Last year H&M became one of the biggest clothing retailers (though Levi’s got there first) to start to take cycling seriously. Spurred on by the growth in the number of cyclists and also a little by our success at The Olympics the company teamed up with Brick Lane Cycles and launched a capsule range of jackets, retro jerseys and more
Well the second range has been unveiled and it is due to land in H&M’s 180 stores and on-line from 7th March.
The spin is that each item has been designed with the needs of modern cyclists in mind. So the items are technically suited to cycling, but still ideal for wearing all day long.
Included are water repellent rider jackets and articulated blazers, caps and more. But is is the vintage-inspired bike jerseys that caught our eye. These are very classy and are made from a mix of Merino wool and recycled polyester.
Describing the range the company says
Shirts come quilted for colder days and in plaid checks with reinforced patches on the lower sleeves. The crewneck top has a zip and ventilation holes, as well as sleeves cut for extra mobility, while the rider T-shirt has a functional pocket on the back. Rider’s trousers similar to a functional chino. Legs are cut for slightly bended knees, a reinforced crotch, and reflective tape seams on the inside leg which are visible when rolled up for extra safety.
“This collection captures the energy and excitement of Brick Lane Bikes, along with our respect for the traditions of cycling. I love how the technical details become part of the look of each piece, while the colours bring cycling’s heritage to life. I can’t wait to see guys wearing these clothes as they ride the streets of the world,” says Feya Buchwald, founder of Brick Lane Bikes.
Top tip. If you are starting a band now try choosing a name that begins with the letter B. Think about it. From The Beatles to Blondie via The Bee Gees, Blur and Beach Boys, so many of the greatest bands ever starts with that letter.
You might also consider investing in a season ticket at The Emirates too. For it appears that among Britain’s rock royalty at least, the Gunners have the most celebrity fans.
In a not very scientific survey I took 12 key British bands and noted the footballing preferences of their key members.
Some, like Oasis and Pink Floyd are well documented. For others I had to dig deep into the dark recesses of web chats, local news stories and more. If you have any hearsay, gossip or best of all evidence about the footballing affiliations of the people featured in the pages that follow please add them to the comments.
Anyhow, Arsenal just about shaded it as the most supported team. What is odd though is that Man United have so few big rock stars among their fans. Thom Yorke is rumoured to be a fan as is The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft and a Stone Roses member or two, but that’s pretty slim pickings for one of the most popular clubs in the world. * UPDATE The Happy Mondays too.
Anyhow here is the list. And before you ask yes I know Coldplay and Mumford and Sons should probably be on this list. For the record Marcus Mumford supports AFC Wimbledon and Chris Martin possibly supports Exeter City.
When The Beatles were growing up in the 40s and 50s the team you supported in Liverpool said a lot more about you than just your football preference. Religion played a role too with most Protestants favouring Liveropol and Catholics choosing Everton. Hence given the Beatles upbringing you'd expect John and Ringo to be Reds, George to be a Blue and Paul - who was from a mixed family - supporting both. It is not surprising then that in the early 60s Brian Epstein told the band to keep any football affiliations to themselves as not to alienate anyone. There are endless online debates about what teams The Beatles supported but the truth is that the Fab Four weren't really that interested in football. John, we can surmise, was if anything a Red. It was almost certainly at his insistence that one Albert Stubbins, a red-haired Liverpool striker , appeared on the Sgt Pepper sleeve. His dad was a Red too. There is quite a lot of evidence that John enjoyed a kick around. Pete Best (an Evertonian) recently said that Lennon was the best footballer in the band. However he didn't seem that interested in watching the game. Interestingly though the cover of his 1974 Walls and Bridges album has a painting he did as an 11 year old which features the FA Cup final from that year which was between Newcastle United and Arsenal. Ringo has apparently become more of a Red as he has got older (his kids are fans), though his step dad was an Arsenal fan and used to take him to see The Gunners when they played in Liverpool. George seems to have had zero interest in football which just leaves Paul. Ultimately he clearly has a thing for both teams but when push comes to shove he is a Blue. He once said - Here’s the deal: my father was born in Everton, my family are officially Evertonians, so if it comes down to a derby match or an FA Cup final between the two, I would have to support Everton,” he said. “But after a concert at Wembley Arena I got a bit of a friendship with Kenny Dalglish, who had been to the gig and I thought, ‘You know what? I am just going to support them both because it’s all Liverpool and I don’t have that Catholic-Protestant thing.’ So I did have to get special dispensation from the Pope to do this but that’s it, too bad… but if it comes to the crunch, I’m an Evertonian.” If we ignore Pete Best then Liverpool FC just about edge this one then.
It is incredible to think that The Smiths were together for just five short years. In that time they managed to release four official albums, a few compilations of sessions, singles and oddities and of course, a run of some of the most amazing and unique 45s ever.
And one of the things that made The Smiths’ singles and albums so special was there sleeves. Handpicked mostly by Morrissey, they feature a series of cover stars most of whom dated from the late 50s and early 60s, and for Smiths fans they gave an real insight into the singer’s world – who his heroes were and the influences that shaped him.
Some of those cover stars were familiar, like Yootha Joyce, the star of two very successful seventies sit-coms. Others like French actor Jean Marais from Jean Cocteau’s 1949 film Orphée, were a bit more obscure.
Not surprisingly quite a number of the stars featured in British films from the 60s, so I have rounded up those covers and attempted to give a little more information about the films they came from. Most of them are very watchable – a couple of them are classics.
I have added YouTube links to each one. Two of the films are available in a full version on YouTube, the rest are clips and trailers.
As every Smiths fan knows the cover star of the band's peerless 1986 single Ask was actress Yootha Joyce, but the still wasn't taken from her successful 70s sit-coms Man About The House or George and Mildred but from a decade or so earlier when she enjoyed a brief but significant film career. In fact Joyce managed to appear in several of Morrissey's favourite films - Charlie Bubbles and Sparrows Can't Sing - as well as one of the great unsung movies from the decade - Catch Us If You Can. The film doesn't get taken too seriously for one very obvious reason - it stars lovable Tottenham beat boys The Dave Clarke Five - the One Direction of their day. However if you overlook the way it was set up as an attempt to rival Hard day's Night CUIYC is actually a superb film and fascinating viewing for anyone who loves 60s pop culture. Without giving too much away the film is basically a road movie with Dave - and model Barbara Ferris in tow - as a stunt man and a model who escape their minders and head off into the wild English countryside. Along the way they hang out with some prototype hippies (this was 1965 before anyone was calling them that) go swimming in London's iconic Oasis pool and finish up at the stunning Art Deco hotel- which at that point was run down and deserted - on Burgh Island. They also pop into Bath where they meet Yootha Joyce, the wife of a socialite who quite fancies a bit of Dave. She eventually takes the gang to a fancy dress party in Bath spa. The pic was apparently taken off set. Catch Us If You Can is a fabulous film, directed in a highly imaginative way by John Boorman - later to shoot Deliverance and Hope and Glory. Had it featured some cooler stars it would undoubtedly be hailed as one of the best British movies of the decade.
Catch Us If You Can Trailer
Who would have thought that Captain Birds Eye would ever be a style role model. Well not quite but fisherman coats and jackets, which started appearing in the ranges of high end brands last year have landed on the (virtual) high street and are here to stay for 2013.
I guess many of these coats are being bought by outdoor types who want to look both sensible and smart, but even if your idea of great outdoors adventure is a trip round the park with the dog you’ll still looks fine in them.
The jackets we have rounded up are split between heavyweight coats designed to withstand the very worst that the North Sea (they are Scandi influenced) can thrown at them and more lightweight numbers that you can team up with deck shoes and shorts.
High quality fisherman's cost direct from a small, but impressive Swedish indie. The makers says that it features the finest craftsmanship, materials and details. Each coat is individually controlled by a skillful seamstress.
Stutterheim
Over the past year or so there has been a significant trend of full albums showing up on YouTube. There is invariably no video content – just a still of the artist and the music.
The interesting part is that there are now many classic albums on YouTube a good chunk of which aren’t available on Spotify or other streaming services. So for example if you fancy a bit of Pink Floyd you can hear Dark Side Of The Moon on YouTube from one of many different sources. You won’t find it on Spotify though.
Uploading someone else’s music to YouTube is of course totally illegal (as it is with music videos). However it seems that under YouTube regulations the emphasis is on the copyright holder to take action to pull the music down. And it seems that some record labels (coughs, EMI) are turning a bit of a blind eye.
They may even be on some occasions using YouTube’s ContentID system and its revenue opportunities to enable them to collect a little cash from the adverts that precede the music.
Some companies are playing even stranger games. You can for example listen to Oasis’s The Masterplan on YouTube on your laptop, but it won’t play back on your mobile or iPad.
So why do record companies do this? Maybe they figure that if you are listening to an album on YouTube you may at some point think I’ll go and buy it.
As for newer artists, well YouTube is a huge community and it can help to break an artist. There is a bit of analogy with radio here. Record labels are very keen to get their band’s singles on say BBC 6 Music, but there is a way bigger audience on YouTube.
With Spotify subscribers can take music offline and listen to it on their smartphones etc with YouTube if you want the music to travel with you then you run the risk of running up huge data costs. So you might as well go and buy it.
Some companies are more aggressive than others at taking content down. I was delighted to see The Velvet Underground’s controversial final album Squeeze on YouTube as it is not available digitally anywhere and the record itself is hard to find. However it got taken down after a while. I guess because the only people who might have bought that album would have been trawling used record stores for it and the record company wouldn’t make any money from it.
Anyhow here are ten classic albums that are all available on YouTube, and the last time I looked were not on Spotify. Happy listening. I wonder if they will all be still up in three months time?
Finally one quick footnote. I listened to John Lennon’s Imagine album on YouTube and 1, It really is a great album, much better than I remember it. 2, It is like listening to a vinyl record. There’s no easy fast forwarding or skipping tracks and you know what, I kind of like it.
1 Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of the Moon
2 The Beatles – Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band
For her – It is Valentine’s Day in less than a week and your bloke is, as we speak, preparing an amazing day which involves chocolates, flowers, a candlelit meal and chapter seven of Fifty Shades of Grey.
The last time this level of planning went into anything they called it D-Day. So shouldn’t you show him how much you love him? Forget the crap socks and that soppy card you were thinking about and get him what he really wants. Here are few ideas to help.
For him – Oops, you better get a move on, garage flowers won’t cut it again this year. Might be worth sticking this list in front of her – if you have been a good boy that is.
Vinyl to go for £50. This is a very small turntable, which as it doesn't have a large platter can be tucked away in bags etc. It has a built in speaker and can be powered by mains, battery or USB.
Firebox
There’s some serious excitement at Brandish Towers this morning about the upcoming release of a new compilation of British 80s indie bands called Scared To Get Happy.
And it seems that the compilers at Cherry Red Records must have been working some serious over time for coming in June is a five CD boxed set which features pretty much anyone notable who twanged a guitar in the UK in the 80s. The full running list is below, but it really does sound like a ‘Nuggets’ for British 80s music.
The rules for the compilation is that the releases have to have been on British indie labels by UK bands. So no Go-Betweens (because they were Australian) or Echo And The Bunnymen (as they were on a major label). Pretty much everything else is here including some gems from not just the bigger labels like Creation Records, but also more eclectic ones like the brilliantly bonkers El Records.
And while it is wonderful to see so many of the era’s top bands getting the nod (Primal Scream, Primitives, House of Love etc) it is also great to see a few more obscure acts getting a belated bit of recognition. Step forward The Seers, whose driving psych pop was a big fave of mine at the end of the decade, Blow Up – a mod-style band from Brighton, and not forgetting The Claim, a much under rated Kinks-influenced band from Kent.
Cherry Red have also tried to include tracks that haven’t as yet made it on to other comps too.
So who is missing? Well there’s no Television Personalities or Felt as neither band wanted to to be on the comp. Also I’d loved to have seen Miles Over Matter and Boys Wonder, but neither band released a record on a British indie in the period.
Anyhow it sounds like a formidable collection and Cherry Red has promised it will be lavishly packaged with images, sleeve notes – the full whack. It should cost around £50.
Disc 1:
1. THE WILD SWANS Revolutionary Spirit
2. GIRLS AT OUR BEST Getting Nowhere Fast
3. THE PALE FOUNTAINS (There’s Always) Something On My Mind
4. JOSEF K The Missionary
5. THE MONOCHROME SET Jet Set Junta
6. THE BLUE ORCHIDS Dumb Magician
7. THE MARINE GIRLS Don’t Come Back
8. THE FIRE ENGINES Candy Skin
9. DOLLY MIXTURE Everything And More
10. SCARS All About You
11. THE NIGHTINGALES Paraffin Brain
12. FARMERS BOYS I Think I Need Help
13. JANE It’s A Fine Day
14. PREFAB SPROUT Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
15. WEEKEND Summerdays
16. THE LINES Nerve Pylon
17. FANTASTIC SOMETHING If She Doesn’t Smile It’ll Rain
18. THE HIGSONS The Lost And The Lonely
19. EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL Feeling Dizzy *
20. BLACK Human Features
21. STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE Trees And Flowers
22. THE DAINTEES Roll On Summertime
23. NICK NICELY 49 Cigars
24. TRIXIE’S BIG RED MOTORBIKE Norman And Narcissus
25. THE CHERRY BOYS Kardomah Café
26. AZTEC CAMERA Oblivious
Disc 2:
1. HURRAH The Sun Shines Here
2. THE PASTELS I Wonder Why
3. PULP Everybody’s Problem
4. GRAB GRAB THE HADDOCK I’m Used Now
5. FRIENDS AGAIN Honey At The Core (Moonboot Version)
6. THE BLUEBELLS Callander Green
7. LLOYD COLE & THE COMMOTIONS Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken (Indie Version)
8. IN EMBRACE This Brilliant Evening
9. MICRODISNEY Dolly
10. THE WOODENTOPS Plenty
11. THE JAZZ BUTCHER Southern Mark Smith
12. THE JASMINE MINKS Where The Traffic Goes
13. THE JUNE BRIDES Every Conversation (Single Version)
14. THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM In The Afternoon
15. THE SHOP ASSISTANTS All Day Long
16. BIFF BANG POW! The Chocolate Elephant Man
17. JAMES Hymn From A Village
18. THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN Just Like Honey (Demo Oct ‘84)
19. THE LOFT Up The Hill And Down The Slope
20. THAT PETROL EMOTION Keen
21. YEAH YEAH NOH Temple Of Convenience
22. THE WEDDING PRESENT Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy
23. THE BODINES God Bless
24. WE’VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE’RE GONNA USE IT XX Sex (Demo)
25. McCARTHY Red Sleeping Beauty
26. THE MIGHTY LEMON DROPS Something Happens
Disc 3:
1. PRIMAL SCREAM Velocity Girl
2. THE PRIMITIVES Thru The Flowers
3. THE BMX BANDITS Sad
4. MIGHTY MIGHTY Is There Anyone Out There?
5. THE SOUP DRAGONS Fair’s Fair
6. THE WOLFHOUNDS Cut The Cake
7. THE CHESTERFIELDS Completely And Utterly
8. THE SERVANTS Transparent
9. THE CLOSE LOBSTERS What Is There To Smile About (Demo)
10. POP WILL EAT ITSELF Sick Little Girl
11. THE RAZORCUTS Big Pink Cake
12. THE WEATHER PROPHETS Almost Prayed
13. JAMIE WEDNESDAY Vote For Love
14. TALULAH GOSH Beatnik Boy
15. THE DENTISTS She Dazzled Me With Basil
16. THE RAILWAY CHILDREN A Gentle Sound
17. THE GROOVE FARM Baby Blue Marine
18. JESSE GARON & THE DESPERADOES The Rain Fell Down
19. ROSEMARY’S CHILDREN (Whatever Happened To) Alice?
20. THE WONDER STUFF A Wonderful Day
21. THIS POISON! Engine Failure
22. THE BRILLIANT CORNERS Delilah Sands
23. 14 ICED BEARS Balloon Song
24. THE HEART THROBS Toy
25. THE ROSEHIPS Room In Your Heart
26. KING OF LUXEMBOURG A Picture Of Dorian Gray
Disc 4:
1. HOUSE OF LOVE Shine On
2. THE DARLING BUDS Shame On You (Native Single Version)
3. THE POOH STICKS Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution
4. THE BACHELOR PAD The Albums Of Jack
5. THE SHAMEN Something About You
6. GOL GAPPAS Albert Parker
7. HANGMAN’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS Love Is Blue
8. WHIRL Heaven Forbid
9. THE BOY HAIRDRESSERS Tidalwave
10. THE FLATMATES Shimmer
11. APPLE BOUTIQUE Love Resistance
12. LAUGH Take Your Time Yeah!
13. GROOVY LITTLE NUMBERS You Make My Head Explode
14. THE WALTONES She Looks Right Through Me
15. YEAH JAZZ Sharon
16. THE CLOUDS Tranquil
17. THE RAW HERBS She’s A Nurse But She’s Alright
18. THE SIDDELEYS My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon
19. RODNEY ALLEN Circle Line
20. THE CORN DOLLIES Be Small Again
21. THE HEPBURNS The World Is
22. BUBBLEGUM SPLASH One Of Those Things
23. THE McTELLS Jesse Man Rae
24. THE CHARLOTTES Are You Happy Now?
25. ANOTHER SUNNY DAY I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist
26. THE LA’s Son Of A Gun (Demo)
Disc 5:
1. THE STONE ROSES The Hardest Thing In The World
2. THE INSPIRAL CARPETS Keep The Circle Around
3. THE SEA URCHINS Solace
4. CUD Only (A Prawn In Whitby)
5. THE POPGUNS Landslide
6. EAST VILLAGE Strawberry Window
7. THE FANATICS Suburban Love Songs
8. THE MILLTOWN BROTHERS Roses
9. THE ORCHIDS I’ve Got A Habit
10. BRADFORD Skin Storm
11. THE CLAIM Picking Up The Bitter Little Pieces
12. THE POPPYHEADS Pictures You Weave
13. THE SUN AND THE MOON Adam’s Song (Pour Fenella)
14. THE DESERT WOLVES Speak To Me Rochelle
15. THE GOLDEN DAWN My Secret World
16. BLOW UP Forever Holiday
17. KOROVA MILK BAR Do It Again
18. AVO-8 Big Car
19. THE RAIN Dry The Rain
20. THE BOO RADLEYS Catweazle
21. THE SEERS Sun Is In The Sky
22. THE TELESCOPES Perfect Needle
23. THE VASELINES Jesus Don’t Want Me For A Sunbeam
Patterned shirts are everywhere at the moment from retro mod style polka dot long sleeved classic through to floral patterns in places like Uniqlo.
In fact it seems like pretty much anything goes and the patterns on your shirt can be anything from golfers through to paintbrushes with all manner of floral, willow, dots and paisley in between.
Here then is a selection of ten that have caught our eye.
Like most music obsessives from time to time I have wondered what it must have been like to be there at a pivotal moment in music history. You know, like avoiding the sweat dripping off the ceiling while the Fab Four hone their post-Hamburg rock and roll in The Cavern. Or watching the light show and Syd Barrett in psychedelic melt down mode at the UFO. Or even hanging with the art school punks at CBGBs as they watched as Blondie’s pop moves took New York’s indie screen global.
The nearest I ever got to a seismic pop moment was in a small and sweaty basement room bizarrely sited on Oxford Street by Tottenham Court Road tube. For there in 1991, the club, known as the Syndrome, became the meeting place for the main movers of the London wing of British indie, some of whom would go on to create some incredible music.
Energised by both the danceable grooves coming out of Manchester and the visceral punky thrills of grunge jetting in from America’s North West coast, the likes of Blur, Ride, Lush, Moose and many others began to fashion a musical response that kept the energy of punk but , how shall we put this, was a little more cerebral. And the music these middle class punks played (for many of the bands were from the posher parts of London and the South East) became known as shoegazing (after some of the musician’s habits of looking at their feet while messing with effects pedals).
As well as absorbing the primitive, yet arty sounds of bands like Dinosaur Junior and Sonic Youth, the Shoegazers were almost all highly influenced by the feedback drenched howl of My Bloody Valentine. Many bands also kept the melodic obsession of the C86 bands in creating sweet, often catchy tunes that they buried under howls of effects and white noise.
Shoegazing, just like The Syndrome, didn’t last too long, but for a couple of the bands it was a springboard to better things. Sadly though most of them didn’t see the musical tidal wave of Brit Pop coming and the music press quickly lost interest in shy, retiring musicians from Surrey and turned their attention to boisterous Beatles-obsessed northerners. In fact almost all of them were history by the mid -90. Except that is in the US where a couple of bands from a city on the nation’s West coast kept the genre alive.
So with My Bloody Valentine releasing their first album in twenty or so years there is no better time to go back and revisit some of the less well known protagonists of the Shoegazing (a term which not surprisingly almost all the bands associated with it hated) era. There are profiles of eight bands and you can hear them, along with some fellow travellers in the Spotify playlist.
One of the earliest shoegazey type bands The Charlottes were massively influenced by both My Bloody Valentine’s creative use of feedback and also the poppy melodies of C86-ers like The Primitives. The debut single Are You Happy Now is a classic of the genre with a female vocalist singing a sweet pop tune that they proceed to bury under an avalanche of guitars, effects and Who style drum fills.
They got even better too. Their 1991 album Things Come Apart, which has recently been reissued on vinyl by Optic Nerve Recordings, contains Liar, a glorious thrashy tune which was almost an underground hit in the US and See Me Feel - think The Ramones with effects pedals. Sadly the band split soon after with drummer Simon Scott defecting to Slowdive.
And yes that cover looks great too. The images were taken by ace photographer Dean Chalkley who has lots of images of contemporary mods (and a film too – see the bottom of the page) on his site here.
Anyway back to the book. There have been plenty of Mod books before, but this looks like being a fairly definitive one for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it looks like it is going to properly tackle Mod history and its greater influence on popular culture in a way that other books haven’t. It is a moot point, for example, whether the real inheritors of the Mod tradition in the 1980s were the Acid House mob at the end of the decade (they took pills and danced all night), the C86ers (they had the bowl cuts and loved the 60s music) or the Casuals (whose clothes were more in keeping with traditional sharp mod values and tended to be more working class like the original Mods).
Without pre-guessing what Weight is going to write in his book I think he will make the case that Mod influenced them all. And that’s a story that hasn’t really been written in any depth.
The second reason why the book looks great is that Richard Weight is a very accomplished author. I read his Patriots book over a decade ago, and although I don’t remember too much about it now, I recall being impressed by both the depth of his research, and also the way he wasn’t afraid to fire off his opinions. The book looks at national identity in Britain between 1940 and 2000 and the decline of British-ness in favour of stronger associations of being English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. It really needs an update too and I’d be fascinated to read his views on the way that The Olympics, the popularity of The Monarchy and immigration have all fueled a revival of Britishness. Yet at the same time we could be just years away from Scotland leaving the Union.
In many ways too there hasn’t been a better time for the Mod book. Bradley Wiggins is still everywhere, heritage brands like Ben Sherman and Fred Perry are back in the limelight and there are plenty of bands who are creating music that has 60s influences at their heart.
The Who touring Quadrophenia a few months after the book launch should help too.
Anyhow, I am very excited by the book’s arrival and if you want to know more here’s the blurb from the publishers.
Welcome to the world of the sharp-suited ‘faces’. The Italianistas. The scooter-riding, all-night-dancing instigators of what became, from its myriad sources, a very British phenomenon.
Mod began life as the quintessential working-class movement of a newly affluent nation – a uniquely British amalgam of American music and European fashions that mixed modern jazz with modernist design in an attempt to escape the drab conformity, snobbery and prudery of life in 1950s Britain. But what started as a popular cult became a mainstream culture, and a style became a revolution.
In Mod, Richard Weight tells the story of Britain’s biggest and most influential youth cult. He charts the origins of Mod in the Soho jazz scene of the 1950s, set to the cool sounds of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He explores Mod’s heyday in Swinging London in the mid-60s – to a new soundtrack courtesy of the Small Faces, the Who and the Kinks. He takes us to the Mod-Rocker riots at Margate and Brighton, and into the world of fashion and design dominated by Twiggy, Mary Quant and Terence Conran.
But Mod did not end in the 1960s. Richard Weight not only brings us up to the cult’s revival in the late 70s – played out against its own soundtrack of Quadrophenia and the Jam – but reveals Mod to be the DNA of British youth culture, leaving its mark on glam and Northern Soul, punk and Two Tone, Britpop and rave.
This is the story of Britain’s biggest and brassiest youth movement – and of its legacy. Music, film, fashion, art, architecture and design – nothing was untouched by the eclectic, frenetic, irresistible energy of Mod.
In today’s most surprising tech news Apple have launched, wait for it, a new iPad. But before we all get too carried away there’s no new design or extra features to tell you about.
The new model, which is aimed at serious iPad users and businesses, comes with a whopping 128 Gigabytes of storage – that is twice the previous top amount for an iPad which was 64 Gigbaytes
So if you have a large collection of music and/or videos or you are a creative user that needs to store a lot of content on your iPad this is going to be a good bet.
The new 128GB iPad 4 is slated to hit stores on Tuesday 5 February, in black or white. It will cost £639 for the iPad with Wi-Fi model and £739 for the iPad with Wi-Fi + mobile phone data network-friendly model.
“It’s clear that customers around the world love their iPads, and everyday they are finding more great reasons to work, learn and play on their iPads rather than their old PCs,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.
On February 17th 1995 police found Richey Edwards’ Vauxhall Cavalier abandoned at the Severn View service station. They reported that there was evidence that The Manic Street Preachers’ guitarist had been living in the car.
As for the car’s owner, well nothing has been heard from him since. There have been alleged sightings in Goa and Lanzarote, while there are those believe that he took his own life and jumped off the Severn Bridge. I guess we will never know.
Edwards, however, wasn’t the first rock star who decided that they had had enough of their old life and wanted to start anew. Various members of Fleetwood Mac disappeared in the late 60s and early 70s to be discovered in the cradle of slightly iffy religious groups.
There are others too and I have rounded up five stories of musicians who, for one reason or another, completely disappeared. Some, like Richey, are missing presumed dead, others are just keeping an incredibly low profile while working on that magical next album. Then there’s the tale of Rodriguez, a singer whose life was shrouded in mystery before a film was made retelling his amazing tale.
The other thing about all five is that each of them has created some wonderful music, which in four out of the five cases, deserves to be much better known.
Perhaps the most dramatic tale of a musician going AWOL ever the Jim Sullivan story still intrigues everyone who hears it. The story has an added poignancy as the album that Sullivan released in 1969, UFO, is a special one that has recently been championed by a new wave of folk stars like Laura Marling. Anyway back to the story. In the late 60s Sullivan was a talented singer songwriter in need of a break. He got one when an actor friend of his, Al Dobbs, decided to fund his album. That record, UFO is minor classic - a perfect mix of dusty folk and Gothic country, yet with some strong pop undertones. Dobbs had ensured that only top notch musicians played on the album including several of Phil Spector's legendary Wrecking Crew band of session hacks. It really is quite an astonishing listen. Take Rosey, a delicate, gently picked ballad taken to new heights by pizzicato and then soaring strings. It sounds like the sort of track Lee Hazlewood would have written on a very good day. Most intriguing of all is the title track UFO, where Sullivan shares his obsession with aliens in an eery way that some believe was a psychic prediction of the fate that was soon to befall him. Sadly the album stiffed - it has been reissued by Light In the Arric Records and these days is hailed as a classic of its genre - and Sullivan went back to playing bars and busking for a living. Then in 1975 he decided to leave his wife in California and head eastwards to start a new life a session musician in Nashville. He never got there. His car was found abandoned in the desert while all his possessions were left in his hotel room. The last time he was seen was on the ranch of a family with mafia connections. The case is still unsolved, but there are some folk who believe that the UFO watcher's dream finally came true and he was whisked away by aliens. Others take the view that he may have been murdered and the body never recovered. Either way Sullivan left behind one superb album and an enduring myth which one day really ought to be turned into a film.
It’s been five years since I last saw My Bloody Valentine live, and I’ve only just managed to recover the last fragments of earplug mined from my brain after surviving their sonic assault at Camden’s Roundhouse back in 2008.
Their 2013 return to the UK sees volume levels remain the same (watching MBV is like picking a fight with a 747 in a wind tunnel and losing, as I tweeted last night), but the setlist is a little different; there’s a new album on the way, more than 21 years since the launch of their seminal Loveless record. And tonight’s gig marks the debut of a few cuts from it.
Kevin Shields and co kick off with new number ‘Rough Song’, and for a band whose signature live attack is dished out with serrated guitars, the presence of a keyboard is a little unnerving. It’s a poppy number that recalls ‘When You Sleep’, suggesting the new album may have a fair whack of tunes as well as ethereal dreamscapes. It brings with it a tease from the usually-silent Shields, mumbling to a persistent heckler that the new album’s release could be as close as “two or three days”. What with Shields’ trademark tardy perfectionism, we wouldn’t start holding our breath just yet, but considering the album was apparently mastered back in December anything is possible.
Anything, that is, than being able to decipher a tune tonight. Even by MBV’s aggressive standards, something’s a bit off. The PA at Electric Brixton is overwhelmed by the band, with vocals (traditionally low in the mix for MBV by default) lost in the squall. You don’t expect subtlety from Shields’ screeching riffs and Debbie Googe’s bass pummelling, but even Shields finds it necessary to cut off ‘To Here Knows When’ halfway through.
At their most aurally-unapologetic however with ‘Feed Me With You Kiss’ and the closing 10 minute white noise endurance test of ‘You Made Me Realise’, the night hits a sadomasochistic state of nirvana, a blissful sonic-sucker punch to see the punters off into the night with a smile on their faces and bloody tissues in their ears.
Here’s a selection of choice Twitter commentary on the gig from last night:
Indie night out: J Mascis, Thurston Moore, @tim_burgess and Kinesthesia all at My Bloody Valentine Brixton gig
At My Bloody Valentine in Brixton. Kevin Shields said from the stage the new album ‘might be out in two our three days’
— Adam Boult (@adamboult) January 27, 2013
Watching My bloody valentine without earplugs was much like having unprotected sex. Much more fun but on the whole quite stupid. #eardoms
As everyone in the UK knows there was once a time when the Union Jack flew in many, many places across the world.
Now, a website about style, football and gadgets isn’t really a place for too many value judgements on the British Empire. Suffice to say that we did some good things, but we also inflicted an awful lot of damage too in subjugating, and occasionally wiping out indigenous communities. Also the repercussions of the lines on the map that Britons drew lingers on in The Middle East, South America, parts of Africa and closer to home in Ireland.
However one hugely astonishing thing about the British is the way in which people of this sea-faring nation have been just about everywhere in the globe.
It was a thought that last year inspired historian Stuart Laycock to pen a fascinating book called All the Countries We’ve Ever Invaded. It is safe to say that the list that hasn’t had any British influence is a pretty short one and includes The Vatican, Monaco, Chad, Mongolia and Paraguay among others. Britain has in fact invaded nearly 90% of the countries in the world, so it isn’t that surprising that in some parts of the world we don’t have the best of reputations.
Questions about the nature of British Imperialism aside the book does throw up some amazing anecdotes about places that have been influenced by the British that almost no one in this country has a clue about.
For example what about the US state that has a Union Jack as part of its flag? Or the German island which we ran as a major holiday destination for much of the nineteenth century? Or the Scandinavian country that we kind of ‘invaded’ so we could use one of its islands as a vegetable patch.
Here then are ten really great stories. Some are inspired by the book , which if you love history really is a must purchase. I have also done some of research of my own and of course there are a couple of nods to Wikipedia, from whence many of the images came.
An island in the middle of the North Sea that apparently is a bit like Scarborough! Doesn't make any sense does it, but until near the end of 19th century we used to own an island not far off the coast of Germany called Heligoland. Until 1807 it was owned by Denmark, but we decided it would make a good little naval base during the Napoleonic War era and so annexed it. When peace arrived we did the decent thing and turned the little island into a holiday centre where it attracted not just Brits but also German artists, politicians and also anarchists and revolutionaries. It remained under our control until the end of the nineteenth century when we traded it with Germany for the slightly larger land mass of Zanzibar. We returned during WW2 largely on bombing raids designed to hit German ships. After the war we turned the uninhabited part of the islands into a bombing range, something that not surprisingly still rankles with some of the locals.These days it has gone back to being a holiday resort. Visitors take the ferry from Hamburg and then chill out on the tiny island. There's no private cars, or even bikes, so to get around you have to walk or use a scooter. Sounds like a fascinating place.
In 2010 Dell released a new phone with a monster sized five inch screen called the Streak, and it went on to change the way we think about mobile phones. But not in the way that Dell had hoped.
The early models were filled with glitches and consumers didn’t really seem ready for a phone with a screen that large. Even Dell admitted defeat pulling the plug on the devices (it had also unveiled a 7 inch version) in 2011.
But a seed had been planted. Just as Dell was putting the Streak out to pasture Samsung surprised everyone by issuing its own huge screen phone – the Galaxy Note. It was a tentative launch too with Samsung stressing the handset’s stylus capabilities (it comes with a pen that lets you do many interesting arty things, hence the name the Note) as much as the five inch screen size.
At first reviews were a little lukewarm, but as time went by it was clear that there was a demand for a phone with a five inch screen and Samsung has gone onto sell millions of Notes. The big differences between the Note and the Streak is that the Note’s screen is much brighter, more vibrant and higher definition and its processor is so much quicker and better suited to web surfing and gaming. The fact that the Note was much skinnier than the Streak was also a key factor too.
A year and a few months on it is obvious that the Galaxy Note has had a huge impact on mobile design. For starters it has helped nudge the standard size screen for a mobile up a inch or two. Samsung’s own best selling Galaxy S3 has a screen of 4.8inches, and even Apple is rumoured to be working on a phone with a screen that is pushing five inches.
The Note also gave birth to a new mobile phone sector – the Phablet. It is is a moniker that many tech journalists, quite justifiably IMO, hate but it clearly describes a product that is a cross between a phone and tablet.
Here then is all you need to know about Phablets, from which you might consider buying one through to profiles of the seven models that are currently available (or at least coming in the next month or two).
What is a Phablet?
As the name implies it is a hybrid between a phone and a tablet. It can be used to make and receive calls, but its selling point is a big screen that makes it perfect for gaming, surfing the web and more. Wikipedia states that the size of the screen of a Phablet is normally between 5 and 7 inches. There are a cluster of phones that have screens not too shy of five inches – the 4.8inch screen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 being one – but these aren’t considered Phablets.
Why would I want one?
Personally I think that once you have used Phablet you can never go back to phone with a smaller screen. In particular phones with anything less than a four inch screen suddenly seem kind of ridiculous. Honestly. The large screen significantly enhances a person’s web surfing, gaming and ebook reading experience. It is tricky to read an ebook on a 3.5inch screen, not so on five inch one. As the phones are high -end models they tend to be stacked out the with the latest operating systems and fastest processors too. The phones currently all run the Android operating system and have access to apps via the Google Play store.
Why wouldn’t I want one?
Cue the Dom Jolly jokes. They are obviously larger than most smartphones. However even the Galaxy Note 2 with its 5.5inch screen fits comfortably in to a pocket of a pair of jeans. Their size also makes them slightly trickier to use than smaller handsets in that they are difficult to use one handed – to get the best out of them you need to keep a tight grip on the phone while operating the touch screen with the other. To be honest I think most Phablet owners wouldn’t consider these drawbacks at all.
Could I buy one instead of a tablet?
Personally I love my iPad, but it stays mainly in my home. In contrast my Galaxy Note travels with me everywhere. I appreciate the bigger screen of my ten inch iPad when it is nearby, but then again I often just reach for my Note. In theory then it does kind of double as a tablet but one that you take with you everywhere.
How big are they going to get?
Well the discontinued Dell Streak was available with a seven inch screen. Currently the biggest Phablet you can buy in the UK is the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which has a 5.5inch screen. The Huawei Ascend Mate may follow soon and that has a 6inch screen. There are lots of rumours of even larger screens. Samsung are also reported to working on two new models – a 6.3-inch Galaxy Note 3 and even a 7.7-inch screen or 7.9inch depending on which rumour you want to believe . They will be most likely be unveiled at Mobile World Congress at Barcelona in February.
Maybe at some point in the future it will be commoun to carry round a seven inch Phablet which is hooked up to a smart watch and a headset. The Phablet will act as a hub connecting with the other devices using Bluetooth. You will use the watch to get social media updates and text messages and the headset to make and receive calls. When you want to play games, watch TV or get online you’ll get the Phablet out.
What about Apple, Nokia, BlackBerry? Are they working on Phablets?
There are already rumours of an Apple iPhablet (although CEO Tim Cook has denied this) and I’d be very surprised if Nokia didn’t unveil a Phablet that runs Windows in next month. I guess we will have to wait and see.
It wasn't the first Phablet - that accolade was arguably scooped by Dell and its Streak - but the Galaxy Note, which was unveiled in late 2011 and went on sale in numbers in the UK in early 2012, was the first big screen to go mainstream. At its launch Samsung focused as much as the stylus (and the creative opportunities that it offers) as much as the big screen. But it soon became clear that gamers, hardcore web surfers and ebook readers were drawn to its very impressive 5.3inch screen. The phone's eight mega pixel camera is excellent too. It has gone on to sell millions and spawn a host of imitators that appear on the following pages. If you want to buy one in the UK now is a good time. You can pick one up on contract for as little as £20 per month. They can often be found in second hand stores too as some original owners have upgraded to the second version. Prices start at just under £300.
Last year H&M became one of the biggest clothing retailers (though Levi’s got there first) to start to take cycling seriously. Spurred on by the growth in the number of cyclists and also a little by our success at The Olympics the company teamed up with Brick Lane Cycles and launched a capsule range of jackets, retro jerseys and more
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