Clive sent me a link to Wreckless Eric's website, where he let's off rather a lot of steam about Glastonbury and Live 8, and the size of Elvis Costello's arse, amongst other things.
"The only bit of Live 8 that made any sense to me was the Who's performance. They played Who Are You? with the faces of world leaders flashing up behind them and followed it with Won't Get Fooled Again - one of the best records ever made - meet the new boss, same as the old boss - right every time. And they didn't say anything in between. Everybody else made speeches - the idiotic boy Barbie Doll singer in Razorlight came out with the amazingly erudite: 'we're here to make poverty history, right?' which got him a lot of applause and made him look really good even though, if this was real life, he wouldn't make it fronting a Stooges tribute band.
The cause is a worthy one but the intention to 'Make Poverty History' is utterly naive. It's about as realistic a possibility as smashing capitalism. Capitalism is at the root of third world poverty. Poverty is a necessary side effect of capitalism - the accumulation of wealth and the creation of an underclass. Without poverty there can be no wealth.
A leading botanist recently claimed that if every nation on earth lived as well as America and Great Britain it would take three planets to sustain us. So there's the answer, and try telling this to Chris Martin, Bono, Sting, Madonna and co - let's Make Wealth History."
full bile-drenched diatribe here.
20.7.05
14.7.05
13.7.05
Half Year Top Ten?
Graham signs in with his albums of the year so far...
"I know this is a bit americana/emo oriented...but here goes
- More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
- Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
- Live at the Filmore - Lucinda Williams
- I'm Wide Awake It's Morning - Bright Eyes
- Dimanche a Bamako - Amadou & Mariam
- Funeral - Arcade Fire
- I am a Bird Now - Antony & The Johnsons
- Cuts Across the Land - The Duke Spirit
- Government Commissions - Mogwai
- Minimum Maximum - Kraftwerk
Can't squeeze in The Magic Numbers, Ali Farka Touré And Toumani Diabeté (haven't listened to it enough yet), LCD Soundsystem (2 great tracks, but a lot of filler), Ry Cooder, Gorillaz, Eliza Carthy
Albums I should have listened to more than once or twice: HAL, Mercury Rev
Albums I should have bought by now - Martha Wainwright, Teenage Fan Club
Album I'm most looking forward to: Madness - The Dangermen Sessions"
5.7.05
Gimme some money
This is interesting - according to HMV, this is the increase in album sales for key artists appearing at Live 8 on Saturday:
1. Pink Floyd - Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd - 1343%
2. The Who - Then and Now - 863%
3. Annie Lennox - Eurythmics Greatest Hits - 500%
4. Dido - Life for Rent - 412%
5. Razorlight - Up All Night - 335%
6. Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits - 320%
7. Joss Stone - Mind, Body and Soul - 309%
8. Sting - The Very Best of Sting & The Police - 300%
9. Travis - Singles - 268%
10. Madonna - Immaculate Collection - 200%
Quite why anyone still wants to hear records by Annie Lennox is a worry to me, and the same goes for Dido - the blandest voice in pop EVER. Those Razorlight kids were having fun - shirts off, swearing, everything! And it must have been way past their bed time.
Anyway, good old Uncle Dave Gilmour out of Pink Floyd says that artists and record companies should be donating the extra royalties from post Live 8 sales to charity. Good for him. Should be interesting to see if anyone agrees with him - Pink Floyd are already as rich as Croesus and can afford to make such grandiose gestures, but I'm not sure Johnny Razorlight or whatever the fuck he calls himslef will be quite so benevolent. He's probably already spent the extra cash on fizzy pop and sherbert.
I'm learning a grudging respect for Alex Petri Dish in the Grauniad:
"For all the fuss about the lack of black faces on Live 8's bill, rapper Snoop Dogg somehow contrives to seem incredibly inappropriate. He never mentions the concert's aims, preferring instead to raise the watching world's awareness of Snoop Dogg. "Wave your motherfucking hands in the air," he yells. "Wave the motherfuckers like you just don't care." Given that caring is rather the point of Live 8, this suggestion seems unsuitable at best."
Quite why anyone still wants to hear records by Annie Lennox is a worry to me, and the same goes for Dido - the blandest voice in pop EVER. Those Razorlight kids were having fun - shirts off, swearing, everything! And it must have been way past their bed time.
Anyway, good old Uncle Dave Gilmour out of Pink Floyd says that artists and record companies should be donating the extra royalties from post Live 8 sales to charity. Good for him. Should be interesting to see if anyone agrees with him - Pink Floyd are already as rich as Croesus and can afford to make such grandiose gestures, but I'm not sure Johnny Razorlight or whatever the fuck he calls himslef will be quite so benevolent. He's probably already spent the extra cash on fizzy pop and sherbert.
I'm learning a grudging respect for Alex Petri Dish in the Grauniad:
"For all the fuss about the lack of black faces on Live 8's bill, rapper Snoop Dogg somehow contrives to seem incredibly inappropriate. He never mentions the concert's aims, preferring instead to raise the watching world's awareness of Snoop Dogg. "Wave your motherfucking hands in the air," he yells. "Wave the motherfuckers like you just don't care." Given that caring is rather the point of Live 8, this suggestion seems unsuitable at best."
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