It’s been a day of troubleshooting at the chocolate teapot factory, so I’ve had the headphones clamped to my head all day, pumping out the following:

• Leadbelly – King of the Blues (compilation)
• The Sunday Reeds – Drowning In History
• Brahms – Piano Concerto no. 2 (Ashkenazy, Haitink)
• Brahms – Symphony no. 2 (Abbado, Berlin Phil)
• Betty Boo – Boomania (yes, really)
• Doctor & The Medics – Laughing at the Pieces
• Echo & The Bunnymen – What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?
• Echo & The Bunnymen – Siberia
• Sun Ra – We Travel The Spaceways/Bad and Beautiful
• The Sunday Reeds – Drowning in History (again)
• J.C. Bach – Symphonies, op. 9
• The Wedding Present – Bizarro

One of the saddest gigs I ever attended was Doctor & The Medics reinvented as a terrible tribute band. I really like their original material – it’s cod-psychedelic white soul, with nonsense lyrics about kettles, fried eggs, and naughty no-nos – to see The Doctor plus a band of completely new recruits trudging through (and murdering) things like the B52s’ Love Shack was so distressing that we walked out and went to hear a Thin Lizzy tribute band, Dizzy Lizzy, instead. The latter was far more fun.