via @thegrandspec
Last weekend I had a discussion over who is the best one album band.
For such a debate it is vital to set parameters. It has to be a band, which rules out Jeff Buckley. Lack of a second album due to death doesn't count either, which rules out Jeff Buckley. Their name must not begin with J, which rules out Jesus Jones. As does their multi album catalogue. As does using the word 'best' in reference to them.
Days on, my original answer remains. I therefore present Burning Benches by Morning Runner from their sole album Wilderness Is Paradise Now
Courtesy of one of the greatest musicians of our generation:
Just making sure everybody has seen this.
update August 10, 2010 - EMI have removed this from YouTube. The buggers. It's an *homage*. It doesn't hurt Alicia or Jay Z. I give up. Anyway, I've changed the vid to another source which might also come down soon.
Victory is ours.
The BBC Trust has saved BBC 6 Music from closure.
That boiling hot day I spent in central London in May was not a futile middle class jolly after all. The people that mattered - the suits we were all sceptical about, actually took notice of us.
Four months of countless blogs and demonstrations paid off. I’d like to express my huge thanks to those who organised the relentless demos, notably 38 Degrees and love6music. You did a great job.
I suspect the whole ‘movement’ helped sway the BBC Trust, even those I’ll just click a button Facebook ‘petitions’ and Twitter posts, but clearly it was the intelligence of the argument, not just the passion which won through.
Those of us who completed the online strategy review questionnaire and also wrote directly to the BBC Trust must have overwhelmed the committee. Of nearly 50,000 responses to the BBC Strategy Review (which included the proposed axing of the Asian Network and some online services), 78% were related to 6music.
The BBC Trust said today:
"Throughout the period of our consultation we have received no evidence from the commercial radio sector to suggest that 6 Music represents any kind of threat either now or in the future, so long as it remains true to its distinctive remit."
This, of course, was the heart of our argument. By implication, the Trust has accepted that you simply wouldn’t hear anything remotely like 6 Music’s output anywhere else.
I’m not one for knee-jerk demands for resignations but I hope BBC Director General Mark Thompson is now reflecting on this saga. Recommending the closure of a strand of the BBC that is precisely what the BBC is about (it is a perfect fit for the BBC Charter) was so misguided.
Anger is misplaced today though.
It is a day for celebration, and as Andrew Collins agreed with his first choice of song this afternoon, a Kool and the Gang one at that.
Hang out the bunting, tickle your fancy and attempt a chord change on a vuvuzela. Five years after the break-up of Gene - one of my favourite bands, their frontman Martin Rossiter is back.
Twice.
Not only is he performing bass / keyboard duties as part of Brighton-based quartet Call Me Jolene, he's also preparing some solo material.
A video of him performing the Gene classic Olympian in May has been YouTubed, but more excitingly yesterday he released his first new solo material online with the song Drop Anchor. Typically gorgeous it is too:
Linkage:
Martin Rossiter on Facebook where I'm playing at being pretend friends:
Welcome back Martin. You've been missed.