Swingin' Ryan

He used to be so good in Shooting Stars. I say good, I mean funny. I say funny, I mean depressingly cynical and silent.

Snappy Tomato Pizza - Chilli Beef, Sausage, Pineapple, Jalapeno's, Sweetcorn, Extra Cheese

I assume you mean Kinnock. Will Self doesn't jump.

How far up in the tiered seating can you be in the SECC and still get a legible view?

Is anyone else watching Have I Got News For You? Will Self arguing with presenter Neil Kinnock, absolutely priceless bit of television.

"To all those bands that moan about not getting into the charts because the rules have changed - Write a tune you morons!" - Nicky Wire. I thought I'd play too.

Larkin was my english teachers lecturer at Uni. Sid Vicous also spat on her once. She has great stories. I like Ginsberg, Kipling, Larkin and Keats.

Z for Zachariah is such a classic.

The sultry Bavarian-esque sex-funk of Goldfrapp. And a live Billy Connoly show on CD at bedtime.

Thank you all. I've heard samples of the Yamaha CS01 and it sound's ace. I've heard really short real player samples of the microkorg and micron but not enough, I'd like to give them a proper look. Does anyone know if the mini-keys on the microkorg and micron are a major annoyance? Every review seems to mention how small they are, is it possible to play them comfortably without havng to fumble about trying to hit the right keys?

Yeh, I'd imagine once I've exhausted the basics I'll want to expand a little bit, aslong as I can get bleeps and dirty bass I'll be happy. The MicroKorgs looking like the front runner at the moment, just because it seems so much easier to use than the Micron, plus I've wanted one since I saw a picture in The Face when it first came out. Cheers for the help

Here's the scenario, I'm looking to buy a small analogue synth that will be relatively easy to play and won't require a knowledge of programming or anything intelligent. I'm not bothered about it making huge soundscapes or big beats as I've got the drum machine covered. Just something that can make some dirty Goldfrapp-ish bass and little electro beeps and bops. I've looked into the Micro Korg and the Alesis Micron and a few retro synths. Does anyone have any recomedations? Something with Vocoder capabilities like the Micron and the MicroKorg would be smashing but not essential. I don't need something that I can write 12-minute electronic scores on and that I can programme with patches and other such things. I have basic keyboard/piano skills, but can't do a thing with computers so something simple and cool sounding in the 300-350 range that will just add a little extra layer to a primarily guitar band and will be fun to play with. All advice warmly recieved

Elvis Presley, he sung the slow ones, he sung the fast ones, and he did them better than anyone else. He invented rock and no-one's done it better since. Download "Trouble", more attitude in that voice than any punk/rock/metal singer ever. Other than Elvis, by decade I would say..... 60's - Mick Jagger 70's - Marc Bolan 80's - Steven Tyler 90's - James Dean Bradfield

Yeh, I've seen Miss Black America twice now, thought they were great both times, although the songs seem to blend in a little. They put on a good live performance though.

The Rat Pack (more of a collective than a band, but still...) Aerosmith The Manic Street Preachers The Cramps

Well I loved that post personally. The world's full of boring bands, music needs more arrogance. I fit the criteria pretty well, unfortunately my only real talent is drumming and as I said in the "rock and roll" thread, I'm in one band as it is playing drums and I don't really want to do it in another band. However if your at a completely loose end and there's room a fairly rudimentary bass player that's 90% image 10% talent, then give me a shout. (And so what if the guy made a Manics clone band? It's not as if there's a huge influx of Manics rip-off's out there, mores the pity. People set up clone "emo" bands everyday churning out the same boring music, a manic-a-like band would be filling a gap in the market).

It's definitelly the best-sounding prospect I've seen mentioned in these classified ad's, unfortunately by trade I'm a drummer, and if there's one thing in the world I don't want to do in another band, it's play drums. However, if my guitar skills improve or I develop a better singing voice, I'll make sure your my first port of call.

I taped it. It was passable,nothing special. It was pretty much just clips of videos spliced with an interview with James, they only obviously had access to the Sony videos, which was a bit silly as James spoke for a while about Motown Junk and recording that etc, which they followed up with a 2 minute clip of Motorcycle Emptiness. James did say some interesting things in the interview though, about how happy Richey would have been to see "If you tolerate this" get to number 1, as his ambition was always to get a song about some major historic event (the Spanish Civil War) into the top ten and into popular culture. He also spoke about how he knew Richey wouldn't be "dissapointed" in their change in sound as many fans think, as they'd actually already recorded a lot of the Demo's for Everything Must Go with Richey, for Small Black Flowers, All Surface and Kevin Carter (although I don't think Kevin Carter was a major change in sound, I don't think it would have been massively out of place on the Holy Bible). Nothing Earth-shattering, but interesting nonetheless. I did feel the whole Richey era was dispensed with in the first 5 minutes though.

Yeh I should have thought it through, I have no idea how I'm going to stretch out a 10 pages essay on the book.

Manic Street Preachers : In Profile on ITV tonight at about 3:30am if anyone's interested.

I did Catcher in the Rye, really enjoyed it. I'm doing On the Road by Jack Kerouac and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for my advanced higher dissertation, roughly basing it around travelling and the pursuit of the "American Dream" and the alienation of being on the road. Not very much to do with 1984 though, although there's quite a few comparisons with the Thought Police and the american anti-terror media.

I think there were quite a few really great albums made in the 90's, but post-2000 hasn't had very much to offer whatsoever, I like little bits here and there but I don't think I've gone out and bought a post-2000 album, too much Emo/Hardcore and really pissy Indie like fucking Keane. Only primarily post-2000 band I've been giving heavy rotation recently has been Goldfrapp and a bit of Postal Service. There has been some good guitar-rock stuff but not a lot. To sum up, I'd say there hasn't been a REALLY great album for the last say.....5 years with the possible exception of Youth and Youngmanhood by Kings of Leon and Black Cherry and Felt Mountain by Goldfrapp.