Category: Music
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2016 Be Damned! Let’s Celebrate The Life of Rick Parfitt
The best Rick Parfitt and Status Quo tale (or tail) I have heard is about the time Status Quo were touring Australia in the mid eighties, and their tour bus hit a kangaroo. They stopped the bus to check on the hapless creature, only to find it had hopped it’s last hop. It isn’t recorded…
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Bowie, Bublé and Bieber: The Legends of Music in 2016 – A Review of the Year
In any review of 2016 it is going to be a challenge to avoid mention of the mounting number of musicians who decided to shuffle off this mortal coil and, as Shakespeare or someone of that ilk put it, took a Stairway to Heaven, or indeed a Highway to Hell. At times the year rather…
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The Every Record Tells A Story Albums of 2016
2016 may have been one of the most abysmal years in recent memory, beginning with David Bowie’s passing, continuing with the rise of nationalism and fascism across the world, and ending with my sitting down with the family to watch David Attenborough’s Planet Earth on BBC1 and traumatising my kids as the cameras followed a…
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A Visit To Abbey Road Studios
Wednesday 6th June 1962. 6pm. The first visit of The Beatles to the EMI Studios in Abbey Road. John, Paul, George and Pete were still unsigned, and their equipment was shabby: wooden unpainted amplifiers, generating as much noise – according to the studio employees – as the instruments themselves. The Beatles recorded four songs: Besame…
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A true story about Bob Dylan and Dave Stewart in a Crouch End Pub
I heard a story today from a friend who lived in Crouch End in the ’80s and ’90s and played for a local rugby team. He swears it is true. Like most rugby teams they liked a beer and each week after a match the team would go down the pub. It happened to be…
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You Can Help Make The Greatest Episode of Top of the Pops Ever!
It all started with a conversation on Twitter. Actually it was more of a musing. And it wasn’t my idea either. No, it was music writer Pete Paphides who proclaimed suddenly: What I’d really love @BBCFOUR to do one Friday night is just show a whole evening of ace, not-obvious music clips. Just one after…
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Is it cheaper to buy vinyl online or in record shops? The Verdict.
The day came for us to finally resolve the question. Is it cheaper to buy vinyl online or in record shops and fairs? We had a couple of minor rules – we would try to buy a) Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic albums up to 1972, b) copies should be in VG+ condition or better, and c)…
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How To Buy Aretha Franklin on Vinyl
Previously, we saw how “I Never Loved A Man” became a smash hit for Aretha Franklin. But what about those other LPs on Atlantic? Between 1967 and 1972 Aretha Franklin released eight studio albums, two live albums and a Greatest Hits. Which ones should you start with? And what are the best versions to get?…
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The Making of Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”
Wilson Pickett moved towards Percy Sledge, ready to punch him, hard. Sledge had popped in during one of Pickett’s recording sessions at the Muscle Shoals Fame Studios, and as his name would suggest, began to sledge Pickett, telling him first he sounded like Otis Redding, and then like James Brown. That’s the best way to…
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Aretha Franklin’s Emotional First Performance
…and Why It Took Nine Albums To Score Aretha’s First Hit Aretha Franklin sat at a piano in her father’s church, just days after her mother’s death. She was just ten years old and about to make her first ever public performance. There were two thousand people in the congregation waiting to hear this recently…
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Who Has Had The Longest Unbroken Run Of Great Albums…? (Clue: It’s Not The Beatles)
A friend and I were debating who has had the longest consecutive run of classic albums in order to settle another argument. Which is cheaper? Buying records online or buying in shops? Our scientific method was to each buy the same set of albums – and we thought that buying a set from one artist…
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Is It Cheaper To Buy Vinyl Online Or In Record Fairs And Shops?
I thought the answer to this question was self-evident. “It has to be cheaper buying from used record shops and record fairs.” I somewhat patronisingly advised a friend of mine. “Buying records online is more expensive. “eBay is a global marketplace. It is designed to bring together the biggest number of buyers: the more buyers,…
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President Obama’s Playlists. Slightly Better Than The Average Politician…
The news that President Obama has released two summer playlists for us to enjoy – a daytime and nighttime selection of songs – rather cements his reputation as the coolest politician around, albeit this is a pretty thin field. And when I say “pretty thin” I mean “wafer thin” in the way of that waiter…
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Rock Star Names: Lots Of Roger-ing, Not A Lot of Colins
We all know that rock stars have a free pass when it comes to choosing the names of their offspring. From Chris Martin naming his child after a technology company to David Bowie wanting to find a name that rhymed with his made up surname, there are plenty of slightly left-field choices. And good luck…
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Who is the Funniest Rock Star? Top Five Rock n Roll Comedy Sketches
So many people are frightened by clowns that there is a name for the phobia. What with their scary white make up, over-size shoes and comedy songs, there should also be a word for a fear of the band Kiss. Rock n roll and comedy has an uneasy relationship, especially by those musicians who want…
Every record tells a story 