First listens

Snakes and Arrows, Rush's 157th (approx.) studio album and their second original release in, err, 11 years, comes out next week. Having heard some snippets it does sound like they've gone for it again and we'll be pleasantly suprised that this trio of 50-odd year olds, 30 odd years on (is there another band who has been together for so long with the same line up?) can pull another gem of a cd out of their collective hat. Mind you, the last one (Vapour Trails in 2002) was a big suprise in that it was actually made at all, and then subsequently that it rocked like a bastard. Unfortunately VT has not 'matured' in the way many of their previous albums have. This is mainly to do with it's ProTools recording approach and the 'everything louder than everything else' mastering resulting, in it all just being way too loud and a bit harsh to listen to all the way through. Some great songs on it though. This new one sounds a belter so I am very much looking forward to my package from Play.com arriving Monday. Open CD; insert in stereo; play LOUD and sit back and enjoy whilst taking in meaningful artwork and intelligent lyrics. The first listen to a new Rush album is a rare and precious thing.

In other news it's been all go of late. 3 weekends on the trot with the kids, including a 6 day stint over Easter meant I didn't surface for the best part of a month, but I got a 'me' weekend the one just gone. Spent the Saturday being a tourist in Liverpool with Rach and Rich Eatough, who was up from Reading for the weekend. (He is currently hobbling boy having pranged his ankle at Easter coming off his bike.) It was a top day out going round the old town and Liverpool city is currently being massively transformed - almost beyond recognition. There's so much construction going on it's ridiclous. 2007: City of cranes.... 2008: City of European Culture. Still, the old pub haunts are still there, hidden round the corners from shiny office blocks and funky inner city living or huddled between enormous new retail opportunities and/or wine/coffee bars . It makes for great fun seeking out the old stuff in amongst all the new. It's all still there - if you know where to look and I do think that the old and the new are sitting alongside each other in the city really rather well to be honest, and it's all looking very, very good over there. Anyhow, we did both catherdrals and finished off with a trip on the ferry to make it a proper Liverpool day out.

Holly was 6 this week. SIX! Christ, time flies a bit like a mad whizzy flying thing, eh? I have been Rush 'fan' now for 28 years. Now THAT is scary.