Not much to say, simply just watch this, its classic loving Animal and Beakers parts.

… called Concerto for Constantine and they have just put up their debut EP on their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/concertoforconstantineofficial

The sound is rocky and relatively raw and unpolished which gives it an emotional feel. Greaneys voice is distinctive and you could be forgiven for thinking JJ72 were back with new materal.

To summarise if you liked JJ72, especially the voice of Greaney then check out the link and listen to what he is up to now. Currently unsigned its unclear wether the EP will get released officially so make the most of it while you can.

Sadly, there’s no cover version of Neil Hannon’s ‘My Lovely Horse’ on the Priests’ new album; maybe they knew that they could never live up to this definitive version.

Freddie reflected upon learning he'd failed the audition to become the face of Oil of Olay

An alternative Halloween playlist

The Birthday Party - Release The Bats
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Halloween
Grooverider - Where’s Jack The Ripper [Origin Unknown Remix]
The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf
The Phantom Band - The Howling
Ebsen & The Witch - Skeleton Swoon
Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
David Bowie - Scary Monsters And Super Creeps
Tricky - Hell Is Round The Corner
Aim - Demonique

Paul Bovey

Before the 1982 World Cup, England manager Ron Greenwood had a dilemma: who, between Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence, would be his number one goalkeeper in the forthcoming tournament?

Many commentators criticized him for his indecisiveness, but how much would Fabio Capello give to have such a luxurious dilemma? A dilemma between two brilliant, consistent keepers, proven at international level, each with at least two European Cup trophies to their name with their respective clubs. It just highlights the current dearth of world class keepers available for Capello in the run up to next year’s World Cup, a situation that The Mirror’s Martin Lipton has prophesised may turn out to be England’s ‘Achilles heel’.

Out of the current crop, David James seems to be the more preferable option for the number one position, although, at 39, his age indicates that he’s not a long-term prospect. He’s still a good shot-stopper, but his occasion blunders (remember Austria in 2004?) have seen him yo-yo in and out of favour on numerous occasions. He’s certainly a much improved player from ‘Calamity James’, the nickname he earned at Liverpool, but his lack of consistency has never seen him make that number one shirt his own, despite nearly 50 caps.

Robert Green’s sending off against Ukraine in the World Cup qualifier, which gave him the dubious record of being the first ever England goalkeeper to receive a red card, was unfortunate, but this shouldn’t dent his confidence too much. He made some good saves in the 5-1 defeat of Croatia and although he’s had little international experience compared to James, he’s arguably the most consistent England keeper at club level, despite West Ham’s struggle in the league. A good Premiership campaign to curb his team from relegation may do his cause the world of good.

So, James and Green look like current favourites to go the World Cup next year but when you start to look for a third choice, it’s not so clear-cut. Paul Robinson seems to have overcome his descent in form to put in some solid performances for Blackburn, while Ben Foster’s chances remain slim as second choice to Edwin van der Sar at Manchester United.

Manchester City’s Joe Hart has received praise from Capello but some commentators feel this World Cup has come ‘too soon’ for him. Scott Carson has overcome his howler against Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifier but, like Green, Hart, Foster and Wigan’s Chris Kirkland, he’s yet to gain much international experience.

As is the case with outfield players, the lack of outstanding English goalkeepers is being attributed by some commentators to the influx of foreign players in the English league. Certainly, the top teams at the time of writing all have foreign first-choice keepers: van der Sar (Manchester United), Čech (Chelsea), Cudicini (Spurs), Almunia (Arsenal) and Given (Manchester City), but surely that doesn’t explain the fact that England can’t produce at least one outstanding goalkeeper? We used to be renowned for it.

It’s something we’re in desperate need of; a solid back line can only improve if it has the confidence of a reliable goalkeeper between the sticks. The performances of the English goalkeepers for the remainder of this season will be keenly observed by Capello and Italo Galbiati. With a World Cup place to play for, the post of England number one is still very much in the players’ own hands.

Paul Bovey

Micro Men, BBC4, Thursday 8 October 2009

For a certain generation of computer gamers, the mere mention of names like Jet Set Willy or Repton are likely to induce a misty-eyed nostalgia, in the same way Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario do for gamers brought up on Sega and Nintendo.

Before the invasion of the Japanese gaming giants in the late 80s and early 90s, Britain already had a home-grown home computing heritage to boast of, as last night’s Micro Men reminded us.

Shown as part of BBC Four’s Electric Revolution season, Micro Men took an affectionate look at the early 80s home computing rivalry between Sir Clive Sinclair (played by Alexander Armstrong) and his ex-employee Chris Curry (Martin Freeman), the entrepreneurial masterminds behind the Sinclair and Acorn companies respectively. The story focused on the race between the early home computer pioneers to gain the dominant market share, pivoting on a lucrative BBC literacy project that would see the victor’s machine in many of the UK’s schools.

Armstrong’s portrayal of Sinclair was particularly outstanding, playing him as a temperamental tyrant, prone to violent outbursts at anyone who questioned his visionary genius (at one point you expected Armstrong to hiss “kill them!” down the phone to his secretary, à la his Blowfeld-type character on The Armstrong and Miller Show). In one memorable scene, Sinclair tracks down his former colleague in a pub and assaults him with a rolled-up newspaper that carried an Acorn advert that dared to highlight the high return rate of faulty ZX Spectrums.

It was fun to see the period of the time so accurately evoked. This was a world where 48K RAM was a hot selling point and faulty connectors were fixed with Blu-Tack; where bosses and boffins chain-smoked in pokey, beige offices and ate takeaways with screwdrivers and soldering irons as cutlery; and where, in the face of nearly three million people out of work, Britain had a growth industry to be proud of (as evidenced by stock footage of Margaret Thatcher showing off a Sinclair computer to the Japanese prime minister).

There was also some lovely retrospective jokes, such as Sinclair scoffing at the notion that home computers could replace going to the supermarket or bank, and Curry’s bank manager, played by Peter Davidson (who, during the period Micro Men is set in, was playing Doctor Who) describing Curry’s career choice as “very science fiction”.

Inevitably, in typical boom and bust fashion, the glory days were not to last: Sinclair sold his computing division to Alan Sugar’s Amstrad in 1986 and Acorn sold its majority shares to Italian company Olivetti. In a somewhat poignant final scene, we saw Sir Clive driving defiantly down the road in his famous flop, the C5 electric tricycle, as he is overtaken either side by two massive juggernauts bearing the names Microsoft and Hewlett Packard.

Paul Bovey

I love this story, and not just because it was a victory for the underdog against a notoriously litigious global corporation.

I love the fact that the owners won after claiming that the ‘Mc’ prefix of their name stood for ‘Malaysian Chicken’, despite the letter ‘c’ being lower case, and despite the fact that the typeface of the McCurry logo manages to resemble not just one but two famous high street logos.

Breaking news: I hear another well-known fast food chain has lost its lawsuit against an Israeli branch of Bagel King, which is famous for its Whopping bagel.

Actually, that’s not true, but wouldn’t it be great if it was?

Paul Bovey

One of my bugbears is journalists who use the simile ‘on acid’ in their articles. It’s normally used in cultural reviews to describe a particularly ‘far out’ performer or piece of art, even though it’s now considered both inaccurate and clichéd.

Such lazy journalism was skewered brilliantly by comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring in their series This Morning With Richard Not Judy, in a scene that purported to simulate the scene of veteran comedian Norman Wisdom ‘on acid’. This was in response to an Evening Standard reporter who had used (or quoted, the reporter later claimed) the phrase to describe the physical comedy stylings of Lee Evans. But instead of a slapstick, energetic, bug-eyed dynamo, the resultant scene saw an ill, confused old man wandering slowly around a room.

Just as bad as ‘on acid’ is ‘like so-and-so and so-and-so in a blender’ or ‘like such-and-such and such-and-such in a lift‘. I’m not saying that there’s no room for similes in creative journalism any more; I’m just saying let’s create some new ones. Here’s some of my suggestions:

Like Stephen Hawkings on sugar-free Red Bull
Like Kerry Katona on chicken drumsticks
Like Brian Blessed on a noise abatement order
Like Michael Barrymore on television
Like Jennifer Lopez on the rebound
Like Peter Andre on fire
Like Rocket From the Crypt on a rope
Like Yoko Ono on a yoke.

For Belgian band dEUS, The Ideal Crash marked a glossier, more commercial production than its two predecessors, Worst Case Scenario and In A Bar, Under The Sea. Fortunately, this didn’t mean the band had lost its identity; there was still the same crunching guitar noise and dissonant jazz flourishes. But now these elements were done with more subtlety, with a broader musical palette (synths, harmoniums, theremins) and a clearer sense of melody (summed up by Mojo magazine as “Semisonic go Beefheart”).

Upon release in March 1999, The Ideal Crash received plenty of positive reviews from the music press: Q and Select both awarded the album 4 out of 5 and the NME rated it 8 out of 10. Yet despite the initial acclaim, the album had disappeared off most critics’ radar come December and failed to appear on any of the major music publications’ albums of the year lists; this coming in a year not blessed with definitive album releases.

Paul Bovey

Last night saw the final 60-minute special of the brilliant Pulling on BBC Three, after the channel announced it was axing the cult sitcom last year. For anyone who’s never seen the show, it follows the dysfunctional relationships of three female housemates, Donna, Karen and Louise. In the previous two series, episodes have mined some pretty dark areas for a sitcom (think Sex and the City as conceived by Joe Orton), including suicide attempts, copious drug abuse, stalkers, flashers and feline euthanasia.