Sea level

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO February 19 to 25, 1997 Ben Elton hosts the Brit Awards at London's Earls Court, where there are two gongs apiece for Manic Street Preachers (Best Group, Best Album - Everything Must Go) and the Spice Girls (Best Single - "Wannabe", Best Video - "Say You'll Be There"). Geri Halliwell's Union Jack mini-dress gets the lion's share of coverage in the following morning's tabloids, which also report on the group's first album entering the US charts at Number Six. The Bee Gees receive the Outstanding Contribution nod, as a total of 15 awards are given out during the evening, chicken feed compared to...

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Exclusive track can be heard at the Tate Modern

Mike Scott’s excellent raggle-taggle adventure, with a CD of fine out-takes

Nick Cave and John Hillcoat on bushranger western movie 'The Proposition'.

First UK gig in over 20 years from the Felix and Oscar of dream-folk

Tirelessly horny MC returns to his dancehall roots

Good end-of-the-world hokum

Imagine if the Doors, The Byrds or Love had, long after their late '60s heyday, reconvened to record a quartet of brilliant albums, the first a double LP of classic, even epic, proportions issued just months before punk broke.

Two nautical novels brought brilliantly to life in one action stunner