It strikes me that Burnham is already falling into the traps that Reeves/Starmer set for themselves. One of the big problems with the Starmer government, as I see it, was the contradiction between its pledge to […]

I saw Sobers play once, in what was then Rhodesia. His appearance in Salisbury was a propaganda coup for the all-white government; and the spectators watching the game, in which England’s John Snow also played, c […]

There are several excellent – and cheap – compilations on the Kaz/Camden labels that capture key periods in Ibrahim’s career. As well as ‘Voice of Africa’ (with the tracks Black Lightning and Mannenberg) there is […]

Very sad news. He was a great musician, composer and ambassador for South Africa.

Ill-considered decisions do indeed seem to be the British way nowadays, in all walks of life. Which is why we seem to be in so much of a pickle as a nation. Yes, Stokes and Atkinson were tone deaf and the ECB had […]

I cannot understand this. Sure, fine both players heavily, but suspending them just doesn’t seem the right thing to do for those many thousands of people who have paid significant sums of money to attend the next […]

I loved her first two albums but then lost track of subsequent recordings. I need to rectify this. There is a tempting new live CD available, with Anderson backed by a jazz outfit, but I may go first for Homeland, […]

There is an interesting article by Chris Giles in today’s FT (I will post it here as the FT has a paywall). “The UK Labour Party has an important choice to make about its leader. But the question of who res […]

Who knows if this Roy Buchanan solo qualifies as among ‘the best’, but for me it is outstanding. And that Machine Gun solo from Hendrix is also one of the finest recorded (IMO).

A difficult fella as you say, but also an excellent musician and composer who never received the public recognition he deserved. I think Traffic lost a lot of their spark and creativity when he left. Their second […]

Bhosle recorded more than 12,000 songs over almost eight decades. Because of her vast output and the timespan of her recordings I find it very hard to pin down a good playlist. Her work in the 1960s and 1970s, […]

Wow. I envy you seeing all those concerts. Earthrise has become the stuff of legend; it is a shame it was never recorded, but perhaps one had to be there to experience it fully. I too prefer the earlier albums, […]

Sad to hear this news. Westbrook was such a key figure in the British jazz boom of the 1960s and 1970s – as a bandleader, composer and musician. I was thinking about a single song that could sum up his work and c […]

The studio version of Modern Times Rock ’n’ Roll is 1:48, but this slightly longer live clip from Queen’s March 1974 concert at the Rainbow is livelier.

Sad news. I think “Electric Music” is one of the finest psychedelic albums to come out San Francisco in the 1960s. The follow-up – “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die” – is pretty good too, with Who Am I? perhaps my fa […]

I’d say Radiohead

Perhaps it’s time to question the role of special advisers in the political process. These are unelected and unaccountable individuals who seem to play an outsized role in the political decision-making process. J […]

Binge watched it last night and give it nine out of ten. It has quite a few of those brilliant moments where I was expecting one thing and then Crook’s script/plot caught me off-guard, as per The Detectorists, b […]

The Isle of Everywhere – have a cup of tea Mannheim – set out on a rainy Saturday Solsbury Hill – break out of the rut A loot-filled secret cave – knock down 40,000 headmen

Great choice. This is one of my ‘I remember where I was when I first heard it’ songs