Roland has been filmed this very day on the concourse at St. Pancras International, performing FYC hits and his new single. He’s neither sorry, worried nor caught in a trap.

Just a tiny, pedantic point of order: Fine Young Cannibals’ second single wasn’t the Elvis cover, it was the fantastic and generally overlooked anti-Thatcher opus Blue. And regarding Roland’s film roles, he was […]

Beauty Queen, Grey Lagoons, The Bogus Man… let’s face it, that album’s a bloody masterpiece!

Is that you, George?

The hellraising, hotheaded, humble heartbreaker from Hoboken.

The pristine poetical pop princess phenomenon from Pennsylvania.

The miniscule musical maverick from Minneapolis. The world-weary well-dressed warbler from Washington.

That’s just Macca’s way of performing. He’s having as good a time as the others, if not more.

Pleased you enjoyed it. They are really not my cup of Darjeeling, but I was impressed with the clip I saw of the communal singing. I would say that the in-the-round thing isn’t a new or revolutionary idea; […]

Without wanting to sound like the typical music press reader of yore, I’m going to go ahead and sound exactly that. Where, oh where, is the astonishingly good From The Pyre by The Last Dinner Party? The only […]

I’d hate for the BBC to broadcast anything that might get them in serious trouble…

Once when I was on my social work placement fifteen years ago, I got a lift from a colleague. A song from 1984 came on the radio (can’t remember which one). Colleague said “Oh, that’s the year I was born”…my […]

Thunderbolts and lightning can clearly kick the arse of Kung Fu…’very, very’ meets ‘a little bit’ – I mean, is it even a contest?

Bryan Ferry – Foie gras on a stottie. Roxy Music – Too much cheesecake. ABBA would be tinned herring?

I’ve read the Samson book…found it really evocative and intriguing, not just the Leonard/Marianne/Axel dynamic, but particularly the dominant presence of Charmaine Clift, who in reality had quite the life. I […]

The BBC series of Bowie docs – Five Years, The First…, The Last… Also Beside Bowie -The Mick Ronson Story Miss Americana (Taylor Swift) Taylor (on Channel 4)

Oh yes…don’t get me wrong, I think Boney M have a bloody marvellous collection of singles, and I also have a soft spot for the album Nightflight To Venus.

And don’t forget that the mighty Boneys/the mighty M (you decide) were the progenitors of the Good Friday Agreement with their coruscating condemnation of the Troubles, Belfast.

The Drifters – there are thousands of them, drifting around the planet. Then we have the UB40 conundrum…which version is the more authentic?

No, ‘The Fizz’ were actually Jay, Cheryl and Mike from the genuine Bucks Fizz. I think Mike has taken a step back now for health reasons. They’re not allowed to use the full title because Bobby G, The Other One, […]