Last night Owen accompanied me to Heaven (first time I have been there since the '90s!) to make sure I didn't self-combust... 'cos I was going to be seeing my Pop heroes Alphabeat for the 2nd time live!

Anders SG, Stine, Anders B, Rasmus, Anders R and Troels saved my sanity while I was working in Borehamwood so many times - their debut album THIS IS ALPHABEAT could shake me from the deepest depression with it's wonderful set of classic, joyous pop songs so they collectively have a special place on my heart. It was great to see the place sold out and there seemed to be a good vibe happening.

We got through the supporting act Ou Est Le Swimming Pool with no major excitement. All the songs kinda sounded like half-baked 70s & 80s synth-pop - I swear to God one of the them used the synth line for DO YOU THINK I'M SEXY? Still the audience seemed to find something in them - and Alphabeat like them so I'll leave it there.

We then shuffled to a better sightline - why are people so bloody tall these days? - we listened to the latest Alphabeat mixtape - which included Barry White, DeeLite, Black Box and the late 1970's Supremes! - and I got more and more nervous. Where were they? They were late on stage and I was even getting fed up with the mixtape. Techies came and went, came and went... and then the lights dimmed again... and they were there - all smiles and waves.

They slammed into ALWAYS UP WITH YOU from their forthcoming 2nd album, showing off the early 1990s Eurodance sound that they say has influenced the album. Despite not knowing it, by the end I was singing along with the chorus - the mark of a good pop song. After that we were treated to GO-GO from the first album.

Stine looked fab in her blue sparkling dress and sounded amazing with her Pure Pop voice and Anders SG was his wonderfully manic self - imagine if you will a cross between Ian Curtis, Bez and an over-excited 7 year-old at his first school disco and you might get an idea of his shape-throwing! They make great focal points for the group.

They then launched into the delirious pure joy of THE SPELL which sounded even better live. They followed this with another new track HEART FAILURE which again made me hunger for the album - but it's not out here till February - waaaa! This was followed by the swooning WHAT IS HAPPENING from the first album. The response to all the known tracks was ecstatic but the new tracks were all given a rousing cheer too.

We then got two more new tracks - the glorious superdisco of DJ and the stop-start intrigue of CHESS - and then were treated to a punchy, crunchy cover of what the Beaters think is one of the Greatest Song Evah - Chaka Kahn's AIN'T NOBODY. They know their music, that's what I like about 'em.We galloped into the final section of the show with a explosive TOUCH ME TOUCHING YOU with the audience hollering "Of course you can" when asked by Anders SG and Stine if they could touch us. By then I was well and truly touched to the core by them! They somehow managed to get us even more excitable with a glorious 10,000 NIGHTS which was followed by THE BEAT from the new album.

Stine then elicited a large "nooooooo!" by saying they had come to their last song which she also admitted was her favorite and launched into a glorious version of the pop masterpiece BOYFRIEND.

By then I was a smiling, clappy bellowing thing so, just to shut me up, they came back on to sing their next single HOLE IN MY HEART and then with spotlights refracting off the mirror balls hanging above the stage, the band started thudding out a martial beat - Anders SG and Stine started chanting "The Word Is on Your Lips" to which we chanted back "Say The Word"! Over and over, "The Word Is on Your Lips" "Say The Word" carried us higher and higher towards the ceiling until they exploded into a delirious, explosive FASCINATION which brought the show to a fabulous end.

This time it was my turn to float home like a grinning balloon... Alphabeat are the best thing to happen to pop music in years and show up the atrocities perpetuated on the charts by Simon Cowell with his TV variety shows to be the shite it is.SAY THE WORD!!!

November is here so it's time for my penultimate legend.

Next week will bring the long-hoped-for opportunity to see three Motown Divas: Mable John (the first woman ever signed to the label), Chris Clark and Brenda Holloway. This month I am celebrating a Diva who sadly died nearly 40 years ago.

Tammi Terrell lived a life that sounds like the sort of plotline Halle Berry would give her eyeliner to play... sadly Tammi had to live it.

The daughter of a politician and actress, Thomasina Montgomery first came to notice singing in her church choir which led to her singing on stage and a record contract with Florence Greenberg's Sceptre Records in 1961 aged just 16. She was loaned out to James Brown's record label but found no success with either label.

In 1965 while singing at the 20 Grand Club in Detroit she was approached by Motown boss Berry Gordy who was thrilled with what he saw. In the same year she met and - allegedly - married boxer Ernie Terrell whose sister Jean would also become a Motown star when she took over from Diana Ross in The Supremes.

Frustratingly this wonderful singer found minor success as a solo performer but two years into her contract, fate intervened. Kim Weston left Motown in 1967 and Gordy picked Tammi to be Marvin Gaye's new duets partner. Instant chemistry. Tammi's infectious personality and sensuous vocals seemed to release Marvin from his rather guarded and stiff personality and their duets still crackle with a sense of fun and delicious teasing sexuality - just listen to AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH, YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE, IF I COULD BUILD MY WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU, AIN'T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING and YOU'RE ALL I NEED TO GET BY.

But fate again intervened. After having suffered headaches, Tammi collapsed on stage into Marvin's arms. Rushed to hospital, Tammi was eventually diagnosed with a tumour on the brain. She endured eight operations but her condition never improved.

So many rumours swirl around Tammi's life. Did she and James Brown have a relationship during her time at his label leading to her parents insisting they sever their professional partnership? Was her illness caused by the beatings she endured at the hands of "a Motown executive" and her on-off lover David Ruffin of The Temptations? And the ultimate mystery: how much of her final album with Marvin actually features Tammi's vocals?

Tammi was certainly in no condition to perform live but it was reported she could still record. Two of the twelve tracks featured Tammi's original solo recordings with Marvin's voice added after. Years after the event Marvin Gaye told his biographer that Valerie Simpson, co-writer and co-producer of the album, substituted for Tammi. To this day, Simpson says that she might have filled-in the occasional phrase but that was all. One can understand her wanting to protect Tammi's reputation. Her failing health had a profound effect on Marvin Gaye who withdrew from live performances for two years.

Tammi died in March 1970, aged 24.

Remember her this way... singing with Marvin in a rainy Expo 67 in Montreal.

Well I didn't believe it would happen but it did... as he said himself "The North will rise again". Morrissey made it through his Royal Albert Hall show with only the occasional wobble.

He actually sounded a lot better than he did the last time I saw him during his curtailed residency at the Roundhouse.

Sadly, owing to the fact that we had truly abominable seats in the upper circle literally looking down onto the middle of the stage, I didn't engage that much with the show as I should have done. I will never sit in such crap seats again... especially for someone I like.

He appeared on stage in a blazer and jeans, announced "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night" (sadly no Bette Davis impression) and launched into a frantic "This Charming Man" which sounded like it was being sung to Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life". Then he raced through "Black Cloud" and the Hispanic-flavoured "When I Last Spoke To Carol" which sounded a lot better than on YEARS OF REFUSAL.

The classic intro for "How Soon Is Now?" buzzed out across the auditorium and was rapturously received - though it was a bit scary that he chose the end of the song to have a lie-down on the stage. Luckily he bounced up and sang a great version of "Ganglord".

We then had similarly fierce versions of "Cemetry Gates", "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", "Teenage Dad On His Estate" - happy that's on the new b-sides album SWORDS - and "Nowhere Fast".
He then gave us a blistering "Irish Blood, English Heart" - one of his greatest songs Ever - and quickly changed the mood with a lilting "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself".

After a couple of ho-hums with "One Day GoodBye" and "Death At One's Elbow", he reminded us that no Celebrity Chef is a vegetarian which made Moz conclude that indeed "The World Is Full of Crashing Bores". He then bounced into "Is It Really So Strange?" and a cracking rockabilly "The Loop".

He slowed it down with "Because Of My Poor Education" - he retorted to the applause with "That bad, eh?" Yep Moz.. it was a bit drear. He finished off with REFUSAL's "I'm OK By Myself" and he was gone! I guess it was understandable that it would be a short set although he did come back for a rousing "First Of The Gang To Die".

He was mordant as always - he said he understood that we couldn't afford to come to the upcoming Alexandra Palace gig as well as tonight "I can't afford it either". So I expect that will be cancelled!

He also announced that SWORDS had been released on Monday but that was probably another album that no one would buy - but his moan was punctured by a punter yelling out that he had bought it - "Well that spoils it!" Despite the atrocious sound where we were sat - along with the pigeons of Kensington - the band sounded raucous and propulsive.

By the way Owen has been on at me to blog about the Maximo Park gig we saw at the Albert Hall a few weeks ago. What can I say... I liked a couple of the songs as they actually had a melody as opposed to the rest of the setlist which sounded like they were playing the same song over and over again only with different song titles. I liked "Acrobat", "The Coast Is Always Changing" ('cos Owen likes that one), "Going Missing" and "Girls Who Play Guitars" got their over-excitable fanbase almost self-combusting.

Oh and look how close we were to the stage...*kicks coffee-table*

It had to happen I guess...

Next month sees the premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in California of BONNIE AND CLYDE: THE MUSICAL!
Yes. The musical.

True, there is no reason why there shouldn't be a musical of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
But then again there is no reason why there should be one. What can be expressed through song that we don't already know about them?

Stark Sands - great name - and Laura Osnes will be playing the thieves who set Depression headlines aflame during a two year campaign of small town robberies.



The score is by Frank Wildhorn whose shows have never made it over here but they include THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, CARMEN, JEKYLL & HYDE, THE CIVIL WAR and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. No... not the most original composer ever. The lyrics are by Don Black so expect something along the lines of "He asked me for a bun / I said no so he showed me his gun".

Oddly enough I watched the 1967 film again on DVD and despite it's grating hip 1960s sensibilities it still holds up well as a landmark film.

By the way Constant Reader, did you know that it was the first X film I ever saw? It was re-released in 1973 and as I was smitten by Gene Hackman after THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE I had to see it come Hell or high water - no pun intended.

So I dressed up in my brother's jacket and my platform shoes - don't ask - and went to the ABC Hammersmith (long-since pulled-down) and sinking my natural soprano down to basso profundo asked for a ticket. Of course the dear old ABC staff would probably have let a babe in arms in as long as it paid cold hard cash so I was in! It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life - waiting to be tapped on the shoulder at any moment!

The interesting thing about the BONNIE AND CLYDE dvd is that it also includes a US TV documentary about the couple which tells the real story of their less-than-dazzling career - and also shows how the screenwriters didn't let a little thing like facts get in their way!

Here is the new artwork for the upcoming show SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM which opens at Studio 54 next March with the incomparable Barbara Cook.
It took me a while but I got it eventually.

I am sure it's been a few years since Steve crossed his legs that way!

OI... BRITAIN... Sort your bloody ears out!
The glorious pop-drenched THE SPELL by the masters of naughties Power Pop Alphabeat entered the charts at #20 - bloody 20!!! Meanwhile the bogus charms of Cheryl Tweedy Cole of course went straight into number one.

For fuck's sake people... is there to be no progress from this musical quagmire of tv-related crap?

Today I screamed - out loud - when I saw a tv ad for this....Yes... a former X Factor-wannabe has joined the army and recorded an album with two of his oppos.

The utter cynic emotional blackmail behind this venture is astonishing, cashing in on the dubious patriotism of "our lads" allied with the knowledge that the profits are going to charidee.

Like... just send the damn money to the charity.

Well if some record company is happy to milk this so will I...

I presume it will be a covers album so let's have OutKast's "Bombs Over Baghdad" or any songs by The Afghan Whigs.

Probably not "Army Dreamers"....

Still Ill?

Well one thing you can expect being a Morrissey fan is the unexpected.

I was gearing myself up for this Tuesday when I was seeing Moz at the Royal Albert Hall for his rescheduled gig from earlier in the year when he cancelled due to ill-health.

And now he's gone and collapsed in bloody Swindon of all places. He is carrying his love of Diana Dors just a little too far if you ask me.

So I am presuming the Albert Hall gig will be rescheduled again. I am beginning to think that we Stephen Patrick fans are becoming the reincarnation of those Judy Garland fans at the end of her career who would take their seats wondering whether she would even manage to get on the stage or not.

Constant Reader I have decided that my near-Poverty Row status might drag me back to selling my tat.... my valued ephemera on eBay again.

I was having a poke about for suitable candidates for selling when I came across a hidden cache of old cuttings from Back In The Day. Yep I think I can now share my old clippings of Blondie with someone who probably would actually look at them from time to time. So Dawn, Paul and Kevin should get caught up in a bidding war hopefully!

Actually it was instant nostalgia looking through them all.

I even found the very first picture of Debbie I ever saw from Sounds in 1977.... and here is is! It actually still makes my heart skip a beat.

That effortless New York cool...

Is your mind-turning to the end of the year?

Have you started to think now about what to get one's mother or aging gayer mate?

Think no more.... 2nd November will see the release of the complete CROSSROADS 1965-1979.

A delightful box set....of 41 discs!!!!

41 discs!!! It's probably the size of a small Midlands motel.Thank God I'm not tempted.

*quietly tempted*

Yes Constant Reader it's true... I am back on the rock 'n' roll. Borehamwood is once again no more. Here's a word to the wise... never go back.

Now on to the important news. Today is my 2nd birthday on Last.fm!

You can keep your Eekbook, MySpazz and Twatter... gimme Last.fm where you can see who is listening to what music.

Now there's nothing I love better than a list so here you go... an adapted questionaire on my favorite 50 artists according to Last.fm - I hasten to add it's done in a random order:

1) How did you get into Peggy Lee?

The seed was sown after hearing “He’s A Tramp” when I saw LADY AND THE TRAMP as a wee ‘un.

2) What was the first song you ever heard by The Smiths?

“This Charming Man”

3) What’s your favourite lyric by Diana Ross?

“Little girl, please don’t wait for me / Wait patiently for love, someday it will surely come”

4) What is your favourite album by Suzanne Vega?

Tried and True”

5) How many albums by Aretha Franklin do you own?

Ten (including a 4 cd boxset)

6) What is your favourite song by Cher?

“Half-Breed”

7) Is there a song by Macy Gray that makes you sad?

“I Try”

8) What is your favourite album by Lulu?

“Something To Shout About”

9) What is your favourite song by Marianne Faithfull?

“Running For Our Lives”

10) Is there a song by Beverley Knight that makes you happy?

“Greatest Day”

11) What is your favourite album by Culture Club?

“Greatest Moments”

12) What is your favourite song by Diana Ross and The Supremes?

“Come See About Me”

13) What is a good memory you have involving Ne-Yo?

None in particular!

14) What is your favourite song by The Four Tops?

“I Get A Feeling”

15) Is there a song by Tom Tom Club that makes you happy?

“Genius of Love”

16) How many times have you seen Chris Clark live?

Eek - seeing her for the first time next month

17) What is the first song you ever heard by Carole King?

“It Might As Well Rain Until September”

18) What is your favourite album by Sugababes?

“Change”

19) Who is a favourite member of The Kinks?

Ray Davies

20) Have you ever seen Madonna live?

14 times (including in a play!)

21) What is a good memory involving The Mamas and The Papas?

The first time I heard “I Saw Her Again”

22) What is your favourite song by Prince?

“I Would Die 4 U”

23) What is the first song you ever heard by Kanye West?

“Jesus Walks”

24) What is your favourite album by Alphabeat?

Their only one “This Is Alphabeat”!!

25) What is your favourite song by B-52s?

“Love Shack”

26) What is the first song you ever heard by Little Jackie?

“The World Should Revolve Around Me”

27) What is your favourite album by Kirsty MacColl?

“From Croydon To Cuba”

28) What is your favourite song by Pet Shop Boys?

“Being Boring”

29) What was the first song you ever heard by Amanda Palmer?

As a solo artist – “Creep”!

30) What is your favourite song by Mary J.Blige?

“Just Fine”

31) How many times have you seen Boy George live?

Six

32) Is there a song by Kim Weston that makes you happy?

“A Little More Love”

33) What is your favourite album by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas?

“Gold”

34) What is the worst song by The Temptations?

“Positively Absolutely Right”

35) What was the first song you ever heard by Tammi Terrell?

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” with Marvin Gaye

36) What is your favourite album by Sinead O’Connor?

“Throw Down Your Arms”

37) How many times have you seen Brenda Holloway live?

Seeing her for the first time next month

38) What is your favourite song by Marvin Gaye?

“What’s Going On”

39) What was the first song you ever heard by Mary Wells?

“My Guy”

40) What is your favourite album by Gladys Knight & The Pips?

“Gold”

41) Is there a song by John Legend that makes you happy?

“Number One”

42) What is your favourite album by Shelby Lynne?

“I Am Shelby Lynne”

43) What is your favourite song by Barbara Cook?

“Errol Flynn”

44) What is a good memory you have involving Nancy LaMott?

Meeting her at the Donmar when she was appearing in IT’S A BETTER WITH A BAND

45) What is your favourite song by Linda Lewis?

“The Moon and I”

46) Is there a song by Grace Jones that makes you happy?

“Williams’ Blood”

47) What is your favourite album by Dusty Springfield?

“Simply Dusty” (4 cd box set)

48) What is your favourite song by Laura Nyro?

“Wedding Bell Blues”

49) What is the first song you ever heard by Estelle?

“1980”

50) How many albums do you own by Morrissey?

Sixteen!