Plug/Seefeel

Milo, sleeping, timezones and work prevented me responding earlier.  The polls were one of the reasons I was attracted to start posting here (of course people may have different  views about whether that's a good thing) and I thought and think they are one of the friendliest things about one of the friendliest internet places you'll find anywhere.  I accept some people don't like them, but I hope they don't feel excluded by them.  They may not be as deep as some of the other random avenues of discussion you mention, but if they've led people to explore albums they might not otherwise have heard that can only be a good thing.

While they may not be about the music being reviewed above, Nicky is right to mention the overall context, because one of the reason this blog and the comments are so good is our host's writings have brought together a great group of insightful people, with a good appreciation of music, not least music that Xgau has reviewed in the past that has led people to explore and want to share their appreciation of other music. 

I was trying to skirt this analogy to avoid national stereotyping (Irishman in alcohol related metaphor shock), but it's a bit like a bar.  The Dean owns the bar, and of course he reserves the right to refuse admission.  There are a few regulars, some people passing through.  We're talking, having a conversation and a laugh, spurred on by what he's currently writing about but also drawing from the deep well of what he's written about in the past, and the knowledge of the other regulars.

My spur for this suggested poll is that Wussy is pretty much the house band of the Expert Witness Tavern, so I was interested to find out Witnesses' favourite Wussy tracks to see how they compared to the new best of.  But we can confine this discussion to one table of the bar and I'll try to make sure we don't annoy the rest of you.

One way of doing this without cluttering up the rest of the site could be the reply button.  I voted for JeffC's suggestion a few weeks ago that we eschew the reply button and comment as normal, but to avoid cluttering up the posts, when I get the results ready, if people want to post their own Wussy best ofs, maybe they could do it as a reply to my post rather than as a new post.  Then they would be easily avoided by anyone who's not interested.  Just a thought.

Milo has a piece up at NPR on the benefit album for Cheb I Sabbah, who has been diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer: http://goo.gl/FFDz6

Glad people are interested in my book, but let's be clear--18 months to complete, another year to publish, meaning late 2014 pub unless I get inspired and/or lose several jobs. Hope you like it--I'll do my best.

Bradbury belongs in the pantheon of great science fiction writers for Fahrenheit 451 alone. In a time when right wing lawmakers in my homestate of TN have tried (and failed, at least so far) to ban the use of the word "homosexual" in public school classrooms and right wing lawmakers in my current state of NC have successfully banned the use of climate science models showing a sea level increase of up to 39 inches between now and 2100, Bradbury's warnings seem pretty damn prescient.

Xgau: I am very excited by the news of your Harper-Collins book deal and will more than understand if contractual restrictions prevent you from answering this question, but I'm wondering if there's a target window for publication?

Always thought Bradbury was the antimatter version of H.P. Lovecraft (or vice versa if you prefer).

 

Interesting prose/dorky ideas vs. Dorky prose/interesting ideas.

 

Fame during life vs. long-tail fascination.

Like Rod Serling (though not nearly as often) Bradbury's stuff doesn't always hold up when I go back to it (a tendency to speechifying, and to soppiness when remembering his childhood, mostly) but there's still plenty of magic there, and he was pivotal for me in very similar way, Michael.    RIP

Currently going back through a few new ones to try and get a firmer grip on my feelings about them.  After a brief infatuation the Saint Etienne looks like it'll end up as a Choice Cuts farm.  s/s/s is still sounding different with each play, never in a bad way.  The Neil can go way up and way down from song to song...the between-song jokes about how sloppy they're playing is wearing thin fast, though.  My wife is the big Patti fan in our house (her favorite artist in fact) but I'm not that far behind, and its always a great experience to hear the new one unfold together.  She's got it as a firm A, I'm around A-/B+.    Really wish she was touring with Neil on this coast like she's doing in the east...but that'd probably spoil your whole day, Nate. :)  Los Lobos is an incredible consolation prize.

Pulled out Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Messin' (a.k.a. Get Your Rocks Off) on a whim and am enjoying myself.

JY48NY: Determined not to encourage your fetishism in such matters, I never answer your questions about such matters as upside down cover art (not to mention my favorite albums of 1968). But I cannot understand why your problem cannot be solved by taking the jewelbox apart and turning the rear insert right side up, upside down, or whatever is involved, and reassembling. What am I missing?