Umm, after almost a week away and a fistful of digests I was kind of hoping to have lots of things to reply to, but don't have too many. I would, however, like to say that we are not all hopelessly wet and sad, or whatever it was that dry and happy fellow said while signing off. I suspect *some* of us are hopelessly wet and sad, and all the better for it. Mister Miller said: >Chris is in good company, just >look at this list: >Andrew Dean, Michael Roddddddd from Screen Test, Lenny Henry, Jesse James, >Ben Elton, Elton John, Rodddddddd Stewart and George Michael. >Mitchell Fraser, on the other hand, is a member of a much more exclusive >club: >Wilkie Collins and, erm, Brad Pitt. I am in a state of consternation. Is All Creatures Great And Small star Christopher Timothy a 'two surnames' or a 'two forenames' fellow? Does famous 'statesman' Warren Christopher have the distinction of haveing a forename and a surname, but in the wrong order? Mr and Mrs James must have had a fetish for this sort of thing, since their other son was named Frank, after Anne, one supposes. But Frank James is a double surname while Jesse James is a double forename. Hmmm. What's more, Jesse was shot in the back by another double surname, Charles Ford. If only the Fords had had the foresight to name their other son Robertson rather than Robert, the whole thing would have been perfect. Miller also wrote: >Horace Andy feels like a bit of a letdown. So my question for reggae-ologists >everywhere is: What could possibly top Yabby You and The Congos? Which Horace LP is it, Petey? If It's the Blood and Fire one, then I would tend to agree that it's not his best. Try 'Dancehall Style', his showcase LP on Lloyd 'Bullwackie' Barnes's Wackies label. The very best reggae LP ever to come out of the US, I contend. For the record, if it's deep roots reggae you're after, some of my favourites are: Prince Far-I: Under Heavy Manners (Joe Gibbs) Big Youth: Dreadlocks Dread (Virgin) and 'Screaming Target' (Trojan) Heptones 'Party Time' (Island) Culture 'Two Sevens Clash' (Joe Gibbs). Upsetters: 'Open The Gate' (Trojan), 'Super Ape' (Island) Jacob Miller 'Who Say Jah No Dread' (Greensleeves) These are all well-known classics, dead cert bankers. If you ask me. Blood and Fire squire Steve Barrow reckons that the best reggae LP in the world ever is 'Songbook' by Bob Andy (Studio One), and that's a fairly good call, I say. Don't even think about buying the Studio One CD reissue though, since it has been reissued with lots of nice nineties keyboard overdubs. Which is like opening a ?10,000 bottle of wine to cook with. I bought the brilliant 'Flash Forward' by Cedric 'IM' Brooks at the weekend, which is an unimaginably beautiful instrumental reggae LP on Studio One. Oooh, gives me the shivers just thinking about it. Um, what else? Travelled from Rugby to Lincoln at the weekend in search of a football game which never was. Arse. However, the good folk of Lincoln are clearly poltroons (or perhaps spend their time in awe at the beauty of their admittedly very beautiful cathedral) since the town seems to have record shops which are stuffed with bargains which, in any true civilisation, would have been snapped up long before. I even found a copy of 'Introducing Jane', a 1990 single by The DeBuchias (featuring Johnny Dangerously), after which I had been lusting for, well, 8 years. The cost? 20 new pence. Weird. Anyway, in search of football, I moved on to Nottingham, which was good in so far as it enabled me to visit yet more fantastic record shops. Selectadisc came up trumps for me again by purveying not only the aforementioned Cedric Brooks LP but also (for 50p) a copy of Marlin Greene's mystical country rock masterpiece 'Tiptoe Past The Dragon'. Including the original lyric sheet. The point of all this, you ask? Well, none really except to ask for your opinion on the following conundrum....is it strange that, when I visit a new place I always seem to find piles of amazing record bargains which never turn up in NW Lancs? Or am I the only person in the world with such bad taste? As such have I just purchased all the rubbish from the local record shops, leaving the shopkeepers rubbing their hands in astonished glee at the happy faced Hopkins walking out having paid for unsaleable crap? Answers on an ink polaroid please. The other point is to send a message to the list which does not insult Petey Miller. He says that we're not having an affair. I still think we have a chance at happiness, given a lot of hard work. Ta ra tim ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . 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