Harry Crosby Day

HAPPY HARRY CROSBY DAY

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Solace from song

With the city on fire and the impending election of the bumbling sociopath in the UK. I can't help but wonder - what is the point of carrying on. 

These are dark days indeed and it is sometimes all too hard. But there is solace and it can come from the bleakest of places...

I give you...

Black Eyed Dog

A black eyed dog he called at my door
A black eyed dog he called for more
A black eyed dog knew my name
A black eyed dog knew my name
A black eyed dog
A black eyed dog.

I'm growing old and I want to go home
I'm growing old and I don't want to know
I'm growing old and I want to go home.

A black eyed dog he called at my door
A black eyed dog he called for more.

Nick Drake - Black Eyed Dog

Bob Willis RIP

A great English fast bowler. Bob Willis will long be remembered for his single-handed demolition of Australia at Headingley and so he should be. It was astonishing...

Sit back, relax and enjoy Bob at his wild-eyed best...

Robert George Dylan Willis MBE - Surrey, Warwickshire, 

Northern Transvaal and most crucially of all England.

30 May 1949 - 4 December 2019

The pathology of love...

All the parallels of love with addiction on White Bread, Black Beer suggest that Green the writer still knows that love is essentially both pathology and cure, so Scritti's sweetness remains sick, their sickness sweet....
Mark Fisher - Scritti's sweet sickness on K-Punk

The benefit of Green Gartside's magnificent prevarication (or is it sublime perfectionism?) that has lead him to produce a total of 5 albums since 1982 (37 years and counting). Means that we have had ample time to absorb every hook, line and to (over) think about the familiar parallel world of love that his songs (he?) inhabits. 

From the first hearing of Skank Bloc Bologna via Confidence, Lions after slumber on to Snow in Sun off of his most recent album White Bread, Black Beer there is a distinct yearn that doesn't permeate the broad 'pop' landscape. Certainly not now, even back in the wild 80's when the new pop hegemony took hold, Green's voice and vision stood out from others crowding the darker edges of the dancefloor/charts. 

In this day and age, intellectual rigour no longer has a presence on Spotify playlists or indeed in life in general it has no place - certainly political discourse/scientific debate is no longer encumbered by intellectual rigour of any significant substance. It seems ironic that the only obvious place that advancement is truly being intellectual explored is in Sports science - but then there is money in goals!

So, Green and the Scritti Politti project stands out as a beacon of beauty and brilliance  yet at the same time the melancholy celebration of love continues to be anchored by the aforementioned yearn. The question must be is does the yearn need to be real or is it simply because it is unreal that we are more attracted to it?

Slip inside the soul of a song - choose any one - Faithless, Oh Patti, Bam Salute, Ummh!, The Boom Boom Bap and what do we find? Who do we find? The flicker of addiction, rejection, escape and redemption. 

Tears of sorrow, tears of joy
Oh come at once for the sweetest boy
(Nobody knows)
That's the price that the boy has paid
To choose not to be afraid

- Faithless

You know that barroom belles, well, they're calling
You know their perfume smells like blood
If looks could kill singing dollar, dollar bill
Well, that's the beat of my life

- The Boom Boom Bap

Oh first and foremost - ooh you gotta get close
To the money and the madness that are mine - at any time
And last but not least -- in the heart of the beast
There's a beauty that was once upon a time - and long ago

- Bam Salute

I'm cuttin' down on the stuff I'm thinking
Too much 'umm' drives a man insane
Promised my world to a girl forever
Now she can't take the blame
I should have gone where the sun was shining
Green can't come to the 'phone right now (my baby)
I could have shone like a dark star, baby

- Umm


The promise of new music is dangled before us every 12-18 months. The story goes that the album is all ready and good to go. Apparently it sounds brilliant but... nothing appears. His last album was a series of demo's, handed over to Geoff Travis of Rough Trade  for approval prior to going into the studio to complete. Fortunately Travis decided to accelerate the process by 5 years and simply released the demos - which still sound magnificent. 

Goodness knows the number of almost completed masterpieces that Green has locked away on a hard drive somewhere. All we can hope is that somebody can persuade him to share them with us before it all gets too late in the day.

In the meantime, we have the 5 albums, assorted EP's/singles, a couple of compilations and the hope that someday Green will share another snapshot or two. Until then all we can do is yearn...

On a brighter note...

Advanced Orders

I am The Deckchair Man

I give up - We are well and truly done for....

Boris Johnson 

Zero Hours

Twilight Gods,
choking
on the sticky bile of anxiety
turn in too late,
get up too early
and there is no way out of the maze
the exit has grown over
if ever an exit existed
the only sound is the
Minotaur
gnawing away
at the souls
of the
underpaid
& underfed
----
the terminal
unoccupied
AI leading
us nowhere
----
Zero hours
Zero days
Zero minutes
Zero breaths.

General Election - The Beginning of the End Game

I've been voting in UK general elections since 1983. My track record (33%) is pretty poor...

1983 - Lost
1987 - Lost
1992 - Lost
1997 - Won
2001 - Won
2005 - Won
2010 - Lost
2015 - Lost
2017 - Lost
2019 - ? 

However, this time feels as though it is the most crucial of them all. Britain has been poised on the brink of chaos for the last 5 years and the last 18 months has seen the situation slide ever quick towards genuine disorder...

An interview with...

Best Albums of the Decade (1st Jan 2010 - 31st December 2019) - Provisional List

A Certain Ratio	Acr:Box	2019
ABC	The Lexicon of Love II	2016
Alan Hawkshaw & Brian Bennett	Full Circle	2018
Alison Statton & Spike	Bimini Twist	2018
Arctic Monkeys	Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino	2018
Arctic Monkeys	AM	2013
Bellowhead	Revival	2014
Ben Watt	Fever Dream	2016
Ben Watt	Hendra	2014
Billy Bragg	Tooth & Nail	2013
Blur	The Magic Whip	2015
Chris Watson	El Tren Fantasma	2011
CTMF	Last Punk Standing	2019
CTMF	In the Devil's Focus	2017
CTMF	All Our Forts Are With You	2013
Damian O'Neill And The Monotones	Refit Revise Reprise	2018
Damon Albarn	Everyday Robots	2014
David Bowie	Blackstar	2016
Durand Jones & The Indications	Durand Jones & The Indications	2016
Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children	For the Ages To Come	2016
Edwyn Collins	Badbea	2019
Elbow	The Take Off and Landing of Everything	2014
Eyeless In Gaza	Sun Blues	2016
FONTAINES D.C.	Dogrel	2019
French Boutik	Front Pop	2016
Ghostpoet	Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam	2011
Gorillaz	Plastic Beach	2010
Graham Day & The Forefathers	Good Things	2014
Gruff Rhys	Pang!	2019
Gruff Rhys	Hotel Shampoo	2011
Hollie Cook	Hollie Cook in Dub (Prince Fatty Presents)	2012
Holly Golightly	Do the Get Along	2018
Holly Golightly	Slowtown Now!	2015
Jez Kerr	Numb Mouth Eat Waste	2011
John's Children	Black And White	2011
Johnny Marr	Adrenalin Baby - Johnny Marr Live	2015
Johnny Marr	The Messenger	2013
Judy Dyble & Andy Lewis	Summer Dancing	2017
Kamasi Washington	Heaven and Earth	2018
Kano	Made in the Manor	2016
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins	Diamond Mine Jubilee Edition	2012
LEVELZ	LVL 11	2016
Madness	Can't Touch Us Now	2016
Martin Carthy & Eliza Carthy	The Moral of the Elephant	2014
Matt Deighton	Doubtless Dauntless	2018
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band	Adiós Señor Pussycat	2017
Miles Kane	Colour of the Trap	2011
Monks Road Social	Out of Bounds	2019
Monks Road Social	Down the Willows	2019
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	Skeleton Tree	2016
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	Push the Sky Away	2013
Nick Heyward	Woodland Echoes	2017
Paul Weller	Other Aspects, Live at the Royal Festival Hall	2019
Paul Weller	True Meanings	2018
Paul Weller	Wake Up the Nation	2010
Popincourt	A New Dimension to Modern Love	2016
Pugwash	Silverlake	2017
Radiohead	A Moon Shaped Pool	2016
Richard Hawley	Standing At the Sky's Edge	2012
Robyn Hitchcock	Robyn Hitchcock	2017
Roddy Frame	Seven Dials	2014
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever	Hope Downs	2018
Saint Etienne	Home Counties	2017
Saint Etienne	Words and Music By Saint Etienne	2012
Scroobius Pip	Distraction Pieces	2011
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings	Soul Time!, Vol. 1	2011
Shirley Collins	Lodestar	2016
Silver Jews	Early Times	2012
Skepta	Konnichiwa	2016
Sleaford Mods	English Tapas	2017
Sleaford Mods	Key Markets	2015
Sleaford Mods	Chubbed Up+	2014
Sonzeira	Brasil Bam Bam Bam	2014
Spoek Mathambo	Mshini Wam	2010
Stone Foundation	Street Rituals	2017
Stormzy	Gang Signs & Prayer	2017
Tame Impala	Lonerism (Bonus Track Version)	2012
The Advisory Circle	As the Crow Flies	2011
The Amorphous Androgynous	The Peppermint Tree and…	2010
The Bookends	Far Away but Around	2018
The Coral	Move Through the Dawn	2018
The Coral	Butterfly House	2010
The Duckworth Lewis Method	Sticky Wickets	2013
The Everlasting Yeah	Anima Rising	2015
The Fall	New Facts Emerge	2017
The Fallen Leaves	What We've All Been Waiting For	2017
The Fallen Leaves	If Only We'd Known	2013
The Galileo 7	There Is Only Now	2019
The Galileo 7	Tear Your Minds Wide Open!	2017
The Galileo 7	False Memory Lane	2014
The Good, the Bad & the Queen	Merrie Land	2018
The Goon Sax	We're Not Talking	2018
The Heliocentrics	The Sunshine Makers	2017
The Imagined Village	Empire & Love	2010
The Jack Cades	Music for Children	2018
The Len Price 3	Kentish Longtails	2017
The Len Price 3	Nobody Knows	2014
The Mobbs	Piffle!	2016
The Mobbs	Garage Punk for Boys	2014
The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians	Africa Express Presents…	2017
The Orielles	Silver Dollar Moment	2018
The Pop Group	Honeymoon on Mars	2016
The Pop Group	Citizen Zombie	2015
The Red Inspectors	Are We The Red Inspectors Are We	2012
The Senior Service	King Cobra	2018
The Senior Service	The Girl In the Glass Case	2016
The Sensation Seekers	Jerk Beat	2018
The Sound of Pop Art	The Beat the Beautiful and the Loaded	2018
The Sound of Pop Art	Drama	2016
The Soundcarriers	Celeste	2010
The Specials	Encore (Deluxe)	2019
The Strypes	Snapshot (Deluxe Version)	2013
The Wave Pictures	Look Inside Your Heart	2018
The Zemblas	Too Much Too Soul	2012
Theatre Royal	...And Then It Fell out of My Head.	2017
Thee Spivs	The Crowds and the Sounds	2013
Thee Spivs	Taped Up	2010
Tunng	...And Then We Saw Land	2010
Ural Thomas & the Pain	The Right Time	2018
Villagers	The Art of Pretending to Swim	2018
Wiley	Godfather	2017
Will Burns & Hannah Peel	Chalk Hill Blue	2019
Wire	Silver / Lead	2017
Wire	Nocturnal Koreans	2016
Wire	Wire	2015
Zomby	Ultra	2016
Zomby	Where Were U In '92 ?	2012