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Scots reveal their 'favourite Scottish albums' of all time by iconic bands
Scots reveal their 'favourite Scottish albums' of all time by iconic bands

Daily Record

time15-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Record

Scots reveal their 'favourite Scottish albums' of all time by iconic bands

Featuring Franz Ferdinand, Frightened Rabbit, and more. People in Scotland have shared their "favourite Scottish albums" of all time. Different Scots chose albums across a wide range of genres as the best the country has to offer. Scotland's music may not be as instantly recognisable around the world as its whisky or cuisine, but many legendary musicians have hailed from the country. Countless iconic singers and bands have called Scotland home over the years. ‌ On Saturday, July 12, a Reddit user asked the people of Scotland to share their top albums by Scottish acts. Writing on the forum's Scotland community, the user stated: "Post your favourite Scottish album." ‌ Despite being posted just two days ago, the question has since received more than 170 responses. Music lovers quickly shared their favourite Scottish albums, both old and new. The Scottish album the original poster picked as their favourite is Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit. The album was released in 2019 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Midnight Organ Fight by Selkirk indie rock band Frightened Rabbit. Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight includes cover versions of songs on the original album by various musicians and bands. It features a number of Scottish acts such as Biffy Clyro, The Twilight Sad, and Lauren Mayberry of synth-pop group CHVRCHES. The top comment on the post lists Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada as the best Scottish album. Despite their name, Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo originating from Edinburgh. Music Has the Right to Children was released in 1998, and earned widespread acclaim. While the album saw limited chart success, it is often considered to be a landmark of electronic music. ‌ Meanwhile, another Reddit user chose Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins as their pick for the best Scottish album. Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock and dream pop band that formed in Grangemouth in 1979, known for lead singer Elizabeth Fraser's unique vocals. Heaven or Las Vegas came out in 1990, and reached number seven on the UK Albums chart. The album also received very positive reviews, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. ‌ A different user chose another Cocteau Twins album as their choice for the best Scottish album. They selected Blue Bell Knoll, which released in 1988 before Heaven or Las Vegas. Blue Bell Knoll is not as well remembered amongst most music fans as the band's following release. However, the album still received positive reviews on its release and reached number 15 on the UK Albums chart. ‌ Another album chosen by one Scot as their favourite is Franz Ferdinand's self-titled debut album. Franz Ferdinand are a band that formed in Glasgow in 2002, with their first album featuring their signature hit 'Take Me Out'. Franz Ferdinand peaked at number three on the UK Albums chart and number two on the Scottish Albums chart upon its release in 2004. 'Take Me Out' has since garnered more than one billion streams on Spotify. ‌ Other albums named by Scots as their favourite include The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES, Screamadelica by alternative rock band Primal Scream, and If You're Feeling Sinister by Glasgow indie pop band Belle and Sebastian—with all three groups originating from Glasgow. Elsewhere, other Reddit users chose This Is the Story by Edinburgh duo The Proclaimers and Psychocandy by East Kilbride alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Sabrina Claudio wants to evolve. She's starting by letting people in
Sabrina Claudio wants to evolve. She's starting by letting people in

Los Angeles Times

time18-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Los Angeles Times

Sabrina Claudio wants to evolve. She's starting by letting people in

Sabrina Claudio is not the same person she was a year ago — much less eight years ago when she first introduced herself with a shimmering neo-soul EP, titled 'Confidently Lost.' Now, having amassed millions of fans with sultry, golden-hour slow jams and trips down melancholy lane, she's presenting her most earnest songwriting yet in her newest album, 'Fall In Love With Her,' released June 9 on Atlantic Records. 'I think in the past couple years, people in my life that I love have helped me get out of my shell and shown me how important vulnerability is,' she says. 'Now I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna tell y'all everything, how about that?' For her fifth studio LP, Claudio steered her R&B sound into a less-traveled, alternative direction that showcases her deft pen and ethereal vocals in a novel guise. Her longtime producer, Ajay 'Stint' Bhattacharyya, cited shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive as influences that came up during recording sessions. For Claudio, wading into those uncharted waters became part of a larger shift in her career. Until recently, the Cuban and Puerto Rican singer-songwriter — who in 2023, earned a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance as a songwriter on Beyoncé's slick 'Renaissance' cut, 'Plastic Off the Sofa' — preferred to toil in privacy, channeling her expression into songwriting more than social media. But this year, she's inviting the outside world to experience her personality with a new interview series on YouTube titled 'Fall In Love With…' To hear her tell it, she's eager for the effort to help fans and listeners see the person she is behind the music. 'I hope that people can listen to [the album] knowing that, yes, [I'm singing about what] I experienced, but I just pray that they are able to interpret it and relate it to their own life however they possibly can,' she says. Come July, she'll embark on a U.S. tour with rappers Russ and Big Sean; soon after, she'll make her acting debut in a short film directed by filmmaker and best friend Jazmin Garcia-Larracuente, who was inspired by early drafts of songs off 'Fall In Love With Her' to write a script. 'I'm very proud of myself,' Claudio says. 'I think I killed it, and I'm excited for everybody to see it.' In her latest interview with the Times, she speaks of the intimacy required in songwriting with others, the possibility of an all-Spanish EP and her approach to storytelling. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity. After releasing your last album, 2022's 'Based On A Feeling,' you focused on writing for other artists. Is that usually how it goes between albums for you?Typically [after] I finish an album, I always go through the phase [when] I need to take a break because creatively I'm worn out. I wouldn't do anything, which actually only emphasized the lack of motivation to continue and make more music. But this time around, I wanted to remain creative, and the best way to do that was to get in rooms with other creatives to help them get into their world, rather than always having to focus on mine. I thought it was going to be difficult for me, because I'm not a natural collaborator. Before I was very anti-having songwriters in my room. It was a whole ego thing for me … but I loved it so much that I ended up doing it for much longer than I was anticipating. I find so much inspiration being in rooms with artists for other projects. On this album you worked on some of the tracks with a songwriter, Nasri Atweh. I'm curious if there was hesitation to share your own process with someone else?There was a time in my life when I [felt] obligated to have writers in my room. My guard was up. It's not because I don't think that these songwriters were amazing, because they were. Some of my favorite songs I wrote with another person, like 'Problem With You' off [my album] 'Truth Is.' But for some reason, my brain would say if I didn't do it 100 percent, then it's not mine. And that's so not the reality of making art. With Nasri, he's my manager's brother. I met Nasri 10 years ago. I'm glad that it happened when it did. Being the songwriter in the room for other people put things into perspective, because I realized how important collaboration was. Nasri was able to eject things from me that I didn't even know existed. I'm on a different wavelength now. Working with a songwriter is like an intimate therapy session.I'm an extremely private person. I think the past couple years, people in my life have helped me to get out of my shell and have shown me how important vulnerability is. I didn't even want to expose myself, which is why I tend to write from experiences that I technically didn't experience, or from conversations with others, or movies. It was a protective layer. But now I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna tell y'all everything, how about that? [laughs] And it's worked out! You've said that when it comes to songwriting, you usually let yourself be led by the music, then the lyrics. Can you tell me more about 'One Word' and how that track came to be? It's one of the most powerful songs on the album.I wrote that during a heartbreak. I wanted to talk about an experience I had with a person I felt very deeply for, [who] essentially didn't fight for me to stay. But it was the biggest act of love that he could have done for me. I worked with my producer Stint, [who] I work with all the time, and Heavy Mellow. He was heavy on this project, no pun intended. I was venting,; I was really heartbroken. I was finding comfort in these men that I've known and trying to get their perspective on things. Another song is 'Worse Than Me,' which sounds completely different from the rest of the tracks. It's a little more assertive and seductive, with trip-hop-inspired drums. How did that come to be?Before I discovered the new sound [of] the album, I still was gravitating towards my typical R&B, neo-soul-type vibes. I was just trying to get back in the groove of Sabrina Claudio, quote-unquote, because I was just coming out of writing for everybody else. I was trying to tap back into my own world. And I think I needed one sassy song. [laughs] That's kind of what I'm known for: the sass, the crying, or the sexy. And I just felt like if I didn't have the sexy, I at least needed to have the sassy. This is the first time you've really worked with a more alternative sound — did you find yourself accessing parts of yourself that the traditional R&B sound didn't?Oh, absolutely! I love working with Stint and all of my producers because they have such a wide palette when it comes to music. Genres I never grew up listening to — all these sounds are new. It pulls different things out of me that I wouldn't be able to get if it was my traditional R&B sound. And naturally, I'm always going to do that because that's just how I am, but it was interesting to hear where my R&B and soul brain goes over these more alternative rock/indie vibes. For example, 'Detoxing' — I wrote that song with Nasri, but we didn't have the outro. So I took it to Stint, and he pulled up all these references of bands [like Radiohead], and he was teaching me so much. And then he [said], 'You know what, at the end I want to do something really big and really rock. I want to break it down. But then I want people to be shocked. I want you to belt, and I want you to say something, and I want you to purge, and I want you to take the concept of the song and really just yell it like you're just trying to get rid of something.' I listened back, and I'm even shocked at some of the things that I was able to tap into. I don't belt! [laughs] I didn't even know I could do that! You have the song 'Mi Luz' on the album, which is the first time you've included a Spanish song in an LP. What made you feel this was the right time to finally do that?First of all, I don't understand why I've never added a Spanish record to any of my albums. I listen to a lot of Spanish music in my daily life, a lot of reggaetón. You'd be surprised, my music is so calm and emotional … and then I'm twerking in my car listening to reggaetón. [laughs] So I felt in the sense of wanting to evolve, I feel now's the time. And the process is really interesting, because my brain doesn't actually think in Spanish, especially when it comes to songwriting. Any Spanish record [of mine] you've heard, I've done with Alejandra Alberti, who is also Cuban. She's from Miami, she's a Virgo, so we connected on all those things. I tell her what I want to say, and she just computes it in her brain and she translates it in a way that has taught me. 'Mi Luz' [was] the first time I contributed lyrically in Spanish. And it was always something that I was afraid of doing, because I'm always afraid of sounding dumb. I don't know why, but I have that fear. But I felt very comfortable, very safe with Ale. Would you release an EP of Spanish tracks?I think I would! If I have Ale, I think we could probably knock out an EP very quickly. I'd be down. You said in your recent Genius video that you really want reciprocal love because there's only so much self-love you can give yourself. Is there any difference in your work depending on how your personal life is going, or do you manage to block out the noise?I get very consumed by whatever I'm most passionate about in the moment. When I'm talking to somebody or I'm dating somebody, I do have the tendency to revolve my world around whatever we're building. So when I'm dealing with that, I do find that I put my career second. Because I crave love very badly — which is toxic for me — I'm willing to nurture. I'm pretty confident in my career. It's the one thing I have control over. Everything's amazing, and I get to make music whenever I want. But I don't necessarily have control over the relationship that I'm trying to build, so I get very consumed and I put that first. But I'm hoping that if I get into something else that's much healthier and not destroying our mental health, then I can do both at the same time! I just have to find that person first. You've acknowledged that you're a private artist, but I really like what I've seen so far from your new interview series, 'Fall In Love With…' Can you tell me how the idea of doing that came about?I have to say I was anti-miniseries, but my manager, Alyce, told me in the beginning stages of [making] this album, 'The music, as vulnerable as it is — nobody's going to relate to it or feel the depth of it if they don't know who you are as a human.' She said, 'Nobody knows that you're funny; nobody knows that you're outgoing. You're not this mysterious person that you think you are, and you need to show people that.' So at first, it annoyed me, because I was like, ugh, not me having to do things online. [laughs] I think doing this type of content was uncomfortable for me. I said, 'If you guys want me to do this, I don't want to be doing 20 episodes. I want four episodes, and I want it to be with people I know and I love and I will be comfortable with.' And it turned into 'Fall In Love With…' and I just thought it was special. I love to give credit to the people who have loved me through every stage of my life. And in the midst of it, my fans are able to see who I am as a person and how deeply I love, how loyal I am. And that opened the door to just so many other things. I just became so much more open-minded.

Music fans name their 'favourite Scottish musicians' of all time
Music fans name their 'favourite Scottish musicians' of all time

Daily Record

time06-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Record

Music fans name their 'favourite Scottish musicians' of all time

Scotland has birthed many musical icons and these are the best ones, according to locals Music fans have shared their "favourite Scottish musicians". Artists and bands from a large range of genres have been named among the best. Scotland has a long history of producing world-famous musicians. From the Bay City Rollers in the 1970s to contemporary acts such as Lewis Capaldi, there are more legendary Scots music acts than you might think. ‌ One music buff recently took to social media to ask others their top musicians from Scotland. Posting on Reddit on Wednesday, June 4, they questioned: "What's your favourite Scottish musician? ‌ "There are way more of them than I thought." The post has since received more than 85 comments from fellow music enthusiasts. Many were quick to share their top Scottish musicians. One of the top responses to the question named Elizabeth Fraser as the number one Scottish musician. Best known as the vocalist for the band Cocteau Twins, Fraser is famous for her distinct style and operatic vocals. Cocteau Twins achieved critical and commercial success throughout 1980s and 1990s. Their most well-known album is Heaven or Las Vegas from 1990, which has become a cult favourite and routinely appears on lists of the greatest albums of all time. Elsewhere, one music fan stated that Boards of Canada was their favourite Scottish band. Despite the name, Boards of Canada was formed in Edinburgh in the late 1980s. The electronic music duo became popular following the release of their first full album Music Has the Right to Children in 1998. Since then, they have released acclaimed albums such as The Campfire Headphase in 2005 and Tomorrow's Harvest in 2013. Meanwhile, another Reddit user wrote that Frightened Rabbit was their number one Scottish music act. Frightened Rabbit was a Scottish indie rock band that formed in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders in 2003. ‌ The band are known for acclaimed albums such as Sing the Greys and The Midnight Organ Fight, released in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Frightened Rabbit was headed by musician Scott Hutchison, who tragically died in 2018. Another contemporary Scottish act named by one music buff as their favourite is Lauren Mayberry. Originating from Stirling, Mayberry is the vocalist and percussionist of the band CHVRCHES. ‌ CHVRCHES formed in Glasgow in 2011, and are renowned for their synth-pop sound. The group have released critically and commercially successful albums such as The Bones of What You Believe, Every Open Eye, and Screen Violence—the latter two of which peaked at number one on the Scottish albums chart. Meanwhile, one Reddit user stated that their favourite Scottish music act is Paolo Nutini from Paisley in Renfrewshire. Nutini's first two albums, These Streets and Sunny Side Up, achieved major success around the world thanks to singles such as Last Request and Candy. Other Scottish acts named by music fans as being their favourite include The Blue Nile, Orange Juice, and Belle and Sebastian. Elsewhere, others chose Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai, and Primal Scream.

French Artist Sarilou Launches ‘Coeur Eternel' Party at CJC May 29th
French Artist Sarilou Launches ‘Coeur Eternel' Party at CJC May 29th

CairoScene

time27-05-2025

  • Entertainment
  • CairoScene

French Artist Sarilou Launches ‘Coeur Eternel' Party at CJC May 29th

The party features a lineup of regional and local female artists like Marcelina, Sareena, Contrasté and Femaledjkhaled. May 27, 2025 French alt-pop singer and producer Sarilou is set to launch her femme-fatale party concept, 'Coeur Eternel', at Cairo Jazz Club on Thursday, May 29th. Transforming the iconic Agouza club into her own 'eternal heart' world, Sarilou's party will feature a series of fun immersive installations, live performances, and DJ sets from a roster of regional and local female artists. Featured on the lineup is Lebanese artist Marcelina, who will be making her Egypt debut. Sarilou will be performing her newly-released EP 'Eyes Wide Open', along with a selection of her earliest tracks and some unreleased gems. Based in Paris, Sarilou has built up a reputation as one of the most promising talents in Europe for her volatile, cyberpunk and fairy-like sound, blending industrial textures with high-pitched vocals, reminiscent of global icons like SOPHIE and Cocteau Twins. The lineup will also feature Cairo's selector Sareena, Contrasté, with Femaledjkhaled –one-third of the IASC trio–on closing duties. Doors open at 8 PM. To book your tickets, head to Cairo Jazz Club's official website.

I am not ashamed that I used to be a drunk, says Scots star
I am not ashamed that I used to be a drunk, says Scots star

The Herald Scotland

time26-04-2025

  • Entertainment
  • The Herald Scotland

I am not ashamed that I used to be a drunk, says Scots star

Admittedly, it's in the Upper East Side, a block away from Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it cost the best part of $2 million (just under £1.5m in Sterling), so he's probably not slumming it. And certainly the tiny corner I see of it through my Zoom lens looks handsome. What's that picture behind you, Craig? 'That's a Scottish artist, Hugh Williams, the horse painter guy. It's good, isn't it?' It's Good Friday in New York today. And in Falkirk too, for that matter. 'You live in Falkirk? A million years ago I went to Falkirk Technical College for a year with Robin Guthrie who was in the Cocteau Twins. He was from Grangemouth. We were both electronic engineers. He made something of his life.' Read more I think it's fair to say that Ferguson has too. Once upon a time known round these parts by his angry comedic alter ego Bing Hitler, Ferguson has gone on to become a film star, a late-night American talk show host - he hosted The Late Late Show on CBS for 11 seasons - and an author. These days he's 62, drug-free, drink-free, a podcaster, a husband and a father. And he has returned to stand-up. Indeed, he's coming back to Glasgow this June with a new show, Pants on Fire. I ask him for the show's elevator pitch. 'It's a bunch of almost true stories. Some of them not true at all. Do you know when you see something on Netflix that's 'based on a true story'? OK, so this is all based on a true story.' What it isn't is particularly topical. 'I made a bit of a change in how I did stand-up. When you do late night [aka The Late Late Show] you're forced into topical events all the time. Everything's topical, everything's politics. I was looking at that space thing with Katy Perry. [Perry went up to the edge of space for 11 minutes on Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket; but you already knew that.] And I thought, 'God if I was doing late night I would be all over that stuff.' 'So, when I came out of it I wanted to go back to the kind of stuff I used to do right at the beginning when I was doing Bing. It was stuff that was anecdotal and personal. And that's what I did.' In his last stand-up show I'm So Happy, which you can watch on his website, he addressed cancel culture and what comedians can and cannot say these days. Does he feel inhibited as a comedian now in any way? 'I recorded that special about 18 months ago and it was very much prominent in my mind at that time and I don't really talk about that anymore. I think it was a moment when everybody was very touchy.' Craig Ferguson on his US talk show (Image: free) When he started comedy, in the 1980s, he reminds me, the only comedians around were himself, Fred MacAulay - 'Fred was doing golf clubs and I was doing nightclubs' - and his hero, Billy Connolly. Back then, he says, 'you were always getting in trouble for saying something. Billy was always in trouble. And I expect it. It's the price of doing business in my line of work. Some people will get mad at what you say. 'When I was doing late night I had a very good producer who would say, 'Is it worth it? Is the joke good enough.' And sometimes it was and sometimes it wasn't. 'And that stuck with me. If it's a good enough joke I don't give a f*** who it annoys. But if it's not that good a joke maybe it's not worth the hassle. 'I know there's stuff I have done back in the day I would now go, 'Oh Jesus.' But you live and learn, I guess.' It's maybe worth remembering that while hosting The Late Late Show on CBS for all those years the moments that cut through most were his interview with Desmond Tutu which managed to combine humour with a platform for ideas of forgiveness and compassion (the show won a Peabody Award as a result) and his monologue in 2007 when he revealed why he would not be doing jokes about Britney Spears when she was struggling with her mental health. 'We shouldn't be attacking the vulnerable people,' he said at the time. All of which maybe raises the question, is he a very different comedian than he was back in his Bing Hitler days? 'It's funny. My youngest boy found a vinyl of Bing Hitler live at the Tron so he put it on and made me listen to it and I thought, 'Some of that is not bad.' That's 1986 I was 24. 'I tend to dismiss things and move on, but I listened to it and I can see how that did OK. Parts of it are funny, parts of it are awful. 'Am I different? I'm older. I move around less on stage now. I get out there, I stand and talk, that's it.' Craig Ferguson as Bing Hitler (Image: free) What's undeniable is that he's a very different person. In the days before we speak I read his 2019 book Riding the Elephant, a series of autobiographical essays in which he talks about his childhood in Cumbernauld, his comedy, his marriages, how he lost his virginity and his toxic relationship with alcohol. He has been sober for more than 30 years now. Reading it, I say, what strikes me is the almost insane drive for success that seems to have animated him throughout his career. 'I think when I was younger I liked to phrase it like that because it sounds like I'm searching for something. That sounds a little bit nicer than what I think it might have been. 'I think I was greedy and I wanted things. I wanted attention. All the stuff people look for on social media. I wanted kudos and attention and money, I suppose. 'There was something that happened early on that reset that for me and I still talk about it with my kids. Whenever I get recognised in the streets we call it a 'Haw Bing'. 'Because one of the first shows I ever did at the Tron Theatre had gone really well and I had gone down the next day to get my guitar or whatever and when I was leaving somebody shouted to me, 'Haw Bing'. It was the first time I'd ever been recognised in the street. A guy at the Trongate shouted, 'Haw Bing' and I turned around. He went, 'You're a c***.' 'It was such an interesting, sharp lesson on visibility and fame and this kind of life. So, if I'm going somewhere the kids will say, 'Put a hat on dad so we don't get any Haw Bings'. 'So, was I searching for something? I don't know. I don't think it was particularly artistic or noble. It was hard to know who I even was. I felt like I was panicking all the time. I think we grew up pretty panicky. Maybe it was the Cold War or something. I felt like I was terrified all the time.' Nuclear annihilation always seemed imminent back then, I suggest. 'It was, though, wasn't it? I used to have dreams about it. I was terrified. There was this level of anxiety all the time. It's probably much more dangerous and scary now.' Craig Ferguson in Still Game in a guest role (Image: free) Does that younger you feel close or far away? 'Yes and no, I suppose. I've reached a point now - I don't know if this is age - I feel affection more than embarrassment or shame for being a drunk back then. I feel sorry for me then. I was so full of f****** bravado and gallusness, but it was all a front. I was f****** terrified and I'm not terrified anymore. 'Am I the same guy? I think essentially yeah. The same DNA obviously, but experience changes you a bit. I was talking to somebody yesterday who's a very successful writer of a TV show and she was saying she's managed to avoid bitterness in her career and I said, 'Well, yeah, maybe a bit of success has helped you avoid bitterness.' 'I don't know. I'm less driven than I was. I'm not out to have it all, girlfriend.' Because you've already had it all? 'A little bit. I used to have a friend - he's still a friend, but he's not alive anymore - this lovely man who helped me out when I was trying to get sober and he was from Liverpool and he used to say, 'II always feel a bit more spiritual when I've a couple of bob in my pocket.' And I think there is some truth to that. 'Look, health is the number one. There's nothing else but health and if you have health you've got everything. But at the same time a bit of cash, a bit of success, a couple of pats on the back is not horrible.' Well, I tell him, as we're more or less of an age, maybe this is a good time to talk about mortality. Craig, do you think about death much? 'The last four or five years I've had a couple of medical procedures. Nothing terrifying, but they involved me getting put under. They give you a drug called Propofol to put you under for an endoscope. 'Now, I'm drug and alcohol-free for decades, but the IV drip went into my arm and the anaesthesiologist said, 'OK, I'm going to send you to sleep now and I watched the drips go in and I thought, 'Oh God, this is great. I love this, I love this, I love this … And then I was gone. Craig Ferguson at the Brave premiere in Edinburgh with Kelly Macdonald and the late Robbie Coltrane (Image: free)'And I think it's probably like that. You're just not there. But this is what I don't know. And I have become more interested … You know people say, 'How often does your dad think about the Roman Empire?' I've become fascinated by Hellenistic philosophers, Stoic philosophers, pre-Roman christianity, the Upanishads, all sorts of people trying to figure it out. 'I am much more interested in that than when I was skint Haw Bing. 'But having a concrete idea about it, no. Do I think about it, not directly. I try not to scare myself too much. But I do question the nature of the universe. 'I think illness terrifies me more than oblivion,' he adds. 'You can have a bunch of problems until you've got a health problem. And then you've got one f****** problem.' We talk some more. We talk about how Billy Connolly is still his God ('If I play guitar, he's Jimi Hendrix'). We talk about his favourite places to eat in Scotland. ('The Curry Pot in Dumbarton Road is my current go-to.') We talk about his obsession with Facebook Marketplace ('that's my new porn'), and his old friend and bandmate Peter Capaldi. ('He's one of those annoying bastards who can do everything.') We talk about his plans for a Polish Easter weekend with his wife's family on a dairy farm in Massachusetts. And inevitably we talk about the state of the world. 'Everybody's got a different opinion and everybody's a f****** expert and everybody has their own TV show on their phone. It seems to create a rather agitated society. Marx talked about religion being the opium of the masses. Clearly, social media is the opium of the masses now and I think it's just a new drug. Indignation is the new drug. 'Everybody is outraged by everybody else's opinion. Maybe that's not new. Maybe it's not that different. But everybody seems a little more ready to be indignant perhaps. 'I have social media accounts, but, full disclosure, I don't do them. 'Also, it seems like it's very addictive and I have a bad history with shit like that.' Craig Ferguson is drug-free and living in New York. Craig Ferguson is an American citizen who still loves coming home to Scotland. Craig Ferguson is not a young man anymore. 'I've reached the age now when I see a cop I go, 'Oh good. There are some police around.'' Craig Ferguson is still making people laugh. What more do we need from him? Craig Ferguson: Pants on Fire, 02 Academy, Glasgow, June 21

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