Yeah I did seem to catch the sun.  It was just such a nice day though. A beautiful late summer's day in the heart of the city. 

My penfriend Rob was down from Liverpool, and we were just walking around, chatting away madly. It was the first time I'd actually met him, but it was as though I'd known him always. For about a year now we'd been writing these really passionate letters, enthusing about this and that, and our tastes overlapped so much.

You remember, he was the first person to tip me off about the Pale Fountains. For ages he's been saying there's this amazing new group who are like the Velvets and Simon & Garfunkel doing old Bacharach numbers, so when the single came out a while back it was like they were old friends. Actually he brought me some photos of a gig - oops can't say gig - I mean show they did in Liverpool a few weeks back. He gave me this - well, it's like a luggage label which they had printed up as tickets. And some photos a friend of his took. The group look amazing. So cool it hurts. Mind you, he'd missed the Peel session, so I didn't feel too bad. The song I've been raving about, Thank You, Rob reckons that will be the next single.

Anyway, we met up at Charing Cross. And we knew each other straight away. He was wearing one of those German running vests. You know with the eagle on the front. He was joking that he'd turned into a Factory boy. I think he's going through a bit of a Certain Ratio phase.  He had the haircut too. Shaved at the back. They played the Hacienda recently. And by all accounts they were really funky. Really dressed up like athletes. Lots of percussion and whistles. 

We walked up towards Camden Town. We both wanted to look around the market. And I love London on a Sunday. Walking up the Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road. Nothing's open. Hardly anyone's around. And there was just us two gassing away, animatedly talking about music, and all the stuff we liked getting more excited, like one of those old Julian Cope/Paul Morley interviews, where they're reeling off names of books and bands.

But for me it's amazing actually finding someone - you know, someone who feels as desperate as me - and we're like, yeah Stevie Wonder A Place In The Sun. Yeah!  Marine Girls.  A Place In The Sun.  Yeah.  Montgomery Clift in A Place In The Sun too.  Smokey Robinson Hunter Gets Captured By The Game. Yeah! Mary Wells. Yes! Grandmaster Flash!  Yes!  Astrud Gilberto. Yeah!

And we were firing questions at one another. Like what's your favourite Beatles song? This Boy. And do you remember that piece Julie Burchill wrote about Bacharach and David in The Face? What's your favourite Vic Godard song? Make Me Sad or Empty Shell?  Have you heard the MJQ? Do you listen to Sing Something Simple? Have you heard Richard Cory by Simon & Garfunkel? What about the Mamas & Papas? Have you heard Orange Skies by Love?

We went past this army surplus store. Really famous place. Laurence Corner. Rob wanted to see it because that's where he'd heard ACR originally got the shorts they became famous for. Apparently there's a bit of a Liverpool/Manchester thing. The Pale Fountains have been getting a bit of stick for the way they look. The shorts and haircuts. Some people have been accusing them of copying ACR, but that's daft. It's a bit more of an old scouting thing. Baden Powell, and all that. Actually I wasn't aware there's also a Brazilian bossa nova guitarist called Baden Powell. I really wish I could get hold of some old bossa and Brazilian records. I feel a bit of a fraud when all I know are a few Astrud Gilberto songs and Sergio Mendes.

Don't know why that reminds me, but we passed a pub called the Queen's Head and Artichoke. Can you believe that? Ok, you're sitting down, and you're thinking now what shall I call this hostelry? Somehow the Queen's Head and Artichoke doesn't spring immediately to mind. Have to say it's memorable though.  Rob was more taken with the way along the Hampstead Road a sprawling council estate sat a stone's throw - literally - away from a magnificent mansion. But that's London for you.  Room for all sorts.

There were all sorts round Camden Market too. Rob wanted to try to track down where The Clash's Rehearsal rehearsal studios were. I was just watching the girls go by. The Carmel look definitely seems to be in. Lots of girls in '50s style print shift dresses. Of course we got to talking about our favourite people. Rob going for Alison from Weekend, and I'm sticking with Tracey Thorn because as you know only too well I've been playing her tape pretty much non-stop since it came out a few weeks ago. The songs are just so incredibly brave and spartan. In a climate where everything seems so overblown and polished, it really is a defiant pose, as the Cortinas used to say. Like Dexys said, you're shouting so loud you'd do better to mime.

When I listen to A Distant Shore, I feel like there's someone out there who is speaking up for me, us, the quiet ones, the ones who usually keep themselves to themselves, secretly dreaming, stealing away. And Tracey's voice and the words, they're almost indecently naked, but like thoughts shared by a kindred spirit.

I love the Marine Girls, and I love the Everything But The Girl single, but if I had to choose one record at the moment this one's mine.  Even the fact that it's a cassette, not a conventional LP, and the cover with the sketch of Tracey looking so thoughtful, and everything. Mind you Rob made a good point in favour of Weekend's View From Her Room and Alison singing: "Have you ever walked alone for miles and miles, with sea and sky ...".  Or something. I'm rubbish at remembering words. Or I mishear them. Rob still takes the mick out of me for thinking Vic was singing about every day being a dime, so let it shine. So, ok, it was a diamond.

I bought Rob an old paperback copy of Absolute Beginners off one of the stalls. I think he was a bit dubious, as he's not that fond of The Jam, but I promised him he'd totally love it. Especially if he was into jazz. It's where I first picked up on the MJQ. Though it was lucky your dad had that MJQ with the Swingle Singers record. That is so gorgeous. It's really in the same area as the Weekend singles.

On the way back, heading back towards Regent's Park, we passed the bistro where the French Impressionists did a Sunday lunchtime performance, and we were going yeah, this is the future. No more rock and roll for you. I've not heard the French Impressionists yet, though Rob hadn't seen the article in Masterbag, where Malcolm Fisher is explaining where the name came from.

It's funny though because Malcolm's name is legendary already to people like me and Rob just from the fact that he's mentioned in the Postcard brochure, and that we know he's hung out with Alan Horne and Edwyn, our idols, and Postcard's what brought us together in the first place. Which is why pop music matters so much ...

© 2007 John Carney