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Charles Donovan

@pretentiousmuck.bsky.social

2.9K followers 1.3K following 580 posts

Writing, editing, subediting since 1994. Lifelong Londoner. My favourite thing: singer/songwriters & rare groove. Living with cauda equina syndrome, incomplete paraplegia, spinal stim. I commission stories for Diggin’ For Gold (Record Collector). 🏳️‍🌈

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Nov 14

As good an introduction as any, from earlier this year…

A moment that changed me: I was told the love of my life was going to die

I’d known for years that my beloved boyfriend Miguel was HIV positive – but until that pivotal conversation, I thought he would survive

www.theguardian.com

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 14h

And as lovely as it is to hear her, this one has very modern-day brickwalled mastering. Her 2005 album, Still Together, had lovely old-school mastering with softs and louds and everything in between. Dynamics! The difference in terms of ear fatigue is extraordinary.

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 14h

Mary Rand (aka McCreary, aka Russell, aka Bridges - I swear that every time proper public recognition has had this talented woman in its sights, she has changed her identity and unwittingly eluded it) going from tablet to DAC to amplifier. Her 2015, streaming-only album.

Album cover on a tablet screen. The album is Love & Praise by Mary Rand. The cover is a portrait, possibly in felt tip, of the artist.

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 1d

For a moment, I thought the album was called Timmy’s Hamburgers

Album cover: Greg Quill/The Outlaw’s Reply (1975, Festival). The cover is what looks like a staged street at night, complete with mist/smoke and a large moon. A woman loiters in a doorway.

Reposted by Charles Donovan

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 3d

Polanski expertly dismantling the "rich people will move if we tax them" narrative, while Denham nimbly demonstrates how very patriotic such people are.

Eddie Burfi @eddieburfi.bsky.social · 3d

Former Head of Comms for the IEA, Annabel Denham, says the super rich will leave if we have a wealth tax.

Yes, the very same IEA that brought us Liz Truss’ disastrous mini budget. 🤦🏽‍♂️

Green Party leader Zack Polanski explains that their taxable assets can’t leave. #bbcqt

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 2d

Wow. Had no idea there was still a market for reel to reels

Reel-to-Reel Rhino - Official Store

Reel-to-Reel - Browse the vast selection of products available at Rhino - Official Store.

store.rhino.com

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Reposted by Charles Donovan

ABBA Omnibus @abbaomnibus.bsky.social · Aug 19

New blog post: questions & answers about ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972-1982 - Second Revised and Updated Edition

abbaomnibus.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/a...

ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972-1982 – Q&A

Carl Magnus Palm has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new, second revised edition of his fan favourite book ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972-1982. I recently posed some questi…

abbaomnibus.wordpress.com

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 11d

11 years. 21 years since my first attempt, but today it’s 11 years of putting down alcohol and other grownup refreshments. I’m certainly not a finger-wagger or puritan - I’m just someone who seemingly couldn’t stop or moderate. It got to the point of a 40-ft fall in 2012. I’m lucky to be here.

Dalbello - Eleven (Official Video) - HQ

YouTube video by forgotten realms

youtu.be

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 15d

Melissa Manchester - "Just You and I" LIVE 1975

YouTube video by Antony W.P.

youtu.be

Reposted by Charles Donovan

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 20d

OLIVER: “In Russia, when Putin rose to power, TV satirists were among his first targets… Putin was driven to madness by how he was mocked on a puppet show… the lesson is it’s not safe to let one show slide because there are currently others.”

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Reposted by Charles Donovan

Simon Price @simonprice.bsky.social · Sep 8

I honestly believe everyone needs to stop and consider how far @suedehq.bsky.social have raised the bar for older bands in their second existence. Antidepressants is a 10/10, and so were their three albums before it. Suede sound like they're winding UP, not down. And you won't see a better live act.

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 26d

And utterly loathsome characters, without exception, and not in the fun White Lotus way

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 26d

Among my problems with Your Friends & Neighbours (Apple) - the writers seem to have given every character the same voice. They all speak in slick little bons mots, arch, self-satisfied witticisms, wisecracks etc. Instead of hearing a diverse array of characters, we’re hearing the writer(s).

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · 26d

At Pamela Polland’s gig, last week.

Singer/songwriter Pamela Polland, wearing a black dress and pink shawl

Reposted by Charles Donovan

HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · Sep 12

Tommy Robinson and his friends at Rebel News couldn’t resist a final grift before his big rally on September 13th.
50 of his most ‘devoted’ followers are paying up to £4,099 for what looks like the worst school trip ever, complete with museums and allocated leisure time.

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Reposted by Charles Donovan

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · Sep 7

Lucy Connolly was convicted of inciting racial hatred, and her tweet was part of the tinder that lit violence, intimidation, looting, and thuggery across England last year.

The fact Reform conference gave her a standing ovation says everything about that movement.

bylinetimes.com/2025/08/27/l...

The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy

The right is desperately seeking to make a martyr out of Lucy Connolly in order to distract from the real victims of the hate she helped to spread, argues Otto English

bylinetimes.com

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Sep 4

It’s out today! Record Collector Magazine Presents The Rolling Stones: Domination (1970-1979). I will continue posting about the individual pieces day by day, but today please join me (this is beginning to sound like a sermon) in looking at the whole thing via a little glimpse of the Contents page.

Contents page of RC’s Stones 70s special.

Front cover of Record Collector’s Rolling Stones 70s special. Illustrated by a mid-70s black-and-white shot of the group.

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 31

Good of him to point out that he’s no “vangogh”. Without that remark, I might well have mistaken him for a talented post-impressionist from the 1800s.

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

Ugh. The sadistic enjoyment of another’s discomfort. Power. Just disgusting really.

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

It is shocking. I cannot imagine routinely bringing that sort of energy/attitude to work interactions. Those people must be widely despised.

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

But your phlebotomist sounds quite knowingly unpleasant!

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

It’s so prevalent! I try to tell myself that some of them are just harried and probably unaware of what an ordeal they put us through!

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

I tried to manage it with one of the few available techniques I have - I smothered them in politeness, responding to everything with quite over-stated gratitude, as if they were doing me the most extraordinary kindness rather than simply discharging their responsibilities.

Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

It awakens something in me that means I either stutter and feel meek or go too far in the other direction by sounding strident and defensive. I’ve just experienced it with a call to a cab company. The feeling’s quite intense - it’s as if I’m about to be shouted at.

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

There’s a certain type of fierceness I’ve never really managed to get used to. It’s the kind you sometimes encounter at the GP reception - or any other kind of gate-keeping position.

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Charles Donovan @pretentiousmuck.bsky.social · Aug 30

Multicoloured sky, London, 1990s - taken by my father

A sky at sunset, orange at the bottom and then pale purple higher up. There are wispy arrangements of clouds - and a horizon in silhouette at the bottom.