How to make prog rock interesting...add mad visuals and a spinning head

Those Germans had the right idea. As we Brits suffered with ugly blokes (and even uglier hair) on the likes of the Old Grey Whistle Test and Top Of The Pops in the early 70s, Beat Club did everything possible to distract you from the noodlers on screen.

In this case, fit-inducing visuals and a slightly disturbing spinning head as Yes piled through Yours Is No Disgrace. If only the BBC had done similar at Glasto while The Feeling and The Pigeon Detectives were boring us daft...

Jesus and Mary Chain rarities boxset thing... out soon. Wanna know more? You'll have to read an article first

The Jesus & Mary Chain are gonna release a boxset fulla rarities and alternative versions and all that good stuff. The sad news is that the boxset won't be called KICK OUT THE JAMC!, but rather, The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities... and it's due out September 30.

For your money, you'll get four discs, presented in chronological order. Also, that may be the most boring sentence ever written on Electric Roulette.

Anyway tracks include "Walk and Crawl", alternate versions of "Never Understand" and "Coast to Coast," as well as demos of "My Little Underground," "The Living End" and "Dirty Water" and the never-before-heard "Till I Found You".

It's got suave packaging as well. Basically, it comes in a 6x10 gatefold shell and includes an 18x24 double-sided poster of the Jesus & Mary Chain family tree. JAMC are also recording a new LP as we speak... but I don't have any news on that, so instead, I'll alert you to the fact that, over on the b-side of this article, you'll find the tracklisting for the boxset.

Things I've learned during the Glastonbury 2008 weekend

Glasto has come and gone... it started with a furore over Jay-Z and ended with Nick McCabe of (the) Verve piddling around with an amplifier. In between, there was loads of other bands on.

Now, I didn't go. I've been before on numerous occasions and couldn't understand the fuss (compared to other events... I mean, it's better than drinking cold tea or chancing your arm on a piece of bread with a bit of mold on it). So, like many, I spent me time watchin' it on the idjut box and stumbling across various fawning articles in the printed press.

So what have I learned from afar? Is there anything too learn from watching and reading about a music event that you're not really into? Of course there is. Everyday is a school-day muvvers. So come, let me sit you on my knee and spin the shit.

Jay-Z's full Glastobury set... THA VIDEO!

So, Jay-Z's set at Glastobury proved that a hip-hop outfit CAN headline a pop festival... and, we can show you the whole set here. While most commentators are saying "groundbreaking", the rap community are sniggering at J-Hova's 'diss', mainly, his starting his set with Oasis' 'Wonderwall' before launching into '99 Problems' that sees the funk replaced by an AC/DC sample. I think that it's less diss and more good natured... but whatever, it looked like the highlight of a decidedly dull Glasto.

[mof]

Super French goodness from Jean Pierre Massiera

Any other moosik rag would tell you about how underrated and cool Jean Pierre Massiera, 'legendary' French producer, is. Well, seeing as all at Electric Roulette are an honest bunch, we're happy to tell you that we don't know everything. Like you, we're always on a voyage of music discovery.

So with that, and a fondness for French rekkids, we're pretty intrigued by this guy... especially as his work has graced so many great LP sleeves (but more on that in a bit).

Basically, there's this blog and they've kindly told us all about his best productions and not only that, given us the chance to download some of 'em too. Before you start with the 'I thought you were against downloading'... we are... but some of these records are so rare, that you won't get the chance to hear 'em any other way.

Live Review - My Bloody Valentine, Roundhouse

For such a cult proposition, the expectation surrounding My Bloody Valentine’s recent shows would almost make you believe it was Led Zeppelin or The Beatles who had decided to tour, rather than an early nineties guitar band. And despite Robert Plant’s belief that Zeppelin's recent performance was a matter of settling unfinished business, unlike the rock behemoth, with MBV – following the years of pressure placed on perfectionist and leader Kevin Shields to deliver the band's third album – this seems to actually ring true.

With these concerts it is less a case of 'will the band be as good?' or whether they have mellowed in the proceeding sixteen years, rather, whether the music can live up to the anticipation and hype of the audience, and entering the Roundhouse there is a sense that they might. It is not what you would perhaps consider the easiest sell – the handing out of earplugs, a warning in advance of the bands unwavering musical intent – especially to those too young to have heard Isn’t Anything, and for that matter Loveless first time round and are now enthral to a very different type of Indie.

Video: Terry Hall and Friends - Gangsters

Apologies for the quality of this video, but it was a packed house, with plenty of movement going on - and yes, we might have had a drink or two.

But it's still worth watching Terry Hall and Friends doing The Specials' Gangsters. The song was captured live at the 100 Club, part of a set Terry Hall played to an invite-only crowd as part of Fred Perry's Subculture. See our review here.

Enjoy the track below and look for more clips later this week. Incidentally, this is the first clip to be uploaded to out very own YouTube channel - Electric Roulette TV - which you can subscribe to for more weird, wonderful and (hopefully) exclusive videos.

Latest Shindig! now available

The latest issue of Shindig! (volume 2, issue 5) is now available, packed with the usual blend of reviews and features for the discerning music fan.

Highlights this month include the first part of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band story, the final part of San Francisco '67 plus Mark Fry, Dennis Wilson, Love, Jackie Lee, The Pink Fairies, Mellow Candle, Beep Seals, Magnificent Brotherhood, psych jazz and psychsploitation movies - the latter looking worth the entry fee alone.

There's also talk of an annual for the end of the year - you can register your interest for that (as well as finding out where to buy the magazine) at the Shindig! site.

Find out more at the Shindig! website

Review: Terry Hall and Friends at the 100 Club

Well, London called once more and this time I got the order to head on down to the 100 Club to see Terry Hall and Friends, with the slightest of chances that this could be the much talked-about Specials reunion. It wasn't - but it was a top notch show from the criminally underrated Hall.

After doing the traditional Roulette thing of missing most of the support (the 'up and coming Bryn Christopher and the interesting rather than essential Le Volume Courbe), we settled down for the main act.

Do I dare review this?

Check this. Awful tenth-rate Manga-esque graphics drawn by a thirteen year old with his coloured pencils. It's called 'Music For Lapdancers' and on the back it says "if it's too loud, you're a c*nt". Who dares me to review this schlocky crapola? Oh, and they're an 'Essex Gypsy band' who, apparently "infiltrate the space between Daphne and Celeste and Limp Bizkit".[mof]