A debut single can be a tricky thing. You are a young artist ready to set the world of culture on fire and share your talent, so hitting the ground running is important to set you on your way to fame and fortune. Of course, many bands that have become huge, started off somewhat slowly, often both commercially and critically, while a few are off with a bang! So, there are all sorts of musical beginnings; some go downhill from a good start; some get better and better over years

Here we are with another playlist, and it's time to tap into the seemingly bottomless well of interesting and unusual cover versions. Ten more tunes - you might be familiar with some of these versions, but I'm guessing in a few cases, you may not even be aware of the original. 1. Weezer: Africa Photo: NHL While Africa may be considered by many to be a soft rock 'classic', few would have thought it coverable material for cool indie hipsters, Weezer, some 35 years later. Steve

The Paisley Underground sounds like a movement that might have been from the free love west coast of the 1960s - tune in, drop out, and all that. It wasn't, but it was another west coast thing, and very much rooted in some of those earlier sounds, especially the electro-folk guitar and garage rock sounds of bands like Love and the Byrds. Where, What, Who & When Image from PowerPop blog The movement centred on Los Angeles, and while its roots were back in sixties L.A., the soi

I thought for a change, and to challenge myself a little to stay up to date, that I would start dropping in the odd playlist of new songs! These could be from brand new bands, older bands you've still never heard of, and a few old pros that you will definitely know. All these tunes have been released in the last few months, and cover a few different genres, so hopefully something for everyone... 1. Kurt Vile: Zoom 97 Photo: Tore Saetra Here we have the opening track from Phil

I had considered some sort of even more long-winded and pretentious title for the article, including making some reference to his undoubted musical genius, but luckily opted against that route. Neil Finn has fully been a part of my life since 1988, when I first fell in love with the second Crowded House album, Temple of Low Men. I had heard one or two tracks on the radio and then seen a bit of an interview with them on some long forgotten Channel 4 show or other. I was hooked

Once in a while, I hear a song I either haven't ever heard before, or haven't heard in ages - and I think to myself - 'I really need to put that in a playlist'. Since all of our playlists have to be themed (it's the law), it is then a process of contriving something that fits the chosen song. Our Geography series of playlists has spawned many songs relating to actual countries and cities (and towns), but the song in question this time was about a non-specific city. Now, in th

I can't even remember how I latched onto this little bit of narrative. It's a story about the intersection between the worlds of new wave music and academia, and in this case, the title reference is for one and the same person. And yes, I know it is not unheard of for musicians to later become academics, especially with the visual arts connection, but in this case I found it interesting as it is a person you may well have never heard of... On The Beach: Martha Ladly was study

Well, here we are again and it isn't even summer... Round my way the last few days have been, well, scorchio! At least three of recent days here in southern England, have breached 30°C (86°F) in the day - and barely dipped below 20°C (68°F) at night. Now, that might not be much for many of you, but for us, that is something akin to standing in a volcano. So here we are with another round of scorchio playlist tunes (90s British sketch show reference for the uninitiated) - we u

I have finally gathered together another selection of stories with a musical connection, which, as the title suggests, you might hopefully find at least a little interesting. There are a few sporting links in this one, some copycats and a brush with tragedy. If you have missed past installments, you can always catch up: Part 1: Shooting Pigeons here Part 2: Punch Drunk here Part 3: Die Another Day here Part 4: On The Skids here Part 5: Christmas Edition here The Jazz Footbal

I remember reading about Grant McLennan’s death in Rolling Stone. “Grant’s first love was words, but his true genius was with a tune.” (Robert Vickers, 2006) Having read the British music press a lot in my late teens (1980s/90s), I was aware of so many bands and knew so much about a great many of them, without ever really knowing anything about them. That was because much of the stuff being written about would not be played on daytime (or even early evening) mainstream radio

30 April 2022. An auspicious day in musical history for sure. It marked the passing of country star Naomi Judd, not to mention Mac DeMarco's 32nd birthday. But wait - what else happened that day? Well, this labour of love for me, Dreaming of Birds That Are Blue, published its very first post on that very day! So, why don't we celebrate these last four years. As many of you know, it has never really been about the numbers - it is all about music being a safe and happy space fo

I.R.S. is a record label that has interested me for a long time; well since I started to get into R.E.M. in the late 80s and saw that until recently, they had been on that label. The name interested me - I knew enough about the USA to know that there was some government association with this initialism. Before we dive a little bit into the labels history and some of the key bands that were a part of it (we will focus on the original version of it, rather than the time since 2

I have focused on here before on some of my favourite guitarists , bassists and drummers , perhaps thinking that singers get enough of the limelight as it is. But there is one particular group of singers that has intrigued me for a while. When I think of the great singing voices of the last sixty years or so, the really great ones I mean, there are some clusters across the years. There was a high volume of supreme singers coming out of the high-end jazz of the 1950s/60s (Ell

Thirty years ago - 26 March 1996 - an album was released to very little attention. Except if you were one of a small band of devoted lo-fi fans dotted around the world who knew. Well, at the time, that fan group didn't include me, as it was another two years before I heard this, and was introduced into the world of... Guided By Voices (or GBV for short). This is the point when my wife can stop reading this and go do something more productive - she is definitely not in the lo-

No, not football silly... the prodigal daughter returned home from university this weekend, and that is why we are celebrating the home. It's where the heart is, after all. Ten songs about going home, being home and not being home. 1. Foo Fighters: Home Home is the closing track for Foo Fighters sixth studio album - with some of the lyrics providing the records title - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace . The record demonstrated two sides to the band, containing a mix of the

Well, St. Patrick's Day has rolled around again, so what have we got for you this time? St. Patrick reminding everyone to turn the volume up. We did one a few years back that focused on bands with Patrick / Pat / Patricia's in - you can relive that one here . We also have featured Ireland in one of our Geography themed playlists - here . So, this time we have gone back to find some more Irish bands for you - and managed to (mostly) present you with ones we haven't used before

I will be honest with you - I was listening to my favourite radio show last week (Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC 6 Music , for the record), and it was one of their features that sparked the theme for this playlist. On their regular Sunday Tea Time Theme Time section, someone had suggested songs with links to districts of New York City. I could do that, I thought - and so, instead of the three included on that show, I have for you a playlist of more than 10! Everyone a district o

Well, we’ve talked a bit about David McComb on here before, as part of our look at the great Australian musical poets of the 1980s; but this time, let’s look a little bit more at him and his band, The Triffids. If you think Australian music in the 80s began with Men At Work and AC/DC and ended with Kylie and Jason , and there was only INXS in between, then please think again. To be fair, it took me a long time to realise that there was a lot more to discover too. There wa

For this playlist we have picked out some great tracks from around the world - and this time, none of them are sung in English (well there might be the off word or two snuck in there). Don't let that stop you listening, as they are all great tracks. What's more, we have traversed six decades and a wide range of genres to bring these to you. 1. Hinds: Mala Vista Photo: Far Out / Hinds Madrid pair, Carlotta Cosials and Ana Garcia Perrote , were back to the original Hinds duo

I cast the net out for ideas for themes for the next playlist and it was my son who came up trumps this time. So, this time around we will be focusing on Insects - ten interesting and varied tracks about everyone's favourite part of the animal kingdom! *** 1. Adam & The Ants: Antmusic This was the last single off of debut Kings Of The Wild Frontier , only being held off the UK top spot by Lennon's Imagine (fair enough). Interestingly, the video was the first directed by Ste