There was a time in the early Seventies when the “power trio” was a Thing. All the better to showcase a virtuoso guitarist with blues tendencies by backing him with a brutal rhythm section. (more…)

I‘ve never been a big Led Zeppelin fan – nor even a medium-sized one – but I know their work, and I have a soft spot for their softer spots. Such as this folky little number from their second album. (more…)

Mellow grooves don’t come much mellower – or groovier – than this soulful slice of pub rock that gave Ace their one and only hit in late 1974. (more…)

If there was ever a competition to find the funkiest funkster in Funkville, then Sly Stone would be in the final funk-off, probably with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. (more…)

This may have been my introduction to folk music. I was a bit late, considering it’s a nineteenth-century song, though it goes back even further than that in its inspiration. (more…)

Lou Reed has probably loomed larger in my musical life than anyone else. Both as a solo artist and in his band The Velvet Underground. (more…)

This might not be not my favourite Bowie song – though it’s one of them). And it is, for me, the most perfectly produced song of all time. (more…)

It’s a sad irony that it typically takes a pop star to die before you start delving through their back catalogue. (more…)

From the last album Biggie Smalls released in his lifetime, a user guide to making money in the way he used to earn his. (more…)

I’m not normally a fan of mixing music and comedy – quite the reverse – but in this particular case it seems to work. At least it did at the time. (more…)