Killing Fascists: Billy Bragg Vol 1

I bought the Billy Bragg box set- first four albums plus four bonus discs, plus two dvds, plus a wee book, plus a nice box, all for 30 bucks. Until yesterday I owned exactly none of Billy Bragg's stuff, but I'd always liked him, as does everybody. They'd been playing lots of it on the radio recently, and I'd liked everything I'd heard. He is, as it turns out, a fantastic genius of early-Darnielle stature. Absolute magic- please enjoy the fabulous first song off the first EP, The Milkman of Human Kindness.

Which sent me back to Kirsty MacColl's version of New England. I can't listen to Kirsty MacColl without feeling so sad, but these are undeniably four glorious moments of pop music.

Finally, check out a new Death Cab video here, and the excellent new video from Morrissey here (this one takes a while to load, but it's worth it).

Burnished, Undarkened- Death Cab for Cutie, Glasgow Barrowlands, 4/3/06

Has ever the Glasgow Barrowlands (and the have been some unbelievable nights in that place) seemed such a happy room? The Flaming Lips can do this, and the Roses could do it, and Death Cab can do it- just by walking into a room, they make everyone in it happy.

It was sparkling and aglow- Marching Bands of Manhattan, The New Year, Soul Meets Body and Title and Registration were the standouts: Plans is essential listening if you want to be in on music now, and this wee band are becoming central to more and more people's musical landscape. The performance was as perfect as anything we've heard, but it was the smiles, the appreciation that made it such a night as it was, from the top, all the way down...