Manics And Shirley Bassey: Another Woeful Collaboration?

Who's excited by the prospect of Cardiff's very own Dame Shirley Bassey singing the Manic Street Preachers penned "The Girl From Tiger Bay"? Yes, believe it people; the 72 year old cabaret singer and Bond theme girl is aiming for contemporary street "cred" with the kids by performing a song written especially for her by Mr Wire and cohorts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8242716.stm

Now I've got a lot of respect for the Manic Street Preachers, but the last time they wrote a song for someone desperate for indie appeal (or anyone's for that matter), it was the diminutive Australian diva Kylie Minogue. "Some Kind Of Bliss" from 1997 was so bad it virtually de-railed her career completely until she found those golden Hot pants, got the cameraman to focus in on her from behind and began spinning around.

What's Shirley gonna do if this one's a pile of poop? She's 72 remember.

Kylie Minogue - Some Kind Of Bliss

Wogan Quits: Moyles Celebrates!

It seems mighty ironic that on the day Radio 1 breakfast host Chris Moyles celebrates the record as longest serving early morning "DJ" on the national station, his glory is overshadowed by the announcement that Radio 2 breakfast host Terry Wogan is stepping down at the age of 71 at the end of this year. Methinks some latent skulduggery from the old timer and a slap round the chops for the youngster Moyles (35), who at one stage seriously challenged old Tel for listener ratings. And let's be frank, the vital component that BBC contemporary music stations consider when appointing a host is how many listeners he or she can pull in. Wogan and Moyles have been slugging it out for the past five years, with Terry leading the way (7.93 Million/day) followed closely by Chris and his team (7.3 Million/day).

Personally, I stopped listening to national music radio when they decided to cease playing music. Sorry, I'm being glib but there is a point to all this. Wittering Wogan and Mundane Moyles have created shows that enable attention to themselves, with little thought or respect for the music loving public. These people are not Disc Jockeys. They are ruthless light entertainers who treat the records as a rude interruption to their "funny" stories, silly catchphrases and "in" studio "jokes". Wogan tells of the problems Frank from Wellingborough had when clearing his loft out, whilst Moyles shares a jibe at the expense of minor celebrities with his seriously unfunny assailant, "Comedy" Dave.

Like MTV and its dereliction to duty in serving music, BBC Radio 1 and 2 breakfast shows have equally forgotten that there's 30-40 million UK listeners who don't want meaningless chit chat when they wake up and start the day.

The Smiths - Panic

New Cribs Album: Ignore The Ignorant

Today sees the release of The Cribs 4th long player "Ignore The Ignorant" on the Wichita label. The first to feature legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr as a full time member, there's a sense of high expectation given that the lead off single "Cheat On Me" shows a distinct movement away from the raw indie sound of previous releases in favour of an ironed out, more conventional hard Rock sound. Marr's ascending, distinctive licks are imprinted over what is an impressive opener, and an exciting taster of what we all hope will be one of the albums of 2009.

"Cheat On Me"


http://wichita-recordings.com

Supermarkets Cover Up New Manics Album

The decision by four major supermarket chains to cover up the brilliant front cover of the latest Manic Street Preachers album shows not only bewildering "political correctness", but incredible naivety.

Jenny Saville's intense portrait of a young Richey Edwards look-alike perfectly serves as an accompaniment to the contents of the album. Edwards presented Bass guitarist Nicky Wire with a set of lyrics and prose just weeks before his disappearance. 14 years on, and with Edwards now declared officially deceased, the band set to work on creating a musical backdrop to his words.

I haven't purchased the album yet, but as a long time Manics fan I look forward to hearing what has been heralded by many critics as the best complete recording since 1994's "The Holy Bible".

The naivety of the shopping chains is that by covering up the album artwork only serves to bring more attention to it. There's also a certain amount of hypocrisy in my view. If this is deemed "inappropriate" then surely they should have considered covering up a number of other albums with a similar, if inferior theme.

I didn't see this get the plain white cover.Or this?