Author Archives: Paul

……..and now, within the blink of an eye, I find myself attending silver wedding parties. Yesterday I was celebrating 25 years since my friends Brian and Hilary walked down the aisle. Hard to think of a great track with the word “silver” in it. Silver Lady? Hi-Ho Silver Lining? But there is an old Motown […]

I can’t but my son can. Over the last few months, he’s been revising for his A levels, often to gentle musical accompaniment. Jazz pianist Bill Evans was a particular favourite, so the boy has taste. His results were fantastic and two days later, I’m still flushed with pride. Maybe I should have listened to […]

…….and this is the track on which most Elvis impersonations are based. Though I doubt any are as good as my friend Eugene O’Hara’s. Even when we were seven, he had a deep voice and could do a decent Elvis. So it was pleasing to hear that, all these years later, he’s taken up a […]

…..either England are playing Scotland at Wembley, I thought, or the Bay City Rollers have re-formed. Okay, so they couldn’t really sing or play any instruments but aided by seasoned session men, they made some great, well-crafted pop songs. Here’s a good example: Sing up at the back and don’t pretend you don’t like it.

…..never smoked dope, never done coke and after a quarter of wine gums, I’m anybody’s. But over this glorious summer, I’ve developed a serious addiction to iced coffee and I blame my friend Celeste Wong. She runs Lantana just off Charlotte Street and it’s the best coffee shop in London, so she’s become my caffeine […]

Yep, Radio 3. As part of the BBC proms, performing with the London Sinfonietta. Some people have expressed surprised at this. Not me. Punk was always a very middle-class phenomenon. So the Stranglers fans in the sixth-form common room grew up to be the corporate clients at the Royal Albert Hall. With Hugh and Jean-Jacques […]

…..simply because about 75% of the traffic disappears, and the rest of us can then get anywhere in the A-Z quickly and easily. Wherever you’re going, from Abbess Close to Zoffany Street, this is the track you want. When asked who Maybelline was, Chuck Berry replied “The only Maybelline I ever knew was a cow”. […]

I think of this track as sort of “now”. It was actually eleven years ago. When you’re a teenager, eleven years is a huge chunk of your life. Obviously, as time goes on, eleven years becomes a smaller and smaller proportion. So for me, this record is “now”. The reason for playing it, apart from […]

..that country, folk-y, rock-y vibe that he does better than anyone else. Then there’s the sweet clarity of his voice and the poignancy of his lyrics which make this the perfect track for a lazy weekend in August. And the fact that, if you’ve ever heard The Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back”, you’ll know that […]

……that country, folk-y, rock-y vibe that he does better than anyone else. Then there’s the sweet clarity of his voice and poignancy of his lyrics that make this the perfect track for a lazy weekend in August. And the fact that, if you’ve ever heard The Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back”, you’ll know that he […]