Following Peter Miller's fantastic bit of advice I would like to shout from the rooftops that I WORK IN THE MEDIA. I get to wear a trilby and sleep with media whores and stick it all on my expenses account. Are media whores supposed to charge? Have I been had? In my capacity as crack news librarian, I have found the following two little gems in today's cuttings: In today's Sun (underneath a photo of the new Tindersticks album cover, which features an 'arty' picture of a naked lady): THE SOURCE SALUTES.... Tindersticks - Simple Pleasure THIS lot have had their fair share of knockers in the past, so I suppose it's only appropriate that they should shove a pair on the cover of the album. That said, a record this good shouldn't come in for too much criticism. Singer Stuart Staples warbles his way through a fine collection of songs that are as thoughtful and beautiful as any you're likely to hear for a long while. ***** And in today's Guardian: The Divine Comedy A Secret History (Setanta) * For reasons beyond human comprehension, Neil Hannon continues to set up camp in the upper reaches of the charts with an ultra-tepid, ultra-English brand of foppish whimsy that your grandparents might have heard on Radio 2 in 1978 and banished for being "not radical enough". "But you fail to see the dark, knowing side to his acerbic easy listening anthems," say the postmodernists, as if Hannon's is-he-or-isn't-he-being-ironic stance excuses the limp innuendo of Something for the Weekend and lame phrasing of The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count. Well, Val Doonican's cardigan to that. A Secret History - the now familiar "featuring two new tracks" greatest-hits con - is Morrissey with all the arid wit exchanged for stale conceitedness. Thinking of leaving the country, but needing that one final push? Buy this. (TC) Not as great an opening gambit as the Sun, I grant you, but a refreshing example of the Guardian music journalists getting something right for a change. What's all this about me only liking 'Hurley's Having Dreams' in an 'ironic' way. I think it's bloody fantastic, I'll have you know. And so does Tim Hopkins. It's got some lovely lines in it and its depiction of the central character's crazeee ways is as good as any of Stuart's 'this song is about a girl who's a bit mad' songs. Not like 'Rhoda', which just repeats the same lame lines about special persons and special K over and over abloodygain over some piss-poor guitar line ripped off of 'Julia' by the Beatles, who are better than the Beach Boys, though probably less P!O!P! overall. I love the Beach Boys, by the way. But I stand by my crowd-baiting claim that 'Friends' is overrated. Someone implied that 'Rhoda' is a pre B&S song. I know it sounds like that, but I've been told that it was actually recorded some time between T and IYFS. Is this true? Nick xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+