What a voice! That’s the first reaction I had when I first heard unsung Southern soul legend James Carr singing this. And I’m sure I’m not alone.

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The New Pornographers wrote and recorded this wistful elegy for the long-lostd last payphone in New York City.

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RIP Val Kilmer (1959-2025)

The night I met Val Kilmer was, weirdly enough, at a Mazzy Star gig at the Union Chapel in London. OK, it wasn’t actually at the gig, and I didn’t actually meet him, but we were both there at the same time that night in 1996.

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The Three Degrees teamed up with Philly’s house band MFSB for the joyous soul anthem T.S.O.P. aka The Sound Of Philadephia.

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After a gap of 45 years and a long career in fashion, original Siouxsie & The Banshees guitarist John McKay releases his first solo album of archive material.

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Here’s my latest playlist – a spring-flavoured selection from March, ranging from The Damned to Miles Davis, Roy Ayers to Fontaines DC. It starts with a bang, to mark the death of Brian James, before settling into a smooth soul groove, dipping into the Nineties now and then for what we once called ‘indie’ music, making a detour into the Seventies, and ending up back in the Fifties and Sixties with some fiery blues and cool jazz.

Albert King had been making records for more than a decade when the blues legend recorded his signature song Born Under A Bad Sign in 1967.

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The Spinners – aka The Detroit Spinners – enjoyed their only UK number one in 1980, a quarter of a century after they first formed.

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Mambo Sun is the first track on the first side of the first proper T. Rex album Electric Warrior, released in 1971.

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Marty Robbins topped the US charts and had a UK Top 20 hit with this classic country and western tune, El Paso, back in 1959.

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