Andrew Thompson
@antimacassar.bsky.social
Music lover, Cardiff dweller, provisional licence poet, cackhanded sketcher. A fondness for both Arsenal and Swindon Town. On a whisky journey. MDANT.
I’d forgotten this album. I loved it at the time.
February 9, 2026 at 7:06 PM
I’d forgotten this album. I loved it at the time.
Am I right in thinking that the quotation marks cover is something of a rarity?
February 8, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Am I right in thinking that the quotation marks cover is something of a rarity?
Johnny Marr maybe?
February 8, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Johnny Marr maybe?
Essential is the word - especially for those of us who didn’t live in London. Great photo…I love the light of it.
February 8, 2026 at 9:41 AM
Essential is the word - especially for those of us who didn’t live in London. Great photo…I love the light of it.
The woman looks like she stepped out of a feature in The Face in 1983 who sang in a band that were going to be huge and made one single on London records and then disappeared forever. But twenty years earlier.
February 8, 2026 at 9:35 AM
The woman looks like she stepped out of a feature in The Face in 1983 who sang in a band that were going to be huge and made one single on London records and then disappeared forever. But twenty years earlier.
He’s only as good as the last great thing he did.
February 8, 2026 at 12:16 AM
He’s only as good as the last great thing he did.
I mean, who amongst us, hasn’t at some point…
February 3, 2026 at 10:58 PM
I mean, who amongst us, hasn’t at some point…
Not even his cult members actually believe this.
February 3, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Not even his cult members actually believe this.
Great piece btw 👍🏻
February 3, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Great piece btw 👍🏻
Back in 1980 my brother was an art student at Bath Academy of Art and he invited me up to see a band he’d designed a poster for. What a wild, hypnotic, groovy racket they made, and what a unique figure Ted Milton cut. Never imagined I’d be reading about Ted Milton and Blurt 46 years later. But I am.
February 3, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Back in 1980 my brother was an art student at Bath Academy of Art and he invited me up to see a band he’d designed a poster for. What a wild, hypnotic, groovy racket they made, and what a unique figure Ted Milton cut. Never imagined I’d be reading about Ted Milton and Blurt 46 years later. But I am.
Well there wasn’t much luck in growing up in and around Swindon otherwise
January 28, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Well there wasn’t much luck in growing up in and around Swindon otherwise
It was a matinee show at the Swindon Affair, a club owned by the band’s then manager. They did a set for the, ahem, ‘kids’, and photographer Dennis Morris captured them. There were only about 20-30 of us there. Late 1977…my first ever gig, and first of four seeing XTC.
January 28, 2026 at 9:26 PM
It was a matinee show at the Swindon Affair, a club owned by the band’s then manager. They did a set for the, ahem, ‘kids’, and photographer Dennis Morris captured them. There were only about 20-30 of us there. Late 1977…my first ever gig, and first of four seeing XTC.
Yep…I am fairly certain that’s the back of my adolescent head.
January 28, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Yep…I am fairly certain that’s the back of my adolescent head.
It’s extraordinary how a taste of bigotry, especially among people who have previously been at the other end of the political spectrum, has this snowball effect. They ditch all previous views and instincts and become utterly abhorrent. Linehan though…WTF?
January 27, 2026 at 2:16 PM
It’s extraordinary how a taste of bigotry, especially among people who have previously been at the other end of the political spectrum, has this snowball effect. They ditch all previous views and instincts and become utterly abhorrent. Linehan though…WTF?
I don’t know if you’d agree with this, and I love the album too, but I always think Burn the Witch sits uneasily on it. It’s not that I don’t like the song, it’s just at odds with everything else on it.
January 27, 2026 at 8:56 AM
I don’t know if you’d agree with this, and I love the album too, but I always think Burn the Witch sits uneasily on it. It’s not that I don’t like the song, it’s just at odds with everything else on it.
I am looking at my own vinyl copy from the chair I am currently sat in, as it’s the first alphabetically in my collection. I agree…it’s perfect.
January 24, 2026 at 6:45 PM
I am looking at my own vinyl copy from the chair I am currently sat in, as it’s the first alphabetically in my collection. I agree…it’s perfect.
Or one bullshitting adult who doubtless prefaces this story with ‘I kid you not’ when he tells it.
January 22, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Or one bullshitting adult who doubtless prefaces this story with ‘I kid you not’ when he tells it.
Hejira was the album that opened up Joni Mitchell’s music for me and those late 60s and 70s records are wonderful. I still await my Bob Dylan epiphany.
January 12, 2026 at 5:13 PM
Hejira was the album that opened up Joni Mitchell’s music for me and those late 60s and 70s records are wonderful. I still await my Bob Dylan epiphany.
A beautiful return, wasn’t it? Felt like he was seeking a new style and a new audience.
January 12, 2026 at 11:36 AM
A beautiful return, wasn’t it? Felt like he was seeking a new style and a new audience.
Lots of people wanted to frame it as the Bohemian Rhapsody of our times, didn’t they? Never having been a fan of Queen, I wasn’t keen on the comparison.
January 11, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Lots of people wanted to frame it as the Bohemian Rhapsody of our times, didn’t they? Never having been a fan of Queen, I wasn’t keen on the comparison.
It’s a direct lift from (I think) A Taste of Honey. It’s delivered with bravado and cheek in the film.
January 11, 2026 at 8:27 AM
It’s a direct lift from (I think) A Taste of Honey. It’s delivered with bravado and cheek in the film.
The ‘J Rotten’s new band’ headline caught my eye - the inclusion of the ‘J’ to avoid confusion with any other Rotten.
January 11, 2026 at 7:41 AM
The ‘J Rotten’s new band’ headline caught my eye - the inclusion of the ‘J’ to avoid confusion with any other Rotten.