Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

During the dark depressing days before punk (actually, they weren't that bleak but go with me on this one) one of the few bright lights for those who knew that Led Zeppelin were actually rubbish was . They knew that fast songs were better than slow, that narrow trousers were better than wide and that short hair beat long hair every time.

Lee Brilleaux, Wilko Johnson, John B Sparks and The Big Figure. Those were the names we read from the back of the Down By The Jetty and Malpractice LPs. The received wisdom among the music journalists at the time was that the vinyl didn't do justice to the band's live performance, but as they never played live in Derry , we were happy enough with what we heard on the record player.

We were also happy to see the very rare appearance on TV. A children's TV show called The Geordie Scene was the unlikely setting for my first sighting of Wilko Johnston's stage movement, described by singer Lee Brilleaux as 'skittering' but possibly better described as like a crab with a Telecaster scuttling sideways across the stage. All this to be seen in the new Julien Temple film which tells the story of the Canvey Island four. Not on a screen near us anytime soon, apparently, but all good things come to those who wait. In the meantime, I'll play a song from their live LP 'Stupidity' on this week's After Midnight.