Friday Thoughtz

It has proved a tiring week with disturbed nights and migraine headaches so I am glad it is Friday and a chance to relax a little. I was playing the new Gorillaz album earlier today and it really is a sparky little gem, full of subtleties and clever melodies and ideas. None of the songs buy into the verse-chorus-verse scene and, heck, it works. I dwelt, as I listened, upon all that hoo-haa a few years back when it was Oasis vs Blur in the battle of the Brit-poppers. Since then Oasis have churned out four or five mundane, derivative, ordinary (the worst insult) albums while Damon Albarn has released, with Blur, three fabulous records, all challenging and flipping intelligent, as well as a couple of Gorillaz albums (I confess I know little about the first one although the singles were great), a film soundtrack or two and a World Music album. Hats off to the fellow. I rate him.

I spoke to an Edinburgh bound S on the telephone last night. It is likely we’ll be ‘meeting halfway’ on Monday night for a screening of Downfall at Tewkesbury Roses Theatre. I’m quietly intrigued by Downfall which tells the story of Hitler and his entourage as they face the last days of the war in a Berlin bunker. Its reviews have been consistently excellent.