Prrrrettttty good.
Not many songs are standing out to me that much on a few listens now… apart from Oblong of Dreams which is fantastic.
The guitar part to the Awkward Sean verse has a real Molly’s Chambers vibe.
In a Suffolk Ditch was the most memorable for me
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So does anyone know what activity “grafting haddock” refers to?
I thought Grafting Haddock might be the name of a band playing (in the back room of) The George. But it’s ‘bathroom’ isn’t it. So no idea!
Grafting haddock is a reference I think to someone illicitly selling fish in the pub. Back of a lorry type wheeler dealing, that sort of thing. Never seen it done with fish, but clearly I don’t hang around the right pubs in Birkenhead
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Nice Stuart Maconie interview with Nigel Blackwell on the latest episode of the Freak Zone (44 mins in)
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Hi folks. Medium-term lurker, first time poster 
I have two spare tickets for HMHB at Rock City Nottingham 25th March. Can no longer make it sadly.
Wondered if anyone here might be interested? I am looking for face value (£22 each) as I could do with recouping my money if possible. But if anyone is keen yet short on funds, I am all ears. Would much rather someone who will enjoy the gig use the tickets obviously!
Send me a reply on here or a DM if interested 
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Welcome to the boards! I live a very long way from Nottingham I’m afraid, otherwise I’d be all over this.
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Thanks, and hi!
Its a Friday evening, you could always make a weekend of it 
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Sounds like back room to me. It’s says bathroom on Genius but they get the “made it ma, top of the world” bit wrong (obviously not James Cagney fans) so I’m not trusting those lyrics
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Spent a decent amount of time with the new album now, and - well, it’s alright. Bit of an oddly shaped album. A lot of very short songs, couple of below par tunes, then two of their very best songs to end with. Also, a lot of death, which can make it a bit hard-going at times.
Really love Grafting Haddock in the George and Persian Rug Sale at the URC (“Norman Hunter and Francis Lee are going toe-to-toe amongst the entrails of the slain” is outstanding). Midnight Mass Murder is fantastic too.
Beneath This Broken Headstone is musically very similar to Man of Constant Sorrow from the last album, while Token Covid Song isn’t very good. Big Man Up Front is just a bit unpleasant.
But then Slipping the Escort is really great, one of their absolute peaks. Similar in vein to Terminus from the last album, it’s a proper tearjerker. Then the final refrain of “30 Airbus giving it the big 'un in the Town End seats” is a real rug pull, they could have gone for an easy win with a big emotional moment, but it’s gnarly and bewildering and ultimately more interesting.
Oblong of Dreams to finish is one of those rare things, an actual straightforward heartfelt HMHB lyric devoid of absurdity and piss-taking, I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud reframed as a love letter to the Wirral. Completely unexpected and genuinely affecting.
I guess death is the general theme of the album, then you get the spring has sprung of Oblong of Dreams as an antidote right at the end. Overall it’s not as successful as their best albums, but there is still much to enjoy.
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I read ‘drive-by shouting’ in the first line of this and imagining his smug little face as he wrote it very nearly put me off reading the rest.
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He thought of that phrase months ago, wrote it in his notebook with all exclamation marks and love hearts round it and he’s just so excited that he finally got the chance to use it in an article. He’s probably sent it to the band with a note saying, “you can use that in one of your lyrics if you like, Nigel”.
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This article would put me off ever listening to HMHB, I don’t want to be in that gang.
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Yes I think that if you’re going to be a superfan you should at least have the decency to be embarrassed about it.
Will never understand the mentality of people who treat enjoying things as some sort of competition to like them more than everyone else.
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Not sure if this is a massive Wolfcastle or not but it is a lyric, from What Is Chatteris
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Oh I know. (I don’t know what a wolfcastle is though, but I think I get it from context)
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