The Voice of London Episode IV

Good evening Canada. I'm taking a bit of a departure with this episode of the Voice of London. Instead of regaling you with a simple recitation of the past week's events, I'll be merely glancing over those events and focusing on the specific topic of music. So, getting to the former, I will say that we went to the Museum of London, met some biology students and a photographer at the Walkabout (an Australian bar where Danny bought supper), hung out with some Australians and an American at 3one7, and ate a good Chinese dinner at a restaurant called Green Cottage. These things are not listed in order, but they pretty much cover the significant happenings of the unreported days that were spent in London. We caught the train back to Norwich on Friday and we've been here ever since. I'm pretty sure we'll be going back to London by the end of the month (hopefully to move into whatever place we can find), but our next major travel excursion will be in mid-November to the city of Amsterdam for four days of hash, hops, and whores. And Anne Frank's house. This will be followed by a trip to Scotland so I can see Tool in Glasgow.
And that sort of brings me to the main section of this episode. Yesterday I watched a "100 Greatest Albums" special on the telly. It inspired me to create my own list. The list I created isn't a 100 Greatest list. It's a list of my 100 Favourite Albums. As such there are a lot of classic albums that would normally be included on a 100 Greatest list that don't show up on mine. Conversely, some albums on my list would likely not show up on any list of the 100 Greatest Albums. I didn't have any rigourous criteria for selecting albums. The only real limitations I put on the list was not to have more than two albums by a single artist, and I didn't select any albums from the CUIF Media catalogue. The rest were all simply albums that I like or are important to me in some way. I did try to put it in order, but after the number one it's difficult to put any of them in a fixed position so it should not be considered permanently definitive. So without further ado or explanation I present to you the list of My 100 Favourite Albums.

100. Hootie & the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View
A few of these first ones are probably going to make you think, "What the hell?" As I said, part of my selection was to choose albums that are important to me in some way. This really is a decent album anyway, but I have good memories of listening to this album while playing the computer game Solar Winds at our house in Roblin. Good times.

99. Silverchair - Freak Show
The whole grunge scene kind of passed me by in its original incarnation, so when I started listening to alternative rock all the second generation grunge bands sounded new to me. I liked Creed's first album (I came to my senses when I heard their second one) and this album because I didn't have Pearl Jam and Nirvana to compare them to.

98. Collective Soul - Collective Soul
I eventually purchased Disciplined Breakdown, but this was really the only Collective Soul album I ever listened to. It gave me some good material for karaoke.

97. Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
Likewise this album. Barenaked Ladies were probably my favourite band at one time (like when I was 10 to 12, somewhere in there). I stopped listening to them before Stunt came out, so I'm not exactly familiar with their later albums, but I would still say this one is the best. And as Trevor has said, it has one of the great Canadian ballads in What a Good Boy.

96. Christine Fellows - 2 Little Birds
I first saw Christine Fellows with Paul and Brock when she opened for the Weakerthans at Le Rendezvous back in May of 2001, I think. It was the first time I'd seen them too and I'd say it still stands as the best Weakerthans show I've seen, if for no other reason than they played Elegy for Elsabet, whirligig and all. But anyways, Christine Fellows was pretty good back then. I have a nice memory of spending a summer afternoon high out on the deck at the Warsaw house listening to this album. I think Paul and Brock were there that day too.

95. Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
This is one of the great stoner albums and contains the quintessential stoner song Hits from the Bong. I still can't hear Dusty Springfield's Son of a Preacher Man without thinking about it.

94. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
This might be the oldest album on this list. I know, I know, it's sacrilege not to have any Beatles on a top 100 list, but again this isn't about greatest albums. I simply didn't listen to any proper Beatles albums growing up. There were a few songs from the greatest hits compilations that I listened to, but I don't consider compilations to be proper albums. So yeah, this album's awesome.

93. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
It could be argued that Naveed is the better album and I actually really liked Spiritual Machines (except for the overplayed Life), but this one is definitely my favourite.

92. Greg MacPherson Band - Good Times Coming Back Again
It might be surprising that ol' G-Mac is this low on the list. While I really enjoy seeing him in person, his albums can't quite capture his live performances. I had to include one of them on here though.

91. Manitoba - Start Breaking My Heart
I suspect this album would probably appeal to a lot of people who aren't really into electronica. It's a bit more melodic and less glitchy than, say, Aphex Twin. I haven't listened to anything after the name change to Caribou, but if it's anything like this it'll be good.

90. Idlewild - The Remote Part
Alan lent me this album and I was a bit skeptical about it at first, but it grew on me the more I listened to it. Every track is pretty solid and some of them are great.

89. No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
This is one of the albums I was listening to during what I call my "alternative" phase when I considered alternative to be a genre of music. Still a good album, though I haven't listened to it in a long time

88. The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith
Yes, this is the album with I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) on it. Apparently few people know how good the rest of the album is though. This was another album that I listened to back in Roblin. I started listening to it again last summer and I still really enjoy it.

87. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory
Another source of karaoke material for me, this album could probably be included in my alternative phase.

86. Sixty Stories - Anthem Red
Sixty Stories is another band that was introduced to me by opening for the Weakerthans. Greg MacPherson played at that show too, but I had already seen him open for Propagandhi. This is the only full album that Sixty Stories released, which is basically why I had to choose it over Different Places to Sit. It is really good though.

85. Paul Simon - Graceland
This is an album from my childhood. I have many recollections of this album being played on car trips with the family, along with The Police's greatest hits. As a kid I really loved Boy in the Bubble because of the line "lasers in the jungle, lasers in the jungle somewhere." Lasers were cool. It probably reminded of Star Wars.

84. Tegan & Sara - So Jealous
All of Tegan & Sara's songs are incredibly catchy. This album is no exception. The title track, though, is less catchy than just simply awesome. Good stuff all around.

83. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
I was actually a bit disappointed with the Wolf Parade show that we went to at the Pyramid back in the summer. I guess the last show I had seen them at set a pretty high standard. If I made a list of my 100 favourite songs I'll Believe in Anything would make it pretty close to the top, though.

82. His Name is Alive - Detrola
This is one of the more recent albums that I've discovered to make it on the list. I'm not even quite sure how to describe the music. It's a kind of electronic pop, but a bit darker than most music with that label. It's just a great album.

81. Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent Jens
Trevor introduced me to Jens Lekman. He's one of the wittiest songwriters I've heard. The arrangements are fantastic, but there's such a wry sense of humor to his lyrics that even the earnest love songs tend to make you grin. He also has a strange obsession with Rocky Dennis that makes for some great songs. The real highlights, though, are tracks like Maple Leafs ("she said we were all make believe, but I thought she said maple leafs") and I Saw Her in the Anti-War Demonstration ("and the skies were clear blue skies, and her eyes were clear blue eyes, and her thighs were about the same size as mine").

80. Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
Tim Friesen lent me this album along with Faith No More's The Real Thing shortly before I left for Ottawa in 2001. I didn't really get into Faith No More until later, but Jane's Addiction got me quite enthused. I ended up buying this album at a used CD store later that summer. I was even able to get a copy with the original "censored" cover.

79. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness
Another album from my alternative phase, I got this one as a Christmas gift from my aunt Jane. Although it's saved the competition from Radiohead and System of a Down because Amnesiac/Kid A and Hypnotize/Mezmerize were released separately, even if they weren't Mellon Collie would still be one of the best double albums ever.

78. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
The Nine Inch Nails show at the MTS Centre (that I wrote about in Peg Life Vol. 14) was the second best concert I've ever seen (after the Arcade Fire). With Teeth was really an improvement over The Fragile, but this is my preferred Nails album.

77. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
A seminal album in the history of prog rock with one of the great album covers. There's a great scene in Buffalo 66 where Christina Ricci does a tap dance routine in a bowling alley to Moonchild. King Crimson was also a big influence on Tool and Bad Religion, two of my favourite bands.

76. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Bryter Layter has the more iconic cover, but I prefer this album. I don't think Nick Drake ever wrote a bad song. It's too bad the world took so long to realize it.

75. The Cranberries - No Need to Argue
This was one of the earliest non-Weird Al albums I ever owned. Uh... It's good.

74. Editors - The Back Room
I'm kind of running out of things to say about some of these albums. I guess I'll save my comments for the ones I have comments for.

73. Jay-Z - The Black Album
Or just make random comments that don't actually have anything to do with the album that heads them. Like this one time I found twenty bucks lying on the ground outside the Zoo (the bar, not the one with animals). I think I bought beer with it.

72. Bush - Razorblade Suitcase
This was my favourite band of the alternative phase. Unfortunately it was pretty much downhill for Bush after this album. I mean, what was up with putting out a remix album for their third release? Sure, I bought it, but come on.

71. Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the
I'm sure Trevor will sneer at this one. Yes, Bright Eyes was overhyped and Conor Oberst's vocals can be pretty overwrought, but he did write some good songs that made this a great album.

70. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
It was a bit of a tough call between this and Clarity, but Bleed American won out because it was the first one I heard. A great album despite The Middle being highly overplayed.

69. Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
I once fell asleep with this album playing and woke up to Jello Biafra's warbling vocals on Drug Me. It was one of the weirdest things I'd ever heard.

68. Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
Naomi is one of my favourite songs of all time. Three Peaches is one of the most harrowing songs I've ever heard. I have no idea how Jeff Mangum sustains the note in Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone. Listen to the song and you'll know what I'm talking about.

67. The Constantines - Tournament of Hearts
I've seen the Constantines four or five times now and they are one of my favourite live acts. This album (their latest) is a tour-de-force. Shockingly good.

66. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
If I recall correctly I discovered this band when I saw the video for One Armed Scissor on The Wedge. I wish I had been able to see these guys when they were still around. Download the video of their performance on Conan O'Brien and you'll feel the same way.

65. of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
I realized I didn't include a Moist album on this list. It probably would have been Creature if I had, but I stand by my selections.

64. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
I'm pretty sure this is the newest album to make the list, but it certainly deserves it. Eminently memorable, but doesn't overstay it's welcome. Highlight track (besides Crazy): Transformer

63. Bjork - Post
Last night I watched a documentary program about nun erotica (generally known as nunsploitation since the seventies). It was pretty interesting. Not something you'd see on broadcast television in North America.

62. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
If you're a fan of hard rock music, how can you not like this album? It basically created heavy metal and laid the groundwork for most of its thematic content. Classic.

61. Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
I had a really hard time choosing between this album and The Moon & Antarctica. They're both so good. The Moon & Antarctica almost won out on the strength of Tiny Cities but I think I prefer Good News just a little bit more.

60. Bad Religion - The Gray Race
Seemingly considered one of their weaker albums by a lot of critics, I actually think it's one of their best. This might just be because it was one of the first ones I heard (that's a pretty significant factor in a lot of my choices) but there are really some great songs on it: Drunk Sincerity, The Streets of America, Come Join Us, Cease.

59. The White Stripes - Elephant
I forgot to mention it earlier, but when we were in the London Underground I saw an add for the National Gallery that had a picture of the guy from that portrait that Tim Banman and Steve and I bought in Lac du Bonnet that's hanging in the Gerard St. House right now. I wish I had taken a picture of it at the time. Hopefully I'll see it again.

58. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
Yet another classic cover on this album and, for better or worse, the grandfather of emo. Far better than any of its followers though.

57. Local Rabbits - This Is It Here We Go
Perfect indie power pop.

56. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
I was surprised to find that this album was superior overall to their first album. Mer de Noms had a fantastic first half but wasn't as strong in the latter half as this album.

55. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
This is one of several albums on the list that I listened to after seeing them on the AV Club's year end best music feature. I ended up downloading the rest of Andrew Bird's catalogue as well. The Swimming Hour is another really good album.

54. Lifter Puller - Fiestas + Fiascos
I had an idea to adapt the story laid out in this album as a graphic novel or prose novella. Even before forming the Hold Steady, Craig Finn was writing some great lines: "They did the secret knock and stuck their hands through the mail slot, and one, two, three, four, that's the way that Jenny scores," "Our teachers they call her Katrina but really, when you're speeding towards sunrise, Katrina's a bit much to say. Now we just call her K."

53. Kanye West - The College Dropout
Breathe In, Breathe Out. I think that's all that needs to be said.

52. Deftones - White Pony
A talented and innovative band that unjustly got lumped into the "nu-metal" genre. This album is a Caravaggio compared to the rest of the trash with that label.

51. The Strokes - Is This It?
For some reason I don't think I've listened to their second album. I've listened to the third one a couple times and it's not bad, but they just set the bar too high with Is This It? It's like a perfect rock record.

50. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
It's hard to say whether this album is actually better than Elephant or vice versa. It took some pondering to eliminate De Stijl from contention.

49. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Neko Case has one of the best voices in the history of singing. I absolutely love it. On the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic, the tracks that feature her on vocals are far and away the best ones on the album. On her solo records it's all her and it's fantastic.

48. Weezer - Pinkerton
It's shocking how little Weezer they have at karaoke places here in England. The only song I've found is Buddy Holly. Of course, even in Canada they didn't have any songs from this album. Which is a shame.

47. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
I saw the video for Hey Ya! and immediately went out and bought this album. Speakerboxxx was a Vancouver album for me. Come to think of it, so was number 48.

46. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
I'm not sure but this might be the shortest album on the list (there are one or two that might possibly have it beat).

45. Radiohead - Kid A
Apparently I said at one time that I preferred Amnesiac to Kid A. I decided not to change the list once I had it in order, but I guess I'd just switch it out in the same place.

44. Hot Water Music - Caution
Another Vancouver album. This was kind of a second peak for Hot Water Music after Fuel for the Hate Game. The New What Next was a bit of a disappointment, but the band ended on more or less of a high note. Their show with the Bouncing Souls at the Pyramid was one of the best shows I've seen there.

43. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
A Mercury Prize winner and for good reason. Trevor and I have predicted that the next big hip-hop movement will come from Britain. It hasn't quite happened yet, but maybe when Lady Sovereign releases her debut on Def Jam it'll kick things off.

42. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
Another AV Club recommendation. I haven't been able to really convince anyone of the greatness of this album yet. Number 42 doesn't seem terrific, but the album is.

41. Bjork - Debut
I just made a random comment for the other Bjork album, didn't I? Oh well, here's another one.

40. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is one of a few bands I'm proud to say that I discovered on my own without having someone else introduce me to them.

39. Weezer - The Blue Album
The Money Pit is on TV right now.

38. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
The first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon was when I watched it synchronized with the Wizard of Oz. It was one of those experiences that you sometimes wish you could go back and relive for the first time.

37. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
Blueberry Boat is like half a dozen albums all rolled into one. In a good way. Probably a little "difficult" for some people, but I love it.

36. Millencolin - Pennybridge Pioneers
Home from Home is probably the overall equal to this album, but the individual songs are more consistently good on this one.

35. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
My favourite pen is the black Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V5. I'll also use 0.5mm Uniball pens, but I find the Pilots allow for finer precision, which is useful because I like to write small.

34. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Greatest live performance I have ever seen.

33. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
I'm pretty sure Scooby Doo was a hemophiliac.

32. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Death Cab is awesome. I Will Follow You Into the Dark is one of the prettiest songs I've heard.

31. Sufjan Stevens - Invites You to Come On Feel the Illinoise
Despite his songwriting prolificness, I honestly do not believe Sufjan Stevens will complete his 50 States project. I am looking forward to the next one though.

30. Smog - Red Apple Falls
I Was a Stranger would definitely make my list of favourite songs. Cat Power does a really good, faithful rendition of Red Apples on her The Covers Record. Now that I think about it, I should have included Smog's A River Ain't Too Much to Love on this list too. Live and learn.

29. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
Yes, this is the only Nirvana album on the list. As I said near the beginning, grunge kinda passed me by. I love this album though.

28. Bad Religion - Suffer
I don't think it's shorter than Pink Moon, but this is one of at least three albums on the list that are less than 30 minutes long.

27. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Jesus Christ, am I almost done this yet? This is taking so goddamn long to write. Maybe I should have just provided the list and left it at that. Too late now.

26. Cat Power - You Are Free
I don't remember if I was high or not, but once I was laying on the couch listening to this album and I had a vision of the non-existent video for Good Woman that took place in this old Southern church with Chan Marshall really brightly backlit playing guitar with a vintage looking amp.

25. Sebadoh - Harmacy
Lou Barlow's songs on this album are the best ones: On Fire, Beauty of the Ride, Willing to Wait, Perfect Way, among others.

24. System of a Down - Steal This Album
System of a Down pretty much gets better with every record they release. I don't think Mezmerize topped this album, but Hypnotize did (as we shall see).

23. Low - Secret Name
I think Will the Night? would have been a perfect closing track but it ended up being the second to last track. Seemed odd to me.

22. The Pixies - Doolittle
As with probably a lot of people, my introduction to the Pixies was when Where Is My Mind? played at the end of Fight Club. Then I listened to this album and it wasn't even on it. Instead a bunch of better songs are.

21. Pavement - Terror Twilight
The pinnacle of my Vancouver albums. Every song on it is terrific in some way.

20. System of a Down - Hypnotize
See?

19. Lou Barlow - Emoh
Lou Barlow has been called the saddest man in indie music. Sadness makes for some great songs. Mary would easily make my top five of a favourite songs list and it would have a very good chance of making it to number one.

18. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
Ted Leo is simply fantastic at writing incredibly catchy songs with highly memorable lines. One of my favourites is "You still see people waiting for the next excuse for war."

17. Radiohead - The Bends
A late night drive from Killarney to Ninette watching the stars as this album played really got me passionate about Radiohead. I hadn't seriously listened to them until then and it was long overdue.

16. The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me
This album just blew me away. I've written a little bit about them before, but my strongest endorsement is that the Hold Steady became one of my favourite bands almost instantly. So much so that I avoided listening to their second album for fear that I would be disappointed. I wasn't.

15. Cat Power - Moon Pix
Good Woman is easily Cat Power's best song, but this album is just outstanding. For the record, I wrote the Somaphore song Say before I knew Cat Power had a song called Say. Not that anyone would confuse the two if they listened to them.

14. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
Someone (Trevor deduces it was Joe) downloaded In Metal onto my computer sometime in 2001 or 2002. Listening to that song got me into Low and inspired one of the tracks on Somaphore's Typecast.

13. The Postal Service - Give Up
If I keep staying up to write this I'm going to get into the bad habit of constantly staying up late and sleeping in for far too long. I think it's already started.

12. The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
A few years ago this album would have at least cracked the top five. I'm pretty sure I would even have put it at the top at one point. Choosing the top ten is really the most difficult though. I mean, no one really pays attention to the difference between number 86 and number 76. It seems each step is of greater importance the higher up you get on the list.

11. Tool - Aenima
Number eleven seems like a really bad spot because it's like not quite being good enough to be in the top ten. Actually, it's really good for this album because Tool already has a spot in the top ten.

10. Outkast - Stankonia
B.O.B. was (along with The Way I Am) one of the songs that changed my mind about rap music. Until I listened to those songs I was of the opinion that rap music generally sucked. I held this opinion without any real rationale. It was likely an adoption of my parents' (specifically my mother's) view on the subject. Now I'm of a more enlightened mind.

9. The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
Tim Friesen lent me this album along with the next one on the list. That was a good week for new music. What was funny about listening to the two albums around the same time was that at first I didn't realize from Eleanor Friedberger's vocals that she was a woman. She has a pretty low singing voice for a female and after listening to Ben Gibbard, who has a rather high voice, I thought she was a guy. It was only after hearing Matthew Friedberger's vocal parts, which are more distinctly masculine, that I realized which was which.

8. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
Um... What I just said.

7. M.I.A. - Arular
This album is the most enjoyably danceable record I've ever listened to. I think I listened to it daily for about a week after first hearing it.

6. Propagandhi - Less Talk, More Rock
If Pink Moon isn't the shortest record on here then this is. In my opinion probably the best punk rock album ever. It'll kick your ass, then kick your face, then kick your balls into outer space. Please tell me someone got that reference.

5. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Paul gave me a copy of this album. The first time I listened to it was on the plane flying to Ottawa after my grandmother died. It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard, and still is. It's strange how Paul is tied in with my grandmother's death. This is from one of my notebooks:
The fourth day after her death I spent lying in bed. I was alone in the house and I passed the time sleeping. And I dreamed. I was with friends again. We were part of a crowd, a mass, a protest. We marched to the legislature of I don't know where. I must have recognized the place at the time. We sat on a wide lawn. Hundreds, thousands of people. Police surrounded us all. Paul was with me there and we smiled. In a moment I knew in my mind something was happening. In another moment I knew what it was. I told Paul to sit down, that there was nothing we could do. His smile began to dissolve into confusion and he asked what I was talking about. I tried to reassure him but the look of sorrow on my face told him something was wrong and he became worried. He asked me again what it was. It wasn't until then that it happened. A crowd of riot police attacked a young man. Paul cried out. I held him back and told him that we could not help him. The police didn't just beat the young man. They tore him apart. The mass of protesters surged against a barrier of steel bars. I wept as I help Paul back from horror he saw with his eyes, and I with my mind. He screamed, a long, loud wail that I awoke to find was my own. I didn't know if it was real. I cried until I knew where I was.

4. Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Well. That got a little heavy. Weren't expecting that, were you? Yeah, neither was I. Anyway, this album is great. Sam Beam has a beard.

3. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
I was so not disappointed with this album that it is now my third favourite. So many great lines on this record. "She climbed the cross and found she liked the view," "And I met William Butler Yeats. Sunday night dance party, summer 1988. Yeah, at first I thought it might be William Blake," pretty much all of Your Little Hoodrat Friend.

2. Tool - Lateralus
Watching the video for Parabola precipitated one of the best mushroom trips I've ever had. And in less than six weeks I get to see them live. In Glasgow no less. It's going to be fucking aaaaaawesome. But then, Tool was a band that I could never get anyone else into. They're one of the ones that I discovered for myself (and that I'm particularly proud of for doing so), but hardly any of the other people I know appreciate them. The few people I've met who like them anywhere near as much as I do generally seem to be... well, tools. At least most of my friends can appreciate

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
I got into this album shortly before a two week trip to Fish Lake in Michigan. I doubt it would be inaccurate to say that during those two weeks I listened to it at least thirty times. Most days I would listen to it at least once during the day, then once while going to bed. Never before or since have I responded quite so obsessively to a record. Every song, hell every moment of every song, is perfection. I have only vague recollections of the first times that I ever heard it. It was played once or twice at the Warsaw House and I do remember being intrigued by what I heard, but I didn't listen to intently until quite a bit later, after the song Ghost showed up on my computer with its horns and fuzz guitar. The album finishes with one of the great closing tracks of all time, ending on the line "She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires, and retire to sheets safe and clean, but don't hate her when she gets up to leave" and then the creaking of the stool as Jeff Mangum stands up and walks away. Brilliant.

And so we've finally finished. The longest email I've ever sent. I am exhausted. Until next week.

Beardlessly yours,
Matthew Hawkins

The Voice of London Episode III

Good evening Canada. This week's Voice of London is actually appropriately titled as I am sending this from the city of London itself, rather than Norwich. In the interest of completeness I will say that nothing really happened on Thursday. Moving on to Friday... It's time for another movie review. Brian should be particularly interested in this review as it will be on the new Martin Scorcese film The Departed. They say if a director is doing his job well you shouldn't really see his influence on the film. You should be drawn into the film so that you don't notice the director's touch. I think The Departed succeeds in this regard, with the exception of one scene. In it the shot moves into a room and pulls back down the length of a conference table in a camera move that is purely Scorcese. This scene occurs early in the film which is probably why I was able to catch it. When I did it made me smile. After that the story dares you not to be compelled. There is a line that has been fairly prominent in the trailers where Jack Nicholson says, in reference to cops and criminals, "If you're looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, what's the difference?" Beyond the fact that the story is about one of each infiltrating the other's group, the movie goes to even greater lengths to demonstrate that the differences are few, if any. Cops and criminals are just people who kill each other. Danny said to me afterwards that it was the first movie he'd seen in a while that he didn't want to end. Watching the movie I couldn't predict how it would end and was quite shocked at how it did. The final scene only invites more questions but not in a way that is unsatisfying. After all that has happened they don't need to be answered. It's almost like a Zen koan. Does a gun have Buddha nature? Bang. ****1/2 out of *****.
On Saturday the market was open again and we went down to outfit ourselves with a few items we would need for our coming trip to London. I needed to replace the battery in my watch so I would have an alarm to wake me early enough to catch the train. We both needed to get luggage locks to safeguard our belongings in the storage lockers of the hostel at which we were to stay. After a bit of easily surmountable difficulty both missions were accomplished. Our requisite tasks completed we continued browsing the shops of Norwich, focusing most of our attention on those located on St. Benedict's Street. Unable to help myself I broke down and purchased the second volume of Y: the Last Man (as well as the first volume of 100 Bullets). Fortunately the end of this book inspires less compulsion to continue reading than the last, so I think I can keep myself from dropping another eight pounds on the next book. 100 Bullets is structured more episodically and thus there is, again, less reason to continue reading. It is based on an interesting premise, though. A rather mysterious character known as Agent Graves contacts people whose lives have been ruined in some way and gives them an attache case containing the identity of the person responsible for their hardship along with irrefutable proof that this is the case, a pistol, one hundred untraceable rounds of ammunition, and the assurance that law enforcement will do nothing to stop them. They are then free to do as they will. It allows for some morally ambiguous examinations of more or less extraordinary circumstances. As I said, interesting premise.
Sunday saw our early rising as we made our final preparations and headed to the station to board the 12:00 train into London. The two hour ride was fitfully restful and not entirely uncomfortable. We arrived at Liverpool Street Station at the scheduled time of two o'clock. Our first task was to purchase Oyster cards (as they're known) to permit our transit on London's famous Underground. These we acquired for the price of £22. Danny seemed skeptical as to their value, but I am convinced that with the efficiency of the tube system for travel around the city they are worth every penny. We took the Central line from Liverpool Street to Bond where we transferred to the Jubilee line and proceeded to Swiss Cottage station, our final destination. We found our hostel fairly easily. It's called Palmers Lodge and is constructed from a restored Victorian manor. I have the top bunk (above Danny) in a fourteen bed dorm. We each have a footlocker that slides under the bed. There is a cafeteria style restaurant and a bar downstairs (along with laundry services). On the main floor are our rooms, bathrooms, showers, and a spacious TV lounge. Free internet is available in the lobby, as well as in the lounge. I am quite comfortable here and the rates (10-12 pounds per night), given the setting, are without peer. I would definitely recommend this hostel for anyone needing affordable accommodations while traveling in London. After checking in and stowing our excess belongings we found a Thai restaurant at which to have lunch. We then returned to the hostel so Danny could shower and I took a few minutes to check my email. With Danny sufficiently cleansed and refreshed we embarked on an exploration of the area. Skipping extraneous details we find ourselves at a bar called 3one7 which we went to for billiards, but as it turns out, happened to have karaoke on Sunday nights as well. Unfortunately the few people in attendance did not seem too keen on actually participating. Danny and I could basically have sung continuously, but with the limited selection of songs there was little reason to do so. Later in the evening they held a karaoke competition with a £2 entry fee giving a chance at a £50 prize. This got a couple more people singing (though if I'm not mistaken they were all from the same group). All told there were five entrants in the competition including me and Danny. On my recommendation Danny performed Cover Me (in my opinion his strongest song). I went with Champagne Supernova but had to settle for second place to some girl who sang Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. I was invited back to the finals on November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day (remember? remember?). Hopefully we'll have a residence in the city by then. If not, I'll still want to come in to see the Like and Gnarls Barkley anyway, so we'll see how that goes.
Besides some initial trouble getting to sleep (caused in part by previous late nights, carryover from jetlag, and the sheets being tucked in at the foot of the bed) I had a restful night and awoke around 9:30. Breakfast was not particularly tasty or all that filling, but it was free so I can't complain. The shower stall was small with little shelf space to keep clothing off the wet floor, but after two weeks of only baths it was heaven. I tried to think of another sentence that would follow the structure of something something but something, but I couldn't. Hey, that works. Today was the British Library and Tate Modern. The Library was first and we spent about two hours there. We found a place down the street called the Rocket and had a pretty decent lunch. We were at the Tate Gallery for about four or five hours. They've got some really great pieces right now, including a film of a six year old girls reading the entire text of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Remarks on Colour aloud. Another video piece has four screens that cut together clips of music and sound from films to create a kind of symphonic audiovisual collage. There was also a really brilliant photograph that I liked a lot but I can't recall the title or photographer. I guess I should have written it down. I'll go back and check before the end of the week. One title I do remember was Incidental Music. It takes the text of tabloid stories of murder and other tragedies and aligns them on large sheets in horizontal lines that form musical staffs. The gaps between each story determines the pitch and temporal location of each note. The resulting music is then played over headphones you can wear while viewing the "sheet music" as it were. Even if I don't get back there this week, I'm sure I'll be visiting Tate Modern again so maybe I'll get into more detail on art another time. Skip more boring parts and we're having dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Topkapi. I had the mousaka. It was alright; more expensive than it should have been though. That pretty much ends the day.
We got a later start today. Danny was out buying a postcard. When he got back we took the tube to Charing Cross station and ascended to Trafalgar Square. In my opinion the stairs of to the Square from Charing Cross are the best exit from the Underground in all of London. After riding one of the most efficient metropolitan transit systems in the world, you come out from the tunnels into one of the most famous landmarks in England. We walked around behind the National Gallery and had lunch at an Italian restaurant. A little pricey, but better than the mousaka last night. The next stop was the Portrait Gallery where they had a Beatles exhibit that held Danny's attention for a while. When he was finished we proceeded to the National Gallery where I was disappointed not to be able to find Salvatore Rosa's self portrait. I did find his Witches at Their Incantations, which is another of my favourites at the National Gallery. Other paintings in this category include Hans Holbein the Younger's The Ambassadors, and Sassoferrato's The Virgin in Prayer. Finishing our perusal there we stopped off at the Canadian High Commission where I registered as a Canadian citizen living abroad and got some advice on jobs and housing. Then we took a nice walk through St. James park to Buckingham Palace. I got some pretty good pictures throughout the day, which I will send when I get the ability to do so. I don't know when this will be though.
Normally I wouldn't send this until tomorrow but it's getting a little lengthy and I don't want to overwhelm you to an excessive degree. I prefer my readers to be only mildly overwhelmed.

Charitably yours,
Matthew Hawkins

The Voice of London Episode II

Good evening Canada. The time is... whatever time it is. First, a few words about names. Apparently everyone is confused about the whole Matthew thing. I realize the peculiarity of someone with an English name adopting another English name on relocation to another country. However, it is not uncommon for someone with an English name to use their middle name as their regular appellation. Thus Danny would have to go by the name Ross, not Paul, if he was following the same logic. My actual reasoning for going by my middle name involves my intention to riot be the Fowl. That's as much as I'll say on the subject right now. I would like to note that while the name of this email is a more direct reference to the film version of V for Vendetta, the inspiration came from the comic book version in which the character Lewis Prothero is the Voice of Fate, rather than the Voice of London. Finally, I have a correction to make. Last week I said that I was drinking Scrumpy Joe's cider at the Black Horse. It's actually called Scrumpy Jack. And now back to your regularly scheduled email.
Today (not today today, when I wrote this today) we met Dave, Stef, and Tyra. Danny and I (I suspect those three words are going to become very common in these emails) were having a game of gin over a couple pints of Strongbow cider when one of the girls asked us something. I'm not sure exactly what it was that they asked, but our response gave us away as obviously not British. They immediately inquired whether or not we were Americans. Of course we answered in the negative and they were glad of it. As were we. Their next question was as to our names. Providing them did little good as we were soon dubbed Rage Against the Machine (because of Danny's shirt) and Jesus (for obvious reasons if you've seen me in the last three months). After a few exchanged words and another hand of gin they decided to join us. We gave up our current hand after some intrusive insistence by the girls and started on a game of Go Fish at the request of Stef. This ended somewhat poorly when it was discovered that we were missing a three and a seven from our deck. It was not terribly difficult to ascertain that everyone was a touch inebriated at this point, so no one really cared. We moved on to billiards where I botched my first game against Dave by scratching on the eight. I made up for it in my second game, then turned my cue over to Danny. We conversed for a bit while we finished our drinks and they invited us to some sort of musical event taking place at the Waterfront this Saturday. Not having any other plans we accepted, but not knowing where the Waterfront is, with some measure of hesitant uncertainty. I guess we have some friends now.
It seems British pub rules for billiards are such that, if you sink a ball off the break, that's what colour you are. There was some confusion in the first game I played against a Brit. Apparently no one plays by the official rules of billiards except at tournaments. Anyways, no matter. At least Danny has taken to following my lead in playing by official rules. And play we have. Eight ball and Strongbow cider have been staples of the past several days here. Today we tried to go see a stage performance by a Canadian entitled One Man Star Wars Trilogy. I'm pretty sure it appeared at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival a couple of years ago. I didn't get around to seeing it back then, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to see a well received stage show and pass an evening here in Norwich. Unfortunately, when we got to the Norwich Playhouse we found that the show was sold out. We should have seen it coming but we didn't and instead went looking for a pub that was supposed to have karaoke. Being disappointed again, we were instead treated to some guy with a receding hairline mullet playing synthesizer muzack.
As it turns out, the Waterfront is actually invisible. The map says it's on King Street, which was confirmed later on by asking a cab driver. We walked up and down the length of that fucking street and didn't find a bloody thing. After a couple hours of walking around we found ourselves at a pub that had karaoke on long enough for Danny to sing Lose Yourself before ending and we made our way back home. I've found it a bit frustrating that pubs close so early here. I'm used to being able to drink in bars until two in the morning, not hearing last call at 10:30. Maybe the situation is different in London. Let's hope so. On the other hand, I do like the size of the drinks: real British pints, not those piddly little Canadian pints.
Sunday night was karaoke again. Danny opted for some good standards with Livin' On a Prayer and Cover Me. I went with a couple of songs they didn't have in Winnipeg. Namely, Crazy by Gnarls Barkley and Ms. Jackson (yes, they actually have more Outkast than just Hey Ya! and Roses). I think tomorrow we're going to see A Scanner Darkly. My review will be forthcoming. And by forthcoming I mean in the next paragraph.
I've never really had a problem with Keanu Reeves. Sure, he's not a particularly expressive actor, and there's no question that there are man better actors around, but I don't think he is deserving of much of the disdain that is heaped upon him. Anyway, he does an adequate job in A Scanner Darkly but he's pretty easily overshadowed by the performances of basically everyone else in the movie. I did quite enjoy Robert Downey, Jr. and Woody Harrelson as a pair of kinda strung out, acid-heady drug types. I wonder how much of their performances were improvised. Their performances are pretty much what drive the first half (at least) of the film. The plot essentially takes place in the last half hour with a twist that actually isn't horribly convoluted. In fact, you could probably predict it (or much of it) if you're paying attention and thinking about it. It occurs to me now that a lot of the first two thirds of the movie may be distraction from thinking about the ending. I'm not trying to say this is a bad thing. I did like the movie. I got the sense that Richard Linklater has a real appreciation for Philip K. Dick. I've only read The Man in the High Castle myself, but I am somewhat familiar with Dick's life and the general tone of much of his work. I would have to agree that this film most accurately captures the paranoia and the malleability of reality present in his writing. It certainly warrants repeated viewing (I'm not one of those put off by the rotoscoping), and though I may subsequently change my opinion, **** out of *****.

Coruscatingly yours,
Matthew Hawkins