One of those bands that are so far under the radar in 2026 that subterranean doesn't even start to describe it - and they have so many 'CRUCIALS' - that I ended up choosing this one because it is over 10 minutes of total bliss. Originally from the Mayall School of Music - look it up kids.

And it's Mark Almond - NOT Marc Almond - who one day will get his own entry.

Talking of superb covers … as I wrote 🖇️ here not even a month ago - a glorious cover of track by Fleetwood Mac. Before John and Stevie. Even before Christine.

Bonus Round ...

PartONE that Tom covered.

PartTWO that Tom did not cover - totally different and Peter Green's favourite part.

both performed by Fleetwood Mac.

Never a fan of Barry. Too saccharine, too schmaltzy. Not my style - but there is always an exception to the rule (still looking for Rush’s exception - but that remains another story.)

When I first heard this in 1976 - my instant reaction - was - ‘TYPICAL - BLOODY BARRY. ’I’ write the songs … seriously? The arrogance.

But it hooked me. Totally - and still to this day remains on my Apple Playlist called Just Good Songs.

Of course he didn’t write the song, something I learned a little later - and so my dichotomy was resolved. Of course it was a great song - it was written by a ‘Beach Boy’ - and the claim ‘I write the songs …’ as certainly more defensible. Even more so when I realised that;

The ‘I’ in the song is God, and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in everyone.

💬 Bruce Johnston

(Why not share Bruce's version? In my mind - just not as good - so sticking with the version that hooked me.)

Thought I would follow a prompt for a change:

Share a song you call something other than its official title. What do you call it?

That's the way the croissant crumbles

Epic - from one of the most underplayed bands in the history of 'oldy goldys' - 10CC - and this offering will always be 'One Night in Paris' - I am English for heaven's sake.

Whenever it doesn’t seem right … Lou sets me straight.

I was sat on a plane reading an interview with Bowie who talked about this band he'd just heard. Made a note of it, and ordered it online. Their first album arrived and this was the first track and I was IN. How could you not be?

Today’s post is a sister post to this one.

My memory … sitting alone tin a large Odeon(?) cinema - South London - Streatham. I really can’t recall the movie - except the closing credits - as Wiki says:

The song also plays over the closing titles as the camera pans out from the band performing in a hut on an island in the Stockholm archipelago to views of the archipelago itself.

That is my only memory and on that day, for whatever reason found it so uplifting. Where are we now? What 47 years later - and that memory is locked. That song. Locked. Loved it then. Love it now.

Abba? Sure I have great respect for what they did. The songs they wrote and recorded - but in all honesty - never really my bag.

Except this one.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a fan of cricket .. but this one is nothing to do with cricket and everything to do with life. Been in the soundtrack of my life for 51 and counting years and hard to reach the end without life memories coming to the fore.

Hawley’s voice has me … every time. You can … I do .. just fall into his songs .. not just the ocean,

The first track of Matt’s second album left the speakers in my living room and arrived in my ears nearly forty years ago. I never looked back .. the power of this opening track hit me like a sledgehammer and does a stunning job of introducing the ‘tour de force’ that is the album.