Alien (1979)

The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Parlophone LP Car boot pick up from yesterday. Only have this in crackly mono (as well as a handful of CD versions) so it was cool to pick up a tidy stereo pressing for £1* (*2nd press, I believe, so nice, but not super special) #NowPlaying

Dionne Warwick - Freewheelin' (1969) Pye LP #NowPlaying

First car boot sale of '26. £11 spent.

Here Come the Classics (again). Cafe Bleu (re)-release day, cool album and special one for a seventeen year old kid coughing his guts up trying to get through a pack of Gitanes in 1984. I was a massive poser then and nothing has really changed tbh so you’ll need to indulge me today. 🌐🇫🇷🕶️

Postman's been. Finally. Honestly, I could have built a cafe from the ground up and painted it blue in the time it took to arrive.

All Saints - All Saints (1998) - London CD Nicked this from my wife's collection because she knows where it's at. #NowPlaying

Inflight Entertainment (1996) Deram CD Out for its bi-annual spin. #NowPlaying

My wife would almost certainly leave me if I bought this old Likely Lads movie poster, but I saw it on FB Marketplace earlier and it is literally all I can think about.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008) Bella Union CD A good friend of mine was shushed at a Fleet Foxes show once. The 'shusher' said, "If you tried listening, you might find that you actually enjoy it" and thus set a new bar for withering gig put downs. I laugh about it at least once a week. #NowPlaying

New arrival: Clem Burke - The Other Side of the Dream - My Life in and Out of Blondie (Harper Collins) Very honoured to have worked with Clem on his amazing memoir. It goes without saying that he was an incredible drummer, but he was always kind, never an asshole. Just a great person.

We have been discussing this book for about six years. The Shadows were a formative influence on both of our suburban childhoods - Bob in Redhill and me a couple of miles down the road in Horley a few years later. It is the book @rockingbob.bsky.social was born to write Viva Los Shads!

BOB STANLEY - THE SHADOWS: THE DEFINITIVE STORY The definitive biography of how a group of working-class boys from Newcastle and London became the biggest band in the UK "The chronology should read Shadows, Beatles, Sex Pistols - they were that important" @rockingbob.bsky.social tr.ee/rSilFTJwfO

A wonderful song. I had the pleasure of interviewing the band and Robert Waldrop - who wrote the lyrics to Roam - last year, and the story behind these words will 100% make you cry.

21-05-26 ‘In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk’ by @graemethomson.bsky.social "Genuinely illuminating ... with all the depth of detail such 'world building' entails” @thewiremagazine.bsky.social Out in two weeks

TIMOR MORTIS: HOW WE LIVE WITH DEATH by RICHARD COKER 30-07-26 tr.ee/dpSV_TkoJn Richard delves into the historical, biological, psychological and moral complexities of death, examining how our understanding of death has evolved through the lens of both his personal and public health expertise

RATE THIS BOOK: HOW STAR RATINGS TOOK OVER THE WORLD by BENJI WILSON 02-07-26 Benji unpicks the history, psychology and impact of star ratings and asks what has this reliance on something so reductive done to our ability to assess things for ourselves? ‘⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’ Ian Hislop tr.ee/HQrHYvpZUp

Welcome to New Modern Arcade A brand new narrative non-fiction imprint from New Modern For readers inspired by the stuff of life Coming in July: ‘Rate this Book: How Star Ratings Took Over the World’ by Benji Wilson ‘Timor Mortis: How We Live with Death’ by Richard Coker tr.ee/HQrHYvpZUp

The jukebox at the Heart and Hand, Brighton.

Digging Your Scene - New Pop And All That Jazz 1982–1987 is a 4CD box set exploring the moment jazz, soul, Latin rhythms and classic American songwriting collided with British pop. A soundtrack to the clubs, cafés and late-night city moods of 80s Britain. 👉 cherryred.co/DiggingYourScene

DJ Andy Smith - The Document (1998) Phase Four CD Legendary mix from Portishead's tour DJ. Essential. #NowPlaying

Dig the Slowness - A Compendium of Retro Grooves Compiled by Andy Lewis (2002) Sanctuary CD I defy anyone to skip a single track on this fully ace compilation. #NowPlaying

Barbra Streisand - Stoney End (1971) CBS LP Babs takes on the contemporary singer/songwriter songbook and comes up smiling. Fabulous. #NowPlaying

Many thanks to @willhodgkinson.bsky.social for his great piece on @stevemasonofficial.bsky.social in yesterday’s Sunday Times @thebetaband.com

@willhodgkinson.bsky.social talks to Steve Mason of the Beta Band in the Sunday Times ($) Failure Is Always An Option @newmodernbooks.bsky.social is a very readable, funny, candid memoir.

Update: a terrible movie. I don't believe that something can be 'so bad it's good' but I did laugh for a solid 90 minutes, so maybe there is something in that after all.

Spotted this absolute beauty in the charity shop window.

The Spencer Davis Group - Their First LP (1965) Fontana LP #NowPlaying

Happy publication day to the brilliant human @stevemasonofficial.bsky.social Failure is Always an Option. Out today on @newmodernbooks.bsky.social

A proper honour to edit this one. An uncompromising, singular mind. Funny too.

Steve’s story is everything you would expect from such a gifted, uncompromising songwriter, artist and conceptualist, but it is also so much more. All Beta-related madness is here but prepare to go deeper and darker into the mind of one of our true originals.

OUT NOW FAILURE IS ALWAYS AN OPTION by @stevemasonofficial.bsky.social @thebetaband.com “Heartwarming, honest and entertaining” Louder than War “Honest, hilarious and frankly uplifting ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” Record Collector “(A)sobering memoir ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” Mojo “Theres much to find fascinating here ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” Classic Pop

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass (1970) Apple LP Happy St George's Day. #NowPlaying

Ray McVay's Big Soul Sound - We Got Soul (1969) Fontana LP Charity shop perennial. #NowPlaying

Prince - Sign O' the Times (1987) Paisley Park LP 10 years. #NowPlaying

Strange Games and Things (1997) BBE LP #NowPlaying

This is such an own-goal. They will have to put it on Disney+ to have any chance of saving face.

Maybe don’t let the KLF guide your financial decisions. Steve Mason explains to @irvinewelsh.bsky.social why The Beta Band weren’t huge. Failure Is Always An Option book event at @roughtraderecords.bsky.social @dustyish.bsky.social @newmodernbooks Superb Book 📕

Harry Nilsson - Aerial Pandemonium Ballet (1971) RCA LP #NowPlaying

This is very good.

Happy Record Store to all other Our Price Class of 1991 alumni. Where 35 years ago, there still existed sections for Sound Effects, Rockabilly and Dance Band

Air - Moon Safari - The Athens Concert (2026) Hope everyone else got what they wanted.x #NowPlaying #RSD

Your vinyl nemesis is already standing in the queue. Sleep tight. #RSD #AnnualReminder

Honoured to have helped out on the fabulous @stevemasonofficial.bsky.social memoir. Out next week on @newmodernbooks.bsky.social

Living in the Barbican. Nationwide 1972. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvXp...

I'm very fortunate to have worked on this wonderful memoir. Clem was a fabulous human. One of the best.

I'm very fortunate to have worked on this wonderful memoir. Clem was a fabulous human. One of the best.

For anyone who knows pop culture and rock & roll, there was only one Clem—Clem Burke: a true force of nature, an unmistakable personality, an icon. His deeply personal memoir, The Other Side of the Dream (My Life In and Out of Blondie), is now available for pre-order. lnk.to/theotherside...

VERY HAPPY that Clem's memoir is coming out and available for pre-orders!! He would've loved promoting this book, loved meeting people and fans. Please help do what he cannot do and spread the word, order, get gift copies. Forward by Fred Armisen, Afterword by me! lnk.to/theotherside...

Refreshing to watch a show with practically zero bombast. Just dialled down, sweetly sad performances from all concerned. Reminded me of the Ice Storm - which I adored. #DTFStLouis