Spandau Ballet Perform LIVE! ON The Jonathan Ross Show

Carole King - So Far Away / A Natural Woman (live at Later... with Jools Holland)

Here's Carole King on Jool's Holland last week.

Altered Images (Bite) Madness (Keep Moving) Carole King (Tapestry)

Three new records I bought this week on ebay. In general I never have any problems with buying on ebay although I only purchase with sellers who accept some form of middleman payment such as paypal. I got ripped off of 500 quid last year off my creditcard so I'm more careful nowadays. My most understanding bank manager refunded me!

Anyway, I saw Carole King on Jools Holland and bought Tapestry on a total impuklse buy on ebay right after the program for a fiver. Its in good condition and even the few background crackles add to the character of the record. So many times I hear these people murdering these songs on programs like American Idol. Its so refreshing to hear the originals and remember why they are classics.


I bought this Madness LP cause I was listening to their stuff at home and I realised that I was missing their last two albums from the 80's, this one and the Mad not Mad one.

I don't know why I never bought the third Altered Images album before. I was playing around with Spotify to see what there was and what there wasn't on there, and I came across this album by Altered Images. I've seen it som any time dirt cheap but never got round to buying it. IN fact, I've ended up with two copies of it. I bid 99 pence and decided to buy it on a 'buy it nowthingy' and ended up winning the one for 99 pence as well.

One annoying thing about buying records on ebay which is the P&P costs. The difference in cost from different sellers can be huge. And then when the record arrives I can't help checking how much they paid on post. Why should I pay 4 pounds on P&P if they spend 2.66 pounds? Is the difference for the horrible envelope they put it in? Or the hassle of waiting in line at the post office?

(The) Official Secrets Act

I've noticed this new group 'Oficial Secrets Act' being advertised in many of the music magazines and I remembered that I have an LP from the late 70s by a group with the same name. In fact I though it was a fairly shite name when I found this record a few years back in a second hand record shop and the more I looked at the sleeve the more crap it seemed. I think it cost me about 50 cents for the record (hence the pruchase).

Anyway, now there's this new group and they're also Official Secrets Act but without the 'The'. Let's hope the music is better than the name. No sign of them yet on Spotify.

The signed new shaped picture disc single by La Roux. When I bought it online I didn't realise that it would be signed and shaped. What a great surprise.

Well I haven’t written anything here in ages. Seems a shame to have such a great blog name (I think!) and not use it. But family and life get in the way of regular updates. And such things as the current episode of the Apprentice (UK) (and other shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica , etc) which is on in the background as I write this. What a bunch of plonkers they always are these contestants on this program. But nevertheless, it’s very interesting to watch. It never ceases to amaze me how normal they are when they’re fired and the appear on the ‘Apprentice – You’re Fired’ program.

Also, I wasn’t sure where this blog was going. It was supposed to be a diary of a music fan when in fact what really interests me is music on vinyl. And I suppose I was letting too many things influence what I wrote about and why. I don’t want anyone to know who I am so I try to keep personal information at a minimum. Then again, the music I like is probably not considered very cool. I’m a child of the 70s and a teenager of the 80’s so I like to listen to all sorts of eighties pop, even including Shakin Stevens who was my first music idol (who gives a fuck if you think he wasn’t cool, I was 11 at the time in 1981 when he broke onto the music scene and I adored seeing the guy singing and dancing on breakfast TV. I lived for his next single).

So from now on I’m going to concentrate on my vinyl purchases. Who says vinyl is dead? It’s not! In fact most people think so but I buy most of my new music on vinyl. Only recently I’ve bought the new albums on vinyl by Late of the Pier, Antony & the Johnsons, U2, Heartbreak, The Filthy Dukes, Lady Gaga, Friendly Fires, Ladyhawke, Royksopp and White Lies. I also like to display record sleeves in my in my house.. Since I was 11 years old I’ve been fascinated with record shops so I suppose that by displaying the sleeved from the records I’m currently listening to at home I feel like I’m in some kind of imaginary record shop or art gallery. Hey and I’m 39 years old!

So I’m going to concentrate on explaining the vinyl, old and new, that I’m buying, explaining what the records mean to mean and why I bought them, and so on. If no one else reads this then at least I’ll have a record of my music purchases over time. Let’s see if it evolves or remains entrenched in the 80 and 80s revivals. I did start to but some jazz stuff when I turned 30. I somehow thought it was the right thing to do. But I got over that after a few months. Still I like the stuff I bought. Now I’m nearing 40 I wonder if I’ll have another silly 10 years crisis.

The new Antony & the Johnsons single on yellow vinyl. mmmm!

Also I’d like to highlight any special purchases such as picture discs or colored vinyl. Last week I bough the new single by La Roux and it arrived on a shaped picture disc signed by the artist! Brilliant! And the new singe by Antony and the Johnsons is on yellow vinyl. To me its something precious, a beautiful physical format of recorded music.

I've been buying a few (!!) Cds lately. Here's most of them.

Kelly Osbourne - Sleeping in the Nothing (It was going cheap and I love her rip-off of Visage, One Word.)
Scott Matthews - Passing Stangers (great album, deserves greater success)
Jackson and His Computer Band
Rufus Wainwright - Rufus does Judy (Not sure about this one. It was a present. I have all his other albums but his voice is beginning to get on my nerves. Its about time I realised, no?!)
Pop Art - Pet Shops Boys greatest hits
Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape (wonderful 80's pop)
Amy MacDonald - This is the life (Bought this on a day when I had money to spend and nothing to buy. Don't like it.)
Razzmatazz 07 - Great compliation of indie rock from Barcelona's finest live music nightspot
Kate Nash - Made of Bricks (I knew I would eventually buy it. Great cover).
La China - De Amor y Muerte (Excellent first album)
Robyn - Haven't made up my mind on this one yet. Seems like a grower.
OK Computer - For once a great free cd with Mojo music magazine.
Depeche Mode - First time around (live in Zeche Bochum 28.11.92) Recorded by someone in the audience (not soundboard) but not bad quality.
Roisin Murphy - Overpowered (mix of great new electrodisco and old-fashioned sounding 90's dance music)
kd lang - Watershed (new album. Having read the reviews i was hoping for a more country flavoured album but this sounds just the same as everything she's done since' Barefoot'.)
Depeche Mode - Deluxe version of 'A Broken Frame', classic album, classic over.

Andrew Ridgeley- Red Dress

Allez Allez - African Queen

Decca, limited edition of 300 from 1953

The Dogs - Dogfood

Thomas Dolby - Aliens Ate My Buick

Paul McCartney & Kylie

Paul McCartney flirting with Kylie Minogue. What a weird but credible match.
Here they are on the best music on TV I saw over the holidays, on Jool's Holland annual Hootenannyon BBC2

Happy 2008.