New blog post: questions & answers about ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972-1982 - Second Revised and Updated Edition abbaomnibus.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/a...

11 years. 21 years since my first attempt, but today it’s 11 years of putting down alcohol and other grownup refreshments. I’m certainly not a finger-wagger or puritan - I’m just someone who seemingly couldn’t stop or moderate. It got to the point of a 40-ft fall in 2012. I’m lucky to be here.

OLIVER: “In Russia, when Putin rose to power, TV satirists were among his first targets… Putin was driven to madness by how he was mocked on a puppet show… the lesson is it’s not safe to let one show slide because there are currently others.”

I honestly believe everyone needs to stop and consider how far @suedehq.bsky.social have raised the bar for older bands in their second existence. Antidepressants is a 10/10, and so were their three albums before it. Suede sound like they're winding UP, not down. And you won't see a better live act.

Among my problems with Your Friends & Neighbours (Apple) - the writers seem to have given every character the same voice. They all speak in slick little bons mots, arch, self-satisfied witticisms, wisecracks etc. Instead of hearing a diverse array of characters, we’re hearing the writer(s).

At Pamela Polland’s gig, last week.

Tommy Robinson and his friends at Rebel News couldn’t resist a final grift before his big rally on September 13th. 50 of his most ‘devoted’ followers are paying up to £4,099 for what looks like the worst school trip ever, complete with museums and allocated leisure time.

Lucy Connolly was convicted of inciting racial hatred, and her tweet was part of the tinder that lit violence, intimidation, looting, and thuggery across England last year. The fact Reform conference gave her a standing ovation says everything about that movement. bylinetimes.com/2025/08/27/l...

It’s out today! Record Collector Magazine Presents The Rolling Stones: Domination (1970-1979). I will continue posting about the individual pieces day by day, but today please join me (this is beginning to sound like a sermon) in looking at the whole thing via a little glimpse of the Contents page.

There’s a certain type of fierceness I’ve never really managed to get used to. It’s the kind you sometimes encounter at the GP reception - or any other kind of gate-keeping position.

Multicoloured sky, London, 1990s - taken by my father

Pembrokeshire, 1979 by my father

Two people, four flavours

And half a century on (though only under my care for the last 30 or so), the scratch-n-sniff (bottom right of album cover) still works.

“Mick, however, was special. You could see that through the lens. He’s like Elvis.” Jo Kendall talks to photographer David Montgomery about his early-70s Stones encounter. Coming 4 September in Record Collector Presents: Rolling Stones vol 2 Pre-orders: shop.recordcollectormag.com/product/rc-s...

Pre-orders: shop.recordcollectormag.com/product/rc-s...

Normally, the Department of Justice rewards witnesses for turning on co-defendants, co-conspiracists, and accomplices. Ghislaine Maxwell is probably the first witness rewarded for *absolving* them. Because she is part of a coverup, not a prosecution.

Street scene, 1960s, taken by my father

A sombre moment in Monopoly, perhaps with defeat drawing near, 1972, taken by my father

I’m so glad you like her! It’s such a pity that all three of the very fine singer/songwriters on 20th Century Records in the 70s (Rita, plus Harriet Schock and Patti Dahlstrom) are poorly represented in terms of streaming/reissues.

Yorkshire’s inglorious moors and the lies of the land Yorkshire’s uplands are ecological deserts, drained and burned by big landowners – it’s time to demand restoration over destruction By David Robson @yorkshirebylines.co.uk

Maria Muldaur's 'One Hour Mama' is more than just 60 minutes worth of fun; it’s an affecting tribute to a #blues queen whose music transcends the limitations of time. #PMPick

A Canadian copy of this absolute gem.

Raw sewage. Off-the-scale pollutants – while water companies blame regulators, and regulators blame water companies. This is happening across England. Read how one councillor has started testing river the water himself ⤵️

Never mind Rapture or Square Biz… I was reminded today of Joan Baez’s 1977 track Time Rag, in which she raps about being “the queen”, her designer clothes (specifically Kenzo), and her dissatisfaction with journalists. In the chorus, she says that she’s “on the rag”. It’s quite a strange track.

The great lost A&M album

Sigh… never stops sounding good. The same could be said of all the WW albums really.

It’s Rotary Connection inside a Rough Trade bag! Had no idea Ace had reissued it. I gave up hope of finding either the Japanese LP from five years ago or the VMP one. It’s such a good record, the closest thing to a follow-up to Minnie Riperton’s Come To My Garden. I fell in love with it in the 90s.

I love this album (1977, in the UK on Pye, US on Vanguard) but the vastly talented singer/pianist/songwriter Gerald really should have been styled better. This outfit is hopelessly unflattering with the appearance of tiny legs sprouting from an elongated torso. Behind it is his solo LP from 1979

Listening to all these early Marianne Faithfulls has prompted me to listen to some of the Donovans (she covers quite a few of his songs).

Never even knew there was footage of this. The lovely first track on her fourth album.

Reading a puff piece, I’m reminded yet again how shockingly easily Liz Hurley rehabilitated her image after settling out of court for practising modern slavery. The Internet was then scoured of almost all reports on the matter. Today, only the Evening Standard and India Times pieces remain online.

I still think that removing kids’ afternoon programming from British TV was one of the biggest mistakes it’s ever made, culturally. It was like having an extra peaktime schedule with some really entertaining programmes that people of all ages could enjoy. 1/2

What untold bliss is this in today’s post? (I did some editorial work on this reissue series. I love Andrew Batt’s projects. He has such stringent standards as well as being a kind friend).

The Evening Standard reveals that Emma Watson is “banned from driving alongside” Zoe Wanamaker. So she’s still allowed to drive if it’s on her own or alongside other friends? If only there were some kind of punctuation mark that could get rid of these sorts of ambiguities.

Four Miracle Rows

A moment in Soho, Sunday. There was room to breathe and even the chance of an outside table.

Two-page foretaste of my interview with Lotti Golden (RC, June) whose 1969 Atlantic Records album, Motor-Cycle, is back out on CD and vinyl. This unforgettable, wildly experimental R&B concept album is about a group city dwellers whose rather chaotic and nihilistic merry-making gets out of hand.

I need all the pickmeups I can get, several times a day. The reality of cumulative exhaustion from a decade of trying to manage spinal injury. Who knew matcha could become such an ally? I didn’t.

Illuminated garden foliage captured by my father in the early 90s, London.

Here’s a 2-page foretaste of Desmond Child & Rouge in new Record Collector (Aug 2025). Elsewhere, I watch a 1984 ep of Channel 4’s Ladybirds featuring Kiki Dee. Plus we play a keep-fit album that turns out to have more substance than the cover would suggest, and revisit Swiss venue Olten Hammer.

Just in, from a kind vinyl fairy godfather in Manchester. Produced by Mike Batt.

Finally… the last of my rebuilt Patrice collection. In a traumatic, forced move not long after bereavement (2006-ish), I told myself I’d be fine with vinyl rips and CDs and divested myself of 80% of my records. I avoided these Patrice reissues for the first few years they were out. I think the cheap

“Huge swathes” of severely disabled people will be hit by the upcoming Universal Credit cuts, contrary to government claims they will be protected. My exclusive in tomorrow’s Guardian: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Far more than the themes of aging, sex, and loss, Pulp's MORE straight-facedly spreads the word of love, and it is the start of something new—a rebirth. @welovepulp.bsky.social's MORE is a #PMPick [9/10] out now via @roughtraderecords.bsky.social.

Outdoor bathtub, Glos, 1985, taken by my father.

In a horrifying article about the dangers of Teslas, one point stands out: Teslas automatically disengage self-driving mode <1 second before an imminent crash--not enough time for the driver to react, but enough for Tesla to deny responsibility for fatal crashes, since self-driving "wasn't engaged."

“Legendary legend”. I give up.