Holy Cow Farmer Tin, can I pet your doggie?

Tin and Calfie, about 1972


Bridging two topics - pet pictures and Question of the Week - I hereby show that I am a good sport and humble myself before the RR masses.

My fellow RRers, in a show of sporting support, may wish to dig out their embarassing childhood snaps for posting. Or they may not.

Tinderstickmania

One of the bands RR has turned me on to is Tindersticks. There is a small band of aficionados on RR who regularly plug them, and they were rewarded when it came to the 'Crying' list, which included the wonderful 'Tiny tears'.

So I was lucky to get to see them last night at their Festival Hall concert to mark the release of their latest album, 'The Hungry Saw'. Despite the break since their last studio output, and a loss of three earlier members, the new album is straight Tindersticks. As Peel said of the Fall, 'always different, always the same...'

They are sometimes described as 'Chamber pop', and as 15 musicians trooped onto the stage, including a 7 strong string section, plus brass, I see why. They played the whole of the new album, and a string of older songs, including quite a few crowd pleasers. I don't know their whole oeuvre, and didn't get a set list, but I heard things like 'Dying slowly', 'She's gone', 'Dick's slow song'. But not 'Tiny tears' alas...

Stuart Staples' idiosyncratic singing style is not to everyone's taste. His lovely baritone is often slurred, and combined with his Nottingham accent, it's not always easy to make out the words to the songs. When you can, it's invariably slow burning bleakness, with an extra helping of miserable guilt. But, hey, it's indie innit?

The new album is an instant hit to my eardrums. Loads of standout tracks that grab you first time of hearing, including 'Boobar', the title track, and the snigle, 'The Flicker of a little girl'. I've podbeaned another track, 'Mother dear', 'cos I like the spare, chunky lead guitar part

When I mentioned to a friend that I was going to the concert, he said 'Oh, Staples lives opposite me, his kids and mine have grown up together, and he's given me tickets.' Small world. My mate tells me Staples is a bit old school about recording technology, eschewing laptops and suchlike. He bought a huge mixing desk that wouldn't fit in his Lewisham home, so he built a studio in a barn in France to accommodate it. You can see it in the video on the Tindersticks site

This week's springtime Tindersticks nomination on RR is 'Cherry Blossoms', courtesy of Darcey's Dad. Just off to dond it now...