The Tracks Of My Years...

Tracks Of My Years 60th Birthday Edition

I had a significant birthday in December of 2022 and this here was written at that time and inspired by something my friend Keith did for his 50th birthday. As I have now hurtled past my 60th and being as music has been such an important part of me for most of those years I thought I’d put this together from my perspective and now I've decided to share it with you.

The idea of this exercise is to pick one song from each year you’ve journeyed around the sun, something that means something to you, not necessarily your favourite or the coolest tune from that particular year. Try not to repeat yourself artist wise, well that rule fell by the wayside mainly because the things that mean something to me at any one time tend to be centred around a small group of artists…and hey, it’s my list, if you don’t like it try it yourself and see how hard it is… Keith also told me “even if you don’t publish them, write some notes about your choices and what they mean to you” so that’s what you’ve got here.

The first decade was the most difficult to nail down as I was too young to know much, obviously, and though born in 1962 I didn’t really start listening to music seriously until I was 10 or 11, so sometime during 1973. For those early years I’ve chosen things that mean something to me now and one or two that I do actually remember from the later 60’s (so that means I wasn’t there right ?). There are also a handful of entries where I got to know the music after its original release, in those cases I’ve included them in their original year of release for reasons I hope I adequately explain below.

If you feel like listening along then you can find a YouTube playlist featuring the soundtrack to my life (!) right here or if you click on the title of each song below it'll take you to a YT video for that tune.

Anyways, let’s get to it…

1962 - Booker T & The MG’s “Green Onions” - So I’m cheating right from the off cos this was released a couple of months before I was even born (if you must know Number 1 on the day I made my appearance was Elvis Presley’s “Return To Sender”!). If I was forced to pick a favourite piece of instrumental music this would be it. A studio warm up jam from what was effectively the Stax Records house band and thankfully someone pressed “Record” or it would have been lost forever.
When Deb and I renewed our wedding vows in 2012 I edited together this version of Green Onions with part of the soundtrack from “West Side Story” (also from 1962) tacked onto the front and that is what me and the love of my life danced down the aisle to.

1963 - Marvin Gaye “Can I Get A Witness” - I didn’t actually hear this record until late 1979 or early 1980 when I bought the album “Tamla Motown Presents 20 Mod Classics” on which this was track 1 side 1. It has become my favourite Motown tune over the years, a relentless gospel styled call and response stormer that just keeps on climbing, and when I found an original 1963 Stateside 7” of it in a bunch of records that came my way via my Aunt I was a very, very happy fellow.

1964 - Dave Clark Five “Bits And Pieces” - Christmas parties at my Nan and Grandad’s house on Castle Vale in the 70’s. In the kitchen with Uncle Bill, Keith and John (my Dad’s cousins Ginette and Barbara’s husbands, both, sadly, now gone) and Party Seven’s of Ansell’s Bitter (probably). All of us were singing along to Dave Clark Five records, joining in with the foot stomping and bashing out the drum breaks on the kitchen work surfaces. That’s it…

1965 - The Who “I Can’t Explain” - I love it and that’s why it’s here. I caught the Mod bug in the early 80’s and this is as Mod as it gets. As uber Who fan Irish Jack said of the lyric “I feel hot and cold, Way down in my soul”…”that’s Elgar on speed” !

1966 - Count Five “Psychotic Reaction” - I would have first heard this in the early 1980’s and it would have been played to me by my dear friend Phil Barlow. He was a couple of years older than us when we all got together in a band. He had, and still has, a vast record collection from which he would educate us with things he thought we would like/should hear. US Garage Punk, of which this is a perfect example, worked for me, Captain Beefheart didn’t and never will, although Phil did give me my first exposure to Krautrock which at the time I was having none of but came to appreciate later. Anyways Phil and the Count Five helped kick off a love for me of all things US Garage-y, see the Electric Prunes, 13th Floor Elevators, Chocolate Watch Band etc.

1967 - The Dubliners “Black Velvet Band” - Back when he was an apprentice at Lucas’ in Birmingham my Dad was friends with Dubliners singer Luke Kelly who was working over here at the time. I have a grainy out of focus picture of the two of them stood in the street, Luke is singing with another guy who has a guitar while my Dad looks on. This was one of the songs Dad would sing with us on long car journeys when we were kids.

1968 - The Move “Blackberry Way” - Now this one I actually remember from the time (which as it was the 60’s means I wasn’t there as the old saying goes, right?). I had a 16 month old little brother by now and I remember him being in his pram at our house in Aston while this was playing on the radio and Mom was singing along with it. My Dad’s brother, Uncle Bill, was connected to The Move so they were favourites in our house. That 16 month old little brother eventually released a cover version of this song as a single in my 50th year.

1969 - Blue Mink “Melting Pot” - Another one I picked up from my parents. I’m sure Dad had a Blue Mink LP that this was on and I remember them being favourites around this time. The song fits very well with the politics of our household and although some of the specific lyrics are no longer regarded as acceptable the sentiment always will be.

1970 - Flying Burrito Brothers “Wild Horses” - I said at the beginning these early years were the most difficult as I didn’t properly start listening to music for another 3 years (I was only 7 for most of 1970) so here I’m picking stuff that means a lot to me now. 
I have been a huge fan of The Byrds for a long time and had heard the name Gram Parsons related to them. I once asked Martin “Fiddly” Bell while we were in Denver Colorado, if I like The Byrds will I like Gram Parsons ? He told me if I liked “Sweetheart Of the Rodeo” Byrds then I would (likely the only useful thing I got out of him in all the time I knew him). There was a record shop right across the street from the venue we were at so I went and bought a “twofer” CD of his albums “GP” and “Grievous Angel”, and yes I liked him, a lot. This song is from an earlier incarnation with the Flying Burrito Brothers, including ex-Byrd Chris Hillman. It’s a song you will likely know by the Rolling Stones. Legend sometimes has it Gram co-wrote it with Keith Richards (they were friends. Gram didn’t get a writing credit. Some friend!) and the Burrito’s released it first. To my ears it’s a much better version than the Stones, more fragile and delicate, a little like Gram himself. 
The Byrds gave me Gram, Gram gave me Emmylou, Emmylou helped ease me into Steve Earle (see 2007)…ain’t music just a beautiful thing…

1971 - ELO “10538 Overture” - As I told you back in 1968, my Dad’s brother, Uncle Bill, was connected to The Move. He was in a very late lineup of that band. When Roy Wood and Jeff Lynn left The Move to form the Electric Light Orchestra Bill went with them and plays on their eponymous debut album. Dad of course had a copy and how can this superb slice of throwback 60’s psychedelia not make an impression on 9 year old me (and Paul Weller it would later transpire) ?

1972 - Slade “Get Down And Get With It” (from Slade Alive!)
1973 - Slade “Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me”- I’m sorry Keith but this repeating artists rule is just not gonna work for me…
My own musical journey officially begins in 1973 with the first record I ever bought, Slade’s epic glam howl “Skweeze Me Please Me”. There is some confusion about that statement as I also owned a copy of T.Rex’s “Solid Gold Easy Action” around this time which was released a full 6 months before Slade’s single. But I suspect that I bought the T.Rex single from one of those Ex-jukebox bargain boxes that newsagents used to keep in stock. 
The next obvious step is to buy an LP and that was Slade’s “Alive!” album (released in ’72 bought/acquired in ’73). One of those arguments I’m quite happy to have with anyone is that “Slade Alive!” Is the greatest live album yet made and no-one has, thus far, managed to convince me otherwise (there are many worthy candidates Ramones “It’s Alive”, Hanoi Rocks “All Those Wasted Years” and Bob Marley & The Wailers “Live” among many others) but it’ll always be this one for me.
Slade were my first musical love and obsession, one that has always stayed with me. My first single, my first album and the first band I saw live (OK technically it was the support band but…). If you’re ever sitting next to me when I receive a text message you will hear Noddy’s roar of “Well ALLLLLRRRRRIIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT Everybody…” from “Get Down And Get With It” as it has been my text message notification for a long old time (half the pub usually shouts “Russ, I think you’ve got a text”)…God bless their Black Country souls.

1974 - David Bowie “Rebel Rebel” - Oh how I'd love to be able to claim that as a hip 9 year old I remember seeing Bowie perform "Starman" on TOTP and persuaded my parents to get me a copy of “…Ziggy…" and have been in the great man’s thrall ever since. The truth is I didn't really "discover" Bowie until the early 80’s but this record has to be here for two fairly important reasons.
Firstly Bowie has to be in this list as he and his music has meant so much to me over the years. The news of his passing broke the morning I was due my first driving test. As you can surmise from that statement I failed, my mind was elsewhere that day and I still think we lost more than we’ll ever truly appreciate when Bowie left us.
Secondly I’ve always thought of this as being Deb’s song. She is my Rebel Rebel girl and yes, “hot tramp” I do love you so x

1975 - Bob Marley & The Wailers “Trenchtown Rock” - I didn’t get to know Marley until a couple of years after this was released all thanx to my old friend Howard Bramble who educated me in all things Reggae. This song features the lyric “One good thing about music, When it hits you feel no pain, so hit me with music, hit me with music” and towards the end Bob adds in “Brutalise me with music”…and that’s why it’s here…

1976 - Barbara Streisand “With One More Look/Watch Closely Now” - Another one I owe to my folks. They are both huge Streisand fans so her music was a constant in our house. When she starred with Kris Kristofferson in the remake of “A Star Is Born” it may well have been one of the last times we all went to the pictures together as a family to watch it (it was ’76, times were about to change). Call it a guilty pleasure if you like but I love this soundtrack and Barbra’s voice on these two segued tunes in the finale is nothing short of astonishing.

1977 - Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” - …and here it is, the record that turned my world upside down, inside out and changed EVERYTHING. I remember where I was, who I was with and what I played it on the very first time I played this record. I felt like I’d been physically hurled across the room when it started. Even now that opening guitar blast sends shivers up my spine and on bad days I can play this really, really loud and 3 minutes 20 seconds later I remember that someone else feels that way too and it's OK. 
I think of all records/songs in this list there isn’t another one that approaches this in it’s importance to me.

1978 - Steel Pulse “Handsworth Revolution” - They were from our city, they sang about our city, they were every bit as radical as the Punk rockers we looked up to and you could dance to it…what’s not to love ? 

1979 - The B52’s “Rock Lobster” - Speaking of dancing…I remember I bought this album (for it is the album version we are concerned with here) on the same day as I purchased the debut album by the Yachts. I had never heard The B-52’s but a friend whose name is now lost to the mists of time had assured me they were great, he was not wrong. As I type this (Oct 2022) The B-52’s are on their farewell tour of the US and they will, I am sure, play this song to a rapturous reception each night. Now this is what I call dance music… 

1980 - Bruce Springsteen “The River” - Another pivotal moment. I was approaching 18, I was working in Birmingham City centre, I got my first ever tax rebate. I asked my then co-worker, now great friend Rob Perks for an album I should buy that was not the sort of stuff I usually listened to. Without hesitation he said “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen. So off I went to the record shop that was 2 or 3 doors down from where we worked and grabbed a copy. Oh boy did that one open my eyes, me and Bruce were now buddies. In 1980 The River Tour rolled into Birmingham’s NEC Arena. My Dad was the full time Union official for the NEC staff so he got us in to the gig gratis. Another Oh boy moment. When that wailing harmonica introduces you to this tale of a life changed forever it slays me every time. You’ll be pleased to know that the Boss and me are still on our journey together, we’ll see you in Italy next year mate.

1981 - The Bureau “Let Him Have It” - Here because it’s a great, great single and it reminds me of two young uns called Micky and Russ roaming the streets of Brum…

1982 - The Jam “Beat Surrender” - The Jam were my band. To this day I’ve never seen better live. Weller’s lyrics and The Jam’s (I hate to use the word) aesthetic inform the way I think and do and look to this day. “Beat Surrender” encapsulates everything they were about and it’s jam packed with positivity. It’s hard to believe it was their parting shot and I’m still not sure I’ve ever forgiven Weller for breaking them up. They mean more to me than all but one band before or since.

1983 - The Chameleons “Up The Down Escalator” - A John Peel Show find. Heard it on the radio, bought it the next day, still playing it now. I hope there’s a DJ out there still doing that for someone.

1984 - Hanoi Rocks “Up Around The Bend” - Memories of some raucous nights out at gigs with my Rebel Rebel girl (see 1974). Nothing cerebral or clever here just good time rawk ’n’ roll.

1985 - Zulu’s “I Can’t Wait To Tell You The News” - I was in hospital having impacted wisdom teeth removed. While listening to the John Peel Show (him again) he played this tune, said it was by a band from Boston, USA and read out their contact address. I managed to write it down and then did something I’ve never done before or since, I wrote to a band. Told them I’d heard this on the radio in the UK, thought it was great and how could I get hold of it, sent off the missive and forgot all about it. A few weeks later a parcel arrived at my house. It was the mini album this track was from, and a letter from guitarist Rich Gilbert telling me how amazed they were that their record had made itself known in the UK.
Some years later while on tour with The Wonder Stuff we were being supported by the fantastic Gigolo Aunts from Boston, USA. One late night conversation revealed that Gigolo’s guitarist Phil Hurley was good friends with now ex-Zulu Rich Gilbert and between them they arranged for me to get hold of a copy of the latest album by Rich’s new band The Concussion Ensemble. Small world.
Me and Rich are still “friends” on Facebook and sometimes my teeth still hurt… 

1986 - The Smithereens “Strangers When We Meet” - I’m pretty sure I first saw The Smithereens on The Tube performing this song and “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”. I was in a band then, The Libertines (no, not them!). I called guitarist Mark Bellamy “Did you see…on the Tube…wasn’t if fantastic” we both agreed. Later that year or early the next Me, Deb, Mark and his then wife Tina travelled down to London to see The Smithereens at The Astoria, the first time I’d travelled to London just to see a gig. Little did I know that was about to change.

1987 - Julian Cope “World Shut Your Mouth” - I’d been a huge fan of Cope’s since first hearing the Teardrop Explodes 8 or 9 years earlier. This is great, all that leather and the ridiculous microphone stand, that’s all. (And yes, for the pedants, I know the single came out in 1986 but the album was 1987)

1988 - The Wonder Stuff “A Song Without An End” - If you’re reading this then you likely know how my story intertwines with The Wonder Stuff, a band that changed my life every bit as much as the Sex Pistols or The Jam but in a very different way and a band who are just as important to me as the aforementioned two and to who I owe a great deal. So many of their songs mean many different things to me. This one is simply a beautiful song and my story with them doesn’t yet have an end…I hope…

1989 - Spirit Of The West “Home For A Rest” - From Granville Street in Vancouver, to putting a shine on many a bar, watching the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Chalk Farm and finally to the open mic nights at The Crown in Oakengates this song (Canada’s alternative National Anthem I’m told) has followed me around like an old friend which is how I think of the people that made this joyous noise. I may not have seen Geoffrey or Linda or Hugh for many years and sadly I’ll never see John again but old friends they will always remain.

1990 - Killing Joke “Money Is Not Our God” - Saturday 29th September 1990, Cabaret Metro, Chicago, The Wonder Stuff were playing there the following night and we blagged our way in to see Killing Joke. While they were playing the show they filmed the promo video for this song and released 1000’s of fake $ bills that rained down on the audience. A reminder of many a great night watching KJ and good times on tour with TWS. 

1991 - Richard Thompson “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” - I shouldn’t like this at all. He’s a hippy, a virtuoso guitarist (a fret-wanker as they’re known in our house) but…in 1991 I was on tour in the US. We were playing a festival in Arizona on a scorching hot day. There was a huge mess up with the staging which resulted in Richard Thompson playing a solo acoustic set while myself and fellow Wonder Stuff roadie Martyn “Mr” Smith crawled about on our hands and knees around poor Richard’s feet setting up our gear. He soldiered on like nothing was out of the ordinary. 
I bought the album he was touring at the time, “Rumour And Sigh”, as a kind of apology for messing with his gig and that is where this song comes from. I’ve seen him play live a couple of times since and to watch him play this is mesmerising…In the YouTube playlist for this list I’ve included a video of Mr Thompson playing this live, it’s not so very different from the recorded version and you get to see those fingers fly, you fret-wank away as much as you like Mr Thompson. 

1992 - Kingmaker “Honesty Kills” - The last few years worth of entries are all connected in some way to touring with The Wonder Stuff. We first crossed paths with Kingmaker when record producer Pat Collier worked on their single “When Lucy’s Down” and told us about them. This led to Kingmaker being invited to tour with The Wonder Stuff and eventually to me being asked to work with Kingmaker. I worked 2 full British tours (on one the support band was Radiohead on the other it was Suede !) and many one off gigs with them and I bloody loved ‘em, thought they were gonna be massive, but along came BritPop and swept away a lot of what went before, sadly. I got on particularly well with singer Loz Hardy. Kingmaker split in around 1995 and Loz pretty much disappeared from everyone’s lives. It would be great to catch up with him sometime.

1993 - 10,000 Maniacs “Stockton Gala Days (MTV Unplugged)” - This might be a long one…Without making the acquaintance of a certain Digby Cleaver I might never have heard 10,000 Maniacs. Myself and Digby were thrown together in late 1988 as the stage crew for The Wonder Stuff on their “Groovers On Manoeuvres” UK tour. I was one of the bands mates who had been helping them out. Digby was a professional roadie who had previously worked with bands like The Beat, The Only Ones, 10,000 Maniacs and The Clash (yes…THE CLASH!). 
Part of our getting to know each other period involved swapping recommendations of music we liked that the other may not have heard. I may well have offered the Screaming Blue Messiahs and possibly The Rainmakers at the time. Digby offered 10,000 Maniacs, it would have been the album “In My Tribe”. Thinking of me back then it was probably a lot of things I didn’t want to hear, folk-ish rock with jingly jangly guitars and a (possibly) fey girl singer. But once you hear that girl singer I defy any rational human being not to have your heart stolen by that voice, and there was certainly nothing fey about Miss Natalie Merchant.
This song is from their album “Our Time In Eden” but the specific version I’m interested in is this one from their MTV Unplugged performance. In this video from that performance Miss Natalie’s voice absolutely soars and she dances around like a whirlwind, to me it's rivetting viewing and brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it.
You’ll be delighted to know Digby and I, after many ups and downs on both sides, are still in regular-ish contact.

1994 - Ian McNabb “You Must Be Prepared To Dream” - My brother Miles and I used to swap CD-R’s featuring tracks we were big on that the other may not have heard. This song was on one of his to me. McNabb is a great songwriter as this proves and backed up by Crazy Horse, as he is here, adds another level of wonderfulness to this song. These lyrics need framing and hanging on every child’s bedroom wall… 

1995 - Paul Weller “The Changingman” - I’ve already told you about me and The Jam. The Style Council completely lost me. Then solo Weller appeared and I was back on board. We went to see him on the tour to support “Stanley Road”. He opened with this and my immediate thought was (see 1971) he was doing a cover of ELO’s “10538 Overture”. However much Weller protests he’d never heard 10538 the riff is exactly the same. But whatever, this is a superb song and exemplifies Weller in this period. I’m afraid he hasn’t made a record worth listening to (to my ears) in too many years but I’ll always check in and see what he’s up to. 

1996 - Vent 414 “Fixer” - The howled “Yeeeeaaaahhhh” at the end of the lines going “Roll some, roll some” makes me wanna cry every time I hear it…one of my brothers very, very best and to have been on the road with the three exceptional musicians that made this music was a wonderful thing.

1997 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For” - I’ll argue with anyone, long into the night that this is the greatest love song yet written. Is he singing about his lover or is he singing about Heroin ? I don’t know but isn’t that the genius of a great songwriter, that you can take the lyric in whichever way suits you best, regardless of the writers original intention ? This song destroys me every time I play it… 

1998 - RL Burnside “It’s Bad You Know” - This song was included in the soundtrack of The Sopranos and around 2010 and onwards unbelievably started being played at Northern Soul nights that I attended. I still DJ it whenever the chance presents itself. The Sopranos is the greatest TV series I’ve seen and some of those Soul nights stay long in the memory bank, a time and a place…

1999 - Greg Arnold’s Tricycle “Thursday” - There were a group of us around the globe that would send music to each other that we were digging. There was Cort, David, Jen and Curtis in the USA, Luci in Ireland and of course Phil in Australia. Via Curtis I received from Phil some tracks by an Australian band called Things Of Stone & Wood with which I was immediately taken. Greg Arnold was/is the singer and principle songwriter for TOSAW. After they split I followed his solo career and with help from Phil and Greg himself (via the wonders of t’internet) tracked down all his releases. 
In 2017 me and Deb drove down to London one afternoon to see Greg open for his friend Carus Thompson at a matinee show at the famed Half Moon in Putney. After all the years listening to his music it was a joy to see him and get a quick chat. We are still connected online and Greg is still making great music, you really should check him out. 

2000 - Daft Punk “One More Time” -  Now I bet you weren’t expecting that ! In late 2000 myself, Deb and James went off to Australia to stay with Deb’s Uncle and Aunt, visit Phil in Melbourne (see 1999) and to hang out in Sydney for the New Year. This record (along with “Sunshine On A Rainy Day” by Christina Anu) were all over the radio while we were there and will forever remind me of Aus…  

2001 - Joe Strummer  “Bhindi Bhajee” — I was sitting in Miles’ flat in London and he put on Joe Strummer’s “Global A Go-Go”. Before Joe had even started singing I was shouting “who is this ?” as I’d not heard it before but what an album it is. Later, in June 2002, The Wonder Stuff played at the Fleadh in Finsbury Park on the same bill as Joe & The Mescaleros. After the gig Miles came to drag me out of the dressing room just saying “come with me”. I was shoved into another dressing room and into a face to face situation with Joe Strummer. I had no idea what to do or say, fortunately Joe did. He asked me who I was, what I did and then told me my job was important and to stick to it “you’re bringing knowledge to the people, that’s a good thing” (I worked with libraries at the time). It’s still one of my greatest life experiences. 
Later that night myself and Miles were seen by Deb and Milo’s girlfriend at the time skipping down an alleyway, drunk, arm in arm and shouting “WE MET JOE STRUMMER”. Joe passed away 6 months later.
This song, also from “Global A Go-Go”, holds much the same message as “Melting Pot” (see 1969) and if it doesn’t make you wanna dance you might want to have a doctor check your pulse ! 

2002 - Bruce Springsteen “The Rising” - We’ve already dispensed with the repeating artists rule so…  The story goes that Springsteen was looking across the Hudson River from Jersey toward the smoking ruins of the World Trade Centre when someone drove past him and shouted “Bruce, We need you now”…so he did what he does best. He reformed the E Street Band after 18 years apart and headed for the studio to craft a eulogy to New York City and its people. 
The album is great but right from first listening the title song leapt out and you knew it was an instant Springsteen classic. Live it is an absolute triumph including off the scale audience participation. Who else could have said what NYC was feeling any better than The Boss ? Well…

2003 - Mike ‘Sport’ Murphy “The Lost Children” - On Sept 11th 2001 I was working in Birmingham City Centre and Deb was at Birmingham Airport relaying news of what was happening, and we all know what happened in New York City that day.
‘Sport’ (who Miles had discovered while on tour in the USA) was around NYC that day, as was his nephew Pete, a member of the NYFD who was sadly lost in the World Trade Centre. This song comes from Sports album “Uncle”, a heartfelt tribute to Pete and New York and is right up there with Springsteen’s “The Rising” when it comes to 9/11 songs.
Some years later Pete’s brother David took us to Farrell’s Bar & Grill in Brooklyn, the bar mentioned in another song on “Uncle” ("No Fair"), a bar used by New York firefighters and where there was a tribute behind the bar to those lost that day. A humbling experience.

2004 - Drive-By Truckers “Where The Devil Don’t Stay” - Another that came my way from that little group of people around the world who were swapping music recommendations. This one came from Jen in Connecticut. She sent a CD that had a bunch of 4 or 5 songs by the Truckers among which were this one and definitely “Angels & Fuselage”. Once I got hold of the album this track was on, “The Dirty South”, I got kind of obsessed with DBT. One other thing this obsession gave me was Jason Isbell (who we will meet in a few years) who was a Trucker at the time and wrote 2 songs on this album including the wonderful “Danko/Manuel”. 

2005 - Amsterdam “Does This Train Stop On Merseyside ?” - Sunday, 13 Mar 2005, the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. The Wonder Stuff were playing and our friend Luke Johnson was in town. As we arrived at the venue we find out that the support bands drummer was delayed and Luke, he being a quite astonishing drummer, had offered to sit in until their sticksman arrived. So it was that my first exposure to Amsterdam and their singer Ian Prowse was them taking the stage with a drummer they’d never played with before and treating us to a fantastic run through what I now know is the song “The Journey”, and at the time I thought it was the Mod-est thing I’d heard in years. 
From the same album as the song “The Journey”, which incidentally is titled “The Journey”, comes the song in question here. A hymn to Liverpool and a song it is said that could reduce the great John Peel to tears, I can understand why. In the ensuing years I’ve got to know Prowsey and am still utterly confused by the fact that he isn’t one of the UK’s most treasured songwriters.

2006 - Damien Dempsey - “Party On (Live At The Olympia)” - Miles gave me a copy of Damien’s (or Damo as he shall henceforth be known) album “Seize The Day” sometime in 2003. I put it on while I was doing the washing up or some other mundane task and thought yeah, it’s OK. When Miles called to ask what I thought I told him this. He insisted “NO! Sit down, put your headphones on, grab the lyric book and LISTEN to it”. I did and felt ashamed I’d passed it off so easily at first. 
I was at the gig the night before this performance was recorded, 14th December 2005, a birthday present from Miles, and the atmosphere of the whole day in Dublin, not just the gig, was electric.
To be in the crowd at a Damien Dempsey show is something I can only compare to a religious experience (having never had a religious experience I don’t really know but it’ll do as a metaphor) or it’s very similar to being in a football crowd when things are going well. Every person knows every word of every song and sings it lustily. And between songs the chants of “Damo, Damo, Damo…” fill the air. “Party On” is a perfect example of that experience.

2007 - Steve Earle “Days Aren’t Long Enough” (with Alison Moorer) - I knew this guy in the 80’s, Billy Bannister. He was in a band called Kiev Exocet and wrote these seriously left wing political songs. He was obsessed with The Clash and Steve Earle. Many years later I heard a song called “The Revolution Starts Now” by Mr Earle and really liked it so I bought the album and it was great, and so was the artwork and then I realised he had a whole slew of albums with similar artwork so I started buying them too and before you know it I was a confirmed Steve Earle fan. Steve has written some very hard hitting political songs (see the aforementioned “The Revolution Starts Now” or “Rich Mans War” from same album) but he also has a way with a ballad. This beauty is a duet in the style of Gram and Emmylou (Steve Earle is something of an acolyte of GP’s and has recorded with Emmylou) sung with Steve’s then wife Alison Moorer. 
Billy Bannister went on to become a sound recordist for films and documentaries. He now lives in Shrewsbury and I see him regularly in the Market Hall where I have my shop. I eventually got to thank him for opening my ears to Steve Earle. 

2008 - Frank Turner “I Knew Prufrock Before He Was Famous” - I didn’t actually hear this song until 2009 but I’m including it here in its year of release (yes I know it’s not strictly sticking to the rules but as I said earlier it’s my list, if you don’t like it try it yourself and see how hard it is)…so let me set the scene…Ottery St Mary, Devon Sunday, 23 Aug 2009, Beautiful Days Festival. We were sitting up on the bank at the back of the Main Stage area having a drink and talking with friends. I actually had my back turned to the stage but the fella on the stage kept catching my ear with some fabulous lyrics, snippets of which were forcing me to hear them, and he eventually made me turn around and listen. I grabbed a running order from someone and discovered his name was Frank Turner. Once he’d finished the rest of his fantastic set I dashed off to the festival CD shop and bought “Sleep Is For The Week”, “The First 3 Years” and “Love, Ire & Song” on which you will find “…Prufrock…”. It’s a song of friendship and solidarity and lost dreams (well it is to me) and it’s an absolute stunner. To this day I’ll argue fairly convincingly it’s one of the greatest songs you’ll ever hear.

2009 - Rammstein “Rammlied” - After dragging James around multiple Wonder Stuff shows as a kid I did say to him that when he finally wanted to go to a gig by a band he liked (not that he didn’t like TWS) then I’d take him, whenever, wherever. Sometime in 2004 he told me there was a gig he wanted to go to, “Who ?” I asked,  “Rammstein” he replied, “Where ?” I followed up, “Frankfurt” he said, well I did say anywhere. And so begins the tale of a series of trips around Europe to see Rammstein.
This song is a reminder of an absolutely mind-blowing gig opening at the NEC in Birmingham and of some of the best days out I’ve had tripping around Europe to Rammstein shows with James (Frankfurt with no hotel and stein’s of beer, Paris where we visited the Lizard King in Père Lachaise, Berlin during a scorching summer while spending too much € on Ampelmann tat, and next year Munich, who knows what that trip holds in store). No it’s it not my kinda music as a rule but I wouldn’t have missed those days out with Jim for anything and this is the band that gave them to me.
(I’ve included a live video of this in the YouTube playlist, it's less than perfect but gives you an idea of that mind-blowing 2009 show opening)

2010 - Dirty Ray “The Rain Song” - One of the biggest songs of 1984 for us was “Immaculate Fools” by Immaculate Fools”…fast forward to around 2005/6 and my brother Miles has taken to attending and playing at an open mic night at the Horseshoes pub in Ratlinghope (pronounced Ratchup BTW !) Which was MC’d by a fella know as Dirty Ray who we found out eventually was aka Kevin Weatherall, former lead singer of the Immaculate Fools, small world again. Turns out he was still a fantastic singer, songwriter and performer and was still big in Spain. Miles and Wonder Stuff violinist Erica Nockalls recorded the album, “Big World For A Little Man”, with Ray from whence hails this absolute destroyer of a song, which can always bring a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye. Ray now lives in Spain...

2011 - The Decemberists “Don’t Carry It All” - Some years before this Miles had suggested I listen to the debut album by an American band called The Decemberists called “Castaways and Cutouts” as he was sure I would like it, to my shame I never got around to it. Wind forward a few years and I’m at the open mic night at my local when a chap name of Ian played this fantastic song and I had to ask him what it was. I suddenly realised it was the band Miles had recommended earlier and promptly went out and bought “The King Is Dead” from which this song comes and the aforementioned “Castaways and Cutouts”. Miles was, of course absolutely correct, and The Decemberists have become probably my favourite band over the last 10 years.

2012 - The Wonder Stuff “Oh No!” - Yes I’m repeating again, it’s my list etc. etc. OK ! They filmed the video in my house how could I not include it ? A great but freezing cold day in the company of Miles, Erica and Greg Davies with mad rocket ships parked on our drive. Greg Davies also killed my Bialetti coffee maker (which features in the video) on this day too and I only eplaced it this week, 14 years later !

2013 - David Bowie “Where Are We Now ?” - The biggest rock star in the world, EVER, had been silent for 10 years. Then out of nowhere this beautiful song appeared as a single, swiftly followed by a new album “The Next Day”. The biggest rock star in the world, EVER, had recorded a new album in the middle of New York City and no-one knew ! (Tell me again Beyonce, Madonna etc. etc. WHO leaked your album online ?). My esteem for this man took a step up if that was even possible…

2014 - Henry Priestman “True Believer” - Take a look back at 1979 and you’ll recall I bought the debut albums by Yachts and the B-52’s on the same day. Henry was a member of Yachts, and Its Immaterial (“Driving Away From Home” remember that ?), and The Christians. The version of this song I’d love you to hear is contained in a video on Facebook. Henry is doing a songwriting class at a secondary school. During the lunch break he gets together with the schools choir and together they perform this song. They make a film of Henry and the kids performing it in the classroom, just a mobile phone video focussed on Henry as he sings the song. And then, just as Henry hits the chorus, the mobile phone pans to the school choir singing harmonies and it is absolutely beautiful. Those kids are on this recording, and it’s great, but that mobile phone video has something about it that can’t be replicated.

2015 - Jason Isbell “Something More Than Free” - You encountered Mr Isbell’s name back in 2004 when he was a member of the Drive-By Truckers. He left in 2007 and went solo, I bought the solo records but was never too impressed. I guess the best of his songs made it onto Truckers records and now we got to hear the others too. Then he got sober, got married and had a kid and he’s been on fire ever since. Jason has never been far from my turntable/MP3 player over the last 10 or 12 years. We got to finally see him live in 2017 and this song was an absolute highlight of that night.
One of the things I really love about this song is the lyric “I don't think on why I'm here or where it hurts, I’m just lucky to have the work” which always reminds me (in a very, very good way) of my brother-in-law Rob.

2016 - Michael C Hall, Sophia Anne Caruso & the Original New York Cast of Lazarus “Heroes” - To my ears Bowie’s original 1977 recording of “Heroes” is mans greatest artistic achievement. 2016 was the year we lost the greatest rock star, EVER (no argument will be entered into). I had to include this song in my list. 

2017 - Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires “Sweet Disorder" - my friend Paul Cookson (Slade’s poet laureate don’t you know)  posted a video of this lot on Facebook saying they were his “new favourite band”. High praise thought I so I clicked play and…jaysus feckin’ H christ that was the most exciting thing I’d seen in years ! And anyone who can fit the line “O, kinfolk, How do we scrap globalist American plutocracy and build us a magic city?” into the chorus is gonna be alright with me. 

2018 - Eagles “Journey Of The Sorcerer” - I’m really cheating here. Rob Perks (see 1980) would have been the one to introduce me to Douglas Adams insane comedy masterpiece “The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy” and it can still make me collapse into fits of uncontrollable giggles to this day. In 2018 Demon Records released a beautiful box set of the original radio series on luscious red vinyl (I’m a sucker for coloured vinyl) and my darling wife Deb was thoughtful enough to snag me a copy for Christmas that year. And why the Eagles instrumental from 1975 (that in no way, shape or form resembles what you would usually expect from the Eagles) you ask ? Well it’s the theme tune to Hitchhiker’s ay it !

2019 - Sam Fender “Dead Boys” - My friend Chris Jameson up in Newcastle has been banging on about Sam Fender for some time. Jaded old me just thought “new music that the kids like, not for me”. Then one Saturday morning earlier this year (we’re in 2022 still) I was driving in to Shrewsbury with BBC Radio Shropshire on the radio when a song came on. It caught my ear and by the time the we were 2 minutes in I was bouncing up and down in my seat (yes I was driving but I was on the quiet back road and it was 8am) screaming “WHAT THE FOOOOK IS THIS ?????”. Turns out it was Sam Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under” from 2021. As I had already reserved a spot in 2021 for somebody else I’m putting Sam and “Dead Boys” in here on it’s year of release cos he needs to be in this list after he restored my faith in “the kids” and the music they make and what they have to say. More power to you Sam.

2020 - Jerry Joseph “Sugar Smacks” - Do you remember those days when you’d get the music papers and going through them you’d see a news item or read a review about a new release that got you interested and you’d just go out and buy it without ever hearing a note ? I hadn’t done that in years. I saw a review online of Jerry Joseph’s forthcoming new album “The Beautiful Madness” that must have mentioned prominently either the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood or Jason Isbell otherwise I would have just passed it by, I’d never heard of him. The Truckers were the band on the record, D-BT mainman Patterson Hood had produced it and Jason Isbell contributed too. Ah to hell with it, just order it, and thankfully I did. Jerry has been touring and making records for around 30 years, all the aforementioned artists were fans and in a position to help him out. As you may know I love a good lyric and this one contains a belter in “Can I get an Amen for David Bowie, Can I get an Amen for Joe Strummer, Oh god if they could only see us now”. Great songs, great lyrics, it’s all it takes…all !

2021 - Cult Figures “Concrete And Glass” - Back when we were the kids from the Green my then girlfriends elder brother and his group of friends seemed like proper adults to us. In actuality they were just a couple of years older but when you’re 14, 16 year olds seem like that. One of Doris’s (for that was my girlfriend’s brothers nickname) group of friends was a fella name of Gary Jones. He was a Punk, he had a leather jacket and brothel creepers and he hung around in Solihull with the Swell Maps, and then he was in a band, Cult Figures, who made a record called “Zip Nolan” and John Peel played it on the radio! Pretty much everything we wanted in life at the time and Gary had done it all.
Cult Figures re-united in 2018 and made an album of songs from back then in the late 70’s that had never been recorded (it’s titled “The 166 Ploughs A Lonely Furrow” if you’re interested). Then in 2021 they made my album of the year, “Deritend”. I could have picked any song from it, go get a copy it’s great. Gary and I were also occasionally back in touch via the wonders of the internet. They were gigging again and I was waiting on a Brum show so I could go see them and say hi to Gary.
Then in March this year I found out that Gary had passed away, fucking cancer. Sorry I never got to say hi again mate.

2022 - Rammstein “Zeit” - And we reach my 60th year and track number 61 (if that makes sense) and I don’t care if I’m breaking the rules by repeating another artist at this point. 
James and me had another fantastic weekend in Berlin earlier this year. We pounded the streets of that wonderful city, visited Hansa Studio’s where Bowie made those 3 pivotal albums, drank German beer, spent too much money on Ampelmann paraphernalia and, of course, we went to see Rammstein again in the magnificent Olympia Stadion. Their most recent album “Zeit”, which means Time, has been a constant with me this year and the title track has the following lyric: 

“Zeit, Bitte bleib stehen, bleib stehen
Zeit, das soll immer so weitergehen” 

Or, for you non German speakers… 

“Time, please stand still, stand still
Time, it should always go on like this”

This whole list has been about time, or the passing of it. You can’t stop it, just try not to waste it…

Russ x