All the Young Dudes / Heroes

Dear James,

I always thought those screechy-scratchy guitars in Fashion were courtesy of Mick Ronson. This is the part of the Freddie Mercury tribute concert I told you about, where from my 15-year old point of view, lots of people I'd never heard of came on stage and played lots of songs I'd never heard of. When I told this to my girlfriend at the time, she retorted "What? Queen?" That relationship didn´t last long, though principally because I put a wet floor cloth on her head while she was trying to fix a leaking washing machine. That was probably my fault, though I would argue that she had no sense of humour.

It was said after the concert that this was the best part of the night, although if you consider that the same night included Paul Young singing Radio Gaga and Lisa Stansfield gurning all over I Want to Break Free, that's not saying much. I was going to write that within a year of this performance, both Ronson and Ian Hunter were dead, but it turns out Mr. Hunter is still very much alive, and in 2001 toured the US with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band.

And here's some things I never knew about Mick Ronson:
1. He was from Hull and had a posthumous solo album called, wait for it, "Heaven and Hull".
2. When they came to look for Mick Ronson to get him to join David Bowie's band, he'd given up on London and was busy marking out a rugby pitch.
3. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed´s "Transformer" album with Bowie, and played piano on "Perfect Day".
4. He was also partly responsible for Lulu's cover of "The Man Who Sold The World." To think, I once bought a Lulu album based on that cover.
5. The last song Ronson ever played guitar on (the solo) was The Wildhearts' "My Baby is a Headfuck".

And speaking of all this guitar business, which I wasn´t really but it´ll do, I was walking home today when I saw this beauty in a music shop window. Do you know if they're any good?

Perfect Day

Our recent talk of covers which were better than the originals and Lou Reed butchering all his songs led me to reluctantly seek out this video. Eleven years on, it still makes my toes curl, but far less than the version which Radio One DJs did. Do you think the producers sat with Lou Reed going "Go on Lou, just sing one line properly. Please?" Do you think Lou Reed was a precursor to Milli Vanilli, and never actually sang any of his songs, which were in fact written and recorded by Brian Epstein? Me too. Still, even the sound of Lou Reed stripping his own classics of any recognisable melody is infinitely preferable to hearing Bono sing anything.

Then we get to play the "Name the People Who Used to be Famous" game.
1. Dunno. Girl from Morcheeba? 2. David Bowie, letting himself down badly. 3. Dunno. Girl from Coors? 4. Elton John, well-suited to this kind of rubbish. 5. Boyz One. Or is it Wetlife? 6. That awful opera singer woman. 7. Token reggae person. 8. Do you think Bono had a stipulation in his contract that he got at least two lines? 9. Is it Pavorotti? I also thought he sang in this? 10. The woman from M People. I'm bored with this game already and want to watch this instead:

Do you remember when we were living in the 1990s and thought it was the best decade ever? How wrong we were. Doesn't this song sound like it was meant to be a joke, like when indie bands cover Baby One More Time? Wouldn't you love to hear M People covering other Small Faces songs. "He's always there, when I need some speeeeeeeeed". "Oh, life, is just a bowl of All Braaaaaaaan!"

Paris 1919

Dear Daniel,

You've mentioned Hallelujah on a couple of occasions now and I've been firming up my knowledge on it for work since it will be Christmas #1 and people are asking about it. So, there's the Leonard Cohen version you posted and the Jeff Buckley one which many people think exists in the very small category of songs which were done better as a cover than they were by the artist who wrote them (which we could take on as a irregular theme here). But there is the version which some think influenced the Jeff Buckley arrangement and it's the version which was performed by John Cale.

Doing the research, I'm in danger of having heard the song itself too much. Coupled with the fact that simply to be in the UK over the next month and hear various versions on repeat could destroy much of the love for the track that existed in the first place, here's John Cale's Paris 1919. It's better performed on that album than it is here live, but judging by any Lou Reed concert ever, there must be an unwritten rule that all former members of the Velvet Underground change vocal phrasing and mumble while on stage.

Dear James,

It's at times like this that it feels good to be away from England. The concept of a Christmas Number One doesn't exist here, in fact not even the concept of Number One exists, and life is much the simpler for it. There's a Number Ten and he's called Diego, but that's about it. No X Factor, per se, no novelty records and no incessant in-your-face Christmas stuff on the telly. There's Dancing for a Dream, the pornographic version of "Strictly Come Dancing", but I just ignore it exists.

I didn't mean to keep mentioning Hallelujah, it's like haemorrhoids, it irritates me and so I can't stop myself bringing it up in conversation. Do you have any album to recommend from John Cale? Paris 1919, I s'pose. I thought I'd bought one of his a few years ago, but it turned out to be JJ Cale and I never got over the disappointment.