outside a book depository in Dallas late 1963 ? Wembley 1966 ?

Me, I'd pay a visit to the smart-a**e who decided that a working week was five days while the weekend should only be two.

And give him a slap !!

All bunged up

The Premiership is full of managers taking bungs, allegedly.

No s**t!

No surprises really, Harry Redknapp likes the look of certain players (let's face it, Harry Redknapp would sign EVERYONE if he had the chance) and the head of the Chelsea youth squad wants to get hold of some decent young players. Woohoo.

What was surprising was the speed that Frank Clark, the vice-chairman of the League Managers Association, rubbished the allegations.

He was also the manager that introduced Andrea Silenzi to the Premiership.

mmmmmmmm.....

Outstanding

From the BBC:

BBC cult drama series This Life is making a comeback to mark the 10th anniversary of the show.

And best of all, they're going to repeat the whole thing before-hand.

Never Trust a Hippy: Exalted decade

Paulie states a valid belief that the 80's was the best decade for music.

He's right, of course, but then again, completely wrong.

It's easy to say the decade of your teenage years with the constant gigging / pubbing / clubbing before the responsibilities of family, would represent the "exalted decade". And he goes on to list a who's who of some of the best bands ever, let alone the 80's. A couple of corkers stick out for me; The Damned were the first band I ever went to see live (not a bad choice, eh ?) while The Mighty Lemon Drops were one of the most under-rated bands of the 80's / 90's.

However there are two major reasons why Paulie is wrong on this:

Firstly, there are a large number of bands out there at the moment who are well worth listening to, with the list growing daily. Just go on 'myspace' and search under your favorite band, and dozens more will appear citing influences. Some are heavily derivative, some sadly deluded of their own abilities, but every so often a real jem appears. I have a few linked on my 'myspace' site and if you want to see them, click the link. If new music was good enough for John Peel, it's got to be good enough for me. Liam Frost & the Slowdown Family (above) is a good example, not particularly better than anything else, just something played on BBC 6 Music today.

And secondly, if I started to tell my kids that the music today was rubbish and the best decade was twenty odd years ago, I'll go get some slippers, woodbines and Bryl Cream, and then completely turn into my dad!

A shame

David Johnson today announced his retirement through injury.

I followed his career closely since he nearly took my head off with a narrowly wide shot at Bury on a cold wet Tuesday night back in '97. Bury beat us that night, Johnson scored. I always thought we should have gone in for him after our promotion in '98, but instead we went for Dougie 'couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo' Freedman and Neil 'couldn't hit the f***ing farm, let alone the cow's arse' Shipperley. We got relegated. Johnson went to Ipswich.

When we did eventually sign him, we got a player who always gave it the proverbial 110%. He was an integral part of the striking triumvurate with Harewood & Huckerby which got us within extra time of the play-off final in 2003. The Derby game in March that year one of my best days, a 1,400 mile round trip to watch us beat local rivals in the run in to a top 6 finish.

Forest fans will tell you that he wasn't the same after his broken leg, suffered after Huckerby wasn't signed and Harewood sold on the cheap, and Forest's third division league status now is a direct result of Johnson's absences.

We may be saving on his wages, but that is a scant grey lining on a very big cloud. On his day, he was quite simply one of the best strikers outside the Premiership.

Bye, David, and thanks.

David Johnson classic Forest moments

Glass half full

First defeat of the season, but we're still three points clear at the top of the table, so there's two ways of looking at it:

1. It could have been worse


2. We've missed an opportunity to move further ahead

Me, I'm a glass half full person (I am now before anyone cites precedent) so it could have been worse, and we have a chance to make amends on Saturday.

Come on.

Socialism, a hard truth to face.

My dad and me used to argue about politics. Nothing serious, and not usually about the issues concerned, more the way to get the destructive tory government out of office.

My dad was politely asked to leave the Labour party after the Militant witch-trials, while I myself pushed for the party to move more to the right to become electable.

A few years later, I sent my membership card back to head office when it was sent out without the self-explanatory clause 4, never to receive (or ask for) it back.

While the Labour Party has moved so far right as to make the Liberal Democrats suddenly important, the problem isn't with the party, but the expectations of the electorate.

Unfortunately, and this is the hard truth to face, people do not want a socialist government. They've had chances to elect one in '79, '83 & '87, but didn't. Joe Public doesn't mind getting paid minimum wage, so long as they can go down the local car-boot and pick up pirate DVD's for £10 a through.

You can slag off Tony Bush for his involvement in Iraq and his opposite standpoint in the middle-east, but he represents the only chance we have of stopping the tories getting their grubby paws back on the keys of number 10.

The TUC can protest all they want, but where we are now, and I'll quote comrade Tony:

... is a darn sight better than wasting our time in opposition passing resolutions no-one ever listens to or can do anything about.

Keep pestering the government on important issues, by all means, but don't let the fat-cat, mutual-back-scratching, high-taxing-on-the-poor, low-taxing-on-share-deals, plastic-bag-orange-in-the-mouth-shagging bastards get back in power.

(*** Apologies for the lack of humour, references to football, drinking or dodgy guitar bands in this post. Normal service will be resumed shortly. ***)

New Order - The Perfect Kiss

Off to Scotland for a week, so a piece of perfect 80's pop for you to enjoy. As usual, the louder the better.

A valuable lesson

The cucumber is a fruit, and if you know that, you can cash in.