(Planet Me)
Monday, February 24, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 428 : Oasis "What's The Story? (Morning Glory)" 1995-96. 24 February 2025.



It's 30 years (!!) since Oasis released their second LP "What's The Story?" and well, no finer record named after an erection has ever been released. Not even "Whitesnake". The album saw Oasis conquer the world, selling 22 million copies, 4 #1/#2 singles in the UK, over a million gig tickets, approximately 4,000 newspaper front pages, and explode in a blaze of fury mid-tour. There's box sets, reissues, loads of B-sides, live DVD's and the "Knebworth 1996" album/film, and a gazillion bootleg CD's.. 24 February 2025.

- posted by Mark @ 4:40 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 427 : Blur's "The Great Escape" 1995.. 19 February 2025



"It was 30 years ago today...", well, 1995, and deep in the midst of the media-created 'Britpop', that Blur released their fourth LP "The Great Escape", Damon and Justine were the 'Hugh and Liz' of the era, Indie music exploded into being simply music, Oasis were the working class challengers, and Blur, running out of time and out of ideas, rushed out an LP made of snide, condescending character assasinations about the ordinary working class, without an ounce of kindness or compassion. Throw in music-hall, Chas and Dave style oompah-oompah nursery rhymes, three of their worst singles, and a Benny Hill style video of sexist trash, and well... is this the worst Blur album ever? Maybe. 19 Feb 2025.

- posted by Mark @ 4:39 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, February 05, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 426 : Random Record Rummage! 05 February 2025.

Another random record rummage, with a 7", a 12"/LP, a CD, a DVD, a BluRay and a book picked out by an army of child labour* from my huge pile of old rubbish in the house. Enjoy! 05 Feb 2025. 

- posted by Mark @ 4:37 pm 0 comments
Monday, January 27, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 425 : Morrissey's "Southpaw Grammar" + "Boxers" era 1995.. 27 January 2025.


It's 1995, and the Britpop Wars are in full swing. Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc are the sound of the year. Morrissey was - in the eyes of some - part of the old guard. January saw the "Boxers" EP and February an 18 date UK tour with two live releases on DVD and CD. August saw his sixth studio album "Southpaw Grammar" a powerful, supple album that has aged very well, but landed out of time and out of shape upon release, backed with an abandoned support tour for David Bowie, and 4 headline Japanese dates. Oh, and then "Sunny" came out on a different label a few weeks later. The whole era was one that that didn't last long and felt over before it even began. 27 January 2025.
 

- posted by Mark @ 4:33 pm 0 comments
Sunday, January 19, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 424 : Random Record Rummage #16. 19 January 2025.


Let's go through some random stuff... a 7", an LP, a CD, a book, a DVD and a BluRay. Warning : unexpectedly high Morrissey quota! 19 January 2025.
 

- posted by Mark @ 4:32 pm 0 comments
Thursday, January 16, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 423 : David Lynch Is Dead ... and we are not. 16 January 2025.


David Lynch, 1946-2025. Every time I open my phone, I live in fear of terrible news that someone I know, or love, or someone whose work and art has changed my world, has died. I know that everyone dies, but I never expected this to happen today. What will survive of us is how we made the world a better place, and how we made the people in our life feel. And David Lynch changed how I saw the world. 16 January 2025.

- posted by Mark @ 4:30 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 422 : The Mission's "Children" album, 1988. 15 January 2025.


The Mission released their second LP - "Children" - in 1988, preceded by the epic Zeppelinesque "Tower of Strength", an album produced by John Paul Jones, and they toured the world in a blizzard of naughty chemicals and booze. The album is a tale of hedonistic excess and success, alongside enormous sales, a second single in "Beyond The Pale", and culminating in an arena tour in the UK. 15 January 2025.
 

- posted by Mark @ 4:28 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, January 08, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 421 : Pink Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" + lot of live albums 1987-1990. 08 January 2025.


Roger Waters called them The Muffins and said "They'll never f__king do it!". And he was wrong. After resigning from the band, the remaining members of Pink Floyd - David and Nick - restarted the band, and created a new album (with lots of help), to wrest back a degree of creativity, and toured the world for three years : resulting in the "Delicate Sound of Thunder", "Live In Venice", and the "Knebworth" live releases, three singles, and the biggest tour in America in 1987. The album was remixed and partially re-recorded as part of 2019's "The Later Years" box set, and standalone releases. 08 January 2025.
 

- posted by Mark @ 4:27 pm 0 comments
Thursday, January 02, 2025
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 420 : Random Record Rummage! 02 January 2025


It's 2025, and that means... well, not very much really. Instead, I pull out some random stuff - a book, a CD, a DVD, a BluRay, a 7" and an LP - from my shelves and talk through them. 02 January 2025. 

- posted by Mark @ 4:26 pm 0 comments
Monday, December 30, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 419 : U2's "Atomic Bomb" box set + "Re-assemble" LP. 30 December 2024.

U2 released their "Atomic Bomb" album 20th anniversary box set last month, in a lavish 5CD (+ doodads, book, art prints etc) edition, as well as a limited edition, standalone coloured vinyl edition of the unreleased offcuts album "How To Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb." I go deep into the box set, contents, the shadow album, missing B-sides, remixes, live audio, and what The Box Set could have on it, but it doesn't [and that is a LOT] - including demos, alternate versions, radio sessions, and live material. 30 December 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:25 pm 0 comments
Sunday, December 29, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 418 : Iron Maiden's "Piece of Mind" 1983. 29 December 2024.


Iron Maiden's fourth album, "Piece Of Mind" cemented the bands classic lineup with Bruce Dickinson as a full writing member, and Nicko McBrain joining the band on drums with a bang. Not my favourite Maiden LP, this was preceded by the first non-Steve Harris single "Flight Of The Icarus", and the lesser charting classic "The Trooper". Every song is about history, or war, or death, or the history of death in the Bible, and it only sold 800,000 copies in the US. Die, with your boots on, or something. 29 December 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:23 pm 0 comments
Thursday, December 26, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 417 : Random Record Rummage on Boxing Day! 26 December 2024.


Another random look through my collection, picked out by unpaid labour again, as a random CD, DVD, 7", LP, and book get picked. But as I talked about the book, I realised I'd already talked about it, I got another one.... 26 December 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:22 pm 0 comments
Monday, December 23, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 416 : The Cure - "Songs Of A Lost World" 2024. 23 Dec 24.


Long touted, but utterly unexpected, The Cure released their 14th studio album - "Songs Of A Lost World" - after a 16 year break, and it's worth the wait. So far, my favourite album of the decade, "Songs Of A Lost World" is a dense, dark exploration of mortality, presenting the nearest The Cure have ever come to post-rock, focusing on the running down of time, the end of relationships - and lives - and life itself on a ball of rock orbiting a huge fire in the sky. Or something. 23 December 2024. (some of the audio is a little off, but I know what I did wrong!)

- posted by Mark @ 4:20 pm 0 comments
Monday, December 09, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 415 : The Guardian Q&A (again?) 09 December 2024


I'm a bit busy on tour the last week and this, so here's a quick, unprepared selection of questions taken from The Guardians weekly Q&A. I may have answered this a very, very long time ago, so if the answers are repetitive it's because I've done this before!

- posted by Mark @ 4:18 pm 0 comments
Saturday, November 30, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 414 : The Stone Roses "The Second Coming" hits 30! 30 November 2024.


30 years ago this week, The Stone Roses finally released their second album, the under-rated and overworked (but generally very good) "Second Coming". They had the world on a plate, and they weren't hungry. They disappeared for 4 years, and they blew it. The world moved on, and nothing was the same when they came back. Reni left the band just 2 weeks before the tour, and Robbie Maddix became their drummer - and found a band completely disorganised and unprepared. Over the next 9 months, the band toured the world, played awful - and amazing - shows and somehow became a band again. And then one day, they weren't! 30 November 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:17 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 412 : Random Record Rummage #13 : 12 November 2024



Still coming back from a period of being poorly, so I can't concentrate on a full 'normal' album overview. Instead, here's some random stuff from my collection selected by unpaid interns! 14 November 2024. 

- posted by Mark @ 4:16 pm 0 comments
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 411 : Random Record Rummage #!12 29 October 2024




Once again, a 14 year old picks out some random stuff from my collection, and I talk about it! 29 October 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:12 pm 0 comments
Sunday, October 13, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 410 : Pulp's "His N' Hers", 1994 and 30 years of Britpop. 13th October 2024.



Pulp's fourth LP - "His N Hers" - was the first time the rest of the world aligned to the band's determined, singular vision, and - after a decade of being gloriously unsuccessful - Pulp rose to visibility. Despite losing out the Mercury Prize to a lesser band, "His N' Hers" is the album people remember, alongside classic, insightful songs about love and British life in an age of bad weather, bad government, and hard economies. Do You Remember The First Time? 13 October 2024. 

- posted by Mark @ 4:11 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, October 02, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 409 : Random Record Rummage! 02 October 2024


Another dig into my archives of crud, using child labour to select a 7", 12"/LP, CD, DVD, Blu Ray and a book. What will we find? Will I be embarrassed by any of it? And what tangents shall I drift off into? These episodes take no preparation and if I'm using all my brain power on something else, are really fun for me. And hopefully you! 02 October 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:08 pm 0 comments
Thursday, September 26, 2024
 
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep 408 : Iron Maiden's "Number Of The Beast". 26 September 2024.


43 years ago today Bruce Dickinson joined Iron Maiden, and nothing was ever the same. Paul Di'Anno was sacked, and suddenly Maiden hit Mach 2 : evolving from into Stadium Metal, with a new found focus on mythology, long, dense songs, and operatic, wide vocals. Iron Maiden became a band they never could have been before, making easily the best album of their career (so far), touring like dogs, and starting to cement who they were going to become. Clive Burr - on drums - started to show signs of Multiple Sclerosis, a disease I have a lot of experience of. 26 September 2024.

- posted by Mark @ 4:06 pm 0 comments

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