HERE COMES THE SONG

Brave Awakening showcases both Terry Reid’s songwriting ability and his rich and soulful vocal range

Courtney Marie Andrews’ first music for three years has arrived like a comfort blanket. Cons And Clowns is a beautiful celebration of self

The opportunity to honour two heroes with one song was too inviting to miss for jazz-blues artist Jon Batiste. The late Ray Charles first recorded Lonely Avenue in 1956 and it is covered by Batiste on his new album, Big Money, in the company of a living legend, Randy Newman. The wonderfully soulful duet is our Song Of The Week at herecomesthesong.com.

In the age of the information superhighway there is an expectation that the sum total of human knowledge is accessible with one click and Google is seemingly omniscient. It is highly unusual, not to say curious, that the circumstances surrounding the untimely death of an internationally renowned musician should remain shrouded in mystery for years. But this is the case regarding the demise of Ben Andrews in April 2011 at the age of 51.

Britney’s original version contains a comic interlude which Thompson cleverly replaces with a 16th-century instrumental passage (‘to show how things come round again’), and it works well. But the performance is essentially a mickey-take

Red House was written by Hendrix and follows a standard 12-bar blues format. The word Blues is a colloquialism for sadness and yet great blues songs can be incredibly uplifting. This is because the protagonist almost always triumphs over whatever adversity they are facing. So it is with Red House.

Although Lennon and Harrison contributed harmonies to McCartney’s lead vocal, no Beatle actually plays an instrument on the finished track but it is distinctive for an entirely different reason. Lennon and McCartney seldom disagreed over the authorship of a Beatles song. Eleanor Rigby is a rare example

Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, was a hard, rough man prone to violence who spent a portion of his life in prison. He was also one of the most influential figures in the history of American music.

The standout track for me is Love You So. It is hard not to conclude that this was at least in part Rodgers’ heartfelt goodbye to his troubled bandmate

Though The Nice’s later work is dominated by Keith Emerson, the work with Davy O’List is more balanced and in my view more interesting

McMurtry can make you smile with his wry humour but it is his snarl that commands your attention

Procol Harum are its best-known gift to the world. Yet as a new exhibition titled The Scene By the Sea at the Beecroft Art Gallery demonstrates, there’s far more to Southend (182,000 inhabitants), Canvey Island (38,000) and their corner of Essex than skipping the light fandango and cartwheels across the floor.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale regularly appears near the top of any list of the greatest singles of all time. There is no argument about its brilliance. But every other aspect of the song and its creation is surrounded by controversy.

You would be forgiven for thinking that this was Keith Emerson in action. Emerson was indeed there but in the audience, sitting open-mouthed and experiencing a Road to Damascus epiphany. The organist was Don Shinn of The Soul Agents.