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…)

It’s a sad irony that it typically takes a pop star to die before you start delving through their back catalogue. (more…)

John Holt is one of my favourite singers and Police In Helicopter is a song that would probably be one of my Desert Island Discs. (more…)

The Mighty Diamonds were another of the glorious harmony groups to come out of Jamaica in the Seventies. (more…)

With his fragile, quavery voice, Horace Andy is one of the most distinctive figures in reggae music – and equally familiar for his work with trip-hop maestros Massive Attack. (more…)

With its catchy tune and completely crazy nonsense lyric, Dillinger had a hit that took London’s punk and reggae fans by storm back in 1976. (more…)

The instantly catchy Fade Away was a sad premonition of the career of Junior Byles, who sang what remains one of my favourite reggae tunes of all time. (more…)

The signature tune of Max Romeo, War Ina Babylon earned him a deal with Island Records in the mid-Seventies, reviving  a career that began in the late Sixties in Jamaica. (more…)