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    MUSIC THAT MOVES US

    HERE COMES THE SONG

    From Red to blues: Got My Mojo Working by Muddy Waters
    • Mar 1

    From Red to blues: Got My Mojo Working by Muddy Waters

    Ian Tasker If you are talking blues standards then they don’t come much more ready-made, boil-in-the-bag than Muddy Waters’ Got My Mojo...
    103 views
    The Beatles: I Need You and a personal appeal for Help!
    • Feb 24

    The Beatles: I Need You and a personal appeal for Help!

    Tim Woods What kind of Beatles fan are you? Maybe the obsessive type, the sort who whistles the chorus to Honey Pie without even...
    556 views
    Cowboy: Please Be With Me – and please remember Duane Allman
    • Oct 29, 2021

    Cowboy: Please Be With Me – and please remember Duane Allman

    Ian Tasker Today is a day for remembrance, reflection and wondering what might have been, for exactly 50 years ago on October 29, 1971,...
    428 views
    Steely Dan: Bodhisattva and the outfunking of The Skunk
    • Oct 20, 2021

    Steely Dan: Bodhisattva and the outfunking of The Skunk

    Rob Steen Bodacious cowboys. Snook-cocking hipsters. Coolest white dudes on the Seventies block. Steely Dan, aka The Dan, are the...
    316 views
    Duster Bennett: Worried Mind and British blues of the vintage kind
    • Oct 12, 2021

    Duster Bennett: Worried Mind and British blues of the vintage kind

    Phil Shaw Perhaps Robert Johnson’s deal with the devil at the crossroads was to blame for all the blues artists, here and in America, who...
    182 views
    Lindsey Buckingham: Swan Song and the spoils of an inner war
    • Sep 30, 2021

    Lindsey Buckingham: Swan Song and the spoils of an inner war

    Rob Steen Lindsey Buckingham has pulled off quite a coup with his latest album. Emulating Sting, not to mention leaving Paul, Mick, Keef...
    462 views
    The Band: In cahoots with Van Morrison for 4% Pantomime
    • Aug 19, 2021

    The Band: In cahoots with Van Morrison for 4% Pantomime

    Rob Steen Freddie and Bowie. Crosby and Bowie. Crosby and Nash. Mahalia and Mavis. Aretha and George Michael. Michael McDonald and Joni....
    1,232 views
    Jason Mandell: The story behind my song Soul Of America
    • Jul 29, 2021

    Jason Mandell: The story behind my song Soul Of America

    Jason Mandell in Los Angeles There’s a great Julian Barnes line: ‘I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.’ That’s kind of how I felt...
    99 views
    Whitney Houston: How Will I Know and a daughter's dance of delight
    • Jul 19, 2021

    Whitney Houston: How Will I Know and a daughter's dance of delight

    Tim Woods As a parent, you have certain responsibilities towards your children. You need to keep them safe, provide them with a home, put...
    93 views
    Allison Russell: How a Nightflyer became an angel of the morning
    • May 26, 2021

    Allison Russell: How a Nightflyer became an angel of the morning

    Neil Morton Reading the harrowing back story of Allison Russell while listening to her remarkable debut solo album is a humbling...
    4,437 views
    Ronald Isley at 80: Behind A Painted Smile lies a voice for the ages
    • May 13, 2021

    Ronald Isley at 80: Behind A Painted Smile lies a voice for the ages

    Phil Shaw OK, so who’s the oldest singer or musician from the rock ‘n’ roll era onwards still performing? When the question was posed at...
    531 views
    World Party: Karl Wallinger, Always and the McCartney parallel
    • May 10, 2021

    World Party: Karl Wallinger, Always and the McCartney parallel

    Rob Steen So I sat in the attic, a piano up my nose And the wind played a dreadful cantata (cantata, cantata) Sore was I from a crack of...
    1,073 views
    Billy Connolly: Everybody Knows That and the ballad years
    • Apr 4, 2021

    Billy Connolly: Everybody Knows That and the ballad years

    Shug Hanlan It is impossible to mistake the looks of genuine joy and affection on the faces of the various ‘celebrities’ assembled for...
    451 views
    The Beautiful South: I'll Sail This Ship Alone
    • Mar 29, 2021

    The Beautiful South: I'll Sail This Ship Alone

    Tim Woods Record sales that topped 15 million. Eight top 10 studio albums, with two reaching No1 in the charts. Twenty-two singles that...
    552 views
    Nick Drake: Northern Sky and the short life of a brighter talent
    • Mar 13, 2021

    Nick Drake: Northern Sky and the short life of a brighter talent

    Ian Malin Fifty years ago, in the second week of March, an album that now has almost mythical status was released and hardly anyone...
    1,553 views
    Oasis: Round Are Way, six minutes of joyous, rollicking perfection
    • Feb 25, 2021

    Oasis: Round Are Way, six minutes of joyous, rollicking perfection

    Tim Woods There are people out there who don’t like Oasis. Plenty, in fact. Some find the constant bickering between the Gallagher...
    1,416 views
    1971 revisited: The Beach Boys and the majesty of Surf's Up
    • Jan 31, 2021

    1971 revisited: The Beach Boys and the majesty of Surf's Up

    Ian Malin Meet the New Year. But to paraphrase The Who it’s the same as the old one. This dark lockdown is worse really than anything in...
    490 views
    1971 revisited: Carole King and the beautiful legacy of Tapestry
    • Jan 31, 2021

    1971 revisited: Carole King and the beautiful legacy of Tapestry

    Rob Steen Hyde Park, July 3, 2016. For the first time, Carole King, one of the most successful songwriters of the 20th century, is about...
    656 views
    The Creation: Making Time and the sound of red with purple flashes
    • Jan 27, 2021

    The Creation: Making Time and the sound of red with purple flashes

    Phil Shaw ‘Our songs crop up in strange places,’ said Eddie Phillips, lead guitarist with The Creation, who briefly rubbed shoulders with...
    447 views
    Bert Sommer: Jennifer's journey from oblivion to Woodstock folklore
    • Jan 5, 2021

    Bert Sommer: Jennifer's journey from oblivion to Woodstock folklore

    Sharon Watts in Beacon, New York The name Jennifer has ‘muse’ written all over it. Just ask Kurt Weill, Little Richard, Tommy Tutone,...
    739 views
    Man Without A Soul: Lucinda gives the Trump era a fiery send-off
    • Dec 14, 2020

    Man Without A Soul: Lucinda gives the Trump era a fiery send-off

    Ian Malin Don’t worry it will soon be over. For those of us still standing anyway. The year the music, and pretty much all entertainment,...
    524 views
    Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Janey Needs A Shooter
    • Dec 3, 2020

    Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Janey Needs A Shooter

    Chris Hewett Those of us who have spent the best part of 50 years surfing the mighty swells of Bruce Springsteen’s music – or, just...
    250 views
    Elliott Smith: Pretty (Ugly Before), soundtrack to a troubled soul
    • Nov 29, 2020

    Elliott Smith: Pretty (Ugly Before), soundtrack to a troubled soul

    Tim Woods There are different ways for musicians to be successful. The most obvious is through the charts: No1 singles or albums that go...
    312 views
    The Grateful Dead: The spirit of Brokedown Palace lives on
    • Nov 10, 2020

    The Grateful Dead: The spirit of Brokedown Palace lives on

    Andrew R McGaan in Chicago One of the Grateful Dead’s most beautiful songs, both musically and lyrically, is a love song, a sermon, and...
    3,414 views
    Allman Brothers Band: In memory of Duane and Whipping Post
    • Oct 28, 2020

    Allman Brothers Band: In memory of Duane and Whipping Post

    Exactly 49 years ago today, on 29 October 1971, a long-haired motorcyclist was making his way through the Georgia town of Macon when he was…
    609 views
    Gaz Brookfield: The Old Normal and other new lockdown songs
    • Oct 21, 2020

    Gaz Brookfield: The Old Normal and other new lockdown songs

    When Covid19 first struck and lockdown imposed, the West Country folk guitarist Gaz Brookfield – a type 1 diabetic more conscious than most…
    220 views
    Between The Wreck and a hard place: all aboard the Rescue Train
    • Oct 19, 2020

    Between The Wreck and a hard place: all aboard the Rescue Train

    What do you do in times of Covid19 if you are a musician in a rock band? Rishi Sunak might suggest you retrain as a delivery driver…
    78 views
    In praise of songwriters: Rumer and the art of interpretation
    • Oct 2, 2020

    In praise of songwriters: Rumer and the art of interpretation

    Nearly 20 years ago the music journalist Max Bell was invited to a gig of a London-based folk-indie band La Honda in the cafeteria of a…
    139 views
    Isle of Wight 50 years after: the enduring majesty of Baez and Cohen
    • Aug 27, 2020

    Isle of Wight 50 years after: the enduring majesty of Baez and Cohen

    If you can remember the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, you weren’t really there. That follows, does it not, because the whole crazy, chaotic…
    164 views
    Marvin Gaye: Abraham, Martin and John. Not forgetting Bobby
    • Jun 14, 2020

    Marvin Gaye: Abraham, Martin and John. Not forgetting Bobby

    If the last few gruesome weeks in Britain and America have taught us anything it is that both countries are governed by small men, men who…
    3,443 views
    Robert Jon & The Wreck: Tired Of Drinking Alone
    • May 22, 2020

    Robert Jon & The Wreck: Tired Of Drinking Alone

    Every now and then a band comes along that blows your socks off. Robert Jon & The Wreck are that band for me and this track – from their new
    197 views
    Suzanne Vega: Gypsy and a cherished Glastonbury memory
    • May 20, 2020

    Suzanne Vega: Gypsy and a cherished Glastonbury memory

    Many of us have a song that evokes a particular time, place or person: that anthem from your youth, or a slushy tune shared with a first…
    821 views
    Gillian Welch: The hush and the hurt of I Made A Lovers Prayer
    • May 3, 2020

    Gillian Welch: The hush and the hurt of I Made A Lovers Prayer

    There is more to the harmonica than meets the lips, to the extent that a careless student of the instrument might blow some serious money on
    345 views
    Thom Yorke: Last Flowers
    • Apr 13, 2020

    Thom Yorke: Last Flowers

    When the panic swept through England, the scale was measured in loo roll. The supermarket rush for toilet paper evoked the run on Northern…
    240 views
    Jason Isbell: Traveling Alone
    • Apr 7, 2020

    Jason Isbell: Traveling Alone

    Jason Isbell tells an amusing tale about meeting Bruce Springsteen a few years back and being bowled over when The Boss began to sing the…
    1,283 views
    Sixties discoveries: From The Fourmyula to The Millennium
    • Mar 27, 2020

    Sixties discoveries: From The Fourmyula to The Millennium

    Nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past. But is it possible to be nostalgic for a time you never knew
    133 views
    Paul Simon: American Tune
    • Mar 26, 2020

    Paul Simon: American Tune

    Churches and cathedrals will remain silent this Easter so there will be little chance to hear O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, a choral work by…
    260 views
    Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson: Alexandra Leaving
    • Mar 18, 2020

    Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson: Alexandra Leaving

    If poetry is the ‘music of ideas’ – an intriguing definition of the barely definable, put forward by the writer Peter Whitfield – can music…
    4,012 views
    Badfinger, sad singer: Day After Day
    • Mar 8, 2020

    Badfinger, sad singer: Day After Day

    Has there ever been a sadder, more violent death in pop than that of Pete Ham? Grisly ends are not exactly unique in rock. Think Marvin Gaye
    1,576 views
    Richard Dawson: Two Halves and a singular voice
    • Feb 17, 2020

    Richard Dawson: Two Halves and a singular voice

    Time for a sheepish confession, or a proud boast, depending on your view. Of the thousands of 7” singles I have bought, blagged, swapped…
    261 views
    The Police: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
    • Jan 12, 2020

    The Police: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

    Desert Island Discs? Pah. How about a single musical morsel for sustenance, one solitary assemblage of crotchets and quavers with which to…
    405 views
    Black Grape: Dadi Waz A Badi and the Trumpian parallel
    • Jan 2, 2020

    Black Grape: Dadi Waz A Badi and the Trumpian parallel

    When Hollywood makes its Donald Trump biopic, which with horrifying inevitability it will, the soundtrack will be by Black Grape. And the…
    107 views
    Lindisfarne: Winter Song, Alan Hull's timeless cri de coeur
    • Dec 12, 2019

    Lindisfarne: Winter Song, Alan Hull's timeless cri de coeur

    Don’t get me wrong. As Jewish as I am, I’m all for Noddy Holder roaring ‘It’s ChrisssssssssMAS!’ or John Lennon hoping war is over or Roy…
    921 views
    Eric Clapton: Layla (and Other Assorted Love Songs)
    • Sep 22, 2019

    Eric Clapton: Layla (and Other Assorted Love Songs)

    Launched into the stratosphere with arguably (in my humble opinion, indisputably) the greatest opening riff in the history of rock, Layla…
    460 views
    Joni Mitchell: Dark majesty of Shades Of Scarlett Conquering
    • Aug 27, 2019

    Joni Mitchell: Dark majesty of Shades Of Scarlett Conquering

    If the 1960s were the decade of the classic single, the Seventies were the decade of what was quaintly called the album. And for the first…
    1,349 views
    Paddy McAloon: Keeping alive the spirit of Prefab Sprout
    • Aug 6, 2019

    Paddy McAloon: Keeping alive the spirit of Prefab Sprout

    To some, The Artist Better Known As Prefab Sprout occupies an unthreatened throne. A thousand rave reviews, one Top 10 single. A daring deb…
    1,132 views
    Dion & The Belmonts: My Girl The Month of May
    • Jul 9, 2019

    Dion & The Belmonts: My Girl The Month of May

    Frankie Avalon, Johnny Tillotson, Brian Hyland, Fabian, Bobby Rydell: by the mid-1960s many teen idols of the pre-Beatles era were already…
    285 views
    Anatomy of a classic cover: My Girl The Month Of May by The Alan Bown
    • Jul 9, 2019

    Anatomy of a classic cover: My Girl The Month Of May by The Alan Bown

    My Girl the Month of May, Dion’s hymn to her, may have been the flipside of a flop but it inspired two distinctive covers by artists who…
    147 views
    Gretchen Peters: Arguing With Ghosts
    • Jul 4, 2019

    Gretchen Peters: Arguing With Ghosts

    It is always pleasing when a songwriter you greatly admire echoes a long-held belief. My contention is that the best songs are the sad ones…
    279 views
    Unlucky Starrs: What might have been for a band called Interview
    • Apr 24, 2019

    Unlucky Starrs: What might have been for a band called Interview

    There cannot be a music lover anywhere in the world who does not have direct knowledge of a band who might have made it – could have made…
    436 views

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