Marka Ragnos

At this point, it may be a moot point. He's not had enough good form either to make him attractive for the transfer market OR to dispel doubts about his future at Villa. Again, we're all going to have to "hurry up and wait."

There are certain obvious giveaways about the era of the production, but there's also something deeply otherworldly and fresh about this track. Glenda Collins sounds like she's imploring listeners, begging them -- and the slippery quality of the message, putting a religious law into a secular situation -- love that.

RIP … beautiful song

Could be. Understand the doubt, 100% A sustained run of positive form would change my perception, and we may end up, as fans, having to "hurry up and wait" to see if that happens. I don't think any fan could be fairly asked to rid themselves of all doubts, that's for sure.

Last week I asked, "Where is Leon Bailey?" Maybe we just need to keep asking that. Am I the kind of supporter who thought it was time to sell him last week, and now feel like we need to cherish him? I fully embrace my hypocrisy, and if the goals for Villa keep coming, I'll walk around with a smashed tomato on my head, too.

It's hard to argue that he has a very clear role in terms of plans right now. I admire his skill, as I do any elite player and I appreciate his service to the club, but he often seems to be a bit of a vestige these days. You can see the somewhat diminished talent, but where does he fit exactly? I don't see it.

That’s great. Love hearing this.

Ahhhhh. Feels like a shoulder massage. I can relax for a few days now …

I've located your single person ...

Oh, I have to say, that’s just … the best. It’s a brilliant song by two brilliant artists. The lyrics are more concrete and precise than ten years’ worth of many other songwriter’s works.

I want to see the graphic novel set in that universe: “Name your favorite song ever, or your family parishes!”

That has to be said, too -- it ALL has to be said. It doesn't diminish the point I'm echoing, or remove the need to be reminded of it ... continually. "I bought a guitar from China, so I guess it's OK to pretend Newcastle aren't ethically compromised ..." Not much of an argument.

It's not impossible to answer, not at all. It's just unsatisfying to answer because it feels like I'm somehow losing all my second-place songs by declaring a first-place song lol. And, as others have said, it changes, too, almost daily. But what doesn't? All said, this has been my most enduring favourite for almost 30 years:

This was like my personal anthem for a few years ... loved it so much. I got to interview Jarvis for an American magazine that was into British stuff back in the 1990s. Very fun and easy to talk to (I remember he was listening to John Barry in the background), but I think I'd find him insufferable these days, but I'm kind of annoying, too, so ...

Oh, now that's very touching. I'll be disappointed if you're joking.

I seriously appreciate your clear-eyed description of things. It's insulting when the mainstream football media pretends there's this parallel, ethics-free universe they inhabit where they can slather praise on Newcastle's "improvement" (cue requisite praise for Eddie Howe) and "exciting" Man City—as if it's all down to hard work and coaching ingenuity. Blood money is getting sportwashed before our eyes in plain sight, and this reality needs to be named again and again and again.

Question: How are UK comprehensives dealing or failing to deal with bathroom/WC-usage and gender controversies in 2023? In the USA, it's a bit of mishmash in public high schools, but there are also practical problems such as funding and construction delays, etc. Sometimes, more progressive cultural norms have outpaced the funding to do what might be ideal. At other times, culture warriors mostly from the far right have pressed for new restrictive rules.

Well, yes. And when I was 15 and swamped in unrequited "first love," it wasn't just a song -- it was instantly playable catharsis. I swear I played it twice a day for a year. Kind of embarrassing, I know. And it's hey babe, with your guardian eyes so blue Hey my baby, don't you know our love is true? I've been so far from here, far from your loving arms Now I'm back again And babe, it's gonna work out fine Can't you feel our souls ignite? Shedding ever-changing colours In the darkness of the fading night Like the river joins the ocean As the germ in a seed grows We have finally been freed to get back home There's an angel standing in the sun And he's crying with a loud voice "This is the supper of the mighty one" Lord of Lords, King of Kings Has returned to lead his children home To take them to the new Jerusalem

Maybe it's just me, but I honestly don't hear any "little bit of arrogance" or swagger (either in a positive or a worrying way), tbh, just a strong desire to get onto the pitch and serve the badge. Can't wait!

So much. All these podcast-twitter-Villarati are like, "We don't want to make excuses for losing ..." **** that shit. It's not an excuse. Player mentality is a fact. On top of that, there's just the logistical aspect of suddenly losing the "fulcrum" player. Whoever would have predicted Mings would go out with an injury? I worry about Ollie. I worry about Kamara. I worry about Martinez. I never worried at all about Mings. He was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO solid. It was a ****-ing shock, what happened.

Feeling it ...

Always a moving target. It's all about context as much as music, it seems, reading these and thinking back. But are there pieces of music that make me cry in an apparently context-free situation? Well, not possible, really. Context can't be chopped off and set aside. Sometimes even the dumbest songs make me cry and the most dolorous ones don't, depending on the moment. Stlll, this one's a frequent friend ... even just playing it here just now messed me up lol. I think a lot of the emotion connects for me to a moment as a father when my son was in hospital with pneumonia as an infant (he's OK now! knock on wood), and I heard this song then. This whole video intro to the song is hilarious, if you get a chance. Both singers sadly dead now. The song is based on a Robert Burns poem. It's family lore that Burns is a distant relative of mine, but maybe the lore added to the personal impact.

That's a great list! -- slightly different than I would have expected (am I sounding patronising enough? ). I had about 46. Mine are in re-ordered "worst" to best. I guess I do give some weight to popularity, too -- sort of the if a tree falls ... argument. I love that Big Star album, but no one gave a shit about that for years and not many even heard it, and in the end, Alex Chilton was driving around the midwest in his car doing shows to tiny audiences of hipsters but it was too late. Sad story, really. But it just wasn't that "big" of an album -- so I don't know. Then there all the artists with mediocre or weird or unrepresentative debuts who later proved everyone wrong. Prince, for instance. The Beatles and, for me, a huge one, Public Enemy. And Kraftwerk. Not sure how many on this board would have really witnessed the impact of the Cars' debut in the fall of 1978 and into 1979. Not enormous in UK. Very hard to overstate impact in US middle America. It was strangely divisive -- and got such airplay. The Libertines, 'Up the Bracket' (2002) Big Star, '#1 Record' (1972) Nine Inch Nails, 'Pretty Hate Machine' (1989) Metallica, 'Kill 'Em All' (1983) Fiona Apple, 'Tidal' (1996) Frank Ocean, 'Channel Orange' (2012) The Modern Lovers, 'The Modern Lovers' (1976) Pearl Jam, 'Ten' (1991) Sade, 'Diamond Life' (1984) The Go-Go's, 'Beauty and the Beat' (1981) Rage Against the Machine, 'Rage Against the Machine' (1992) Leonard Cohen, 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' (1967) The B-52's, 'The B-52s' (1979) Van Halen, 'Van Halen' (1978) Ramones, 'Ramones' (1976) Pavement, 'Slanted and Enchanted' (1992) The Cars, 'The Cars' (1978) Led Zeppelin, 'Led Zeppelin' (1969) The Pretenders, 'Pretenders' (1980) Pink Floyd, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' (1967) PJ Harvey, 'Dry' (1992) Yazoo, 'Upstairs at Eric's' (1982) Violent Femmes, 'Violent Femmes' (1983) Bad Bunny, 'X 100pre' (2018) Liz Phair, 'Exile in Guyville' (1993) Kanye West, 'The College Dropout' (2004) Wire, 'Pink Flag' (1977) Steel Pulse, 'Handsworth Revolution' (1978) Madonna, 'Madonna' (1983) Devo, 'Q: Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!' (1978) Whitney Houston, 'Whitney Houston' (1985) Run-DMC, 'Run-DMC' (1984) The Smiths, 'The Smiths' (1984) R.E.M., 'Murmur' (1983) Black Sabbath, 'Black Sabbath' (1970) Elvis Presley, 'Elvis Presley' (1956) N.W.A, 'Straight Outta Compton' (1988) The Doors, 'The Doors' (1967) The Velvet Underground, 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' (1967) The Beatles, 'Please Please Me' (1963) The Sex Pistols, 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' (1977)

I really find myself struggling to accept many entries and their ranking on this Rolling Stone list ... of greatest debut albums. I suppose these lists are meant as conversation starters. What do you think of the rankings? I would never put the Ramones at No. 1. I would never even include the Strokes. Fionna Apple higher ranked than Run DMC?! No, no, no.

Oh, **** this song ...