Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys

Based purely on the lyrics, this is my favourite album of the last few years. I think Elbow's Guy Harvey, is one of the best lyricists around. In particular, Lippy Kids' lyrics are so evocative. It's a song about growing up, especially that point in life when you transition from child to young adult. The lyric "One long june I came down from the trees and, kerbstone cool, you were freshly painted angel walking on walls, stealing booze and hourlong hungry kisses." is one of my favourites of any song or artist. Other songs I love are "Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl", apparently about Garvey's first girlfriend and things that were important to him and the band when they were in the their early days, and "The Night Will Always Win" which is about loss and absence.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Are there times when something in your music collection causes you to inhale sharply and wonder whether the gods of musical appreciation are having a laugh at your expense? Well, for me, today is one of those days. 

Having listened to this properly, there's less to it than meets the ear, from my perspective anyway. There's a couple of "catchy" tracks such as "Roll Away You Stone" but there's also something strangely irritating about the whole thing. After the first three or four songs I found myself waiting impatiently to get to the end and it was quite a relief to get there.

I consider this to be the "First Mrs Rochester" of my recent collection. It's going to get locked away in the attic and fed on a diet of rotten fish, mind you it'll have to fight for it with the first (only?) Transvision Vamp and Mansun albums which were also locked away up there in years gone by.

I think I'll put this down to a momentary aberration caused by a combination too many vouchers and too easy access via the net.

 In the days before downloading or, more generally, buying off the net, I doubt I would have made the effort to go out and buy this. In those days,  getting music involved a trip into town to Woolies or, for something outside the top 40, a trip of about 20 miles to the nearest HMV/Our Price/Independent record shop (the last independent record shop here closed, I think in the early 80s). As a consequence you had to think about stuff before you bought it. Now the careless click of a mouse can cause all kinds angst and self doubt!

On another matter, I mentioned in a previous post that I'd got another voucher for my anniversary. Well the only thing I've purchased so far is the new Elbow "B" sides collection "Dead in the Boot". I'll probably add it to to the play list for this blog but I don't intend blogging about it for awhile. I'm deliberately going to put new stuff towards the back of the cue.

A LITTLE BOY WITH MONEY

A Little boy with money is my mother's definition of what a man is. She has been applying this definition to my father and me ever since I can remember. Today is the sort of day I understand what she means because it's my fourteenth wedding anniversary and, as is usual on these occasions, birthdays, Christmas etc my wife has bought me a £50 voucher to spend on itunes. Therefore I have all this money burning a hole in my,  metaphorical, pocket but I don't have the time to sit and spend it since it's 8 A.M. and I have to go to work shortly.

In which case, like a kid in a sweet shop, I'll spend the day attempting to decide what to spend it on. Will I by something completely new? Will I put some of it towards adding to or completing my collection of certain artists,(I still have a couple of Pink Floyd albums to get) or will I use it to replace some of the albums that have got lost, stolen, swapped or "weeded" over the years? Also, will I spend it all in one go or will I have the restraint to keep  some back for future purchase, especially in the short term since, both, Elbow and The XX are due to release new stuff in the next few weeks?

It's going to be a long day until I can get back on my computer!!!