Yes

This song, Yes by McAlmont & Butler, came out in mid- May 1995. In eighteen months time it will be thirty years old, which seems ridiculous- as does the idea that the mid- 90s are now three decades ago. Bernard Butler and David McAlmont had both left their previous bands in acrimony, Bernard walking out of Suede and David out of Thieves, and when they bumped into each other, in the Jazz Cafe in Camden, both were looking for some kind of statement to announce their return and to kick back against their former bandmates. Bernard had written the song as an instrumental and was coming out of 'a very dark place'. It was , he has said, 'a very liberating song'. McAlmont had a verse and the voice of an angel. Between them they recorded this enormous piece of 60s inspired, Wall of Sound pop music, a song to be sung loudly and in that sweet spot between anger and celebration. 

Yes

I turned 25 four days after Yes was released. Isaac would have been 25 this week had he lived. When I heard Yes last week it struck a chord with me, a song about survival and sticking up two fingers to the world, but sitting here typing this now, three days before Isaac's birthday, I'm not sure I do feel that much better. It still feels really shit. 

Yes, to paraphrase McAlmont, I do need November to be over. 

David McAlmont has recorded an album with Hifi Sean, a producer, songwriter, musician and DJ and also the former/ current singer of The Soup Dragons. Their album Happy Ending came out either last year or this year- the full vinyl release was this year so I think it counts as a 2023 album- and is a joy from start to finish, a beautiful stew of dance rhythms, synths, Bollywood strings, pulsing bass, piano and McAlmont's extraordinary voice. A psychedelic electronic soul soundtrack according to Last Night From Glasgow, and they ain't wrong. 

All In The World

You're A Better Man Than I

This is the new single by The Libertines. Woah, come back, it's much better than it has any right to be...



Cutting the pace to a half speed reggae time- woah, that's twice, now come back and sit down- the trebly guitars are all present and correct, Pete and Carl take verses each and it sounds alive.

The Libertines reformation didn't look too promising admittedly but Pete and Carl surely know that they're only half as good (at best) individually and apart than when together. Debut album Up The Bracket is a blast, a proper good modern British indie rock album, and they are few and far between. The follow up was weak, we all know that. In between Bernard Butler got this out of them, the best thing they ever did, an absolute peach of a single...

This Is A Woman's World

Pop fact- Drew of Across The Kitchen Table was almost in this issue of The Face. But that's not solely why we're here today. Cover star Neneh Cherry has a new record out on Monday and it's had some pretty positive reviews and sounds interesting. In 1996 she had several hits including a global smash Youssou N'Dour and this excellent string laden, trip hop song.

Woman

Woman was Neneh's response to James Brown's It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World and had Bernard Butler fresh from Suede on guitar. At the end of the 80s she'd had her first taste of pop stardom with the Raw Like Sushi album- superior Ladbroke Grove pop-rap... 'and all that you need is the air that you breathe'



And to those of us of a certain age she'll always be the woman doing the Buffalo Stance on Top Of The Pops, seven months pregnant.

Yes

I'm voting Yes in tomorrow's Alternative Vote referendum. Although public interest has been minimal and turnout may be lucky to reach 30% the campaign has been nasty, bitchy and full of lies. Par for the course with party versus party and some party's split internally I suppose. The No campaign has been particularly shitty, one set of posters round here presenting it as a choice between an alternative voting system and a new maternity ward/ equipment for soldiers. I don't think that's the choice is it? One of the main reasons I'm voting Yes is because I can't bring myself to vote the same way as David 'Call me Dave' Cameron on anything and if so many Tories are against it, it must be the right thing to do. Of course there are other reasons but let's not weigh ourselves down with them here and now.

This is Yes by McAlmont And Butler, a coalition from 1995, a glorious, swooping, wide-screen song with huge vocals from The Right Hon. David McAlmont and very un-Suede like instrumentation from Lord of the Privy Guitar Bernard Butler.

http://download230.mediafire.com/56oj980s3gog/3umx7vcvdvbpv7n/01+Yes.wma