I’ve been tired this week. It’s no excuse, but it’s a reason for my lack of posting. Ironically I currently have in draft a post about why I don’t post everyday…but, yes, it’s not been posted yet.
I don’t know why it is that I’m so tired either – surely not the one hour lost last weekend? One sleep related event did occur last week though which can account for my tiredness earlier on this week. After a successful night out up town in Camden, I and a few friends decided to push the evening into the morning and head to a bar. After the bar we headed to a club (Fabric), and after the club we headed to the train station for the first train home. Yes. That early. The train left London Charing Cross at 5:14 and should have pulled into our station at about 6:00. We got on the train; we fell asleep.
Imagine our surprise on waking up at 7:00 only to have moved two stations – a distance that normally would take ten minutes. And if you’re not laughing by now, you should know that our watches weren’t wrong and that there were no delays to the train service. So early was it in the morning we were alone on the train with no do-gooders to check where we wanted to get of..so yes…we fell asleep on the train, went all the way to the end of the line (18 miles or so as the crow flies) and back up again before waking up! Oh, how we fretted through our aching eyelids. Still, that was almost seven days ago.
Now I’m still tired and I’m not sure why, but is does mean I’ve been listening to dream-like music this week. My YouTube pick of the week reflects this in ‘The Servant’ by Cocosuma:
The other thing of note you might be interested in is my review of Becoming Batman for Den of Geek. Good book that, though not what you might expect.
Right, nearly the end of the day for me and then onto the weekend. Have a good one.
k
A New England investigated
Firstly “Hi” if you’ve come here via my review of FAQ About Time Travel on Den of Geek. I do write for the website fairly regularly I’m proud to say, so look out for more scribblings from me there. Anyhow, it’s nice to have you here, and I hope you enjoy reading DoG as much as I do. Right, onto other business:
Regular visitors will know that occasionally I post a YouTube pick of the week, and that once or twice before I’ve delved into the world of musical covers. Well I’ve decided to combine the two today, as a whim earlier on made me head to the trusty Tube of You and look for an unreleased and little known cover by Jamie T of Billy Bragg’s classic, ‘A New England’. In some ways Jamie T can be compared to a modern day Billy Bragg (‘working class hero’, though I’m not a fan of that overwrought phrase), and in fact he has many, many times. Yet it’s in the covering of Bragg’s track – which, I think I’m right in saying, is a result of rather than the reason for the comparison – that the similarities become legitimate.
Neither are particularly ‘honed’ vocalists yet it’s the tonal style and attitude of each of them which fits the content and genre of their respective musics. I’m getting a bit carried away though, because where I want this comparison to lead us is to Jamie T’s cover of ‘A New England’ , which, though the ‘T one’ has been quiet in releases since his 2007 album Panic Prevention, is a fine demonstration of the style he brings to his music.
A double header for today then, because it would be criminal not to include Bragg himself in this post. The question is though, which incarnation of his famed track? The answer: Two of them. The first is the collaboration with the late, great Kirsty MacColl (yes, she of A Fairy Tale In New York fame), which signals the coming together of two very fine artists.
The second, a more recent creation, forged from the talents of Bragg and Kate ‘because I am so bittaa’ Nash (I say that affectionately, I’ve seen and enjoyed her live music and poetry, [and she's a bit of a looker as well y'know]).
So, are you thoroughly ‘A New England’ outed? No? Me neither, cracking isn’t it?
That about wraps this up for today and leaves me only tosay that if you didn’t come here via a link from Den of Geek, allow me to offer to direct you over there to check out my look at good debut for a new British feature-length writer.