Bristol-based author, poet and cyclist
I have chosen my Album of the Decade. Who else could it have been but The Fall, who will forever remain my favourite band of all time? Mark E. Smith nailed the decade right back at the beginning, in 2010, with Your Future Our Clutter. A stunning record by the last line-up of The Fall, […]
Read More ALBUM OF THE DECADEBend Sinister, the Fall’s 1986 album, is rarely spoken about as ‘prime’ Fall and hardly ever makes anyone’s Top Ten. Perhaps that’s because it came after the phenomenal ‘career peak’ (glarg) of This Nation’s Saving Grace, or maybe the muddy mix (some tracks are said to be mastered directly from a C90 cassette), whatever the […]
Read More Bending Sinister 30+ years onThis was originally written to go in local music press, but they ignored my emails. And me, an internationally famous author! Bollocks to them. Anyway, better late than never… There’s a famous quote, wrongly attributed to Elvis Costello (it was actually 1970’s actor and singer Martin Mull), that goes: ‘writing about music is like dancing […]
Read More Flux Capacitors album launch1986, at school. Hearing U.S. 80’s – 90’s on the 6th Form ghetto blaster (it played LPs in an upright position!) and immediately feeling my life change forever. 1987, at Wolves Poly (Dudley site). Being harangued in the student union by a chap who’d seen The Fall supporting U2 about how terrible they were, he was […]
Read More Ten Fall landmarks from my life1. 22 May 1987 Town Hall, Cheltenham 2. 7 Mar 1988 Hummingbird, Bristol 3. ? Sep / Oct 1988 Sadler’s Wells, London 4. 2 March 1990 Anson Rooms, Bristol 5. 26 Aug 1990 Reading Festival 6. 6 Dec 1991 Anson Rooms, Bristol 7. 19 May 1993 Victoria Rooms, Bristol 8. […]
Read More All the Fall gigs I have been to, and ever will:Blimey, I haven’t updated this blog for over 2 years! That’s because since January 2016 I have been busy on my next novel, The Man From Yesterday, another entry in the Lethbridge-Stewart series for Candy Jar Books. It should be out sometime in the new year. 2017 saw me take some (admittedly small) steps into […]
Read More Mr Rock’n’RollI, Ludicrous form a sort of Holy Trinity with The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit, and it warms the cockles that all three bands are still going strong. I’ve been following the Luds since I first heard Preposterous Tales on John Peel in 1987. I was hooked instantly, and it is still the best […]
Read More I, Ludicrous: Dull Is The New Interesting(This is a review of the CD version; there is a vinyl version which features different mixes of some of the tracks, which I haven’t yet heard). This is, quite simply, a fantastic Fall album, up there with their very best. That’s all you really need to know, and all I really need to say. […]
Read More The Fall: Sub-Lingual TabletI wasn’t at all impressed on first listen, but after a couple of spins, I love this now. It’s better than 90 Bisodol (Crimond), which I found somehow tiring; it seemed to have nothing new to offer. Urge for Offal, however, sounds fresher and more energetic. The music rocks harder, veering towards grunge in places. […]
Read More Half Man Half Biscuit: Urge For OffalThis will be my last album review on this blog. And it won’t even be a proper review. Sorry, Lana! Why am I stopping? I’m not in a strop, this is not a flounce, or a cry for attention; it’s a calculated decision. There are two reasons: a) writing them has become a chore, and […]
Read More Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence
Nick Walters 