fixed.

Its 25 hours ago, I am in Mold... specifically I am upstairs in Y Delyn, Dean is insistent he is having technical issues.. now MOST of these are rectified by turning the volume up and changing the settings to aux rather the CD on the venues amp... but he maintains during and after one track specifically that the sounds not right, somethings wrong, its just NOT good enough.. interestingly however ALL the other songs played on that deck are fine...

Whats interesting about this is the track he had particular issue with, was Genesis.


From this we can conclude, safely one important factor which should never EVER be overlooked, Genesis in ANY incarnation, were in fact SHIT.

Sadly it was from their debut album, so we cannot attribute the mainstay of their LACK of appeal, though it is something which must never ever be considered anything but of paramount importance, the 'Phil Collins Effect' throughout his career, YES he has proved an accomplished and impressive percussionist I cannot and would not deny that, but he besmirched the music scene across three decades, and must never ever be thought of as anything but a smug, drumming, ginger baldy twat. Whilst yes I can tolerate, that is to say I am not driven into a psychotic rage or fit of uncontrollable vomiting by 'against all odds' on those rare occasions I listen to the local radio station (usually when we have had several inches of snow and I need to know if I have to actually LEAVE the house and take the loin fruit to school) I cannot bring myself to fully appreciate his whining, I cannot like him.. this however is not the case for the self important Geordie... Jimmy Nail.

Jimmy Nail you see takes shite music so far down the line of truly awful, that it becomes bearable, simply it is a nostalgic hankering for the aurally abysmal, it is background muzak which neither inspires nor distracts you at those times when you need to concentrate your mind... This moment of boredom and distractibility with Spotify so easily at hand saw me delving into the heady delights of Jimmy Nail... having giggled ceaselessly at his soulful vocals, I chanced upon 'Black and White' on his awe inspringly naff titled best of ' the Nail File', reader I implore you hunt this track down.. it will never EVER be the best thing you hear, but it will by far and away not be the worst... You can picture the seriousness with which he MEANS this sentiment, you can hear it in his inflection and intonation, Nail is impressing upon us the need for racial equality, to further hammer home he has at some point enlisted a young black rapper, one 'Ranking Roger', this act leads to what may never be usurped as one of the FUNNIEST moments in bad music... there you are, Jimmy Nail, pouring and gurning his SOUL into this message, this moral tale of scholarly metaphor,, and then... he is urged on with the war cry 'C'mon JIMMY NAIL!!!!!!!!'
I cried tears of mirth when I second heard this, the first time, I simply sat agog at what was playing out before my ears.

I have however, digressed..

Back in Y Delyn, the music improves.. a small crowd is gathering to enjoy the aural delights proffered by Dean, I discovered one of the few lagers I positively enjoy is on tap there, and our small elite hunkered round the decks is added to by the arrival in secret (always when The disco Goth and i are smoking elsewhere) of Ben, known previously as Soundhog (and DO hunt down his work, the mans an undiscovered and unappreciated genius) a man who can reverse DJ, tinker with equipment, create effects and echos without ever revealing HOW, and often unnoticed or magnificently tolerated by Dean, at this point the evening stops being about what anyone as an audience might be wanting and becomes self indulgent music geekage - two grown men impressing each other.. though for an onlooker and listener, this is when it gets better then being 'really quite good' because 2 heads are often better then one.. segues become seamless.. chat becomes silly, and guitar playing along to bloody everything becomes jealousy inducing..

But yes, we raise a glass, and indulge in a nonchalant salute to friends and music, to ridiculous conversations about the 'infinity Les' nature of my family (I have a series of Uncles and cousins all called Les, this begins with big Les and moves down the generations to the point I have a cousin of my age referred to as little little Les's little Les, it has I suspect become farcical..more anecdotes of my odd family at a later date) the realisation that domestic cats are a dying species because rescue centres neuter them all..., the shock revelation that the Disco Goth has never liked Kylie.. and the perplexing notion that in a cannibal situation I'm first on the dining table as food on account that I most likely taste like mint.

There is NOWHERE on earth quite LIKE wales, nothing expected ever happens there and yet.. its the most grounding and normalising place to go.