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Just Played Best Of Review

I believe we have the first review of the The Places Between Best of album. The Just Played blog has docuemented thoughts on the first listen..

Rest assured, the new tracks don’t stick out amongst the many highlights from the band’s first twelve years. ‘Blue Water’, a track that has been knocking around in the back waters of the internet for almost a decade, is a fine, fine way to kick off the second disc, the swaggering ‘Drifter‘ then appears smack in the middle of the disc. The former shuffles along with that wonderful stuttering drum pattern so well deployed on ‘Here It Comes’ and ‘Drifter’ features overlooked talent Simon Aldred, of Cherry Ghost. While both new songs on disc two are fantastic, it’s worth pausing to note the quite brilliant sequencing of the songs, as undertaken by the band themselves. It actually hangs together like a proper record, with the same ups and downs in mood and pace that we’ve come to expect from a typical Doves studio outing.

The decision to include a small number of album tracks seems at first to be an odd one, but the choices have clearly been made carefully and I can’t really see any harm in a couple of these beauts slotting in across the disc when, without them, it would just have had less tracks on it.

To read the full review, visit Just Played.

New Birds Flew Backwards Remix

A good way to start the week.. The good folks at Caught By The River in association with Heavenly Recordings are streaming a new remix of Birds Flew Backwards. The remix was done by Chris Watson, one of the founder members of Cabaret Voltaire, now famed wildlife sound recordist. Do check out his website, he’s done some pretty amazing stuff.

Also announced today at Caught By The River, is the second Birdsongs compilation. This time the compilation has been put together by Jimi Goodwin! To get the download, you must sign up with your email address at the site. The download will be sent out to members on Wednesday. So if you are not signed up, do so now! Artwork for the compilation has been done by Matt Sewell, which features a Robin as requested by Jimi.

Also whilst your at Caught By The River, check out the Happy Mondays post featuring some good Factory Records video footage. Great stuff!

One Year

Blog Birthday cake with thanks to MS Painter!

The blog is celebrating one year online! Actually it was a year to the day yesterday I made the first post, but I forgot about it!!

In other news, Keep your eye for a ad featuring House Of Mirrors on Sky One in the UK. No more best of news as yet, shouldn’t be too long now. A new single is on the way apparently. Pre-orders for the album has appeared on several more music stores outside the UK. Edit: It seems as if Astralwerks will be releasing the album in North America. More as I have it!

A Sunny Day!

Last night whilst scanning the blog for broken links etc I noticed on the Live Traffic Feed that’s on the bottom right hand corner, somebody in Iraq was visiting the blog! That’s pretty damn cool! Whoever you are.. whether your a resident, member of the military whatever – nice seeing you!

Don’t have a great deal to share right now, though the word is news from doves camp is imminent!

Currently enjoying the latest compilation from Caught By The River.. this time its Birdsongs which features an exclusive track from the British Sea Power. If you didn’t get the compilation this time. Make you sure you sign up to the blog for the next one.

I’m also enjoying the music of A Sunny Day In Glasgow, well worth checking out. They play across the US & Eurupe over the next few months.

Merry Christmas

Its hard to believe the year is all but done! But what a year though. I started this wee blog off shortly after the free digital release of Jetstream back in Febuary. Never expected it to take off the way it has. The original plan was to just run til the end of the year, or whenever the wheels came off the Kingdom Of Rust promo wagon, then leave it up as an archive. As I have enjoyed it so much, I shall be keeping the blog going for as long as its wanted.

Thanks to you all who read the blog.

Couldn’t have done it without the input of so many of you. A big thanks to those of you who sent in reviews, articles, texting setlists straight after the shows and so much more.

Special thanks to Justin! Your contribition to the blog early on was invaluable and still lives on! Cheers mate.

A massive thank you to Dave for your support & encouragement. Much appreciated! And finally a big cheesy thanks to doves for everything. Not just for this year, but for the last decade! Its been quite the ride.

Merry Christmas to you all. Stay safe and here’s to a healthy new year.

Here is some Christmas cheer from Doves, thanks to Spidey Spence!

PS: Happy Birthday Mrs McMillan! :)

The Bird Effect Diaries

The diary of the making of a film. and an on going fascination with birds and their accompanying cast of human characters. By Ceri Levy.

Another lovely article at Caught By The River. This time featuring Jimi. Visit Caught By The River.

Also do a bit of poking around on the blog. You’ll also find an article that has Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost asking the legendry singer-songwriter Bill Callahan a few questions.

No Uncut Award

As I reported a while back, Kingdom Of Rust was shortlisted for the inaugural Uncut award. Sadly it has not made the final eight, which does not include any British artists!

I updated the lyrics section. Daniel Olvera has transcribed 45. I had a go myself a while back without much success to be honest! So good job Daniel. I also put up some more Sub Sub tracks. If anyone wants to make corrections etc let me know.

The blog shall be taking a short break from later this week. I will be heading off on holiday to the UK for a good 10 days. I will post any major news items that pop up, otherwise normal service will be resumed in a couple weeks.

Uni of Hertfordshire Forum Review

First in with a review from last night’s show in Hatfield is Suzy Mill’s Random thoughts blog.

It was a great set. They played a whole bunch of awesome tunes. An extra long version of The Cedar Room was a highlight. I had a really good boogie to some great tracks: Pounding, Winter Hill, Snowden, There Goes The Fear, Words, Here It Comes, Kingdom of Rust, Ambition, Almost Forgot Myself, Black & White Town, The Greatest Denier, The Last Broadcast and Caught By The River.
One of my favourite tunes of the night though was Jetstream. I was listening to that track as we took off from Los Angeles, fighting back tears, so it now has a strong emotional connection for me.

As always to read the full review, visit the reviewer’s blog here.

TaraOweb.com: My Interview with Doves At Bestival


Jez speaking to taraoweb.com

Canadian radio show/blogger Best In British Music Show With Tara O recently caught up with the band backstage at Bestival. The interview is a cracking listen. Topics raised include Andy’s wedding, Canada, John Peel, Electric Proms and life after Kingdom Of Rust.

To hear the interview and view all the pictures including some onstage snaps, click here.

You can follow TaraOmusicShow on Twitter

Minneapolis Review

Check out the ickmusic site review of doves Minneapolis show:

They opened with “Jetstream”, the first track from their new album Kingdom of Rust. They wrote it to be an alternate soundtrack to the opening moments of the 1981 film, Blade Runner. How cool! After that was “Snowden,” with the twins, Andy Williams (drums) and Jez Williams (guitar) sounding magnificent. And then came “Winter Hill”. On first listen to this track, it might seem to the small minded that the lads from Wimslow are straying into “Every Breath You Take” territory. But no…no no. “Winter Hill” is about sacred love – the kind that you get from being on a journey filled with heart…the kind that stays with you forever.

Click here, to read the full review. Great read, with some great pictures.