It's nearly Thanksgiving here in the good ol' USA, a holiday in which we give thanks for massive amounts of food and, incidentally, for everything else good in our lives. It's a long story, but it all started with Henry VIII and his break from the Catholic Pope in the late 1500s, because the Pope wouldn't approve of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. This made all sorts of folks leave the Kingdom for religious freedom, including all those guys who came over on the Mayflower. Along with the native Americans already living here, they had the first Thanksgiving. 
That means that we directly trace our Thanksgiving celebrations back to, um, England. 
So that's why you should listen to a good helping of British music today on the England Swings show, where we play the best, brightest, newest, and coolest music from the UK! We're there at 6:00 p.m. ET, and can be found : 
In Northern Virginia : Cox and Verizon digital cable channel 37
In Reston, Virginia : Comcast channel 27
Anywhere else in the world : http://www.fcac.org/webr


And today, we'll say thanks with all kinds of new music, including tracks from Blood Red Shoes, Beady Eye (that's Oasis without Noel Gallagher), and James Blake. We'll also have some older tunes from Supertramp, Jackie Trent, and even Petula Clark. Plus : lots more music, old and new.We'll have our usual features, too : 
The Fab Four Freakout : With the availability of the Beatles music on iTunes, what songs have charted in the UK today?!
UK Music News : Latest stories from the world of music in England!
Top 5 Countdown : Two new entries! A new number one! Excitement!


Tune into the England Swings show today, won't you? Thank you!

There's been no shortage of UK divas in recent years, with everyone from Adele to Lily Allen making their mark on the public consciousness. From the brassiness of Duffy to the quirks of Marina and the Diamonds, we've seen it all lately.


So along comes yet another female singer, with a retro approach. This one, though, is something else entirely. 


Rumer's debut album, Seasons Of My Soul, is a bit like a warm bath. The record is fairly simple, with few adornments. Unlike many of the females near the top of the charts (I'm looking at you, Katy Perry and Cheryl Cole), Rumer writes all her own songs. She's also got a voice that could melt the coldest critical heart.


Rumer has opted to go on the slow route, with perhaps an older-than-the-average-pop-fan audience in mind. In some ways, that's too bad, because her lyrically complex songs and gentle arrangements certainly have something to show those younger whippersnappers. 


The influences in her music come from long ago, and include Burt Bacharach, Karen Carpenter, and 1930s and '40s jazz. It all comes together in 11 impeccable, beautifully put together songs, which have an appeal to anyone who appreciates music that's just . . . well, good. 


The only complaint I have about the album - and it's a minor one - is that there's not a lot of change of tempo in the tunes; they pretty much plod along in the same mode throughout. For the most part, though, that's okay - it matches the style of the singer and the songs. Rumer has a fairly deep emotional complexity to the songs, but in some ways there's also a refreshing reserve there as well. 


Nearly every song on the record is a standout, but my favorites start with the two singles releases so far : 


"Slow" is true to its name, and smolders seductively while telling a tale of a new love. The singer, perhaps, is not completely sure about how she feels, and how deep she wants to go. This is all accompanied by plucked strings and a soft rhythm. 


"Aretha" is a tale of sadness and loneliness. The singer filters her feelings about her life through the music of the Queen of Soul. Again, a story is told with subtlety and poignancy. The soft horns throughout the tune add a quiet emphasis. 


"Take Me As I Am" and closing track "Goodbye Girl" invite Karen Carpenter comparisons, but Rumer is, if anything, better than Karen, concentrating all of the vocal panache of the 1970s icon into more meaningful songs. 


"Saving Grace" is a classic, again telling a story. Comparing the drudgery of a poor daily existence with a new relationship, the song is honest and beautiful. The tune is a bit reminiscent to me, for some reason, of Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly". 


If you're tired of the over-produced and processed music of today's pop world, you can do no better than to take a break from it with Rumer. I give this album a 9 on the England Swings scale of 1-10. 

Well, you missed a great show last night! We played the following : 


Biffy Clyro - Booooom Blast & Ruin (Only Revolutions)
Life In Film - Sorry


Deep Purple - Knocking At Your Back Door (Perfect Strangers)


Brian Eno - 2 Forms Of Anger (Small Craft On a Milk Sea)


Tim Berg - Seek Bromance
Raghav - So Much


Fleetwood Mac - Sentimental Lady (Bare Trees)
Rolling Stones - 19th Nervous Breakdown


The Fab Four Freakout : 


Peter Gabriel - Strawberry Fields Forever (All This and World War II)
Beatles - Sexy Sadie (The Beatles)
Beatles - Money (With the Beatles)
Beatles - The Inner Light


Pet Shop Boys - Together


Esben & the Witch - Warpath


Rumer - Aretha (Seasons Of My Soul)
KT Tunstall - Difficulty (Tiger Suit)


Amy Winehouse - It's My Party


...and this week's UK top 5 : 


5). Alexis Jordan - Happiness (-2)
4). McFly ft. Taio Cruz - Shine a Light (new)
3). Katy Perry - Firework (+1)
2). Take That - The Flood (new)
1). Rihanna - Only Girl (In the World) (non-mover)


TOP 5 ANALYSIS and REVIEW


It looks like the new-release onslaught has begun, and it won't let up until just before Christmas. This week, the top 5 sees two new entries, as the top song stays put and another continues a slow creep higher. 


Alexis Jordan's "Happiness" is rapidly becoming one of my favorite tracks of the year. It's just easygoing enough to not be a shock to the system, but it's also beautifully done, with sharp production, keen instrumentation, and a remarkable vocal. It's dropped a couple of places to number 5 this week, but since it wasn't even expected to stay in the top 5 this week, that's not bad. 


I like Alexis' tuneful humming, and I like how the track builds on the vocals to become a tour-de-force by the end. Why hasn't this song become a mainstream hit in the USA? Maybe it's time is still coming . . . 


I give "Happiness" a 9 on the England Swings scale of 1-10.


I wish I could say that McFly has vastly improved their lot by branching out into the sort of pop/R&B stuff that's so popular these days, but "Shine a Light", coming in at number 4 this week as a new entry, just doesn't do it for me. All the elements are there : the synth bass line, the nice piano antics, and Taio Cruz, but the whole thing just sounds pieced together - it's missing an organic oomph that would put it over the edge from prefab to fab. Props to McFly for trying something different, but I can't go any higher than a 6 for this one. 


Katy Perry slides up another space to number 3 this week with "Firework", and I'm nonplussed to notice that the song made a huge jump - from number 29 to number 10 - on the American charts this week. 


See the review of the Katy Perry album that I wrote a couple of weeks ago to gain some insight into where this artist is going (or, really, standing still). That said, "Firework" is ultra-processed, sung occasionally out of tune, and slick to the point of having no friction at all.


Except it DOES. The hook of the song is good enough to overcome all of the above, and I hate myself for liking it. Damn you, Katy Perry and your legion of handlers! I give the song a 7.5.


And what vision is this we see at number 2 on the British charts? Could it be . . . ? Yes! It's the re-formed Take That with the first and much anticipated single from their new album, and they've been Robbiefied! 


As a matter of fact, they've gone beyond "incorporating" Robbie back into the group, they've let him take over the whole thing. Yep, this is Robbie with his new backing band, and he never sounded better, or made less sense. Just what the @#%@ is this song about?! Very much a slightly bizarre Robbie Williams song, "The Flood" is just what the doctor ordered to revive the career of Mr. Williams, but it's at the expense of Misters Barlow, Orange, and the others whose names I can never remember. 


So why didn't this event of a tune make it to the top? Well, maybe because of exactly what I mentioned above - it's a Robbie Williams song, and those haven't gained much traction in recent years. I mean, "Wash your mouths out/Or you'll find yourself floating home"? Huh?


But the backing vocals are really good. After six or seven listens to the track, I'm beginning to like it, but it's defiinitely not one for the ages. I give it a 7.


So the world-beater Rihanna ends up once again at the coveted top spot with "Only Girl (In the World)", which is a bit like her monster hit "Umbrella", only, y'know, not as good. The beat is mechanical, and the song reminds me of nothing so much as a typical track by - um, Kylie Minogue. It's all so motorik that the song has performed for the worse in America, reaching the top ten, but with a number one tantalizingly out of reach. 


The song is, at least, a return to the dance club sort of stuff that Rihanna does best. Please, no more "Russian Roulette". 


I give it a 6 this week.


There will be an album review tomorrow in this here space. 

We promise quite a ride on the England Swings show today, as we'll travel musically from Ayrshire, Scotland to Barbados. We have new songs by Biffy Clyro (they're from Ayrshire), Brian Eno, the Pet Shop Boys, and . . . Amy Winehouse! There'll be older tunes from the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and more. MORE more. The England Swings show, playing the best, brightest, newest, and coolest music from the United Kingdom, commences at 6:00 p.m. ET :In Northern Virginia : Cox and Verizon digital cable channel 37In Reston, Virginia : Comcast channel 27Anywhere else in the world : http://www.fcac.org/webrPut on your gloves and come for a Sunday drive with us, won't you?

Early member of Roxy Music, producer of superstars, inventor of ambient music - the list of accomplishments by Brian Eno form a long list. 


But is he still musically relevant in these days of autotune and ultra-processing? Do his Oblique Strategies still hold up in today's world of music? 


Listening to his new album "Small Craft On a Milk Sea", the answer has to be yes, although it may not be a resounding affirmative. The album is carefully structured to recognize Eno's recent past, while pushing into new territories. His last album, "Another Day On Earth", harkened in many ways back to his first solo works, when his avuncular vocals were a major part of the equation. "Small Craft", though, returns to a purely instrumental approach. 


There are parts of the album that could be considered ambient, and other parts that are decidedly not. The record begins with several soft pieces, which are designed to do what ambient music does - remain part of the background, while still being musically challenging and rewarding to close listening. First track "Emerald and Lime" is a simple reverbed piano piece, "Complex Heaven" is an ominous and moody piece that hovers and dissipates. 


It's with the fourth track, "Flint March", that the mood changes. Led by a primitive and charging drumbeat, waves of synthesized sounds fly in and out of the tune. "Horse" continues to up the ante, reminding the listener of a black helicopter flying too close to the ground for comfort. 


"2 Forms Of Anger" serves as the centerpiece of this section of the album, starting with tension-laden gleeps, glops, and drumbeats, before bursting into a guitar based electric/electronic piece that actually sounds a bit like early Roxy Music. It's loud, it's exciting, and it's scary. 


From that, we go to "Bone Jump" (and Eno seems to have a fascination with bones and perhaps bone cancer that's been evident since the last album's "Bone Bomb"), which would serve as the ideal backing for a suspense film, or perhaps as a part of a Halloween mixtape. 


The helicopter chops return on "Dust Shuffle". "Paleosonic" is composed of oddly filtered drums and guitar bursts, all dropped into a blender. Here, he represents the best of the electronic pioneers of the past few years, showing them how it needs to be done. 


After the frenetic pace of the album's middle section, we're dropped back into ambient music with "Slow Ice, Old Moon", a futuristic landscape painting. Some themes are now returned to; "Lesser Heaven" is connected to the earlier "Complex Heaven" near the beginning of the record, and the reverbed piano of the opening track is repeated in "Emerald and Stone". 


The longest track is "Anthropocene", which sounds initially unchallenging and innocuous, but is subtle and mostly beautiful. We fade to "Invisible", featuring true ambient sounds of bird cries and market voices. Do you remember the music that soundtracked the galactic journey in "2001, a Space Odyssey"? This is an update of that.


This album is not an easy listen. It's not for the pop fan, or the heavy metal enthusiast. It IS for those who like a little challenge with their music, and who can appreciate subtle textures. 


Eno has spent years not worrying about what the public at large thinks of his solo work, and has continued to follow his own vision. In that time, he's created some timeless, amazing music. With this album, he progresses not to a new stage, but to a refinement of what he's done in the past, with occasional new tricks added in. 


This is not a transcendent album; many have matched and even surpassed him at his own game. It is a very good record, though, and one which deserves some attention. 


I give "Small Craft On a Milk Sea" an 8 on the England Swings scale of 1-10.

Last night, we had a playlist. It looked something like this :


Gorillaz - Doncamatic
Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters


Steve Hackett - Narnia (Please Don't Touch)
Prinzhorn Dance School - Seed Crop Harvest


Duffy ft. the Roots - Well Well Well
Robyn - Indestructible


Big Audio Dynamite II  - The Globe (The Globe)


Tommy Steele - Rock With the Caveman
Herman's Hermits - Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter


Hexachord Hex - If I Only Had Time
Broken Records - A Leaving Song (Let Me Come Home)


The Fab Four Freakout : 


Beatles - House Of the Rising Sun (Let It Be Sessions)
Beatles - Anna (Go To Him) (Please Please Me)
Beatles - Honey Pie (The Beatles)


Florence & the Machine - Heavy In Your Arms (Twilight : Eclipse OST)


Gold Panda - You (Snow and Taxis)


Cliff Richard - Congratulations
Cliff Richard - I've Got You Under My Skin (Bold As Brass)


...and this week's top 5 songs in the UK : 


5). Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (-2)
4). Katy Perry - Firework (re-entry)
3). Alexis Jordan - Happiness (new)
2). Cheryl Cole - Promise This (-1)
1). Rihanna - Only Girl (In the World) (+1)


TOP 5 ANALYSIS and REVIEW


While we prepare for the onslaught of Take That (Take Three), we have some interesting developments in the top 5 this week. The top songs flip-flopped. There's a re-entry. There's one new entry. 


And Bruno Mars is still hanging in there. 


"Just the Way You Are" drops to number 5 this week, and that makes it seven weeks in the top 5, including two separate weeks at number one. The tune has become one of the most ubiquitous of the fall; I'm guessing you've heard it by now - it's an R&B throwback of sorts while maintaining modernity. 


Although it's become so familiar, I still like it. I'm giving it a 7 on the England Swings scale of 1-10 this week.


Tired of Katy Perry yet, UK? Apparently not, as "Firework", her third hit this year, rebounds back into the top 5 to land at number 4, its highest position so far. As usual, America is slowly revving up to appreciate the tune, as it sits at number 29 on the Billboard charts this week. No one's expecting the performance of "California Girls" or "Teenage Dream" from it, but it will probably embed itself into the American consciousness sooner or later. 


The tune grows on you. Perry's vocal, while sounding occasionally off-key, is energetic and effective. The whole thing sounds a bit like an outtake by P!nk, really. The instrumentation is almost completely synthesized, from the drum-machine clomps to the fizzy water synths. There is what appear to be a couple of real violins in there, but they're probably programmed in as well. 


It all falls together as a pretty good pop song, though. I give it a 7.5.


Who Is Alexis Jordan? Why Does She Have a Major British Hit? 


Well. 


She's an eighteen-year-old with a spookily Beyonce-esque voice, discovered by Jay-Z and given to Stargate. "Happiness" managed to stay under the radar in the USA, except for the dance stations (and where are the dance stations, anyway? I think I heard one in Miami once). 


So once again, the British propel an American star to the heights, while in the USA, no one's heard of her. "Happiness" is a surprisingly mellow tune, beautifully produced and ear-catching. If Beyonce went totally electro, this is what it would sound like. Alexis does a nice hum (mm-mm-mm mm-mm), and has a versatile, clear voice. She's happy. We're happy. We give it an 8.


Cheryl Cole, the darling of British pop, only hung onto the number one song for a week with "Promise This", which drops to number 2. 


I finally figured out that the odd vocal interjection that starts the song is French, mostly the word "Alouette". The song has a frantic, hyperactive pace; so much so that it takes a while to sink in. When it does, it reveals itself as a fair-to-middling pop song. Not her best, but not her worst, I give it a 6.5. And see last week's blog for a review of the album, yeah?


Rihanna has moved away from the edge of the building, and gone back to catchy little songs that are innocuous. No "getting it up" (like in "Rude Boy"), and no clicking revolvers ("Russian Roulette"). "Only Girl (In the World)" harkens back to the innocence of "Umbrella", which - one must assume Rihanna has figured out - is her bread and butter. 


Performed on X Factor last weekend, it was inevitable that it would rise to number 1 this week. Not so in the USA, where the song peaked at 3, and is now sitting at number 4. Respectable, but no "Umbrella", then. 


It does the job. I give it a 7.


There'll be an album review here tomorrow, so come back on in.

The England Swings show is on the air each Sunday, presenting the best, brightest, newest, and coolest music from the United Kingdom. Come join us today as we consider the twists, turns, and permutations of British popular music! 


Time : 6:00 p.m. ET
Places : 


In Northern Virginia : Cox and Verizon digital cable channel 37
In Reston, Virginia : Comcast channel 27
Anywhere else in the world : http://www.fcac.org/webr


Today, we'll have a wonderful collection of music old and new for your listening pleasure. We have new tracks by the Gorillaz, Broken Records, Robyn, and lots more, as well as older tunes from Steve Hackett, Herman's Hermits, Cliff Richard, and much more than that! We'll also have our regular features : 


The Fab Four Freakout : Beatles tunes, with rare tracks
UK Music News : The Kinks are (not) getting together again!
Top 5 Countdown : The best-selling songs in the UK TODAY - a new number one!


Join us at 6:00 p.m. ET as we spin!

The new princess of British pop returns with a new album this week, and it's messy. "Messy Little Raindrops", the second album by Cheryl Cole in just under a year, is a continuation of the approach that was used on "3 Words". That approach? Throw things at the wall and see what sticks. 


Not too much of the music here sticks. 


We've got the initial single, "Promise This", a hyperactive romp which showcases Cheryl's voice a bit better than anything on the previous album. You can actually hear an unprocessed, single voice on rare occasions in the song. 


Here's a caveat : in the last year, Cheryl has contracted malaria and divorced Ashley Cole, but if you're looking for any significance in these songs that describe her life, you'll search in vain - she only co-wrote two of them, and both of them are done with her demon of choice, will.i.am. Many of the reviews of the album that have appeared have noted an element of pathos that they attribute to Cheryl, but she's just a showroom dummy most of the time - these are not her sentiments. I'm not sure she has any. 


What we have here instead is modern pop, melted and blenderized into a messy little package that makes a lot of noise, but says nothing. Compare this to, for instance, the last two albums by Robyn, and see how much it suffers. Robyn has personality to spare, and everything on her records reflects that. Cheryl? Not so much. Maybe she casts no reflection. 


But don't be discouraged, pop fans - there's an occasional good one here! "Yeah Yeah" has whoopy synths and, um, Travie McCoy. "Amnesia" has some interesting production and a great vocal. "Hummingbird" holds itself together in a Beyonce-ish sort of way. "Happy Tears" features another good vocal, adequate instrumentation, and is barely marred by a sappy lyric. 


Unfortunately, all the good stuff tends to be outweighed by the soulless and/or just plain stupid decisions on many of the tunes. Cheryl has branched out her production to various sources, but she's managed to get mediocre work from many Big Names. "Better To Lie", for instance, is produced by the Modern American Pop producer of the moment, J.R. Rotem, and - no surprise - it sounds like a b-side by Jason DeRulo or Iyaz, complete with a clone of their vocals by the name of August Rigo. The two will.i.am tunes range from average ("Live Tonight") to the absolutely intolerable "Let's Get Down", which manages to be both stupid and offensive. Someone PLEASE tell will.i.am that the whole "popping bottles" thing is beyond cliche at this point? 


We've got "The Flood", the Big Ballad that goes through the motions. "Everyone" features a phoned-in rap from (sigh) Dizzee Rascal. The semi-title track "Raindrops" becomes obnoxious after a minute or so in - this one was produced by Jean-Baptiste, who was responsible for the dynamite "Acapella" by Kelis. Did Cheryl get a discount from these guys, in return for shoddy work? 


If Cheryl is ever going to reach the holy grail (i.e. the American market), she's going to have to do better than this. There's nothing here that hasn't been done before, elsewhere and better. 


I'm thinking we're about a year out from the big Girls Aloud reunion. 


"Messy Little Raindrops" gets a messy little 4 on the England Swings scale of 1-10. 

Last night we had a very special England Swings Halloween show! It was hosted by the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock for the third year in a row, and he was very happy to return from the grave and offer up these tunes : 


Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
Strawbs - Witchwood (From the Witchwood)


Zombies - Tell Her No
Gentle Giant - Spooky Boogie (Giant For a Day)


Automatic - Monster (Not Accepted Anywhere)
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (Scary Monsters)


Donovan - Season Of the Witch (Sunshine Superman)


Munch Munch - Wolfman's Wife


The Fab Four Freakout : 


Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer (alternate version)
Beatles - Devil In Her Heart (With the Beatles)
Beatles - Baby's In Black (Beatles For Sale)


Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn Of the Dead (You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into)
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (edit)


Dave Edmunds - The Creature From the Black Lagoon (Repeat When Necessary)


Moontrekkers - Night Of the Vampire
Who - Boris the Spider


Steeleye Span - Long Lankin (Commoner's Crown)


Screaming Lord Sutch - Jack the Ripper


...and this week's UK top 5 : 


5). Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me (new)
4). Cee-Lo - Forget You (non-mover)
3). Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (-2)
2). Rihanna - Only Girl (In the World) (new)
1). Cheryl Cole - Promise This (new)


TOP 5 ANALYSIS and REVIEW


It proved to be a Halloween with several treats in the top 5 this week, as three new entries come into the charts, and a new number one is revealed. The old school is well represented by Cee-Lo and Bruno Mars as well. 


So let's talk about Mike Posner and "Cooler Than Me", climbing to number 5 in the UK this week. It had been tipped for the same position just a short time ago, but was beaten out by Katy Perry's "Firework", which loses the battle this week and drops to number 6. 


Posner, a mere 22 years old, can be said to have a near-novelty hit here. The tune is basically a old blues step, with a slightly spooky sound to it (perfect for Halloween!). The tune is nicely produced, with all sorts of percussion, a blarting synth, and occasional strummed guitar. Posner sings the whole thing in a raspy, Rod-Stewart-ish kind of voice. Of course, since it's a modern song, it has a rather wimpy rap in the middle. Addressed to someone that thinks that they're cooler than Mike, the lyrics are clever and a bit silly at the same time. 


The song peaked in the USA back in August, reaching number 6 on Billboard. It's been haunting the lower reaches of the British charts for a while, and finally has reached about as high as it may go. 


On the England Swings scale of 1-10, I give the song a 7.


Cee-Lo holds onto the number 4 with "Forget You". If you've heard the original version of the song, this one is as good musically. Missing from the equation is the humor of the obscenities, but the song still holds up well. It spent two weeks at number 1 in the UK, and now has spent another two at number 4, mostly due to all the heavy competition in the past couple of weeks. 


Possibly a bit too retro to climb much farther on the American charts, the song remains at number 17 this week in the USA. It's a shame that Americans don't quite know what to do with a song like this, because it's a gem. A gem that doesn't really fit into any modern USA radio format. 


I give it an 8.


Bruno Mars is still hanging around in the upper reaches of the charts in both countries. The song went to number 1 on two separate occasions in the UK, and still is managing to stay at number 2 in the USA, after four weeks at number 1. 


It's also a bit retro, but dressed up in modern garb. It features a stunning vocal performance, and could possibly have been done in, say, 1984 and still be a hit. 


I give Bruno a 7.5. 


Rihanna's back. Again. "Only Girl (In the World)" had a humble beginning upon its release in the USA, jumping into the top ten and promptly backing out again. Since then, it's slowly climbed back up until it's sitting at number 3 this week. In the UK, it was released this week, and by the luck of the draw, has become one of the best-selling songs in recent times to NOT go to number 1. That's because of the inevitable Cole crush that we all knew was coming this week. More about that in a minute. 


Rihanna's new song may indicate a reverse in direction for her. It harkens back to "Umbrella" and some of her other tunes that were a bit more innocent and fun, rather than all nasty like "Russian Roulette", or obscenely suggestive like "Rude Boy". She's gone back to looking for a wider (i.e. tween) audience, has added Eurosynth backing, and toned down the lyrics. It's not bad, but it's not that great, either - it sounds like a few dozen other songs out there. I give it a 6. 


So, Cheryl Cole steps onto the X Factor stage, and - just like last year - manages to pull out an ultra-produced song that ends up selling nearly 160,000 copies in a week. There's a bit more of Cheryl here, though; the tune is not quite as processed as "Fight For This Love". 


The tune is called "Promise This", and is fast-paced, slick, and ultimately pretty good. British national treasure, Cheryl has become (sorry, that came out a bit Yoda-speak). 


I'm still not getting the "allawaytoytoy" part, but I can dig it. Let's give it a 7.5. 


There will be an album review tomorrow. Right here. Come back and see, huh?

Okay, so at 6:00 p.m. ET,  what will you be doing? Undoubtedly, you'll have hordes of small ghosts and goblins (goblets?) coming to your door and shrieking demands for candy. You can't watch TV, because you know you'll keep getting interrupted.


So the perfect solution? Listen to the England Swings Special Halloween show! Not only can you listen and still be interrupted, but we'll be playing the ideal soundtrack for an evening of rushing to the door. That's right - The England Swings show will be playing a soupcon of spooky music tonight, with some classics and some rarities, all hosted by a ghost. 


We'll even be doing a Fab Four Freakout this evening, but what Beatles songs are suitable for Halloween . . . ? Hmmm.....


Tune in beginning at 6:00 p.m. Eastern USA time (that's 11:00 in the UK, 5:00 in Chicago, and 6:00 in the morning in Laos) :


In Northern Virginia : Cox and Verizon digital cable channel 37
In Reston, Virginia : Comcast channel 27
Anywhere else in the world : http://www.fcac.org/webr


Happy Halloween!