Monday, December 20, 2010

Monorail Poll 2010, part 2


The results of this year’s Monorail Music albums poll have now been added to the comments of this post, many thanks to SP for that. If you prefer there is also a pdf, to print out and put up on your wall. Or you could just go and look at the one in the shop, not forgetting to buy lots of records while you’re there.

Pictured above: Dep and David Quantick on BBC 2’s Review Show last Friday.

4 comments:

SP said...

I have to say, David Quantick was very polite and upright, although his music outlook is extremely jaded and given up. I'm sure he's not the sort of guy to turn down a tv slot but he looked utterly blank confronted with new records and for the purposes of the piece brought Pulp and Kraftwerk reissues to the foreground like history's all that's left for a record shop like ours. There's a poignant moment where he inadvertently, and cluelessly reveals a Liminanas cd from behind one of his 'props', and of course has no idea what it is. Oblivious to the irony he then bought a 'Songs the Cramps Taught Us' cd. Lady Gaga was shipped in from the local HMV; and she is very HMV.

The whole Simon Cowell thing was a depressing divergence that a good editor should have reigned in. Morley was right, Captain Beefheart should have been the starting point, not Simon Cowell. I will always love Paul Morley and his mad music passion over a slightly humorous jack of all trades like Quantick. I really like The Review Show and am glad that it goes out from Glasgow but watching the piece back I couldn't help but feel we'd conspired in something that is the exact opposite of what we all feel. Long live Monorail and down with this sort of thing.

Chris said...

One of my favourite things is going into Monorail and having too many things to choose from; one of my least, going in and feeling utterly blank, plonking for re-issues. So I can understand his unease, but that it should be given airtime on an otherwise serious arts programme is another thing entirely. 'The Review Show' and 'Front Row' both have this odd attitude to pop - they can't ignore it because they are licence fee funded and it is there, but they treat it like a Newsround '...and finally' item. Unless it's Leonard Cohen, because Mark Lawson is a fan.

I thought Morley's point about music not having a destination was good. Making it is no longer about getting on 'Top of the Pops' or the cover of the NME - no longer about a mass audience at all, really. And while this doesn't mean lots of good music isn't being made, it makes it almost impossible for a song now to be either iconic or iconoclastic. But maybe there are better things it can be. Keep it coming, in any case.

brogues said...

I got a bit over-excited when Quantick uncovered that Liminanas cd! It was great to see Dep on the telly, too, but much as I love Morley, he hasn't convinced me to give These New Puritans another listen.

Chris said...

You had to be quick to spot it, but it was definitely there! I thought it was odd that there was a different CD on top.

On a slight tangent, I just found (via Momus' blog) some Directorsound videos:

http://www.tonaserenad.com/index.php?id=18

Happy Christmas all.

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