The Meters defined the sound of New Orleans funk on this instrumental back in 1969. It’s still winning new friends in movies today. (more…)

The Shirelles were still in their teens, fresh out of Passaic High School in New Jersey, when they became the first black girl group to top the US charts in 1960. (more…)

What a strange and compelling song The Letter is. And how strange to realise that husky blue-eyed soul voice comes from a 16-year-old boy. (more…)

Leonard Cohen’s song So Long Marianne reminds me of my first job, and the time I left home and moved to London when I was 17. (more…)

As the Sixties drew to a close music began to evolve. Out went cheery pop songs with clapalong beats and in came psychedelic weirdness. Perhaps it was something in the water – probably LSD.
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Rosemary Clooney, perhaps better known now as George Clooney’s aunt, brings back the Latin vibe of Sway, previously popularised by Dean Martin.
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Elvis Presley meets Massive Attack in an inspired mash-up that spans 25 years and 4,000 miles to merge Memphis and Bristol. (more…)

Marlena Shaw’s spellbinding live version of Woman Of The Ghetto from 1974 transforms a tribute to African-American women into a civil rights anthem.

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Not many people know this but Helen Shapiro, famed for being a child star in the early Sixties, made her live debut with her school friend Mark Feld, later to become Marc Bolan. (more…)

If I was about ten years older, I would probably remember this song coming out in 1965. Instead I heard it years later – but it’s one of my favourite Dylan songs. (more…)