"Knock me right off my feet, hard to beat, Hard to beat, Hard to beat"

Humbert is full.
He's sitting back & rubbing his bloated tummy as we speak.
This can only be a good thing as now, slowly but surely, the overall quality of the tunes he plays for me can only improve.
Bye bye average Cast album tracks, Cheerio fillers from dodgy 80's bands that no one else as heard of & Hello new stuff.

As nothing other than work & sleep as happened since the last post it's probably a good time to give you an update on what's tickling Flash's lugholes at the moment.

So since my last post like this I've been acquiring a steady stream of new stuff.

The jury has since dispensed it's verdict's on the following that were too new to call last time. No marks out of ten this time 'cos we don't want to spoil the Flashy's now, do we:

NIN - With teeth : It'll do for me Trent, especially the "flip-flop-flip"bit in "Getting smaller", Ace.

New Order - Waiting for the siren's call : New Order in patchy album shocker! Except it's not a shock as, for my money, they've all been a bit hit & miss since Technique. It's got some real quality on it though but it does boast possibly the worst New Order song ever in "Jetstream" which they then decided to release as a single! Perhaps old age is taking it's toll & their faculties are going...

Oasis - Don't believe the truth : It's actually very good! The worst track by some distance is "Lyla" but other than that it get's a massive flashy thumbs up.

Coldplay - X & Y: Plop, utter plop.

The White stripes - Get behind me Satan: Hmmm, it's a funny bugger. I still haven't devoted enough time to it to form a credible opinion. I love some of it & some of it just keeps washing over me. It's not "Elephant" is it?

The magic numbers - The magic numbers : Quietly slipping under my skin in a stealthy manner. It really does contain some belting tunes & it exudes warmth & happiness. And since when has that been a bad thing?

The Tears- Here come the tears: It's just Suede really isn't it? Suede without the genius of "animal nitrate", "The wild ones" or the whole of "Coming up" mind. On a par with "A new morning" so it's just about ok in my book.

The Departure - Dirty words : Northampton's finest (bar the dreadfully underrated Gnu Cnu) have delivered an indie album that sounds like it's from 1998. And it's great! In a 1998 kinda way.

Editors - The back room : Only got this last week but I know I like it's dark Interpol-esque tunes. Currently really digging "Bullets". I have high hopes for this.

Hard-fi - Stars of CCTV: Courtesy of Lordy B, this was waiting for me beneath my letterbox when I got back from Brighton on Sunday. I have already listened to it several times because it's bloody brilliant! I've read reviews that mention The Jam in them & it is a fair comparison. A 21st century Jam with songs as great as "Hard to beat", "Living for the weekend" & ... actually pretty much all of them. The most exciting debut album I've heard in some time, & I've only had it 3 days!

Supergrass - Road to Rouen : Bought this on Monday morning & so far I've given it a couple of goes. I've always found Supergrass to be dazzlingly consistent & I feel that all 4 previous albums are all good as each other (with a gun to my head I'd choose "In it for the money" purely for "Richard III"). I am quite troubled by the lack of anything rocking on this new album but I'm clearly not going to write it off yet.

In addition to all the albums I keep picking up little nuggets in file sharing land.
I use WinMX, which is utterly pants for getting new albums but quite handy for those long forgotten gems from yesteryear. Such as these:

Fad Gadget - Luxury: I'd not heard this for probably 15 years but I still remembered 90% of the words.

Sparks - This town ain't big enough for the both of us: A top tune which that dodgy old muppet from the Darkness has released as a single. No thanks you frizzy haired nob, I'll take the original. Now bugger off & take your comedy clothing with you.

Re-flex - Keep in touch: Way back in the mists of time (1984) there was a band called Re-flex. They had one minor hit; "The Politics of dancing" which was culled from an album of the same name. I loved that album & slowly I've been getting the odd track here & there. Landing "Keep in touch" made me do a little jig in my living room. I kid you not! Just "Pointless" to go & then I'll be sorted.

A tribe of toffs - John Kettley is a weatherman: It'll probably get deleted next month but till then: (Everybody).. "John Kettley is a weatherman, a weatherman , a weatherman/ John Kettley is a weatherman & so is Michael Fish"

That'll do for today then.
Tomorrow I think I'll explore how I feel about the thing that I'm doing on Sunday.

Spot the deliberate mistake?