A Bejewelled Case of Regression or Progression

I don't know if you've noticed, but the tendency for CDs these days seems to be more and more shying away from the jewel case. The jewel case is actually a great idea in that the cover, CD and any other stuff fit in a standard size box. There were a few deviations, but essentially it means that if the box gets damaged, you can easily replace it.

Now That's Thick

I don't know if it's due to vinyl's resurgence, but more and more CDs are now coming out in customer sleeves and boxes giving artists and designers free reign to be almost as inventive as they were with the 12" LP. Who remembers Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick" which came in a full broadsheet newspaper, a copy of the St Cleve Chronicle, and Hawkwind's "In Search of Space" and "Space Ritual" in their intricate Barney Bubbles fold out covers with booklets. They made you really want to get the album , and the packaging was a huge part of the experience.

Recent CDs that seem to echo that are David Bowie's "The Next Day" ,  the Led Zeppelin reissues and Prefab Sprout's Crimson / Red, all of which are gorgeously packaged, although they do break the uniformity of your rows of CDs.

You also have the Rhino Originals, which give you 5 CDs in beautifully rendered facsimiles of the original album covers, and retrospective boxes look absolutely wonderful.

It may be that vinyl has given CD a kick up the arse giving the public the delight of interesting music packaging to complement what you are buying. There are a few examples under here and maybe we should choose Tull's "Thick as a Brick for the music. Sleep well and have a great weekend my friends.

How Bad Were The Eighties Really?

I've just finished Danny Baker's series of shows on the seventies , eighties and nineties and the eighties usually come in for extremely harsh treatment due to New Romantics and A Flock of Seagulls hair styles. But Baker's show opened with The Clash playing Should I Stay or Should I Go at Shea Stadium , New York. The program was only half an hour long and while Prefab Sprout and The Pretenders are not exactly my cup of tea (although when both bands are good they are very very good and Prefab Sprout's last album is an absolute beauty) , the quality of the music never faltered , finding space for Ivor Cutler's Shoplifters before having the great man introduce The Smiths Boy With The Thorn In His Side. The show closed with New Order playing The Hacienda.


This post seemed to be getting fairly monoparagraphic so I thought I'd insert a break.

Incidentally a friend from Facebook had mentioned the Fall's I Am Curious Oranj in various  orange related posts last week, and then Danny Baker played Big New Prinz in situ with the dancers / ballet for which the music was commissioned.


When you add bands like The Cure , Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus  you have to admit there were a lot of great bands round in the eighties. As I've said before 95% is always rubbish , it's up to you to track down the good stuff. I've probably mentioned more bands in this post than any other previous post but there is a lot of great music round all the time, find and enjoy.

A Smile Before Christmas

This song came completely out of left field, suggested by a good friend. It's not that seasonal but embodies many of the qualities that should be encapsulated in the season's spirit. Caring for others and not being afraid to show your own feelings. Prefab Sprout while not my favourite band, have always produced music of excellent quality (though I never liked "King of Rock and Roll").

It also means the song I had for today will now be pushed back til tomorrow, so it's amazing how good things can slowly snowball, and before you know where you are there are lots of good things happening.

Our weather is getting worse but still not absolutely terrible and I have a feeling it will blow over, but I feel for anyone out on nights like this.

I hope you are warm tonight on pre Christmas Eve Eve , so have a great time and always have a smile for someone.