David Bowie's Meltdown

"Langley Schools Music Project Revisited" sounds like a bad idea. But nice to see Señor Coconut on the bill.

There was a small preview last night on 'Mixing It' - they played Senor Coconut doing 'The Robots', which was pretty lame and unamusing, imho - didn't really add anything to the song, beyond a cheap novelty laugh (sorry Jeff.) All told, it looks like a stolidly safe line-up - Suede, Supergrass, Starsailor!!! - although there's bound to be a few acts that ppl can get behind (for me: Lonesome Organist, Daniel Johnston, Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Mercury Rev (maybe), Television). Even Stuart Maconie was moved to write that the bill seriously called into question Bowie's alleged 'avant' credentials (apparently Bowie responded that SM was a 'snob'!) And very little in the way of 'dance' music - I guess DB ain't much of a drum'n'basshead these days...

The Scott Walker line-up a couple of years ago was much, much better.

i think the 'conservatism' of the bill has been overplayed, its not a bad line up, and i like the way it veers betweem the off the beaten track and the famous. it is pretty much how you would expect a bowie bill to be, and thats no bad thing

Did he play somewhere in Chelsea the other night?

Just before I left the UK the bill was announced. Its an appaling bill! I read Maconie's attack and bowie's response and when Maconie (who presents a really crappy show on Radio 2 called 'The critical list' (you can get to hear all sorts of crap like Bread and so on)) says that this is safe then it is ultra-safe in my book.

Senor coconut is a joke. Latin beats to kreftwerk tunes and its called invention, which is way off the mark!

It's a genuinely funny joke tho', Julio (actually, the only track I know well is 'Radioactivity', which is fantastic, joke or not).

jeff- its funny but when the joke runs out of steam (and it will, eventually) then what's left?

a new joke?

For "a new joke" listen to "Heathen" as I've just done.

Dear oh dear oh dear.

''a new joke?''

Wrong! What's left is a trip to the nearest second hand shop. Or the bin.

Exactly. That's what's great about good pop music. It's fun for a bit and then it's disposable*. ("a new joke" above = make a new joke btw, sorry that wasn't clear)

*as opposed to new Bowie LP which, if Marcello is to be believed, is instantly disposable (= bad pop music)

Another "15 quid wasted" then Marcello? Surely it was cheaper than that !

by the way do you know when Fopp Records opens up in London Covent Garden? [A few months ago I saw an ad that stated they were looking for a July launch]

if senior coconut runs out of steam, atom has about 347632746237 other projects to tend to.

Fopp coming to Covent Garden? Bloody hell, old Gordon's certainly expanded since the old Renfield Street days back in the '80s. Must drop him a line.

"Heathen" is exactly the sort of record you would expect from DB after someone had told him to make a record that sounded like those he made 20+ years ago. Note all the "well, it's not quite Station to Station/Aladdin Sane/Scary Monsters, BUT..." qualifications in the reviews, i.e. it's crap, but he won't do interviews if we say so out loud. Rattle-and-Humitis, I believe - Sinker can back me up on this one :)

(re: 15 quid wasted - no, I listened to it in t'Virgin Megastore on t'headphones, ditto Ms Dynamite. Amazing how much money you can save by adopting such measures heh heh)

i haven't heard heathen, so don't know if good or bad: but why wd rattle-and-humitis kick in now with THIS record all of a sudden, instead of on his previous dozen bad ones (excl.EARTHLING which is ace), which were v.roundly slagged?

incidentally it is time we reappraise tin machine

Re: Bloody hell, old Gordon's certainly expanded since the old Renfield Street days back in the '80s

Yep Fopp are expanding into ENGER_LAND - new stores coming soon to Bath, Cambridge and London. The furthest south store at the mo is Bristol.

Please say they're planning on one in Brighton, great memories of walking into the Sheffield branch, and then walking out with loads of 5 pound albums (vinyl and CD).

Just visted their website again, Bath just opened, the next one is Cambridge sometime in July, register for Fopp Launch Party

So London sometime after that.

In the Fopp Expansion Plans they are considering expanding in a number of towns of which Brighton is listed as a possibility !

- that should be towns and cities. Ofcourse Brighton is now a CITY!

Fischerspooner are brilliant. Daft Punk grow up a few years and turn from being the Max Fischer dorky but cool kid into some kind of sleazy sex god. You can still see the Max Fischer but now he's smutty.

It's a fantastic coincidence that the Rushmore character is called Fischer actually.

Fopp FUCKING SHMOPP! (I'm from Glasgow btw and am spoilt (?) by two of these... things...)