SWAN!!

I have just had occasion to remember this absolute belter of a tune. Dream Stealer by Dara Puspita from Indonesia, released under their Tikki Takki Suzy Lies* pseudonym over here (*pronounced "Lees") youtu.be/wAcwGizcC7U?...

That plane is a Blackburn Buccaneer, and furthermore it is a South African one operated by Thunder City, an organisation who, in return for large sums of money, would let you fly in their collection of indifferently maintained Cold War jets at high altitudes and great speed.

There is something heroically Scott Saunders (Google it) about the insignia of United Kingdom Space Command. The fantasy of flying Spitfires to other planets lives on, even if the reality is staring at a laptop screen in a draughty Portakabin plonked in the car park of RAF High Wycombe

I first heard this on a demo cassette of songs from what would become The Great Escape. I thought it was the best thing I’d heard in ages, and suggested they released it as a standalone single instead of putting it on the album. That didn’t happen but it made a great single all the same

NEW The letter the BBC could send back to Trump A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim By me. Enjoy. emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...

This is an interesting one. I was 12. The Jam were about to split up. One of my mates at school, a massive Jam fan, came in one morning absolutely raving about this record. He was dead right to be raving about it. I bet Weller was as well. It's a sound that The Style Council would be aiming for.

In the alternate 1982 where The Jam didn't split, this was the Christmas number one. Mind you, in that alternate 1982 the Royal Navy lost HMS Hermes to an air attack by Skyhawks from ARA Veinticinco de Mayo, so you win some but you lose some.

Privilege is a remarkable film with an incredible soundtrack and you have to see it. Steven Shorter's record producer ("a self-styled anarchist") is one of my personal inspirations, as anyone who's seen me rattling equipment racks in search of a unique percussion sound will testify.

I persistently plug these because they take time to do, both for me and the guests, so do share and tell people about it if you like it. The aim is to make a quality long read each week. Thanks. #FirstLastAnything

Is there absolutely any point in carrying on? charlydirect.com/products/rik...

My textcast - where you read it, but there's also an accompanying playlist - is BACK. Some remarkable choices from @joannawyld.bsky.social that were new to me. Please share with anyone you think might be interested. Thank you. #FirstLastAnything

It's a shame how low Nizlopi have fallen over the last 20 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In an ideal world, the next Director General of the BBC would scrap the BBC's dedicated News channel, replace all of BBC News's political correspondents, and commission a load of new scripted drama and comedy along with a set of brand new music-orientated shows.-

As every Remembrance Sunday, a thought for my grandfather, lieutenant Henri Auclair, a Verdun veteran who fought in the trenches throughout all of WWI, died in 1999, aged 103, and taught us about the insanity of war and the necessity to embrace the European ideal.

‘She policed herself so unforgivingly in the voice of the adults from earliest childhood’ 💔

"If every ex-soldier would tell his own children the truth, the whole truth, about war, the war-spirit would be stamped out for ever" — Ernest Mander, general secretary NUX @alwynturner.bsky.social on radicalism and remembrance after the Great War👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/t...

"Clumps of crimson poppies, thrusting out from the lips of craters, straggling in drifts between the hummocks, undaunted by the desolation, heedless of human fury and stupidity..." thelionandunicorn.com/2016/11/07/a...

Couldn't help it. Sorry

70s Rockabilly DJs were early "turntablists", mixing old rock'n'roll records together often with extended rhythmic scratching. If you've ever wondered why there's the sound of a record being scratched at the end of the middle eight, this is why.

Up above the streets and houses Sunlight on its wings Stomach full of ammunition Eaten out of bins Seagull flying through a rainbow 🌈

Coot jacuzzi in a canal lock. Never underestimate the capacity of all creatures great and small to muck about pointlessly.

A lesser know part of The Village’s infrastructure, the Pink Rover is deployed to confront minor acts of un-mutuality, as in this case- parking in the wrong zone

We’re a bit excited about this … a limited edition collaboration vinyl 45 with Suit Yourself Music bring you a great new track by Scott Addison of Corduroy and Boys Wonder fame! Follow the link to have a listen and grab a copy. linktr.ee/hipshaker

Bored of the same old stuff in your life? Own a copy of this? Do yourself a favour, spin the flip side. It's an early glimpse into a darker, less swinging 60s. Fantastic arrangement too.

*joke* A foreign power approached me and offered a load of money for some background information on Grant Shapps’s schooldays, but when it became clear I didn’t remember anything about him at all in spite of he and I being in the same sixth form tutor group, they soon lost interest

You try finding a copy of this on 7", in particular the original 1969 UK issue on United Artists. It's got to be the rarest UA 7". I have never seen one for sale. Ever. Forget Jack Hammer's What Greater Love. Forget Spice doing What About The Music. I've got both of those. This one? No chance.

Farewell to the great Gilson Lavis, drummer for Squeeze (and so much more). Here's a fine example of exactly what he did: youtu.be/9bTWF7eirJw?...

His head must weigh fifty pounds on its own

If you want to take this council seat off Reform, a promise to re-open Furnivals and resume production of Sola Cola, and this one's in the bag. A soft drink that will have anyone, regardless of their political persuasion, thinking "what the f*** have I just tasted?"

I’ve just seen a narrowboat that looks like it’s entirely crewed by cats, and it’s not even 10am

Laughing to myself at the time I was called "posh" by someone in my old job because I was reading Private Eye on the tour bus.

If you aren't seeing skeets from some of your fave people, they might have been labeled "Rude" by bsky mods. Idk what they are thinking, I don't need a mommy to tell me who to be buddies with. Anyway, go into Settings > moderation > bluesky moderation (advanced) and turn Rude off.

Just putting it out there that this is one of the best British soul singles ever recorded. Never fails to fill a dancefloor. Also, The Equals were far from a spent force as the 70s came around. I think (think) this was their last big hit, but Stand Up & Be Counted on CBS the following year is fab.

This record could not have been more on the money to catch the dying sparks of the mod revival, the sunset of Wigan Casino soul, & then greet a new dawn of indie wistful retro-ness. Ten years later it helped liven up proceedings at the Locomotion & later Blow Up. Still sounds great.

TFW you can’t remember the right spell to get your magic carpet flying

See if you can name two celebrity chefs that have been growing beans on their allotments or in their gardens this year and have bloody hundreds of the fuckers they can't get rid of.

Beans, beans, good for your heart The more you eat, the more you fart The more you fart, the better you feel So make it beans with every meal

Sodom and Gomorrah? This is London, guv. youtu.be/pB4VDg01kxs?...

Oh wow did you hear about the mysterious fire next week

One of my mates played me Metal Baby down the phone one evening, and the next afternoon after work I was straight down to Past & Present Records in Watford to buy a copy. It's an album that was one of the catalysts for what became known as Britpop, not that it (or me) knew that at the time.

Farewell, Joseph Byrd.

A fascinating insight into how the psychogeography of London as we know it would’ve been utterly transformed if these roads had been built. Look at the map and weep tears of sweet relief that for once those in authority did the right thing and didn’t build them.

My daughter Katie's list of 25 Lake District Fells Ranked by how Hard-Core their Name Sounds. docs.google.com/document/u/0...

Did you happen to leave your @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk purchases on the Metropolitan line yesterday? Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat? If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇

Robert Graves’s Young Bird-Catcher to his master -Fuck off. YOU catch it

Hats off to the builder whistling the synth part to Do Ya Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart as he loads a wheelbarrow. He’s a lot younger than me. It’s a bit like me whistling In The Mood when I was a postman in the 90s.

Imagine owning a Fairlight, one of the least intuitive bits of music tech ever created, but deciding a Yamaha DX7 was too much of a faff to use and buying a marginally simpler DX9 to use. Nice to see a VHS deck, presumably used for high quality bounce-outs from the 4-track.