Music is my thing so my favourite films have a musical theme however tenuous — And so we reach Part 2 of this somewhat irreverent (this is not a typo for irrelevant) and not entirely serious look at my favourite music-based films. Part 1 can be found here. For this series, the prime interests are the quality and historical significance of the music and musical…

Music is my thing which makes my favourite film choices somewhat different — Cinephiles, film buffs and movie critics look away now. I succumbed to Paul Combs’ challenge of favourite films from every year of my life. Luckily, he stated favourite films, not best films. Keep that in mind as you read on. Also keep in mind that if you want a proper…

Do you not realise what is going on here? — Dear Mr Springsteen Re: Tickets for your concerts in Europe I’m someone who’s followed you since 1975, buying every album and outtake album you’ve ever released, sometimes twice when it’s been remastered or there are different versions such as for Western Stars. I’ve been to around four of your live…

Nine afterlife performances by departed musicians — Imagine there’s no heaven. No hell below us. Imagine the afterlife is one big musical performance. Now that would be heaven. I’ll cling to this image as the alternative is not much fun. I’ll also cling to the thought that “sleep of death what dreams may come when I have…

10 to 19 years old, the favourite albums from the teenage years — I had thought that part two of this saga of my favourite albums from each year of my life would be the easiest. It proved to be rather difficult; there was too much choice. This was the period when I started to get a little money from paper rounds and…

0 to 9 years old, the favourite albums — I’d loved music since the moment I scrambled into the light towards the end of November 1956. Instead of crying like other babies, I came out humming Rock Island Line and playing air guitar. So when Paul Combs kicked it all off by writing about his favourite album from every…

The songs and the musicians from where I’ve lived — Music is often an artistic representation of the culture of your hometown area. Just listen to anything by Bruce Springsteen or to Penny Lane or Strawberry Fields. David Acaster’s excellent recent article on musicians and songs from Hull, his hometown in northeast England, reminded me of this. …

The tracks that would get me through isolation on a remote island without Spotify access — I think this is a challenge of some kind but I’m not entirely sure. I saw this great article by Dan Reich in response to the (maybe) challenge. He describes the eight great tracks he’d take with him if he were to be stranded on a desert island. He cheated…

Camp, kitsch, silly, over-long, political, eccentric, bizarre and yet watched by over 180 million people worldwide — Saturday 14th May 2022 was the lowlight of the music calendar across Europe. And beyond. Eurovision time. The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual event to choose the best song entry from across Europe. Except that’s not strictly true. It’s less about the music and more an excuse to have…