I'm not convinced that TLOS was that much of a sales disaster in the UK. I bought mine from the local ASDA supermarket on the day of its release (Monday) and there were seven copies in the rack - I checked on the following Friday out of curiosity and found one copy remaining. I stand to be corrected on this, but the last I heard, major supermarket chains such as ASDA and TESCO accounted for more sales than the recognised music retailers like HMV and Virgin, but perversely their sales figures aren't counted towards official chart placements. Jeez, if Brian can shift six units in less than a week from a backwater like Thornaby-on-Tees in the north east of England, then anything's possible. Oh, and if anyone's interested, ASDA's own album chart had TLOS straight in at No 14 in its first week, dropping to No 43 in the second, then No 78 in the third, before disappearing off the map.

   

Like some others on here, I was fortunate to meet Brian at the Stomp Convention in 1988. Since then, and owing to a long standing friendship with a member of Brian's band, I have met him several times but probably the most memorable would have to be the 25 January 2002 Pet Sounds concert at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

I managed to get eight of us into the sound check that afternoon, sitting in the same row, but spread out near the wings, as Melinda and a couple of sound engineers. We were asked quite forcefully before we entered the hall to refrain from staring at Brian, as this was liable to freak him out . Of course, that proved impossible, as nobody could tear their eyes away from him. He sat there behind his keyboards, dressed in the mightiest padded jacket we'd ever seen, and sporting huge wrap-around sunglasses. For the best part of 45 minutes he ran through about half of Pet Sounds, but seemed to spend a disproportionate amount of time on "Friends", where he struggled with the high notes until Melinda finally suggested that he should try it in a lower key.

After this, I got invited to the band's pre-gig dinner which, given the occasion, gave everyone the opportunity of sampling traditional haggis, 'neeps and tatties. Most went for it, but Nick Walusko bottled out and had mackerel instead. Jeff, on the other hand, had two portions of each course and growled like a pit bull if anyone (er, like me) approached him for a photograph. Brian decided that he would have dinner in his dressing room whilst having a massage, so he left early. Which was probably a good thing, as there was a definite atmosphere in the room.

I found out from Andy Paley that this had to do with their previous show a couple of nights earlier in Berlin, where the band had arrived wearily on the morning and had mostly gone to bed for some rest. The caterers had laid out a sumptuous buffet in a room at the venue, and Brian, who obviously had different sleep patterns to the rest of them, stumbled upon it and seemingly scoffed the lot The others were not happy bunnies when they arrived hungry that afternoon for the sound check.

The show at Glasgow was phenomenal, and quite colourful too, as many Scots had turned out in fancy dress for the celebration of their bard. Brian kept his enormous parka on during the meet and greet afterwards and as I sat next to him I said "Who have you come as - Eskimo Nell?" There was the briefest of pauses then he just erupted in laughter, very genuine and very warm. He met many fans that night and was the happiest and most comfortable that I can remember. Very different to the next time, which was Newcastle on March 6 2004 during the Smile tour.