By 1976 I was losing interest in the singles chart, beyond getting my weekly fix of Top of the Pops. So I missed this at the time. (more…)

I love country music, especially old-time roots music with one foot in folk and one foot in the blues, and one hand dangling loosely in the waters of jazz. Now… 

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This may well be my least favourite song of all time. It’s certainly up there (or down there) with Hey Jude, Son Of My Father and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.
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In the mid-Seventies I didn’t like The Bee Gees. In fact I thought they were awful: a bunch of buck-toothed bouffant-haired bearded brothers with ridiculous clothes and silly high voices singing disco. (more…)

“Get Up And Boogie,” sing the girls of Silver Convention with wide smiles and enthusiastic hand movements. “No thanks, we’re just fine sitting here,” reply the audience. (more…)

For me 1975 was a great year in music in at least one respect – it was the first year in my life that Cliff Richard had not had a hit single. Because this single, Honky Tonk Angel, was banned… banned by Cliff himself. (more…)

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What a gloriously uplifting song this is. Except it isn’t. It’s anything but uplifting if you listen to the lyrics. In fact it’s as dark a song as you’ll ever hear. And it’s all autobiographical. (more…)

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The story goes that Keith Richards once fell asleep onstage while playing this song at a Stones concert. I have no idea if it’s true but if it is, I suspect other factors apart from its opiate-friendly tempo may have been at play. (more…)