Indulged in my first spree of the year. Been trying to stem the cash haemhorrage via the, er, exchange economy scenario.
The Delivery Man 2CD (Had to, didn't I? Means I can give away the original and make someone happy. Extra CD is good but not great. Good price on play.com, and came quick.)
Then to Fopp, a shop with so many stunning offers that my heart trembles as I near the threshold, though they didn't have the Durutti Column £5 titles someone had mentioned to me, sadly. Got these:
Joni Mitchell - Clouds £5 (Never actually heard this. Superb Word article has got me interested in hearing her entire canon. What a talent.)
Irish Greatest Bands compilation £5 - which features lots of solo singers too. (This was an appeasement offering for my Irish wife, she gets worried when I start frequenting Fopp again. Lots of classics, many of which we had on CD, some we didn't like Thin Lizzy's Whiskey In The Jar, and Sinead doing Nothing Compares. Comes with a bonus CD of a rather silly CD about a woman who keeps seeing Bono around Dublin, and he then appears in the shop in which she works.)
XTC - Oranges and Lemons £5 (Heavily praised by the several fans here, have played the first few songs, sounds great. Yet again, this reissue contains a lyric sheet reduced from vinyl 12" to CD size, so it's about 3pt type. It is genuinely illegible, magnifying glass only. They also had the second LP, I think it's the second, the one with all the printed text on the front.)
Bob Dylan - the 1966 'Royal Albert Hall' (as in Free Trade Hall Manchester) Bootleg recording £8 (Great price for a double plus book, and the perfect accompaniment for forthcoming reading of Chronicles.
Also, the Broken Family Band new CD Welcome Home, Loser was playing in the shop, sounding good and Mark Lamarr played a very nice piece off it on the radio. They're a Cambridge band, unusually enough. Came out last week, but Amazon don't even list it. Here's a link for an earlier one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 65-6486801
And
http://www.thebrokenfamilyband.com/ for more.
Uncut has given the new one a glowing 4 star review.
They're an English alt.country type thing. I saw them play at our kids' school barbecue a couple of years ago, and was impressed (especially seeing as I and my dads covers band landed the same event last year, but then we did play for free!). Anyone heard them at all?
Also, anyone heard/buying the new Doves Some Cities? Sounds promising.