Some excellent selections here – and nicely sequenced. I like the way row three is bookended by the contrasting styles of Frederic Leighton and Lucian Freud.

Has anyone mentioned that the last 4 tracks all have titles beginning with the letter c?

Screaming Trees borrowed a chunk of The Who’s “Naked Eye” for “No One Knows”

Sounds like the Quo to me

Things started to get erratic after Beautiful vision IMHO – No Guru, No Method, No Teacher and Poetic Champions Compose seemed to promise some sort of creative resurgence but nothing subsequent seemed c […]

As Marx said (apparently): “Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed.”

“No one actually likes jazz, they just say they do to impress their friends.”

Definitely “not much of a market for this over here”, it’s Vera Lynn and George Formby all the way for us Limeys.

The harmony vocal on “Memory Motel” – perfect.

Actually, I’d take more issue with your view of Pixies etc than Tigger’s of the Black Crowes – really can’t see how they’re imitations of each other. And they were operating in a completely different context to t […]

Have to disagree with your review, Tigger – think it’s a magnificent, swaggering beast of an album and a far more convincing take on rock classicism than, say, Primal Scream’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up (or i […]

Came to the same conclusion myself about listening to new music. I’ve got around 50 years of active engagement with music under my belt – that’s a lot of stuff to immerse myself in. I prefer to listen to music l […]

He does look alarmingly like someone’s gran. Are they all his own teeth?

What I love about Trout Mask Replica is that it either attracts or repels, demanding full engagement or outright rejection. You can’t just put it on in the background. It’s timeless – you can’t imagine a future w […]

This might sound controversial to some, or just plain wrong, but I recommend It’s Only Rock n Roll as a Stones starter album. Why? Because it covers the breadth of their eclecticism without sacrificing that […]

Pitchfork, predictably, going against the general reviewing consensus here:

Lovely piece on Berlin at 50 here: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts I think. And it does contain possibly Lou’s worst ever lyric: “Just like poison in a vial/Hey she was often very vile”.

I scored 5 – not bad I thought, since I was totally unprepared and haven’t followed RT’s career or music since the early 90s

They recorded a version at the Record Plant sessions and they did it live at the Young Vic, then some point they abandoned it until Odds And Sods (the version there is from Olympic Studios I think, but I imagine […]

I’d love to get this but I’m finding it hard to justify the price tag – I’m not that bothered about the hardback book, posters, graphic novel etc. The main attraction for me are the San Francisco live discs and t […]