COMIC BOOK ICON-UDERZO

Albert Uderzo the French co creator, with *Rene Goscinny, of Asterix bought his talent to the Comic book with a great eye for architecture and history, this complemented the characterisations of the many characters in the Asterix books. His style was both cartoon like and extremely accurate in detail. His illustration bought humour and detail energy to vibrant stories. His drawings featured numerous historical and literary in-jokes which appealed to adults and children alike.
Beneath the outwardly simple style (almost Disneyesque) there were subtleties and hidden treasures from this French master.
*Remarkably Goscinny carried on creating Asterix adventures after the death of Uderzo almost replicating his former partners style



RIP SMOKIN' JOE

JOE FRAZIER RIP

UNDISPUTED WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

12/01/44-7/11/11

COMIC BOOK ICON -EDUARDO RISSO

Sensational stylist Eduardo Risso a comic book artist who melds tradition with an incredible illustrators eye. This Argentinian is one of the finest draftsmen working in the field. He specialises in the hard boiled and gritty genre pieces and his work on the 100 episodes long 100 Bullets for Vertigo comics is exemplary. Risso is known for his work in the independent South American and European Comic field but has also worked in mainstream 'superhero' comics and brought a fresh tougher look to characters like Batman and Wolverine.

Risso is a super talent and his artwork is in a class of it's own.

MOVIE CITY-BOSTON

http://youtu.be/IeEJvSfBy_I

...if all Boston movies were one

Boston City of The Law, Education,  Gentrification, Commerce, The Celtics and Hoodlums. Not as Flashy as LA or as Gritty as NYC but Boston has been the setting for some interesting movies that are as relavant to the City as any Big Apple offering. From the overlooked The Last Detail to the under rated Gone Baby Gone, Boston movies have had a character of their own.

Altered States

The Brinks Job

The Boston Strangler

A Civil Action

Coma

The Last Detail

Love Story

Mystic River

Next stop Wonderland

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

The Paper Chase

The Social Network

The Verdict

With Honours

The Boondock Saints

The Departed

The Town

Good Will Hunting

Gone baby gone

http://youtu.be/hRzRzbXQ6s0

Boston talk

MY HIT LIST-HIPGNOSIS

Mostly covering The Clever Clogs album Market Hipgnosis was a design company who produced some of the most, resonant of the times, album covers. They covered classics and unknowns alike and their album sleeves take you back to that hinterland between the sixties and Punk.

MY HIT LIST-DAVID HOCKNEY PAINTING BY THE POOL

Don't know why; I just like his Swimming Pool pictures! 

MY HIT LIST: SLEDGEHAMMER-PETER GABRIEL

Peter Gabriel a musician who has always gone his own way had Pop success with the magnificent Sledgehammer in 1986. The Memphis Horns provide the soul to compliment the synthesized sounds. Gabriel delivers the vocal perfectly and hey presto; perfect pop. It went to Number One in the USA and recieved heavy airplay.

The accompanying video was a sensation, withe MTV rotating it, and it still beats untold numbers of CGI creations. Great Song from a great musician with a great Video. Not often you can say that. Twenty Five years later it still sounds better than most things you hear on the radio. Quality.

Incidentally the follow up Big Time continued with the quirky and creative video and was musically carrying on in the same vein as Sledgehammer.

http://youtu.be/Y_E0bvOPTRg

sledgeHAMMER

http://youtu.be/F0FBi5Rv1ho

Big TIME

CURIOSITY CORNER-DAVID GUETTA

This bloke is so naff it's unbelievable but he apparently is the pinnacle of modern so called 'dance' music.The turgid monotonous tripe that this fellah churns out is the death of all that's creative about music. It's appalling garbage of the worst kind. Presumably it is played so loud to youngsters so off their faces that artistic merit is not required. He's not actually a musician as such he is described as a 'Superstaer DJ' a 'Superstar Producer' and a 'Superstar French House DJ'; get the picture?

Just goes to show you can fool most of the people most of the time.

MY HIT LIST : THE VERVE-URBAN HYMNS

Amid the whole 'Britpop' thing The Verve came out with the Album Urban Hymns which blew away the competition. A proper album with depth. It has many great tracks, perhaps it's signature song is Bitter Sweet Symphony, with it's accompanying video, which became something of an anthem, but there are songs of great tenderness and power on this great album.

http://youtu.be/1lyu1KKwC74

Bittersweet symphony

http://youtu.be/MH6TJU0qWoY

Lucky Man

http://youtu.be/r2vGa-yLiso

Sonnet

http://youtu.be/ToQ0n3itoII

the Drugs don't work

MY HIT LIST: U2-ACHTUNG BABY

Released in 1991 produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno performed by U2, Achtung Baby was something of a comeback and the album on which U2 reached a creative peak. In terms of rock it is superb. all the elements come together to produce a vibrant and interesting Rock 'n' roll album.
U2 divide audiences due to a perception of pomposity, however they know how to rock. Speaking as someone who has seen them live both in a small venue and large they are excellent as a live act. This album captures some of that energy.

http://youtu.be/A53BDbV7m4Y

The Fly

http://youtu.be/TxcDTUMLQJI

Mysterious ways

http://youtu.be/Yrch66gdjjk

Even better than the real thing

http://youtu.be/ftjEcrrf7r0

One

http://youtu.be/TUD4CQT33w4

Ultraviolet

Alongside powerhouse tracks there are great and thoughful songs, none more than the rematrkable ONE which is one of the great songs of the last quarter century. 

The 20th anniversary edition is being released this month of the album that bought U2 bang up to date and it certainly doesn't sound twenty years old.