Thought for the Day

As delivered this morning at BBC Radio Bristol:

I'm tired. You tired? Hands up who's tired?

I got a scratch on my car. My gym socks got into a red wash and are now a fetching pink. My job has got bigger while my time to do it stays the same.

Thanks for being there; it's good to have a moan, moan, moan.

In the Christian calendar it is Wednesday in Holy Week. Some people call it Holy Wednesday. It doesn't have a great press compared to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday which many would recognise as days with special meaning.

But those who have given things up for Lent can see the finish line now. Four more days.

'It's a busy time for you,' says almost everyone I meet on the streets this time of year. I swear they think that after Easter I'll sit in front of the tele waiting for Christmas. If only.

Do I sound grumpy? Sorry. Moan, moan, moan.

Thing is that sometimes the annual cycle of celebrations doesn't quite fit with our own mood. I seem to be joined by the news stories - grumpy landlords, lame horses and even people voting against a businesses improvement district. What's the matter with everybody?

I wish I could search down the back of the sofa for a bit of positivity. But then I remember that the Christian story is unashamedly positive about the negative. A man willingly going to his death for others (like that brave gendarme this week). It is an inspiring story.

Jesus died willingly as an example and a gift to you and me of leadership and obedience. If the worst I have to do is wear pink socks to the gym I think I may have got off lightly.

I feel better now. Thank you for being there.

Advent Thought 17 and Number 11 (Again)

I was a smart 11 year old and breezed through the 11 plus. I also passed the entrance examination to King Edward's, Edgbaston with a free place. There followed seven years of pain as I discovered that the easy route to success - I just knew a lot of stuff and enjoyed being at a small school - now had to translate into a willingness to work in order to achieve future academic success. I was now in a place where everyone was smart.

I still haven't quite come to grips with why I didn't make the leap. No teacher grabbed my enthusiasm apart from an English teacher who left when I was in year three (nine in new money). My preferred way of learning - taking a drag net to available subjects and trawling up some goodies  - does not have outcomes in mind but is simply learning for learning's sake.  All I can remember about the thought of history essay night is that it took five albums. I probably know the lyrics of the albums better than the history.

I think I would have made a good 19th century parson who wrote reviews of theatre while curates did the pastoral work. It has to be someone's job to appreciate the arts (paraphrasing Peter Carey in Parrott and Olivier). Or maybe studied birds. Or perhaps did some maths. Anything that rocks.

Forty four years on from the end of that school experience I would be ready to go back. I would actually read the set texts, prepare the Latin translation and knock off 500 word pieces of creative writing before breakfast. I may even pay attention at science. Especially computer science which was not a subject 1966-73, obviously.

A slightly more biographical pondering this morning, although it fills me with delight that I can write this stuff on a laptop in bed; how life has improved.

What bits of your life would you like to have another go at?

What events were a sea-change?

Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs,
Don't mis-serve your own needs

Teaming Thoughts

What makes a good team player? My answer always has been, and always will be - everyone. But getting the best out of each individual so they can contribute to a team is often complex. Here are some reflections born of spending my whole working life in teams:

1. Many of the things people call teams are not actually teams but groups; individuals doing separate jobs and occasionally getting together.

2. Leadership is important to team work. 'If we're going to get through this we need to work together as a team and that means doing exactly as I say.' (Can you guess the source?) I love being led. It has often been said of me that I abhor a leadership vacuum. If nobody is being in charge I will be in charge. No-one has ever minded this (to my face) and indeed one bunch of people I worked with used to positively manoeuvre a leadership vacuum. But I struggle being in badly-led meetings where a coup is not possible.

3. Intuitive, creative, introverts make great team members as long as the team accepts them on such terms. We will contribute when we think we have something to say. Add 'shaper' to the mix and when we are leading we will drive towards our preferred conclusion. If we are not leading, silence is a courtesy extended to those who are. We will choose when to share our better ideas and sometimes choose not to. We always think we are right until we know we're not.

4. Acute systematising males (I got dealt a bugger of a genetic hand) will not empathise easily. We don't go to pieces when challenged or attacked. We don't expect others to and are surprised when they do, especially when they have asked a straight question and been given a straight answer, or sent a long email and got a long reply. A cute systematising male is hard to find.

5. Have you heard some politicians (inevitably team members if they are to succeed) recently struggling to to answer this question: 'What will you change once you have listened to people?' That is because they probably won't be changing anything, or really listening, but dare not admit it. Correct answer is 'We don't know'. But it is not the truth. Those of us with powerful, internal dialogues have difficulty with truth. It is not that we are liars. We make very quick, often right, gut-reaction decisions. Then, because the world has always asked us to explain ourselves - Tilley your answer is correct but you will get full marks if you show your working and people will not think you cheated - we develop a narrative that makes our answer work. But it wasn't the way we thought. Stuff gets done and afterwards we will convince you it was right. This does not make us bad team players. If we are wrong, or hear a better idea, we will admit it quickly. We move on really quickly. 24 hours (two sleeps) is enough to recover from the heaviest emotional setback.

6. None of us is as smart as all of us. But Geoff Boycott played in some good cricket teams.

7. Diagrams help.

8. Meetings are fine but a clear explanation of the point of the meeting, and each item on the agenda, is essential. We are peculiarly aware that 20 people giving 2 hours to a meeting is one working week lost.

9. I don't think I am the only one, but when I am thinking, my visual interface goes down. The reason I don't think I am the only one is that I rarely pay much attention to body language unless it is really annoying. This is too late to do anything about. I have tried from time to time. Not looking like I am listening does not mean I am not listening. But sometimes I am not. Every introvert zones out from time to time. Especially when the internal conversation is more interesting than the external one. We are regrouping. Powering up. Getting energy back. It's like a bit of sugar to a diabetic.

10. Introverts struggle in large social settings for more than two hours. I do go to parties but become happy talking to one person for an hour in the corner about something I know nothing about, rather than talking to twenty people about the quality of the canapés, or the weather. When I need to 'do the room' my emotional life expects overtime.

11. For an intuitive introvert everything is a discussion document. All decisions are temporary. Errors are the back door to success or elimination from enquiries. You can change your mind.

12. Which are my favourite teams?

Theatre companies.
Formula 1 pit-lane mechanics.
Ellesmere CYFA Venture Team 1990-1998.
CPAS Youth and Children's Department 1984-2000 (I worked in it 1992 - 2002).

13. I like talking about myself. It is my chosen specialist subject. It should be yours too. Yourself, I mean, not me. That would be a worry.

14. Starting and finishing on time matter. I began investing emotionally in the social setting whilst getting ready, or travelling. For a 7.45-10.00 local meeting I diary 7.30-10.15. If it starts late and overruns I feel robbed. If it starts on time and overruns I feel robbed. If someone wants a quick chat about something after the meeting I feel robbed.

15. Don't let 'It's too cold' always defeat 'It's just right'. Don't let discussion always beat reflection. Don't assume you have finished when the idea-pool goes quiet. That's when it's getting interesting in some heads.

16. Tie the monitor-evaluators up until there is some proposal to monitor or evaluate. Team-workers (social glue) can chip in anytime.

17. There will eventually be points 17-n.

Reading list:

Managing Your Team - John Spencer and Adrian Pruss
Team Building - Robert B. Maddux
Making a Team Work - Steve Chalke
The Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki
Team Spirit - David Cormack

Monday Thoughts

The late, great John Arlott was commentating on a cricket match towards the end of the day and was becoming grumpy at his co-commentators constant reminder that the sun was setting in the west. Arlott announced, 'The ball is taken by the wicket-keeper, there's no run, the sun continues to set in the west and, should it choose to set in any other place, you dear listeners will be the first to know.'

It was a reminder of the first rule of journalism - it is a story only if it is out of the ordinary. Man bites dog is far more interesting than dog bites man.

The second rule of journalism is to check sources. Which is why it is a joy and delight to learn that the story in the Church Times last week about church jumble sales not being allowed to sell product in re-used jam jars, turns out (due to Andrew Graystone's work checking) to have been a delightful spoof.

'Church takes a while to get appointment of Archbishop right' is a current non-story out of which some people are trying to get news. Sometimes, the Bible tells us, there should be nothing better to do than wait, hope, rest and pray.

But here is some news to ponder. A chat with a friend at a party the other night threw up this conundrum - is it OK to go off with a stranger if you are a child? If it is not (and tragically it seems that April Jones went off with someone she knew) then why was it OK, when the hunt was still for a missing girl, for thousands of strangers to turn up to help look for her? How do we work out the rules to teach our kids?

A jumble of thoughts today. Probably because it's last week's day off taken a bit late. Chill time.

Don't Start Anything

I work best in the worlds of vision and delivery. I am not so hot at strategy. If vision is about destination - where are we going? - then strategy is about the steps to take to get there.

It follows that vision is more about leadership than management and vice-versa for strategy.

After two and a half days of retreat, and now a free day before returning to Advent earth, I have a single thought pinned down. I am fed up of starting things. I've spent all my ministry starting things. I've set things up. I've seen things that were not being done and I've made them happen. I have begun.

But I have lost the knack of being able to infect people with the passion for whatever it is I start and thus hand on the started thing to someone who will run with it, polish it and make it great, perhaps using me as occasional consultant if things get stuck.

I am currently doing too many things I started. And this makes me spend too much time keeping those things going when I really want/ought to be starting something else. I hear a Michael Jackson song on constant repetition. And yes I do '...wanna be starting something.'

The danger, with people such as me, is that we walk away from the things we have started because of the call of things as yet unbegun. I am determined not to succumb to this but it helps me understand the niggly level of frustration I currently experience all the time. Keep too many live things in a bag and one day the fight will break out.

It is good for me to take on one or two jobs in any post which require discipline and stickability. I do this in a couple of ways. It reminds me that everyone has to do a certain amount of the less pleasant jobs.

I've started two new things this term but I didn't stop anything in order to do them. I merely postponed. Both have gone well first time and are heading towards that difficult second album in a term when all the other things I've started here, bar two (which stopped because they didn't work), need to carry on.

If you hear me talk about pioneering anything for the next few months tell me to stop starting. At the moment, like a dodgy set of jump leads, I'm not starting anything.

Music List - Uncatalogued Stuff

In searching down the crannies of the storage system (OK behind the cupboard) I discovered the following. I'm only posting this to really annoy those of you who thought music lists were finished:

Classic fm - Music from the Masters 2011 Vol 2 (2011)
Noel Gallagher - The Dreams We Have as Children (Live at the Royal Albert Hall) (2009)
Q - REM Jukebox (2008)
Q - New to Q (15 of the Most Exciting New Acts on the Planet) (2010)
Q - Born in the USA (2010)
The Best of the Secret Policeman's Ball Part 2 (2009)

Music List - Albums Z

So here we go. Final instalment. Except tomorrow I will list my eight desert island discs and then, at some point in the future, will do my DVDs. You may then ask to borrow them, so it will be good for you. This is a good way to eat a slug.

Then watch out for a sidebar item saying 'New music.'

I notice that the only post I illustrated with a picture (albums - M) got ten times more hits than all the rest.

A guy call Syd used to bring Hot Rats to every youth group meeting in 1971/2 so it got ingrained and I had to buy it eventually. Apostrophe(') is my favourite Zappa album.

Zero 7 were another band that emerged from my older son's bedroom. It was a surprise that something so mellow could be born of a drum n' bass DJ and has upped the household romance quotient.

Frank Zappa 1969 (V) Hot Rats

1972 (CD) Waka / Jawaka

1974 (V) Apostrophe (')

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

1975 (CD) One Size Fits All

Zero 7 2001 (CD) Simple Things

2004 (CD) When It Falls

2006 (CD) The Garden

2009 (CD) Yeah Ghost

Earl Zinger 2004 (CD) Speaker Stack Commandments

Music List - Albums Y

In the prog rock camp at school we divided into Yes fans and Genesis fans. With forty years of reflection I now suggest that Yes were the better musicians but Peter Gabriel's Genesis the better lyricists. Both were a bit Lower Sixth (a Roger Waters' expression). Mrs WWA and I made the decision to begin a relationship whilst listening to Genesis' Cinema Show. If I ever get hold of permission to play a church organ Rick Wakeman's work on Parallels will be my gold standard.

Yazoo 1983 (V) You and Me Both

Yeasayer 2007 (CD) All Hour Cymbals

2010 (CD) Odd Blood

Yes 1971 (V) The Yes Album

1971 (V) Fragile

1975 (V) Yesterdays

1977 (V) Going for the One

Neil Young 1989 (V) Freedom

The Young Knives 2006 (CD) Voices of Animals and Men

Tom Yorke 2006 (CD) The Eraser

Music List - Albums X

Apart from the dilemma as to which letter to file J-Xaverre under there is little to say about this. XTC - good song writers, especially lyricists. X-Press 2 was bought for the David Byrne influence and the single Lazy.

J-Xaverre 2003 (CD) Three Acid Stars

X-Press 2 2002 (CD) Muzikizum

XTC 1980 (V) Black Sea

The XX 2009 (CD) The XX

Music List - Albums W

The existence of the Marti Webb album tells me what a dull, middle-class family we were destined to become before St John's College got hold of us. Witness (from Wigan) were another band I discovered through late night drives home accompanied by John Peel. Stevie Winwood has been good company all my life and World Party's Always is a desert island disc.

The Wades 1992 (CD) A Touch of Heaven

Rick Wakeman 1975 (V) The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

The Warner Bros. Music Show 1975 (V) (Sampler)

Warp 20 (Recreated) 2009 (CD)

The Waterboys 1988 (V) Fisherman's Blues

Marti Webb 1979 (V) Tell Me on a Sunday

Paul Weller 1994 (CD) Wild Wood

1995 (CD) Stanley Road

2010 (CD) Wake Up the Nation

Bill Wells Trio 2002 (CD) Also in White

Whale 1998 (CD) All Disco Dance Must End in Broken Bones

The White Stripes 2001 (CD) De Stijl

2001 (CD) White Blood Cells

The Who 1971 (CD) Who's Next

1975 (V) The Who by Numbers

Robbie Williams 1997 (CD) Life Through a Lens

1998 (CD) I've Been Expecting You

2001 (CD) Sing When Youre Winning

Mark Williamson Band 1980 (V) Get the Drift?

1984 (V) Missing in Action

Amy Winehouse 2006 (CD) Back to Black

Steve Winwood 1977 (V) Steve Winwood

1980 (V) Arc of a Diver

1982 (V) Talking Back to the Night

1986 (V) Back in the High Life

Wishbone Ash 1971 (V) Pilgrimage

1972 (V&CD) Argus

Witness 1999 (CD) Before the Calm

2001 (CD) Under a Sun

Stevie Wonder 1972 (V) Talking Book

1976 (V) Songs in the Key of Life

The Wonder Stuff 1989 (V) Hup

World Party 1990 (CD) Goodbye Jumbo

1993 (Tape) Bang

1997 (CD) Egyptology

2000 (CD) Dumbing Up

Music List - Albums V

Not much to say about the Vs. Stick with Vampire Weekend beyond your first reaction is my advice. I now love it.

Vampire Weekend 2007 (CD) Vampire Weekend

Suzanne Vega 1987 (V) Solitude Standing

The Verve 1997 (CD) Urban Hymns

2008 (CD) Forth

Voom Voom 2006 (CD) Peng Peng

Music List - Albums U

U2 have made some great tunes (never seen them live) but I don't often get the urge to play a U2 album. If I had to keep one artist beginning with U it would be the wonderful Japan meets France meets jazz meets lounge meets I-don't-know-what that is the United Future Organisation. Try this. Great video. They're another band that came tunefully out of my older son's bedroom and my love for them overtook his. I'd also rate Underworld ahead of U2. I don't own Uriah Heap Live but I have a drumstick from the actual gig it was recorded at and you can hear me, Alan and Keith shouting in a quiet moment. So proud. Bought The Magician's Birthday the next day.

U2 1980 (V) Boy

1980 (V) October

1983 (V) War

1984 (V) The Unforgettable Fire

1987 (V) The Joshua Tree

1988 (V) Rattle and Hum

1991 (V) Achtung Baby

1993 (Tape) Zooropa

2000 (CD) All That You Can't Leave Behind

2004 (CD) How To Dismantle an Atom Bomb

2009 (CD) No Line on the Horizon

Ultravox 1980 (V) Vienna

Underworld 1998 (CD) Second Toughest in the Infants

1998 (CD) Dubnobasswithmyheadman

1999 (Tape) Beaucoup Fish

2002 (CD) A Hundred Days Off

2007 (CD) Oblivion with Bells

United Future Organisation 1993 (CD) United Future Organisation

1995 (CD) Third Perspective

1999 (CD) Bon Voyage

2001 (CD) V

United State of Ambience 1994 (CD)

Uriah Heep 1972 (V) The Magician's Birthday

Music List - Albums T

Seeing gigs at pantomime or variety show (Freddie and the Dreamers, Bachelors, Sounds Incorporated, Searchers, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five) with your parents doesn't really count, for me, as 'first gig.' The first proper gig was Ten Years After at Birmingham Town Hall in the autumn of 1971 supported by Keith Christmas and an early version of Supertramp. The first reverb-heavy 'One of these days boy...' and a guitar chord like someone dropping scaffolding and I was hooked. TYA were not the greatest band in the world but they were my first love and still uncover something primal when I hear them. Alvin Lee, Rick Lee, Leo Lyons and Chick Churchill - I thank you.

2 many DJs is another candidate for the great intros competition but you may be offended as it segues into 'F**k the day away.' Sorry. Still love it. Groove trumps offence any day.

Fall Down by Toad the Wet Sprocket is a desert island choice. Here it is. If you're at a PC and not tapping your hands on your desk within 30 seconds your arms are too short.

Much pleasure given to me over the years by Talking Heads' Remain in Light side 1 (younger people may not know what side 1 is - tough) and Traffic On the Road especially Sometimes I feel So Uninspired.

Other goodies well worth investigating. Some mighty fine things begin with T. And yes, I do own two Take That albums with pride.

2 Many DJs 2002 (CD) Part 2

10CC 1974 (V) Sheet Music

22-20s 2004 (CD) 22-20s

1975 (V) The Original Soundtrack

1975 (V) How Dare You

Take That 2006 (CD) Beautiful World

2010 (CD) Progress

Talking Heads 1977 (V) Talking Heads 1977

1978 (V) More Stories About Buildings & Food

1979 (V) Fear of Music

1980 (V) Remain in Light

1982 (V) The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

1983 (V) Speaking in Tongues

1985 (V) Little Creatures

1986 (V) True Stories

1988 (V) Naked

Talk Talk 1982 (V) The Party's Over

Tame Impala 2010 (CD) Innerspeaker

Tangerine Dream 1974 (CD) Phaedra

Tangle Eye 2004 (CD) Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed

Taste 1970 (CD) On the Boards

James Taylor 1971 (CD) Mud Slide Slim

The James Taylor Quartet 1998 (CD) Blow Up - a JTQ Collection

Steve Taylor 1985 (V) On the Fritz

Tears for Fears 1983 (V) The Hurting

1985 (V) Songs from the Big Chair

Television 1977 (V) Marquee Moon

Ten Years After 1967 (V&CD) Ten Years After

1968 (V) Undead

1969 (V) Stonedhenge

1969 (V) Ssssh

1970 (Tape) Cricklewood Green

1970 (V&CD) Watt

1971 (V) A Space in Time

1972 (V) Rock & Roll Music to the World

1973 (CD) Recorded Live

1974 (V) Positive Vibrations

1989 (V) About Time

Texas 1989 (V) Southside

That Petrol Emotion 1987 (CD) Babble

1988 (V) End of the Millennium Psychosis Blues

1990 (V) Chemicrazy

Thin Lizzy 1976 (V) Johnny the Fox

Thirteen Senses 2004 (CD) The Invitation

2007 (CD) Contact

Thompson Twins 1983 (V) Quick Step and Side Kick

1984 (V) Into the Gap

Tracey Thorn 2007 (CD) Out of the Woods

Timbuk 3 1986 (V) Greetings from Timbuk 3

Tinariwen 2003 (CD) Amassakoul

Tiny Dancers 2007 (CD) Free School Milk

Tired Pony 2010 (CD) The Place We Ran From

Toad the Wet Sprocket 1994 (CD) Dulcinea

Peter Tosh 1978 (CD) Bush Doctor

Tower of Power 1974 (CD) Urban Renewal

1974 (CD) Back to Oakland

1987 (V) Power

Pete Townshend 1985 (V) White City

Traffic 1968 (V) Mr Fantasy

1970 (CD) John Barleycorn Must Die

1971 (V) The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

1973 (V) Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory

1973 (CD) On the Road

1994 (CD) Far From Home

Travis 1999 (CD) The Man Who

A Tribe Called Quest 1993 (CD) Midnight Marauders

1996 (CD) Beats, Rhymes and Life

Truebrit 1996 (CD) 40 Essential Indie Hits

K.T.Tunstall 2010 (CD) Tiger Suit

The Twang 2007 (CD) Love It When I Feel Like This

Two Tribes 1992 (V) Two Tribes

Music List - Albums S

The letter S gives a reasonable impression of the whole gorgeous and messy cross-section of my taste. From the Screaming Blue Messiahs to Sancte Deus calling at Dusty and Sting. Pink Bullets by the Shins is a current desert island disc; they are great song-writers and fine lyricists:

'Over the ramparts you tossed
The scent of your skin and some foreign flowers
Tied to a brick,'

Hear it here.

Mrs W brought all the Simon and Garfunkel records into our relationship but they were knackered from being played non-stop in a teenage girl's bedroom in the 60s and sit there useless with valuable sleeves.

The two minute intro to Ebeneezer Goode on Boss Drum is a genius piece of pop-building. Just when you think they can't lift it any more they add something else. Listen here. Clever to get massive club crowds singing '...eezer Goode' rather than  'Es are good.' Naughty naughty very naughty. Got banned.

Raphael Saadiq 2009 (CD) The Way I See It

Sade 1984 (Tape) Diamond Life

1865 (Tape) Promise

Sancte Deus 2000 (CD) A Journey Through the Renaissance

Santagold 2008 (CD) Santagold

Santana 1970 (V&CD) Abraxas

1974 (CD) Santana's Greatest Hits

Saw Doctors 1991 (V) If This is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back

Nitin Sawhney 2001 (CD) Prophesy

2003 (CD) Human

2005 (CD) Philtre

Leo Sayer 1973 (V) Silverbird

Boz Scaggs 1997 (CD) Come On Home

Scissor Sisters 2004 (CD) Scissor Sisters

Jill Scott 2000 (CD) Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1

Shirley Scott 2001 (CD) Talkin' Verve

Screaming Blue Messiahs 1989 (V) Totally Religious

Seasick Steve 2009 (CD) Man From Another Time

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

1978 (V) Stranger in Town

Sex Pistols 1977 (V) Never mind the Bollocks here's the...

Shakespears Sister 1992 (V) Hormonally Yours

The Shamen 1992 (Tape) Boss Drum

Shine 1995 (CD) 20 Brilliant Indie Hits

The Shins 2001 (CD) Oh, Inverted World

2003 (CD) Chutes Too Narrow

2007 (CD) Wincing the Night Away

Paul Simon 1986 (V) Graceland

1990 (V) The Rhythm of the Saints

Simon and Garfunkel 1966 (V) Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

1966 (V) Sounds of Silence

1968 (V) Bookends

1970 (V) Bridge Over Troubled Water

Nina Simone 1971 (CD) Here Comes the Sun

Simple Minds 1985 (V) Once Upon a Time

1989 (V) Street Fighting Years

Simply Red 1989 (Tape) A New Flame

1995 (CD) Life

1996 (CD) Greatest Hits

Roni Size 2002 (CD) Touching Down

Six. by Seven 2000 (CD) 04

Sky 1980 (V) Sky 2

Smaller 1996 (CD) Badly, Badly

Smithereens 1991 (V) Blow Up

Marston Smith 2002 (CD) I Cellist

Smiths 1985 (Tape) Meat is Murder

1987 (Tape) Strangeways Here We Come

Snow Patrol 2004 (CD) Final Straw

Sounds Album 1977 (V) Good for Nothing

Sounds Album II 1977 (V) Sounds Like a Good Album To Us

Sounds Album III 1978 (V) Can't Start Dancing

Sounds Album IV 1979 (V) The Heavy Metal Album

Sounds Album VII 1981 (V) Into the Arena

Sounds Incorporated 1964 (V) Sounds Incorporated

Soup Dragons 1992 (V) Hotwired

Southside Johny and the Asbury Jukes

1978 (V) Hearts of Stone

Spandau Ballet 1983 (V) True

1984 (V) Parade

Sparks 1972 (V) A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing

Spiritualised 1992 (CD) Lazer Guided Melodies

1997 (CD) Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

2001 (CD) Let It Come Down

2003 (CD) Amazing Grace

Split Level 1991 (CD) View of a World

Spoon 2007 (CD) Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Dusty Springfield 1969 (CD) Dusty in Memphis

Squeeze 1978 (CD) U.K. Squeeze

Starsailor 2001 (CD) Love Is Here

Status Quo 1972 (V) Piledriver

Stealers Wheel 1973 (Tape) Ferguslie Park

Steely Dan 1972 (CD) Can't Buy a Thrill

1974 (V) Pretzel Logic

2000 (CD) Two Against Nature

Gwen Stefani 2004 (CD) Love. Angel. Music. Baby

Stereo MCs 1992 (CD) Connected

Cat Stevens 1972 (V) Catch Bull at Four

1975 (V) Greatest Hits

St Germain 2000 (CD) Tourist

Sting 1985 (V) The Dream of the Blue Turtles

1986 (V) Bring on the Night

1987 (V) Nothing Like the Sun

1993 (Tape) Ten Summoners Tales

1996 (CD) Mercury Falling

1999 (CD) Brand New Day

Stone Roses 1989 (V) Stone Roses

1992 (CD) Turns Into Stone 1994 (CD) Second Coming

Strawbs 1972 (V) Grave New World

The Streets 2002 (CD) Original Pirate Material

2004 (CD) A Grand Don't Come for Free

The Strokes 2001 (CD) Is This It

2003 (CD) Room on Fire

Style Council 1984 (V) Café Bleu

Suede 1996 (CD) Coming Up

Sugar 1992 (V) Copper Blue

1994 (CD) File Under Easy Listening

Summerhill 1990 (V) West of Here

Andy Summers 1998 (CD) The Last Dance of Mr X

Sundays 1990 (V&Tape)

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

Sunshine 1972 (V) Sunshine

Supertramp 1974 (V) Crime of the Century

1975 (V) Crisis? What Crisis?

Supremes 1974 (V) Greatest Hits

Esbjorn Svensson Trio 2000 (CD) Good Morning Susie Soho

The Swimming Pool Qs 2003 (CD) Royal Academy of Reality

My Music - Albums R

Some substantial letters towards the end of the alphabet and, as we reach R, Radiohead make their entry. I reckon they have been the most creative, risk-taking band of the last twenty years, almost never producing an album that I like first time through but only their debut I rarely play these days. Gerry Rafferty's album has some good tracks other than Baker Street. Jess Roden, first encountered as the vocalist with the Butts Band supporting Roxy Music at Birmingham Odeon, is one of the finest white soul r&b voices of recent history. Dan Reed fused rock, electronica, hip-hop and great songs. One of my finest gigs of all time was him at Newcastle Riverside (a now defunct, members-only venue) in about 1991. REM have always been good value. Saw them twice, twenty years apart. Roni Size made me realise there was more to drum n' bass than I thought (thanks DJ 'Jamin), Roots Manuva made hip hop acceptable to the white masses and the title track off Power in the Darkness was a desert island disc for many years with its wonderful anti-establishment rant about what sort of freedom the Tories wanted at the time. It was a liberal manifesto. Hear it here. The rant starts at 2:14. N word warning. It was 1978. Reverend and the Makers Heavyweight Champion of the World is an outstanding song which dwarfs the album.

Radiohead 1993 (CD) Pablo Honey

1994 (CD) The Bends

1997 (CD) OK Computer

2000 (CD) Kid A

2001 (CD) Amnesia

2003 (CD) Hail to the Thief

2007 (CD) In Rainbows

Gerry Rafferty 1977 (V) City to City

Robert Randolph & the Family Band

2003 (CD) Unclassified

The Rapture 2003 (CD) Echoes

Red Hot Chili Peppers 2002 (CD) By the Way

Dan Reed Network 1988 (V) Dan Reed Network

1989 (V) Slam

1991 (V) The Heat

Lou Reed 1972 (V) Transformer

REM 1983 (V) Murmur

1985 (V) Fables of the / Reconstruction of the

1986 (V) Lifes Rich Pageant

1987 (V) Document

1988 (V) Green

1991 (V) Out of Time

1994 (Tape) Monster

1996 (CD) New Adventures in Hi-Fi

1998 (CD) Up

2001 (CD) Reveal

2003 (CD) In Time 1988-2003

2004 (CD) Around the Sun

2008 (CD) Accelerate

Reverend and the Makers 2007 (CD) The State of Things

Roni Size Reprazent 1997 (CD) New Forms

Rilo Kiley 2007 (CD) Under the Blacklight

River City People 1989 (V) Say Something Good

Roachford 1988 (V) Roachford

Tom Robinson Band 1978 (V) Power in the Darkness

Jess Roden 1974 (V) Jess Roden

1977 (V) The Player Not the Game

Jess Roden Band 1976 (V) Play It Dirty ... Play It Class

1976 (V) Keep Your Hat On

1977 (V) Blowin'

Rolling Stones 1971 (CD) Sticky Fingers

1974 (V) It's Only Rock n' Roll

1984 (V) Rewind

1989 (V) Steel Wheels

Roots Manuva 2001 (CD) Run Come Save Me

2005 (CD) Awfully Deep

2006 (CD) Alternately Deep

2008 (CD) Slime and Reason

Roots Manuva meets Wrongtom 2010 (CD) Duppy Writer

Don Ross 2006 (CD) Live in Your Head

Roxy Music 1972 (V) Roxy Music

1973 (V) For Your Pleasure

1973 (V) Stranded

1974 (V) Country Life

1975 (V) Siren

1979 (V) Manifesto

Röyksopp 2001 (CD) Melody A.M.

Leon Russell 1970 (CD) Leon Russell

Music List - Albums Q

Here is a nice list of all the CDs that have been free with Q over the last twenty years or so. Sheer Heart Attack is the best Queen album (IMHO).

Q 1992 (CD) Now That's What I Call Free

1992 (CD) Sweet Sixteen

1993 (CD) Free CD

1993 (CD) Free CD

1994 (Tape) Freewheelin'

1994 (Tape) Living in the Eighties

1994 (CD) Really Free

1995 (CD) World of Noise

1995 (CD) Assorted

1996 (CD) Mmmmm...

1996 (CD) Decade. The Very Best of 86-96

1997 (CD) Hello. The Best New Music of 1997

1997 (CD) Splash

1997 (CD) The Best of the Best 97

1997 (CD)

1998 (CD) Summer Festivals 98

1998 (CD) Best

1999 (CD) Here Comes the Sun

1999 (CD) The Best Tracks from the Best Albums of 99

2000 (CD) Essential Chill Out

2001 (CD) Essential Chill Out

2001 (CD) Best of 2001

2002 (CD) Rise and Shine

2002 (CD) The Best Tracks from the Best Albums of 2002

2003 (CD) Rocks

2003 (CD) Best of 2003

2004 (CD) Essential Glastonbury

2004 (CD) Ultimate Song Writers

2004 (CD) Best of 2004

2005 (CD) Rule Britannia!

2005 (CD) Glastonbury Jukebox

2005 (CD) Best of 2005 Vol. 1

2005 (CD) Lennon Covered

2006 (CD) Best of 86-06

2006 (CD) The Eighties

2006 (CD) Mellow Gold

2006 (CD) Take It Easy

2007 (CD) (Best of) 2007

2007 (CD) Live from Glastonbury

Queen 1974 (V) Sheer Heart Attack

Queens of the Stone Age 2002 (CD) Songs for the Deaf

Q-Tip 2008 CD) The Renaissance

My Music - Albums P

Pantha du Prince is a recently acquired ambientish chill-out album. Gorgeous. The Psychonauts were previous holders of the precious task of chilling me out when necessary. Ann Peebles made one of the great singles in I Can't Stand the Rain (desert island subs bench) but I hadn't realised how good her back catalogue was until someone bought me this compilation. Saw Tom Petty in about 1977 at Birmingham Town Hall. I don't think he ever made as good an album as his debut and he made the brave decision to open his set with Lunar (a really slow number but very atmospheric). The hairs still stand up etc. Police albums mighty fine, especially Ghost in the Machine. Chuck Prophet was the guitarist with the excellent Green on Red. Brilliant country rock technique. This is a good letter. I want to play them all.

Pantha du Prince 2010 (CD) Black Noise

Patty Hurst Shifter 2006 (CD) Too Quiet on the Losing End

Ann Peebles 2006 (CD) The Best of

The People 2004 (CD) Number 1 Hits

Percee P 2007 (CD) Perseverance

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1976 (V) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

1978 (CD) You're Gonna Get It

Pink Floyd 1971 (V) Meddle

1973 (V) Dark Side of the Moon

2003 (CD) Dark Side of the Moon (30th Anniversary)

1975 (V) Wish You Were Here

1977 (V) Animals

Plan B 2010 (CD) The Defamation of Strickland Banks

Robert Plant 2002 (CD) Dreamland

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 2007 (CD) Raising Sand

The Police 1978 (V) Outlandos d'Amour

1979 (V) Regatta de Blanc

1980 (V) Zenyatta Mondatta

1981 (V) Ghost in the Machine

1983 (V() Synchronicity

Pop Will Eat Itself 1992 (V) The Looks or the Lifestyle

Post War Years 2009 (CD) The Greats and the Happenings

Prefab Sprout 1985 (V) Steve McQueen

1988 (V) From Langley Park to Memphis

Elvis Presley 2003 (CD) Elvis (Daily Mail)

Pretenders 1980 (V) Pretenders

Prince 1988 (V) Lovesexy

2003 (CD) Compilation

Brian Protheroe 1974 (V) Pinball

Procul Harum 1974 (V) Exotic Birds and Fruit

Chuck Prophet 1997 (CD) Homemade Blood

2007 (CD) Soap and Water

Psychonauts 2003 (CD) Songs for Creatures

Music List - Albums O

Oasis 2006 (CD) Don't Believe the Truth

Of Montreal 2010 (CD) False Priest

Mike Oldfield 1973 (V) Tubular Bells

The Old Grey Whistle Test 1976 (V) Take Two

The Open 2004 (CD) The Silent Hours

The Orb Featuring David Gilmour 2010 (CD) Metallic Spheres

Orbital 1994 (CD) Snivilisation

1999 (CD) The Middle of Nowhere

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 1980 (V) Organisation

1981 (V) Architecture and Morality

The Original Movies Album 2007 (CD)

Beth Orton 1996 (CD) Trailer Park

Music List - Albums N

Well here's a snapshot of the variety you get in my collection eh?

Natty 2008 (CD) Man Like I

New Order 2001 (CD) Get Ready

The Nice 1971 (V) Elegy

NME 2005 (CD) The Soundtrack of Your Summer

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakanoto 2010 (CD) Insen

Nu Yorican Soul 1997 (CD) Nu Yorican Soul

Music List - Albums M

Well here we have John Martyn and Massive Attack, fine companions on life's journey. I recall the opening bars of the Mission's set at Nottingham Rock City in about 1987. Three guys with guitars, back-lit, long hair blown by wind machine and one foot on a monitor. Iconic rock image. Good gig. But I want to show you the finest gatefold vinyl sleeve I own. Man's album is great guitar boogie but, as you will see, the cover picture of the band on stage opens out to a huge map of Wales, breaking off from England and being pushed away. Super Furries eat your hearts out. This is how to do Welsh nationalism.

Madness 2003 (CD) Utter Madness

Mail on Sunday Compilation 1998 (CD) 66-98 The World Cup Years

Jesse Malin and the St Mark's Social 2010 (CD) Love it to Life

Man 1972 (V) Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day

Phil Manzanera 1975 (V) Diamond Head

Maps 2007 (CD) We Can Create

Marillion 1983 (V) Script for a Jester's Tear

Laura Marling 2010 (CD) I Speak Because I Can

John Martyn 1973 (CD) Solid Air

1996 (CD) And

1998 (CD) The Church with One Bell

2005 (CD) Bless the Weather

Steve Mason 2010 (CD) Boys Outside

Massive Attack 1991 (CD) Blue Lines

1998 (CD) Mezzanine

2010 (CD) Heligoland

Massive Attack v Mad Professor 1995 (CD) No Protection

Maxim 1996 (CD) Class of 96

Paul and Linda McCartney 1971 (V) Ram

Paul McCartney and Wings 1973 (V) Band on the Run

Mike McGear 1974 (V) McGear

MC Solaar 2003 (CD) Mach 6

Ralph McTell 1974 (V) Easy

Medicine Head 1974 (V) Thru' a Five

Medieval Christmas 2006 (CD)

Mellow Jazz Christmas 2006 (CD)

Mercury Rev 1998 (CD) Deserter's Songs

The Meters 1974 (V) Cissy Strut

1975 (CD) Fire on the Bayou

Mew 2005 (CD) And the Glass Handed Kites

MIA 2007 (CD) Kala

George Michael 1987 (V) Faith

1990 (V) Listen Without Prejudice

1996 (CD) Older

Mike and the Mechanics 1985 (V) Mike and the Mechanics

Steve Miller Band 1976 (V) Fly Like an Eagle

1977 (V) Book of Dreams

Charles Mingus 1974 (CD) Mingus at Carnegie Hall

Minus 8 2002 (CD) Minuet

The Mission 1986 (V) God's Own Medicine

1988 (V) Children

Missy Elliott 2002 (CD) Under Construction

Joni Mitchell 1973 (Tape) Court and Spark

1978 (V) Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Mixmag 1999 (CD) Weekend Warm-up

Moby 1999 (CD) Play

2002 (CD) 18

Modest Mouse 2004 (CD) Good News for People Who Love Bad News

2007 (CD) We Were Dead before the Ship Even Sank

Mojo 1997 (CD) The Mojo Machine Turns You On 3

Moloko 2001 (CD) All Back to the Mine

Thelonius Monk 1957 (CD) ...with John Coltrane

Monty Python 1974 (V) Live at Drury Lane

Gary Moore 1990 (V) Still Got the Blues

Morcheeba 2001 (CD) The Independent on Sunday

Alanis Morisette 1995 (CD) Jagged Little Pill

Van Morrison 1972 (V) St Dominic's Preview

1990 (V) Enlightenment

2007 (CD) At the Movies

Mos Def 2009 (CD) The Ecstatic

Motown Gold 2001 (CD) Compilation

Mott the Hoople 1973 (V) Mott

Mountains 2008 (CD) Choral

Ms Dynamite 2002 (CD) A Little Deeper

Mungo Jerry 1971 (V) Electronically Tested

Muse 2001 (CD) Origin of Symmetry

2006 (CD) Black Holes and Revelations

The Music 2002 (CD) The Music