Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

My friend Paul Howarth is as knowledgable about music as any human being I have ever met. We meet up every now and again to discuss our three favourite topics: Music, football and why so many so-called “liberals” are in fact illiberal. Over Christmas, for no apparent reason, Paul posted his 100 favourite singles on […]

I did this morning. I woke up with this chorus on a loop in my head: “A fair affair”. Homophonic word play – genius. For some reason, my chorus was mixed in with that familiar hook from Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je T’aime”. Ah well, random things often get mixed up in dreams but, hey, even better. […]

….but when I was a kid, this is who I wanted to be. And I wasn’t the only one. In his autobiography, Suggs cites wanting to be Johnny Reggae as his motivation for starting Madness. Good-looking, hard, great footballer and proud owner of a pair of fringe & buckle stompers and two-tone tonic strides – […]

Come on, I’ll have to hurry you………Newcastle. I remember going up there to see QPR and it was fantastic. Just an ordinary game and yet you’d think it was the FA Cup final. The whole city seemed festooned in black & white for the Geordies are a people obsessed with football. They loved the fact […]

Not really allowed to say the f-word anymore, are we? Those of more generous proportions are referred to as “large” or “big”. Some even “suffer” from obesity as though they were victims of a cruel and random virus. As though the chips and cream buns weren’t contributory factors. It’s maybe why this old favourite which […]

But you know it when you hear it. Lush US soul ballads from the 1970s, sung by falsetto vocalists with frizzy afros, frilly shirts and extra-wide lapels. The Chi-Lites, The Delfonics, Eddie Holman were all splendid practitioners but the undisputed masters of the art were The Stylistics. Hugely successful in a genre we still can’t […]

Always have done. Purely subjective but Morrissey to me is like an allergy. Just the sight of his face or the sound of his voice is enough to bring me out in hives. Had I even attempted to read his recent autobiography, I’d have ended up in A&E. That said, I’ve always thought Johnny Marr […]

He was headlining this Amnesty International gig and Aswad were the support. Like most people from North or West London, I’d seen Aswad before. They were a local band, so I knew how good they were and they were fantastic. When they did their version of this, even the proggiest Lamb Lies Down on Broadway […]

It is Dolly Parton but slowed down from 45 to 33. I used to play it and tell people it was the original version by an obscure male country singer, and was banned in Southern states because of its homosexual content. It’s Dolly Parton’s birthday today – 68 and still looking fabulous. Mind you, she’s […]

……for a radio slot I remember from the 80s. There was a DJ on Capital called Phil Allen whose late night soul show was essential listening on the way home every Saturday night. I used to see him in City Sounds in Holborn, stocking up on all the latest imports. After some serious funk, he’d […]