Well, where to start? I suppose the only place to begin, seeing as I have spent probably 75% of my 'music kitty' on their products is Finders Keepers Records. In the past 12 months I've become hooked to their glorious re-issues of psych, funk, prog, folk, avant-garde and whacked-out movie soundtracks. Like Trunk Records, you not only get the music but also an exhaustive biog of the band / artist and the record in question...always a treat and something that oher labels of similar ilk overlook. They are singularly responsible for opening my ears up to a whole new world of music and I plan to share some of the gems I have found along the way in future mixes.
Take a trip to their online shop where you will discover 'Japanese choreography records, space-age Turkish protest songs, Czechoslovakian vampire soundtracks, Welsh rare-beats, bubblegum folk, drugsploitation operatics, banned British crime thrillers and celebrity Gallic Martini adverts'...amongst other things. If that doesn't at least intrigue you enough to pop in and cock an ear than I give up!
As you may have realised by now Miss Kaboom and I come from two different spheres as far our musical tastes are concerned. One (of many) things we do share a love of though is Mr Eddie Izzard. Despite his Stripped residency at London's Lyric Theatre selling-out months in advance I was lucky enough to obtain tickets for one of a handful of warm-up shows he performed last week. Now, I was a little sceptical as to whether the 2008 model would stand-up favourably next to his cross-dressing vintage. However, I can honestly say that his wild flights of fancy and vivid imagination are still as fantastically entertaining as they always were. Less a comedy show and more of an abstract and fanciful lecture, how you wish all your teachers at school had presented the wonders of the world to you.
Whilst some may regard him as narcissistic and self-aggrandising, this is part of what makes him special. Admittedly, speaking latin, french, german etc at various points during the show can seem a little like showing-off. But beneath it is a gift for personalising his chosen subjects with great affection...and it is hard to play out his gag about the latin language (one of the highlights of the show) without actually speaking it!
In a world in which the brain-dead, negative stereotyping of Little Britain exists I for one will always forgive Izzard a little vanity for the enchanting positivity of his stand-up routines. All-in-all, I think that Stripped is a fantastic show and am delighted the (not so) big man has still got it.
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