It's a slightly odd news round up today, what with the youngest band being about 4390 years old. In a no doubt vain attempt to appear cutting edge, we'll do the stories in reverse age order, so that by the time you get to the bottom story you may actually think we like bands that haven't been releasing records since shortly after The Renaissance..

So, what better place to start than with The Who? The venerable old sods are only playing a twelve minute medley of their greatest hits during Sunday's prestigious Superbowl XLIV halftime show. I swear to god, if there are any wardrobe malfunctions I may well puke out a lung, but it's exciting news nonetheless. The following day (February 8th, fact fans) they release The Who Greatest Hits/Greatest Hits Live to capitalise..sorry, that should of course read 'coincide' with the extra attention the Superbowl will bring. And yeah, sure, this is all a pretty cynical exercise, but just you try arguing with the following songs:

GREATEST HITS & MORE / 2CD VERSION

CD 1
1. 'Baba O'Riley' / Original Version
2. 'Behind Blue Eyes' / Original Album Version
3. 'Eminence Front'
4. 'Happy Jack' / Single Version
5. 'I Can See For Miles'
6. 'I Can't Explain' / Original Mono Version
7. 'It's Not Enough'
8. 'Love Reign O'er Me' / Single Version
9. 'Magic Bus' / Original Stereo Version
10. 'My Generation' / Original Mono Version
11. 'Pictures Of Lily'
12. 'Pinball Wizard' / Original Album Version
13. 'Real Good Looking Boy' 14. 'Squeeze Box' 15. 'Substitute' / Single Version 16. 'The Kids Are Alright' / Edit Mono Version 17. 'Who Are You' / Single Edit 18. 'Won't Get Fooled Again' / Original Album Version
19. 'You Better You Bet' / Album Version

CD 2 (additional live disc):

1. 'I Can't Explain' (Live at San Francisco Civic Auditorium 1971)
2. 'Substitute' (Live At San Francisco Civic Auditorium 1971)
3. 'Happy Jack' (Live at City Hall, Hull 1970)
4. 'I'm A Boy' (Live At City Hall, Hull 1970)
5. 'Behind Blue Eyes' (Live At San Francisco Civic Auditorium 1971)
6. 'Pinball Wizard' (Live In Swansea 1976)
7. 'I'm Free' (Live In Swansea 1976)
8. 'Squeeze Box' (Live In Swansea 1976)
9. 'Naked Eye' / 'Let's See Action' / 'My Generation' (Medley) (Live At Charlton Athletic FC 1974)
10. '5.15' (Live At The Capital Centre, Largo 1973)
11. 'Won't Get Fooled Again' (Live At The Capital Centre, Largo 1973)
12. 'Magic Bus' (Live At Leeds University 1970)
13. 'My Generation' (Live At The BBC 1965)
14. 'A Man In A Purple Dress' (Live At Nassau Coliseum 2007)
15. 'Who Are You' (Live At Universal Amphitheatre 1989)
16. 'The Kids Are Alright' (Live At Royal Albert Hall 2002)

Next, we move on to 50 year old Morrissey, and the extremely weird post left by one Lee Brackstone, an editor for the publisher Faber & Faber, on the firm's blog. Basically, it's an open letter begging Morrissey to write an autobiography, entirely coincidentally to be published, if Brackstone has his way, by Faber & Faber.

He wrote:

"You see, we love the perverse and the contrary at Faber. And we also like to think we are the custodians of twentieth-century Modernist poetry. In fact we are. Our shelves groan and bulge and spill over under the weight of Ezra, Larkin, Hughes and Heaney.

"To me (and to many of my colleagues) you are already in this company. It would be the fulfilment of my most pressing and persistent publishing dream to see that 'ff' sewn into the spine of your Life. Just any other publisher won't do. You deserve Faber and the love we can give you. History demands it; destiny commands it."

The office sweepstake is as follows:

2/1 - Drunk
4/1 - Crack
6/1 - Office junior having a laugh
1/10f - Middle aged man trying desperately to be cool

That said, a Morrissey autobiography would be very amusing indeed. Come publish it on Flashlight Books, Mozzer, we really like you and that.

Next up (though only just - Daddy G, somehow, is 50!) is Massive Attack. You'll have noticed in last week's review of their excellent Heligoland LP, we made the obvious (if slightly lazy) link to their West Country contemporaries Portishead. As well as the fact that their most recent albums both marked a shift to a more harsh, electronic emphasis, there's the fact that they're both traditionally a little….slow to make records. They're usually worth it when eventually finished, granted, but nonetheless. Now they have a new thing in common..a public claim that they intend to work substantially quicker. We reported some 18 months ago that Portishead intended to follow up Third much quicker than expected, and since then have heard nothing save for an Amnesty International charity single, so we're taking Robert '3d' Del Naja's interview with BBC 6music, in which he promised a new EP, with a rather large pinch of salt:

"It will probably be made up of tracks that we didn't put on this record, and maybe some new stuff as well," he said of the EP.

One of the potential EP tracks, 'Red Light', is one that was written with Elbow's Guy Garvey, who the band collaborated with on Heligoland's one true weak moment 'Flat of the Blade', so doesn't get us too wet. Especially when 3d states that the band are having trouble with it..

"That's obviously one of the tracks we're looking at trying to finish," he said. "We've got this one..which we wrote with Guy, which we've been playing live for two years and we still can't finish it. I really don't know if it will get finished."

Judging by past form, neither do we Robert.

Ok, today's final news story involves veritable whipper snappers The Charlatans. Tim Burgess (a mere 42 years old!) and co have finally realised that they're pretty unlikely ever to match their early career highs, and have instead agreed to perform Some Friendly, their 1990 debut album, in full at a London gig this May. The gig takes place at Camden's excellent Roundhouse venue, and is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album. It will be worth it purely for 'The Only One I Know' (which apparently was not included on the original vinyl version of the album), 'Then' and especially 'Sproston Green', though personally I'd much prefer them to perform Up To Our Hips or Wonderland. The album is supposedly going to be reissued around the time of the gig. Tickets are on sale on Friday 5th February via See Tickets.