James @m-jm.bsky.social · 09/10/2026You're absolutely right and I'm quite annoyed that we find out nothing about what happened between them. To be so upset about something so petty suggests more than a drift apart. 000
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 09/10/2026I was kind of hoping for "Ruth is innocent - there's no need for Ava to be in tents." 000
Reposted by JamesFelix Kent @felixkent.bsky.social · 07/10/2026I wrote about my J.D. Salinger phase and also a little about my John Buchan phase and also very briefly about how all the Puffin books of my childhood were confident that what a child needed after some nice E. Nesbit was H. Rider Haggard’s She 0377
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Apparently Yellow was a placeholder title because he noticed a copy of the Yellow Pages while writing it; for High Speed, he was looking at his washing machine. Fix You is one he really should have changed, though. It's *very* distracting. 000
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Presumably Archer had also messed with the brakes of the taxi Day stole first (and every other vehicle in the area, just in case) 140
Reposted by JamesAndy, the Maintainer @spreadsheetmonkey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Can't remember if it was a Private Eye cartoon or a round on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue called "Epitaphs", but have suddenly remembered the simple memorial: "Here Lies Jeffrey Archer" 001
Reposted by JamesGwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 09/02/2026Great chance to post my all-time favorite headline 2336431376
Reposted by JamesTopher Florence @topherflorence.bsky.social · 03/10/2026"You're listening to The Dipshit Boys where we do an episode by episode deep dive into The Nutshack, but first a word from our sponsor:" "Blingpingo is an agentic mixed reality B2B solution that works across teams to develop scalable marketplace solution paradigms for over half of the Fortune 500" 0565148
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Yes, that was exactly my reaction to you repeating your own opinion as if it was going to change mine. What's the point? 120
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I agree that removing Country House would have that effect because of how it was received, but the song itself sounds like a depressed man trying to fake a grin in the hope that no-one will ask how he's feeling and it'll all blow over somehow. 120
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I love basically everything they did and, like Claire, I'm glad it's just a reissue. Giggling "the bitch don't work cos she just don't wanna," playing the laziest solo since Boredom and then fucking off forever is too perfect to mess with. 120
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026It turns out "Manchesterism" means asking the dealers to do security at the Haçienda 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Reading through old notes I was reminded of a podcast which described Ian Dury as "British whimsy bullshit that sounds like an up-tempo Syd Barrett." Of course, opinions are like arseholes: shut the fuck up or I'll tear you a new one. 001
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Yes, I was going to say Turner, too. I think all of his are quite good at this. Later in the 20th century, that means more of a focus on TV than books and other artforms. 020
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I hope I don't for a long time, but I fear they'll become cool to kids because they've been jettisoned, like 80s cheese 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Don't bet on it. I used to go to a coffee shop whose 20-something staff used to play 90s indie rock (Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliott Smith etc). I recently went back and the current staff were playing Don't Phunk With My Heart. 100
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I'm bad at recognising people, but I'm seeing someone who has a PowerPoint about her disappointing encounter with Peter Gabriel, of whom she remains a fan (unfriendly, food stains down his culturally appropriative linen tunic, tuna breath, bought his wife the cheapest item of jewellery in the shop). 031
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026It just occurred to me that Mr Brightside is the straight Queen Bitch. They don't just share a theme of jealous voyeurism, but some of Brandon Flowers' lyrics read like a direct homage to Bowie's ("and I'm phoning a cab/'cause my stomach feels small/there's a taste in my mouth") 000
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I'm wrong - it came out in 1990 and the Small Faces one was 2006. Somehow, the Piccadilly Circus Zavvi had a shrink wrapped copy for about £12 in 2007! 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Same here. It was around the same time as the Small Faces CD-in-a-tin. 220
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I note that in another recent interview, he was talking about what he'd learned from Neil Young: "He didn’t give me advice, as such, but I took lessons by watching him." 001
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026"By the time I got to Sea Change the label was like, 'We’re going to sue you because you're not making music characteristic of Beck,'" Beck told Mojo. 100
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I go back and forth on how I feel about the big emotional climax being a gospel-influenced version of "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring," but it's probably a good thing. 020
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026The tension caused by a mosquito's whine makes me break speed records in my sleep. I can leap from diving to a shipwreck to whacking my ceiling with a rolled up magazine in 5 seconds flat. 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I imagine this is what John was dreaming on the road to Rishikesh 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026I remember it being well received - my Dad used to get The Times on a Saturday and they said it was his best and "first truly great album" 120
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I just looked up that orange lyrics book. I paid about £10 in 2008. People are now trying to sell it for £300. I guess we're eating tonight, kids. 000
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I'm sorry this doesn't really answer your question, but the most accurate sources I've found are the two Annotated Fall websites. I have the orange lyrics book and it's both very slender and quite inaccurate. annotatedfall.thebiggestlibraryyet.org.uk web.archive.org/web/20241006...annotatedfall.thebiggestlibraryyet.org.ukAnnotating The Fall – Songs by The Fall – Annotated!Songs by The Fall - Annotated! 120
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The blue penguins are incredibly cute. You stand on some decking to see them and they're comfortable getting very close to people - they actually walked under the deck while we were stood on it. 111
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026It's so good there. I absolutely loved the art gallery, Olveston House, the albatrosses and the yellow-eyed and blue penguins. 110
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026It's the Morrissey Problem (well, one of them): "it says nothing to *me* about *my* life." 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026This was in primary school, where we also had a mock election in 1997. The local Tory and Labour candidates came and droned on to us 5-10 year olds about policy, but Colin Breed said "vote for me and I'll take you all on a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament," so he won in a landslide. 020
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026My favourites were the times when the music teacher would split the room down the middle and have half sing Amazing Grace while the other half sang Never Ever by All Saints, with the lyrics on the OHP (if you were sat near the middle you'd try to shuffle that way). 141
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Some of my best times were washing the dishes while listening to my tape of Dishes by Pulp, getting some perspective. I'll applaud anyone doing anything they didn't think they could do yesterday. 000
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I really hope you're getting the credit you deserve for your hard work. For some of us, sometimes, things that seem really simple take as much effort and they deserve credit too. You never know. 090
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I once went on a three month road trip with someone while our relationship was falling apart and All Hail West Texas was perfectly devastating (we later became best friends, it's all good). 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026If you know names, make the referral. The overwhelming majority are far right. 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 22/09/2026"Te-Oneroa-a-Tōhē / Ninety Mile Beach is on the western coast of the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. The beach is actually 88 kilometres (55 miles) long." 010
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I feel it's better to go to the Dog & Duck to see local bands 15x than it is to go to Wembley once, but I can understand why that's an unpopular opinion. 030
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Seeing a big artist is equivalent to going on a holiday to see the Colosseum or something. There's a huge gap between big artists and small, with a shrinking middle, and it's getting harder to see where the next generation of big artists will come from. 110
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I've had this convo with friends a few times - as a fellow audience member, it's irritating when ppl around me are thinking about the most stylish way of proving they were there instead of getting lost in the moment. I get why they do, though - the cost can make it a once in a lifetime experience 110
James @m-jm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Yeesh. I'm sure a few of those people would have had fun with the Freudian possibilities of "closest homo." 001
Reposted by Jameswrongtom @wrongtom.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Arguably the greatest song to be recorded 4 times by 3 iterations of a band under 3 different names and in 2 languages, and then remixed once before it reached number 2 (eventually scoring a number 1 when it was covered by my mate's little brother's band a decade and a half later) 819170
