I've been listening to "When I Was Cruel" by Elvis Costello alot this week, it's a great album and you all should listen to it.
My favourite Elvis Costello albums are Blood and Chocolate and This Year's Model, and I think that WIWC combines the anger, musical rawness and lyrical themes of Blood.. with the immediate pop sensibility of This Year's Model. It's long, but not overlong, and memorable too. The guitars on it are fantastic, and Elvis's voice is at times raw, frustrated, soft and tender.
I would of course NEVER CONDONE illegal downloading, so you must DEFINATELY NOT download "When I Was Cruel Part One" or "Alibi" or "45". NEVER. NOT RIGHT NOW. NOT EVER.
I haven't managed to get a copy of the new Elvis album, but I heard a couple of tracks on TV. It sounded ok but nothign remarkable. I intend to get the album in the next couple of weeks, so if anyone's heard it, what's it like?
I've also been reading Johnny Cash's autobiography, "Cash". I'm only about a third the way through, but it's great so far. The structure is very clever; Cash tells his story as a series of anecdotes and memories, and not always in chrological order, and his wisdom is so apparent in his words that the reader can almost hear his baritone voice ringing off the page.
I saw "Saw" at the cinema the other day, which is quite good too. It's alot like "Se7en", in that it centres around a 'morality' killer who sets up his victims' suicides to teach them life lessons. It's cleverly edited and shot (sometimes TOO cleverly, if you know what I mean), and the story and premise are both very intriguing, but I couldn't watch alot of the VERY gruesome parts. It also features a scary clown puppet, whose image will probably stay with me forever...
Also...
LISTENING: Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood advance copy / Graham Coxon - Happiness in Magazines / Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus / Tom Waits - Rain Dogs / Nirvana - Bleach / Nancy Sinatra - Let me Kiss You / Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures / Blur - Blur / The Cure - The Cure / Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
READING: Jack Keraouc - On The Road / Gus Van Sant - My Own Private Idaho (Screenplay) / Nick Johnstone's Blue Notes column in the Guardian / Arthur Rimbaud - Selected Works / Oscar Wilde -Complete Short Fiction / Douglas Coupland - Girlfriend in a Coma / Word magazine
WATCHING: Alfie (original) / Twin Peaks Season One / Six Feet Under / Nip/Tuck / Morrissey Live In Dallas / UK Music Hall of Fame / Film 2004
GIGS: The Others - Wakefield Esco and Leeds Cockpit / The Paddingtons - Leeds Vine / Black Wire - Leeds Carpe Diem / Franz Ferdinand - Bradford St George's Hall / Rufus Wainwright - Sheffield Octogan