The Manic Street Preachers seem to be back to their best. I say seem because you can never be too sure with bands that have been around as long as they have. This song does nothing to dent my confidence that they are rocking again after a few years where I could quite literally take them or leave them.

It’s called ‘Autumnsong’ and was released on 23rd July in the UK. I’m slowly catching up with all the singles I want to review, I’m now only a week behind! This song reached number 10 in the UK charts this week, so it seems the old fans have come out in force to support the band again. see what you think…

This song kicks ass, throwing everything in you’d expect from a classic piece of Manics music. Built around a simple yet effective guitar riff, the whole song has an anthemic quality to it that I haven’t heard from the band since ‘Everything Must Go’ in 1996. Wow, has it been that long? Man, I’m getting old.

James Dean Bradfield’s voice has always been impressive, and he seems to really get hold of this track and make it something special. It immediately gets you moving and tapping your fingers. The chorus is even better, with it building up in a crescendo until you, like Bradfield, are singing it at the top of your voice.

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The Rolling Stones have had a long and varied career, and let’s be honest, they aren’t getting any younger. So it comes as no surprise to learn that Keith Richards, guitarist and founding member of the Rolling Stones is looking to sell the publication rights to his life story.

Ed Victor is auctioning the English language rights in New York this week and offers are likely to approach $7 million. The foreign translation rights on top of that are likely to be worth $2 million adding up to a stupidly high amount of money for book rights.

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Supergrass are giving away a live version of a new track from their new as yet unnamed album. The track is called ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’ and this free live version was recorded at Guilfest, a music festival in Guildford, Surrey which the lads played earlier this year.

The band are fresh from supporting the Arctic Monkeys at their Old Trafford gigs over the weekend. To get your hands on the track, all you need to do is visit their official website, click on the shiny button and sign up for the site. You will then be able to download this free and exclusive track.

Their last album titled ‘The Road To Rouen’ was released in 2005 and reached number 9 in the UK albums chart. The band heavily toured in support of the last album, and they are likely to do the same for this new one. Go and grab yourself a preview slice and let me know what you think of it!

Each week here on Brit Music Scene, I’ll be taking a look at the UK Albums Chart in depth to see who the big movers are, who is doing well, and who has fallen from grace. I’ll be using the official Radio 1 Charts for reference, so without further ado, let’s take a look.

‘Britain’s Got Talent‘ winner Paul Potts stays at the number 1 spot for the 2nd week in a row with ‘One Chance’, fighting off stiff competition from Timbaland, who is up from 5 to 2. I like Paul Potts and when he performed on Britain’s Got Talent, I got goosebumps from his singing. But I don’t think I’d buy the album, which is basically an album of covers.

I’d rather spend my money on a new and upcoming band, who write their own stuff. Having said that, I do think Potts has longer lasting appeal than most of the recent reality TV winners, and good luck to him.

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Each week here on Brit Music Scene, I’ll be taking a look at the UK Singles Chart in depth to see who the big movers are, who is doing well, and who has fallen from grace. I’ll be using the official Radio 1 Charts for reference, which is on Radio 1 every Sunday between 4pm and 7pm (GMT) with JK and Joel.

The big news in this week’s UK singles chart is that Rihanna has finally been knocked off the top spot, about 6 weeks after she should have been. Unfortunately, no British artist could manage to get rid of her from the Number 1 spot, so it was left to Rapper and producer Timbaland to do it with ‘The Way I Are’.

It’s an ok song, and the fact that one R’n'B record has been replaced at the top by another says a lot about the popular music scene these days. The only problem I have with the song is that stupid title, with the writer in me wanting to send Timbaland back to school to learn English.

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The biggest gigs of the Arctic Monkeys young careers are happening this weekend (so far) at the Old Trafford county cricket ground in Manchester. The boys are set to play 2 huge concerts, the first today 28th July, and the 2nd tomorrow 29th to an expected crowd of 55,000 people each time.

The concerts sold out in 15 minutes a piece, further proving the Arctic Monkeys are quickly becoming the cream of British music. I do wonder when their rise to the top will end, if ever? I would have loved to have gone to one of the gigs this weekend but like so mnay others missed out on tickets. They are almost like gold dust in the UK at the moment, and are exchanging hands for ridiculous amounts of money on eBay.

The people lucky enough to get hold of tickets aren’t even just being treated to the Arctic Monkeys however, with a stellar line up of support acts filling the bill. The running order is as follows:-

2:00pm Doors Open
3:00pm The Parrots
4:30pm Amy Winehouse
5:50pm The Coral
7:10pm Supergrass
8:45pm Arctic Monkeys

What a line up that is. Even the virtually unknown Parrots look great, as they are a Japanese Beatles tribute act, and were chosen by the band themselves. In fact all of the support acts were hand picked by the Arctic Monkeys, and they’ve done a great job.

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I’m very late on reviewing this single by Travis, as it actually came out 3 weeks ago on the 9th July. I have got an excuse, as this is a young blog, and I’m trying to strike a balance between songs released in the last few months and brand new upcoming stuff. I’m sure you all understand? And if not, well bite me.

I love this track and even more so the video, and think it’s one of the best things Travis have done for a good few years. I don’t know if they’ll ever repeat the critical and massive sales success they achieved with their classic album ‘The Man Who’, but they still have it, as this song proves.

I’ll actually talk about the video first, as it’s probably the most striking thing out of the two. It’s a simple concept which works brilliantly, and I give credit to whoever decided to give comedian Demetri Martin a free reign to make his mark on the video. I mean, all he does is wear loads of t-shirts and strip them off one at a time, at the appropriate moments through the song. But it works.

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The Spice Girls could be about to add a whole new set of dates and venues to their reunion world tour, taking place in December and January. Reports suggest that Simon Fuller, the group’s manager wants them to add another 25 dates to the current 11 already announced.

The Spice Girls have each been promised at least £10 million for the currently scheduled tour, and that could more than double if the extra dates are indeed agreed upon. There’s certainly the demand for tickets there, with the amount of people signing up on the website far exceeding the amount of tickets available.

The thing is, each one of The Spice Girls has now moved on a bit from days of old and all have families to consider. I wonder if the lure of money will be enough to tempt them to increase the time spent on the road.

Victoria definitely doesn’t need the cash, as her superstar footballer husband David Beckham is now paid a massive amount by the L.A. Galaxy. Mel C was enjoying a relatively successful solo career, and Mel B will probably get enough from Eddie Murphy to not need to work ever again.

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The Sex Pistols are set to re-release their classic debut album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks… Here’s The Sex Pistols’. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the album, it will be re-issued on October 29th on Vinyl, with a 7″ of ‘Submission’ and a free poster.

The album was originally released on Oct 28, 1977, and Submission was missed off the original track listing. It was instead added as a 7″ single with the first 50,000 copies of the album.

Along with the album, the Pistols will be re-releasing their 4 biggest singles: ‘Anarchy in the UK’, God Save the Queen’, ‘Pretty Vacant’ and ‘Holidays in the Sun’ throughout October on 7″ vinyl.

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I want to hate Kate Nash, I really do. She’s being feted by so many publications and music journos as the next big thing, that I don’t want to join that throng of bandwagon jumpers. But I can’t help myself. I came on ready to slate her, piss on her chips and generally say she’s a Lily Allen wannabee, but while that may be true to a degree, I can’t help but like this single.

Kate Nash is currently sitting at number 2 in the charts behind Ri “yes it’s raining dear, and you have an umbrella, so do you want a medal?” Hanna, and I’m willing her on for the 2nd week in a row to overtake her and be the new number 1. This track called ‘Foundations is a grower, it chips away at your unconscious between listens, until you are also in Kate Nash’s corner willing her on to overcome the ‘Fake Lily Allen’ jibes she’s being labelled with.

This song shows the best and worst of Kate Nash, and so if you like it, you can be pretty sure you’ll like her other stuff. If on the other hand, this song makes you want to chop both of your ears off, I’d lay off buying the album when it’s released on August 6th. She’s a bit more of an acquired taste than Lily Allen, even though they share a lot of similarities in both their style of singing and lyrical take on the world.

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