Host: "My question first. And answer true, because you know I'll know. Why Mandy?"
Angel: "Well, I-I know the words - (leans in closer) - I kind of think it's pretty."
Host: "And it is, you great big sap!

Westlife are releasing a cover version of Manilow's Mandy (mpg). As you can imagine, this brings a smirk to my face every time it comes on the radio at work. Snapshots of a Historical Nature by Kate Bolin has Angel the utter fanboy, "a hulking caveman with a cheap haircut", which just sums up the oddness of the great tortured brooding Proust-reading hero who likes Barry Manilow. Not for our hero the shiny boots of the Velvets' Venus in Furs, or the thudding basslines of Led Zep's Kashmir. Not even the mild despair of the Eagles' Hotel California (although it's safe to say that's the plot of Are You Now or Were You Ever summed up in a 3 minute MOR song). No, he likes Barry Manilow. What's next? The Carpenters' Close to You? The New Seekers' I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing?