She Bangs The Drums

Dear Daniel,

You sent me this link. Twenty years of the Stone Roses, eh? I was going to say that makes me feel old. But truth be told, I first heard their debut album in 1993 so I've got at least 4 years before I should worry about that.

Penny Anderson didn't like the record, but then there are plenty of people who are happy to line up and deliver their contrary opinions in an attempt to prompt interest by bucking convention. And I guess that 20 years down the line, it's healthy to challenge received wisdom. But - and here I'm referring back a few months on this very blog - it's all a bit Bill Drummond. To a wide group of people, they sparkled. If they didn't sparkle for you, I assume you liked something else. Let's talk about that instead. Didn't that make you feel alive with joy?



I liked Where Angels Play. Although it is so very true that they were not up to it live. Bizzarely, it's impossible to embed any videos from the first album from youtube. The very-nearly-cuts-it performance of She Bangs The Drums is the best I could muster and it's still an abomination thanks to Ian Brown. I remember being appalled in Reading Rivermead in December 1995. Less so two weeks earlier in Bridlington Spa, but then we always had a nice time on days out.

As an aside, here's the comment on this article from itisjim (it's not by the way):

It was crap though, wasn't it? So were all those albums from that particular period of time: Loveless, Nevermind, Surfer Rosa, Bummed, etc. How lucky we are today to have the likes of Keane and Kaiser Chiefs, music for all generations...

I couldn't disagree more. They all broke new ground whereas Keane have just delivered Ashes to Ashes almost thirty years too late. But there you go. To quote Alex James, "At the end of the day, talking about music is like wanking about rain."



[I think my band could be a go-er: here's the cover of the debut album by Camille Pin entitled The End of Your Arm.]

Dear James,

Well among the move and your visit I've finally got round to posting again on this blog, though I still haven't got speakers for the computer so I'm doing this by telepathy. And by looking at the videos on Funseeker's Mac in the lounge. "Where Angels Play" is one of those awful jangly indie songs that remind me of living with you in first year of university. I'd come home from classes and you'd be listening to this or Gene or some other shit, I'd wait until you'd left the room and slip on a Barkmarket record. Actually that's a lie, I didn't even wait until you'd left the room.

The Stone Roses at Bridlington Spa was until now one of my most fondly remembered gigs. I may have to adjust my mental top ten now. That Keane song is vaguely shocking, but not half as shocking as their cover of Under Pressure, which I'm not even going to link to so as not to encourage these people.