Ipod A-Z update and an abiding, but late, appreciation of Tom Waits.

I think Tom Wait's Nighthawks At The Diner may end up being one of my favourite records by the time I'm dead. It's grown and grown in my estimation over the last few years until it holds a place in my heart shared only by certain music by Kraftwerk, The Cure, Cabaret Voltaire, The The, Ultra Vivid Scene, Carter USM, That Petrol Emotion, Propaganda, Duran Duran and The Shamen.

It may well be the most perfect bringing together of music and comedy I'll ever hear. Definitely one to be heard late at night, preferably with a few drinks on board already. But what a glorious experience it is.

Anyway, as you may have guessed, we're onto the Tom Waits part of the Ipod A-Z. This may not have taken that long a few weeks ago, as all the Tom Waits I had was Nighthawks, The Asylum Years and Swordfishtrombones. But I'd always promised myself I'd get some more when I had the time to listen to it. And this seemed the ideal time. Ten extra albums later, many hours of listening later and I'm nearing the end. Nighthawks is on again and no matter how good the other stuff is, there's something about that cabaret style, the conversation with that invited audience, the laughs all around and the whole performance that I can't get enough of. It's a wonderful thing realising that I've discovered something else to join the short list of music I couldn't live without.

After Tom Waits it's a quick blast to the end of the A-Z and then I'm faced with the big question of What Next? I may go back and relisten to all the spoken word and comedy. And after that I may well do some sort of enforced randomiser - maybe do a single letter of the alphabet each week?

Because the one thing that doing this has proven is that there's an awful lot of music on the ipod that just didn't get a fair hearing. Not something I intend to have happen again.