A highly welcome delivery in my mail this morning -- a copy of The Revolution Starts Now by singer/songwriter/activist/anti-landmine campaigner/personal idol Steve Earle.

It's a record put together in a hurry. As Earle explains in the sleeve notes:

"All but two of these songs were recorded within 24 hours of the first line hitting the paper. We worked 12- and 14-hour days and in between takes and over meals we talked about the war, the election, baseball, and women, in precisely that order.

But although it was recorded in haste, for my money The Revolution Starts Now is Steve Earle's best album since I Feel Alrght.

Steve Earle's music holds great personal significance for me. I had tickets to see him at Shepherd's Bush Empire on April 1st last year. In the event, I couldn't go because I was out in Iraq.

The day after the concert I had my run-in with a landmine.

A few days later, as I came round from the anaesthetic following my amputation, I demanded to listen to "I Feel Alright" on my Walkman -- an inaptly named album if ever there was, given the circumstances.

I played the title track again and again, drugged up to the eyeballs on morphine.