Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Tiny Tim – The Prisoner of Love

In the rather overpopulated world of what is broadly described as ‘outsider music’, it’s true to say there are one or two frauds, or at least those who have been shoehorned in. Are The Shaggs outsiders? Perhaps it was challenging or even outrageous to insist your clearly tone-deaf daughters perform for the masses – of […]

All Roads Lead to Morley

Morley, Leeds. Like Rome, set upon seven hills – like Rome, see Morley and die. All of life spread across a settlement five miles from Leeds. One thousand years of simultaneously resisting change and grinding down resolve until unwary visitors find themselves unable to leave. First mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, this “open […]

In Conversation with Homer Flynn

Just as in 1974 when their first album, “Meet the Residents” entered an unsuspecting world, The Residents defy easy description and remain as enigmatic and mysterious as ever. No-one truly knows who the band members are or were; their styles range from seemingly novelty covers to scabrous cultural and social commentary to inspired rock and […]

The Wretchedness of Clapping

The decline of the Human Race can be pin-pointed very precisely to a cold afternoon in 2007. This is as very precise as things need to be. On this cold afternoon, the assembled crowd at Maine Road, then home ground of Manchester City, paid tribute to one of their most beloved servants, squeaky-voiced imp, Alan […]