And if at first you find you can't imagine, how good can heal when you've got nothing worth healing.

Embrace and I have a strange relationship.

I've followed them since their first album. Back in the day when Danny, the lead singer, could be heard in the media saying they were gonna be bigger than Oasis. Of course, the Gallagher brothers just laughed it off.
I thought their first album "The Good Will Out" was great. A few months after the release and most guys could be heard humming one of their anthemic tunes. Things were looking good.
So what happened....?
Well, Embrace for me, never got anywhere past the 'consistently average' status. There was nothing amazing about them, but then again, they were better than 'mediocre'. It's difficult for me to put my finger on it.
The good thing about it is, they seem fine being at their status quo. They don't hog the media limelight and don't seem to want to be one of the biggest British bands around at the moment, a la Razorlight, Kasabian et al.

So, by being constantly average has held them in good stead, for me anyway. Whilst not delivering albums of pure quality and genius, they have provided very listenable 45 minute collections.
There is one thing though. Live, they are in their element. I can't think of many bands that I've seen who have been such a huge improvement, when I've seen them live. Danny's voice (weak as it is on their recorded stuff) is 10 times better when they play live. He always wears a smile when he's up there on stage too. I like that. It's watching people who love music....play music. And play it well.

Wednesday night, I will be there in the depths of the crowd, no doubt singing my head off, waving my arms in the air and quite possibly jumping around for the up tempo songs. Apparently there are two support bands. I'm sure The Delays are one of them, but I haven't seen anything about who the second support is, unless there isn't one.

Cramped spaces,
fighting for air.
Elbows in my back,
little space to share.

That sweaty body smell,
creeping up my nose.
Stand on my toes,
get off my toes!

Pushing and shoving,
fight for the views.
Pre tension warm up,
might blow a fuse.

Lights fall to darkness
no one in sight.
Then the silhouettes, the intro,
and everything's right.


The car park is expensive, the beer is over priced, but the music will soar.
And that's what makes it all worthwhile.

In the interests of keeping things topical, I've updated my MP3's on the right hand sidebar thingy.