Hello Old Thing, Hello New Thing: 33

Big Bill Broonzy: When I Been Drinking (Okeh, 1941)
I admire "Big" Bill's chutzpah, I have to say. The thrust of his complaint here is that his "woman" is always "raisin' sand" (ie, quacking on) every time he comes in after a hard night spent tipping ale and rye whiskey down his gullet. Frankly, he says, she ought to back off and let him "lay down and rest". Later on he delivers a rhyme based on "kissed" and "fist" that is so off-colour it might leave some of our more genteel readers needing a good old-fashioned wheeze on the smelling salts. I'm going to try a little bit of this when I get back from drinking (the very next time I'm allowed out).

Talc: The Out Of Work Clown (Wah Wah 45s, 2008)
I feel blessed to live in a time where Bread, Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers have gone all the way from being near the top of the long list of least cool people imaginable to being the sort of names that are dropped by those who are looking to secure their place deep within the unimpeachably groovy firmament. Talc are just such a band and their forthcoming album is a riot of hugely melodic, soft-rocking treats based around their "Wonderbar" concept - the perfect drinking hole, essentially. I could imagine an instrumental of this accompanying the testcard during the long hours that the telly used to go off in those summer afternoons of my golden youth. Which is high praise indeed...