The Afterword

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New music from Tony Poole, you say?

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Tony Poole is one of my heroes. His early ’70’s band, Starry Eyed and Laughing, were my gateway to The Byrds, Teenage Fanclub, Nada Surf and so many more. His love of The Beatles and The Byrds knows no bounds and he makes no apologies for writing and singing like it was new music from Roger McGuinness. Nor should he.

I know him online a little bit and have seen him play enough times that he’ll come over for a chat and ask me how my studio-blog is going. He’s a genuinely lovely man.

This track is the title-song from his first solo album which is getting great reviews.

Today, receiving this email with the track in it has really given me a boost.

More power to his creaky old elbow.

Woodcut. Big Big Train

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What does it sound like?:

There is a good chance that many reviews of this, Big Big Train’s 16th album, will use words like ‘epic’, ‘grand’ and ‘sweeping’, when describing Woodcut and, musically, that would be justified. Yet somehow, this band of master musicians has created an album so personal, so intimate and so intense that it almost beggars belief.

Prog concept albums are usually huge statements, with majestic vistas and complex plots, aren’t they? Woodcut is about a craftsman cutting wood so, how can they turn that into sixty-six minutes of stunning storytelling?

If you doubt that it is possible then you don’t know Big Big Train.

The troubled path that Gregory Spawton and his talented band has had to walk in the past few years has not only given them strength together but has hardened their resolve. Losing singer and writer, David Longdon might have crushed some bands. How on earth do you carry on after losing that ocean of talent, that quiet but dominating presence?

Gregory found Alberto Bravin, the former member of PFM, the Italian who loved David’s writing and, most importantly, loved David’s voice, in every way that the term, ‘voice’ can be used. » Continue Reading.

ATM- AirPods/ Earbuds

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I’m on my second set of AirPods, this time the Pro 2, and they’ve given good service, mostly for podcasts and audiobooks. However, when it comes to music, they suffer from the same problem that I’ve had with in-ears since God was a boy. A lack of bass. I can hear the bass but it’s not bassy. It’s trebley. It doesn’t rattle my fillings.

I thought it might be my hearing going but my over-ear AKG’s are still the puppies privates.

So, what does anyone else use?

I’m running them from an iPhone 14 Plus but without any extra sound wrangling, just the limited EQ built into the phone.

It’s been way too long…

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…since I posted a Tedeschi Trucks Band video. So…

The Tedeschi Trucks Band has a new live album out of a 2015 tour which recreated the legendary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of 1970.

Leon Russell plays piano, just as he did back then, and the incredible TTB are also joined by Chris Stainton, Claudia Lennear, Dave Mason and Rita Coolidge from the original company. Covering for the late Joe Cocker, alongside Susan Tedeschi, are Chris Robinson and Warren Haynes.

When husband and wife, Derek and Susan, put their band together it was always that Mad Dogs band that was the template, and you can hear it in the fantastic brass section and backing singers.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love this band so much. They are fantastic, live, and Derek Trucks is, for me, the best slide-guitar player on the planet.

Here they are with the old Box Tops hit, The Letter, the song that closed some of the shows back in 1970.

Top to Toe in Tailbacks

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Chris Rea knew that his record contract wasn’t going to be renewed when the label refused to pay for the return train journey from Middlesbrough to London, in December 1978. He had just about got enough to fund the trip ‘down south,’ so Joan, his wife, said she would pick him up at Abbey Road Studios in a couple of days time and drive him back north. It was less than ideal but, struggling musicians can’t be choosers. Especially when they’re currently banned from driving.

The sessions at Abbey Road were for his second album, Deltics. His debut album had been out for a few months and, while the first single, Fool If You Think It’s Over, had received some radio-play, the album had not done well. It had been expensive to make; produced by Gus Dudgeon, Elton John’s producer, and packed with stars like Rod Argent, Pete Wingfield and Dave Mattacks; so Chris was in substantial debt to Magnet Records until such time as the album generated enough profit to cover the cost. For now, he was being paid a small weekly wage, (welcome to the real world of the struggling artist.)

Joan pulled into the small car park » Continue Reading.

Wishbone Ash

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Venue:

Islington Assembly Halls

Date: 16/10/2025

There is plenty of talk at the moment about the lack of guitar bands. So, if you crave a night of blistering, brilliant plank-spanking you should get yourself along to a Wishbone Ash show; because they have not one but two of the very best British guitarists currently treading the boards.

The show at Islington Assembly Halls was a proper rock gig and my third consecutive night in a 33-date tour. The venue is standing downstairs and unallocated seating upstairs; for us infirm old gits. The place was packed and the sound was pinpoint accurate which gave me a great opportunity to study the playing of Mark Abrahams; Andy Powell’s co-pilot.

Mark has been in the band for 8 years and has brought a new energy and urgency to the sound. Of course he plays the iconic ‘bits’ that us fans associate with Ted Turner and Laurie Wisefield but it’s when he solos that the level of his playing shines.

He flies.

His arrival instantly meant that Andy upped his game and the two of them are now the best twin lead combination still regularly touring the U.K. I would argue that the » Continue Reading.

FM – Brotherhood

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What does it sound like?:

Fifteen albums into a 41-year career you wouldn’t normally expect bands to be putting out some of their best work in 2025.

‘Bollocks to that,’ shout the five members of British rockers, FM.

Formed in ’84 by two members of Samson; two members of Wildlife, (brothers Chris and Steve Overland,) and the keyboard player from new wave band, The Invaders, (I still treasure their 1979 single, Girl’s in Action,) the band was signed by CBS and sent out on a German tour with Meatloaf. Their debut album, Indiscreet, was a big hit and they supported acts like Tina Turner, Foreigner, Gary Moore and Quo in their first two years, culminating in opening the U.K leg of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet tour.

After several personnel changes and four more excellent albums, the band split up at the end of 1995.

In 2007, singer Steve Overland, drummer Pete Jupp and bassist Merv Goldsworthy decided to have another go and the band has toured the planet and put out ten more albums since.

Last year’s Old Habits Die Hard was a masterpiece of melodic rock, packed with loud guitars, pinpoint harmonies and terrific tunes. I » Continue Reading.

Radio KW9174FM is on the air.

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If you commented on my post about putting together a radio show for an imaginary Californian FM radio station in 1974, then here is the result.

It is 31st December 1974 and KW9174 has given the entire day’s programming over to two Brits; Roger Scott and Bob Harris. Their brief is that they can play whatever they want but no record should be repeated, (different versions of the same track are permitted.) The music should run for around 23.5 hours, allowing time to back-announce every 4 or 5 tracks. The only song-stipulation is that Stairway to Heaven should play up to midnight on NY Eve.

So, here is what 2 of my very favourite DJ’s have chosen. There’s a few duck-eggs in there for the enthusiast to find and, naturally, the list is completely self-indulgent. For instance, there are three instrumentals by Fleetwood Mac; back to back, which all feature the beautiful Danny Kirwan; just because they fit together perfectly; and because I can.

So, enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend, tune into to Radio KW9174FM and tell your friends!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7viyIH6A7G3VFlMnq845DG?si=e58a187ef8e54845

Ain’t No Rock in the USA

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At a recent Doobie Brothers gig in London I was enjoying the pre-show music very much. It was 45 minutes of what I imagined an early ‘70’s FM Radio Rock station sounded like: Little Feat, Doobies, Zeppelin, Mountain, Grand Funk, Purple, Poco, early Fleetwood Mac, Cream, ZZ Top, Chicago, etc

They were playing my record collection and I was a pig in muck.

I vowed to create my own 3-hour radio playlist for a fictional FM station in 1974; I started it yesterday.

One thing soon became clear; there was a lot more British acts in it than American.

I rationalised it by the fact that we had very little contact with American Rock in the early’70’s, so my record purchases were almost exclusively British acts. So I did some research to see who I was missing.

I found an excellent website which holds all of the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts for every year I was looking at; ‘67 to ‘74 and, guess what?

I’m really not missing very much.

Grateful Dead The Guess Who Blood Sweat & Tears

That’s about it.

So my contention is that, in the late 60’s and early’70’s there wasn’t much good rock in » Continue Reading.

Remembering Now. Van Morrison

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What does it sound like?:

Reviewing a new Van Morrison album has been a tough sell for a good few years now. His pervasive mood of persecution and paranoia has led to him writing lumpy twelve-bar blues songs about going down to Monte Carlo to get away from the Press and, in the main, the albums have rarely made it past a third play. In our house, Van invented a new acronym; AFNK; All Filler No Killer.

Well, people; let me tell you that Remembering Now is Van’s best album in 30 years and he has restored that acronym to its rightful order. It is AKNF.

I remember sitting in a cinema in January 2022 to see Kenneth Branagh’s new film, Belfast and being captivated by the opening montage, filmed over a Van Morrison song called Down to Joy. The song sounded like it could have come from the sessions for his 1982 album, Beautiful Vision; it would have sat perfectly alongside Cleaning Windows and Dweller On the Threshold; and I realised how much I missed ‘spiritual, happy Van.’

Down to Joy is the opener here and it is immediately better than anything on his last 24 albums; which » Continue Reading.

The Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald

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Venue:

The O2 Arena, London

Date: 19/07/2025

The curated pre-show music tells me I’m at the right gig; Little Feat; Chicago; ZZ Top; The Allman Brothers; Mountain; Doors; The Faces and Tower of Power; and the audience reaction, (tapping of feet, singing along, air guitar,) tells me I am with my people.

The eight musicians walk onto the huge stage at precisely 8pm; Nashville bassist, John Cowan; sax player, Marc Russo; drummer, Ed Toth and percussionist, Marc Quiñones join multi-instrumentalist, John McFee; guitarists and originals, Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston; and, on keyboards, the great Michael McDonald who, let’s face it, is the main reason I’m here.

I saw The Doobies in the same venue, in 2017, (a stellar show with Steely Dan,) and saw McDonald at the Hammy O the following year. He sang four of his five biggest Doobie Brothers hits that night; I Keep Forgetting; Minute By Minute; What A Fool Believes and Taking It To the Streets; just omitting It Keeps You Running; but it wasn’t with The Doobies.

The band opens with Take Me In Your Arms and hits the ground running. I do love an American guitar band who comes out fighting, taking » Continue Reading.