Fontaines D.C. reach a new high with their latest single, a euphoric hymn to youth and a plea for hope in an uncertain world – It’s Amazing To Be Young.

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I’ve never been a jazz-funk fan and the vibraphone would be very low on my list of favourite instruments, ranking alongside the flute and just above the ukelele. But I’d have to make an exception for Roy Ayers.

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I was too young to see the New York Dolls in their heyday, though I saw Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers on numerous occasions. The closest I got to David Johansen in those early days was that historically fabulous OGWT in 1973.

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My latest playlist is one of my most eclectic yet. It begins with one of the all-time pop classics (Ronettes) and ends with an aptly valedictory elegy for one of those we lost in February (Bill Fay).

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In a month when we lost some big names in music – Marianne Faithfull, Roberta Flack, Rick Buckler of The Jam – the death of Bill Fay may have passed without much attention.

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Whenever Van Morrison puts out a new tune there’s always the worry that time will have finally caught up with the auld fella. But this is lovely.

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Roberta Flack sang two or three of the greatest and most ubiquitous songs in what you might call the Easy Listening Soul genre. But there was much more to her than that. A fantastic afro, for one thing; and the middle name Cleopatra for another… and this tune.

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The most extraordinary thing about this tune is the age of the man who made it. Marshall Allen, the sprightly old fellow you can see capering about in the video, celebrated his 100th birthday almost a year ago.

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The Jam gig I’ll always remember – along with the last one at the Rainbow in 1981 – is the time my mate filled in for drummer Rick Buckler at a gig.

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Justin Vernon has travelled far from his indie-folk roots since his debut album as Bon Iver almost singlehandedly invented the genre back in 2008.

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