Nice one, thanks!

At the time I thought it was absolute shite, but the bootleg series ‘Another Self Portrait’ changed my mind and revealed its charms. It’s one of those records that has definitely improved with age as it no longe […]

Yes, from the perspective of 60 years and how much I rated Dylan it does seem strange. It was probably to do with the careful marshalling of limited financial resources as a schoolboy, and I also suspect it was […]

Thanks…feeling v old!

This was my first Dylan album (Greatest Hits was my second). I say ‘my’ – it was actually borrowed from a mate up the road in 1966, and…er…I really must get round to returning it some time. I was 16 years old. […]

For some reason the link didn’t appear above.,..

It is interesting how some things from the past….actually, most things to be honest… that are revisited in the present turn out to be dreadful, or at least not as great as remembered, be they technical gadgets or […]

Either alternative had it’s downside – if we had allowed Russia to walk all over Ukraine then that would have been a catastrophe, but we weren’t prepared to risk WW3 by supplying and allowing weapons to be use […]

Tony Robinson went to my school – Wanstead County High. He was a few years ahead of me but I do recall him. I remember being lifted up on my dad’s shoulders to see Winston Churchill arrive at Wanstead C […]

Lonnie Donegan lived in South Woodford and I often used to walk past his house.

It’s Hay-nawlt…if that makes sense….you hear the l and the t. I lived in Wanstead when I was young and that was where the tubes went to on our bit of the Central line.

The length of an album only really becomes an issue if the material on it isn’t good enough, and I guess the same is true of anything really, be it a film or whatever. On single artist albums, 70 mins can be g […]

Bob Dylan’s first album. I have played a lot of Dylan since seeing the film and also rewatching No Direction Home, and have been meaning to play this from that era. I sort of put it off because I have never r […]

I have never been to an opera or a ballet and have no desire to – I’ve seen and heard enough bits on the telly to tell me I wouldn’t enjoy the artifice. Classical music – this is just down to plain ignorance rea […]

A few years ago my son attempted to explain crypto currency to me. It was a bit like listening to Prof Brian Cox explain space/time…yep…….yep, got that…….OK……nah, you’ve lost me.

My first thought was the Ramones, but that seems a bit too obvious. Must be a punk band shirley.

But a great Fairport album…

I bought this when it came out because a mate had the first album, which I really liked, and I was always a fan of the Nice. I never really liked it much even back then, and I did actually dig it it out relatively […]

In rough order… Robin Swift Children’s Newspaper Eagle Commando Batman US imports (and other DC titles) Disc Melody Maker Sounds Guardian NME Let It Rock Zig Zag Q Mojo Octane Uncut Word Radio Times