Midge Ure had his first taste of fame fronting boy band Slik, long before Ultravox, Live Aid and Do They Know It’s Christmas? (more…)

By 1975 I was old enough to drink and smoke and I was beginning to discover that tobacco was not the only thing you could smoke. And ready to discover The Doors. (more…)

Sailor seemed like a homegrown version of Sparks when they steered into the spotlight at the end of 1975 with Glass Of Champagne, led by a real Russian prince. (more…)

There was a time in the early Seventies when the “power trio” was a Thing. All the better to showcase a virtuoso guitarist with blue tendencies by backing him with a brutal rhythm section. (more…)

I‘ve never been a big Led Zeppelin fan – nor even a medium-sized one – but I know their work, and I have a soft spot for their softer spots. Such as this folky little number from their second album. (more…)

Mellow grooves don’t come much mellower – or groovier – than this soulful slice of pub rock that gave Ace their one and only hit in late 1974. (more…)

If there was ever a competition to find the funkiest funkster in Funkville, then Sly Stone would be in the final funk-off, probably with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. (more…)

This may have been my introduction to folk music. I was a bit late, considering it’s a nineteenth-century song, though it goes back even further than that in its inspiration. (more…)

Lou Reed has probably loomed larger in my musical life than anyone else. Both as a solo artist and in his band The Velvet Underground. (more…)

This might not be not my favourite Bowie song but it is, for my money, the most perfectly produced song of all time. (more…)