http://youtube.com/v/VseqOCfUlyI #6 in the “You Had them All Wrong” 80s list. Forgive me – their debut sounded as if Elizabeth Fraser had joined the Comsat Angels. All went downhill afterward.

http://youtube.com/v/sET1lhBMNiU #5 In the “You Had Them All Wrong” 80s bands list: Not because I like it, because I don’t — I never liked Ministry — but because it’s hilarious to think Al Jourgenson (sic?) so successfully fooled so many into buying his tough-guy image and sound for later Ministry albums. Knowing this video first, […]

http://youtube.com/v/LcZmSu9s2KU #4 In the “You Had Them all Wrong” list of 80s bands Many bands tried to rewrite Beatles’ songs; most went back to pumping gas. PS rewrites “Hey Jude,” and theirs is the better song; a gorgeous, romantic breakup song both piquant and shimmering (“you’re still in love/with Hayley Mills”)

http://youtube.com/v/U1ImjjR3BTA #3 In the “You Had Them all Wrong” list of 80s bands*with caveat: Stunning to hear this great pop song, now, in comparison to the loads of dogcrap they spewed over ensuing years.

http://youtube.com/v/zduJ03VfE9I #2 in the “You Had Them All Wrong” list of 80s bands

http://youtube.com/v/_cIWsQuYVeg #1 in my “You Had Them All Wrong” list of 80s bands

At the recovered poets’ meeting we discovered one in our midst who’d continued writing and tossed him out the door. I secretly met him later, in the street, his face obscured by raindrops weeping from his hat brim, and asked him what he would choose for his life: Say my poems are a poet’s and […]

Jennifer O’Connor – Here with MeYou could trash this on the fact that O’Connor’s unassuming, acoustic-based folk rock would have made her huge anywhere 1988-1994 but at no other time. But you won’t, because she’s a damn fine songwriter and like a certain politician currently, whatever you say about her style, she truly, sincerely, means […]

I got this in the email today: Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message. The notice that we received, […]

TV on the Radio – Dear Science,A decent effort, with some transcendent moments, but producer Dave Sitek infrequently over-complicates things with his studio hocus pocus, and loses sight of the best touches. So we get 8-bit noise in the background rather than up front, where it belongs. Overall, not an improvement on Return to Cookie […]