From the last album Biggie Smalls released in his lifetime, a user guide to making money in the way he used to earn his. (more…)

Break-up songs don’t come much more devastating than The End Of The World, which gave country legend Skeeter Davis her only UK hit in 1963. (more…)

With his big hat and catchy tunes, George Strait was my gateway drug into what the old joke calls my two of my favourite types of music – country and western. (more…)

Filmed in a downpour against leaden skies and the synthesised diesel roar of a motorway, this rave anthem – another list song – lives up to its title. (more…)

Joni Mitchell’s extraordinary gift for images and phrases first caught my ear, as much as her voice, with the jazz-textured 1975 album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. (more…)

Hello were strictly second-division Glam. They had the second – and last – of their hits when they got back together with Russ Ballard of Argent, who had first discovered them when they were a covers band. (more…)

This was the 14th single by The Sweet – or ‘Sweet’ as they had just become – and the first to be written by the band themselves. (more…)

I’d forgotten about Kenny. I kinda wish I hadn’t remembered, though the story behind them is worth telling – especially the fact that Cheggers was nearly their singer. And that Kellogg’s took offence (and legal action) at their signature style of wearing tops with a big ‘K’ for Kenny on the front. (more…)

Ahh, the days when you could go on Top of the Pops wearing a sweater knitted by your nan with the name of your band on your tummy… (more…)

So very sad to hear of the death of Jamaican toaster U-Roy, aka Ewart Beckford, aka The Originator, aka Daddy U-Roy. One of the reggae greats.

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