Cat Simon wrote:

QUOTE:
that Paolo Hewiit book which seemed to rip him to shreds a bit.

I didn't hear about that. What was it? Sounds like "that John The Baptist book which seemed to rip Jesus to shreds a bit."

I saw Ian Broudie in Hammersmith Broadway shopping centre the other week. Walking down the slight incline outside WHSmith, he lost his footing, regained it, then lost and regained it again a second later.

Having lived through a period when The Lightning Seeds were unjustifiably popular, I must confess I was willing him to fall.

I quite like them, despite knowing in my heart of hearts that they're obviously shit.

The song 'Oh Lucky You' especially.

He should be shot for working with that pair of oxygen thieves though.

"Song For No One" was my earworm a few weeks back. I like it. But I think that was Broudie solo.

Taylor wrote:

QUOTE:
Cat Simon wrote:

QUOTE:
that Paolo Hewiit book which seemed to rip him to shreds a bit.

I didn't hear about that. What was it? Sounds like "that John The Baptist book which seemed to rip Jesus to shreds a bit."

They had an unspecified falling out, which was evidently serious enough for Hewitt to decide that the game was up to the extent that he'd write a biography to cash in on what he'd learned about his mate over the years. I haven't read it, but apparently he describes a series of anecdotes and incidents that reveal Weller to be - and you might find it hard to believe this bit - a grumpy, arrogant and sometimes spiteful chap, as well as being a bit of a magpie in plagiarism terms.

Again, I haven't read it myself, but given how much Hewitt must owe to Weller for his own career and as one of the things revealed in the book is that Weller actually gifted Hewitt a whole year's salary when the latter went freelance and had no finanical security, the whole thing seems more than a little thankless and can only say as much for Hewitt's character as it might about Weller's.

But then again, as I may have mentioned, I haven't actually read it.

Hewitt's journalistic career was actually started by the Guardian's current chief sportswriter, and was helped along by the Observer's resident astrologer. I think that says even more than the Weller connection.

Bizarrely, he turned up on a DVD about David Bowie's Berlin albums which I watched last year (alongside esteemed contributors such as David Toop and our own wingco).

Cruelly billed as "Paolo Hewitt - Style Guru", he wore bright orange shorts, disastrous hair, and what appeared to be Bob Mills' face with invisible hands pulling bits in different directions, looking like a sort of day-glo Just William. And all he could talk about was Young Americans and the wedge haircut. Very strange.

I've never read anything by him. Did he do anything good, or did he just go on about Wilson Pickett, mods in the old days, and how house went wrong when people started to join in?

QUOTE:
Take "Kiss", for example. I mean, it's not that bad a song. But Prince sings it so badly, it's unbearable. Get a decent singer in, like Tom Jones, and it gets a whole lot better.

HAHAHAHAHA

Anyway, The Jam and The Style Council are fucking top and it's hardly a surprise that Weller has become shit in his middle age - most pop stars do.

Prince however, is someone I've never been able to get to grips with. I love funk and soul and hip-hop, and weird sounds and all of that, but I just don't get Prince. Sure, he's done some corking pop tunes in his time, but I can't see what his influence is or what there is there for me to get my teeth into.

Still, I like Purple Rain. As power ballads go it's right up there.

I wouldn't say Prince was shit, he's someone I can respect for being good at what they do and stuff. It's just not my thing and does nothing for me.

And when he does produce stuff that's shit (which like anyone else, he does from time to time) people reufse to admit it.

Yoss wrote:

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And when he does produce stuff that's shit (which like anyone else, he does from time to time) people reufse to admit it.

I'm with you there -- Prince's last enjoyable album was Diamonds And Pearls, which is now 16 years old.

But most people haven't heard his lame 1990s/2000s output, because, with the exception of the occasional great one-off single like 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World', it never gets played on the radio. And the woman with whom I had the discussion at work was very much basing her opinion of Prince on the stuff that everybody knows, the big hits, '1999', 'When Doves Cry', 'Let's Go Crazy' etc.

Like I said, insane in the membrane.

Yoss wrote:

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And when he does produce stuff that's shit (which like anyone else, he does from time to time) people reufse to admit it.

I'm not sure you'll find many outside the hardcore fansite fraternity willing to give post-92 Prince a great deal of houseroom.

Perhaps the O2 gigs last year, when Prince went back and played to his strengths and received overwhelmingly positive coverage as a result, have skewed your view a bit.

Auntie Beryl wrote:


I'm not sure you'll find many outside the hardcore fansite fraternity willing to give post-92 Prince a great deal of houseroom.


plenty inside it feel the same way

although every single album has at least one gem