Matt Laycock

Damn…

Whoever else is in Simply Red was my first thought. Though I suspect they might just be Hucknell plus session men now, rather than any real coherent band…

One album cover is a picture of one of the artists driving people into the sea, and the other one is a picture of the artist floating in a body of water (presumably after being driven into it trying to get away from the other artist).

I think Spacemen 3 would benefit from a really tight 10-12 track best of (there are tracks I’d rescue from this and Perfect Prescription).

There might even be one but I own each of the records so have never bothered working out whether it exists.

3 hours ~is~ impressive. It’s one of those things where, as a man of means, he doesn’t need to work a 9-5 and can put in all the time to train for it, if he really wanted it. He picked the right race too; Berlin is very flat.

But as I noted earlier, I know plenty who trained hard and didn’t get it.

I can’t help you if you think Stuart Murdoch is more well known than Harry Styles!

Luis Enrique is a potentially good shout. Button, I think not.

It’s fine. Worth a pick.

Most impressive thing he’s done recently is run a sub-3 hour marathon. He’s probably the most famous person to do that, given the low profile of distance athletes/his very high profile.

I know really athletically fit people who trained hard who aimed for sub-3 and failed.

🤨

Have been reminded that the video for Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” rests on the, frankly fantastical, premise that Beyoncé (and the rest of DC to be fair) is a hairdresser.

Picked this one - will HM the other.

Hang on - there’s a Metric and a Metrik in the #TheTwen2ie5 playlists?

Girl, so confusing…

BOB is 20+ years old and is still too low.

Not that I know anything about NM, and also not to defend all the comments by any means (there was quite a lot of rockist rubbish down there), but I did learn stuff about sales tactics in other media and what not, so that was useful.

I had a look at the comments at the bottom of the article (unusually, never venture BTL not applicable here - thought there were some interesting perspectives down there this time) and they made mention of this in comics.

As someone who never got into comics, I was wide eyed at some of the tactics.

Also, given the got to catch them all nature of the multi-releases, thought your mention of Pokémon apposite at the top of this thread.

When I read this, I learned more about the multi-issue thing to get more sales - and thought “like multiple remixes of Two Tribes? Or the multi-format trick Iron Maiden pulled to get a number one?”

Depending greed is defined, the remixes of TT to lock up #1 an example of good art from greed imo.

It’s either that or they’re advancing on him to take him to the Wickerman that is out of shot.

And someone was saying the other week that critics couldn’t be mean anymore.

Though, without having heard the record in question, I suppose there’s a question here re: accuracy versus meanness that needs investigating.

Bryan Ferry is a big old Tory. Surprisingly I can put this to one side when listening to him battering through the Everly Brothers, simpering in some wine bar or wittering on about blow up dolls in Every Dream Home…

There are obviously of plenty of other examples.

One day, I am going to make the time to go to Ostend to do the Marvin Gaye tour.

www.visitoostende.be/en/marvingaye

I’ll probably manage this before I go to Sun Studios, The Grand Ole Opry, Graceland or Paisley Park.

If only we knew what the answer was going to be…

Guy is just hitting his stride 14 albums in.

There’s shit loads of musicians that should have their copies of Nashville Skyline and Harvest forcibly removed from their possession.

A lot depends on the nature of the conversation obvs. A band selling out US stadia they couldn’t when on their first go-around, must be inspiring a conversation in the USA with normies (you don’t sell those venues out without them). But that convo is “wanna go?” Not a never ending online discourse.

Vylan and Kneecap at Glastonbury.

No one needs to know my thoughts on the substance of what has been released. I will say 7 albums in a little under 8 years, plus 4 more re-recordings is an admirable rate. 60s-esque. Prince in the 80s type rate (factoring in all the stuff that got stashed in the vault).

Hmm. Maybe it’s one to monitor and work out whether it’s better to HM now or save for 10 at a later (and potentially less competitive) date.-

My reading of the rules is that, as long as it doesn’t qualify for the final stage this time around, double dipping from this challenge is OK in the 2026 challenge but Arron will doubtless be able to clarify.

Hopefully it gains some traction now though and doesn’t need to be a discussion.

One of the worst things about putting my list together and sending it in advance was this getting released after I had done it.

Suffice it to say, it’s getting an HM from me and if it doesn’t qualify for the final stage via this challenge, odds are I’ll be putting it forward in #Twen2y26 per rule 8