I saw them at the 02 back in August and they were dire. Keef was so out of it it was laughable, even Charlie was off colour, only Mick (for me, usually the villain of the piece) was anywhere near up to scratch. I haven't bought a new album since Dirty Work in '86, and that was rubbish. So I think of them in the past tense too - 1963 to 74 or thereabouts. Best album? Beggars Banquet or Exile On Main Street But when they woz good, they woz magic, innit. Would loved to have seen them in the early 70s.

No, why do you ask?

I think HWTWW just edges it, but TSRTS's stunning version of No Quarter is quite simply the best thing LZ have (officially) released IMO. I think it was just that the 72 tour (especially the two nights on HTWW) wasgenerally better than the MSG 73 dates. Of the songs that are duplicated: Rock & Roll - TSRTS Stairway - HWTWW Dazed & Confused - HTWW WLL - TSRTS Moby Dick - HTWW I'm going to reserve judgement on the songs on the expanded TSRTS until I get to know them abit better...

JOY DIVISION New Order Public Image Ltd (only up to "Flowers Of Romance" though) Buzzcocks Slits The Fall Ramones Television Siouxsie & The Banshees Pistols Clash Stranglers (pre 1980) Penetration X-Ray Spex Raincoats Au Pairs Undertones Stooges MC5 New York Dolls Teenage Jesus & The Jerks DNA Contortions and, of course, the mighty, hugely undervalued Magazine...

I've seen the WS 7 or 8 times (and The Raconteurs once - their version of Bang Bang has to be heard to be believed), they've never been less than stunning, easily the best live band in the world at tthe moment. I have a recording of the July Madison Square Garden gig, it's almost Zeppelinesque in its scope. Last summer I saw them in Hyde Park, they easily filled the night sky with noise and did an awesome 10-minute medley of Cannon-John The Revelator-Astro-Ball & Biscuit that was so ground-shaking it could have been Zep...