zenda

How is his name pronounced - I-say-a or Is-ee-a?

I reckon he'll get a fair crack of the whip, and if he plays well he'll stay in the team on merit. If we could see a little more consistency from Lee, I think we'd all be happy to see him play. There's very few Villa players that get me excited when on top form, and he's one of them.

This week 10 years ago a certain song called 'Common People' landed like a bullet straight in at number 2 in the charts (a decade on with a fcuking frog at number 1, Jarvis and his group knew only too well that you don't get any respect with a top of the popper). This zeitgest-chomping masterpiece, the anthem of the decade, pissed over the battle that was 'Roll With It' and 'Country House' - both terribly average songs, 3 months later. More tellingly, 10 years on, the album from which said song comes from,Different Class, sounds fresher, more entertaining and sharper than the 'big two's albums Morning Glory and The Great Escape combined. All were released in October 1995, only Pulp's stands up today, though Morning Glory isn't too far off. If you're to go back a year to 18 months the three come head to head again with arguably their best works - Blur's Parklife, Pulp's His'n'Hers and Definitely Maybe by Oasis. It's tougher to call in this battle but whereas Blur and Pulp went on to produce bolder, more adventurous music that rewarded repeated listening (Blur's self-titled '97 opus, Pulp a year later with the majestic 'This Is Harcore'), Oasis managed to spend a shed-load of money on an album barely fit for Oxfam's bargain basement - the tuneless dirge that is 'Be Here Now'. So in answer to the question - Blur. But Pulp is the ultimate answer of course, with Supergrass, Elastica (their debut) and Suede (first two albums) also highly commended. Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Art Brut et al. though all decent in their own right, just don't draw the same excitement do they?