Bringing you the only musical time traveling experience that doesn't require a flux capacitor, every Thursday at midday, this is Pop Essays. This week: what happens when major record labels choose paralysis by analysis... Artist: David JordanSong: Place In My HeartRelease Date: 22/10/2007Writers: Dave McCracken / David Jordan / Tim HuttonProducers: Trevor Horn / Steve … Continue reading Pop Essays #28: David Jordan, ‘Place In My Heart’
Welcome to this week's Pop Essays, where as always every Thursday, I bring you my thoughts and general love on a personal classic from my extensive music library. And this week's one is just a little bit gorgeous so let's see what it is, shall we? Artist: Zero 7 feat. Sia and Sophie BarkerSong: DestinyRelease … Continue reading Pop Essays #27: Zero 7 feat. Sia and Sophie Barker, ‘Destiny’
Bringing you another genuine nugget of awesomeness from my personal music archives, every Thursday at midday, it's Pop Essays. Many a great duo have been written about before - so here's a twosome that got away for this week... Artist: Marvin and TamaraSong: Groove MachineRelease Date: 26/07/1999Writers: John McLaughlin / Steve Du BerryProducer: Steve Du … Continue reading Pop Essays #26: Marvin and Tamara, ‘Groove Machine’
It's Thursday and it's midday - it therefore must be time for me to trawl my personal playlists of yore to bring you another lost gem in Pop Essays. This week: an album track from one of Britain's most promising teen protégés in the early 00s... Artist: Amy StudtSong: Carry Me AwayRelease Date: 30/06/2003 (on … Continue reading Pop Essays #25: Amy Studt, ‘Carry Me Away’
With more hidden gems then you could find with a metal detector, it's this week's installment of my weekly music series Pop Essays. And let me say that I truly love the geezer behind this week's featured song and his many other works - as I'm sure you will too... Artist: Ed DrewettSong: Champagne LemonadeRelease … Continue reading Pop Essays #24: Ed Drewett, ‘Champagne Lemonade’
Time as always to trawl and mine the deepest depths of my old iTunes library and CD racks as we uncover another great lost pop gem with my weekly series, Pop Essays. This week: the re-illumination of a forgotten hit by a sisterly Essex duo... Artist: Alisha's AtticSong: The IncidentalsRelease Date: 07/09/1998Writers: Karen Poole / … Continue reading Pop Essays #23: Alisha’s Attic, ‘The Incidentals’
Bringing you more uncovered gems from my old iTunes library of pop yore every Thursday at midday, this is Pop Essays. This week: the tale of how one cover version derailed carefully laid plans for a promising pop rock outfit... Artist: SpeedwaySong: In and OutRelease Date: 07/06/2004Writers: Jill Jackson / Jim Duguid / Guy ChambersProducers: … Continue reading Pop Essays #22: Speedway, ‘In and Out’
When pop bands get to a certain level of success - hit singles and albums, stacks of awards and sellout tours, it's safe to say they've reached national ubiquity and adoration. It is therefore not out the question, then, to mark this transition into absolute phenomenon via their first big screen outing. But it's a … Continue reading JLS: Eyes Wide Open – the 10th anniversary of an intimate 21st century pop film
This album wasn't actually supposed to happen at all. In the press and interviews for Hi, the tenth studio album from Texas, Sharleen Spiteri has said that they were actually working on an entirely different project; namely, the 30th anniversary of their debut album Southside from 1989. In the process, herself and songwriting partner Johnny … Continue reading Album Review: Texas – ‘Hi’
There are many ways to make it, and I took the long way round. For a while, I was very broken, but for the last thirty years I have mostly been trying to help people make or repair things. It might be furniture, it might be a relationship: it might even be themselves ... This … Continue reading Book Review: Jay Blades – ‘Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life’
