Discos Revolver, James and a demolished Javi

Hello everyone! Looks like 176 people already read my blog. Probably 100 or 120 is just me, checking it out from everywhere in Barcelona, but oh well, I like to see people actually read whatever I have to say.

Fridays and Saturdays are my days off from October to mid-June, so I decided to go to the city center and check out Discos Revolver - possibly the best CD stor not only in Barcelona, but also in Spain. There are two shops close to each other. The red one is a regular CD store, very professional and with helpful staff. But the green one is just fantastic. It is a big store with rarities, second-hand stuff and dirt cheap bargains. CDs are not ordered in that store, so you just have to check one by one to find a hidden gem. Of course, all CDs are around 5-8 Euros other than the ones you really want to buy, whose price is always 10 or so. :) If you like Britpop or British rock, you can have it all in there with a little bit of patience. Same if you are a heavy metal fan. I went there at 4pm, while everyone is working, so I took my time to see it through. It's funny to find The Waterboys close to Frank Zappa, Ride close to Love or Kaiser Chiefs close to Joy Division.

Anyway, I bought three CDs for less than 20 Euros, one to complete my collection, the others just because. I ain't going out tonight because tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and the Arctic Monkeys gig, a deadly combination indeed, so I decided to rest a bit, especially since I returned from my first proper basketball game in like 2 months. This is what I bought:

Muse - Origin of Symmetry

I have a love-hate relationship with Muse. Their third and fourth album are great, Time is Running Out in fantastic, Supermassive Black Hole is the bollocks, but I saw them live twice and it was crap. Once in front of 700 people in Sala Arena, Madrid, and the other in FIB 2002 in front of, say, 30,000 people. It's funny, because I know they are a great live band. Will see them in FIB 2006 and they should change my mind. Hopefully.

The other two are an Embrace compilation and a weird James album with B-sides and big hits. Embrace had a good first album with a super song like All You Good Good People. Stadium British rock at its best - with possibly no fans to fill a stadium. Their second album, Drawn From Memory, had ups and downs while their thrid album was terrible. Chris Martin rescued them by penning a song for their fourth album, Out of Nothing... but it is mostly an underacheiving band with, however, 5-6 great tunes and a good live band, too.

I'm glad to see that James are back!

James are just one of the best British bands in the last 20 years. They have three consecutive albums - Gold Mother, Seven and Laid - that left a legacy. Even they latest stuff was great, with songs like I Know What I Am Here For, She's A Star or Getting Away With It. I just hope to see them live and have them around for many, many years. Tim Booth is a natural-born frontman with a terrific voice. And English music has to be glad about these news. Let's hope the Stone Roses or Ride are next, since everyone knows that the Smiths will never, ever come back.

I'll try to listen to Irish bands tomorrow, nothing else. Ash, the Waterboys, the Pogues, Therapy?, The Frank & Walters, Power of Dreams - of course! - and of course the all-time number 1. That I don't need to look for a CD, every Irish pub will end up playing One by U2 sooner or later...

If I am not around tomorrow, Happy St. Patrick's everyone! I will dance like a robot from 1984 in the meantime...

Javi