Collection: PSB Elysium era singles completed!

So, after waiting what feels like ages, the first of the parcels started arriving today! Well, I guess it's technically yesterday because it's early Friday morning here, but you know what I mean. These are the Winner, Memory Of The Future and Memory Of The Future Remixed singles by Pet Shop Boys. I've actually now got all the Elysium era CD singles, a first for me. I don't collect Pet Shop Boys singles (nor any singles of any artist for that matter) religiously. There's simply too many of them. I'll only buy the post Format singles for the new B-sides or older ones if there's a specific mix I really love. The latter doesn't happen often because I think a lot of Pet Shop Boys remixes aren't great. Anyway, I already had both Leaving singles and I needed to get my Pet Shop Boys single collection sorted out and up to date, so I ordered these. I don't mind not having Vocal because whilst I like the remixes on there, there's no B-sides. If Zoverstocks get a copy in I'll order it but I won't be too concerned if they don't. Although because of the new bonus tracks, I've placed a pre-order for the upcoming CD release of the Love Is A Bourgeois Construct single, due for release at the end of the month. I've placed an order for CD1 of Together, and some other singles too actually - they'll be here next week sometime. I'm delighted with these though because I actually loved the Elysium era  in terms of B-sides. I'd have to regard In His Imagination and The Way Through The Woods as two of my all time favourite Pet Shop Boys tracks in all honesty!

This coming week...

Evening all, no real post as such today because this week promises to be an utterly chaotic one with the slew of releases heading my way. I've got three Pet Shop Boys singles, Madonna's MDNA Tour Bluray/CD and of course The Clash Hits Back and Sound System. That's lots of first impressions posts I'll be making this week, and also arrival posts of course. Pet Shop Boys singles and Madonna MDNA items have already dispatched. I don't think the MDNA Tour Bluray/CD will arrive tomorrow. The Pet Shop Boys singles I ordered however I think may just. As for The Clash stuff, I'm expecting it will dispatch first thing tomorrow morning (at nearly 9PM here I can't see it happening tonight). I'm expecting that it will get here on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I can't think of a bigger week than this upcoming one for my music collection - needless to say I simply cannot wait for it all to arrive. I've also got to try and track down a copy of the Depeche Mode Ultimate Music Guide too. I've got some posts floating around that I'm drafting too, hopefully I'll be able to publish one or two of them in the midst of it all too. See you all tomorrow for day one!

Purchase Ponders: Tears For Fears - The Hurting (30th Anniversary Edition)

Another reissue (along with Nirvana's In Utero) that I'm very much looking forward to this year is that of Tears For Fears debut, The Hurting. I love Tears For Fears, they're perhaps the most underrated group of the 80s for me. I don't have The Hurting at all though, just the deluxe edition of Songs From The Big Chair. A good thing really, seeing as this reissue is being released at the end of October. Anyway, the four disc edition of The Hurting looks very expansive. The first disc is the album remastered, then the second contains various single versions, extended versions and B-side tracks. Those two discs are being released as a two disc deluxe version. Then there's disc three on the deluxe, which comprises of radio sessions and live tracks. The DVD is the concert film In My Mind's Eye: Live At Hammersmith Odeon (filmed December 1983) which has only been available on VHS until now. All together, the four disc version is priced at £33 on Amazon UK currently. It's admittedly quite dear for a deluxe edition of one album. I'm weighing up what version to get. To be honest, I'll most likely get the four disc one. I've never heard/seen any of the live material, nor the B-sides though. In the next few days, I'm gonna watch In My Mind's Eye and the John Peel sessions (if I can find them), then I'll know for sure what to go for. Frankly though the concert performance would need to utterly stink to put me off however. I don't think that's very likely to happen. It's Tears For Fears after all, I have high expectations. Also - on a purely superficial level it looks beautiful. You can tell I love deluxe editions, can't you?

Collection: Two lovely unexpected Joe Strummer items.

Yesterday, my Amazon order arrived. My definite last one until next week when the Madonna MDNA Tour and The Clash new releases start arriving. This one actually comprises two (somewhat) rare Joe Strummer items. Last week I was originally planning to order some Clash items on a site I discovered called Punk Rock Shop. Although when I was on Amazon I discovered I could get A Permanent Record for much the same price. It's a limited edition book, so I could imagine in time it would become pretty rare. It was a book I had been after too. It's by Julien Yewdall and is a black and white photography book. He met Joe in 1974 and captured some beautiful shots of The 101ers and early photographs of The Clash. The vast majority are unseen. Worth every penny. Earthquake Weather was the really unexpected one. Along with The Future Is Unwritten soundtrack and the Let's Rock Again! DVD it had been a notable absentee from my collection. That was until my preferred Amazon seller - Zovestocks - finally got a copy of it in last week. I wasn't planning on ordering anything but I simply had to order it as soon as I saw it. In over six months of searching I've never seen a copy from a trusted seller on Amazon. I've never even seen a copy of it that falls below the £20 mark. Due to rarity (it sold poorly and has never been reissued) I figured I'd have to fork out £20 for it eventually. As it stands I actually paid substantially less because Zoversocks are very cheap. To be honest I never thought I would get the album because it's long out of print and copies of it are becoming increasingly rare. It's the same with the Bob Gruen photography book too. I'm rather bowled over that I've ended up with two of the potentially more tricky items to locate from my Clash/Joe Strummer want-list. Hopefully, I can have similar luck with the Bob Gruen book!

Collection: The New Issue of Uncut!

I got this two days and forgot to post it. I also forgot to include the CD it came with as well in the picture but it's not related to The Clash in any way. I do like Uncut, although I don't purchase it regularly. I did love their special issue devoted solely to The Clash though, so naturally I was excited to get this. It's a great  article - I particularly loved the section were Paul Simonon made some very insightful comments regarding their infamous trip to Belfast in 1977. I must say I echoed his sentiments wholeheartedly indeed. Better still - I've finally been able to get some locations for the pictures taken of them here. I'd only been able to identify a few taken in Royal Avenue prior to getting this magazine. It's not just The Clash that provided the only bit of interesting reading in the magazine though for me - there's also a lengthy interview with Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac). I'm sure I'll find a new band worth investigating in their review section too, although I haven't read the reviews section really yet. Nevertheless it's a worthy addition to my ever-growing Clash collection!

Collection: Last Week's Amazon Order and a suprise one.

Afternoon all, I'm just back from my walk. My legs felt this one moreso - which I suppose is a good thing.

Anyway, after forgetting to do so a few times, I can finally share my Amazon order from last week now that it's all here. The first CD arrived on Wednesday which was obviously Joe Strummer's birthday. Naturally, I didn't want to make any posts that were unrelated to Joe on that day. Anyway, I got the 2CD version of Atomic: The Very Best of Blondie which comes with the bonus Atomix disc (a compilation disc of remixes). There's also Mirage which is only the third Fleetwood Mac album I have on CD, Ghost In The Machine which is my first Police studio album and Bleach (Special Edition) by Nirvana. I actually have all of Nirvana's studio albums now. I'll post a picture of my burgeoning Nirvana collection soon.  This should have been my last Amazon Order for around about six weeks, but something surprising happened last night. I've been searching for Earthquake Weather by Joe Strummer for around about six months. I can even remember traipsing around a record fair back in April trying to find it. It's very rare because it's been out of print for years. Why they've never reissued it, I do not know. Anyway, last night I searched again (I check for it on a semi regular basis). To my disbelief, my favorite Amazon Marketplace seller - Zoverstocks - had received one copy of it very recently. It goes without saying that I ordered it straight away. It's just too rare of a record to pass up. I search Zoverstocks for it pretty often and they've never had a copy of it in. It could have been months before they had it again; it could have even been never. Along with The Future Is Unwritten soundtrack and the Let's Rock Again! DVD, it was something I was missing. Those two are also very easy to purchase online anyway. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty lucky right now!

Town Trip Part II: Upstairs, Downstairs

So, after picking The Killers shirt and briefly flirting with the idea of getting a Velvet Underground one (which I didn't in the end) it was time to see what records to buy. This was when my plans sort of went out the window. I wanted to get Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails. Did they have it? Not at all - in fact they had no Nine Inch Nails records whatsoever. Great.. Hm, what to buy? I checked the DVD section for Simon & Garfunkel's Central Park show - no luck. So I just went with the CD version of the concert. Decided to look for Fleetwood Mac's The Dance live album. Gone (although stupidly enough, they had put it by the till. I only found it once I had paid). What a stupid display move that was. Then I remembered I had spied Route 19 Revisited, which was a book about the making of London Calling. Was it in still in the display where I found it? Nope! So, back downstairs I went to the book section. Found it, along with two other Clash books. Joe Strummer & The Legend of The Clash and The Clash Talking to were the titles. I've been considering purchasing the latter, but I've never seen the former in town before though I knew of it. Stupidly I forgot to look inside Joe Strummer &The Legend of The Clash although it has good reviews. As for The Clash talking it was a stupidly dear price - £12 if I remember - for a rather short book that is just a compilation of quotes. I want it, but £12 just seemed excessive, I can get it online much cheaper. Anyway, back upstairs and I still wanted more records. Then I remembered I had liked Vampire Weekend's new album. They didn't have that either. Honestly I think they were in the midst of doing a display revamp or something. Then I remembered Disclosure's debut. Surprisingly I found the deluxe edition of that for a decent price, so I snapped it up. Then I spotted The Essential Paul Simon. I have Songwriter ripped to my hard-drive because I bought it for my Dad for Father's Day, but this collection had a lot of songs on it absent from Songwriter. I only have Graceland & The Rhythm of The Saints on CD myself. By this point, I had about enough money left for two postcards, and to my surprise they had a new Clash one in. Ironically, the first Clash item I ever got was a postcard from HMV. The only other one that caught my interest was the Nevermind cover. After that - I just wanted to get out. HMV can be very draining. I do love what I got (I always do), even if it was a slightly unexpected batch though!

Town yesterday Part I: Shirt Alert.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was in town shopping. I know I said I would post this late last night, but I did have an impromptu post to make. Also I decided to get stuck back into my reading. Anyway, town yesterday had mixed fortunes actually. I went into a shop called Fresh Garbage to see their band T-shirts. They haven't had a Clash shirt the two times I've been in before, but this time they did. It was of the cover of The Clash. It looked really nice. Alias, I had a budget to work with and I couldn't buy it. Next time Clare, next time. Anyway when I got to HMV my plan was roughly this: get a Killers shirt and a Clash shirt, and work with whatever money I had left. They had The Killers shirt in my size (as you can tell) but The Clash London Calling T-shirt was obviously proving a very popular choice. They only had two left - both XL. I'm trying to loose weight at the moment, and my Killers shirt size is L, and even then it's going to be a bit baggy. The Clash one would have just looked ridiculous. I'm carrying a bit of extra weight at the moment, but not that much. Anyway it's no big deal. I mean London Calling is such a common shirt design and I do want something a bit different - much the same way as I didn't want an Unknown Pleasures shirt  of Joy Division's straight away. I'll most likely get both at some stage though. The Killers shirt is actually rather sizable history for me - it's my first T-shirt of the band. Yes, after nine long years. I'm going out tonight and I'm going to wear it for the first time. I need to loose some weight and get my hair done but once that happens, you might even see a picture of me in it....

Normal Service Resumed

Afternoon all. Normal service can now resume after the celebrations of Joe Strummer's 61st birthday yesterday. As one final note regarding Joe, I have to say I was bitterly disappointed that none of the channels - at least those that I have - seemed to mark his birthday. Very underwhelming indeed, especially as Channel 4 aired a documentary about 1D fans earlier in the week. It just makes you wonder, doesn't it? I know I've been quiet recently (apart from yesterday). Good news - that seems to be changing! I've had horrific writers block as of late. However, I've started regular exercise and somehow, that seems to be clearing my mind.

Anyway - the actual purpose of this post is a rather insignificant thing I'd like to share with you. I actually got this last Monday, but actually writing the post slipped my mind. I've been a scatterbrain lately, more so than usual. I never share music magazines I buy, only in exceptional cases. I regularly buy two: NME and Classic Pop. They compliment each other, I think. Anyhow, when I went to get my copy of the latest issue I was shocked to discover it came with four pictures! In excellent quality too. In the picture, you can see Adam Ant and Eurythmics. The other two were actually Pet Shop Boys and Debbie Harry. The reason you can't see those is because they're already up on my poster wall! It's the first proper picture I have of Pet Shop Boys on it (I do have one of just Neil Tennant), and although it's not the first Debbie Harry poster in my possession, it's the first to go up on display. You see, I do keep all the posters I get free with the NME, thus I've ended up with a couple of Debbie Harry posters (and one of Blondie). I may put Eurythmics up, but not sure. I do like them, but I am strict about posters I put up. I have to really love an artist to put them on display. Posters, t-shirts etc are bold statements I feel. As for Adam Ant though, I have to say I really don't like his music. So there's no chance he is going on my wall.

 My poster walls are getting extensively redesigned at the moment actually - with the help of my dad. I'm simply too small to put most of them up and let's just say, my handiwork is scrappy, to say the least. They also never stay up when I do it. Never the less, I'll be sure to take a picture of my walls when they're complete. That should hopefully be within a week or so. At the moment though the blogging cogs seem to be ticking in my head again, so hopefully regular blogging will resume from this moment on. Stay tuned!

Madonna MDNA Tour Pre-order

This is pretty important if you're a Madonna fan in the UK - her MDNA Tour DVD/Bluray can finally be pre-ordered on Amazon UK. So far, it seems the only way to obtain a CD containing the tour audio is via importing a DVD/CD version. Really, I'm not sure what's going on there. Getting the blu-ray for me though was the obvious choice. I've got two blu-ray players in my house though, and I want to utilize them.  I'll definitely get it on CD format in the future if possible but right now it's not feasible. The release date is September 9th, the same as The Clash's upcoming Sound System and Hits Back compilations. Both of which are on pre-order for me too. As you can imagine, that week is going to be manic for me. I've just pre-ordered the Blu-ray version for now, and that will do me just fine. Now that I have an order placed for it though, I can truly get excited to finally see her acclaimed MDNA tour for myself!

Collection: Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits.

This is a shining example that sometimes it's the story behind an item that makes the item special. This particular one is the 1972 compilation Greatest Hits, by Simon & Garfunkel. It's just a standard copy, there's nothing noteworthy in that regard.What makes this mean that little bit more to me however is the stories attributed to it. How I acquired it for instance, but moreover what the potential symbolisation of that is. More on that in a minute. Then there's also the impact on my musical taste it has had. Then on the most basic of levels - the fact it was the first CD of theirs I had. Anyway, I mentioned earlier how I ended up with this CD is significant, to me at least. What happened was that I had been meaning to check Simon & Garfunkel some months back, after being a fan of Paul Simon for a number of years. It was as if fate then stepped in. About a week or so later a family friend came to see my mother. She had a CD with her, which contained a song she wanted her to hear. The CD? Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits. I never did find out what the song was although because we were going through personal issues at the time, I've a sneaking suspicion it was Bridge Over Troubled Water. Mum already liked Simon & Garfunkel and because she knew I wanted to listen to them, she gave the CD to me. Naturally, I was pleased. I'm always looking to expand my music collection after all. I can remember listening to this for the first time so clearly - I was laying in bed. Mrs Robinson came on. I liked it, wasn't blown away but I wanted to keep listening all the same. Then a song called For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her started. By that point, it all became crystal clear. As crystalline as Art Garfunkel's beautiful vocal performance, which left me weeping (and that's not exaggerating). I could see why Dad had said for years about how great they were. From then on I was a fan. They've made some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Even though a lot of the music is melancholic, it still is guaranteed to put a smile on my face. Paul Simon is a beautiful lyricist, and Art Garfunkel is a beautiful singer. The irony? I became a fan during very unhappy circumstances. Although in a way, it was those very circumstances that made me a fan. I mean my mum's friend giving us this CD most certainly acted as a catalyst. I might not be a fan if I didn't have to go through that particular situation. It's funny how things work out. I guess every time I look at this CD I'm reminded that even the darkest of circumstances can yield beautiful things.

Resistance Is Futile

Potentially I've gone slightly overboard here. For the past week I've been considering pre-ordering The Clash's upcoming Hits Back compilation for the rather superficial reason that it comes with a copy of the original set-list that Joe Strummer wrote. It's probably the worst example of my completist nature. I mean, it's just a greatest hits - I own all of these tracks physically already and in most cases it's multiple times. Although the idea of a replica set list (especially one written by Joe Strummer) was just too tempting. To be honest, I had already decided to buy it at some point when the price dropped anyway, I've just decided to not delay the inevitable. I know it's more than a little excessive but oh well. I mean - I've already got all their studio albums and I've still got Sound System on pre-order. I think I've already crossed the border into dedicated Clash buying territory to be perfectly honest. Besides - I'm hardly going to have many opportunities to look forward to upcoming Clash releases, I might as well make the most of them when they present themselves.

Town trip part II: The rejuvanated HMV.

So, after finding the Joe Strummer badge I went into Centra for some chocolate and discovered the Clash mentioned on the cover of Q magazine - hence why I bought it today. Then I went into HMV. Funnily enough as I walked in and said "wouldn't it be brilliant if they have brought in new shirts and got Clash ones?". Well, they had actually! I near died because I've never seen The Clash in the shirts section in the one in town in my life! It was a London Calling cover shirt. They also had a new Battle Born Killers one which looked beautiful and a True Faith New Order one, which were new to me. They've also cut their prices away down because of Head, which is great because prices in HMV were getting ridiculous. Although they were selling a rather bog standard Blondie best of compilation for £12 which I thought was an insane price. Anyhow today I could have gone nuts: it's ironic that they finally got Bleach (Special edition) by Nirvana in. I think I may need to make an exception in the CD hiatus rule and buy that. They did however have three gems that I couldn't resist, Parallel Lines is my first Blondie CD, Simon and Garfunkel Live In New York City is a great live album I heard for the first time a few weeks back and Loaded by The Velvet Underground is my first Velvet Underground studio album. I've heard it in full too and I remember really liking it, although I now can't remember any of the tracks that didn't feature on their best of compilation that I own! I'll be especially interested how that goes. I have to say that today has been my most succesful day in town for a while, for the Joe Strummer badge alone I'd say!

Town trip part I: I finally find a Clash badge!

Well, today was a record hunting day to remember, most definitely! For a variety of reasons, which I'm going to explain across two back to back posts. Anyhow, today I ventured into a place I'd never been before and did I discover a little gem! A few months ago I discovered the name of a record store called Dragon Records. It's in an area of the city center I don't typically go to and as such, I kept forgetting to go and check it out. Today, I finally did and it was well worth it! The store predominantly specializes in vinyl, so vinyl collectors in Belfast really need to check it out. As you know, I don't buy it myself (at least, not yet) so I wasn't looking at any vinyl to purchase. It had a lot of punk though so I did look to see what Clash goodies they had. They actually had a whole section dedicated to Clash 7" (also Sex Pistols too, and The Stranglers if memory serves me). Mostly the Capital Radio EP, London Calling, Tommy Gun if I remember correctly and I think Clash City Rockers also. They did have Trash City by Joe Strummer thrown in there too. When I turned around I saw a board on the wall with badges. I couldn't make them out at first but when I squinted. lo and behold there was this little gem. For £2, it was a given. I personally think it's adorable. It's the first time I've ever seen a Clash or Joe Strummer badge in any shape in town so it was something I just simply had to get. It was an excellent shop also with friendly staff and I definitely would go back again too!

Good news and Graceland arrives.

Afternoon all - just a brief post which I had actually forgotten to do from last night (I was exceptionally tired). Before we get to that though I have two good pieces of news. Firstly, the iPad should be fixed by this time next week, as long as it's repairable (which I'm fairly confident it is.) Secondly, Sky Arts 1 are showing the Strummerville documentary today at 15:30. As you could imagine it's all about the Strummerville charity. I had been trying to find it to watch for a few weeks with no such luck. Needless to say I cannot wait to see it - I'll watch it on Sunday with my brother.

Anyhow, as you can tell yesterday my copy of the 25th Anniversary edition of Paul Simon's Graceland album arrived from Amazon. I was originally going to order the 40th anniversary edition of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane along with it too but ultimately after the awful run of luck I've had with electrical appliances at the moment I had to order a new wireless mouse and a flash drive instead. It's going to be the last CD I order prior to the release of Sound System .As for Graceland though I've been after this for ages. It was the first Paul Simon album I ever heard and it remains my favourite (Rhythm of The Saints would be second). To be honest I have to credit this album for opening my mind more to African music and world music at large. It's an amazing album and I cannot wait to also watch the accompanying documentary, Under African Skies too!

New Order order (ahem) is here.

So, my other Amazon order arrived yesterday but I couldn't post it last night because I had to take care of some personal business. It's also a few days late because the postal service wasn't operating here for a few days. In any case, I'm just glad they've arrived. They're the Retro boxset and the newly released Live At Bestival 2012 album. I've been itching to get Retro for a while and I streamed their Bestival performance as it happened last year and absolutely loved it. I was utterly thrilled to discover they were releasing a live album. Also it's important to note that all the profit made from the album goes to charity, so it's definitely a worthwhile purchase for New Order fans. I'll be back later as I want to do a proper review post before I go out for the day (Thursday being my busy day and what have you).

Online order FINALLY arrived.

So at long last, this online order finally arrived.  I actually ordered these at the tail end of June - Howlin was from Amazon and Jessie Ware's Devotion (Gold Edition) came from another seller. For whatever reason Jessie Ware's album only arrived yesterday. It's in absolutely perfect condition mind you but it was incredibly slow service. I don't think I'll use that seller again - I only ordered from them because Amazon weren't stocking the album at that particular point. I'm just relieved it's here though because I was honestly going to email them yesterday if it hadn't arrived by that stage. I'm due another Amazon order too but the postal service being off for a few days means I'm going to have to wait a little bit longer for it I think. Nevertheless I'll post it when it's here!

Yesterday's Purchases

I was working on this post last night, alias I was tired and went to bed. Anyway, last night I said that I didn't just get Electric, so here's all that I got. Left to right from top they are Pet Shop Boys - Electric, New Order - Lost Sirens, Goldfrapp - Black Cherry, Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night, David Bowie - Low and New Order -Movement (2CD Special edition). Originally my plan was to get Delta Machine by Depeche Mode but they only had the regular edition in stock (I always go for special editions). I just left it and that's how I ended up with Black Cherry and Low. I actually ended up with more albums for less money - Head is a fantastically priced record store. Even Electric only cost £9 which for a new album on release day is pretty good. Although the fact that there's no deluxe edition accounts for that I'd say. I'm so pleased that I finally got Tango In The Night as I've wanted that for ages, and I've finally got all of New Order's studio albums at long last!

Joy Division collectio

Evening all (well, early morning really). I'm working on getting this post done tonight because it's been on my to-do list and I'll be in town tomorrow record buying. I'm basically spacing my posts out.

Anyway - this as you can tell is my Joy Division collection. I've been a fan for two years and they weren't an easy band to get into. Initially I only listened to them because they were the band which New Order stemmed from. At first their style of music totally wasn't for me. Although after watching a live performance I got them. Then, I was a fan. Of course the band's story was also highly interesting - one of the great music tragedies really. Hence why you see all the books there. I have both studio albums, Heart & Soul, Substance, the double disc edition of The Best of Joy Division, Still, Control and Joy Division documentary DVDs, two magazines and four books. The book count would hopefully be five if I can find a copy of An Ideal for Living that's in good condition.

As you can tell my collection is somewhat beyond what a mere casual fan would have. I'm a big fan of Joy Division and really most of these releases I'd only recommend to big fans. Heart & Soul for instance. Really, the most essential Joy Division items for me are the two studio albums, Substance, the Joy Division documentary DVD and if you want a good biography on Ian Curtis my choice is Torn Apart. Peter Hook's book does come recommended though as does the Kevin Cummin's photography book. I guess with a band like Joy Division it's easy to want everything because they are addictive and there's definitely a mystique to them. It just makes the various CDs, books, DVDs, etc seem more alluring I think

I'm also missing stuff. Although really, there's nothing that I can't wait for for. Warsaw is the main priority and I would love Les Bains Douches, although that's becoming increasingly hard to find. Bootleg wise I'm not overly interested - a lot of officially released live recordings are bad sound quality because of the way they were recorded. The bootlegs would be even worse (although the Paradiso one was a gem). I'll take it slow though, there's so much Joy Division out there you really need to be careful with them!

Collection: The Clash book botch up

So, this is another gift I recieved for my birthday two weeks ago. My brother knows I love The Clash and he'd been torn with the idea of either getting me this book or their singles boxset. In the end he decided to go for the book because he knows I love coffee table style books (last year one of his gifts was Kevin Cummin's Joy Division book). I had been wanting this book for a good while, I had originally planned to get the paperback edition until I discovered the hardcover edition existed. Part of me was debating whether to get the paperback edition though because its cheaper and easier to read but I had read that the book also has a lot of pictures so I thought its best suited to coffee table style. When my brother gave the book I was so excited I barely took heed of him telling me there was a problem with it. When I opened it up, all became clear: it's in Spanish! I studied Spanish for five years and I have a qualification in it at GCSE level but the language in this book is a bit too advanced for me. I wasn't disappointed though - the book still looks beautifully done and the pictures are amazing. The book does have scans of articles which were written in English so I can at least read them for the time being. We can't send the book back because it did specify on the product page that it was in Spanish so Amazon weren't at fault or anything. It's okay though - its still good for the pictures. It's actually become the butt of a running joke: me and my brother now call this book "The Molesta Edition" because we have spent considerable time laughing at the Spanish lyrucs in Should I Stay Or Should I Go? My brother is going to order the paperback edition very soon (this week all being well) so I can't wait to finally read the actual text!