"Another on the great road of clunkdom" - Mark Kermode

[miss_newham]

I should write a little bit about work and music too while I'm in the mood to speak, as apparently people like me to mention work and music. I have a focus group monitoring my journal, you know - I hear the ratings are down... Today I finally finished with Hounslow, where I made my feet sore by walking the streets all day and peering into people'

Comments

[biascut]

Oh, I kept meaning to mention this. I dreamt about you the other day. You were accompanying me to Sainsburys - or possibly Tesco - but I faffed around for so long trying to work out what to buy that they shut for Christmas before I could get to the checkout: quite epically inefficient on our parts, as it was September when we arrived.

Anyway, you definitely exclaimed at one point "Oh, travelling by air is such a boon for those of us who enjoy wearing stripey hats!"

(Do let me know what the focus group makes of this anecdote, by the way!

[miss_newham]

Marvellous! I'm sorry to have detained you in the supermarket by informing you of my views on air travel - I'm sure it was entirely my fault that we never made it to the checkout.

The anecdote is being submitted to the focus group for a series of rigorous tests on whether it will alienate any potential readers. Watch this space!

[comradexavier]

...about redemption and hope and heaven and lots of other things I don't talk about very often because you're all a bunch of atheists anyway.

Why do you assume that we are all a bunch of atheists? I may not be particularly religious--and I suspect that shows--but I'm not really atheist (which is as much a conviction as any form of theism, in its own way). I think of religion as philosophy, and I like a good philosophical discussion.

[miss_newham]

I was just being provocative, though there is a lot of atheist comment on my friends page. I'm kinda lapsed Christian, which isn't a very impressive standpoint really.

[rhodri]

If you'd like an extended and mutual appreciation of "The Sprout", look no further.

Favourite moments, in no particular order:

The World Awake
Prisoner Of The Past
Desire As
Appetite
I Never Play Basketball Now
Devil Has All The Best Tunes
Hey Manhattan
L.I.M.O.G.E.S

and that sequence on "Langley Park To Memphis" that goes Cars And Girls - I Remember That - Enchanted - Nightingales.

Man alive.

By the way, nice answer to the Hall & Oates quiz.

[miss_newham]

I can see I need more Prefab Sprout albums as I only know half of your recommendations. Thanks for backing me up!

[rhodri]

Steve McQueen is the, er, king. Swoon is embryonic and awkward but still brilliant. Langley Park To Memphis is just pop genius throughout.

Jordan is about my least favourite, to be honest. Maybe I should do a quick re-evaluation.

[miss_newham]

They were all going cheap in HMV so I went for From Langley Park To Memphis, though I already knew much of it from greatest hits compilations. Jordan doesn't seem to be that popular, but I came across it when I was a confused teenager and the unrequited love and religious musings were just what I wanted to hear about (to say nothing of all the ace tunes). As an overgrown confused teen I still find it hugely affecting. I wonder what they're doing these days?