Ambition - Doves - Some Cities - 2005

I saw a truly great chick fight on the subway the other day. I was taking the Q home from work, and had my iPod head phones in. The train was typically crowded for a Brooklyn Bound at 6 o'clock, but not obnoxiously so. It took me a moment for it to sink in, but I became aware that there was a lot of yelling, and that everyone around me was listening in.

It seemed that two women sharing one of the scoop seat, forward facing benches were in a fight about the degree to which the window seat woman was spreading her legs. What was sort of ironic about this is that the aisle seat woman was fairly obesse, making her complaint about lack of space somewhat ridiculous. Also, both women were West Indian, so the level and complexity of the profanity was truly amazing. It never actually came to blows, but it also didn't stop until one of them got off at Atlantic Ave. I was also sort of surprised that in fight with that much ferocity, that the larger woman never used the obvious insult when complaining about a woman spreading her legs too much.

A few people even jumped in, some begging for peace and quiet, others telling the window seat woman to just ignore her, but the battle raged on, scaling the heights of visciousness. Had they been men, blows would have almost certainly been exchanged....but really, what is the ultimate lesson to be learned here? The MTA should do away with the scooped seats. They were clearly designed in the 1970's when people's assess were much smaller. As a broad shouldered guy, the scooped seat is the bane of my existence...people always want to try to squeze in...and why shouldn't there...the scooped seat indicates that there should be room for a third person on that bench. But please believe me, there is not. This is why I usually just stand on the subway.

Anyway, here's Doves doing their thing...not nearly as interesting as Radiohead, but nowhere near as bland as Coldplay. Ambition makes you look pretty ugly...

Almost Forgot Myself - Doves - Some Cities - 2005

Of all of the "Radiohead Clones", Doves are probably the ones I enjoy/respect the most. They are generally sonically interesting, have a good sense of melody and the typical Mancunian ability to make every song sound like it's raining outside. Plus there is a certain quality to Jimi Goodwin's voice that I can never quite put my finger on. He sounds like someone...or reminds me of someone. His voice is almost too smooth. Like the song you are listening to is almost easy listening, except vastly more interesting and aggressive.

I don't know...it works for me.