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Thank God for asthma!

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Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2025 #5 :     Mr Scorsese Not the only unexpected Marty delight to hit Apple TV — or indeed this list — in 2025 (see entry #4), Rebecca Miller’s Mr. Scorsese is, as our glowing five-star review attests, “so kinetic and compelling that it could be mistaken itself for a Martin Scorsese Picture.” Neither hero-worship hagiography nor run-of-the-mill talking-heads piece, Miller’s five-part limited series instead takes the man and his movies together to craft a richly textured portrait of her subject. In one direction we see how a crisis of faith conjured Raging Bull, and in the other we see how the darkness of Shutter Island literally reduced Marty to a panic-attack-suffering wreck. And interspersed throughout are extraordinary, candid reflections from Scorsese himself, and from his collaborators and peers — from Spielberg and De Niro and DiCaprio, to Daniel Day Lewis and Spike Lee and Ari Aster. What more can we say? This one’s pre...
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Here is a loud announcement

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Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 10/01/71 : Atom Heart Mother - Pink Floyd And a second visit to the Floyd this year (and our eighth over all) - I was pleasantly surprised by our earlier visit , so let's hope for more of the same. Hmmm - well, it is and it isn't. It features all the usual Pink Floyd nonsense (including their later distinctive guitar sound, but not very much of it) but it all feels very muted and subdued. It's not that it's musical wallpaper that drifted by unnoticed - I listened to it and just found myself thinking "when's it going to get going?". There's also way more brass instruments on here than you'd expect (or need) and really don't get me started on "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" - what a load of old nonsense. Possibly I'd come to appreciate the subtlety involved after multiple listens but, then again, maybe they just decided to make it sound that way and I just don't like it -...
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Well it's the only thing that I could do half right - and it's turning out all wrong

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Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 17/01/71 : Candles In The Rain - Melanie And a second visit from Melanie for the year - last time , I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not, so let's see if I can make up my mind with this one. Well, she doesn't help herself by opening with the title track which is annoyingly pretentious but she does calm down after that - possibly too much, with a few of the tracks sliding by almost unnoticed. However, she does have an interesting voice and she does very decent versions of James Taylor's "Carolina In My Mind" (better than the original imho) and The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday". I was surprised to recognise "Look What They've Done To My Song Ma" - I can't say I loved it but I was interested to learn it was done by her. I was also very surprised to hear "Alexander Beatle", which is the AA Milne poem set to music - it's fair to say it's not a thing of beaut...
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Oh I love you, baby, I love you night and day

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Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 24/01/71 : McGuinness Flint -  McGuinness Flint Yet another artist I've never heard of - the name sounds like it's either going to be rock or folk, but it's hard to pick one (and so they're probably both a million miles off). Hmmm - it's kinda rocky folk with a distinct American feel to it, despite everyone involved being British. It's not a million miles away from the stuff that Crosby, Nash and Stills have served us up this year but it stands separate from their stuff (and pretty much everything else we've heard). For some reason, I was strongly remind of The Beatles "Blackbird" in various places, despite none of the tracks really sounding like it - maybe it was just Dennis Coulson's voice?  I'm not entirely sure whether I liked it or not, but it wasn't an unpleasant listen and it's all well played - it feels like another gap in my musical knowledge filled without much chance ...
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Do I turn the handle, or does it turn me?

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The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews... Man To Man : Royal Court This was something new - a trip to the theatre with the lovely Mrs Reed. And even more unusually, it was to a theatre neither of us had been to before to see something that neither of us knew the faintest thing about because this was a present from the lovely Mrs Davies (my youngest sister). She's a proper theatrical luvvie (which she'll read and think "NO! I'm not a luvvie!! Oh, hang on...") so we knew there would be something pretty special about it, but apart from knowing that it had Tilda Swinton in it, we were going in blind. Yes, we could have done some research but that would spoil all the fun - I had a sneaking suspicion that it might not have helped (and I suspect we might come back to this point later). And a very nice theatre in a very nice part of town it is too! Because I had proper company that likes to eat proper food, we went to a proper restaurant beforehand (rather ...
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It is written that on the other side of this pain there will be a renewal

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 18/09/26 : Here Because Of Hope - Ezra Collective  We've met EC once in passing as a new entry and I said it was surprisingly stylish, but I struggled to understand why anyone would listen to it - let's see if the mystery resolves itself with a proper listen. Hmmm. Well. Yes and no. It's all very stylish and well played and it has an interesting mix of various global rhythms and sounds to it, so I'd go as far as saying I did enjoy it. But I really can't say I'd ever actively choose to listen to it - it was too lively to be described as musical wallpaper, but it still kinda drifted by me and I don't remember any of it. I also imagine there are plenty of other musical groups who can do this sort of thing just as well, so quite how they managed to hit the heights isn't clear to me. But hit the heights they have because they're at #1 with a new entry in the charts this week, so well done to the ...
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May be right or may be wrong - but I gotta do something before the day is gone

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Continuing my trip back through the 1971 album charts. 31/01/71 : Watt - Ten Years After Another band I've never heard of - and I'm completely unable to guess what they're like from the band name. Wikipedia tells me they're an English blues rock group who had eight consecutive top 40 albums between '68 and '73, so I feel I should know something about them - so let's remedy that. You know what - this is OK! It's (for the most part) just "normal" songs with a bit of oomph to them, which is something that's been incredibly lacking this year amidst all the prog weirdness and singer/songwriter wishy-washyness, so it was a nice change (except for their live cover of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" which is a) unnecessary and b) not at all good). Don't get me wrong, it was never going to change the world (which is obviously the case for me given my complete ignorance of them) but it's a decent sound and played competentl...
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