Hi all -- first post. I'm a B&S fan in the heart of New York CIty, home of some decent music and three restaurants for every set of lips. OK, so there's a lot of talk about the new album, and this has been done to death BUT. I've taken to not judging, because while I loved Tigermilk and Sinister and all the little EPs at first listen, I really didn't like TBWTAS when I first heard it. Why, don't know why. But after a few more listens I soon began to consider that it might even be The Best. The only song I immediately liked (Sleep the Clock Around) is now my least favorite song on the album. Maybe the group is maturing, diversifying, experimenting, but I think it's all going fine. I mean, the way Space Boy Dream goes into Dirty Dream #2, I love that. About the popularity argument -- I'm not going to get into my own personal opinions, cuz I don't really have any, but I do chuckle when I realize that pop no longer means popular. I don't attach value either way to the word popular... but then again I do enjoy the irony of a pop band being unpopular, which exposes the vast machine of the music industry which promotes and rewards a lot of stuff that's just um Crap. And to add something new to the group, I just thought I'd like to say that, although I'm American, I grew up in London and my favorite song when I was growing up and glued to the telly watching Top of the Pops was that Dead or Alive song, "you spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round" or something to that effect. It still echoes in my mine and I can see the lead singer from Dead or Alive, with his massive hair, sometimes in my dreams. Shudder. Oh, and I think I saw John Cale in Barnes and Noble the other day. Nice to meet you all. Mike --- Mike Simanoff mike@simanoff.net and of course www.simanoff.net +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named +-+ +-+ Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+