Songs we hate to love

Sub title - So Wrong It’s RIght!

Sometimes, in the dark, after a couple of drinks, you know you do something sooo wrong but it feels sooo right? A fumble. A stumble and well, whilst we're here - may as well?

But then you hear out the full Abba track...

See what I did there? Started all suggestive and then pulled out early and did some damage to your curtains. Anyway, the theme of today’s descent away from ancient Rome and Electric Arc Furnace steel production, is those songs that everyone affects to hate but then, secretly, love. Well, me anyway.

I’ll try and not make this a ‘Tim reminisces about watching Top of the Pops in the 70’s’ borefest. I’ll mix it up. A bit. Having said that, let’s start with:-

Devil Woman - Cliff Richard (1976)

Long car journeys, 70’s compilations, I can find all manner of excuses to whip this Cliff classic out. It’s disco, it’s guitar led. It’s slightly misogynist. Cliff warns us about women and their evil feminine ways (no sniggering at the back). Total classic and Cliff’s biggest hit in the States. This is the only Cliff song you can air guitar and head bang to. Well. you can, but you’d look a twat. Don’t ask how I know this.

Yes Sir I Can Boogie - Baccara (1977)

We’re all a product of our background. Our history. We fight it but, you know, nature / nuture and all that. So yes, I was around when this talent-free zone briefly burgled the UK charts in 1977 with this song (and it’s follow up - Sorry I’m a Lady). Objectively, it’s shite. A disco by numbers with two talentless singers giving it some fake Donna Summer’s orgasmic lift. I think they’re Spanish. Represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision… And yet, it’s one of my favourites. Play it. It’ll be one of yours too. You’re welcome.

Hannah Montana and The Jonas Brothers - We Got the Party (2008)

A deep cut, man. What do you do to improve a bonafide teen classic sung by a young Miley Cyrus in a crap blonde wig? Yes, add the Jonas Brothers (who the fuck are they? - editor). Miley / Hannah rocks out this surprisingly heavy tune with syncopated fuzz tone guitars. ANYWHERE WE ARE, ANYWHERE WE GO, EVERYBODY KNOWS; WE GOT THE PARTY WITH US! As Taylor Swift used to say - probably insincerely - on her Red Tour (yes, I was there too) when introducing some has-been guest - “this is my jam”.

Whigfield - Saturday Night (1994)

90’s dancehall classic by an Italian songwriting team fronted by a hot Danish singer. Catchy pop - bouncing bass, dancey keyboards, infectious tune and, did I mention, a hot blonde Danish singer? Some weird repetitive duck quacking. Simpler times children, simpler times. It’s not pretentious in the slightest but is dance gold… Wasn’t there a routine that goes with this?

Nellie The Elephant - The Toy Dolls (1984)

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Punk band flips a Disney classic and has rough sex with it. Aged badly but it was never that great. You had to be there, in a Rochdale disco swaying after too many snakebites. Then, and only then, was it a classic (so, why are you playing it now, Tim?).

Jilted John - Gordon is a Moron (1978)

The 70’s… Those were different times. The past was a different country, and all that. A song about John being dumped by Julie in favour of Gordon who, apprently, is a moron. And many others things too rude to mention on an ESG approved 2024 website. Sub-punk, witty lyrics, catchy chorus, bass solo, a long fade out with every insult under the sun for the afore mentioned Julie and Gordon. Did I really see this on BBC’s Top of the Pops? It all seems like a dream now.

Everyday - Troy (High School Musical 2) - 2007

It’s gotta be done! Tweeny-pop bob channeling ‘Oh Happy Day’ at the end when the cast, always faux sceptical of Troy & Gabrielle and their musical theatre ambitions, put aside their reservations and stand up, clap along and provide a rousing end to the film. Lightweight, derivative, cliched, but fuck it, tracing the arc of this slow builder is a pleasurable experience. Back when Disney knew their market, what the hell their purpose is; giving smiles to little ones and happy memories to those not so young (and now older still).

Hands Up - Ottowan (1981)

“La gard meurt et il ne se rend pas.” The stirring words of General Cambronne at Waterloo as The Old Guard went down fighting are echoed not at all by this French disco-pop duo 166 years later but the same indomitable Gallic spirit punched it’s way into this list. Happy to oblige. Memories of Costa holidays, warm evenings, light weight Europe pop and disco lights. Like the grand old general at Waterloo, this song takes no prisoners and fights to death to get you up and dancing with an irresistable mix of clap-clap beat, daft lyrics and an ear wormish tune. You start ironic. You end a convert.

****

There’s more. So many more. For those about to embarrass themselves, we salute you!

Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D Minor

Nearly twenty years ago I worked in a skyscraper near London’s Victoria Station. I’ve recounted previously how I used to walk over to Harrods via Motcomb Street. Well, apparently, I used to do something else too; I used to ceaselessly hum the melody to Vivaldi’s Winter (Largo) from the Four Seasons.

Now, as luck would have it, I had an Italian colleague sat opposite me. He liked Vivaldi. He told me that the Four Seasons was part of a larger movement, The Contrast Between Harmony and Invention (Opus 8). And thus began my interest in baroque.

Tracking down Vivaldi’s other opus became a hobby. If you haven’t heard La Stravaganza, l’estro armonico or Gloria it’s worth the two seconds of your life it takes to track these down and listen. From Vivaldi I found Teleman, Albinoni, Corelli, Bach (of course), Handel and numerous others.

Baroque music became the only music I listen to at work. It also became the only music I listened to on trains going to and from work. Ah, yes, commuting; how soon we forget! Two hours a day listening to my favourite Vivaldi’s concertii as the rolling hills of Sussex transformed into South London.

Now one of the best things about YouTube (and one of the worst) is that it takes your viewing habits and very quickly recommends other videos of the same ilk. Now this can be worrisome; you can watch a Trump press conference and in a matter of clicks you’re nodding along to Alex Jones ranting about satanic conspiracies. Or you watch Tulsi Gabbard tear Kamala Harris a new one in a Democratic debate and then you’re suddenly marooned watching extreme left propaganda (otherwise known as CNN).

But, to be fair, with music, Youtube comes into its own and I appreciate it recommending music for me. I have found many great songs and artists I otherwise wouldn’t have. Sometimes algorithms work.

Thus, one dreamy afternoon at work, my earphones plugged in to some Vivaldi, I came across - or YouTube recommended for me - Alessandro Marcello’s sublime Oboe Concerto in d Minor.

How can one describe these three movements? The angular musicality of the first, the haunting slow adagio, the playfulness of the third? Something about the key of D minor and the combination of oboes and baroque instruments always succeeds in delivering an impactful punch (see the equally sublime RV 535 from Vivaldi or Albinoni’s stunning Oboe Concerto - also in Dm).

The concerto was clearly popular in the early eighteenth century as Bach reworked it for harpsichord as BMV 974. It’s a good version - dropping to C minor for the occasion - and a good track to add to my piano playlist. However, it lacks some of the formality and evocativeness of the original. Bach’s version sounds like good instrumental music from a French film (nothing wrong with that, of course).

Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D Minor is one to seek out; but the ultimate proof of a piece of music is to listen for yourself. I hope it is a positive experience for you all.

I love this version and the painting of Piazza Navona, by Caspar Van Wittel 1699, that accompanies it.

Face of Yesterday : The Curious Tale of Renaissance

I knew two things about British folkie prog rock group Renaissance:

1) I loved the rollicking 1978 single Northern Lights. Annie Haslam’s soaring vocals were a great counterpoint to all the punk around at the time. I bought the single.

2) As a big Yardbirds fan at university, I knew after the group broke up, vocalist Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty formed Renaissance with Relf’s sister Jane whilst Jimmy Page went off on his own and formed Led Zeppelin.

I’d never been curious enough to link these two facts. I knew Relf electrocuted himself in 1976 so he couldn’t have been part of the Northern Lights set up. And that’s where things stood until Christmas.

---

Occasionally YouTube throws something interesting at you. I was probably down a Yardbirds wormhole a few days ago and then YouTube threw ‘Kings and Queens’ from Renaissance’s first album at me. It shows a hippy-ish Keith Relf playing guitar, with his sister singing, Jim McCarty whacking the skins, some prominent piano work on a long prog-rock type song. Interesting but not really my scene.

Later, whilst I was in the bath, I asked Amazon to shuffle songs by Renaissance. Again, diverting but not really my scene. Until one song came on - Face of Yesterday - which I thought was interesting enough to put on a playlist. A playlist I listened to whilst walking up Wolstonbury Hill. Yes, this confirmed it, Face of Yesterday was my new favourite song!

It’s a dreamy ballad with classical influences and some excellent scat vocalism

And this is where things get a little murky.

The album Illusion. One group created it, another toured it and then disappeared to be replaced by another group with the same name. Confused?

Face of Yesterday was recorded in 1970 for the album Illusion. It’s Jane Relf singing. But YouTube threw another curve ball at me; the video of the band shows quite a different lady singing the song. She has a completely different voice - lower, maybe more timorous but compelling nethertheless. And this lady is an absolute stunner! And also, she’s not Annie Haslam. A third female vocalist…

Well, it appears the vocalist on the video is Binky Cullom. And the band? They’re all new guys too and none of the original five appear in the video. How’s that even possible? Well, it seems that Relf, Relf, McCarty et al one by one dropped out during 1970 during the recording of Illusion. Relf and McCarty remained interested enough to recruit new musicians to replace them. And they did. Five times.

So, the six members of Renaissance on the video of 1970 touring the Illusion album are not the original five. Clear?

Not finished yet.

Over the next year, next month for Binky, five of the six also left. New members, came and went until 1972/1973 when the Renaissance that I knew, the Northern Lights Renaissance with Annie Haslam, came into being. This lineup was stable and lasted for years and produced a certain sound built around Annie’s vocals. But it was different sound. And a different group.

Final plot twist, four of the original five, minus Keith Relf, as he was dead, got together again in 1977. But as another group had the Renaissance name, they called themselves Illusion, yes, after that chaotic second album where they all walked out first time.

And what Renaissance song did Illusion re-record? Face of Yesterday!

Mick Taylor and that Guitar Solo

They say the Devil has all the good tunes (except when he goes down to Georgia, of course!). But perhaps just sympathising with Old Nick also conjures up a decent tune too.

I remember the first Stones album I bought myself. I was 15. Coming off the back of a couple of Greatest Hits compilations, I went and bought the live album Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Live albums can often be a mistake as they tend to offer thin, over-emoting, out-of-tune and unnecessarily long versions of well-loved – and crafted - studio songs.

But not so Get Yer Ya Ya's Out...

It's a tour album commemorating the infamous 1969 US Tour - yes the one that ended with the screw up that was Altamont. I come back to this album frequently. I can safely say; I learnt to play guitar strumming along with this album. Recorded at Madison Square Garden, it captures the Stones as they transitioned away from Brian Jones and into the demi-god led outfit that included Mick Taylor. Finally, the Stones had some serious lead guitar muscle to complement the Human Riff, Keef. They would get better in the next couple of years, but this is the only official live album of the Stones Mark 2 line up.

My fav track was Track 1 / Side 2: Sympathy for the Devil. (“Paint It Black you devils! Do Paint It Black!”) E-D-A verses dropping to B for the chorus. Brilliant to play along with and attempt the extended guitar solo at the end of the track. Yes, I learnt my pitiful lead axeman skills from this track. Well at least for the first minutes of the solo anyway! Because suddenly the solo gets hard - real hard. What is a rhythm guitarist's best ever solo morphs into a shit-hot guitar hero work-out. You can hear the change about 4:30 into the track. It’s almost as though Keef took a snort half way through and felt emboldened to shout "Oi! Hendrix, Clapton - come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!"

But YouTube and the internet have revealed the mystery behind the split personality on Sympathy for the Devil’s guitar solo. For of course – Keef plays the first half and then hands over to Mick Taylor. In less than two minutes, Mick Taylor pisses on Richards and - in the cock-measuring contest that was the Stones – for the next five years, never again would Keith attempt to challenge Taylor. There has only ever been one lead guitarist in the Stones and his name was Mick Taylor.

I’ll write in due course more about this golden era of the Stones. When they really deserved the moniker ‘The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World’. But for now, listen to this audio and you’ll see what I mean. Keef starts soloing at 3:18. Mick Taylor takes over the baton at 4:30 and from 5:20 streaks down the back straight to take both the tape and the Gold Medal.

As I said, the Stones would get better after 1969. Taylor would get more confident – aware that his fluid, melodic soloing would propel songs like Midnight Rambler, Gimme Shelter, Street Fighting Man to ever higher levels. But Get Your Ya Ya’s Out is where it began and, on Sympathy for the Devil, you can hear him shyly but definitely, take over the band’s sound.

Enjoy.

To read other Mick Taylor related articles, click here...

or

Mick Taylor’s greatest Stone song? Try this!

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GREATEST MOVIE SONGS

You’re watching a film. A song comes on the soundtrack - either heard or sung. And it’s memorable. And perfect. And right for the film, the time and the place. Might not be your favourite song but there - in the moment, watching the film - it is.

Here is my list of the greatest film songs.

Isn’t this a Lovely Day (Top Hat) - 1935

“The weather is frightening. The thunder and lightening seem to be having their way…”

If there’s a better song, I don’t know it. There’s probably not a day that passes where I don’t sing a couple of bars from this Irving Berlin classic. The movie poster hangs in my bedroom. In the film, Fred and Ginger are caught in a rainstorm and take refuge in a bandstand. As they sing and dance to this clever song, the rain outside pours. Their little shelter becomes a cacoon of flirtation, courtship and growing new love. To a great melody. We probably all wish for this. They weren’t complicated, Hollywood musicals of the 30’s. They went to the point. And what a lovely - make believe - world that was.

Sometimes, My Bloody Valentine - Lost in Translation 2001

Top five favourite movie. What’s not to like? Bill Murray. Bill Murray singing ‘More than This’ in a Japanese karaoke bar. Scarlett Johansson. Yes, Scarlett. A chaste romantic film. Clever. Laid back. The whirlwind of romance away from home. They go out with her friends. A club. A chase. A party. A karaoke bar. They drink and smoke and then get a taxi home. The early morning ennui following a night out. Dozy. Comfortable. With someone special. And this song plays. A surprisingly tender tune for a song with cranked up guitars. It floats along with the hazy reality of a blissful 3am with a girl. In a taxi. On the way back.

Get Back, The Beatles with Billy Preston - Let it Be (1970) Not the single. The final song from the movie.

The Beatles going down fighting. A cold January in 1969. The Beatles are nearly broken up and somewhat lethargic about their latest album. They decide to play one last impromptu concert on the roof of their building because they can’t be arsed going anywhere or organising anything else. So they play their latest songs across London to the unsuspecting office workers. The police get called after half an hour bringing this rooftop concert to an end. But there’s one more song. Get Back. John and George’s amp gets turned off after the first verse. And then ‘fuck it’ they switch it back on and their guitars come back with added urgency. This is it. The last song ever played live by the greatest group ever. It’s scrappy, it’s raw but it’s the fucking Beatles man. Going down fighting.

You’re Sensational, Frank Sinatra - High Society (1956)

“I’ve no proof. When people say, “You’re more or less aloof.”

Ah, Cole Porter… What a song writer. Famously, he wrote both the music and the witty and intelligent lyrics to his songs. High Society is one of my happy places. Happy memories of the family watching a good movie back in the 70’s. Of course, I like The Philadelphia Story too, but I grew up with the colour, musical version. From Louis Armstrong kicking it off on the bus, the hip jazz lingo, Bing Crosby being Bing, right through to the loveliness that was Grace Kelly. It’s a classic movie with a ‘sensational’ score. So many great moments; Bing and Grace harmonising on ‘True Love’, “now that’s jazz”, Frank and Bing duetting drunk, the breakfast outside on the patio. And the effortless class of ‘You’re Sensational’. I know I say it lot, but hardly a day goes by without my singing or humming its opening lines quoted above.

Bela Lugosi’s Dead, The Hunger (1983)

This is the classic opening for Tony Scott’s stylistic vampire movie The Hunger. The music is strange, other worldly and the perfect accompaniment to an unsettling, hip nightclub where Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie go out a’hunting for victims. Long coats, shades, cigarettes; the foundations of Goth are right there up on screen. Of course, in real life, Goths were just smelly losers in bad clothes and worse make-up hiding their acne. But in their mind, they were Peter Murphy, the chisel cheeked lead singer of Bauhaus who dominates this first scene from behind the bars of a cage (see below). Right song. Right movie. Well framed and shot. Hence, on the list!

Sweet Transvestite, Tim Curry - Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Cracking song in one weird musical. Great was the day I found this movie. Suddenly everyone in sixth form was a sweet transvestite as both an insult, a compliment and - at the Christmas disco - a costume. I liked this song so much, I got my group to learn it and we’d chuck it in every now and then to get the crowd going. Or to stop them going. Whatever. At our final gig, at the Hare and Hounds in Brighton in early 1996, this was the last song we ever played. Pissed. Out of tune. Camping it up. And then I pulled a strop and sacked the band and went solo. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere. Good song though.

There She Goes, The La’s - The Parent Trap (1998)

One of the greats. Of course this song stands on its own. Lee Mavers’ beautiful, beautiful indie twinkling guitar ditty packs three minutes of audio gold. And here, in a mainstream kids movie, it’s framed perfectly. As Lynsay Lohan’s American twin is driven around London - in a vintage Rolls Royce of course - images of London flash by as There She Goes blasts out. The two go together like an American travel agent’s perfect ad of quirky, historical, sunny London. With a iconoclastic soundtrack.

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music, Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music (1965)

Yeah, I know. A bit route one. Too obvious. What’s your favourite band? The Beatles. Favourite piece of classic music? Beethoven’s Fifth. Favourite movie song? As Time Goes By, Casablanca. They’re culturally ubiquitous for a reason, no? They’re the Stairways to Heaven of their field. Same here. I’ve tried to give a wide range of movie songs in this piece but - hey! - indulge me one indulgence. A toss up between the Dooley Wilson classic (If she can stand it, I can. Play it!) and this one. I went with Julie running around the Austrian Alps singing about mountains. And music. What makes it so special though, apart from the song, of course, is the helicopter shots, the gradual build up before Julie finally comes into shot. It is a classic, musically and cinematographically. Once seen, never forgot. Job done.

The Best Unknown 60's Songs

The best hidden 60’s songs - in musical terms - is a slippery concept. I say ‘best’, you say ‘deservedly obscure’. You say “but what about this one’ and I say something about your mother. Ah, dear readers, I remember pub conversations.

But unknown songs, some by famous groups like the Beatles or Stones, are always a joy to find. It appeals to the musical snob in me. We all like to feel that our shadowy light in the forest is the one true path to musical esteem.

It’s all subjective, of course.

(In the list below I mainly feature obscure tracks by well-known bands with a few unknowns in there to keep you on your toes. It would be easy to pack the list with Gene Clark demos but that wouldn’t be fair.)

Lady Friend - The Byrds 1967

A joyous, rollicking single written by David Crosby, ignored at the time and now totally forgotten. Undeservedly so. The Byrds storm through a cracking tune with trademark Rickenbackers, floating harmonies, light and shade. Oh, and trumpets. There was a time, years ago, single and with tousled hair and Roger Mcguinn shades, this and Eight Miles High soundtracked my life. It was the beautiful dawning of a sadly short day… This is at the Byrds at their best and no-one knows this.

Reconsider Baby - Elvis 1960

Elvis would occasionally ‘do’ the blues. Exhibit A, his definitive take on Trouble in King Creole is perhaps his greatest ever vocal. Steamroller Blues is a highlight of his Aloha from Hawaii concert and album. Mess of Blues is one of my favourite ever tracks (but perhaps too famous for this list!) So, fresh out of the army, Elvis straps on his guitar and gets down and dirty with Lowell Fulsion’s driving lament. Yeah, that’s E on lead-rhythm. This version is famous for its two-in-the-morning feel epitomised by Boots Randolph’s extended strip club sax solo. Elvis is Back indeed!

The Who - Circles (1966)

An A side, a B side, and song of many names (Instant Party for example), Circles is a song with a complicated release history. What is not complicated though is that it is a great piece of mid 60’s psychedelia. Hypnotic, the tune apes the song title in that the guitar chug spirals round and round creating a musical embrace drawing you in. That’s John Entwhistle on French horn providing the persistent drone which pushes the track away from the Who’s previous RnB sound towards the more experimental I Can See For Miles. I used to mash up this track with Neil Diamond’s even more obscure ‘Shot Down’ to audiences between Brighton and London. Well, audiences in Brighton. And London.

Child of the Moon - The Rolling Stones (1968)

Hidden in plain sight, Child of the Moon is the B side of Jumping Jack Flash. I have the original single, lovingly bought at Rochdale’s Champness Hall monthly secondhand record fair back in the 80’s. “The wind blows rain into my face” begins Mick over an ominous drone kicked off with producer Jimmy Miller screaming out some inaudible words. It’s a bit hippyish, a bit psychedelic, slightly reminiscent of the Beatles (also obscure) B side Rain but it’s catchy and I like it. And the video. Weird. Slightly unsettling.

My Girl the Month of May - Dion and the Belmonts (1966)

Yes, the guy who did The Wanderer and Runaround Sue, released this swinging-60’s record years after The Beatles had rendered him and Belmonts obsolete. It’s full of mid 60's hip strangeness, some spirited singing from Dion and a chuck in the everything including the kitchen sink approach to production. ‘Little girl of mine, youngest flowers of springtime, you're the month of May.” And what month is better than May? Got nowhere in the charts and so this is a delight to find. You’re welcome.

Born to be a Rolling Stone - Gene Vincent (1967)

Gene ‘Be-bop-a-lula’ Vincent relocated to the UK in the mid 60’s. Tax reasons. Women problems. A draw on the live circuit, he didn’t however record anymore hits. His moment had passed. But he recorded some obscure mid-60’s singles that are quite beautiful. Born to be a Rolling Stone (b side the almost equally sublime Hurtin’ for you Baby) is stop-start Byrds influenced, guitar led song with a riff that I’ve ripped off ever since. On one level, it’s a slight piece as the singer tells us in a couple of verses why he’s born to be a rolling stone. But music is often as not a feeling, a sense of time and place from where you first heard it. Gene’s mid 60’s output came along at the right time for me.

Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - The Yardbirds (1966)

“Why you all got long hair? Bet you’re pulling the crumpet, ain’t ya?”

It doesn’t get better than this. Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on twin attack lead guitar smouldering through some hard rocking mid 60’s psychedelia. This is peak Yardbirds. They went up fast and fell almost as swiftly before re-emerging as the global phenomenon Led Zeppelin. So, much to write about this song. Jeff and Jimmy playing in unison, the catchy tune, the hard riff, the avant-gard spoken piece in the middle. Together with Stroll On, the dual lead guitar Yardbirds lasted for only a few months in 1966. Such months!

Juliet - Neil Diamond (1969)

I could write a whole article on fantastic Neil Diamond lost gems from the 60’s. Across both Bang and Capital labels he produced some wondrous songs from ‘66 onwards. Always good, he seemed to lose his way a bit from the mid 70’s until The Jazz Singer (1979). He’s now battling Parkinsons and I wish him well against that horrible disease. I’ve already written about Neil Diamond Song Number 1 Solitary Man, but there’s plenty of rivals from the 60’s. I chose Juliet because of the feel, the words, his range from baritione to falsetto, the cosy feeling of new love. “Lay your eyes on me, girl, wanderin’ inside a grown man, no more than a small boy, sweet Juliet.” The whole Sweet Caroline album is filled with some of my favourite music. I could have picked the sublime Glory Road, Hurtin’ You Don’t Come Easy, And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind. The title track isn’t bad either.

Rain - The Beatles (1966)

An obscure Beatles track? Surely no such thing! Well, probably not, but a non-album B side is about as close as you can get. Rain was the B side of Paperback Writer. It’s the Beatles going full-on psychedelic. Snappy, stop-start drums and a persistent drone kick off this little beauty. It all works. Paul’s bass is fluid and a co-lead instrument. Check out the bass solo towards the end propelling the song into its backwards coda. “Raaaaaaiiiinnnnn” sing John and Paul never more in harmony than here. If you’ve not heard it, you’re in for a treat. In terms of Beatles B sides, it’s in the top three (along with Don’t Let Me Down and You Can’t Do That). A John song, of course.

Rudy’s in Love - The Locomotive (1968)

“No gun shootin’ for Rudi, no retributin’.”

A minor hit. British blue beat. Ska. The Birmingham sound. I first came across this song on a compilation 60’s cassette tape that came free with, I dunno, Vox magazine in the early 90’s. It’s a cheerful ditty about a rude boy who finds love and so doesn’t want to do gangster type stuff anymore. Basic boy meets girl stuff. Driven by a horn section and an organ, this is the ska sound that the Specials picked up ten years later. Syncopated. Danceable. Fun fact; until I checked this out I always assumed at least the singer was black. Apparently not, bunch of Brummie white boys. Who knew?

So there we go. It’s a list. Clearly I’ll argue with it tomorrow. Real obscure stuff - Gene Clark, The Toggery Five, The 13th Floor Elevators, Jackson Frank etc will have to wait for another day.

Riffs! Shouting! Power! - The Roots of Rock.

Sometimes I amuse myself.

Chortle.

Sometimes I amuse myself by imaging the origins of hard rock. How did music get from, say, Neil Sedaka and The Everly Brothers in 1960 all the way to Led Zeppelin in 1969? Nothing wrong with Sedaka or The Everlys of course. Their switch of record labels in 1960 to Warners kick started - in my opinion - their best records, epitomised by the wonder that is ‘Cathy’s Clown”. But something happened between ‘60 and ‘69. Music began to go all the way to 11.

So this is a blogpost that traces that development of hard rock, heavy rock and punk in just five 60's records.

Caveat (for there must be one). By selecting five early 60's records, one doesn't deny the journey up to that point. Muddy Waters riffing like a bastard. Little Richard amping up the vocals. Chuck Berry giving every subsequent guitarist a rock blueprint. And Elvis. Of course Elvis. But, where to start? As I've written before, you can trace rock back to Beethoven's thunderous riffs, Vivaldi's repeated motifs in, say, his Mandolin Concerto in C. But I'll restrict my journey to the first half of the 60's or else I will disappear up my own arse (again).

What am I looking for? Anger. Loud overdriven guitars. A sense of musical anarchy barely held in check. Riffs. Screaming singers. All the way to eleven. On a Marshall amp. So here is my list of the five stepping stones from pop to heavy rock.

The Beatles - Twist and Shout (Feb 1963)

Yeah, everyone knows this song and The Beatles version. One of the Beatles best ever covers (up with Long Tall Sally, Dizzy Miss Lizzie, Bad Boy, Money). But what propels this song forward is John Lennon’s vocals. If he did nothing else, he’d be remembered for this performance. After a full day recording the Please Please Me album, Lennon audibly shreds his larynx as he provides one of rock's greatest vocals. The instrumentation is so-so, a standard early sixties beat combo sound. It's the singing, the call and response, the AH-AH-AH-AH-WOOO bit that makes this song special. Compare the muscular and aggressive Beatles' version against The Isley Brothers' original. No contest. Lennon pisses on them and kick starts heavy rock.

The Kingsmen - Louie Louie (April 1963)

When researching this (seriously Tim?) I found that Louie Louie was recorded after The Beatles' Twist & Shout by two months. Who knew? Who cares? Massive hit in the 60's. Revived in the 70's for the film Animal House. What can one say about this? An absolute shocker of a recording, slapdash, careless, badly recorded. A total fuck up. But in that carefree, shouty, riff heavy style, we have the embryo hard rock and punk. It was recorded in just one take for $50 with singer Jack Ely yelling as loud as he could at a mic lodged above his head just so he could be heard above the instruments. A million pub rock bands heard this and learnt the way forward. Inspiring.

The Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man (Nov 1963)

It's not often The Beatles and The Stones went head to head. But - song hustling - John and Paul gave the young Stones this song to help get the London boys into the charts (number 12). The Beatles went on to record I Wanna Be Your Man themselves for the With The Beatles Album. Now, whilst The Beatles version is polished and lively, The Stones go straight for the balls. Or more to say, Brian Jones does. The ferocity and aggression he gives to his slide guitar lead is a wonder to behold. He did it one take. Bizarrely,  this track is not heard much these days. First time I heard it, way after other Stones stuff - as it's not on an album nor on most Greatest Hits compilations - I was blown away with Jones' wall of noise. 1963? Are you kidding me? But it is step three onto heavy rock. 

The Kinks - You Really Got Me (1964)

Riff heaven. Taking up the baton from the Kingsmen and amping up the power London style. Guitarist Dave Davis creates the song's dynamic. He cut his amp with a razor blade to create the fuzzy, 'heavy' sound. Rock is born! He then throws out a volley of notes in the solo; mad, nonsensical but the inspiration for many a guitarist's solo (I include myself here!). Long rumoured to be played by session man and pre Led Zep Jimmy Page, it was in fact Dave Davis. The first song you can really head bang to. And air guitar.

The Who - My Generation (1965)

The song where it all comes together! Riffs, heavy guitar sound, fucking mental rhythm section, powerful singer. Feedback. Anarchy. Power. Driven by The Ox and Moonie; their powerful backing gives Townsend the space to riff away and Daltrey to stutter like a pilled up prick chucked in front of a mic at closing time shouting out his story. The final minute where Moon goes mad, Daltrey screams and Townsend and Entwhistle lock together is one of rock's finest moments. It is this that points to the future - not least during The Who's own guitar smashing versions of this very song. The path is is now open for the Who to charge towards rock's finest moment - 'Won't Get Fooled Again.'.

Watch The Who in their best ‘Fuk Da Hippies’ mood at Monterey 1967.

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Reposted and rewritten from August 2016 

The Greatest Album One / Two Punches

There are albums that come out of the blocks with two killer tracks that are like a pissed off Mike Tyson swinging wildly at some trash talking, old timer patsy in the late 80's. Albums that decide that the best way to follow a kicking first track, is with another. 

Lock up your aunties! The Crowes in 1992

The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)

The second album from the Crowes throws 'Sting Me' to the left and "Remedy' to the right. 1992 might have been Grunge Year Zero but, together with Teenage Fanclub, the Crowes held rock's banner aloft. These are kick-ass rock tunes. Basically, The Faces reimagined if their Marshalls were turned to 11 and Rod really went for it instead of pretending to be Sam Cooke. Love these two songs. Highlight - the 'fuck you' start of the guitar solo in Sting Me. A moment in rock I've ever and a day tried to replicate. Two seconds of true power!

The CD reissue doesn't 'feel' right!

Eden - Everything but the Girl (1984)

The impulse purchase one doesn't regret! Stood in WHSmith Rochdale's record department in 1984, I hear the wondrous album play over the store speakers. One track, two tracks, I was sold. Marched up to desk and asked, "Pray tell me good madam, who is making this bewitching sound?". Everything but the Girl apparently. Crazy name, crazy sound. So, I bought the album with its distinctive cardboard, non veneered album with the abstract painting on the front. The songs, I now know, were Each and Everyone and Bittersweet. They detail the commonplace jealousies and realities of relationships. All bedsits, screaming babies and jealousy. No holding hands and a rush towards lust with these songs. It was the clever lyrics as much as the bossa nova rhythms that had me captivated. The rest of the album's pretty good (apart from the execrable Soft Touch). I’ve framed this album.

George is a pinapple head

Beatles for Sale (1964)

Not a One / Two, but a 1-2-3. The Fab Four of course do what other groups do - only better. Whilst other groups would put their singles on their albums, The Beatles didn't.  So Beatles for Sale kicks off with No Reply, I'm a Loser, Baby's in Black. With these stunning ditties The Fab Four literally piss on their competition. The bar is set so high, their album tracks sound like a career best single for any other group. Bizarrely, although released at the height of Beatlemania, Beatles for Sale is pretty obscure these days and these three - being non singles - are not as well known as they should be. But I love this album. Almost as much as I love...

Fisheye

...Rubber Soul (1965)

Pound for pound, this non single containing album, packs pretty much the hardest punch of any album. It roars out of the blocks with McCartney's funky - come on Motown have a go if you think you're hard enough! - Drive My Car. Most groups' best single ever. Just an album track. We then shift gear to the acoustic and sitar masterpiece that is Norwegian Wood. As a guitarist, this latter song - with its major to minor shift - is a dream to play. Like You've Got To Hide Your Love Away this shows why Lennon is so revered. This is effortlessly brilliant. We all fuck around on D but don't achieve anything like this. Let alone chucking in a middle 8 in G minor. Class. In a glass.

Hard. Soft. Kicks ass.

Led Zep 4 (1971)

Anything The Beatles can do, Zep does one better and louder! The whole of Side 1 of Led Zep 4. Just review these four tracks:- Black Dog, Rock n Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven. And this is just an normal album, not a greatest hits compilation. Not a filler in sight! From the sonic destruction of the first two, to my teenage fav with Sandy Denny (obligatory hobbit references!) to the ubiquitous - but deservedly so - Stairway, this is how to start a 37 million selling album. Are these guys knights of the realm yet FFS?

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This article was originally produced in 2016. Minor edits.

Yohanna - Funny Thing Is (Song Review)

Yohanna – Funny Thing Is (2008) (Yohanna / Lee Horrocks)

“The funny thing is – that I can see myself
Like a star on the big screen
I guess I’m somebody else
It’s like make-believe in the wrong sized dress
And nobody wants me
Unless I’m somebody else. ”

— Yohanna - Funny Thing Is

I must admit – this article didn’t quite go the way I envisaged. It was going to be all about small countries, female diva singers and my usual bucketful of navel gazing, solipsistic bullshit that we all love and enjoy. Actually, that’s precisely what you’re gonna get anyway; old habits die hard in a ditch defending my idiosyncrasies. The difference this time is that bizarrely, I ended up corresponding with the singer, Yohanna, herself.

Anyway, random is the new planned and rambling is the new coherence. And poor snowclones are the new annoying. Sometimes I’m so literary it actually hurts. Anyway, let’s get back on track. Yohanna stands in the wings, her song nervously pacing behind the closed curtain, anxiously awaiting the big reveal to you, my strung out caravan of misfits.

So, before you go any further, click on the video link of Yohanna’s song. It’ll help. I like small countries. I’ve found that the people are feisty and funny, conscious of their size but proud of their ‘us against the world’ predicament. When I was a globetrotting relationship manager for a multi national financial services company (try saying that after a few drinks!) I was fortunate enough to visit plenty of small countries, visits, I’m happy to report, paid for by my employers. So, for three years, I used to travel to Brussels every month; prior to that I had frequent (work related) sojourns in Amsterdam. I was summoned to Luxembourg a couple of times to get my butt kicked by a well known global telecommunications company’s in order to explain away a botched implementation. Yeah, Skype – I’m talkin’ ‘bout you. Bastards.

I also once pitched for a global contract with a large pharmaceutical company based in Iceland. I had a couple of days in Reykjavík. It was cold, it was winter and it snowed. It was dark until nearly noon. Perfect conditions in fact for those who view melancholy as but a tiny step down from ecstatic. I succeeded in getting the contract signed with the drugs company - of course – then celebrated with several cocktails in the Reykjavík Hilton feeling pretty good about myself. But, what did I actually know of the country around me?

- I knew, it was cold and that Icelanders did a lot of fishing and were often blonde.

- I knew Blur used to go there in the 90’s and, for a while, Reykjavík was the ‘cool’ place to be.

- I found out in my prep reading that British troops invaded and occupied the country in 1940 (Who knew? Sorry guys!).

- I knew that a beautiful singer called Yohanna represented Iceland in the 2009 Eurovision song contest with her rousing ballad Is It True and was robbed of Brotherhood of Man type fame by tragically, and wrongly, coming second.

It is, of course, to Yohanna that I now pivot and discuss her obscure, but evocative song, Funny Thing Is. It’s an odd choice, I know, but - if this is the joker in the pack of my favourite songs - musically and emotionally, it more than holds it own against the better-known competitors on the list. Scanning my iTunes top 25 most played songs, Funny Thing Is stubbornly remains a permanent fixture in the upper reaches. Others may come and go, but Yohanna’s song, artfully entwining empowerment, insecurity and big-voiced ‘you-go-girl’ choruses, is always there for me to have a surreptitious ‘diva moment’. It is my favourite sing-a-long.

I guess my liking for diva type torch songs was something that only grew gradually. Even though I went to school with Lisa Stansfield* , for years after, I only ever listened to boys thrashing loud guitars, shouting themselves hoarse. This was amplified during my own rock career – yes, I write the word ‘career’ sarcastically – where I consciously crafted a certain rock stereotype; Marshall amp, Epiphone guitar; plenty of feedback. Indeed, the charms of a well-written female ballad beyond, say, The Winner Takes It All or Aretha belting out You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, evaded my playlists for years. My group used to do Walk On By but only because the Stranglers did so first. Dionne Who? Exactly. And then a strange metamorphosis happened…

I started to feminize my tastes and got all metrosexual on-yer-ass. I can even remember the date and the cause. Lucie Silvas and Breath In, 2004. (Lucie Silvas is, by the way, a lost British great, bow your heads in shame, fickle public). From that moment on, I was all about the girls. Classics like Erma Franklin’s Another Piece of My Heart, Etta James’ I’d Rather Go Blind, nestled with anything by Carol King, Jodie Mitchell up to the mid 70’s, early or late period Alison Moyet, some Avril Lavigne, most Taylor Swift, late 80’s Cher, upbeat Mary Chapin Carpenter, bits of Pink… Wearing my apron in the kitchen, I’d blast out girl power ballads, shake my booty and yell into the wooden stirring spoon that there ain’t no mountain high enough. An attractive image, no doubt you will agree.

So I was a prime convert for Yohanna when she sang her heart out representing Iceland on the Moscow stage at 2009’s Eurovision. She was a stunning vision in a full-length blue ball dress, her long blonde hair gently blown in the air like a classy 80’s pop video. Effortlessly she won over the audience – and me - with her heartbreaking ballad Is It True. See the video below. Best 2nd place ever? Click the video below and watch her!

(The UK, as usual, had put up some bollocks that no-one remembers. Why do we, land of pop mastery, always have to be so shit these days at the Eurovision? )

So Yohanna. What a voice! What poise! What control! This cello led song gradually ratchets up the emotional tension until the final chorus where Yohanna finally lets rip, singing high and pure over the top of her backing singers; soaring in fact. The combination of a beautiful woman singing about deceit and betrayal universalized the song, the emotion; we’ve all been there. We’ve all loved. We’ve all been hurt. Yohanna should have won the contest. She was the greatest ever second place! I’m convinced that if she had won, I wouldn’t be here six years later trying to explain to you all outside the Nordics who the hell she is. Believe me, you’d know.

But my story doesn’t end here. I downloaded her album Butterflies and Elvis (crazy name, big in Sweden) and here is where the song Funny Thing Is came into my consciousness and onto my list of favourite songs.

It all starts rather peacefully; a piano playing a simple riff, the comforting beginning of many a slow building ballad. After a couple of bars Yohanna comes in, her voice welcoming and pure:

“Life’s a magic wand Dreams will never end”

Already we’re channeling ethereal; music, voice and lyrics perfectly capturing a mood of innocence and hope. But ominously, we’re quickly convinced that this isn’t going to a Disney fantasy, a carpet ride to clichéd emotions: Yohanna, and the musical backdrop are now leading us to a different place:

“When I try to run Somebody pulls me back” And then we’re cantering onto the ‘big’ chorus with drums, bass and guitar signalling this transition. Yohanna takes her voice up an octave and teaches wannabes and never-will-be’s exactly what a fucking chorus should be sung like – powerful, dramatic and yet tuneful. “The funny thing is,” she sings and the listener is drawn in; what is the ‘funny thing’ what is the irony about to be exposed, what journey are we heading on? We have the mental image of Yohanna gazing at herself, commenting on who she is, how she is perceived, maybe whom she is expected to be in order to get on in life. Her vocals and her passion drive us ever forward, drawing us in. She means it, man. She really means it.

Drop a level to verse two.

“I wanna be myself // And nobody else//It’s no fun being what you’re not //So just forget about it.”

We’re now inexorably building to the second chorus. We know already, learning from the first chorus, that this song has got ‘big finish’ written all over it. We know we are in the capable hands of strong voice, a passionate singer who loves to let go and this is all gonna end with the listener inevitably joining in, bellowing out, inexpertly perhaps, the hook line. Actually I do a good counterpart harmony myself at this point. If I have one criticism of the song it’s that I’m not on it.

Second chorus complete, Yohanna repeats and repeats ‘The funny thing is, that I can see myself” - the tension building with each repetition; you know she’s holding back and that at any moment she’s going to release her powerful voice, start ad-libbing the tune and break out into some kick-ass vocal improvisation. This is the ending that all good ballad/torch songs should possess – passion, guts, drive; the vocalist tunefully riffing over a crescendo of musicians and chanting backing singers. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do – soul singer style – Oh Happy Day type call and response sort of thing – but never have. Yohanna succeeds, channeling her heroes – Whitney, Celine, Aretha – but still remaining unique.

If I want an uplifting song where I can join in, feel the power of the music, ponder over the lyrics, envy the vocalist, then Funny Thing Is has to be the song. Criminally, hardly anyone knows about it here in the UK. Yohanna, though still young, is cruelly under-appreciated here (though check out her Facebook.

I wish her well in the future, with writing new material and new successes. Speaking personally however, with Funny thing Is, Yohanna is already up there with the best in my opinion. The very best. My list of great songs includes such untouchable artists as The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, The Byrds; The Eurythmics. The Beatles, and Elvis.

Yohanna; you are the Iceland of this group; small, feisty, independent – but holding your head up high against the big guys. You’ve earned your place on my list of greats. Which all goes to show, you don’t have to be perceived as a commercial success to be an artistic success (see Lucie Silvas).

Of course Yohanna should be more famous, of course her tracks should be in the international charts but, selfishly, I’m glad I found her and know her. She is my diva guilty secret. But I’ve just let that secret out of the bag. In a way, I’m glad. You go girl!

Repost from 2015 (revised)

(BTW hit the Twitter button below and be a follower of this great leader. Me. Just started so I need to get going! You’ll get all my articles and as many right wing reposts as you can handle! Cheers)

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• Not lying – I really did go to school with Lisa Stansfield – it was Oulderhill School, Rochdale, early 1980’s. Yes, we sang together in the school play, yes she became more famous than me; no we never had a romantic relationship (though who turned down who, I’m too much of a gentleman to say!). But I’m here for the long haul. She may have been around the world but I’m still rockin’, still rollin’, still writing. One day her Wikipedia entry will say – ‘Lisa went to school with Tim Robson’. It will also show she’s a few years older than me. Mee-ow!

Savage - Eurythmics (Song Review)

“She said, “I have this unhappiness
To wear around my neck
It’s a pretty piece of jewellery
To show what I protect.”

You fall into patterns within relationships so very easily. You assume roles within the couple’s dynamic - what you do, what you believe and what you enthuse about. It’s kind of a domestic shorthand that describes, but soon imprisons, the full richness of each other’s personality.

With me, I’ve always been the ‘music’ guy. My girlfriends have pretty much been less interested in music than me. It is my thing. I know what year a song came out, who played on it and who wrote it. Whilst there are women who are every bit as obsessive in this area, I think it’s safe to say that this lauding of the ephemera of music tends to be a predominantly male trait. This characteristic plays itself out within a relationship by ownership of the playlists, control of the music; a pedantic, but ultimately futile, need to teach, to explain, each and every song. Love of something subjective becomes a dry lesson in the objective. Savage is the honourable exception.

Listening to this slow building song, I’m forever taken back by its gentle rhythm to a time in the late 80’s when life seem optimistic and everything seemed to matter. A shy girl, who loved me, said that I should listen to this track, as it was just the sort of music I’d enjoy. Like all good recommendations this was built from a solid foundation of what that person knew about me and then went off at a tangent. No-one needs to be told something obvious – it’s the unobvious and obscure, the great find, that really chimes within the soul. And so it was with Savage. The gentle girl was right, it is ever one of my favourites.

The slow, ethereal intro frames the piece; with each gentle wave of chords from the keyboard - more breathed than played - you know it’s going to be one of Annie Lennox’s betrayal songs. No one, other than Alison Moyet perhaps, does betrayal better than our Annie. The sparse backing provides a backdrop to some of Annie’s best lines. The images she plays with are disjointed, violent even – the sun displays its teeth - but her words convey a mood rather than any literal meaning. There is a brooding air of savagery hanging over the song, more vivid because it is unexpressed and waiting menacingly in the shadows.

But the Eurythmics were a duo and never more so than on this track. As the tension builds through the first two verses / choruses, a release is needed; all this musical foreplay must have its climax and this is stunningly achieved by a simple - but oh so right - solo from Dave Stewart. It’s as much about the notes that aren’t played as those that are. He puts himself into his guitar and feels his way through his solo. There is an un-80’s rawness in that guitar break, a sullen control, that matches Annie’s lyrics note for note. Other than Graham Coxon’s solo on Blur’s This is A Low, I can’t think of a guitar solo more appropriate, more understanding, of a song than this one.

Annie and Dave produced many great songs – Who’s That Girl, Julia, Here Comes The Rain Again come to mind – but I don’t believe they combine so perfectly than their collaboration on Savage. I wrote earlier about the glad-happy morning of the late 80’s. You can’t choose your time and neither can you control your era’s personal soundtrack. Of course, you filter what you hear through personal choice – which records to buy, which radio stations to listen to – but no one lives in a vacuum. My university days were the late 80’s. When so much of what was popular at the time – Kylie, Stock Aitken and Waterman, house music – retreats into the unopened drawer of memory, I’m happy that the gentle girl with the sad eyes, told me to listen to Savage. There’s a dignity in this evocation, both defiant and tender, that seems appropriate somehow.

The girl’s long gone, of course but I’ll leave it to Annie to provide the postscript:

“She said, “Everything is fiction
All cynic to the bone
So don’t ask me to stay with you
Don’t ask to see me home””

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Start the video at 1.30 for a live version of Savage.

REPOST: The Worst Beatles Tracks

(This was originally posted August 2015)

A pretty routine observation I make is that, unlike most artists, you can take any Beatles album and find an abundance of classic songs not released as a single. The sort of songs lesser artists would kill to have. Such was the embarrassment of riches within the Beatles, songs would just stack up and be used as album fodder. Which is why listening to any Beatles album is also such a joy. It’s never a couple of hits bulked out with fillers. With very few exceptions, all of the Beatles output is a consistently high standard, even when they were innovating.

So I thought, I'd compile a list of The Beatles' stinkers. There aren't many. One per album.

The Worst Beatles Tracks

Abbey Road – Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. Sorry Paul, it’s drivel.

*Beatles For Sale – Honey Don't. The Ringo badge of quality is added to this borefest. Carl Perkins also managed to write the second worst song too - Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby.

Hard Day’s Night – I’m Happy Just to Dance With You.  Paul and John did George no favours here by writing this dirge for him. Bizarrely, I covered this in my infamous Great Eastern solo gig in 1992. Knickers were not thrown.

Help! – You Like Me Too Much. Not a classic. George also wrote I Need You on the same album. Also crap.

Let It Be – For You Blue. George donated this derivative toss off to the Get Back project to protect better songs – Something, Here Comes The Sun – from a substandard album. Wise move.

Magical Mystery Tour – Yes, I know not a proper album. Flying, obviously. The Beatles do lounge music for the MMT film. Aural wallpaper.

Please Please Me – Boys. A Ringo filler. Pair an average singer with an average song and you get a sub average track. Probably worked better live at The Cavern. Or at weddings.

Revolver – Love You To. George and Indian music. Mordant vocals and cod philosophical lyrics to a raga beat. Same album as his fiery and brilliant Taxman.

Rubber Soul – What Goes On. Ringo got a writing credit for this Country and Western song. He should have held out and asked for the rights to Paperback Writer instead.

Sgt Pepper – Within In Without You. Yeah. I don’t really like George’s Indian influenced songs. This one goes on for over five minutes. It feels like it.

White Album – Revolution 9. Of course. John and Yoko's avant garde crap. Unlistenable.

With The Beatles. No weak tracks. Not one.

Yellow Submarine – Only A Northern Song. Sorry George, you again. Trying too hard to be different it just comes across as gauche and dissonant.

[Looking through the list now, it appears I’m overly critical of some of George Harrison’s contributions. Of all the Beatles, it was fair to say he got better as he got older. His voice, monosyllabic and nasal in 1963, matured by 1969 into a fine instrument. His song writing talents, sometimes okay, sometimes poor, had developed so much that by 1969 that he was able to go toe to toe with John and Paul. And win.]

Dirty work but someone's got to do it. Best album tracks next to cheer me up.

Cheers

Tim

*Beatles For Sale - Most critics say 'Mr Moonlight' is not only the worst song on the album but in the Beatles entire recording career. A bit harsh, I think. It's not a classic admittedly and the cheesy organ that George Martin adds doesn't help, and yet, and yet, I'm a fan of John Lennon's shouty voice going for big notes (Anna, Baby It's You, Happiness is a Warm Gun). Ironically Lennon's vocals were best demonstrated on the track they left off Beatles For Sale 'Leave My Kitten Alone' - now available on Anthology 1.

TOP 10 80's POP Songs

Here it - you asked for it - so I stand and deliver. Oh, dear, that’s a bad start. Suffice to say, Adam nor his ants will appear on this list (though I have a soft spot for Prince Charming, to be honest).

The only rule for this list - I had to like it at the time. You know, in the actual 80’s. And still like it now. It’s a high hurdle I set but let’s limber up and hope we don’t crash into the bar too much.

Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie (1980)

Scary, arty, new romantic cool! I remember watching this on Top of Pops with that weird and compulsive video. That strange dance on the beach, the odd costumes, the backhanded reference to Major Tom. This kicked off the decade and took it in a glamorous direction after the punk and rock of the 70’s. And the sound ain’t bad either!

Vienna - Ultravox (1981)

Cruelly kept off Number 1 by an annoying one hit wonder, this was a classy song with a kick-ass video. What’s not to like? Midge Ure wandering around Covent Garden and - yes - Vienna - in a mac with pointy sidies. Peak New Romantic but staying just the right side of pretentious. Epic song, with hypnotic piano, swelling strings and the suggestion of something mysterious, something foreign, something tragic. Still never been to Vienna.

Under Attack - Abba (1982)

Abba’s sad swan song. It did nothing in the charts and the group faded away after this. Very late-era Abba, synths, electric bass, treated vocals, I first heard this at Rochdale roller ring early 1983. it has stuck with me ever since.

To France - Mike Oldfield (1983)

Updated folk for the 80’s generation. I remember hearing the song - strangely enough - in France, sat in the back of my parents car as we drove around Brittany Probably in the rain. Maggie Reilly’s voice and the folky / medieval feel and subject matter make this an ethereal postcard from a vanished age. That age being my youth. I often return to this song when I want a good song to cook to, when I’m writing, when I want to imagine being young again.

Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1983)

Frankie Says… Well, if you don’t know what Frankie Says, you weren’t there. Frankie had three massive hits in 1984. They were all over the year like a rash. I got my mum to buy this single on one of her Saturday shopping trips to Rochdale. I remember being in Spain 1984 and all you could hear in the discos (yes, I said discos not clubs) was either Relax or Two Tribes in one of their many, many, 12 inch varieties. Obviously Trevor Horn created the vibe, the driving beat, and there was a shocking amount of Paul Morley ZTT inspired marketing, but, this was an era defining sound.

It’s about sex, isn’t it?

Madonna - Like A Virgin (1984)

Oh yeah! Something about time and place gets this one in the top ten. Her singing has matured and so did her production values, but this is where’s it is at. Joyous and dance-able, even for saddos with that bouncy synth beat, it calls out thirty odd years later. But to really experience it you need to be 16 and walking into a Rochdale disco with this pumping out! The smell of cheap perfume, hair spray, cigarettes and alcohol! Nothing better.

Pride - U2 (1984)

God! I loved this song. I love this song. Edge’s eternal guitar playing a special riff, Bono’s vocals, the U2 style drumming. Martin Luther King! The sound of me heading off to the pub in Rochdale for a cheeky 5 pints on Wednesdays in The Grapes or Elephant and Castle. “Are you 18, sonny?” This song is the time and place of who I am and where I came from.

Walk This Way - Aerosmith feat Run DMC (1986)

Seriously - this record still kicks arse. Rap and rock fusion! An alternative pathway which we kinda lost on the way. But boy did it produce one memorable collaboration.

Voyage Voyage - Desireless (1987)

Ah, holiday records. That’s what the 80’s were about. Who could hate Ottowan’s ‘Hands Up, Give Me Your Heart’ or FR David’s seminal ‘Words’. Add Desireless to this trio and we a one-twp-three combination of sublime 80’s French summer Euro pop. Voyage Voyage - I heard this in Benidorm in the summer of 1988 as I perused the city’s art galleries, a fragrant girl in a white dress on my arm as we discussed art and memory. Yeah. Or, maybe it was the soundtrack to being pissed up in one of the town’s clubs trying to buy girls with tattoos and bikini tops rum and cokes. One or the other. Great Euro pop though.

All Around the World - Lisa Stansfield (1989)

How could I not put Lisa Stansfield on the list? If it wasn’t a great song however, I wouldn’t have added it, but it is here on merit. The fact that she went to my school and I knew her slightly are interesting but not clinches. Lisa bookends this decade for me. We were in the school play at the start of the 80’s and she ended the decade at Number One with this song. I remember the feeling of pride when this became a smash. That was before jealousy kicked in. Why had CBS returned my demo?

(Hint: It was shit)

I will probably change my mind in five minutes, but let’s start this way, shall we?

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Lucie Silvas

Occasionally, my judgement is wrong. Sometimes I will admit to these mistakes. Not often. Usually insincerely. But when I’m off and know it - and it doesn’t affect me to confess - I’ll write about it here.

I thought Lucie Silvas’ third album was shit when it came out. Then I saw her in concert last December and I now don’t.

There, got that off my chest.

So, as Lucie has released four albums, and I liked the other three, I now like all of them.

Lucie Who? Exactly. As I found out at her semi-secret gig recently in London, she’s a bit of a cult. I knew I was a longtime member of that cult but I didn’t know there were others too. In some ways they looked very much like me - men of a certain age, balding but - let me stress this - the similarity ends there. Didn’t realise she had such a large gay following. I suppose it was obvious really - a big voiced, attractive blonde who writes about relationships. A 2000’s Judy Garland.

In December, I took my 14 year old daughter to this sweaty Shoreditch cellar to watch Lucie. Her only other experience of live music is Taylor Swift in front of 66,000 in Hyde Park a couple of years back. But I hope she will remember this intimate evening all of her life and look back and remember when she saw the legend that is Lucie. It was a loose, make up the setlist as you go along, evening.

I first came across Lucie on 2005’s Now That’s What I Call Music 60 where Breath In was featured. Breath In is probably her biggest hit and its joyous driving pop song with a gorgeous sing-a-long chorus. It is a breath of fresh air every time I put it on. It’s on my Desert Island Discs and I notice its the 6th most played piece of music I own and the first non classical piece. The album’s pretty good too. Very white soul.

Lucie’s high point was her Second Album - The Same Side. As a whole it’s a classic - a big ballad classic but it has a trio of A songs that I always play - Almost, Already Gone and Alone. Already Gone being the perfect rock ballad with a haunting guitar break. And then there’s Passionate You. Clearly Lucie writes on the piano and her tracks often have catchy piano motifs. The title track - The Same Side - is also worth a listen. My favourite Lucie album. Sold about three copies.

Album 3 - Letters to Ghosts, I obviously didn’t listen to enough when it came out. She leaned on it heavily at the gig in December - clearly it’s her personal favourite. Guitar riff heavy Happy is the stand out track followed by the heart tugging ballad Smoke. The title track Letters to Ghosts is good (though better live tbh). And onto E.G.O. which was my fav album of 2018. First Rate Heartbreak with its stop / start riff is the standout track. She played this early and my daughter loved it.

Lucie has a raspy voice that seems to have two gears. She powers out on the low register and you think that maybe she hasn’t got the range for the top notes. But then her higher register kicks in and she hits the notes perfectly. It’s an attractive combination. I often credit Silvas with my gradual shift away from male cock-rocking blues based music to something wider, something more feminine. It was a good change.

She should be more famous.

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The video below is a raw, amateur shot version of Breath In but I think it captures something of the fun and involvement of a Lucie concert.

2018: Tim Robson's Music Review

Tim Robson’s 2018 Music Review

Yeah

I downloaded 255 songs in 2018. Or in some cases uploaded. But mainly downloaded.

255 songs.

Obviously, not all of these were released in 2018. In fact, most of them weren’t. There was lots of classical - and that’s like really old kids - and from Sinatra in the 40’s my downloads were pretty consistent through the following decades. I’m eclectic, man.

And yes, there were plenty of 2018 tracks. I have two teenage daughters and so its inevitable, even if I wasn’t such a hep-cat, that I’d have plenty of new material anyway from 2018.

So, here are my 2018 Musical Downloads (and sometimes uploads) Awards!!

2018 Award

Well, the most played was SZA (who?) with Calvin Harris and The Weekend. I detect the hands of my daughters on this one. It’s a good track but a bit morally dubious - two hot chicks decide to share a man on different days during the week. Who’s been reading my diary?

My favourite new release in 2018 was Lucie Silvas and E.G.O. and the standout track was First Rate Heartbreak. I saw Lucie in London in December so maybe I’m biased. Criminally under-rated but always brilliant Luice is - I found out - also great live. See the coming article on Lucie and her music.

Other notable 2018 songs were - Clean Bandit and Marina - Baby and also James Bay Strawberry Lemonade. I’m pleased for Marina (and the Diamonds) as her Primadonna Girl is a favourite of mine.

Best re-release in 2018 was Gene Clark Sings For You - a cache of Gene demos from 1967. The best track? Past My Door

(Hard to) Find of the Year

Musical find was Terry Hall’s two mid 90’s albums - Home and Laugh. I bought the Forever J single in 1994 and it became one of my favourite records ever - an evergreen candidate for Tim’s Desert Island Discs. I could never find the parent album but this year - probably thanks to dodgy Russian websites - I did! Favourite track - No No No. Fun fact - I found that the best tracks on both albums were written along with Craig Gannon. Yes, he of the latter day Smiths. Also good is Grief Disguised as Joy.

Live in 2018 Award

The runaway winner is - of course Lucie Silvas live December 2018 at The Courthouse London. An intimate, bonus gig for Lucie diehards, it was a close, hot, sweaty, amazing gig. Lucie was relaxed, taking requests and did songs old and new. She belted out stuff from her old albums (Breath In, Twisting the Chain), several from E.G.O. and plenty in between. Best song - Happy.

As some of you may know, I went to the 2018 Brit Awards and so had the opportunity to see no-marks like Duo Lipa lip sync whilst wearing jack-all and talk bollocks about feminism. Of course, Lord Liam of Gallagher, did an excellent Live Forever which went someway to atone for the fact I missed Oasis in the 90’s when I could have easily seen them. Here’s the video I shot which is basically a Liam / Tim duet. Sorry folks. Also, the picture is shit.

But, Justin Timberlake was also good. Especially Say Something with some beardy called Stumblebum or something. I downloaded the track and its one of the most listened to songs in 2018 (helps I got it in Feb, of course)! Most of the rest on the night were shit.

Classical Download 2018

I got into Georg Telemann in 2018. Thanks to my membership of Wandsworth Libraries, I get 3 free downloads per week from their catelogue and Spring was spent downloading - slowly - various notable Telemann concertos. And my favourite? See opposite - Concerto in E Minor for Oboe and Strings - Andante.

Why did I download this crap Award 2018

There’s no contest for this one. Some bollocks German Rap (why Tim, why?). The artist (?) is called Summer Cem and his gem which he curled off for the world is called Tamam Tamam. Look it up. I like Sandra, Nena and er, weren’t The Scorpians German? But this… What was I thinking?

Up My Own Arse Award 2018

This award is given to pretentious music I probably won’t listen to. I see I downloaded loads of early acoustic Dylan - Girl From the North Country, Masters of War, Corrina Corrina. No, not listened to them. I got sucker’d into downloading a couple of David Hemmings tracks because of the Gene Clark connection. Face palmly shit. Avoid. But, I think my deep exploration of Bossa Nova wins the award for 2018. Downloaded (too many) tracks from 60’s diva Sylvia Telles. I like a bit of Corcovado or Insensatez (especially when Anglicised by the Monkees - hey I’m versatile). But Dindi or Sol Da Meia-Noite are definitely there just for show.

So - there is my musical review of the year.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a Christmas classic, well at least in my house (when no one else is around). It’s the cardigan wearing, bluesfest we call ‘Santa Claus is Back in Town’ from two years ago. I miss that cardigan.

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The Brit Awards 2018

Ah the Brits. Oasis behaving badly. Blur winning sack-loads. Jarvis Cocker jumping on St Michael's stage. Madonna falling off the stage.

Well, your correspondent was at the O2 on Wednesday night to get down with the kids and see what they're listening too. Or at least hang out with the corporate people in the good seats on a freebie and go "Who? Who?" every five minutes like some latter-day Duke of Wellington.

So, Tim's review and scores.

Evening, event and company : 10/10

Justin Timberlake - He's got a beard and he's a lumberjack and so, probably, okay. Next.

Rita Ora and that Liam bloke from One Direction - I liked this one as I've downloaded the track from the Fifty Shades of Rip Off movie.

Rag N Bone Man - Okay performance. But he just looks like a walking cliche of everything wrong with contemporary society - big, fat, tatoo'd, and that song 'Human' is just a victim searching for a hood. Still, did use a good West Pier backdrop.

Stormzie - A rapper apparently, your honour. Shit. Political. Yawn.

Kendrick - Another rapper, your honour. Smashed up a car? Why? Who knows? The ways of the rapper are mysterious and unfathomable.

Foo Fighters. Some plugged in rock n roll at last! But, as I only know, Times Like These, an air of the B side hung over their performance.

Dua Lipa - A self appointed feminist who wandered around wearing a G string showing her arse. That was the most memorable thing I remember about her. Probably mimed. My kids say New Rules are popular.

When I think Sam Smith was one of the best acts of the night, you know the music ain't to my taste. He held his tune though and - through constant car reptition - I know Too Good at Goodbyes.

Ed Sheeran -  As I was in the loo when he started, my memories of the first half of his song are very satisfying. Why didn't he do Shape of You? Apparently 2017's best selling single. No, that would be like, obvious, man.

And then, we had the God-like genius of Mr Manchester himself, Liam of the Gallagher, Oasis Revisted! Yes, Liam was there to pay tribute to the victims of the Manchester bomber in 2017. Ariana Grande couldn't make it so up stepped Liam, with cello, beard and parka doing Live Forever. At last! A proper rock star singing a good song in a good cause. Sang his song and walked off. No bollocks about Liam tonight.

Yes of course he isn't like he was in 1994 but, there again, who is?

And then to the afterparty looking suave in my blue suit, white shirt, pocket hanky, looking every inch the new Justin Timberlake. And yes, I hit the dance floor. I'm already a legend and, like Caesar, I write my own PR.

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Top 10 Britpop Songs

MId 90’s Britain - Cool Britannia, Blur v Oasis, 60’s revival, mad for it!

Firstly, let me narrow down exactly which period I’m talking about as things could get muddled and – as someone who used to alphabetise his vinyl collection and order his CDs across two 180cm Ikea Billy cabinets -  structure and order in music are important to me.

The beginning of Britpop was in 1992 when Blur launched their non-album single Popscene onto an uncaring world. Popscene wasn’t ‘baggy’ or ‘Madchester’ or ‘grunge’ or even 'Shoe-Gazing'; it was something noticeably different. Blur spelt this out further the next year pushing the single ‘For Tomorrow’ from their album ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’. They were all about Doc Martens, dog racing and Kink’s style whimsy. Britpop was born.* So 1993 is our start.

And the end? Well, it would be a neat book end to close Britpop down with Blur’s 1997 back to basics Blur album. By that time, Tony Blair and New Labour were in power and Cool Britannia was already a jaded concept. It had run its course and was now just embarrassing.

Probably though the actual end came the summer before when Oasis played their two huge Knebworth gigs. Britpop couldn’t get any bigger. There was nowhere else to go.** It seemed a celebration but also a fin de siècle party for a lost age. A final round of drinks before time was called.

So 1993 – 1996 it is then (or 93-97 if I find a good track and need to bend my own rules).

The Charlatans – Just Lookin’

The Charlatans by the mid 90's had a groove. I saw them a couple of times in the 90's. Great gigs. I love this song for the guitar sound, the guitar solo and the fact that it ROCKS.

Teenage Fanclub – Neil Jung

Saw the Fannies a lot in 1990's. Although they came out of the grunge scene, they produced probably the best Britpop Album in 1995 - Grand Prix. I loved this song and the lyrics always seemed a little personal to me. I did have a girlfriend. She was a lot younger than me.

Ride – From Time to Time

I only saw Ride only once - on The Leave Them All Behind Tour 1992. This one comes from 1994 from Carnival of Light. From Time To Time is one of my favourite Britpop songs but also, one of my favourites anytime, anywhere. Magical, hypnotic, great harmonies. 

Radiohead – Street Spirit (Fade Out)

I remember someone telling me in 1993 that they liked Radiohead. I bought Pablo Honey and thought it shit and so avoided them for the next year. I probably caught the last part of their set at Reading 1993 waiting for Blur. And then - whilst browsing in the Virgin Store in Brighton - they were playing The Bends in 1994. Those last three tracks! Wow! Stunning. And this one, magical and so perfect. They were never this good again.

The Blue Tones – Slight Return

Yeah, I stretch the envelope to 1997 with this one. It takes me back to the Amex Sports and Social Club which had a juke box. I used to play this all the time. Jingle-jangle perfection. 

Oasis -  Rock n Roll Star

There's not much to say that hasn't been said. The mighty Oasis coming out of the blocks with Track 1 of their debut album. They didn't mean this ironically they fooking meant it, man. I never saw Oasis. Or did I? Maybe at The Boardwalk in 1992 before they were famous. But I was pissed and there was a girl.

Morrissey – Spring Heeled Jim

Morrissey, Prince of the Losers in the 80's, was still big in the 90's. I love this track and the authentic scally-wag voices in the background "And they caught 'im, and they said he was mental!"

The Boo Radleys – Wake up Boo

Every morning in the mid 90's you would wake up listening to Chris Evans. His theme song was a bastardised version of this ditty "Wake up! Chris Evans on the Radio...". Cheerful, infectious - a classic. (Though I do prefer their earlier shoe-gazing incarnation).

Blur – Girls and Boys

This is the song that really kicked off Britpop. Blur's 1993 album 'Modern Life is Rubbish' didn't produce any hit singles. I was a big Blur fan and saw them loads of times in the 90's. And then I turned on Top of The Pops in March 1994 and there's my favourite band bouncing around in tracky tops and trainers to this weird song that combines 80's beats with thrashy guitar and amazingly catchy chorus. I remember this as the soundtrack to Tim in Budapest in April 1994.

Sleeper – What Do I Do Now

I saw Sleeper once definitely in Brighton circa 1995 or 1996 as they toured The It Girl. They were shit to be honest. I may have seen them earlier as they supported Blur in either 1993 or 1994 but can't remember. Anyway, although the singer was attractive she was pretty talentless but occasionally (this song, Sale of the Century) Sleeper came out with a bloody good song. You can't ask for more, can you?

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*Some might argue Suede had something to do with it as well but as I thought then – as I think now – they’re just derivative Bowie wannabes, they don’t count. And they’re shite. End of.

** As evidenced by Oasis supporting U2 on their Pop Mart tour in the States. From playing to hundreds of thousands to being the support act to half empty stadiums. It kind of rams it home.

Corelli's Christmas Concerto

This year, I've been playing my Christmas music, as usual. I only listen to Christmas music - both religious and profane - in the actual month of December. Which is probably why shops who slap on their 'Now that's what I call Xmas' in September annoy me so much. There's something trivial, easy and unthinking about this practise. Does no-one in these stores have any sense or decorum?

They could, of course, adopt the musical policy of Clapham Common tube station who play classical music in their foyer; usually beautiful, restful and uplifting Vivaldi. Because this year I've discovered Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto. Now, this I could tolerate in September though - like a chastened monk, I'd never play it at home before 1st December.

Yes, a baroque concerto about Christmas. Why have I never found this piece of music before, me who loves to baroque and roll so very much? It's serious, moving, beautiful even. It reminds me that Christmas isn't just about discos when you were 16, or first kisses, or friends who were important at the time but are now a wistful footnote. There's something contemplative about this 12-15 minutes (different groups play it faster or slower at will). For me - since you ask - I like to reflect, remember previous Christmases and, like Marcus Aurelius, come to grips with how very insignificant is my role in the scheme of things.

So, I'm pleased that I've discovered this piece of music. I hope you like it too.

Merry Christmas

Tim

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Tom Petty and the death of Gene Clark

Consulting this website's Future Book of The Dead I notice I didn’t put Tom Petty on my list of possible celebrity obituaries. And rightly so. I didn’t really dig him that much. Sure, I had his greatest hits on my iTunes (or at least the ones I liked – about 10). Some of them are okay. I play them sometimes. But it’s not urgent, if you know what I mean.

Basically, one for our American cousins. Nothing wrong with Americana - love it - but not everything travels the Atlantic.

But since he’s dead - and I think my readership is not ready for another one of my 4th Century Roman Empire jerk offs - let’s talk Tom. But only tangentially.

(A note to readers, Mick Taylor will not feature in this article. Read it anyway, guys. Broaden your perspective a little.)

I first came across Tom Petty in 1988/89 when the Travelling Wilburys came out. The others – Dylan, Orbison, Harrison, Lynne were well known to a UK audience. Tom Petty though? Who the fuck was he? And to be honest, although I had both Travelling Wilbury albums at some point, I still didn’t know who Tom Petty was. I still slept good.

The second-time Tom Petty came into my consciousness was through Gene Clark - the magnificent but doomed Byrds singer / songwriter. As is well known, Clark was often an alcoholic, often a junkie. By the late 80’s though, he was semi-clean because his records weren’t selling and he was broke.

Enter Tom Petty.

Petty seemed to have wanted to have been in the Byrds (listen to Here Comes My Girl, for instance). So, on his Full Moon Fever Album, he chose to cover the Clark/Byrds classic – I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better. A pretty faithful if uninspired cover, frankly. However, as the album was a best seller and stayed in the US charts for ever, Clark, as the unwitting songwriter of one tenth of the album, suddenly got a ton of cash. Clark did what Clark did and got off his tits with every drug he could find.

Yes, Tom Petty killed Gene Clark.

Not knowingly, of course. But the money from Petty fuelled Clark’s habits. And then he died.

So, not really a Tom Petty eulogy. More a couple of random facts about music. About my life. Anyway, listen to this from Tom - its not bad and probably a good way to remember him.

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The Greatest Album One / Two Punches

There are albums that come out of the blocks with two killer tracks that are like a pissed off Mike Tyson swinging wildly at some trash talking, old timer patsy in the mid 80's. Albums that decide that the best way to follow a kicking first track, is to put on another. 

Lock up your aunties! The Crowes in 1992

The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)

The second album from the Crowes throws 'Sting Me' to the left and "Remedy' to the right. 1992 might have been Grunge Year Zero but, together with Teenage Fanclub, the Crowes held rock's banner aloft. These are kick-ass rock tunes. Basically, The Faces reimagined if their Marshalls were turned to 11 and Rod really went for it. Love these two songs. Highlight - the 'fuck you' start of the guitar solo in Sting Me. A moment in rock I've ever and a day tried to replicate. Two seconds of true power!

The CD reissue doesn't 'feel' right!

Eden - Everything but the Girl (1984)

The impulse purchase one doesn't regret! Stood in WHSmith Rochdale's record department in 1984, I hear the wondrous album play over the store speakers. One track, two tracks, I was sold. Marched up to desk and asked, "Pray tell me good madam, who is making this bewitching sound?". Everything but the Girl apparently. Crazy name, crazy sound. So, I bought the album - that cardboard, non veneered album with the abstract painting on the front. The songs, I now know as Each and Everyone and Bittersweet. They detail the commonplace jealousies and realities of relationships. All bedsits, screaming babies and jealousy. No holding hands and a rush towards lust with these songs. It was the clever lyrics as much as the bossa nova rhythms that had me captivated. The rest of the album's pretty good (apart from the execrable Soft Touch).

George is a pinapple head

Beatles for Sale (1964)

Not a One / Two, but a 1-2-3. The Fab Four of course do what other groups do - only better. Whilst other groups would put their singles on their albums, The Beatles didn't.  So Beatles for Sale kicks off with No Reply, I'm a Loser, Baby's in Black. With these stunning ditties The Fab Four literally piss on their competition. The bar is set so high, their album tracks sound like a career best single for any other group. Bizarrely, although released at the height of Beatlemania, Beatles for Sale is pretty obscure these days and these three - being non singles - are not as well known as they should be. But I love this album. Almost as much as I love...

Fisheye

...Rubber Soul (1965)

Pound for pound, this non single containing album, packs pretty much the hardest punch of any album. It roars out of the blocks with McCartney's funky - come on Motown have a go if you think you're hard enough! - Drive My Car. Most groups' best single ever. Just an album track. We then shift gear to the acoustic and sitar masterpiece that is Norwegian Wood. As a guitarist, this latter song - with it's major to minor shift - is a dream to play. Like You've Got To Hide Your Love Away this shows why Lennon is so revered. This is effortlessly brilliant. We all fuck around on D but don't achieve anything like this. Let alone chucking in a middle 8 in G minor. Class. In a glass.

Hard. Soft. Kicks ass.

Led Zep 4 (1971)

Anything The Beatles can do, Zep does one better and louder! The whole of Side 1 of Led Zep 4. Just review these four tracks:- Black Dog, Rock n Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway to Heaven. And this is just an normal album, not a greatest hits compilation. Not a filler in sight! From the sonic destruction of the first two, to my teenage fav with Sandy Denny (obligatory hobbit references!) to the ubiquitous - but deservedly so - Stairway, this is how to start a 37 million selling album. Are these guys knights of the realm yet FFS?

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Rhinestone Cowboy

I came to the Glen Campbell story a little late. In 1975 he had his last burst of chart activity with what was to become his theme song - Rhinestone Cowboy. It was big back then. I remember it and loved it.

Rhinestone Cowboy is an interesting song in that it deals with an urban loser who dreams of becoming one of those rodeo riders, all decked out in a glittering cowboy outfit with fake gems and big smile for the crowds.

In a way - obvious connection never eschewed - that was how Glen Campbell was; a synthetic cowboy hiding some real grief and a more complex oeuvre than the good ole country boy image he got pigeon holed with. He was so much more than country music.

He was a session guitarist in LA playing with the ubiquitous Wrecking Crew of musicians employed by the studios to provide the backing to thousands of hits. I knew he played on The Righteous Brothers songs and lots of surf music but did you know he also played the guitar on Sinatra's Strangers in The Night?

He also had a high voice. This voice got him a stint in the Beach Boys in the mid 60's when Brian Wilson was cooling his toes off in the sand and the touring group needed another harmony. Indeed, it was Brian who gave Campbell his first solo single, the Beach Boysesque - Guess I'm Dumb. This would have slotted nicely into Pet Sounds. It was a failure.

It was another songwriter however that Campbell will forever be associated with - Jimmy Webb. This is where the career defining hits came in - Galveston, By the Time I get to Phoenix and the ever brilliant, never bettered, written in 20 minutes, Wichita Lineman.

For those that follow my videos on YouTube (er, that's probably just me) well you'd know that Wichita Lineman is one of those songs I like to whip out when a guitar and the occasion merits it. This major / minor key song is classy, and Campbell's yearning voice, never fails to send shivers down the spine when he sings:

“And I need you more than want you
And I want you for all time.”

Simple and yet beautiful - the first line cueing up effortlessly the second. Songwriting gold, my friends.

Other favourites from my Glen Campbell list - some well known, others not - are Where's The Playground Susie, If This Is Love, Time, Dreams of the Everyday Housewife, London. If you want to hear how Campbell interprets a song, how his easy style masks virtuosity, listen to his version of Only Make Believe.

From what I've read and from interviews I've watched, Campbell comes across as a nice guy with a prodigious talent. I'm proud to say I was a fan.

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Oh, and I like this one from Glen Campbell's TV show 1970. HIs guest is Neil Diamond. They do a rocking version of Thank The Lord for The Nighttime.

And yes I realise that Glen Campbell wasn't on my list of obituaries... What can I say, some flexibility in my subject matter is important...