Siouxsie Sioux channels her inner Shirley Bassey to sing the best Bond theme never to appear in a Bond movie.

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I’ve always been a sucker for sad songs, and songs rarely sound sadder than The Way It Goes by bluegrass revivalist Gillian Welch.

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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.

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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…)

Dave Ball was one of the least starry rock stars I ever met. It’s probably why we became mates.

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Tom Misch’s jazzy house update on Roberta Flack’s 50-year-old chart topper Feel Like Makin’ Love is the kind of thing you might hear at a beach bar in Ibiza. 

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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.”

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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.

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

Ace Frehley, aka Space Ace, aka The Spaceman, was the creator of countless heavy rock riffs – and solos – in his role as lead guitarist of Kiss.

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