iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I picked up a copy of Cucumber Castle last week from a charity shop who tend to put market value prices on records. They still saw fit to put it out for 49p!

My hand holding up a UK original copy of Cucumber Castle by the Bee Gees. Barry and Maurice Gibb are pictured as knights and the text is rendered in mock medieval font.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In case you were wondering how dull I am - today I noticed PIXELS on the artwork for the Human League hit “Louise”. Digital compositing (rather than using scissors and glue) must surely have been the height of excess in 1984!

The artwork for “Louise” - a rectangular photograph of two band members in a cafe is framed by three further members, lit in dramatic blue, watching them, surrounded by darkness.

Close-up of Susan Ann Sulley on the “Louise” poster - she is pasted atop a different image of Joanne Catherall and pixelated fringing is visible around her.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It’s quite something how little his name comes up in music circles nowadays. The Police hits are still big but is anybody reappraising solo Sting now? There was a long time when, whatever one thought of him and his records, he was clearly considered a major artist.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Biiiig John, little John, biiiiig John, little John 🎶

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Deram Records was launched 60 years ago today. Bowie, Beverley, Cat Stevens, Move, Moodies, Mike Westbrook. “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, “Nothing But a Heartache”, “Michael Angelo“, “I Can’t Let Maggie Go”, “Beggin’”, “Rebels Rule”, “Vacuum Cleaner”. Blummin’ “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman”. Some label!

Scan of a 1966 launching Deram as “the great new label from Decca” and listing their first releases - singles from Beverley and Cat Stevens and an LP by Johnny Howard.

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Reposted by huw

Him Over There, now available for work @snathe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Another Star" is an utterly magnificent noise indeed and I would like to think that the playout lasted for at least another 15 minutes after the fade out ended.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Unreal pocket on that song.

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Reposted by huw

Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

RIP to Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow, who has died at the age of 91, such an important figure in a genre which is really unfairly neglected. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2eK...

youtube.com

Mighty Sparrow singing "Madam Dracula" c.1960

YouTube video by castor3331

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I know it sounds infantile but I listen to this and it fills me with hope and joy about this whole human race endeavour. It’s just really good innit. Happy 50th!

My hand holding up the vinyl LP “Songs In The Key of Life” by Stevie Wonder

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My mum very kindly bought me Dragonfire on VHS off eBay when I was a kid c. 2008. I watched it on our telly which still had a video player; it wasn’t out on DVD yet but I was just that keen to see the face-melting story.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“We don’t know if Bob Marley ever saw The Banana Splits…” The kind of sentence you would only hear in A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs @andrewhickey.500songs.com

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I am not up on my musical lingo but I KNOW THE F YOU MEAN, encasing the G root note in thick sunshine aspic. I LOVE IT!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Blue Jeans and Moonbeams was the first Beefheart album I listened to, after seeing that Kate Bush once listed it as one of ten favourite albums. It was a nice way in. I’ve got a lot of time for Observatory Crest and Further Than We’ve Gone.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Aaah, happy memories but the sticky heat of that day haunts my dreams!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Holy stolen post, Batman.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Here’s looking at you, bro

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

How about Dave Matthews Band. They had one number 35 single in the UK; in the US, they managed loads of hits and a clean run of #1 albums between 1998 and 2018.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I’ve been exploring music hall recently and I love “At the Football Match Last Saturday” by Mark Sheridan. Some really funny lines that sound more modern than 1905 (“so they went to the pub and got paralytic drunk”). Max Miller’s ’30s stand-up still works for me too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsUA...

youtube.com

Mark Sheridan "At the Football Match Last Saturday (The Josser Football Team)" British music hall

YouTube video by Tim Gracyk

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Heartbreaking: Not Only is Someone on the Bus Playing Music Out Loud From Their Phone, But Said Music is “Troublemaker” by Olly Murs

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Thank you! I can’t tell you how many Jim Reeves records I’ve sifted through in my time. I’m a big fan of the album too so it’s going nowhere - going to give it a spin tomorrow morning. Cheers! :)

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It was quite literally sandwiched between James Last and Seekers LPs in a £2 box. I am really bloody jammy!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Have you heard “Through the Eye of a Needle”, his Bacharach/David song? I think it’s wonderful. youtu.be/S3xpvLppihs?...

youtu.be

Cliff Richard - Through The Eye Of A Needle

YouTube video by Predrag Lukić (Bacharach Fan)

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Today I found Affinity’s self-titled LP on Vertigo at a car boot sale. I will be chasing this high and racked with this guilt for the rest of my days.

My hand holding up an original vinyl LP copy of Affinity’s self-titled 1970 album on Vertigo.

The inner sleeve and disc showing the famous “Vertigo swirl”.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

This is just my (exact) age but I remember being confused by Phoenix Nights growing up, having been too young to catch it. Peter Kay was turning up on Comic Relief as Brian Potter and the like, but I had no idea who that character was and no chance of finding out.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Iraq War (general) and the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

RIP the wonderful Dolly Parton. I’m very fond of this early single of hers that seems to tread the line between countrypolitan and Northern Soul. Ray Stevens wrote it but Dolly makes it fizz. youtu.be/BjqsvN02bF8?...

youtu.be

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Yes, that’s the one that got me so interested. I paid £20 - not a drop in the ocean but a much better price than most online! No idea who is spending 70 quid on it but people have been.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Unexpected find in an EDM-oriented record shop! J. A. Freedman’s only LP from 1969. Eccentric singer-songwriter stuff with brassy backing, a bit Bill Fay. I *think* I first heard of this guy through @23daves.bsky.social‘s superb blog but I could never find a full album rip. Now I can listen - yay!

Picture of my hand holding up the vinyl LP “I Also Sing” by J. A. Freedman (Decca, 1969). Its sleeve has a wonky B&W shot in the centre that shows Freedman playing a saxophone to a camel, a llama and a parrot. This is framed by a colourful psychedelic collage incorporating pop art-ish depictions of coins, a butterfly, faces and buildings.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I seem to recall BBC Radio Wales’s Wynne Evans keeping his job after hosting a Conservative Party fundraiser.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

That one funky bass note after the last “See that girl”. The swirling, wobbly effect on the massed vocals underneath “Oh yeah!”. The way the piano rhythm subtly changes halfway through the chorus.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

New to me Lars! Thank you

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

It is! I cannot overstate how hated it now is by (mainly) people my age and younger. It’s very OTT.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Really glad you enjoyed it Lars! :)

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Reposted by huw

Harp & a Monkey Folk Music Club @harpmonkey.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

If anybody has been struggling to get a copy (I know I did!), I have now read and thoroughly enjoyed mine. Happy to pass on free of charge to a fan as desperate to read it as I was. UK-only so the postage doesn’t kill me.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Sending you all the best Justin.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I think their Welshness - definitely something that resonates with me - is lost on most people outside of the UK (and, tbf, plenty inside it) and that may be another minus.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I seem to recall Andy Partridge, back when he was on Twitter, saying he scoffed a little at 10cc at the time but appreciates them now. From the same era, Sailor *really* sound XTC (and, tbf, OMD) at times, too!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Loved Bill Oddie. RIP. He did everything - he even had a Zombies-ish beat ballad in him. youtu.be/aEzXDY-_MkQ?...

youtu.be

I Can't Get Through

YouTube video by Bill Oddie - Topic

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

That’s so good to read - I feel exactly the same way about alienating myself with old man music. Hopefully I’ll stop caring soon!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Obviously being a music nerd who spends all their time reading about things from 50 years ago feels different when you’re pushing 30 to when you’re 20. Definitely. Especially if there’s not much else to you as a human being.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I have been on here for ages but I have never really regained all the friends and interactions I had on Twitter. I miss it tbh! But then also it was an unhealthy thing to care so much about, probably. I don’t have any hot takes or interesting things to say. Dead embarrassed to be so into music tbh.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I really can’t stand sneering but I have to say I have never found it with that podcast. I always get the impression they enjoy the sitcom medium and I think they have some good insights about script writing / acting. I say this, though, having not heard their most recent eps.

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Wrote the Wikipedia page for Oh No It’s Selwyn Froggitt and got it to Great Article status

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Reposted by huw

Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I love that Rupert's People song, but it's currently on another playlist I've made called A Whiter Shade Of Paler Shade Of A Whiter Shade Of Pale!

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I am struggling atm can you tell

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Laura Nyro didn’t often play ”Stoney End”. I am in bits hearing this version. youtu.be/EWGMSAGnIl4?...

youtu.be

Laura Nyro - Stoney End LIVE @ Hoch Auditorium @ University of Kansas, March 27, 1971.

YouTube video by Den Knee

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huw @huwareyou.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I said Elektra but I meant Verve. I realised my mistake while trying to sleep last night. Grim.

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