The Hit Parade

Forty years ago, late Sunday afternoon was devoted to listening to the charts on Radio 1. It seemed important at the time and I remember thinking then that, whatever happened, I'd always keep up with the charts on a Sunday afternoon, checking whether my favourites had gone up or down.

Well, of course, that didn't last long. But I noticed on Amazon that my order for this CD led to chart listings and that although Adele is still number one, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre is already sneaking up on her at number 15,835.

This only continues a fetish I developed then to seek out the most obscure and unlikely artists in the belief that the weird, modernist or unheard of (Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, Alquin, Back Door) was somehow more cool and thus better than what everybody else thought. There are plenty of people in the poetry world still old-fashioned enough to think like that. But, rather than buy CD's of Beethoven symphonies, which are all fantastic and I had on cassettes in those days, I now can't bring myself to order much beyond these lush things from centuries ago by composers that have all but been forgotten. I suppose it's the opposite of the instant gratification of Eurovision. Do come back next week to see if I thought it was any good.