Musical Essays

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