h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

While I was still working at Cheapo I bought myself a promo copy of Paul Weller's CD Illumination, but I only just got around to listening to it.

Wow. The man's a bloody musical genius. That is to say, he pushes all my buttons - him and Tom Waits (and Barry of course, but that's a thang ). I don't know why, I'm not the kind of person who can critique a piece of art or the artist. For me, Stanley Road was the best album of the 90s. What? Nirvana? Who are they?

The Mod Father has talent, doesn't he?

I grew up with The Jam and stuff like 'That's Entertainment','Down in a Tube Station at Midnight', 'Going Underground' etc.

He's going to be one of those people that gets noticed in about twenty years when a bunch of music historians get together and suddenly discover that he was one of the best lyricists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

My personal favourite is 'Peacock Suit' just because of the images and ideas it kicks up. Robert Rankin pinched used it as the Ultimate Pulling Suit, the Suit you wear which means no woman can resist you.

He's also one of those people that I believe should be given money to write songs no matter whether they are popular or not, listened to or not.

He should be given a licence fee, like the BBC

I think maybe a big part of it is that his influences are all artists that I liked - Traffic, The Kinks, The Small Faces, and all the bands that were a part of the early 70s British blues-rock movement like Family, Free, Vinegar Joe, Stone the Crows, and he brings it all together in one package. He does have a fine voice too, and a songwriting talent par excellence.

When I first saw the subject line for this thread, I became excited. I thought you were discussing the actor who starred in "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Robocop."

But my hopes have been dashed. The actor I am thinking of is Peter Weller, not Paul Weller.

Never mind.

(But I knew it had to be a Gosho thread. )

Paul Weller in Buckaroo Banzai?

The mind...my mind...it's boggling!

It has a Gosho feel about it then Paul

Mrs Monk's brother had the opportunity to sign him up just before he released Stanley Road. He thought that Paul had had his day and didn't bother. Tw*t.

Then he joins a long and proud tradition of record company people who have made mistakes that will come back to haunt them.

People like the guy who failed to sign The Beatles because "guitar bands were on the way out".
The bloke who missed out on Elvis Presley.
The chap who thought that Mick Jagger was a bit weird looking and not rock star material.

It's the Noble Art of Being Wrong.

Then again, there are the folk who brought us Yoko Ono, the guy who sang the "Ray-Jay" song, and Leonard Nemoy and William Shatner records.... Some pople should just say "no"....

*remembers the story about David Bowie being brought to the attention of the A&R folk at Decca Records, the reaction being "Get this weirdo out of my office and find me the next Beatles!"*

In fact, as I remember it, it was Decca who turned down the Beatles, too...

I'm still trying to get my mind around the Everley Brothers.

I think of rock music the way aerodynamics experts used to think about the bumblebee's flying abilities: technically, this should not be working at all, let alone well.

Still, I like to watch rock videos occasionally. Obviously, I won't turn the sound up too high, as I don't want to go deaf . The Beatles made some dandy movies, which I loved. Can you tell, I had a background in the theater?