THOUGHTS ABOUT MY RECENT TRIP TO LONDON:
















I had an amazing eight days in London England, the highlight being a cool one off concert by Howard Jones at the Indig02 where he played his first two albums 'Human's Lib' and 'Dream Into Action' in their entirety (see my review below). I also managed to see Imogen Heap debut her score to a nature film and concert at The Royal Albert Hall (amazing venue) as well as seeing O.M.D. at the Hammersmith Apollo which was fun (met Paul Humphreys at the after show party which was cool).

I got to spend time with some of my U.K. family which was great and also looked around the fantastic city of London and also had a few super meals at Wagamama's. Had fun looking for cds, especially at the four locations of Music & Video Exchange that seem to still be thriving while many similar used cds stores have closed up shop. Below is a list of a few highlights and great cd buys I experienced on my trip:

Ultimate CD acquired: The new limited edition box set from Howard Jones of the digitally remastered 'Human's Lib' and 'Dream Into Action' albums with bonus disc of live material. I managed to get the set numbered 001 out of a 1000. I also got it signed in silver pen by Howard Jones, Rupert Hine, Stephen W. Tayler, Robbie Bronnimann, Steg and Jed Hoile (bonus points to you if you know the significance of each of these people in the production and release of this box set).

Best gift cd: The talented DJ and label executive Mark Jones from the cool Wall Of Sound label (who recently signed The Human League) gave me the 8 mix promo cd for the amazing new Penguin Prison single 'Golden Train'. Runner up goes to the Duncan Sheik 'Covers 80's' 5 track cd that he sold on his recent tour of the U.K., given to me by the always classy Glenn Kelly who runs Howard Jones' website.

Best cd deals: I picked up The Cure's 3 cd limited edition set of 'Disintegration' for 1 pound, along with the 2 cd version of Frankmusik's 'Complete Me' release for 50p. Both in excellent condition and found at a Salvation Army Charity store (also got the latest Courteneers cd Falcon (2 disc version) for a pound at the same shop).

Coolest rarity cd found: A two track early promo cd from Frankmusik that contains the songs 'In Step' and 'Done Done'. Also got neat rarities from Howard Jones (VIP cd from the concert), Starsmith, Bright Light Bright Light, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Veto Silver, and Leni Ward.

Only regret: Not going to see Fenech-Soler on the final stop of their U.K. tour at Heaven on Nov. 10th. This was going to be a late night and I had an early flight the next day so I decided against going.
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VARIOUS BITS AND PIECES:


















Well where to start, I guess some thoughts on this week's MTV Music Video Awards:
1. The host was horrible, she shouldn't be allowed on TV let alone have her own talk show.
2. Pity most of the performances where lip-synched with a snippet of live microphone here and there.
3. Florence and the Machine were okay, I guess I just don't really like the song (at least she appeared to sing live).
4. I thought Curt Smith from Tears For Fears had the best Tweet about the show, it read:
"VMA's psych 101 - interesting that Taylor Swift wrote a forgiving song about @KanyeWest and @KanyeWest wrote a song about @KanyeWest also :)"

Really looking forward to the new Human League album. The title of the ninth studio album and new single from synthpop legends will be revealed on Monday September 20th.

Just came across a cool synthpop band out of the U.K. called Tenek. The duo has just released a new cd titled "On The Wire" and I'm really enjoying it and featured three songs from the album on my radio show this week.

I've been a big fan of Starsmith and a lot of the remixes he has done, and his song "Love In Two" was pretty good. I have to say his new single "Give Me A Break" just isn't that great, and if that is the direction he's going in I likely won't be buying his debut cd, pity.

Alphaville are back with a new single "I Die For You Today" and an album titled "Catching Rays On Giant" due out October 22nd.
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