Stuff we recommend
Our taste is no better and no worse than anyone
else's, with the obvious exception that everyone's taste
is better than Jeffrey Archer's. There's no reason,
therefore, why you should take any more notice of our
recommendations than anybody else's, but where would the
World Wide Web be without people making recommendations
to each other? It's be the California Wide Web or
something, so here's a few words about some of our
favourite bits & bobs on the web.
Our
favourite browser
For a long while we liked and used Opera. Then it became a Chrome
clone and got rid of its original team, subsequently to fall into
Chinese ownership. Meanwhile, many of the original Opera team moved o to
found Vivaldi, which is also a
Chrome clone but it keeps the original Opera idea of allowing you to
modifythe browser so it looks and works the way you want it to.
Online
gaming
Where would we have been during the lockdown without
the following sites:
Boardgamegeek
On the small chance you have not heard of the indispensable resource
for gaming geeks,
here it is. My user name is Fiendish.
The Icicle still
Works
I am, so I am told, a very loyal person. This
applies to people and of course my football team, but
also to musicians. Back in the mid-eighties I was
knocked out by the high octane Rickenbacker-based music
of the Icicle Works, the bastard sons of a marriage
between the Byrds and Scott Walker. The band has
long since split up. The drummer, Chris Sharrock, has
served time with the La's, World Party, The Lightning
Seeds, The Lemon Trees and now Robbie Williams. The
bassist, Chris Layhe, has virtually disappeared from view
but does apparently gig occasionally in the north of
England. The band's main songwriter, Ian McNabb, now has a
solo career where the commercial success he enjoys seems
to be in inverse proportion to the artistic merit of the
records he releases. Nonetheless I am sticking with him
for as long as he sticks with us.
Since going solo he has released the following albums:
Truth & Beauty *
Head Like A Rock **
Merseybeast **
A Party Political Broadcast On Behalf Of The Emotional
Party
Live At Life
Ian McNabb **
Waifs & Strays *
The Gentleman Adventurer
Boots's Boots (limited edition, official bootlegs)
Before All Of This (pre-order from Townsend
Records)
The ones marked with an asterisk are recommended, and
those with two asterisks are especially
recommended. You can purchase all of the albums
from lots of places but the outlet I recommend is Townsend
Records. Competitively priced (though not
necessarily the cheapest) and a good service.
Support your independent record store.
If you have a site which you think should be
listed here, drop us a
line.
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