Howdy pardners!

Well, that's the introduction over with, so let's see what NOTP had in store this fine cold week.

First of all we had an album of the week - 'The Family Jewels' by Marina and the Diamonds. Not sure if her sister's called Allegro - I hope not. Anyway, this is an album I've been looking forward to and it's  good fun. Imagine someone midway between Regina Spektor and Lene Lovich with a nod to Lady GaGa and you're getting there. Three tracks which I hope give you the flavour.

Three in a Row featured the founder members of a short-lived 1977 Liverpool band called The Crucial Three. They were Julian Cope (bass) Ian McCulloch (vocals) and Pete Wylie (guitar). Not that any recordings are available, but they all went on to great things. Echo and the Bunnymen was McCulloch's future (I played 'The Killing Moon'), Pete Wylie went on to various stages of Wah ('The Story of the Blues') and Cope, the modern antiquarian, formed The Teardrop Explodes ('Reward', of course).

Against my better judgement, I decided to play a request in the Kitsch'n'Sink slot. this time it was for the Cork-based punk outfit Sultans Of Ping, and the immortal 'Where's me Jumper?'. Actually it was rather good in its own sweet way.

The Long Song was by Elvis Costello, aka Napoleon Dynamite, and from the esperanto album 'Blood and Chocolate' we had the heart-wrenching 'I Want You'. Scary stuff.

That leaves Charity Shop Corner, and this week we went back to the Sixties with a not-half-bad compilation. I chose 'Catch the Wind' by the self-styled British Dylan, Donovan.

Also waiting for an alibi were Blur, Amy McDonald (whose album 'A Curious Thing' we'll be featuring next week), Editors, Brian Eno, Calansho, Electronic, Nirvana (no, not that one), Split Enz, Alphaville, Paloma Faith, Bob Dylan, Godley and Creme (featuring the immortal Peter Cook), The Flying Burrito Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Rilo Kiley, REM and Katherine Williams.

Thanks for listening!

Glyn