Musical Essays

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