Woah, such a tough project, this one, trying to come up with a theme with teeth, thinking my way through what if electricity had yet to be i...

Buddy Holly : Crying, Waiting, Hoping (Apartment Tapes version) [ purchase ] This may be the hardest theme we’ve tackled here, and I’ll ...

I thought there was another week in this theme, so ye'll be spared one of my monster posts of obtuse verbiage and arcane detail: this is...

  purchase [ Sorrow Tears and Blood ] Fela Ransome Kuti.  The name is enough to make you want to Google it.  Fela Kuti (although he was us...

I can't think of cops without robbers, the pairing being as intrinsic as salt and pepper, fish and chips and rock and roll. So, for me, ...

The Clash : Police & Thieves The Clash : I Fought The Law The Clash : Police On My Back   [ purchase The Clash ] [ purchase Sandinista...

  purchase [ Fresh Cream ] I really, honestly had not planned it so that it would so coincidental, but  .. back to Wheels of Fire because Ja...

 Flutes tend to get a lot of stick these days, whether hewn from a stick or crafted in the finest bamboo, brass or even bone. They just aren...

Benny Goodman : Sing, Sing, Sing [ purchase ]  My last couple of postings haven’t been all that popular with the readership. I’m not sur...

Woodwinds seem often made of brass, which is confusing, but don't include horns, except the english horn, which seems to be a form of cl...

  purchase [ Wheels of Fire ] I confess that I have never given much attention to the bass player. Yeah, I know that the bass and drums are ...

Well, strings don't  come much bigger than Victoria. Who she? Victoria is the stand-up bass guitar Danny Thompson bought for a fiver (£5...

Velvet Underground : The Black Angel’s Death Song [ purchase ]  John Cale is another musician whose work I’m aware of and have enjoyed, bu...

I always remember the spring of 1989 as the season where I discovered thrash metal. Inspired by repeated viewings of MTV’s Saturday night al...

Should you ever wish to seduce me, let me give you a tip: whilst food would help, and I am really quite flexible in my tastes there and need...

Maya Beiser : Epitaph [ purchase ]  I’m not sure where I first heard about Israel-born, avant-garde classical cellist Maya Beiser, but it ...

The Staple Singers : I’ll Take You There [ purchase ] I’m a little surprised that I’ve never devoted a post to the great Mavis Staples—a...

How to even begin to cover the enormity and importance of this influential studio, musically, culturally and even politically, apropos race ...