Wednesday 10 September 2008

News, Views and Music Issue 4A: Rick Wright Tribute Special


Pink Floyd News/ Rick Wright Tribute:



I really hoped I wouldn’t have to do this until the website was aeons into its web-life, but here we are with the site not properly up and running and already one of the leading lights responsible for inspiring it has gone. The sad and unexpected death of Rick Wright, co-founder, keyboardist ,vocalist and songwriter with Pink Floyd, comes as a great shock to us all because it was only two years ago Rick seemed in the best of health and enjoying a higher profile than he had had in years, stepping into the limelight for the first time in over a decade by becoming an integral part of fellow Floyd David Gilmour’s touring band and making more TV/stage/music appearances than any time since the hey-deys of the Floyd in the early 70s. On the one hand I’m suprised at the amount of fuss currently being shown by Rick’s death in national newspapers and television news broadcasts, given that Pink Floyd have performed a grand total of once in the past 14 years and Rick was the band member with the lowest profile of all, despite serving long enough with the group to play on 13 out of their 14 albums. But on the other hand, I’m actually not that surprised at all, as to those who have always followed the Floyd, Rick’s role within the band was a special one, despite the louder more boisterous voices within the group. First line-up leading light Syd Barrett might have taken the band into whimsical hob-goblin land, Roger Waters might have infused the band with its political power and more recently David Gilmour brought the band a largely unique hybrid of noisy rock and pastoral folk. But it was Rick’s spooky melancholy that oozed from the Floyd at all times in its troubled history, with his easily identifiable shimmering keyboard licks and occasional compositions giving the band many of the greatest highlights of their back catalogue. Indeed, how such a talented musician as Rick ever got into the position of playing second-fiddle to a fellow band member who actually joined the band several recordings after he did is all part of Pink Floyd’s confusing story, one full of ridiculous twists and turns even compared to the other artists on this list.



Born Richard William Wright on July 28th 1943 in Middlesex, Rick is one of the few musicians on this list to show  an interest in music since he could walk. Rick learnt guitar, trumpet and trombone during his schooling (you can hear him play the latter for the only time on record during the Floyd’s ’Biding My Time’, an originally unreleased oddity on the ’Relics’ compilation of 1973), but it is the piano which Rick came to be most well known for. Classical training and a life-long love of jazz later gave the Floyd several extra avenues for developing their sound and Rick seemed at one point to be primed for life as a musician in a more—shall we say—respected field of music. Somehow (’by mistake’ according to Rick’s later account) the musician wound up taking a u-turn and started studying architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic where he met fellow Floyds Roger Waters and Nick Mason. After realizing their common interests and—according to Nick Mason’s later autobiog Inside Out—losing all interest in anything architecture had to offer) the three men plus various local friends and associates appearing locally under a wide assortment of ludicrous names (most famously the ’architectural abdabs’). The band truly became serious about their pursuit of music when band friend and fellow Cambridge local Syd Barrett joined the group. At this point in time, signed to EMI and recording in Abbey Road studios next door to the Beatles, the Floyd were everyone’s tip for the ’new thing’ and—for the best of part of 1967—the band delivered. You can read about classic first album Piper At The Gates Of Dawn at number 13 on this list; suffice to say, it established the band as one of the leading lights of the day with a truly unique hodge-podge of whimsical fairy lights and inky black darkness. Understandably, lead writer lead singer and lead guitarist Syd Barrett gained most of the plaudits for it then and now. But what many people missed at the time—and what many post-‘Dark Side’ fans forget - is that the album was a shared vision, with Rick’s sensitive keyboard parts and sympathetic lead vocals enhancing many of Syd’s more out-there works, bridging the gap between Syd’s growing adventurousness and the sort of thing that wouldn’t automatically give nervous record company men apoplexy. Break-through single ’See Emily Play’ is a case in point: it’s Syd’s boisterous vocal and eccentric guitar-attacking that hits you first, but analyse the track and it’s Rick’s contribution that shines almost as greatly—the organ holding it together; the sprightly speeded-up keyboard solo that allows the song to float away on a cloud; the harmony vocals that surrounds Syd’s often shrill voice with wonderful cushioning layers; all of these elements are Rick’s.



The Floyd story should have taken on a very different path at this point, but a combination of Syd’s fear of stardom, bad experiences with drugs and boredom with repeating himself meant that the state of Pink Floyd’s leader put them in a very precarious position indeed. Thinking the unthinkable, they drafted in band and especially Barrett friend David Gilmour to cover for him and promptly broke away from their former leader, despite the fact that there had only been one non-Barrett recorded under the groups’ name up until that point. Rick was the obvious replace for Barrett, having handled several sterling vocals on the band’s earliest recordings and his own first batch of songs—Paintbox and Remember A Day especially —were promising material. But then came bassist Roger Waters, stepping up to the mark with the power and determination that Barrett had once had and - luckily for the band - out of nowhere, Waters arrived with the vision and the songs to match. In any other group, Rick would have been in the perfect position to become band leader and household name—but all the Floyds (except Roger, perhaps) seem to have been reluctant to have ever stepped into the limelight and Rick seemed to falter more and more over his position with his band in the years ahead. And yet, even while being sidelined, Rick continued to shine when given even half a chance.  Many of the highlights of the next batch of Floyd records are down to Rick; ’Remember A Day’ is a classic song, Barrett-like in its mixture of childlike call towards a more innocent past and the dark and foreboding future that seems to hang heavy over the narrator; the sweet brass-filled pop of ‘Summer ‘68’ which comes complete with one of the catchiest riffs in the Floyd’s back catalogue; the delightful organ-led ballad ‘Burning Bridges’; the typically muted and reluctant cry for help ’Stay’ with its memorable hook-line and chorus; even the much-maligned singles ’Paintbox’ and ’It Would Be So Nice’ are lovely songs, half full of gloriously mournful and heartfelt cynicism and half full of delightful tongue-in-cheekness, as if Rick is laughing at himself for even trying to write the ‘serious’ songs that Roger Waters was now making his own.



Everything changed when ’Dark Side Of The Moon’ came out in 1973, turning the Floyds from a much-loved and fairly famous underground band into the most talked about group on the planet. Arguably one of the reasons ’Moon’ sold so well compared to past Floyd records is that at last, after several false starts post Barrett’s departure, the Floyd sound united as a group, with all four members on top form and pitching ideas in. Along with the short side-project committed to tape just three months before Dark Side sessions started—the film soundtrack ’Obscured By Clouds’, where Rick enjoyed two co-writes and several group credits - Rick was enjoying a second spurt of creativity. This was perhaps, in part, because Roger Waters had finally come up with a ‘grand’ concept that Rick could relate to. ‘Dark Side’ appeals to as many listeners as it does because it studies in turn the fears and pressures that each individual in the modern world is meant to have fought against at some point. Rick always sounded slightly uncomfortable with his own heavier material before this point, something which is understandable given the icy looks the other Floyds were well known for giving each other when presenting new material. However, its noticeable that now Rick was being actively encouraged to work in a serious project he came up with perhaps two of the most serious songs on the album, ’Us and Them’ and ’Great Gig In The Sky’, as well as several three-way and four-way writing credits. ‘Us and Them’ is a track that most reflects the Floyd sound for many people, with its luscious spaces between its long-drawn out notes and lovely lilting piano riff, a sound enhanced by Roger Waters’ perfectly fitting lyrics about isolation, separation and division. Recycling a piece of music recently submitted to but rejected from the Antonioni film ‘Zabriskie Point’, this piece of music somehow manages to be comfortingly warm and chillingly cold all at the same time and is testament to Rick’s hidden talent within the band. ’Great Gig’ got even more spines tingling and will now be very hard for all us fans to hear, as it’s one long cathartic wail (provided by session singer Clare Torry) and spoken word reflections about death combined to make one of the most talked about pieces on the record, ending the first side of the album in haunting style. Ironically, this piece of music was dubbed ’religion’ in its early stages before Rick worked out exactly what he wanted to do with it—fittingly, this instrumental is the most spiritual piece of Floyd music around.



Rick’s piano and keyboard work was to the fore in both this album and follow-up ’Wish You Were Here’ (1975), a record often cited as Rick’s favourite record with the band. Despite only possessing five tracks (and one of them is a ’continuation’ of an earlier track) and despite being recorded in between some of the biggest arguments to have been contained within a recording studio, the Floyd inter-band skills were never better. Rick’s solo icy keyboard parts at the beginning of the first and end of the second parts of ’Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, a track written in tribute to former partner Syd Barrett, are the perfect scene-setter and goodbye to the record respectively. Offering an aural warmth unusual for synthesizers of the period, Rick’s sound on the record is the epitome of reluctant detachment, cleverly reflecting the themes of isolation and not-quite-being-there that the record title and cover pictures depicted with just enough warmth to make you feel that the narrator is detached against his better judgement. Thereafter Rick got silenced within the group once more, as Roger Waters continued to strengthen his claim to ‘his’ group and David Gilmour, as ever, did his best to prove Roger wrong. Rick survived the making of ’Animals’ (1977) by the skin of his teeth, but by the recording of The Wall in 1979/80 (see review no 76 for more) he began to clash too many times with character opposite Roger Waters over just about everything—his ideas, his share of Roger’s commitment and vision and his lack of songs—and found himself pushed out of the band he had co-founded, given an ultimatum to leave quietly or Roger would scrap the band’s entire 80-minute magnum opus at a time when the band were on the verge of being bankrupt.



Perhaps if Rick had saved back some songs from his forgotten first solo album ’Wet Dream’ (1978) then Roger might have been kinder about his perceived lack of input. Floyd solo albums to date are a mixed bag, with each member in turn sorely lacking the strength or musicianship that the others bring when they work together, but outside perhaps of Roger’s ‘Amused To Death’, this album works well on its own merits and is one of the best Floyd solos as a whole. Most commentators, when they notice this obscure album at all, call it a timid affair which seems deliberately recorded to avoid catching the ear or looking one in the eye. Actually, delve further and it’s a very brave record; Rick’s slight vocals seem deliberately lowly mixed so that you can’t hear the vocals too clearly—but given Rick’s state of mind in 1978 (fractured band; fractured marriage) the lyrics are impressively courageous and revealing (at one stage he even sings a ‘goodbye lyric’ written by his troubled wife, something even Roger Waters would think twice about delivering). Rick’s languid piano accompanying is also rarely better than during the real ’songs’ on this record and takes on quite a different form on the ‘instrumentals’; driving rockers accompanied by lilting saxophones that give Booker T and the MGs a run for their money.  Certainly compared to its close cousin ’David Gilmour’, another solo record released in the same month, it sounds very co-ordinated and, occasionally, surprisingly edgy given its reputation as a bit of a non-starter.



While back in Pink Floyd Roger continued to bicker and Dave began to disagree with him just for the hell of it, Rick broke as far away from the Floyd’s traditional sound as he possibly could with the album ‘Identity’ (1984), released in collaboration with comparative youngster Dave Harris under the moniker ‘Zee’. This album too died a death and is one of the hardest Floyd-related records to track down, with the general census being that while this album was commendably modern for its day, its use of 1980s synthesizers and impressively early but depressingly primitive digital sampling means it hasn’t fared quite as well as ‘Wet Dream’. After this, Rick went into semi-retirement on board a yacht he bought with his last Floyd earnings and kept until his death before unexpectedly being called back into the Pink Floyd family once again. Roger had finally delivered to his colleagues what he felt was the biggest trump card he could possibly play, declaring the band ‘over’ as an entity and explaining to the press and anyone who would listen that as the last few band records were effectively ‘his’ solo records, the group’s fans should follow him from then on. Dave Gilmour followed a career-long trend by disagreeing with Roger in the most public way and announced that a ’new’ Floyd would be formed, welcoming Rick back into the fold—although so dodgy was the faith of the band’s management and record company and so destructive had the band’s past management and company difficulties been that Rick only re-joined the band on a wage, rather than as a fully paid-up member. His confidence reportedly still in tatters after Roger’s best efforts to attack it, Rick - like fellow Floyd Nick Mason - reportedly had only a minimal amount of input into Floyd comeback record ’A Momentary Lapse Of reason’ (1987). Yet even if the keyboard parts weren’t all played by Rick like we were lead to believe, its interesting that, given the instruction to produce a ‘Pink Floyd-like record’, the hodge-podge of band members, friends and session musos go out of their way on this record to re-create Rick’s characteristic keyboard ‘sound’, rather than Waters’ political rants or Gilmour’s more velvety vocals/power guitar riffs which might have been a more obvious way to go.



Follow-up record Division Bell (1994) finally gave fans something closer to what they wanted to hear—the band no longer tried to replace Roger by shouting like him but worked to the strengths provided by the three of them instead. The record may well be Gilmour’s finest hour—most of the songs are his and his expressive guitar playing and vocals are rarely better. Yet it was Rick’s sudden returning confidence that gave the record much of its ’soul’; the sound is dominated by his atmospheric keyboards (most definitely played by Rick this time around) and Rick’s contemporary-sounding update of his old sound hit the spot for much of the record. Best of all, Rick’s supporting vocals and rare single lead vocal were impressive indeed, turning back the clock to 27 years before by giving Rick back his favourite ’sympathetic foil/second-in-command’ role. Indeed, Rick’s co-write ‘Wearing The Inside Out’ was heralded by virtually everybody (including me) as the record’s clear highlight, with Gilmour and Wright trading contrasting verses just like the days of old, while Rick’s dazed but courageous vocal did much to bring out the subtleties in the song’s lyrics. The Floyd cognoscenti, knowing how long it took the band to put new records out even in their heyday, thought that that would be it for a while—and then Rick surprised us all by releasing his third solo effort ’Broken China’ in 1996. Well received by most critics, but surprisingly poor-selling even when tagged onto the tail end of the ‘Division Bell’ juggernaut, Broken China follows on from ’Wearing The Inside Out’ by dampening much of the Floyd’s traditional ’heavy’ sound in favour of a light ’new age’ ambience. Like Rick’s other solo albums, ’China’ doesn’t actually have that many ’songs’ on it (much of it is made up of instrumentals), but the overall theme of depression and isolation is a very Floydian one and closing song ’Break Through’ has become something of a fan favourite, despite this record’s low profile.     



All went quiet again on the Wright front until Rick suddenly emerged, unheralded, behind David Gilmour’s left shoulder when the guitar legend started touring again in 2005 in support of his new solo album ‘On An Island’. In truth, ‘Island’ has Rick’s colourful fingerprints all over it and is less of a solo record than ‘Momentary Reason’ had been. Indeed, any other artist would have demanded co-billing for their hard labour and pulling power, but Rick seemed at his happiest as a fully paid up member of Gilmour’s crew, without the hassles and problems of running the show, and his excellent turns in the spotlight on ’Arnold Layne’ ’Comfortably Numb’ ‘Wearing The Inside Out’ and his own ’Breakthrough’ on the two live David Gilmour DVD sets currently out are among both concert’s highlights (there’s a third one, ‘Live At Gdansk’, out any day now). Certainly, Rick seemed more comfortable working with Gilmour alone than when all three Floyds joined again with Roger Waters for Live 8 in 2005. Typically Floyd, Gilmour nonchalantly stole all the camera angles because that’s who the director obviously thought was the star, despite the best efforts of Roger Waters to politely try and steal the show and direct the camera back to him. Little noticed for most of the concert, Rick stuck his head down and let Floyd’s two boisterous buddies get on with their job posing for the cameras while he—perhaps more than any other member the band’s most dedicated musician— ignored the cameras and got on with his job of making music. Rick might not be the name or the face people think of when they picture the Floyd, but for those of us who know the band’s music well, it is Rick’s sound that we conjure up in our ears when we think of their music. The sonar ‘pings’ on Echoes, the killer keyboard runs on ‘Any Colour You Like’ and those glorious harmonies on ‘Arnold Layne’ and ‘See Emily Play’ are among the most treasured moments in the band’ back catalogue and they are all down to Rick’s distinctive style and talents. The great gig in the sky seems to get louder and busier every year now, with more 60s and 70s legends passing there all the time. This week it gained one of its greatest stars, even though Rick himself would never ever see it that way. Shine on, the Floyd’s other crazy diamond. 



Top 5 Rick Wright moments:



5) ‘Against The Odds’ (Rick Wright/ Wet Dream, 1978):

Twenty years before Lulu had a hit with the same sentiments, Rick braved his feelings to the world and declared ‘I don’t want to fight no more’; exactly the sort of statement that was getting the assertive Roger Waters so worked up during the ’Animals’ sessions the year before this song came out. But Rick is right here and obviously has these very thoughts much on his mind—this is his first released lyric on a record since 1969 after all and they’re genuinely moving. The arrangement is clever too; the verses to this song are isolation personified, with only a sparse piano lick a la ’Us and Them’ for company. But the choruses come in from nowhere to give this mournful song a happy twist, suddenly modulating itself to the major key and suggesting that, despite all the odds, everything might be OK. Suddenly everything on the track is in perfect harmony and this understated melancholic song ultimately delivers far more emotion than half an hour of Roger Waters screaming (although, to be fair, that sound is surprisingly moving as well).



4) ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’ (Pink Floyd/ Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973):

Talking of moving, this ode to death sounded like nothing else that had ever been released back in 1973—and it still doesn’t sound like anything ever released to this day. Rick’s tight-fitting gospelly piano chords invoke a truly sublime response from session singer Clare Torry, who improvised her way around the piece as if hypnotized by Rick’s ear-catching melancholic hookline. Both Clare’s vocal and the spoken-word additions (like the rest of ’Dark Side’, this track is littered with extracts from interviews with band friends and associates; in this case responding to the question ’are you frightened of dying?’) are superlative, but its Rick’s thoughtful piano structure that gives this track it’s intoxicating mood.

        

3) ‘Remember A Day’ (Pink Floyd/ A Saucerful Of Secrets, 1968):

More Syd Barrett-like than anything Syd ever actually wrote, this is a classic early Floyd song, recorded during the ‘Piper’ sessions but left unreleased till the follow-up album. The twinkling piano riff, fluffy treated vocals and gorgeously cheery lyrics about summer times from childhood are set against a truly mournful middle-eight, a space age vocal sound effects battle between Syd and Rick and some of the most chilling sound effects ever placed on record, all making up a track that is one of the Floyd’s most unfairly neglected gems.

   

2) ‘Us And Them’ (Pink Floyd/ Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973):

When film director Antonioni asked the Floyd to come up with some music for his film ‘Zabriskie Point’, the group jumped at the change to highlight one of the most shocking and memorable scenes in the film—the one where a load of rioting students get unsparingly beaten up by the police. Most groups would have done the obvious—pretended they were Metallica re-incarnated hanging from their feet and screaming whilst dangling from a rollercoaster. Not so the Floyd. Rick went quite the other way and brought to the table a piece of music so sparse and mournful that it’s sense of fragility and the preciousness of each note somehow made even more sense when set against the mindless violence in the film. Rejected and then recycled for ‘Dark Side’, Roger Waters put his smoldering differences with Rick aside to come up with the perfect accompanying set of lyrics, dealing with isolation and mankind’s need to put his fellow man into ‘categories’, juxtaposing verses of icy placidness with a froth of fiery indignation on the chorus. A typically brilliant Floyd lesson in contrasts.



1) ‘Wearing The Inside Out’ (Pink Floyd/ Division Bell, 1994):

The most unexpected Floyd treat of all. When the group announced they were releasing a new album in 1994, we never dared hope that they’d reach heights like this. Rick’s first lead vocal for the band since ‘Dark Side’ 21 years before, this complex song about courage mixed in atmospheric keyboards, a mournful saxophone riff, a classy David Gilmour guitar solo and some sterling Floydian lyrics about fighting back after years of withdrawal from band friend Anthony Moore. This wasn’t Rick’s statement about coming back to life then (Rick gets a credit for the music, not the lyrics), but it just reads like it should be and hearing Rick’s vulnerable but battling tonsils getting round the words is very moving. Not many Pink Floyd songs make you cry (they weren’t that kind of band), but for some reason this one always does. Magic stuff.  

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Monday 8 September 2008

News, Views and Music Issue 3 (Intro)




September 8:



Not much more to add this week on the AAA front. The last few links are still being joined together, the last  ‘I’s are being dotted and the last groups of quavers are being bunched together. So, with no real news there, what has been happening in the world of AA groups?



Hollies/ 10cc/ Oasis: So what was last Friday’s BBC4 Manchester night about then?! The Hollies’ Just One Look (yawn!) 10cc’s Rubber Bullets (snore!)  and Oasis’ Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (ho-hum!) Anyone whose ever had the courage to sit through Steve Wright’s so-called witticisms on TOTP2 will have seen these clips dozens of times already—the first two have already been on the ‘Dave’ freeview channel twice this year! Fair enough, the BBC only wanted to use archive clips that they owned, but surely there were more interesting clips than these tired ones to be found (I could have put my hands on oodles of TOTP Hollies clips alone that haven’t had an airing in years!)



Plus, there was an interesting story to be told here—but this wasn’t it (there was absolutely no linking footage between the clips—something that works when it’s a group we all know the story of and just want the music—ie the superlative ‘Early Beatles’ doc of 1982 that set the tone for this sort of documentary - but useless for a programme on such a broad spectrum where we all might have learned something about the groups we know little about). And why did the programme dispense with the 1960s five minutes in, mainly to show un-listenable and obscure punk groups instead ?! (Where were the Mindbenders, the Monkees/Davy Jones and CSNY/Graham Nash solo for crying out loud?!) A grave disappointment hot on the heels of BBC4’s repeat of Merseyside Night, which came complete with dusted-off rare documentaries that actually were entertaining! 



It will have been on by the time this site goes up, but there was a rare film on BBC 2 on Sunday night starring Art Garfunkel. ‘Bad Timing’ from 1980 is one of the strangest acting roles the under-rated Garfunkel ever did—a psychoanalyst who falls in love with his patient only to go rather monkeynuts himself when she commits suicide and he fails to save her. Not a barrel of laughs, then, but this project is heartbreaking when you realise why Art took the role: his long-term girlfriend Lauren Bird really did commit suicide in the late 1970s and the press, very unfairly, pinned the blame partly on Art for never getting round to proposing to her for all that time, a neat inversion of Art’s character’s relentless naggings for commitment in the film. Art’s guilt-ridden album Scissors Cut, which came out the following year, is an under-rated and for Art rather harrowing album which goes hand in hand with the themes in this film and is dedicated to Lauren Bird.



Pink Floyd: Yet another David Gilmour live concert has been released on DVD/ CD, “Live in Gdansk” (which is in Poland apparently, but don’t feel bad if that’s news to you because I’ve just had to look that up myself!) For those who don’t own a Gilmour live DVD yet, its worth getting as it features the better percentage of his solo material and a lot of rare and dusty old Floyd favourites that haven’t been revived too often. However, following on from the ‘In concert’ DVD of 2002 and the ‘Remember That Night’ DVD of two years ago (co-starring David Crosby and Graham Nash, no less), releasing yet another DVD recycling much of the same material is at best too obviously treading water before the next Gilmour magnum opus comes out and at worst plain daft.



Humble Pie: At last, a re-issue of debut album ‘As Safe As Yesterday Is’ on CD, but no bonus tracks alas! More on this release soon (if I ever manage to track it down!)


News, Views and Music Issue 3 (Top Five): Credit Crunch


And this weeks’ top five: a mini-soundtrack to the credit crunch!



5) “Wall Street Shuffle” (10cc/ Sheet Music, 1972) “Go and sell your mother, you can buy another”... It sounded slightly out of touch with the times when it first came out (1972 was the year for novelty records and empty-headed glam singles) and charted at what - for 10cc - was a lowly #10. But this song has enjoyed something of a revival in the years since, making more sense with every passing bank merger/ credit card bill/labour election victory down the years since.



4) “Money Money” (Grateful Dead/ From The Mars Hotel, 1974) Definitely not a fan favourite this one, given Bob Weir’s song’s capitalist tendencies which never sat that well with equality and democracy-loving Deadheads like me. Still, though, this song bemoaning the narrator’s inability to please his trinket-loving lady friend will strike a few chords these days (and incidentally this ponderous blues sounds like a great rowdy rocker when played at 45rpm not 33rpm!)



3) “Money Talks/ Slum Kids/ Scum Of The Earth/ Second Hand Car Spiv” (The Kinks/ Preservation Act II, 1973) “Becoming the head of a multi-million pound corporation sure beats selling cars second-hand!” It sure does, Ray Davies. The second and third records of one of the longest rock operas in history is almost exclusively about the hard-ships born out of poverty, of the self-possessed politicians who promise a way out of a country’s financial straits but only by not mentioning the greater evils which the population turn a blind eye to in order to escape their troubles. While the slow and steady Mr Black promises a ’five year plan’ (perhaps Ray had a crystal ball and really meant to write ’Mr Brown?’), Mr Flash is a great orator, promising that despite his dodgy past he will see an end to present crisis if he is elected—before his stupidity and disregard for fellow human beings gets in the way and he gets ousted from office (who said ’Cameron’ just then?!) Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the poor people in Preservation land suddenly sound alarmingly contemporary. For an alternative, try Ray’s ‘Sitting In The Mid-day Sun’ from the first Preservation record—a wonderful ode about how glorious it is to have nothing.



2) “Rock And A Hard Place” (Rolling Stones/ Steel Wheels, 1989) Talking of which, this song from one of the better latter-day Stones CDs sums up the debate over whether we agree next year to another four years of disappointments and misery from Labour or four years of hatred campaigns and society division from the Conservatives. Bring back the Monster Raving Loony Party I say!



1) “Money” (Pink Floyd/ Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973) Was Roger Waters being serious or sarcastic when he wrote these lines? Sarcastic we hope—this is an album, after all, about not giving into the pressures of modern day living, a reason why Dark Side continues to be so universally popular—and yet this is, after all, an album that made Pink Floyd millionaires and the way they talk these days they seemed to realise the fact long before the LP came out. Either way, those ringing cash-till registers and talk of money as escapism make the perfect accompaniment to our month of recession woes. That’s all for now, see you next week (if we’re not bankrupt!)...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

‘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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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


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 








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





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



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


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







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















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




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


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


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