For The Benefit of Mr Jobs

Don’t get me wrong, I like the Beatles. I really do. And I recently purchased the Mono Box set on CD (yes CD). I got it for less than £100 (still bloody expensive) but I bet it is better quality than anything Apple will sell me (cheaper too).

I don’t buy MP3s or AAC or digital music in general. I’m old fashioned and I like (and trust) the physical medium with Graphics and sleeve notes. I can rip it into today’s format, back it up easily, and not worry if I change technology (and I’ve had ATRAC, MP3 and AAC so it isn’t just DRM that can annoy me).

It is good that Artists get paid something for their work and especially new artists. I don’t think Sir Paul will need the royalties Divorce or not so I prefer to get my classics somewhat cheaper.

Is this a day we’ll never forget like Jobs said? I Doubt it, but it is a great advert for Apple who in the paid online music business remain to be beaten despite Spotify etc.

As I write the Beatles Red Album is doing quite well on iTunes at £17.99. Here are some real solid deals you might want to consider instead

The Fall the Complete Peel Sessions £16.79 – 6 CDs of a band like Marmite (luv em or hate them)

Joy Division – Heart and Soul 4cd collection £9.87 or New Order Retro 4cd £16.99 – A massive end to end history

Lee Scratch Perry – Arkology £16.43. 52 tracks of a Reggae/Dub producer genius at his absolute prime

Miles Davis – Complete Columbia Recordings £12.99 – Legendary Jazz albums from Jazz Masters Miles Davis and Gil Evans with outtakes £12.99. Includes Sketches from Spain and Porgy and Bess

Johnny Cash Legend 4CD £12.99 – Because he is, well.. a legend

Elvis Presley – From Nashville to Memphis (5 CDs) £12.99 – 60s brilliance from the King

The Message. Story of Sugarhill Records (4 CDS) £14,99 – Early rap/funk/soul brilliance

All the above will be well packaged, yours, rippable and come with great photos and text.

Anyone found any better ????

P.S. The other great news from this announcement is the price of Beatles CDs which seem to remain constant are dropping. Cheers Mr Jobs.

The Best Thing I've Ever Seen - Number 1

Number 1 in a random series of... um well when I can be bothered really (I'm Pretty Lazy/Busy as you can probably see).

Ok I used to think Blogger Play was really great. This shows random photos/graphics as they are uploaded to Blogger which can be played at various speeds. Some of the photos are obviously personal, some swiped from elsewhere and some graphics. If anything takes your fancy you can click on it and it takes you directly to the blog in question. I believe it was developed as an internal toy for blogger staff to play with.

Go on try it its cool.

However between them Mario Klingemann and Oleg Marakov have created something so awesome that I've officially titled it "The Best Thing I've Ever Seen (until I find the next thing)".

Take Flickr photos that are random, but not completely, as each additional photo shares a tag with the previous one. Do clever flash things so that they fade and warp into each other, as well as other effects such as zooming and scanning. Add a random Ambient soundtrack made up of a series of clever samples that work together to create a never ending song.

What you are left with is an 'Art House' style continuous film which is quite hypnotic in style.

Its called "Islands of Conciousness" and it can be enjoyed by clicking here

Poll of Polls - Top Albums 2007 Nos 80 - 61

Part 2 of the top 100 albums of the year Poll of Polls compiled from 19 different sources

80	Kassin + 2	Futurismo
79	Foo Fighters	Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
78	Dillinger Escape Plan	Ire Works
77	John Fogerty	Revival
76	Jens Lekman	Night Falls Over Kortedala
75	Commix	A Call To Mind
74	Clipse	Hell Has No Fury
73	Health	Health
72	Ricardo Villabos	Fabric 36
71	Nick Lowe	At My Age
70	The Maccabees	Colour it in
69	The Cribs	Mens Needs, Womans Needs, Whatever
68	Richard Hawley	Lady's Bridge
67	Miranda Lambert	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
66	Iron and Wine	The Shepherds Dog
65	Black Lips	Good Bad Not Evil
64	Nine Inch Nails	Year Zero
63	Lil Wayne	The Carter Sessions
62	The Coral	Roots and Echoes
61	Pram	Moving Frontier

Part 3 coming soon

Technorati Tags: Top,Albums,CDs,Compact Disc,2007,NME,MOJO,Uncut,Q,Kerrang,Word,Record Collector,Mixmag,Observer,OMM,Time,Times UK,Telegraph,Daily Telegraph,Guardian,New York Times,Blender,Pitchfork,The Wire,Spin,Rolling Stone,Drowned In Sound,Music

Poll of Polls - Top Albums 2007 Nos 100 to 81

Recently to satisfy my idle curiosity I conducted a poll of polls for the top Albums of 2007. I looked across 19 different publications both UK and US, including Music Magazines, websites and newspapers. They are listed in the technorati tags below.

I looked only at the top 30 albums from each site, if there were more they were ignored, if less I started them at a higher number of points to give a closer weighting to critics top choices from each publication.

There were 201 different albums in total. I've only got time to give justice to the top hundered. The lowest scored 16 points out of a possible 570. The highest scored 354. Therefore at the lower end of the 100 you find some strange choices, but they may have come from a particular specialist publication such as Mixmag or Kerrang, but remember they would have come in the top 15 of that publication and might be worth a quick listen.

For those that are interested, scraping in at 101 (with votes from more than one publication), was Britney Spears

Without further ado I present the countdown from 100.

No#	Artist	Album
100	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah	Some Loud Thunder
99	Laub	Deinetwegan
98	Interpol	Our Love to Admire
97	Field Music	Tones of Town
96	Every Time I Die	The Big Dirty
95	Common	Finding Forever
94	Calle 13	Residente O Visitante
93	Andrew Bird	Armchair Apocrypha
92	Aesop Rock	None Shall Pass
91	Strategy	Future Rock
90	Plan B	Paint It Blacker
89	Gogol Bordello	Super Taranta
88	The Hives	The Black and White Album
87	Oner Ozer	Kashmir
86	Maps	We Can Create
85	Machine Head	The Blackening
84	Kaiser Chiefs	Yours Truly, Angry Mob
83	The Dream	LoveHate
82	Prince	Planet Earth
81	Paul McCartney	Memory Almost Full

Technorati Tags: Top,Albums,CDs,Compact Disc,2007,NME,MOJO,Uncut,Q,Kerrang,Word,Record Collector,Mixmag,Observer,OMM,Time,Times UK,Telegraph,Daily Telegraph,Guardian,New York Times,Blender,Pitchfork,The Wire,Spin,Rolling Stone,Drowned In Sound,Music

Big Ideas (Don't Get Any) - Radiohead Revolutionise The Record Industry?

So following on from Princes revolutionary idea to give his latest album away with the Daily Mail (who would have probably pretty much hated a Black, semi androgynous, sex mad Jehovahs Witness***) another act is set to change the way we 'buy' music in the future.

Radiohead have announced they have finished their next album titled "In Rainbows" and that it will be available for Download 10 days after the announcement. It is going initially to be available in two formats:
(a) A super duper box set featuring the album on CD, an additional CD with further tracks, the album, the album spread across 2 heavyweight vinyl records, (perfect for all audiophiles, and lts of art work, lyrics books etc. (Released December)
(b) Download only with just the main album. (October 10th)

The box set comes in at a not insignificant £40 but the extraordinary thing is that the Download is operating on a pay what you think it's worth basis. This means that, subject to a transaction fee of 45 pence, you can get the album for nothing.

Many sites such as Money Saving Expert and Hotdeals are advertising this fact, and some people are encouraging people to pay nothing for the album. I think that if people genuinely think that the album is worth nothing, then why the feck do they go there in the first place?

The problem with the honesty box process is that on the web people are generally dishonest and out to steal what they can. The difference between this and Prince is that Prince was paid by the Daily Mail to be a huge advert for them, helping to sell more of their newspaper. Similarly for Prince it was a huge advert for his concerts, made him as much money as his previous album did and helped shift his vast back catalogue (A Greatest Hits compilation entered the charts, and all of the stores like HMV who moaned had a great opportunity to do deals on the back catalogue.

Radiohead, however, have worked on a 'No Logo' basis before, even resorting to a tent tour to avoid advertising. They will not make profit that way, so if we all resort to getting something for nothing, where will they get the money from?

Box Set Sales? - Maybe but I cannot believe that they will sell that many, even to a willing fan base.
Touring - Hope so, because its been a bugger to get a ticket recently. However not only do we have tour guilt for environmental reasons, but anyone who has seen 'Meeting People is Easy' will understand why Radiohead have avoided large scale tours and only tend to play small gigs when they feel like it.

Don't get me wrong, I've downloaded the new songs from tour boots, and I'm not adverse to a freebie (currently downloading all the GHP bootlegs from here). However the Band struggled for about 10 years with one of these songs before releasing it, (Nude), that was originally titled "Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)". Do you think a 45P transaction fee is justified?

I now have a dilema, as I understand a commercial CD release may follow. Do I get the box set, or donate a minimal amount and buy the standard CD when it comes out. I think I'll buy the box set, and hope it might offer the chance to pre-register for concert tickets or something as good as that.

So you can order the album here.

Go on, give a little. Your honesty and generosity may dictate how artists decide to release their music in the future.


***P.S. This is not the way I see Prince. I see him as a musical genius who is carrying on the band leading brilliance of other greats like James Brown ...who might have a slight teeny fixation with sex ;-)

Mystrands Social Player for Symbian. Great app but...

A recent post on the 3G forums about experience of Mystrands Social Player for Symbian led me to re-evaluate my Mystrands experience.

I’m a pretty voracious consumer of Music (a glutton in fact) so it is quite interesting to see who is playing what, what else they are playing and perhaps discover something else I might like. It’s also pretty handy to keep track of what I’m playing myself. I’ve got music on my laptop, my PC, my two creaky old (but still Brilliant) Creative Nomad 3s and my Zen Vision (not M).

I never would have put music on my old K750i phone (shite headphone connection and I’m a headphone snob) but the proper headphone jack on the Nokia N95 and its “book” slider/media player plus its support for Napster to Go convinced me that I could now wander around with less hardware (and less chargers) on my person.

I’ve installed Mystrands on the PC and Laptop (for WMP) and the beta version (2.7.3) for the Nokia N95 and given it quite a test run. There are a couple of reasons why I haven’t used it recently (including rebuilding the phone), but I still think that it’s an excellent idea on its way to becoming an excellent app. Here was my feedback on the phone app

• Wi-Fi works better than 3G currently. Less failure with Recommendations, Synchronisation, Other Users etc but eats the battery soooo very quickly. Best keep plugged in for this.
• If you decide to use the “always ask” option for connectivity (rather than stay online with 3G or Wi-Fi you get prompted every few seconds.
• You have to re-build the library if you want to add new tracks, but at the same time this means you have to re-sync the library (on-line again). These need to be separated.
• An improvement that must be implemented is to log tracks you have played whilst offline so that you can sync this info with the server next time you connect. This would be a huge battery saver.
• Currently doesn’t recognise the DRM tracks from Napster To Go. As I use a lot of music from this it’s a bit of a pain working out whether I can listen through Mystrands of the Nokia Media Player.

Generally for all Mystrands applications the recognition of tracks could be better. Firstly it doesn’t recognise a lot of the tracks I play which are new (and I listen to a lot of brand new releases). Secondly it does not necessarily recognise the full tag. As I write this the Fall tracks in my chart are all from the Peel Sessions Box set, but Mystrands is relating them to other Fall Albums. This really needs to be improved if a real picture of listening habits is to be drawn up.

Having said this, I still think it’s a fab app. Being able to post your charts in flash and html to blogs, myspace etc is good and there are a lot of interesting developments at Mystrands Labs to get excited about. I have fed back my comments which are being taken on board (the offline playing of tracks and syncing later is already written in a future release). I would urge you all to try out the Social Player for Symbian, consider trying the beta, feed back your comments and help turn it into the killer app it could be.

Prince - First Impressions of Planet Earth

Just having my very first listen to Princes Planet Earth which came Free with the Sunday Mail today, already on the first track it sounds like a fairly commercially aimed album.

Apparently Prince has caused such a storm by giving this away with HMV and others decrying the fact that they aren't getting a cut of the profits. What they should realise is that if its a good album, (and I think it is), they will all get money from sales of the back catalogue.

Its not a real giveaway, because if Prince wanted to do this he could just post it on the web. I think it is clever marketing. Cause a little controversy, get some publicity and reach some people that wouldn't normally think of buying a Prince CD. Also with the proliferation of R 'n' B around these days, remind everybody Who's the Daddy and one of the biggest influences on today's sound.

Here are my initial thoughts

1. Planet Earth - Oooh Lovely Piano intro. Better dip the lights and light the candles. Oh wait its only 10am. An anthemic song but suddenly it sounds like Take That (or Barry Manilow if you are older) doing Could It Be Magic. 5 minutes in and the first bit of fret w~~king (Guitar Soloing).
2. Guitar - Most would already have heard this. An out and out pop song with lots of noodling guitar (of course) with Prince pretending to be the Edge (but less delicate) through this track.
3. Somewhere here on Earth - Ballad alert. Personally I think all Prince Ballads are great because he just has the voice for it (lots of soaring falsetto). Good muted Trumpet sounds and twinkly piano. Prince the lover man has returned (but not Prince the Sex Freak)
4. The One U Wanna C - Prince tells us he's got a lot of money (that'll be why he gave the CD away then). Sounds pretty classic Prince "Rock" sort of Sign of the Times era. More spanking of the old frettage at the end.
5. Future Baby Mama - Another Ballad with lots of multi tracked Vocals. More of a R 'n' B thing going on this time with one of those Spoken Word bits in the middle.
6. Mr. Goodnight - Hey a bit of Rap. Not Prince, The Artist Formally Known As, Tora Tora, Slave or Squiggle. Now you can call him Mr Goodnight.
7. All The Midnights In The World - Jolly Piano song Obviously someone nicked his Guitar
8. Chelsea Rodgers - Disco Bass, Disco Guitars. Funky Horns. Goes all Ska on you. This will be ace live. Dunno who the female lead vocals are on this but they're cool. So far my favourite and probably still will be after a few listens.
9. Lion of Judah - Princes voice sounds a little strained on this, not usual but obviously deliberate. Definitely found the Guitar again.
10. Resolution - A finish that once again reminds me a little of Sign of the Times


Its no Sign of the Times, (IMHO the Best Prince Album), nor as Musically funky as Musicology. However it isn't being given away because it is a poor album, it is clearly a very commercial one might even say Chart Orientated album (if it had been sold). Full of Cliches, but not in a bad way, this could fit in anywhere on the Prince timeline from Purple Rain onwards.

An extremely good use of £1.40

Welcome to Shrewsbury!

These were spotted at the Bellvue when we went to that hot bed of trouble Shrewsbury to see a charity gig/Glastonbury warm up of The Wombats/Pippettes/Holloways/CSS. Good gig all around



As Gareth said "No Trainers, No Baseball Hats, No Woolen Hats No atmosphere"


This is my favourite bit. The way I read this you can chain smoke, swear and disrespect the furniture after 6 o-clock as long as you have your Mum and Dad with you.

Playing with Mystrands and my Phone

I started this blog really for myself and to explore the capabilities of my Phone a Nokia N95. I was paticularly keen to get a phone that had a good web package as ebay, etc is banned at work and I wanted access to email on the go. As soon as I saw the blurb for the N95 I coveted it and eventually got it on a t-mobile web and walk package.

It had a decentish Camera (I've never owned a Digital Camera myself, I leave it to Mrs Wavey), great MP3 capabilities and was alright for Video, podcasts, etc, etc.

Next stop w.as trying to stretch it including blogging from the phone and trying out bleeding edge applications, including Mystrands.

Mystrands allows you to play your music, and as doing so, can catalogue what you are listening too, let you know who else has listend to it, get recommendations of other tracks you would like and put you in touch with a community of like minded people.

See the Mystrands promo youtube thingymajig below.



I couldn't get it to work at first, but a quick email and I was allowed the beta version for the phone and was up and running. I also installed Mystrands on my home PCs. Thne results are quite impressive, and although I have a few questions, gripes and ideas for improvement I am enjoying using it. The 'charts' on this blog come from code generated in mystrands and lets me know what I have been listening to on my Phone and PC. There are other groovey little applications in the Mystrands Labs, such as maps of recommendation to play with as well.

I may add more, once I have fed back my coments to Mystrands and made sure I understand the capability better, but if you have a decent web plan, and diverse music tastes it is well worth a play.

http://www.mystrands.com/Download look for Mystrands Social Player for Symbian.

Royal Festival Hall re-opening at Southbank

Saturday 9th June - This weekend to celebrate the re-opening of London's Royal Festival Hall which apparently had been shut for restoration for a couple of years. There was lots on over the Weekend and we had a couple of Hours to spare before catching our Train home on Saturday so popped down for a look.

The first thing that grabbed us as we got close was the London Eye which we saw from a different angle coming from Waterloo. I just cannot believe that originally it was planned only to keep it for a year or two. Were they mad, it's a great feature?

As we got nearer we started to spot the Anthony Gormley Figures on top of the buildings. They looked fantastic and I wish we had had time to actually go and see the exhibition, but we didn't.

The place was teaming and we arrived to hear the last notes of the Bollywood Brass Band. Walking through the throngs past old cars and routemaster buses, through an allotment (!) we go up to the fountain 'Appearing Rooms' by Dannish Artist Jeppe Hain. It is basically a square fountain subdivided into four further square rooms. Different areas of the fountains turn on and off randomly allowing people to walk from one room to another without getting wet.

In reality on a busy hot Saturday during the opening celebrations of the Royal Festival Hall it is a perfect excuse to get wet and cool down.

All immense fun.



Someone I was pleased to see was modern day folkie, Londoner and all round good bloke Billy Bragg sound checking for a free Busker Set (one of several performances he gave that weekend). Below you can see him improvising around Goodnight Irene (I didn't know he was a Gashead) whilst his sound man tries to both listen in the optimal audience position and adjust soundlevels on the soundboard behind the stage. Shortly after this Billy did a mainly covers set of Busker standards that he used to do at the tube stations, etc in his youth.

NME Topman Show at Cardiff Coal Exchange.

This evening I'm attending a new Venue, for me, (Cardiff Coal Exchange) to see four new bands, for me. Generally, I prefer smaller more intimate venues and bands on the up. This is because, (a) You can get a bit closer to the action and enjoy the intimacy, (b) the Bands are generally a bit more up for it, even if they do sound a bit more rough and ready and (c) its a bit cheaper.

Anyway here is what I thought

The Venue - Cardiff Coal Exchange



An austere and interesting old place wood clad and looking like it could be an old court as much as some old trading exchange. It was a little bigger than I thought it was going to be, and a little empty (God what do you expect for a tenner down here). Still the sound was OK and the drinks easy to get.

I noticed that the place is due to close because of re-development. I don't know whether this means gone for good or whether it will re-open again, but I hope it stays as a venue as it looks quite nice.


Blood Red Shoes

It seems that everyone wants to compare this band to the White Stripes. Is that because they are a boy and girl combo playing drums and guitar? Where as the White /stripes are all Bluesy and Zeppelin Blood Red Shoes were much more urgent, and English. Garage Band Punk style and fun.

They seemed quite engaging and I thought very enjoyable. If you get the chance to see them in a small venue then I'd recommend it.



My Space http://www.myspace.com/bloodredshoes

The Little Ones

Now here is another band that has been compared to another (the Magic Numbers). Well the Magic numbers sound like a West Coast American band and the Little Ones are a West Coast (Los Angeles) American Band.

These guys were determined to enjoy themselves from the start and this was infectious rubbing off on the crowd, some of whom were trying to breakdance in order to entice the singer to join in (as he promised but failed to deliver). Summer Shirts, Beach Boys, and by then Bristol Rovers were winning there play off semi final, so every thing was great.

Its seems much easier to write miserable songs compared to joyous ones (without sounding like Rod, Jane and Freddie), but Little Ones do it well. For me, without a doubt, the best band of the night.

If you have Napster (or want to try it) click these links

Lovers Who Uncover
Oh, MJ! (Stereo Quadrata Mix)

If not enjoy this Rod Jane and Freddie song

My Space www.myspace.com/wearethelittleones

Pull Tiger Tail

Nu-Rave already seems quite old to me. What is it that indie rock bands can play a bit faster, bring the keyboards to the front and suddenly everyone is wearing day-glo and imagining that this is like the late 80s.

Still, Pull Tiger Tail were respectable and fairly enjoyable, but I preferred listening to the Myspace tracks than watching them on the night. This is possibly because they followed the Little Ones and I was engaged in conversation with a Nottingham Forest fan about play offs, so don't hold it against me. Pull Tiger Tail were good at promotion handing out Tiger Masts to everyone.



My Space www.myspace.com/pulltigertail

The Rumble Strips



Well promotion of the night goes to the Rumblestrips who had a rig of bluetooth dongles offering an MP3 ringtone of Motorcycle to anyone who had their phone activated. Not the greatest ringtone, but I bet most people have listened to it a bit.

Rightfully compared to Dexys, this band are tight and entertaining. They have been around for a while, so who knows if they will make it big or not, but they are something a bit different in today's times. Good set.

My Space www.myspace.com/rumblestripsuk