Saha scored early but VDV came through
:( homeboy got injured
Niko Kranjcar came on
defeat, thy name is Seamus Coleman
Robbie Keane got subbed on. I honestly have no idea about what's going with him wrt Birmingham City. I would want his good-bye to be a little bit better though...
The other news:
Aston Villa sign Tottenham defender Kyle Walker on loan
Aston Villa have confirmed the loan signing of Tottenham defender Kyle Walker until the end of the season.
The England Under-21 defender arrived at Aston Villa's training ground at Bodymoor Heath on Thursday morning before undergoing a medical and completing the formalities of his move.
He will be available to face his former club, Sheffield United, in Saturday's FA Cup clash at Bramall Lane.
Walker said: "I'm excited about being here and proving that I'm good enough to play in the Premier League.
"That's why Tottenham bought me from Sheffield United and that's what I'm keen to show here at Villa.
"This is a great opportunity for me and I'm looking forward to taking it.
"I know several of the players here from England Under-19s and England Under-21s - Nathan Delfouneso, Ciaran Clark and Marc Albrighton. I'm sure those lads will help me to settle in and enjoy my time at Villa.
"I'm really keen to contribute and compete and prove myself here."
Villa manager Gerard Houllier said: "We're pleased that Kyle will be with us until the end of the season. He is 20 years old, an attacking full-back and a very promising young player. He will be a valuable addition to our defence."
Hmm, interesting. He was doing very well at QPR. Is Houllier trying to make competition for RB though, with Lichaj there too? We'll see...
Ok I know this comm generally isn't the biggest ~~fan of Everton, but I quite like Leighton Baines as a player. He has his own music blog on their site, which I think is totally adorbs, and anyone who talks about the Station to Station album and Betty Davis is all right by me.
First of all I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and say thank you to everyone who posted replies to my first blog! I was really chuffed with the response - and thanks for all the recommendations.
I checked out various bits from the posts - some of the suggestions that I wasn’t aware of, and even a lot of the stuff I had heard of before, inspired me to go back and have another listen!
It had been a while since I’ve heard The Strokes’ 'This Is It' album and that got a little rebirth! Also, Kasabian got a few listens too and that somehow led me back to The Pretty Things’ 'SF Sorrow' - and before I knew it it had spiraled into all sorts!
It makes you appreciate how much good music there is out there and I’m grateful to the people who make it for us. I must say I was a little surprised that nobody gave Bowie a mention! I picked up his ‘Station to Station’ reissue and went back through a few of his other albums and got a new appreciation for some of his work. (<3__<3)
Not sure how many of you are aware of a band called Stornoway - they have been knocking around for a little while now and our physiotherapist Dom put me onto them - they would probably fall into an indie/folk category and could be worth checking out. Click here for a listen.
Also, someone mentioned The Wedding Present in a reply to the last blog and our assistant manager Steve Round had been telling me about them too - so I may pick up one of their records with my HMV Gift card!
A few people mentioned Aloe Blacc. I don’t know too much about his music but after a listen I suppose the obvious comparison would be John Legend. If he’s an artist you’re normally in to then this guy is worth checking out.
There was also a mention for a band called Dogs. I checked out their Myspace and thought they were pretty good. I think they are unsigned at the moment – you can listen to them here.
There were plenty of good mentions from you guys last time around. Please keep posting anything that you think I might enjoy so I can check them out. Even if I don’t like it much, somebody else might (one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure!) and there’s nothing better than coming across new music that you can get into - so share!
I randomly picked up an album by Mando Diao called ‘Give Me Fire’ the other day, I have given it a couple of listens and it seems alright so far.
I also came across Betty Davis’ self titled album. I picked that up just before Christmas and am glad I did. If you are into Funk/Soul/R'n'B then this would be a good purchase!
I grabbed a record by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan after reading that they were the modern day Nancy & Lee (Sinatra & Hazlewood), but although it had some good moments it didn’t quite measure up for me!
The Vaccines have been give quite a bit of hype and their album is released this month so it will be interesting to hear that one.
Obviously it's pretty hard to escape end of year lists over the festive period and as much as I enjoy settling down and scrawling through lots of them I am starting to get excited about what’s coming up this year!
More than anything I am probably looking forward to a new record from the Arctic Monkeys. They changed direction a little with the last one and some fans were a little disappointed but I loved it! It will be interesting to see what they produce this time around and I couldn’t imagine being disappointed by anything they do!
It’s been a few years since The Strokes put out their last album – ‘First Impressions Of Earth’ - but their fourth album is due in a few months and that’s another one to look out for.
Paul Weller recently said that Noel Gallagher had been helping him out on his new material by playing drums! Although he also stated that Noel’s contribution may not make the final cut of the album its good to hear that there’s new stuff in the pipeline from Weller – ‘Wake Up The Nation’ was one of my favorite records of 2010.
I’m hoping to hear new material from Kasabian this year too. They have revealed that some of the songs are already written and work is underway. After ‘West Ryder’ they have big boots to fill!
I was a big fan of 'The Seldom Seen Kid' by Elbow and their new album 'Build A Rocket Boys' is due for release soon and they are playing Liverpool’s Echo Arena in March. Their new single 'lippy kids' can be viewed online here.
Beady Eye’s record is due out at the end of February. I’m intrigued to see what they come with. I enjoyed the first single and their latest one 'Four Letter Word' is growing on me after a couple of listens. Check it out and let me know what you think?
R.E.M. are due to release their 15th album in March too! With all that and more to come I am hoping we are going to get some great music this year.
What else are you guys looking forward to?
There were a couple of gigs towards the end of the year in town that I couldn’t get to and I was gutted. First on was Weller at The Echo Arena and of course Paul McCartney played the o2 Academy on the back of the Band On The Run re-release.
Weller did a couple of John Lennon covers too. Did anyone get to either of those gigs?
Did anyone get any good CDs for Christmas they’d like to recommend – or warn people against?
What was your favourite track/album of 2010? Amongst my favourites for 2010 were probably…
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation
Neil Young - Love And War
picture source
loan source
leighton baines, music critic
ps stay tuned for a maybe interesting and definitely informative mod post(s), coming soon!