Being for the benefit of Prudence Farrow

Rock 'n' Roll? Nah, it's jazz

I shudder think how many times Joe Public has crossed that bloody zebra on Abbey Road in an effort to recreate the Beatles photoshoot from 1969; we've all done it, we've all traipsed down to St. John's Wood and annoyed cabbies & bus drivers alike - I know I have. Maybe jazz guitarist Al Di Meola has too, I don't know. Maybe I should ask him. What I do know is that when he brought out a collection of Beatles instrumentals a couple of years ago - Across the Universe - he was channeling his inner John Lennon in more ways than one. Di Meola's virtuosity on the fretboard is matched only by the pose he strikes on the album cover (above). I'm a strong believer that  every great album has to have equally great artwork. That's not negotiable. I will always deduct marks for any album whose cover is suboptimal. Harsh? Maybe. But them's the rules. 

Al Di Meola - Dear Prudence (2020)

Album *****

Artwork *****

Can't you read?

Apparently 40% of UK adults haven't read a book in the last year. And I can believe it. I travel on buses and trains a fair bit and can see that having your head stuck in a book has been overtaken by doom scrolling. It's sad, but what are you gonna do? I've always had the reading bug. It's never left me. I still remember making the leap from junior fiction to adult fiction. I'd been getting my fix down at the local lending library on stuff like The Hardy Boys mystery stories before dipping my toe into Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and the Fontana Ghost Stories. It wasn't long after that I was topping up my library intake with anything (and I mean anything) I could get hold of from secondhand bookshops, relatives' bookshelves, flea markets etc.

I can remember devouring the Callan novels (c.1974) by James Mitchell. It had been a TV series (and a film, I think) in the late 60s/early 70s but I was always tucked up in bed when it came on; it opened up another world - a world of espionage, exotic locations (well, East Germany), spies & professional hit-men. I was hooked. 

It's only recently I've got around to watching the DVDs and, I've got to say, it's held up remarkably well. Edward Woodward is nothing short of brilliant and his stooge, Lonely, (played by Russell Hunter) is like something out of Samuel Beckett.

Here's the intro/theme music. I remember it, of course, but it must have been through watching  late night Channel 4 reruns many years later.

...

Edward Woodward (1930-2009)

Russell Hunter (1925-2004)

Egg-bound

My love of eggs is no secret. And since I've had more time on my hands just lately I'm able to spend longer over breakfast than usual. As you can imagine, eggs loom large. Poached, scrambled, boiled (with soldiers), eggs benedict, egg shakshuka, are constantly rotated. I'm even buying vintage eggcups online such is my obsession with the oeuf. (I blame Matt in The Abdication for putting me onto Omelegg last time we were in Amsterdam). That and the amazing CackleBean eggs Lucy sells in Kraft Werks (the Pantone reference for the colour of their yokes hasn't even been invented yet).

Couple all this activity with another culinary infatuation of mine - curry - and it's no surprise that egg and tomato curries are getting a lot of bandwidth currently in the Medd kitchen. Easy to prepare, easy to cook - what's not to like? While I've got you, here's another egg related question...

Dean Martin & Helen O'Connell - How D'ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning? (1951)

49 not out

Forty-nine is a funny number. You can see why, can't you? Well, it's odd for a start; all odd numbers are funny. And it's not quite 50. It'd like to be 50, a half century, a bullseye. It just didn't quite make it. I'll be interested to see how many 49s we get in November's Photo Challenge.

I mention it because this year marks the 49th anniversary of the release of Elvis Costello's debut album My Aim is True. And because the artist formerly known as Declan MacManus isn't keen on significant birthdays he's strongarmed his record company into going early and unleashing on the record buying public an all singing all dancing edition of this rather splendid platter, complete with countless versions, outtakes and demos (many previously unheard), and enough reading matter and associated photographs to keep you going till Christmas. In fact, why don't I let the man himself tell you all about it...

Back in 2022, not long after Covid, when I resurrected Vinyl Night - listening to albums in full - we put Costello's tour de force through its paces and it got a terrific reaction; igniting all sorts of memories. The fact that we cranked it up to 11 didn't do any harm either. I've thought recently about bringing Vinyl Night back and, if I do, this is definitely coming back out to play. 

Andy Burnham cometh

Burnel v Burnham

In 1978 when the Stranglers were labouring away in the studio recording what would become their Black and White album, J.J. Burnel - the band's bass player and resident motorbikin'/ Karate expert - stayed on in the studio while the rest of the band went for a well deserved pint and started recording a few more tunes he'd been holding back. These Can influenced tracks started life on a budget beatbox whereupon Burnel would layer more instruments and before you know it he'd got an album's worth. The resulting long player Euroman Cometh saw the light of day the following year where it reached the dizzy heights of #40 in the album charts. Still, not bad for a collection of dirges and drones knocked up on a basic drum machine. It's got a charm all its own (something that can't always be said about the erratic character that made it). Do the European, in particular, whilst not only very much on point (thank you, Andy Burnham) has, I think, stood the test of time remarkably well.

J.J. Burnel - Do the European (1979)

Blonde on the Tracks

I'm sure many of you of in this esteemed parish will be aware that Robyn Hitchcock has a new album out at the moment. It's called The Confuser and is available, I assume, in all good record stores (and maybe some that don't quite cut the mustard). The album's title is a direct reference to the ongoing doppelgänger thing that he and Nick Lowe have got going on - they are, apparently, forever being mistaken for one another (oh, the weight we grey haired men of a certain age carry around with us); anyway, Nick Lowe's third album in his Brentford Trilogy was called The Convincer and Hitchcock's partner, Emma Swift, has dubbed her other half The Confuser. Geddit? 

Swift herself is no slouch either. Her critically acclaimed 2020 album Blonde on the Tracks containing eight choice Bob Dylan cuts is really rather good. 

Emma Swift - Simple Twist of Fate (2020) [no prizes for spotting the polka dots!]

Back of the net!

Remember those 'Focus On...' Q&As they'd get 70s footballers to do in Shoot magazine? (I guess you have to be of a certain vintage.) In the course of these mild interrogations we'd learn that nothing excites their palette more than eating steak and chips whilst listening to a bit of Tom Jones on the stereogram. Period kitsch? Yes, but so much more than that. They're mini time capsules that shine a light into a world that's sadly long gone. Someone who understand this - probably even better than me - is my very good friend Steve.

NAME

Steve 'Brasso' Brassington

PLACE OF BIRTH

Coventry 

HEIGHT

6 ft.

WEIGHT

15 stone 

MARRIED

Yes, to Jackie 

CHILDREN

Two - Shane & Faye 

CAR

Austin Ambassador Y reg. 

FAVOURITE PLAYER

Tommy Hutchison. Followed by Stan Bowles and Alan Hudson 

FAVOURITE CLUB

Blackpool

MOSRT MEMORABLE GAME

Inter v AC Milan at the San Siro in 1997 - I've never experienced anything quite like it. 

FAVOURITE COUNTRY VISITED

Canada 

FAVOURITE FOOD

Chicken Madras

MISCELLANEOUS LIKES

Spending the afternoon in a proper pub talking about 70s music and 70s football. That’ll do me!

DISLIKES

The disappearance of characters and lack of spontaneity in the modern game 

FAVOURITE TV SHOW

Slow Horses  

FAVOURITE FILM

MC5 - A True Testimonial 

FAVOURITE GROUP/ARTIST

Can’t name one, and could change on any given day, but will go with three today: MC5, Love, and the Cramps

WHO WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO MEET?

Gary Oldman. And Muhammad Ali (that’s compulsory, right?)

King Eric

It matters not a jot if you're red or blue, United or City, Oasis or Blur. Or, indeed, none of the above. Like I say, that's not what this is all about. Please indulge me: if you can spare 57 seconds out of your busy schedule then I urge, nay, beseech you to listen to this Liam Gallagher story about Eric Cantona - you'll be thanking me later. Upon getting Oasis back together Noel Gallagher said he'd forgotten just how funny his brother was. So had I.

Rio Grande

I may have mentioned before my love of all thing philatelic. Some of my stamps and first day covers sit in numerous albums collecting dust, others are in dinky little frames dotted all over the house. Many more exist merely as torn off envelopes with said stamp still attached to them (removing them being a job for another day; there's always another day). I mentioned first day covers - will the new Duran Duran commemorative issue be gaining admittance to Medd Towers I hear you ask? Er, no. Whilst I do have a number of musically themed specimens, I draw the line at Le Bon and his mates. Nothing personal, Simon. But it all just looks a bit tacky to me. A bit gawdy; I'll let you join the dots...

However, I will leave you with the magnificent Grade II listed Art Deco Cinema situated opposite my hotel in Dalston E8 a couple of weeks ago. I'd seen countless photographs of her but never in the flesh. Her name is Rio.

Get your coat on

Ian Prowse and Amsterdam , The Bodega, 2 October 2026

Sometimes I'll hear a line in a song that will stop me in my tracks; after which it'll then be committed to memory where it's then (more often than not) afforded mantra status. There's a couplet in Stand Your Ground, taken from Ian Prowse's joyous new album, No Names, that resonates with me every time I hear it. To the point that I'll be making it a new resolution.

If there's a choice to be made of staying in or going out

Then get your coat on, hit the town...

At a time in my life when it could be quite easy to say no and not do something, I hear this as a clarion call to reach out. Make that phone call. Meet that friend. Go to that gig. You're a long time dead. I know, I'm a little ray of fucking sunshine aren't I?

Ian Prowse - Stand Your Ground (2026)

Ian Prowse · Stand Your Ground

A tale of two cities

I feel proud to be associated with the two cities that between them host the oldest and largest travelling funfairs in Europe, namely Nottingham Goose Fair and Hull Fair. They've been in existence since the late 13th Century and now will regularly pull in over half a million punters. After leaving Nottingham at the end of the first week in October the caravans literally roll from one to the other, pitching up at Walton Street in Hull where they do it all over again. These days I just pop along for an hour to take some snaps and, most importantly, have my annual fix of the world famous mushy peas. Don't judge me.

Guitar porn

Johnny Marr recently trousered a cool £3.65M after selling 80 of his iconic guitars plus associated amplifiers and memorabilia. The 111 lots massively exceeded Christie's initial guide price of £1.2M. And it won't surprise you to learn that Marr donated the entire proceeds of 31 selective lots to the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and the National Autistic Society; showing yet again what an all round good egg he is. Here's Johnny with his old friend Noel Gallagher previewing the sale a couple of days before his beloved collection - including a Cherry Red Gibson ES-355 and 1982 Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo (both used by Marr when writing and recording with the Smiths) - went under the hammer.