Every Record Tells A Story
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What Are Your Earliest Musical Memories?
My earliest musical memories continue with a chant on a bus for one of Britain’s most popular boy-bands, many years before the likes of One Direction… Part 1 of this trip down memory lane is here. It was funny watching the BBC documentary on Friday night (Top of The Pops: The Story of 1978) that…
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Bowie Releases New Single
David Bowie has announced today (his 66th birthday) that he is releasing a new single entitled, Where Are We Now?, and a new album on 11th March called The Next Day. The single is available now on iTunes. Where Are We Now? is a gorgeous, atmospheric tune and produced by Tony Visconti, producer of many…
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My Ten Earliest Musical Memories – and Top of The Pops: The Story of 1978
What are your earliest musical memories? I overheard someone talking enthusiastically on their mobile the other day about how seeing Steps would bring back early childhood memories. Steps. I’ll leave aside for the moment how that would bring back little more than a cold sweat as I awake from a nightmare of the full horror…
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Was This The Most Disastrous Magazine Photo Shoot Ever?
Seattle… What a scene that was. Those bands. Brings back memories of wall-of sound guitars played by long haired sensitive rockers who wore embarrassing make up in photos. Eh? Did I lose you on the make up thing? Sorry. Nirvana? Pearl Jam? No – I was talking about Queensryche. By the time of my sixteenth…
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2012 In Pictures
As 2012 comes to a close, here are a few concert pictures that I took which best capture the year from my perspective: Just to show that this blog is not just about me making jokes about my favourite musicians, I thought I would share these images. From festivals in The Isle of Wight and…
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Sound of 2013: Your New Favourite Bands
New Music Acts for 2013: The Sound of 2013 There’s no doubt that 2012 was a fantastic year for music. From Gentle Whale’s sophomore effort to the amazing debut by Ginster Pye, both of which appeared on almost every end-of-year list, there has been much to admire. Could 2013 possibly get close? It would appear…
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Home Taping Is Killing Music – Further Tales of Taping Off The Radio
Another Home Taping Confession: The Friday Rock Show And Why Record Companies Always Put The Best Tracks At The Start Of The Album. Whilst I have confessed to my musical piracy when taping off the radio – indeed the BBC have broadcast the tapes to prove my guilt – the extent of my taping songs…
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Rock Star Quotes Quiz
Rock Star Quotes can be fun to look back on… OK, so Christmas is over, but perhaps you have some time off, and there’s a quiet morning stretching ahead of you. Or maybe you are sitting through the Christmas special of Downton Abbey and wondering why your own aged relatives’ attempts at humour are never…
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A Music Quiz For Christmas
Yes! A Music Quiz! Here’s the picture: You have been up and down serving drinks like a Vegas waitress, only without the tips. It’s debatable whether you would look better as you are – wearing a jumper with a reindeer on it from Auntie Marge – or wearing a Vegas waitress’ tights-and-little-else combination. The brussels…
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Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift To You
Phil Spector’s Christmas Album A Christmas Gift To You is an all time classic Although he wasn’t the first person to give Christmas tunes a Rock n Roll flavour (Both Elvis – in 1957- and rival record label Cameo Parkway Records – in 1961, featuring Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell – had released Christmas records)…
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Jack White: The Lightning Bolt of Inspiration That Is Blunderbuss
Jack White‘s Blunderbuss was one of my Records of The Year in 2012. I was therefore pleased to receive an early Christmas present this morning: a little parcel from Third Man Records. For the princely sum of twenty American dollars I picked up a nice copy of his solo album Blunderbuss – something I had…
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Are Blue Öyster Cult Rock’s Most Barking Mad Band (Or Just The Shortest?)
In my last article, I introduced you to some of Rock’s Greatest Song Titles – all by Blue Oyster Cult. 1988’s Imaginos was my first full BÖC album – an entirely bonkers concept album about… I have no idea – twenty five years later. It’s proper barking. We’re talking Katie Price levels of madness here.…
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The Top Ten Best Song Titles – Blue Öyster Cult Special
2012 was the 40th anniversary of the release of the first album by Blue Öyster Cult. Blue Öyster Cult: a band who (importantly) pioneered the use of superfluous umlauts above rock bands’ names (see Mötorhead, Mötley Crüe, Queensryche) – hold a prominent and much loved place (not that they know it) in my Beginner’s Guide…
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Albums of the Year! From 25 Years Ago! What Were They Thinking?!
Did you used to look forward to magazine end of year best-of lists? The magazine I bought every week when I was a teenager was Kerrang! magazine – and (true to form for someone of the highest geekery such as myself) I read every issue from cover to cover. And I would look forward to the…
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The Top Ten Records of 2012
The Ten Best records of 2012? Growing up in the eighties, you didn’t hear much about end of year best-of lists, but now, like reality TV shows featuring people I have never heard of, they appear to be everywhere. It almost seems rude not to nail my colours to the mast and tell you what…
Every record tells a story 