The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think. New piece from me. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

The Booker Prize got awarded last night and you'd never know it from this place, not that it sounds like I'm missing anything. "István is a virginal fifteen-year-old when he embarks on a relationship with married (sic) 42-year-old woman"; keep your wank fantasies zipped up, eh, chaps?

Released today. Let's get it to number one on Friday. Good night: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgp7...

I went to see Vic Reeves at the Hammersmith Odeon after he was famous, one week before Christmas 1991. Very funny.

What terrible thing happened to music when you turned 26?

Just to inform you that Errol Brown sang "Imagine" - a song described by its composer as sugarcoated Communism - at the 1987 Conservative Party election rally and bred polo ponies, in case you remained under the mistaken notion that Hot Chocolate were ever on your side.

Very cogently-argued piece.

"a wry and insightful exploration of creative collaboration"; that's more time and money saved, then.

Danny Brown is just great and visionary. I don't care who, if anybody, he sounds like.

Is it just me or does old Marti look a bit like Tim Davie?

I typed nearly 3000 words this morning onto a computer screen and the words flowed very nicely and naturally. It isn't a conspiracy.

Which act or artist do you think has spent most weeks on the UK singles chart? Don't look it up, just have a guess. (a) it's not who you think; (b) the charts really are meaningless now.

Happy birthday to Sesame Street, which began exactly 56 years ago on the NET network. Possibly the most important programme ever created by American television. Such trippy pre-titles. It really is a product of the late sixties. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPMA...

Tonight we were watching that 1968 Top 40 I put together last week. That trend for promo films that had nothing to do with the song. In the slightly nightmarish Hollies one L said that Allan Clarke reminded her of Paul Whitehouse and I can't get that vision out of my head now.

Have it as well - an absolutely vital assemblage of three pretty titanic albums. Try HoboSapiens, the one I reviewed for Uncut in 2003, if it's still in print.

I fixed that Ray Conniff piece; "inventing rock" indeed. Never too old not to spot a cliché and fix it.

I seem to remember @djpunctum.bsky.social mentioned that in his Then Play Long piece on a Ray Conniff LP Then Play Long: Ray CONNIFF: His Orchestra, His Chorus, His Singers, His Sound share.google/1S5aGXmFSWwK...

Nothing. I've been admirably constant.

Victorialand & the Budd one I always viewed as side projects and the two EPs were EPs, before any sad completists desire to argue the toss, as opposed to just toss but here he goes again...

Blue Bell Knoll? In truth was a bit disappointed by it. You know, it was 1988 and things had moved on a bit. Nice but a bit flat compared to 69 or Isn't Anything. Treasure, that was their classic. Critical plaudits one album too late, as is the British critical norm.

Cathartic quick-post, quick-delete. Gets it out of one's system and one can continue normally with living. Also highly recommended.

It isn't the numbers, it's the f@scist "vibes."

Know what? I don't even bother checking ClearSky any more. It's a very nice feeling and relieves unwarranted stress. Highly recommended.

Later with A. G. Cook!

Tony Wilson and Mick Fleetwood.

Plus an "R&B star" I've never heard of, a blues guy I've only slightly heard of, and the Divine Comedy playing mournful dirges from their recent album about growing old. The ship's sailed, BBC2.

Oh, the "upcoming powerhouse vocalist" is somebody from TikTok whose father is "founder of the G London Jewelry House, designer and creator of extremely expensive jewelry for very wealthy people, collectors and some famous jewelry houses worldwide." That's how it's going to be from now on, folks.

Tonight on Later with Hools Jolland there is somebody I've never heard of who is termed as an "upcoming powerhouse vocalist." Oh and "chats with Rick Astley and Beth Ditto" for the youngsters.

This week’s listening.

By far the most enjoyable Sunday afternoon music thread for my hungover head 😵‍💫

Right, it's Sunday afternoon and therefore time for me to be completely hypocritical again and count down a UK Top 40 singles chart from a year past. This week we're going back 34 years to the chart week ending 9 November 1991. Hold onto that washing machine!

Ah, now it's doing what it ought - wasn't doing it last night - hence:

Is it just me wishing that West End Girl had sounded more like Maxinquaye?

Two years from now it'll be 50 years of Rumours and yes I know. Lindsey Buckingham doesn't stop thinking about tomorrow, though: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoUf...

I see that American band you all pretend to like have covered "You Get What You Give." Think I can live out the remainder of my life meaningfully without ever having the urge to listen to it.

Yep, assessing and writing about new records. Too much like hard work, eh? So much nicer to go back to an old one you know inside out and that's why nothing ever progresses. That and the fact that the music industry just wants you to buy the same records over and over because profit.

Didn't see any articles last month commemorating the first anniversary of the release of The New Sound. Easier to rhapsodise over things that came out 20 or 30 years ago because you're frightened of getting old.

Don't "dissect" records; they aren't laboratory experiments.

On this day 1989: The Berlin Wall falls as thousands of Germans unify in a desperate attempt to flee the singing of David Hasselhoff.

keiyaA en live à Fip, une exploration de l’amour, la dépression, les boucles, la physique quantique. Jazz, south rap, machines, laissez vous porter par notre Sélection Fip 🍬

Haven't remembered a damn thing, have we?

In pop musicians over 50 making music news, 83-year-old John Cale's been working with Charli xcx on music for the latest film version of Wuthering Heights and a single of the theme is due out on Monday. See, it can be done and that wasn't what I was talking about.

If you see this, post a letter.

I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!

Yeah, whatever, kid on grime was "our punk." As I directly recall, it was raved over on the internet almost exclusively by white middle-class men who suddenly went off it in 2005 when the main protagonists started having big hits with songs and tunes etc. a.k.a. how dare they not be savages, eh EH?

All of the staid music media is driven (into the ground) by the twin demonic departments of accounting and marketing, so dully predictable album-of-year choices usually fall on the record that the media thinks its consumers will like most. Demographic dystopia.

Mamdani is going to implement Shalamar law. He’s going to make it a night to remember

Darren Jones is the MP of where I grew up. It's traditionally swung between the Tories and Labour. There's nothing I'd like more than to see it go Green

"living is unrealistic." Oh Darren, I bet you have a polite bop to "Disco 2000" at every staff leaving party.

Yes, Darren, and voters have been palpably let down by your party's profoundly undeliverable and arguably fake policies. It's all about "deliver" for you lot. I think Britain's had enough of Postman Pat politics.