Regular readers will know I usually try and assign a carol to the Sundays of the Advent Calendar and, in any case, I need to return to the real meaning of Christmas after yesterday's faux pas, so what better way to make amends than to introduce Bob Dylan's new album to the mix; and - oh Dear God! - what a mix it is.
The truly astonishing 'Hark' is taken from the 'Christmas in the Heart' album released last month, in which his Royal Bobness ...errrr...'sings? No, let's say 'performs', a selection of Yuletide staples and carols in his own inimitable style.
It's usually granted that Dylan doesn't 'sing' in the conventional meaning of the word but then the same argument could easily be applied to Waits and Cohen, although they seem to have developed a kind of resonance and richness to their stentorian tones, as they have gotten older.
Dylan? Well, he just seems to warble and croak in a way that sounds as if someone, in a kind of Weird Al Yankovich homage, has suggested a parody album in similar vein to the time I once heard an Elvis impersonator attempt to tackle 'Feels like Teen Spirit'.
Dylan has always done things his own way and that's certainly the case here. Is it fun, does it have its own warmth and humour? Or is it one of the most bizarre things you'll hear this festive period? I doubt you can hear a track of this album without thinking 'He's having us on isn't he?'. But hear it you must anyway. Seriously.
Born at an early age a mere defenders' spit from the Boleyn ground, Billy Blagg has seen every West Ham game from 1898 onwards. Blagg was mentioned by Kenneth Wolstenholme in 1966 as one of the people on the pitch during the famous Hammers win over West Germany that lifted the World Cup and he returned to the pitch again for the 1975 FA Cup Final but stayed on the terrace for 1980 FA Cup victory. Blagg, 26, now lives with his eighth wife and innumerable children in a small semi-detached with chintz curtains in Dagenham, Essex and still attends every Hammers match and training session.
Born at an early age a mere defenders' spit from the Boleyn ground, Billy Blagg has seen every West Ham game from 1898 onwards. Blagg was mentioned by Kenneth Wolstenholme in 1966 as one of the people on the pitch during the famous Hammers win over West Germany that lifted the World Cup and he returned to the pitch again for the 1975 FA Cup Final but stayed on the terrace for 1980 FA Cup victory. Blagg, 26, now lives with his eighth wife and innumerable children in a small semi-detached with chintz curtains in Dagenham, Essex and still attends every Hammers match and training session.
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