The very first time I heard the twang of that guitar motif, wobbling and bending out of shape, I was hooked on what must be one of the strangest love songs of all time. And it’s stayed in my head since 1978.

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Who would have thought a pasty-faced weirdo and his Manchester mates could create something as funky as Sly Stone’s original? Yet that’s exactly what Magazine manage to do.

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Today I’m feeling a little bit country and a little bit rock’n’roll, just like Donny and Marie once did. So here’s a bit of Buck Owens. This song never fails to put a big fat smile on my face. It just swings, and rocks, and twangs in all the right places.

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Here’s a sweet slice of Sixties psychedelia by a bunch of British teenagers, released in February 1968 to a chorus of indifference. Who would have expected it to launch a multi-million-selling band on a stellar career?

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I’m a little late on this but I wanted to post a song by The Chills after the sad death of their main man Martin Phillipps at the age of only 61.

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It’s no exaggeration to say John Mayall is the most important figure in the development of rock music in Britain. 

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The night The Yellow Monkey made their UK debut in front of a fervent Japanese crowd… supporting future superstars Travis.

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I first stumbled across this Bradford band by accident when they supported punk also-rans Chelsea at the Marquee one night in 1981 – billed as “Sudden Death Cult.”

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TIM COOPER – ANOTHER VIEW

Evening Standard, 16 December 2016

For a long time I’ve thought about starting my own food blog. Trouble is, restaurants wouldn’t like my reviews much because every time I eat out, something goes wrong. Well, not EVERY time – that would be impossible – but as near as dammit, and much more often than is statistically likely.

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Words can’t express how much I have loved this song from the very first time I heard it, with its litany of cultural icons that we all admire.

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