News, Views and Music Issue 75 (Intro)

September 10^th:

♫ Hello and welcome to another new ‘News, Views and Music’, filled to the pixels with the latest, well, news views and music. There isn’t really much to add about what’s happening to our site since the last time we posted – we’re still getting to grips with Twitter and YouTube and next week should be when we hear about the future of our site. Just think – if you’re reading this at the current date (or thereabouts), you’ll be able to tell your great-grandkids that you were among the first to visit Alan’s Album Archives (and they’ll probably sigh and say ‘why is it boring old 2D format?, fancy having not invented holograms yet!’) In the meantime, it’s yet another trawl through the back pages of rock and roll, featuring some very wild tales indeed...

                                                  

♫ Beatles News: Yoko Ono has confirmed that the eight ‘core’ Lennon solo albums will indeed be re-mastered and re-released for Lennon’s 70^th birthday on October 9^th this year (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Sometime In New York City, Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Double Fantasy and the posthumous Milk and Honey, though sadly not outtakes set ‘Menlove Avenue’ which needs it the most). However, there’s still no news about what bonus tracks are being attached to each album – although the unofficial report is that ‘Double Fantasy’ for one will be completely transformed by the un-released material – or whether ‘NY City’ will be the old 2CD or the newer single CD version. Oh and Yoko’s just reached the twitter milestone of one million followers – and sadly that last one wasn’t me (I was 999, 990!) Yoko has also been on one of her regular trips to Liverpool and reportedly gazed in awe at Lennon’s bedroom in Mendips, which the National Trust bought up with her money and support. Yoko, of course, never saw the house her time with Lennon (the couple never got round to it before moving to America and by the time the pair met Aunt Mimi had moved to Wales where her nephew had bought her a bungalow).

Oh and in a bit of extra news, BBC6 are repeating their very listenable Badfinger documentary ‘Without You’ this Monday. While I’m at a loss to explain why such a fine and consistent group should be reduced to talking about one of their slowest and dreariest ballads (I’d take ‘Name Of The Game’ ‘Day After Day’ and ‘Baby Blue’ over ‘Without You’ any day), the story of the band is quite something for those who don’t know it, including discovery by the Beatles’ road manager Mal Evans and working with Paul; McCartney and George Harrison to horrendous royalty disputes and eventually the suicide of two members. Let’s hope the new Apple re-issues of the first four Badfinger releases in October does much to restore their reputation for making a series of great ballads, not just the one. 

♫ Belle and Sebastian News: Our biggest congratulations to Rachael Neiman who scored an amazing 18 points during the first round of the latest Mastermind competition, with ‘Belle and Sebastian’ her chosen subject. I only got two questions right – they seemed blooming hard to me (we did a bit better on CSN a couple of series back before you think we’re totally hopeless!) I believe the show is still available from BBC i-player for a week, so I won’t spoil the ending for anybody who wants to see if she won the whole caboodle.

♫ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young News: A bit of belated new from March for you here. You may remember that in one of our very earliest newsletters we found – almost by accident - that CSN were working with Johnny Cash’s producer Rick Rubin on an album of cover songs and that it should have been out long ago – so long ago that I was beginning to think I’d dreamt or imagine the whole thing (chronic fatigue can do that to you – I was convinced last week I’d found a rare abandoned Pink Floyd album in a charity shop in my sleep and it’s taken many discographies since then to prove me otherwise!)

Well, as you may have read last week, we’re only just getting the hang of twitter but one Beatles post that caught my eye had a link for a CSN story from March this year, about how the band were still going ahead with their ‘covers’ album and had already recorded or arranged covers of, among others, AAA songs The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’ (a regular part of their set-lists now) and the Grateful Dead’s ‘Uncle John’s Band’ (the album is, apparently, ‘one-third done’ and that was in March). Nash adds that the recording sessions are dragging on longer than any other CSN project (even longer than ‘Deja Vu’?!?) thanks to CSN’s heavy touring schedule which will see them out on the road somewhere around the world until October. It’s very unusual for CSN to work with any producer (not many have the stamina or the ego to stand up to these four!) and in the past they have either produced themselves or used some figure close to the group – the same background, in fact, as Johnny Cash before Rubin resurrected his career with the atmospheric and well received ‘America’ series the last few years before his death. So let’s hope CSN get the same honour and return to the spotlight with their new album. Nash claims that “It’s hard to tell CSN what to do in the studio after almost 40, 50 years, but it’s an interesting experience. We’re certainly opening to listening to him. He has good ideas, of course.” Nash adds: “We all want it to be right – Rick, too – so we’re taking our time to make sure it is.” 

In other news, could be that we’re about to have the holy grail of CSNY collectors sometime next year? Apparently, 2011 will see the first legal release of recordings from CSNY’s legendary 1974 tour. The first (of many) CSNY reunions, this tour broke up in acrimony and bad blood when a tie-in album broke down partway through the recording – but those who there have always reckoned that these concerts are among the best the quartet ever did (something I concur with having seen the unfairly dismissed Wembley set that year, which broke the crowd attendance record held by the Beatles in Shea Stadium in 1965). Nash is the member of the band whose most objected to releasing tapes from this period, claiming the vocals are often way out of tune and can’t be heard against the loud guitar parts, but now even he says: “It’s very obvious when you play the tracks that we’re listening to each other, not stepping on each other’s toes, not over-blowing. It’s really, really good.” More news if and when we hear it.

♫ Janis Joplin News: Just when I was despairing of any programme celebrating the life of Janis in the 40^th anniversary year of her death – look out for our tribute we’ve got vaguely sketched out somewhere around October 4^th – comes the programme ‘Queens Of Heartache’, to be broadcast on Wednesday, September 8^th on BBC 2. Janis isn’t the only figure of course though in our eyes she’s easily the most important, sharing screen time with the likes of powerful, charismatic but deeply unhappy singers like Judy Garland and Edith Piaf. We’ll let you know what the programme is like next issue...

♫ ANNIVERSARIES (September 6^th-12^th): Birthday greetings to the following AAA luminaries and visionaries: Roger Waters (bassist and so much more with Pink Floyd 1967-85) who turns 66 on September 6^th, Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan (singer and keyboardist with the Grateful Dead 1965-72) who would have been 64 on September 8^th and Otis Redding who would have been 69 on September 9^th. Anniversaries of events include: the sad untimely death of record producer Tom Wilson, who gave Simon and Garfunkel their big break by overdubbing electric instruments on their flop single ‘The Sound Of Silence’ (September 6^th 1978); the sad untimely death of the drummer we all thought was indestructible – The Who’s Keith Moon (September 7^th 1978); the advert calling for ‘four insane boys’ for a new TV series about musicians, The Monkees, appears in Los Angeles’ Daily Variety magazine. Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones have already been cast, but Micky Dolenz auditions after seeing the advert and AAA member Stephen Stills applies, recommending his friend Peter Tork when he is rejected (September 8^th 1965); The Moody Blues play to an almost-record 300, 000 fans in Paris, a city not traditionally all that excited about rock and roll (even The Beatles were booed on their first tour, September 8^th 1968); John Lennon releases his biggest selling solo LP ‘Imagine’ (September 9^th 1971); the first ever edition of 1970s programme ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ takes place, the source of much AAA archive material (September 9^th 1972); The Rolling Stones, meanwhile, are making their famous TV appearance on a special edition of Ready Steady Go!, including a mimed version of Sonny and Cher’s hit ‘I Got You Babe’ (September 10^th 1965); Barely a year after that first advert The Monkees release their first single ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ – a big hit two days before the TV series come along to plug it (September 10^th 1966); A magical mystery tour coach leaves for location filming of a Beatles TV project (see if you can guess which one! September 11^th 1967); The Beatles release the most recorded song in the world, ‘Yesterday’, as a single – but only in America where it becomes one of the band’s biggest sellers (September 12^th 1965);The Monkees’ TV series debuts on American television (UK viewers get it six weeks or so later; September 12^th 1966) and finally, after three girls, Paul and Linda have a son, James Lewis McCartney, born on September 12^th 1977.

News, Views and Music Issue 75 (Top Ten): AAA Solos

We’ve spoken about melodies. We’ve spoken about lyrics. We’ve spoken about context. We’ve spoken about new inventions and ideas. But one thing our words can never get across to you is the solo – the rush of adrenalin, channelling all the happiness/sadness/ anger/frustration of the rest of the song in one wild orgasmic 30 seconds of release. We’ve had to extend our top five this week because it just seemed silly cutting so many great solos and instrumental passages out from our list, seeing as all these top 10 are probably equal and are so different to each other it’s often hard to compare them anyway (it was almost a ‘top 13’ this week too, as The Moody Blues’ ‘Gypsy’, CSN’s ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and Nils Lofgren’s ‘Moon Tears’ all came close to the cut). Most of the below examples are played on guitar – the default setting for most rock and roll bands – but there are some notable exceptions played on a mellotron and a sitar! (and goodness only knows what mesh of instruments is going on in ‘Change Is Now’!) So what does make a good solo? Is it raw passion, virtuosity or simply being perfectly placed as part of the perfect song? Well, critics and fans have wondered for years but, do you know what, with our top 10 we reckon it’s a bit of all three...

10) The Beatles “The End” (released on ‘Abbey Road’, 1969): How fitting that the (almost) last sound you hear from the fab four is one long series of solos, each one demonstrating the differences and similarities between each Beatle. Now, The Beatles were never that known for their soloing on records previously – only George usually gets a look in or sometimes John as per ‘Get Back’, but Ringo starts things off with his only drum solo in the Beats’ catalogue. More thoughtful and melodic than most dash-and-thrash drum solos around, Ringo goes for a wander around his kit before stepping up the rhythm at the end. The Beatles’ solos then come in in the order John, George and Paul, all three fascinatingly different – John’s is the muscly, rhythmic attack (highly suitable for a rhythm guitarist), George’s is the soaring feedback-drenched one (very like his close friend Eric Clapton’s style) and Paul is the unusual against-the-beat-and-the-melody counterpart that goes the opposite way to the rest of the music (very like his bass-playing, in fact). All three styles are great – it’s staggering to think that three guitarists this good were all in the same band - and let’s remember, all three men were lead guitarists at some stage during the Quarrymen years (Lennon when it was still very much ‘his’ band; McCartney until he froze during a guitar solo at one of his early gigs with the band; Harrison thereafter). All three will also mine their own guitar techniques throughout their solo years (you can hear bits of ‘Cold Turkey’, ‘My Sweet Lord’ and much of the first back-to-basics ‘McCartney’ album in the solos played here), although sadly the closest we’ve come to a Ringo drum solo since is the truly weird ‘Drumming Is My Madness’ from the ‘Stop and Smell The Roses’ album, which sounds like Keith Moon on a bad day.

9) 10cc “Blackmail” (released on ‘The Original Soundtrack’, 1975): In anybody else’s hands except 10cc this would be a joke song. The jealous estranged lover takes lewd pictures of his missus after he rigs up a camera on her toilet and he sells the resulting, undignified images to Playboy magazine – inadvertently making her a movie star! The band are on the edge of tongue-in-cheek throughout the first half of the song, but the whole parody feel is blown away by Eric Stewart’s outrageous double-tracked guitar solo. Drenched in so much feedback it’s positively radioactive, his solo is so wild and out of control it perfectly encapsulates the unthinking rage and anger in the heart of the song’s narrator and screams its way through chord change after chord change, rattling off one drop-dead amazing riff after another as the blackmailer tries to find his way out of the straightjacket he’s in. The solo is loud enough to hurt your eardrums, even if your sound system is turned way down low, but emotional and in context reasonable enough to make a joke song novelty song sound unhinged and sympathetic all at the same time. This song runs to near six minutes and nearly half of that is the guitar solo – and yet, so exciting and raw is it, those three minutes still aren’t enough!

8) The Byrds “Change Is Now” (released on ‘The Notorious Byrd Brothers’, 1968): This song about fluidity pulls off a typical schizophrenic Byrds trick by tying together pioneering psychedelic and ‘roots’ country styles into one song and even without the solo would be one of the band’ best. But with the solo it’s something else entirely, with the awe-struck shimmering harmonies giving way to a Roger McGuinn solo that steps out of nowhere to begin an exhilarating flight upwards through the song’s scale, while surrounded by a backwards-playing guitar part and Chris Hillman’s insistent bass playing, driving the whole thing forward bit by bit. Most solos are excuses to fill up another 30 seconds because the authors have run out of ideas, but not this solo, which in its ever-moving and ever-restless way is every bit as integral to the song as the words. As the lyrics say, ‘things that seem to be solid are not’, with the mesh of weird noises the perfect expression of how things can change in the blink of an eye. Quite staggering.

7) The Rolling Stones “We Love You” (released as a single, 1967): According to most Stones biographers, Brian Jones’ best period with the band happened offstage, as it were, back when the Stones were still playing blues clubs when this charismatic, multi-talented pioneer used to pull off blues solos on a variety of instruments that left his colleagues and rivals’ jaws dropping. Frustratingly, we don’t get to hear much of that on record as Brian’s control of the band slipped gradually over time and even before their record contract, but this psychedelic single’s mellotron solo is testament to Brian’s expertise on a good day. The song is all about the Stones’ drug trials of the day and is half thankyou to fans and half put down of the establishments that tried to lock them up, but it’s worth remembering that Brian was still facing possible imprisonment at this point, even if Mick and Keef had got off scot free. Brian’s closing solo – on an instrument so new it hadn’t even been on sale a year – is staggering, running this way and that, picking up on the song’s paranoid mood and rhythmic stabbing, switching from the gentle morse code part the mellotron has been playing throughout the song to a free-for-all improvisation that finally releases all the pent up anger and fear lurking at the heart of the song. Part cry for help and part danger signal, Brian’s exceptional bit of skill on the ‘brass’ settings of the keyboard instrument is the perfect coda to this edgy song, even with Mick Jagger adding some off-putting grunting sounds behind him. The way the song ends – with the backing track lurching to a stop, causing Brian’s part to stutter and then end on a long-held sighing note (which the listener is dying to be resolved back to the major key) is one of the most moving passages in rock.

6) The Kinks “You Really Got Me” (released on ‘The Kinks’, 1964): Solos before 1964 tended to come under two categories – the simple, washboard-based skiffle sound of two chords that everyone could try at home and the virtuoso-but-clean licks of The Shadows and their many followers. When The Kinks came to record their third and – had it not been a hit – their last single for record label Pye, Dave Davies destroys tradition by playing the most raucous, out-there solo heard from anyone up to that time. As all fans know, Dave got his peculiar, distorted sound by slashing the speakers of his amplifier with a razor blade and then turning the sound level up as high as possible. The wild, exciting passage is the perfect fit for elder brother Ray’s exciting song about undistinguished passion and lust and is the release this claustrophobic record has been crying out for since the opening note. The most amazing thing of all, though, is how Dave manages to pick up the song’s rhythmic riff straight after his wild solo and journey into the unknown. Certain heavy metal bands have based their whole style on the sound Dave Davies single-handedly invented here as a teenager. As Ray said in his ‘X-Ray’ autobiography show, ‘The way Dave played was very...individual, fast just like the way he spoke’.

5) Pink Floyd “Echoes” (released on ‘Meddle’, 1972): The song is a 22-minute epic of mega proportions even for the Floyd, taking in quiet sonar pings and existential lyrics from Roger Waters about people being strangers to each other. There’s even the sound of crows fighting in the middle, weirdest section, perhaps because they’ve been reading what poet Ted Hughes was writing about them in his dreadful poetry. However, it’s the thrilling section immediately after this that’s on our list, as Dave Gilmour’s guitar goes from see-sawing its way through a riff that plunges from the top to bottom of his fretboard, weaving his way over and over the same old ground and growing in intensity until, several minutes later, he finally gives us some sort of release with a shimmering cascade of noise and melody. One of the most moving things you’ll ever hear, if you stick with this long song all the way through, is that truly mind-blowing release of sound when all of the tension of the past five minutes finally gives way to a sound so sweet, so poetic and so right to the song it sounds like the sun has gone into supernova. There are lots of amazing Gilmour solos out there, but this one displays all his musical talents: torturous claustrophobic rhythm and free-wheeling fluid beauty.  

4) The Who “My Generation” (the ‘Live At Leeds’ version, released 1970): The original version of ‘My Generation’ is pretty special, what with John Entwistle’s  ridiculously complex bass solo and Pete Townshend’s twirling windmill rhythmic chords. But this famous live version from Leeds University shows all features of Pete’s skills. As the song reaches its conclusion, Pete free-wheels his way round any riff that seems to have come into his head, swinging the song this way and that from raw rock and roll to a melodicism not heard this side of CSNY. Snatches of riffs from ‘Tommy’ come and go as Pete gets louder, rawer and more and more emotional in putting his solos across. At one stage he even starts duetting with himself, playing off the sound bouncing off the back of the hall, doubling the sound and intensity at a stroke. How the band ever know how to come back in again behind him is beyond me – Pete was so far away in the stratosphere by the 14^th minute of this recording he sounds like he’ll never get back down to earth. Considering the fact that this performance comes some 2 hours and 15 minutes into the band’s set list and you have to ask if Pete – notoriously shy about his ability on the guitar – is actually really human, so impossible is most of what he improvises on the spot at this concert. No wonder the band – or fans – sound like they don’t want to go home. How on earth do the band calm down enough to play final encore ‘Magic Bus’ after this?!

3) The Hollies “Hard Hard Year” (released on ‘The Hollies’, 1965): Like many a song on The Hollies’ third album, ‘Hard Hard Year’ finds the band looking for their own voice, going for deeper and more serious material of their own to master. This track must be one of the bleakest any rock and roll band had recorded up to 1965 – a sighing, head hanging melody with lyrics about bad weather and ill health leading to bills piling high and only misery to look forward to in the years to come. The song is monochromatic and bleak throughout – so the release that comes when Tony Hicks unleashes his guitar solo, dripping with feedback and distortion, channelling all the anger and bitterness of the lyrics, is tremendous. I read an essay once where a musician (I forget which one, not one of the AAA mob), claimed that the guitar was so popular because if you play it in a certain way it sounds like crying. This track is the best example of that I’ve ever heard – cascading ripples of emotion that suggest the guitar is plugged straight into the narrator’s nerve endings. Hicks received many compliments about his sound on this solo so it’s a shame that The Hollies never come anywhere doing anything like this again (although Hicks’ own ‘Too Young To Be Married’ pulls off a similar trick in 1970, with an acoustic guitar this time filling in for the sadness of the pressured lovers in the song). 

2) Pentangle “Once I Had A Sweetheart” (released on ‘Basket Of Light’, 1970): You think you’ve got this record sussed early on – it’s a yearning, traditional folk song sung by a mournful Jacqui McShee over a bed of sawing bass cellos and twinkling guitars. Then in comes John Renbourn’s sitar solo, seemingly out of nowhere, building the song up to such an ecstasy of emotion it’s hard not to cry yourself. Let me underline that again – this is a sitar. It should not work in a 16^th century song about lost love and yet so universal is the emotion in the song and so clever the arrangement that before we’re quite aware of what’s happening the sound has wrapped itself around us and won’t let go, as it circles ever higher in despair and frustration at the circumstances in the song. Renbourn’s playing is never better on any instrument, finding its way further and further up the scale, playing cat and mouse with Bert Jansch’s guitar, when all the time you think it can’t get any higher, before swallowing the song up at the end in a sea of noise and echo. If heartbreak could be transferred directly into music it would sound like this, running away with its emotion before collapsing in a sea of self-pity. Fantastic stuff, the highlight of Pentangle’s career I’d say.

1) Neil Young and Crazy Horse “Cinammon Girl” (Released on ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’, 1969): For my money the best solo of all is played by a band who’d been together barely a matter of weeks when they recorded this, their first track, and is played – for almost all of it – on one note! On paper that sounds monkeynuts to say the least, but just wait till you hear the thing – Neil’s happiest song to date about the narrator’s excitement over a girl he’s just met is chomping at the bit to get her attention throughout. Neil’s bouncy, rhythmic song then turns sideways in the middle as he writes off to home asking for more money so he can go out dancing with the girl of his dreams, the excitement spilling over into shouts of ‘yeah yeah yeah’ and one of the most exquisitely recorded guitar sounds of all time. Neil’s chiming guitar work stabs away at the same note, persuading it to budge and join in him in the song’s wondrous melody until finally it does, uniting in a positively beautiful sound of harmony. We’ve often said on this website how simplicity is often the key to a good and powerful song and nobody believed in that maxim more than Neil Young, with the solo in this song his best example yet of making the most out of a simple idea. Just to show what Neil can do on the guitar if he sets his mind to it, the song then ends on a cascade of chorded complex riffs, some of the most complicated of all the AAA works, but it can’t compete with his solo in the middle of this song, which is perfectly cast, perfectly played and, well, just perfect. 

Well, that’s it for another week. Make sure you tune in next time for some more news about our site’s future, news stories from the present and – of course – lots of music from the very wonderful past. See you then!

A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY  Entries 2008-2019

1) Chronic Fatigue songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html

2) Songs For The Face Of Bo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html

3) Credit Crunch Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html

4) Songs For The Autumn http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html

5) National Wombat Week http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html

6) AAA Box Sets http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html

7) Virus Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html

8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html

9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

11) Political Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html

12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html

13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html

14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html

15) AAA Existential Questions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html

16) Releases Of The Year 2008 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html

17) Top AAA Xmas Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html

18) Notable AAA Gigs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html

19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html

20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html

21) Hollies B sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html

22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html

23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html

24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html

25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html

26) AAA Autobiographies http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html

27) Rolling Stones B-sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html

28) Beatles B-Sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html

29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html

30) Kinks B-Sides http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html

31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html

32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html

33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html

34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

35) Brightest Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

36) Biggest Recorded Arguments http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html

37) Songs About Superheroes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html

38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html

39) AAA Woodtsock Moments http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html

40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html

41) Music Segues http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html

42) AAA Foreign Language Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html

43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html

44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html

45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html

46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html

47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html

48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html

49) Songs About Trains http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html

50) Songs about Winter http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html

51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html

52) The Worst Five Groups Ever! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html

53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html

54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html

55) Random Recent Purchases (#1) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html

56) AAA Party Political Slogans http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html

57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html

58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html

59) AAA Artists In Song http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html

60) Songs About Dogs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html

61) Sunshiney Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html

62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html

63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html

64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html

65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html

66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html

67) Songs To Tweet To http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html

68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html

69) John Lennon Musical Tributes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html

70) Songs For Halloween http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html

71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html

72) Purely Instrumental Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html

73) AAA Utopias

74) AAA Imaginary Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html

75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html

76) Top Releases of 2010 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html

77) Songs About Snow http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html

78) Predictions For 2011 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html

79) AAA Fugitives

80) AAA Home Towns http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html

81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html

82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html

83) Strange Censorship Decisions http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html

84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html

85) Random Recent Purchases (#2) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html

86) Top AAA Music Videos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html

87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html

88) AAA Documentaries http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html

89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html

90) Strangest AAA Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html

91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html

92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html

93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html

94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html

95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html

96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html


97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html

98) Top Songs About Sports http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html

99) AAA Conversations With God http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html

100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html

101) Unexpected AAA Cameos http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html

102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html

103) AAA Court Cases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html

104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html

105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html

106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html

107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html

108) Classic Debut Releases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html

109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html

110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html

111) Part #2 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html

112) Part #3 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html

113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html

114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html

115) AAA Instrumental Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html

116) Musical Tarot http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html

117) Christmas Carols http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html

118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html

119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html

120) Top 20 Guitarists #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html

121) #2 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html

122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html

123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html

124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes

125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html

126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html

127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html

128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html

129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html

130) Lyric Competition (Questions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html

131) Top Crooning Classics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html

132) Funeral Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html

133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html

134) Random Recent Purchases (#3) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html

135) Lyric Competition (Answers) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html

136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html

137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html

138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html

139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html

140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html

141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html

142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html

143) How Every AAA Band Got Their Name (News, Views and Music 155...

What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...

144) AAA Top 10: The Motor Car (News, Views and Music 156)

This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...

145) AAA Singles With The Most Weeks On The US Billboard Charts (...

This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...

146) AAA Albums With The Most Weeks On The USA Billboard Charts (...

Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...

147) AAA Songs Featuring Whistling (News, Views and Music Issue 1...

There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...

148) The Session Musicians Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums (...

This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...

149) Top 10 Silliest AAA Album Titles (News, Views and Music Issu...

Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...

150) A Short Guide To 10 AAA Spin-Off Bands (News, Views and Musi...

What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...

151) Martin Kitcher "The ATOS Song (You're Not Fit To Live)"

‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...

152) AAA Songs (More Or Less) Exclusive To Film Soundtracks (News...

In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...

153) AAA Alcohilic-hic! Songs (Top 10 News, Views and Music 164)

Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...

Spoken Word Passages On AAA Songs (News, Views and Music Top...

154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...

156) AAA Songs About Carlisle (News, Views and Music Top Five Iss...

Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...

157) AAA Songs About Children Being Born (News, Views and Music I...

Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...

158) The Best AAA Outtakes (News, Views and Music Issue 168)

Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...

159) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160

160) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161

161) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162

162) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163

163) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164

164) AAA Songs About Islands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165

165) The AAA Review Of The Year 2012 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html



166) The Best AAA Concerts I Attended http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html

167) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html



168) The First 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html

169) The Last 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-last-10-aaa-songs-listed.html%20%0d170

170) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-10-youngest-aaa-stars-at-time-of.html%20%0d171

171) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172

172) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html 

17 3) NME/Melody Maker Questionairres Filled Out By AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/nmemelody-maker-questionairres-filled.html

174) Top Ten AAA Bootlegs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/top-10-aaa-bootlegs-news-views-and.html

175) Days Of The Week AAA Style http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/days-of-week-aaa-style-news-views-and.html

176) AAA Musicals http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/aaa-musicals-news-views-and-music-issue.html

177) Interesting AAA Line-Ups That Were Or Nearly Were http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ten-interesting-aaa-line-ups-that-were.html

178) The 101 Greatest AAA Songs Of All Time (Maybe?!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-greatest-101-aaa-songs-well-ish-see.html

179) Mrs Thatcher Meets The Devil http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mrs-thatcher-meets-devil-plus-intro-for.html

180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-

songsrecordings-by-aaa-stars-news.html

181) The Ten Oldest AAA Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-ten-oldest-aaa-songs-news-views-and.html

182) AAA Artists (Books Of Paintings) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-artists-books-of-paintings-news.html

183) AAA Appearances on TV Show 'Colour Me Pop' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-appearances-on-colour-me-pop-tv.html

184) AAA Years In Song http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/aaa-years-in-song-news-views-and-music.html

185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html

186) Five Top AAA Apps http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-five-aaa-apps-news-views-and-music.html

187) The Ultimate Grateful Dead Concert Setlist http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-ultimate-grateful-dead-concert-top.html

188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html

189) Top Ten Dave Davies Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/top-ten-dave-davies-songs-news-views.html

190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html

191) Famous AAA Fathers: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/famous-aaa-fathers-news-views-and-music.html

192) The Best Five AAA Re-Issue CD Series http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-best-five-aaa-re-issues-series-news.html

193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html

194) Ten Of The Best AAA Riffs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/ten-of-best-aaa-riffs-news-views-and.html

195) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part One 1956-66 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-one.html

196) Twenty AAA Milestone Moments Part Two 1967-80 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twenty-aaa-milestone-events-part-two.html

197) Eleven Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/eleven-random-recent-purchases.html

198) Five AAA Outcasts Who Know More Than They Let Onhttp://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/five-aaa-outcast-characters-who-know.html

199) That's Why They Call It The (Top Ten) Blues! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/thats-why-they-call-it-bluesaaa-top-ten.html

200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html

201) The Music Never Stopped: AAA Youtube Video #5 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-music-never-stopped-alans-album.html

202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html

203) Ten AAA Stars In Further Education http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-stars-in-further-education-top-five.html

204) AAA Dramas and Plays http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/aaa-dramas-and-plays-news-views-and.html

205) Abandoned AAA Album Covers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/abandoned-aaa-album-covers-top-ten-news.html

206) Chinese Horoscopes AAA Style http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/chinese-horoscopes-aaa-style-top-twelve.html

207) Top Ten Songs The Beatles 'Gave Away' http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-songs-beatles-gave-away-news.html

208) AAA Song Titles That Are The Same As Other AAA Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/aaa-songs-with-same-titles-as-other-aaa.html

209) Updates to Our 'Special Editions' #1 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/updates-to-our-special-editions-on.html

210) Most Parodied AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-most-parodied-aaa-album-covers-news.html

211) Longest Average AAA Songs Per Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-longest-average-aaa-songs-per-album.html

212) Shortest Average AAA Songs Per Album http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-shortest-average-aaa-songs-per.html

213) An AAA Guide To The Twenty Best Dr Who Stories http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/the-20-best-doctor-who-stories-aaa.html

214) AAA Songs and Albums Based On Books http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-songsalbums-based-on-books-and.html

215) Top Ten AAA Concert Quotes http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-aaa-quotes-from-concerts-top.html

216) Top Ten Surrealist AAA Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/top-ten-sureallist-aaa-song-lyrics-news.html

217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html

218) Review Of The Year 2013 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/review-of-year-2013-news-views-and.html

219) Nominate This Site For A Shorty Award 2014 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/nominate-this-site-for-shorty-award-2014.html

220) A Tribute To Phil Everly http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/a-tribute-to-phil-everly-everly.html

221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html

222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html

223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html

224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html

225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html

228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html

229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html

230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html

231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html

232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html

233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html

234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html

235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html

236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html

237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html

238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html

239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html

240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html

241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html 

242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html 

243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles  plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html

244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html

245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html

246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html

247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html

248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html

249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html

250) AAA Review Of The Year 2016 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2016.html

251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html

252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown  https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html

253) AAA Review Of The Year 2017 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2017.html 

254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html

255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html

256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html

257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html

258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html

259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html