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RIP Terry Venables (1943-2023)
Footballer, manager, writer, singer, Dagenham boy Terry played for Chelsea, Spurs, Queens Park Rangers and (briefly) Crystal Palace between 1960 and 1975. He then managed Palace (winning the Division 3 and 2 titles in successive years), QPR (winning Division 2), Barcelona (winning the Spanish league title) and Spurs (winning the 1991 FA Cup). He took over England in 1994 and guided them to the semi-finals of the Euro 96 tournament, where they lost on penalties to Germany.
Requiem has to be the song to remember Geordie Walker, the Killing Joke guitarist who has died. Not just for its title but for his vast metallic slabs of electric guitar that scythe through the synth bass.
Adrian Sherwood at the controls for this dub remix of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s 2022 album Reset, aptly titled Reset In Dub.
Bo Diddley’s heyday was long gone by 1970 and he was mostly seen as a heritage act on the oldies circuit (if at all) by the time he tackled the topical issue of Pollution. But it’s a great track.
Michael Chapman was a guitar virtuoso, acclaimed for his acoustic fingerpicking. But it’s Mick Ronson’s electric guitar that steals the show here.
Bob Dylan painted a picture of economic despair in his heartbreaking tale of a farmer driven to familicide, The Ballad Of Hollis Brown.
Virgin Prunes began life at the same time, at the same social club in Dublin, as U2 – but went in a very different direction, blending avant-garde cabaret with improvisation and experimentation.
When what the music press lazily dubbed “The Scottish Sound” emerged at the end of the Seventies, Josef K were the yin to Orange Juice’s yang – the dark underbelly to their bright and sparkly pop.
In 1980 the postpunk landscape was expanding in all sorts of new directions. Most of them had identifiable roots in punk but Orange Juice were odds with the New Wave mainstream.
I was hoping to see Fightmilk on Friday night at a night of LGBTQ+ music at the Sebright Arms, headlined by Belfast’s energetic feminist punks Problem Patterns. But because my friend Alex was late after missing his bus, and his train, I only caught their last number as they were the support act.