It was a bit clumsy, but I used to prefer it when that's how the line went. Anyway, I think we're all getting a bit teary. Mass hysteria caused by excesive snooker. 33 frames indeed. It's madness! Once, on one of the crappy TV outtakes shows, they showed a clip of a local news reporter doing a Vox Pop on some people sunbathing in the park: Interviewer: "Excuse me sir, if I said 'malignant melanoma" to you, would what you know what I meant?" Man in Park: "Err yes, I'm a epidemiologist specialising in skin cancer" For some reason I was reminded of this by all the "Hey that duke guy's got no idea what he's talking about" This is not to say that the duke is better qualified than anyone else to talk about such things* but some of you youngsters have NO IDEA how many years this man has spent pondering what it means to be P!O!P! Like he says, check back in the archives. Or don't. My own feeling is that the key members of the band were never satisfied with the way the early records (so beloved of the duke) sounded. I think there's a incontinuity between the indie purity of their design ethic/image and their musical ambition. See I think they always wanted to transcend the folksy arrangements and lyrical concerns of the first two albums. Weren't they really unhappy with the way songs like 'Get me away from here, I'm dying' got recorded? They wanted a bigger, Stax-y sound didn't they? And look at how they go out of the way to choose diverse, never-indie records when they're invited onto radio shows. Wasn't it some time ago that Stuart was quoted as saying that in the past he'd write the words first (or little acoustic strums), whereas lately he'd been trying to writing 'proper songs'? None of this invalidates what the duke says, and his friend is right to say somewhere in his reappraisal of some (probably dodgy-as-hell) indie-dance collective from 1990 that artists aren't the best judges of their own work ( http://www.tangents.co.uk/tangents/popular/sfs.html). I don't know, I've heard rumours of their dissatisfaction with the way both TWATTYBUS and FISHYLAP turned out too. Miserable sods. As for the charts, some people in the US might not appreciate that the charts here are very different to the ones in your country. They are exlusively based on singles sales, and themodern single-buying market consists largely of a)young kids b)indie/rock obsessives who want every bonus track c)DJs and other people up with dance music. Thus it's a weird place, and not a yardstick of what the nation's tastes are. Whoever had that bet with their mate sounds like he's onto a winner to me - I have no doubt that 'Legal Man' will enter the charts very high but this doesn't mean that Steps fans have been won over. Conversely, if, as seems likely, it drops like a stone two weeks later, this doesn't mean that no one who heard it on the radio or TOTP has been won over by it. But they'll probably want to buy an album and be annoyed to find the track isn't going to be on one. This 'no-singles off albums' policy is very cool and everything, but I know for a fact it pisses off/bewilders most casual music fans. I'm just saying. As for the Legal Man 12"/CD single rip off, my best guess is that it's been done to make the CD single eligible for the charts. If the extendeddickslap is too long it might push the total over the 20 minute maximum (I think that's right) that the chart rules allow for singles. I guess they reckoned they could afford to lose the 12" sales. If this isn't the reason then they really are being scummy. I think I'll learn to cope with a shorter Dick Slap. Nick xx * thankfully, formal certificates in pop music appreciation have not yet attained widespread recognition. Just as well, as I failed to complete the 'hobby' section of my DofE bronze award scheme. 'Pop Music Appreciation' sounded a great wheeze, but on the back of the info card it suggested tracing the development of the UK skiffle band scene and I was bewildered. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+