Two spring to mind. I’m sure there were many more. Taking the leap to move to London in 1987 in vain pursuit of the woman I loved. It didn’t work out at all and, to be honest, it wasn’t the spectacular romantic […]

No it was “the name of this band is Ambition in Glass”. I can still hear the laughter. Never heard of them again.

The OP may be the best known version but this is the best version. From a Best of Mountain Stage compilation if you’re looking for it on Spotify.

Another favourite of mine…

That tune has been in my head all […]

It was absolutely brilliant @dave-amitri and included most of the first two albums plus the (then) mindblowing cover of Van Halen’s Jump as an encore. Nearly as good was the High Land Hard Rain 30th Anniversary s […]

Aztec Camera – McGonagles Dublin 1985? My first proper gig. I sat between the monitors and touched all of Roddy’s guitars as the roadies brought them on. I loved every minute of it. Bought my first guitar soon […]

Talking Heads – The Name of this Band is…
Aztec Camera – High Land, Hard Rain
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
Jonathan Richman – Rockin’ and Romance
Edwyn Collins – Hope and Despair

Quite a Scottish […]

As covered by the otherwise great Edwyn Collins

This is the tune (!) I used to reach for when it was time for my friends to leave the hospitality of my teenage home. No further hints were required…

This might not ring many bells but I remember coming back to primary school after the summer holidays and everyone was talking about the great Doc Savage film starring Ron “Tarzan”, Ely. We were all around 10. It […]

I’d have given him the benefit of the doubt had I not witnessed his disgraceful response to the Boston Marathon bombing. In the immediate aftermath he tweeted something along the lines of that they had earned it […]

Thanks for your concern @vulpes-vulpes He’s called Carrig which is the Irish word for rock, as in sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic rather than the music genre. It’s a longish story that wouldn’t make much sense […]

That’s probably my most played too. I’m not much of a Simple Minds fan but I love this album and play it all the time. As recently as last week a friend and I sat in my den arguing over which track to play first. […]

For @Mike_H and @vulpes-vulpes here’s the tracklisting for my compilation ”Don’t shoot until you see the whites…”

(1) Intro: Excerpt from the film Fear of a Black Hat – an underrated classic. Worth watching […]

Okay Mike, before the full reveal, are 5 a band “the K…?, is 6 MA? and is 7 an Irish former punk among other things?

About time for the review of @Vulpes-Vulpes compilation. I’ve lived with it for a few weeks now and have done my best to ignore @Mike_H s review. By the way I remembered the band behind Mike’s Track 11 within days […]

Check your tracklist again @Mike_H, V-Vs track 11 didn’t make your final cut. Not in the version I have anyway.

Hi Vulpes. Your CD arrived yesterday. I’ll give it a number of listens before delivering my verdict.

Right, I’ll go first…

The What Album by @Mike_H

1 A low-key start with a track I don’t know by an artist I reckon I do. Spoken word with vocal loop and sparse bluesy accompaniment. I […]

OMD were of course the Ozark Mountain Daredevils before they ever started manoeuvring their orchestra in the dark.

I beg to differ. The CD reissue of The Name of this Band is… unforgiveably omits the slow intro to Crosseyed and Painless. The point where the song changes from slow to fast is the most wonderful moment in the […]