R.E.M. broke through to the big time in 1991 after a decade as indie darlings, with what would soon become their signature song.

(more…)

PragVEC were one of the first of the post-punk bands to emerge in London in 1978 and sounded unlike anyone else at the time – or since. (more…)

Still digging into early-Seventies soul, I have to admit I’d never heard of Brick and consequently I’d never heard of their disco and jazz hybrid that they called “dazz.”

(more…)

In 1977 I was listening to a solid diet of one-chord wonders, varied only with a weekly dose of Top of the Pops to find out what the rest of the country was listening to while I pogoed.

(more…)

Everybody knows Aretha Franklin. Few apart from hardcore soul fans remember the Queen of Soul’s big sister Erma. (more…)

This nine-minute extravaganza is essentially an extended guitar solo, much like Funkadelic’s extraordinary Maggot Brain. And just as good.

(more…)

Jazz-funk was never my thing, conjuring nightmarish visions of George Benson and Level 42, but it did provide a moment of Pleasure in 1979.

(more…)

This is one big funk party from the moment Tom Browne blows his trumpet, voices start to chatter and Marcus Miller’s thunderous bass begins to rumble.

(more…)

I have to confess I never really paid much attention to the rise of D’Angelo, wrongly filing him away as a smooth R&B crooner of bedroom ballads.

(more…)

Dublin trio JJ72 were going to be the Next Big Thing after two successful singles and a lot of hype around the turn of the millennium.

(more…)