Ian Tomlinson

Do they really think this is the best decision? It's so wrong it makes me feel physically sick. I accepted that Jean Charles de Menezes' killing was the result merely of terrifying incompetence, though I found the failure of Cressida Dick to resign incomprehensible. But that a man can be killed with such casual brutality and the officer responsible face only the possibility of some internal disciplinary action. How can anyone not be outraged by the utter contempt this displays?

Here, there and everywhere

I had one of those falling into place musical moments the other day - somewhere out there I was listening to a version of Angel of the Morning by Evie Sands. I'd always assumed the Joya Landis (I had to check) version was the original but I should have realised by now, there's no such thing as an original reggae version of a song.

As I listened I knew that I'd heard Evie's vocals before and after a few minutes of pondering reached for Sonic Sounds for Subterraneans and there she was, side 3 track 1, I Can't Let Go. Possibly my favourite track on there, and that's saying something. I really can't recommend that compilation highly enough.

Evie Sands: I Can't Let Go


Obviously this all merited further investigation and it turns out she did the original version of Anyway That You Want Me, that she was surprisingly white and impossibly beautiful, and that I should probably buy The Red Bird Story.

Pretty much your standard ranch stash

A few years ago I bought The Everly Brothers Roots on the strength of a very brief mention by Bob Stanley of its version of I Wonder If I'll Care As Much. According to Bob this version floated by on a cloud of feedback. The Everlys and feedback - I though that sounded like it could be good. Sadly it's a bit dull. But Roots is still worth having - the brothers look pretty cool on the cover. Turn Around is probably the best thing on it and the sleeve notes led me to its writer's own band, The Beau Brummels and the excellent Bradley's Barn.

I was burned quite recently by Phil's Star Spangled Springer, lured into buying what is in truth a fairly bland album by such an excellent cover. I'll probably keep hold of it if only for the cover and maybe the track Poisonberry Pie. Once albums are in the collection I find it hard to deselect them (on vinyl anyway, I'm more ruthless with cds). I think I've only got rid of three vinyl lps - a Roky Erickson solo effort that had loads of terrible synthesizer noises on it, Hawkwind's Text of the Festival (what the fuck was I on?) and Shuggy Otis's alleged masterpiece Inspiration Information.

Anyway, the Everly Brothers. They were the first band I saw live. Not long after their eighties reconcilliation. A very good show - incredibly loud renditions of all the hits and some droll between song banter. They even managed to restrain themselves from smashing guitars over each others heads.

The Everly Brothers: I Wonder If I Care As Much


The Everly Brothers: Turn Around


The Beau Brummels: Love Can Fall A Long Way Down

Learning tree

I bought a book about trees the other day. I usually know straight away if I’m going to buy a book and this one drew me in pretty quick. In the space of a few random pages I had learned that John Galbraith Graham took his nom de crossword from the Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), and that that thoroughly rock and roll word Tupelo is actually a type of tree.

The decider though was a picture of a shiny conker peeping out of its spiky pod. It was just so perfect. And then there are twenty odd pages of pine cones of the type that I can't resist picking up when I go for a walk around Kew. The pictures are all painted by David More who seems to have opted for a life of internet-proof obscurity.

Anyway, while I was feasting my eyes on all the tree pictures I was tapping my foot to the music coming from the shop’s little stereo. I’ve said before that they usually play good stuff and I was absent-mindedly enjoying the track when some lyrics grabbed my attention. “Hello” I thought, “I haven’t heard this version before”. A nice campfire version of the Super Furry Animals' The Man Don’t Give A Fuck.

As I was buying the book I asked the man behind the till what album the track was from. To my momentary bafflement he handed me a Steely Dan cd. I think I probably knew that they'd sampled something. A few years back I bought Pretzel Logic (probably because of an amusing Judge Dredd story that pinched the title). I couldn’t really get into it, but Show Biz Kids: what a track.

Steely Dan: Show Biz Kids


And for comparison purposes the Super Furry Animals track.

Super Furry Animals: The Man Don't Give A Fuck

Nightmare at 120 ft

Without doubt one of the best £10 I've ever spent.

Sit on it mother

It doesn't take much to make me happy. Today for instance - a two for one offer on McVities Jamaica Cake and then this bench. I don't know when it was built but part of its appeal is that it's a modern thing that's been around long enough to acquire lichen. But mainly it's the shape of it - simple and logical, like a park bench from the planet Vulcan.