Record Store Day 2013: Partying and parting with dosh

Sounds of the Universe enjoys a healthy crowd

The importance of record store day in reviving people's interests in buying physical records cannot be underestimated. As someone who loves buying old and new records, CDs, music magazines and fanzines, having physical stores in which to snaffle the latest Ninja Tune delight or discover a new recommendation is vital.

But it's also not a day for the preachy, everyone knows records are great and some of us know it's more important to spend your wages on them than, say, food or bills. Yesterday's sixth annual Record Store Day was as vintage as they come as attendees basked in the spring sunshine across the country.

Personally, I had a nip down to Rough Trade West only to find a gigantic queue back to Portobello Road as shoppers thronged to get hold of exclusives only stocked on that day. Then it was over to Soho where Foyles were also celebrating and Broadwick Street and Berwick Street had been closed and a large stage erected on the latter. As far as shopping went, I plundered Sounds of the Universe - one of my favourite shop's in the world - and emerged with some great stuff including Martyn's Ghost People (Brainfeeder) which is proving a pulsating banger of an album. 

What struck me was how the serene art of shuffling round record shops had become essentially a mini-festival (complete with outdoor boozing, stewards and nips into pubs for the loo) with various stages and people looking ridiculously trendy. The main stage outside one-time ShadowPlay stockist Sister Ray ploughed the indie rock furrow and Black Market Records on D'Arbley Street hosted some great house and dubstep. 

The biggest cheer of the day came when a bloke in a Bentley attempted to get through the crowds looking exasperated, was roundly booed before a Majestic Wine van stacked with booze is cheered by a crowd feeling quite anti-establishment having tininess in the street. Sounds of the Universe was its usual eclectic self with plenty of Soul Jazz Records delights with speakers outside, finishing with a storming set from Neil Birnie who's SunCut show on NTS is worth a listen. 

One gripe was that it would have been good to have the set times for the bands easily accessible online - given the length of the event - and I also missed the Last Shop Standing author Graham Jones' Q&A for the same reason which was gutting. It would've also been good to have some of the independent labels taking stalls - as has been the case in previous events - down Berwick Street but maybe that would've undermined the shops. But it's hard to criticise a free, fun event.

Ultimately records will always remain close to my heart as they allow you to have a physical relationship with music which can genuinely change your life. Moreover, with a terrible memory like mine, a physical reminder to listen to something is vital. 

I don't believe every town, or even every city, will have a record shop - independent or otherwise - in the future and I hate that fact. Record stores are not charities, and many of those who work in them are rather grumpy, but they do need support to allow great labels and great artists to have an interesting and enjoyable avenue in which to be discovered. A record store's for life, not just for record store day.

My plan to become Amanda Palmer's Coin-Operated Boy

Amanda Palmer

There are some songs that you keep coming back to, and then there are the songs which keep coming back to you. The distinction is a subtle one but the difference between a tune you scroll through a playlist to find and a track you wake up yearning to hear or get excited about getting home and putting on. The Dresden Dolls' Coin-Operated Boy is one such track.

Filling the internet with further love for a band and a musician which last year received $1.2m in crowd-sourced funds from 24,883 fans might seem slightly pointless but the innovative and enthralling nature of this tune is too much to ignore. The song, released on The Dresden Dolls' A is for Accident live record in 2003, is essentially Amanda Palmer professing her love for a new-found coin operated boy - a prop that often features on stage with her. 

The live version I have begins with her telling someone to take off clothing and laughing and its a quirky, upbeat tone which prevails throughout. As the six-minute piano-led feast ensues Palmer explains how his "love without complications galore" puts the love of real boys to shame. She also explains in some detail how her "plastic fantasy" will keep her forever in the bedroom. Palmer's overt sexuality - she often talked about her bisexual love life prior to her 2011 wedding to Neil Gaiman and frequently appears on-stage in very little - allows her to weave an extra vigour into the track. She also uses repetition to sound mechanical and coin operated, as do the opening key strokes, which works well. 

But it is Palmer's versatility throughout which make this a simultaneously odd and engaging experience. Whether it's the squeal she lets out before she explains "I could even fuck him in the ass", the change in pace and tone when she explains that the "sad picture" she's painted is curious and, best of all, the laughter she breaks down into at the finale when the absurdity gets the better of her. 

By the end of the song, she has convinced me to seek the most severe plastic surgery since Leslie Ash got those huge lips and carve a slot in my arm from which Amanda can begin to operate me. I envisage my life, thrown in the back of tour buses, watching adoring crowds and being attacked each night endlessly. My joints would need oiling constantly and I'd like to have new clothes painted on me once in a while. 

While Palmer is a fantastic musician and the 36-year-old has made some great records both solo and with The Dresden Dolls, this remains a high point for the kind of character mainstream music is hideously bereft of. Often calling herself 'Amanda Fucking Palmer' she rubs plenty of people - including Nirvana producer extraordinaire Steve Albini who criticised her crowd funding approach - up the wrong way. But she possess the kind of care-free, incisive vigour that make her a performer you can't ignore. She's the kind of artist who receives the hero-worship this blog has perpetuated but is not afforded the credence for her superior musicianship other more earnest types get. Probably because she swears in her records. Tut tut.

If Palmer's world is one of passion, uncertainty and vicious opinion then sign me up. I wonder what two pence pieces taste like. 

Homeboy Sandman live at Cargo, London

Appearing both fierce and charming simultaneously is a fine art few can achieve. But Homeboy Sandman, aka 32-year-old rapper Angel Del Villar II from Queens, New York, strikes this balance with the the aplomb of someone who, to be fair, probably had to hone those skills defending his rather posh name at school.

Homeboy Sandman at Cargo, London

The law school dropout is in fine form as he hits the stage at Cargo with a performance befitting this often ideal venue. Despite drinks prices that would make Richard Branson check his change, Cargo has carved a strong reputation for supporting both mainstream and left field hip-hop and its stylish sweatbox vibe works well for gigs like this. 

After a decent set by Wolverhampton hip-hop troop Paper Tiger, who have some decent hooks but perhaps try to do too much with too many instruments competing in their half hour set, Sandman takes the stage. From the off, he's a man on a mission to inject further life and a smile into a crowd more than happy to oblige.

Kicking-off with his irresistibly catchy landmark The Carpenter tune he shows he's here both to exult in the breadth of his range and lap up the praise of an adoring audience. His brand of hip-hop stretches from harsh lyrics churned across the top of a soulful underbelly to acapella treats as the thoughtful rapper unravels his thoughts. He has plenty of the ferocious character of his New York hip-hop forefathers but this is underscored by some intelligent themes which have won him a regular column on The Huffington Post's site. He is also able to draw on an interesting past which included stints as a teacher and a barman at the Lennox Lounge in Harlem where Shaft used to drink and from his father, a boxer from the Dominican Republic.

All almost seven foot of Homeboy Sandman command each tune as he stalks the stage in London, spitting each tune like the words just came to him. He spins personal mantra Whatchu Want From Me? into an audience-participating mantra which anyone passing by on Shoreditch High Street might have mistaken for a shady rally kicking off down one of its back streets. 

Perhaps the most enthralling moments come between tracks when he stops to make an observation or a daft joke although he often stops himself short of their conclusion in faux-embarassment despite them beginning interesting tales. 

Homeboy Sandman is not a new whippersnapper to the scene - last year he released his fourth album on the spectacularly consistent Stones Throw label - but his profile could and should be a lot higher with the tunes, guile and wit in his armoury. With performances like this, that could soon change.

Video: Homeboy Sandman pontificates on milk in the UK

Ennis needs to be removed from emotive Don Valley debate

The closure of the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield revealed on Friday was met with understandable anguish from the world of athletics and beyond. The South Yorkshire stadium, built for £29m to host the World Student Games in 1991, is to be bulldozed in September just a year after its most high profile user, heptathlete Jessica Ennis clinched gold at London 2012 in the only athletics stadium larger than it in the country. With the word 'legacy' increasingly ridiculed as the chaotic debate over the future of Olympic Stadium rages, the decision is a bloody smash to the jaw for all those who had thought the under-appreciated sport would be sacrosanct in the eyes of UK councils for the next few years at least. 

On a simply mathematical level, the decision by Sheffield's Labour-run City Council appears the only option. The stadium costs £700,000 a year to run and a £1.6m repair bill was looming over the 25,000-seat venue. With local authorities and charities' budgets tightened by a Coalition Government with arts, culture and sport low on their shopping list amid a huge deficit, the reality of the situation is that the stadium was not viable. Moreover, while most large venues struggling to make ends meet in the UK have diversified into money-spinning concerts amid a spurt of reformations in the last 10 years, the Don Valley has struggled to rival the 13,500-seat Motorpoint Arena in attracting acts. 

One of the main reasons the decision has riled so many people is, of course, Jessica Ennis. Sheffield's golden girl, who made me and so many others proud to be associated with the city last summer, was first spotted as an athletic talent at a summer camp at the stadium when she was 10. Ennis' crowd-drawing ability is not in doubt as anyone who witnessed the crackling atmosphere on the morning of her first appearance at the Olympics or the 20,000 fans who turned out to see her given the keys to the city seven months ago will attest. She still trains at the stadium two days a week and her presence would doubtlessly attract hoards of fans to meets there when the outdoor season begins. 

However, Ennis is now 27 and few would bet against her retiring after the Brazil 2016 Olympics Games, a proven champion and a living legend as well as doubtless a model and pundit following her career. Ennis tweeted her dismay at the Don Valley's demise last week and said she had "great memories" of the stadium while her coach Toni Minichiello expressed anger. Sheffield City Council needs to look at what a stadium for the future looks like. At the moment, the stadium is empty for 23 hours of the day, used only by the likes of the Hallamshire Harriers club in the evenings or, until last year Rotherham United. Schoolchildren rarely use the facilities despite the attention given to the impact of the Olympics on the younger generation. The council has proposed to refurbishment of the nearby dilapidated Woodburn Road stadium in Attercliffe which was closed 18 months ago as a compromise. 

Observers will be watching the refurbishment project closely to see how outwardly the local authorities bang the development drum. If the potential gold medallists of tomorrow have walked out of the door with the Don Valley's closure, then it would be a great shame. The decline in number of great British athletes has long been in discussion - despite Ennis, Farah and Rutherford's golds in London, the six track and field medals was just about on target. Much like in tennis, a few individuals have masked a wider dearth of talent in British athletics from strong heritages in long distance running and triple jump. There are a multitude of reasons for this including cuts in National Lottery funding as well as lucrative wages in other sports such as football. However, this weekend's European Indoor Games shows we still have plenty of young talent.

Ultimately, the key is that athletics, whatever the effect of the Olympics, does not regularly draw crowds large enough to justify a 25,000 seater stadium. Likewise, the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre is rarely anywhere near full. In reality, a smaller venue with other functions such as gigs as well as facilities such as gyms and swimming pools - a discipline Sheffield excels in - would be much more appropriate. Furthermore, the English Institute of Sport, a £24m facility opened in late 2003, also offers great opportunities to develop talent.

South Yorkshire is one of the key hotbeds for British athletics and, with careful planning and a heavy dose of realism, it will remain so. 

Alan Partridge The Movie: Do those from (north) Norfolk get the gag?

Fans of north Norfolk's finest radio and TV star will have cheered at the sight of a portly Steve Coogan braving the elements on Cromer pier in photos taken of the filming of the new Alan Partridge film.

As Partridge's silver hair hits the silver screen in August it will be a fitting culmination to the 22-year evolution of a character which has gone from radio to live shows and TV and an autobiography gathering obsessive fans like a driving-gloved snowball. Partridge's influence on modern comedy and a generation of fans who've spent their time hunting Castro GTX jackets and visiting owl sanctuaries cannot be underestimated. For Coogan, Alan's big screen debut comes almost a decade after his last BBC series for the character and a year after Sky aired Mid Morning Matters, a series of short episodes of Alan's North Norfolk Digital radio shows.

But do the people of (north) Norfolk get the joke? In his book, I Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan, he speaks of the vitriol he has for London-based media types, his love of Ginsters pasties and his desire for broadcaster Sue Cook. Alan's relationship with Norfolk, from his discussion of the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre mid-sex to his insults of local farmers (who he believes eat infected spinal columns in baps) has always been one which remorselessly takes the piss out of a region frequently on the end of snobbish jokes. This culminated in recent one-off TV programme Welcome to the Places of my Life in which Alan cites the Riverside Leisure Centre and a ski centre as crowning glories of the county. 

In releasing images of the filming of the new film today, local media entered a frisson of excitement as the seaside town of Cromer became the focal point for the much-anticipated feature length. The film culminates in an armed standoff on Cromer Pier after a car chase out of Norwich and huddles of locals gathered to watch Coogan shimmy round the age-old structure in  a creme jacket. 

Local site EveningNews24.co.uk reported lamp sales have rocketed as the crew have hit town. Randalls Electrical owner Richard Leeds said crew members had bought several lamps and lamp shades for scenes which would be shot in London while Leeds had received £500 for scenes filmed which were not taken in the end. Cromer Chamber of Trade Peter Stibbons praised the crew for battling freezing conditions on BBC Look East and said: "We feel Steve Coogan’s commitment to Norfolk is great.” Meanwhile, hilariously the pier's manager Ian Hall believes the film could bring a swathe of tourists to the town. "Even sort of small productions who have been here over recent years have then had a response that have last two or three years with people coming along saying 'oh we saw Cromer on the TV, we saw the pier,'" he said. 

Stacey Hannah, a barmaid at the Red Lion Hotel in which the crew have stayed, said the 30-strong team had "brought a bit of summer back" to the seaside town gripped by the winter season.
So does the town's excited reaction to its wittiest TV export evidence exactly what Manchester-born Coogan has always satirised? Whether it's analysing (north) Norfolk's most prestigious figures or angering its farmers, Coogan has always sought to strip any glamour from the region. In singing his praises, are the local residents and media endorsing his satire which gives the area a kicking?

The answer is most likely no. Of course, the vast majority of East Anglians who have watched Partridge's various series will understand that his jokes are largely harmless and he represents a frighteningly large number of right wing, arrogant middle-aged men who exist throughout the UK. They will also doubtless find them hilarious. The Norfolk Tourist Authority have always labelled the show "great fun" and claim Partridge has boosted interest in the city. And in reality Norwich itself is as pleasant a city as you'll find in the UK with medieval architecture and plenty of interesting independent shops to set it apart from clone towns around the UK to worry to much.

Whether everyone in the region finds his gags funny remains in question (not least as Coogan's own indiscretions are not to everyone's taste). But with a vote of confidence from the locals of Cromer, as well as his adoring fan base, Alan will doubtless celebrate with a ladyboys as he strolls on to Sheringham and Norwich Market Place in the next week.

Alan Partridge co-creator Armando Ianucci on Alan's return

My Bloody Valentine dangle delights in tantalising tease

If David Bowie stunned the world of music with his sensational return on his 66th birthday earlier this month, My Bloody Valentine have proved similarly defiant in their explosion back into the musical consciousness. 

Earlier this month the dreamy Irish shoegaze band revealed a short tour in March to Birmingham,  Glasgow, Manchester and London. Preceding this, MBV played at the Electric Brixton last night and frontman Kevin Shields told the crowd the band's long awaited new album "might be out in two or three days". MBV's act, which was hastily tempered by their management who claimed a release date is yet to be confirmed, shows the same defiance to an ultra-organised modern industry Bowie showed. Like Bowie, the band are expected to release the new material on their website and had originally predicted a December release. 

More importantly, it whet the appetite of fans who have been waiting more than 20 years for a follow-up to 1991's Loveless. Much of the murky pink masterpiece's charm came from Shields' swirling, ethereal guitar work and Fact Magazine's assertion that new track Rough Song, debuted last night, is a "bouncy bit of neo-baggy, driven by a pastoral synth melody and chugging guitar work" suggests the band are true to previous form.

Fans will doubtless hope much of the release will echo the lush waves of roaring guitar work of Loveless, which took the band two years in the studio to make and almost bankrupted Creation Records, will re-emerge. It will be interesting to see if Shields has taken advantage of much of the new technology available at his fingertips to influence the band's sound. The band reunited in mid-2007 after Shields ditched several albums worth of material in their 15-year hiatus. Tunes such as Sometimes, and To Here Knows When on Loveless were rich with a druggy sexuality and if the much anticipated new record is to live up to its predecessor Shields will need to have channeled some of the chunks of confidence long-term collaborators Primal Scream throw into their dance-rocknroll Minestrone. 

One thing remains patently clear, MBV and Shields in particular are firmly intent on doing things their way.

How I discovered my perfect woman (or three)

There's a scene in my beloved Red Dwarf when Rimmer questions the Cat's attitudes to women and claims it's all about sex for the evolved feline. Dressed in an impeccable pink suit, the Cat replies: "Hey, I want to settle down. And as soon as I find the right small group of girls, the seven or eight women who are right for me, my wandering days are over, buddy."

Well, if I ever shared any of the large-fanged one's sentiments, then it's mission accomplished. Trawling some blogs for both inspiration for CD covers and a distraction from Jo Brand's cake version of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Great British Comic Relief Bake Off, I discovered Paula Bonet's collection of enigmatic ladies.

The Spanish artist's hive of portraits on her blog struck me as both incredibly simple but very effective. The collection of pencil, watercolours and collage are consistently striking, intriguing and clever. 

Bonet's women peer sideways out of pictures with aloof distain, accompanied by intense red patches and featuring heaps of character. There's a bizarre mix of women and animals which would make Hugh Hefner blush. Be it fish going through heads, a woman wearing a fox's nose or a portrait laid over a stag's horns, the combinations work well and prove lively. 

Perhaps the most striking image is that of a gagged redheaded woman with 'oh no', seemingly written on masking tape above her head. Bonet says: "What really interests me is the skin. I am interested in the skin and everything in it is readable." A perfect quality for a portrait specialist and there'll doubtless be plenty to come to leave me enchanted. 

Defiant new David Bowie release shows who's in charge

David Bowie released a bolt from the blue today posting the video for new single Where Are We Now? online on his 66th birthday. The chameleon's deliberate surprise to the music industry shows how everything he does remains on his own terms.

The icon hasn't performed live since 2006 and has rarely appeared in public in a period when a swathe of his original contemporaries have reformed for moneyspinning tours as live music revenues improve. Mystique has always been his drug of choice (ok, one of many) and the burst back on to the world's stage was typical of a man who could nonchalantly stamp on the combined attention seeking of Katy Perry and Russell Brand. However, what some would claim is po-faced arrogance was dispelled by his hilarious appearance joking at the expense of Ricky Gervais' Andy Millman in Extras.

The song itself, released as a video directed by Tony Oursler on his website, is a typical Bowie ballad very much in the mould created by his last two albums - Heathen and Reality, his last record released in 2003. The slow, piano-led love song name drops Bowie's favourite spots across Berlin - his favourite city shared by one time collaborator Iggy Pop as well as Velvet Underground antagonist Lou Reed - while the video shows scenes from Potzdamer Platz to the Dschungel and Nurnberger Strasse. He talks of a "man lost in time", whimsical for his time in the German city. For much of the video, Bowie's face sings from a puppet of a monkey sat next to a woman who looks like Zoe Wanamaker in a set in his original Berlin studio.

The single comes two months before new album The Next Day is released. In London, a spectacular exhibition including films, music and photographs (see left) will also be unveiled at the V&A Museum in March and has had the media salivating in anticipation of one of the art events of the year. This may be no coincidence but if this was deliberate scheduling it has been made to appear a complete revelation. With 'brand Britain' riding a high in 2012, 2013 could well be one of the country's quirkiest quintessentials finds a new generation of fans. A live tour would be welcomed, but is not expected.

David Bowie is arguably the most influential icon in pop music. His records, including personal favourites Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars, have changed the face of British music and given listeners exhilaration, solace and a reason to get through the day in equal measure. His return, when so many had declared his retirement or worse, terminal illness, is a defiance worthy of the king of counterculture.

View the new single's video on Bowie's website.

ShadowPlay's Comedy Cuts podcast hits the airwaves

Isy Suttie

As thoughts turn to going back to the grindstone after Christmas and New Year celebrations so luxurious and lavish that Pavorotti would've been left pondering whether to sign up to Fitness First, some light relief is in order. 

At ShadowPlay, our love of comedy, in particular British sitcoms, stand-up and spoof docs of the last two decades, runs deeper than a BP oil drill so we've decided to pop some of our favourites in one place. ShadowPlay's Comedy Cuts is new podcast featuring the best in new and old comedy from the UK and further afield. 

In this episode, Jim Campbell gives us a tour of Essex, Danielle Ward peak's into an adolent 's bedroom and we find out how Craig Charles made his name. The likes of Blackadder, Alan Partridge, Peep Show and Black Books also feature. Keep an eye on the blog for future episodes and tweet me at @alexshadowplay to suggest artists and clips to feature on the show. PLay from Mixcloud below or visit the Mixcloud page here. 

Alex Lawson's Cloudcasts on Mixcloud

How can Breaking Bad produce the blockbuster ending it deserves?

*Spoiler alert - this article contains information up to and including Season 5 Part One

Few TV series have translated a high concept vision into a gripping, well executed show in the way AMC's Breaking Bad has. The multi award-winning series follows the exploits of Albuquerque- based high school chemistry teacher Walter White who, on discovering he has cancer, uses his skills to make crystal meth to earn funds to support his family after his death. A great idea but hiring the cast and creating the plot twists to develop a five series show was to be no easy task when the show first launched in 2008.

The casting of Bryan Cranston was to prove a masterstroke. The transformation of the middle-aged Californian actor from Hal, the bumbling dad from Malcolm in the Middle to a violent, at times psychotic, drug lord defines the core of the show's progression. Creator Vince Gilligan carefully adjusts Walt's character in the early series where the viewer's reaction is one of pure empathy for an intelligent man getting to grips with an unfair, lawless world to help his family while keeping his secret firmly hidden from wife Skyler (Anna Gunn). In later series, Walter's actions become increasingly hard to predict and get the viewer screaming at the TV in anguish as he takes difficult or illogical decisions. 

Skyler herself also develops from a supportive wife and mother to a hard-nosed, cheating co-conspirator simultaneously scared and galvanised by her husband's lucrative, dangerous and illegal exploits. Where The Wire excellently honed in on characters already in The Game trying to formalise the process of drug dealing to create business plans, Breaking Bad looks at how an ordinary individual enters the chaotic world of the US street drug industry. 

Perhaps the most important relationship in a programme dominated inter-relations is that between Walter and Jesse Pinkman (Aaran Paul), Walter's ex-pupil in whom he seeks a help and advice to assist cooking up meth in a recreation vehicle (RV) and distributing the pure product which is quickly snapped up by a market used to buying product made by amateur chemists. The quality of Walter's drugs earns him both unimaginable sums and notoriety as he creates an alter-ego, Heisenberg, picked up by the market and cops alike to make him infamous. 

As seasons progress, Jesse's attempts to escape the trail of destruction brought about by his involvement with Walter - including destroying his parents home by turning it into a meth lab and drug den to the death of girlfriend and fellow user Jane - become more and more futile. Walt and Jesse's relationship is simultaneously reflective of a father-son, best friends and worst enemies as short-lived highs and lows dominate their partnership. 

A further central relationship lies between Walter and brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris), a Drug Enforcement Agency agent firmly on the tail of the 'blue' product Walter is producing. This cat and mouse chase brings moments of great suspense and subtle humour to the show. Whether it's when Hank has his prey trapped in a junk yard inside the RV only for Walter to use his contacts to fool Hank into believing his wife has been rushed to hospital or when Hank frequently confides his thinking on the case to what he believes is simply his slightly awkward high school teacher brother-in-law, scenes involving both crackle with tension. It also displays one of the show's greatest attributes, to create seemingly insurmountable cliffhangers only for Walter to engineer his way out of it by creating masterplans.

Which is why it is vital that the final part of season five - which has been split into two with the second half due in summer 2013 - doesn't puncture all the good work done so far. There have been intimations that the show could continue beyond S5Pt2 but they appear to be largely hopeful internet rumours. The hype around the final eight episodes heightened yesterday after Norris tweeted a photo from one of the final shows. In the final scene of the last episode, Hank discovers a book gifted to Walter by dead drug lord Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) appearing that the chase to find Heisenberg is over. Many shows could've ended there, with the repercussions - Walter's arrest, his assets impounded, death row - implied. But Gilligan has the unenviable task of continuing the show's high standards to a satisfactory end. 

In truth, the first part of season five lost some of the pace and vigour of previous seasons, not least the climax of the blockbusting previous season. Some of Walter's drive to protect his family appears to have abated while his disabled son, Walter Junior, has become a peripheral character rather than the inquisitive centre of Walter's efforts seen in earlier seasons. If Skyler's discovery of Walter's activities defined seasons one to three then the revelations of his endeavours to his children and wife's family will provide compelling viewing in the show's conclusion. Meanwhile, the conclusion of Jesse's journey from low level drug user to, well, drug user still has some mileage. Ultimately, total annihilation of all the main characters, while spectacular, would prove unsatisfying after a long and committed journey by the viewer.

Breaking Bad is a show about entering a world out of your control. As events unfold in the final part the show's creators need to ensure the realities of that world are married with its incessant desire to twist the tales of its finely-crafted characters. 

Defining moments of Breaking Bad
- Walter and Jesse get stranded in the desert after the RV breaks down and have to walk back home
- The death of Tuco
- Walter shaves his head and dons the pork pie hat of Heisenberg 
- Jesse's girlfriend Jane chokes to death on her own vomit as Jesse sleeps and Walter watches on
- The plane crash and the pink teddy bear floats across the pool
- Hank points his gun at an RV containing Jesse and, unbeknownst to him, Walter
- Gale's murder
- Hank is shot in a showdown in a car park after being signed off work
- Skyler discovers Walter is a drug manufacturer
- Gustavo Fring murders his Mexican contacts
- Gustavo Fring is blown up by Walter
- Walter and Jesse rob a train for methylamine

Don't agree? Feel free to comment below.