If you’re unfamiliar with The Fab’s canon outside their greatest hits you’re in for a pleasant surprise — Everyone knows The Beatles' hits and big album tracks. But there are some lesser-known gems buried away on B-sides and album tracks that mainly aficionados have picked up on. There are plenty. Here’s my ten. There’s A Place, 1963 The penultimate track on side 2 of the Please Please Me album, it possibly suffered…

A pilgrimage to the birthplace of The Beatles — I had wanted to go to New Jersey to explore Bruce Springsteen’s home town. My wife was less keen and said I’d lived in England for about 123 years (give or take a decade) and never visited the home city of The Beatles, my favourite band of all times. …

The Dad-Rock playlist about cars, buses, train stations, spaceships and Shanks's Pony — Before we get to transport playlists, we have to consider the two types of writers: the Planner and The Pantser. The Planner obviously outlines their articles or story first and probably has a schedule of articles and dates for completion, publishing and marketing. The Pantser on the other hand writes…

Two of these stories are true and one is made up. Can you work out which one? — I am used to writing challenges pinging at me from Paul Combs. This is the first that wasn’t about music or that I could tweak to be about music. The challenge was to issue three statements; two are true and one is a lie. You have to decide and let…

The third installment of music films and documentaries that changed the world. The musical world inside my head — Writing this musical film series has cost me a lot of money and it’s all Paul Combs’ fault. That’s because, as Mark Holburn also mentioned in his excellent series of favourite films, I realised while writing it I’d culled my entire DVD collection. I may no longer have all the…

The historical county of Essex is home to many great bands and the inspiration for many great songs — Tradition is a funny old thing, especially in an ‘old’ country like England. Many people follow the traditions from hundreds, even thousands of years ago. We English still measure fuel consumption in miles per gallon even though we buy our petrol in litres and West Ham and Millwall football fans…

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…