It’s quite rare that I will actually promote an album on my blog. My musical tastes are somewhat fussy, almost to the extent that if it’s not of Queen or Oasis standard, it must be shit (although you might hear reports that I have played Barbie Girl by Aqua on very rare occasions – mainly as a means of annoying my friend Jon White). However, the new album from The Editors, “An End Has A Start” is truly fantastic.
I am listening to it for the first time as I type, so maybe that is an unfair reflection – after all, I may grow to hate it after a couple of plays, and the remaining tracks could be dire. What I have heard so far though, has been superb.
The album starts with the popular single “Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors” an amazing record, which mixes melancholic moods you may hear on a Coldplay record, with the uplifting beats similar to that of the great U2. Sorry… I’m no music journo, I can’t write very good reviews so won’t try :o)
To call An End Has A Start a “one hit album” would be very wrong. The other tracks, including those which will never be released in single format, are also impressive. I highly recommend this album. Best piece of music I have heard in 2007.
Finally, some people have been calling the album depressing. I think I can explain this one. The Editors are based in Birmingham – a depressing place. Look at The Manics, they took have been accused of having gloomy music – they’re from Wales! To back myself up – Kaiser Chiefs from Leeds – big, loud, thumping sounds. Let us not forget The Wurzles. They may all be over the age of 84, with one foot in the coffin, but they make some hilariously funny songs, and they’re from Somerset!
I was (ever so slightly) saddened to read that music and DVD store, Fopp has gone bust, closing 105 of its stores nationwide.
I used to be a regular customer, and bought some real treasures from there, most notably one of the last remaining Die Hard I & II limited edition DVD boxsets in the country.
Like many customers, I haven’t been in ages and have simply relied upon cheaper online stores for DVD purchases and MP3 downloads. It is inevitable that HMV will also go the same way as Fopp, MVC and Our Price, in the not too distant future.
You have to feel sorry for the staff who have lost a months pay. Expect shit loads of stock from pissed off ex-employees, who beat the liquidators to the stockroom, to appear on eBay.
R.I.P. Fopper
Making my way home from work today, I saw an injured bird in the car park. I had noticed it earlier on in the morning, but just dismissed it. As it had been there all day though, it was obvious it’s wing was injured, so thought I had better help in some way.
I returned to the office and recruited a colleague to help me in capturing the bird. The plan being for me to take it home in a photocopying paper box and nurse it back to health.
Getting anywhere near the poor creature proved troublesome. For an injured bird, it was certainly able to run fast and hide underneath parked cars. After much effort, we decided to give up.
As we admitted defeat and begun to make our way back, the bird leapt out from under a parked car and flew into a nearby tree. Obviously it was less injured than we first thought – or we scared it into flying! Either way, I was left happy that it was back in the safety of a tree and not left on the floor as a tasty ready meal for a cat.
On our return to the office, we decided to be mean, and play a trick on Sam, who had been left behind to man the fort while we went out bird catching. My colleague recorded bird sounds into my mobile phone, which I then placed into the paper box. When Sam inspected the closed box, high-pitched bird song was emitted from inside. We had him fooled for all of 30 seconds until he realised it was simply a mobile phone!
* I say Starling, I think it may be a Thrush. Putting “Stop The Thrush” as a blog title may have lead to many misunderstandings though!
The second Grand Theft Auto 4 trailer was released on Rockstar’s website today.
As expected, the short clip showed off what we can expect a next-generation GTA to look like. Most of the trailer content appears to be FMV- I just hope the actual playing experience is just as good. Hopefully there will be some in-game footage in the third, final pre-game teaser.
GTA4 hits the UK on Friday 19th October 2007. I have already booked both the Friday and following week off work. If things go to plan, the vast majority of my 10 days off will be spent locked in my flat, curtains drawn, playing the game. I’ll return to work a week later, looking pasty, spotty, fat, and suffering from rickets due to natural light deprivation. I will then go home ill and spend another week playing from my sick bed.
The Spice Girls have reunited for a world tour – but are they too old?
About Me
So you stumbled across my blog. No doubt after searching for something bizarre on Google. Before you hit that 'Back Button', why not stay and have a read for a few minutes?
If you are after a website which gives advice on how to hack an iPhone X, download the latest Steven Seagal movie, or view nudy ladies, you've come to the wrong place and may now press 'Back'.
However, if you would like a lifestyle blog, written by a 30-something chap, living in Bath (England), feast your eyes on this.
You won't discover how to copy PlayStation 4 games. What you will find is a blog, covering life in the West Country, the highs and lows of supporting two unsuccessful football teams, while sharing a house with a wife and rabbit.
All written by a man, somewhere on the sanity-scale between normal and eccentric.
