I have a couple of friends back home in England, people I have always respected, who seem to have a severe brain fart when it comes to music made today. They are both around my age, fiftyish, and like me, they listen to the music that they have loved through the years. Also like me, they seek out the more obscure stuff that they missed out on at the time of release. At this point though, our paths diverge. They both contend that no good music is made anymore. Just none of it. They have become their parents in the worst way. Be prejudiced first, ask questions later! Their theory goes like this. The artists they loved in the past can no longer cut it these days (true for quite a few, but by no means all of them) and as for contemporary artists, well, there are just no good ones out there. As you all know, this is shit on a stick.

For this reason, I am presenting my gift to them, a mix of music put out this year, some by old fogies who do still know their arses from their elbows, some by some of the younger performers my generation seems to be programmed to detest. This is not exactly my 'best of the year' mix, although much of this would be on it. Rather, it is an attempt to bridge the gap and present some 2007 stuff to two old bastards in the hope that they come to the following conclusion. Music ain't dead yet, and to a lesser degree, neither am I!

(By the way, our picture shows Steven Seagal. Not even he could kill music, although he did stun it a bit and give it a nasty headache!)