I've been traveling a lot in the last few months and thus spending some quality time with my iPod. On a red-eye flight a couple of nights ago, I was gripped by one of my periodic spells of amazement at the breadth and depth of music from Richard Thompson (seriously, try out his 1000 Years of Popular Music, which runs from "Sumer Is Icumen In" to " ( Read more... )

I have always loved John Waite's "Missing You". It's one of those songs that's so simple and so direct, and his voice is one of my favourites. Even Tina Turner said that she couldn't match his performance, no matter how much she loved the song - and it's not the big stuff, it's the nuance. The power of the emotion in his voice isn't in the outcry, ( Read more... )

Perhaps it wasn't noticeable - or perhaps it was to your relief! - but I've been away from internet access for most of the past 10 days, after a couple of weeks of slammed deadlines. It was...interesting. It wasn't so much that I missed it when I was gone as that there was this intense "catching up" period yesterday when I surpassed the system's ( Read more... )