This week is the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.  Fifty years ago one of the best and brightest football teams in history was decimated on a runway in Munich when the aeroplane in which they were trying return home to Manchester crashed on its third attempt to take off in a swirling blizzard.  My Grandmother and most of my family were always season ticket holders at Old Trafford, which is why I have always been a United fan.  My mother may be from Moss Side but we’re a United family through and through.

One of my best friends in the world, and the man responsible for an awful lot of the really great music on this blog, is also a season ticket holder these days, so I am going to be down for the Manchester Derby this weekend.  This means the blog is going to be very, very quiet until Monday, at which point there will be a flurry of posts and a podcast.

Until then, spare a thought for some of the finest footballers to ever tread the turf in England and who never made it back to Manchester, and also a wee nod to the men who survived, whose team mates are gone.  It’s a funny thing, losing someone, and this week fifty years ago the whole town of Manchester did just that.  Cheers lads.  Thanks for everything.

Editors – Munich

Ah, a day after I review Interpol it’s the turn of Interpol Junior – Birmingham’s very own Editors.  Funnily enough Editors, who for so long have been written off as Interpol mimics, seem to have outdone their supposed masters this time around.

Perhaps it’s a question of expectations – given how Interpoly their debut was, I never ever thought Editors would conquer the universe, I just reckoned they’d be a decent, dark, enjoyable indie group who could be turned up nice and loud when inebriated and yet wouldn’t offend anyone too much if you played them at work.  Consequently, despite this record not offering much more than The Back Room it seems far less of a disappointment that the failure of Interpol to become the geniuses they threatened to be.

Ultimately, the tunes are simply stronger on this album than on Interpol’s Our Love to Admire and, although it does tail off a little towards the end, the first half is simply an uncomplicated chunk of very enjoyable indie guitar music.  It’s all a bit dark and broody, never gets excessively anthemic, and always has enough hooks and tricks to keep a song interesting.

So the re-invention of the wheel?  No, but it’s another solid album from these fellas.

Editors – Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors
Editors – The Weight of the World

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