by Will Birch | Jul 15, 2020 | Popular Music, The Records
It was 40 years ago today… so the kid comes in, about 10 years our junior, and he can harmonise like McCartney and twang like, well, any guitarist you care to mention, but he has one serious addiction – ‘Asteroids’ – the quarter-in-the-slot arcade game...
by Will Birch | Jul 2, 2020 | Popular Music
IN MEMORY OF SEAN TYLA 1946 - 2020 Sean Tyla fronts the Tyla Gang – photo by Keith Morris. In Memory of Sean Tyla 1946-2020 News has reached fans’ ears that musician Sean Tyla died on 17 May. As you may know, guitarist and singer Sean was the leader of pub rock...
by Will Birch | Mar 21, 2019 | Books, Popular Music
BORN WITHIN THE SOUND OF DOBELL'S* A new book, out this week – ‘A Fabulous Creation’ by David Hepworth (Bantam Press) – is subtitled ‘How LPs Saved Our Lives’. I’m about to dive in and I suspect it will sum up my major preoccupation during pop and rock’s golden...
by Will Birch | Oct 26, 2018 | Popular Music
REMEMBERING THE BE STIFF TOUR 1978 Here we are, 40 years ago, midway through the ‘Be Stiff Tour’, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles by train. There are hotels, of course, including at the higher end the Randolph in Oxford, the Queen’s in Leeds,...
by Will Birch | Oct 19, 2017 | Nick Lowe, Popular Music, Uncategorised
40 YEARS AGO: STIFF TOUR 'HITS' MANCHESTER October 1977 and my own group, the Kursaal Flyers, are midway through a UK tour with loveable punk rockers The Cortinas in support. It is a turbulent period – ‘Punk Rock’, as in ‘God Save The Queen’, has invaded the TV...
by Will Birch | Sep 17, 2017 | Popular Music
VAN MORRISON - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Van Morrison – Beauty and The Beast‘Sleeve designers’ are a mixed bunch. Their remit is to make the product look as attractive as possible to its intended market to help shift more units in an increasingly commercialised...
