The Word Magazine Album Map

Interesting developments on the Word Magazine website, they've added an album map.
The map in typical Google Maps fashion pinpoints the spots where iconic album cover photographs were taken. You can zoom in by double-clicking an area of the map or by using the slider on the left hand side. Click on a blue marker to see details of that album.
Some recommended locations for music connoisseurs are:

• The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
• Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down The Stairs
• London Calling - The Clash
• Heaven Up Here - Echo & The Bunnymen
• Coles Corner - Richard Hawley (It's not Sheffield)
• Spring Hill Fair - The Go-Betweens

But don't stop there - you can add your own favourites to the map. It's really simple to do - well for some people....
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/album_atlas/

By the way, there is a Summer Open Neck shirt on Friday 25 July 2008, I might go along...

Still Worth Seeing Live?

Still worth seeing live - which musicians have stood the test of time?
Who would you still go and see after all these years?

I'm afraid some groups are just past their 'sell out by date'. The Police, Pink Floyd and Status Quo now provide a cabaret for the over 60's. They really should forget it.

I recently saw the Blue Nile at the Bridgewater Hall and they certainly managed to recapture their heyday, but as you may know the Blue Nile are hardly the most animated group on stage.

I think Talking Heads could still cut it, I saw David Byrne a couple of years ago and he still has an incredible creative energy. Elvis Costello is another who can still rock it, when he sees fit.

Howard Devoto and Magazine would be worth seeing, especially if they could re-create the ground breaking 'Real Life. Although Howard and friends probably decided years ago that it was best not to remake some 'Secondhand Daylight'.

I suppose the Jam would be incredibly popular, but I can’t see Paul Weller getting back together with Bruce Foxton & Rick Buckler.

The Smiths would be an unlikely reunion given their acrimonious split, but if the original line up did get back together, I'm sure they could hack it.

My personal favourite would be Cathal Coughlan, at the controls with Microdisney or raging with the Fatima Mansions, either incarnation would be a very special event.