Mick’s singing with that London accent he adopts when he is trying to put some distance from the lyric or the situation: its no “Let’s Work”, tbf.

Game of Thrones around season 3: I had enjoyed the outrageous medievalism of season 1, but the relentless cruelty and torture-porn of season 3 wore me down (yes, I do know I am missing the whole point of the saga, […]

I am sticking with CDs: I don’t have the living space or money to switch back to vinyl collecting. Many recent box set genre compilations on Grapefruit/ RPMetc. have been CD only, so presumably have that market i […]

I remember that TV spot. I saw the HoL live in a tiny venue in 1987 and they were fantastic, but Guy Chadwick could be painfully upper-middle class: like the Velvet Underground fronted by Hugh Grant.

I have been trying to think of recent guitar solos, but I cannot get beyond the 90s. This is a chance to call out the great, underrated Thin White Rope, whose Roger Kunkel could switch from deft country twang to […]

Good choice! This B-side has some terrible lyrics, but is a Bickers masterclass.

Paul Ritter’s passing is unnerving as,aside from the famous roles, he had a reassuring habit of showing up in many things that I have liked (e.g Pistol in Henry V, the dodgy boyfriend in Pulling, the vicar in M […]

This was included on the ‘SuperSonics: Junkshop Britpop’ compilation last year and also should have been bigger.

There was a longish interview with MM about her career, retreat, and changing ambitions in Uncut Magazine, February 2020 ( not available online)

Not Beatles ( of which there are many covers) but the Japanese equivalent of the Jackson Five, The Finger 5!

The Seeds’ fake live album ‘Raw and Alive’ was remixed a few years ago without all the silly dubbed audience noises and is actually a great studio recording.

That is a lovely piece of writing, Colin: you have persuaded me to buy this. I agree about the teenage audience: I followed the Peel show intensely for a while but in my 20s I wasn’t listening to night-time r […]

One term ( don’t call it a semester)at UEA in 1989 – just in time for the fall of The Berlin Wall- and then until ‘92, so I sort of make this group. I actually liked Norwich: free tuition, affordable housing, the […]

I’m glad you mentioned this: I also liked BtL a lot. Being by GF Newman, it reflected its cultural moment by being more pointedly political ( themes of state corruption and surveillance, the decline of the l […]

My CD reissue of The Pop Group’s “For How Much Longer Must We Tolerate Mass Murder?” had removed the track sampling The Last Poets, presumably for licensing reasons.

The original Rough Trade LP of James Blood […]

I know Seal had more hits, and Adamski had a (terrible) follow up that flopped, but this is a great one-off duet.

And again, although they did a few albums this is what they are remembered for

That was going to be my first choice as well, but you beat me to it.

Lots of original mixes are advertised,, but wasn’t “Rael” botched on the original LP and actually corrected on the 2000s remaster CD? A case for improvement rather than authenticity.

And finally from me…this song by folkies The Red Birds (Akai Tori) may sound almost too sweet, but it’s actually controversial, alluding to the discrimination of social minorities and exploitation of children.

This is magnificent city pop (even better than Plastic Love): Yoshida Minako, “Midnight Driver”

And on a different note, this is a lovely ode to the national fast food curry rice (but also an oblique comment on […]