Hello chaps, Sorry I haven't written for a while. The fact is, I have been out of the country on a fact finding mission. I set off with the intention of going all the way to Misery, which is a minor provincial town in an obscure former Soviet republic named Sobriety, but I was kidnapped by bandits, blindfolded, abused abominably, then shuttled between the twin rough encampments of Drunk and Disgusting. So you see, I have an excuse. My time in captivity made me realise that, by Jingo, I have been curmudgeonly and closed-minded all these years. So, since my return, I have taken the opportunity to listen with a new open-mindedness to all the recommendations which some of you have been kind enough to post for me while I've been away. On the subject of the Jefferson Airplane, well, how wrong I have been! They are indeed not the kind of addled, stinking hippy filth that should have no place anywhere near audio equipment in a civilised country. No! 'Surrealistic Pillow' is an appropriate and fabulous name for an album so packed full of passion, fervour and wit. Oh yes, it also seems that Grace Slick does not sing like a half-strangled harpy with a twice life-sized replica of the head of Joan Baez shoved up her arse, after all. I quite agree with The Artist Soon To Be Known As Carsmile Steve Again that the Bee Gees are lovely. And their 1960s Hollies-inspired (and oh! how inspired!) 1960s output is every bit as delightful as the 1970s tight pants and wind machine era and the 1990s elder statesmen of transglobal middle of the road pop phase. Brilliance piles upon brilliance, and not once in their careers have they been bandwagon-jumping, crap-haired shovels of guano. My favourite things of all are the fabulous songs they have written for others: 'Heartbreaker', for example, must have been just that for those Bacharach and David fellows. Their hearts must have broken clean in two when they realised what Dionne Warwick could have done if she had been given a properly constructed song to sing. That nice Alasdair Cooke wrote from America how much he loved the Pixies. Which is admirable for a fellow of his age. Rather like his football skills and his lovely thighs. Anyway, it turns out that he is absolutely right about the Pixies. How I ever thought they sounded like a poor quality, tracheotomised Krokus tribute with an unhealthy farm animal fixation snorting vim and getting low down and dirty with a cattle prod in a pigsty, I can't understand. That loud/soft thing they do is so exciting! And that science fiction thing is so cool! Sadly, Mister Miller, I can't tell you anything about those strange records you mention, on the grounds that Ms. Ross was quite right and I haven't the first foggiest idea what reggae is about. Except 'I Shot The Sheriff' by Eric Clapton. He invented the guitar, you know. Ah, and the dear old Who's 1970s output. What a pleasure it was to listen to it again after all these years. And how true it is that they can't be understood as sweaty, unpalatable, macho, male-menopausal rawk. Because, behind all the grunting and the shouting, the power chords and the cock-thrusting, the lyrics show genuine sensitivity and, yes, even fragility. Especially on 'Squeeze Box'. Why I ever saw them as QPR-supporting, standard issue arena rock pish, less appealing than finding a lump of old, dried Meatloaf jism on your spicy beanburger, I will never know. I'm so happy that I have seen the error of my ways. Oh, and Tag, tennis is still cack. Tootle pip Tim _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+