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    1. Artery Civilisation
      29 October 2011

      Artery - Civilisation (Twinspeed Records)

      Intense post punk return, not to be missed…

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      BOHJ album art
      1 October 2011

      Band of Holy Joy - How to Kill a Butterfly (Exotic Pylon)

      What a compelling thing this life is…

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      Wild Swans, The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years
      6 August 2011

      The Wild Swans - The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years (Occultation)

      This album has a beautiful cover and beautiful contents, in these uncertain times I can’t recommend it enough…

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      16 July 2011

      Rickie Lee Jones - Bridgewater Hall (Manchester, England) - Sunday, July 10, 2011

      Pirates is the kind of singular record that attracts a certain type of devotion…

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      2 July 2011

      Ray Davies - Royal Festival Hall (London) - Friday, June 10 and Sunday, June 19, 2011

      Village Green with orchestra and choir was as amazing as you could have hoped for.

      Read more...

    2. Simon Heavisides’s Top 10

      Week of February 26

      1. ChairliftSomething (Columbia/Young Turks)

      2. Simple MindsX5 (Virgin)

      3. Jim WhiteWhere it Hits You (Loose)

      4. MomusThe Philosophy of Momus (Cherry Red)

      5. WireRed Barked Tree (Pink Flag)

      6. Dory PrevinMythical Kings and Iguanas (BGO)

      7. Talking HeadsChronology (Eagle)

      8. Jane’s AddictionThe Great Escape Artist (Parlophone)

      9. Dave DaviesHidden Treasures (Sanctuary)

      10. The Lucy ShowRemembrances (Words on Music)

      About Simon Heavisides

      Simon is new to The Big Takeover in writing terms but has been a subscriber for most of the last 20 years. He’s since atoned for a lapse in the late 90s — there were extenuating circumstances and the back issues have been purchased!

      A definite subscriber to the notion that, “without music life would be a mistake”, a pivotal
      moment in Simon’s life was the day in 1980 when his dad thrust his first Melody Maker into his hands with the suggestion he should try that, NME, Sounds and Record Mirror and then decide which one to buy every week. It didn’t take long before he was buying all four and devouring every nugget of news. Singing in bands and writing about music in zines and elsewhere followed as surely as night follows day.

      Simon lives in Bristol, England, still goes to more gigs than he probably should and buys more CDs than can feasibly be stored in his apartment.