A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
I’m sure I am not alone in finding the band’s masks deeply creepy. This is a 2015 performance of the song which first appeared on Nick Lowe’s Cowboy Outfit in … Continue readingNick Lowe and Los Straitjackets: Half A Boy and Half A Man
Belting Bob Mould rocker from Sugar’s debut LP Copper Blue, named Best Album of 1992 by the NME.
If this 1973 number from the Jamaican Earl Zero sounds familiar, that’s because Jonathan Richman nicked it, jollied it up a bit and released it in 1977 as Egyptian Reggae, … Continue readingEarl Zero: None Shall Escape the Judgement
His vocals always remind me of Mark Knopfler but the guitar work is far more jagged. Rainer Ptacek was an East German refugee who fled with his family in 1956, … Continue readingRainer and Das Combo: Life is Fine
Written by Lou Reed and one of many excellent tracks on her 1967 LP Chelsea Girl, which refers to New York’s scuzzy Chelsea Hotel rather than the footie club which … Continue readingNico: Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams
With vocals by Shirley Simms, another selection from the 1999 triple CD 69 Love Songs, of which I have said before 23 are great.
Lovely, soporific selection from the Plateaux of Mirror album, released in 1980. If you like it, there are longer versions available on YouTube.
Somehow a jazz tune manages to sneak its way through the A&M security barriers. This is lovely; taken from Miles’s soundtrack to the 1958 cheese-eating-surrender-monkey movie Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud, starring … Continue readingMiles Davis: Generique
Hauntingly beautiful clip from the Ruth is Stranger . . . album. And here’s the original Charlie Haden version.
Despite the horrid textspeak title, 2020’s You Kin B The Sun is a strong album from the former Be Good Tanya; her tunes helped along by Al Green’s rhythm section. … Continue readingFrazey Ford: Everywhere