The best country band Brixton is ever likely to produce - Q Magazine

[kitmarlowe]

Was listening to Last Train to Mashville last night, and realised I thinnk for the first time what an achievment it really is. When I first heard it I think I regarded it as some sort of novelty, and even maybe thought they were just resorting to re-hashing their old stuff through lack of any new material. But it really is good in an entirely different way to their other albums. They always have blues elements but usually the techno bits are more memorable because they're so reminisent of acid culture and all that. But the fact that on Last Train... everything's acoustic means that all the songs are rendered a lot more bluesy in theme as well as underlying sound without any of the lyrics being altered in any way. It all feels a lot less anarchistic, and the political points/satire moe considered. I don't prefer either setting of the songs over the either, I think they're all superb (and there must be at least five versions of Woke Up This Morning out there anyway). I just hadn't listened to that album for a while and I'm glad i gave it another go. Particularly after Tuesday night, I can't believe I turned down the chance to see Alabama 3 at the Brixton Academy. It's a brilliant venue and the band probably regard it as their home, and it must have been such an amazing night. Oh well, hopefully it's not the last time they'll ever play there.

Found the New Labour 1997 election manifesto in one of the files today. Among all the pics of Blair doing that axe-man grin he used to have there was one of a wedding, to which Rebecca responded "That makes everyone happy, doesn't it? Doesn't make me happy. Makes me want to spit". I think I might go bonkers here if I didn't work with her :)