Thursday 4 August 2011

News, Views and Music Issue 108 (Intro)




August 4th:

So, we’ve lost yet another singer to the ‘27’ club, full of tormented singer songwriters like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Brian Jones who died at that age (OK, so the last one wasn’t a songwriter but you know what I mean...), when the first flush of fame had worn off. While Amy Winehouse was hardly in the same league as the above list, her passing is still a huge waste of talent. Where were the people protecting her from herself? Can a manager ever truly be ‘one of the band’, understanding everything they go through? Is the problem better or worse when your manager is a member of your own family? In our top ten this week we’ll be looking at a sample of AAA managers and asking whether they were a curse or a blessing for the band involved (as ever with these lists, the answer is both, often at the same time).

Oh and while I’m in a bad mood, does anyone else think finding 93% of incapacity benefit claimants fit for work is a little steep? I know we’ve got a brain-dead prime minister in Downing Street but there’s no excuse for that. Plus I want to see everyone responsible for the incapacity charade (with thousands missing out on benefits because of a mix up in the system, caused by sending too many people to back-to-work interviews they shouldn’t have) sacked and on unemployment benefit – and then perhaps they’d know how hard it is to live on such a paltry amount. Well, at least the time is ripe for a Cameron Kicking after Andy Coulsen and the News of the World scandal – let’s try and get the moron out by Christmas! Not that America’s doing much better at the moment. It’s been low down the news in the UK but no wonder Obama’s having a hard time trying to find a compromise to reduce the American deficit. Have you heard the Republican plans? Tax breaks for the rich and all benefits removed from the poor? For a financial crisis that still isn’t yet as bad as the 1990s, 1980s,1970s or 1950s recessions? So much for civilisations being judged over how they treat society’s most vulnerable – at this rate the 21st century is one step away from Medieval witch burnings... 

In other news, our site has now passed the 7500 mark and continues to climb by around 15 hits a day (not bad considering I’ve fallen a bit behind in the publicity stakes the past few weeks).  I am still struggling with my computer though – she may have to be sent away again soon in which case here comes more delays and a lot of trips to the library, full of squeaking people during the Summer Holidays (and I mean the parents and grandparents as much as I mean the children, by the way). Oh and I had to laugh at the charts this week – you know Adele is naming her albums after her age when she recorded them (so that this year’s album is ‘21’ and 2009’s epic was called ‘19’)? Well, Beyonce is doing the old Stephen Stills trick of naming her albums ‘1’ ‘2’ ‘3’ etc. So last week the charts read ‘Adele: 21, Beyonce: 4’. Sums Beyonce’s audience up quite well I think...Anyway, enough of this rambling, on with the news...

                                                  

Beatles News: Beatles drummer Pete Best might have been forced out of the band before their first single but hes always been a big hit with fans in Merseyside (indeed, jealousy his popularity with the girls is often cited as reason why he got the push). So good on Liverpool and 10,000 fans on facebook whove supported a petition which finally awards Pete his own slice of Wirral immortality by naming a new street Pete Best Drive in his honour. The new estate by Bellway Homes chose a site in West Derby for the new name, a highly suitable one for us Beatle fans seeing as Pete lived there for a time in the mid-60s and his mother Monas coffee house The Casbah (where the early Beatles used to perform) is right round the corner.   

Jefferson Airplane News: Grace Slicks first solo album Manhole has finally been re-released on CD after over a decade of being out of print. While far from a  classic, Manhole has gathered something of a reputation amongst collectors after following the all-out geniusness of her and Paul Kantners three albums together (including AAA review no 44 Blows Against The Empire) and features the same line-up of San Francisco luminaries (including Jerry Garcia and David Crosby, as well as Airplane and Starship bandmates Paul Kantner and David Freiberg).Weirdly, the latter even gets a song to himself with Its Only Music, a song on which Grace doesnt even appear (on her own solo album?!). Most critics have been praising the 17 minute epic title track and the wordless Jay but, believe you me, these are terrible the real weight of the record comes in Graces sarcastic Come Again Toucan and the rousing finale Rock Epic #38, which has more false endings then the News of the World scandal. Now all we need is Graces superior follow-up LP Dreams from 1980 out on CD and Ill be happy, honest...   

Oasis News: There are indeed going to be not one but two Noel Gallagher albums in the shops before too long! High Flying Birds is the more straightforward of the two sets, made up of newer material and unreleased Oasis goodies like If I Had A Gun and Stop The Clocks (but, alas, no Living A Dream I My Record Machine, the best unreleased Oasis song of all), due for release on October 17th this year. A second untitled LP, made with psychedelic remixers Amorphous Androgynous (who remixed several of the songs from the last Oasis LP Dig Out Your Soul as B-sides), is due early next year. To promote the two albums, Noel even edited Mojo magazine this month (as Septembers issue, though why is anybodys guess seeing it came out on July 20th!), with the best freebie CD the mags had for ages. Remember three issues back when we were comparing the early days of Noel and Lindisfarnes Alan Hull and the similarities of the pairs early material? Well, either Noel knew that already or hes read our newsletter because theres a rare 1975 live recording of Hull singing We Can Swing Together! Plus my favourite Buddy Holly song Well...All Right, which hardly anyone else rates and you can read about in our top five pre-1960s songs in News and Views no 27 (I agree with Noel too this is the sound of psychedelia eight years early!) As for articles, umm the only one worth reading was about Noel himself, with a pretty good article about what hes been up to since Oasis split and his favourite books and DVDs (including Neil Young biography Shakey and the Rutles All You Need Is Cash) plus favourite records including The Beatles Ticket To Ride, Neil Youngs Hey Hey My My (as played by Oasis on their 2000 tour) and Wings 1985.






ANNIVERSARIES: Happy birthday to all AAA men and women born between August 1st and 7th: so that’s Jerry Garcia (guitarist with the Grateful Dead 1965-95) who would have been 69 on August 1st, then.  Anniversaries of events include: The Beach Boys spend their first week of many on the British charts with ‘Surfin’ USA’ (August 1st 1963) and finally, George Harrison’s first concert for Bangladesh (also starring Ringo and Badfinger) takes place at Madison Square Garden (August 1st 1971); The Beatles headline their first gig at Liverpool’s Cavern Club (August 2nd 1961); The Who rescue the film premises Shepperton Studios from demolition, buying the venue for use in their ‘Kids Are Alright’ documentary and ‘Quadrophenia’ film (they still own it too; August 2nd 1977); Just two years, one day and 293 appearances after their first headlining gig, the Beatles play their last show at The Cavern Club (August 3rd 1963); Beatles record are banned in South Africa following John Lennon’s statements about the band being ‘bigger than Jesus’ (August 3rd 1966) – a day later six South American states follow suit; Wings are officially formed on August 3rd 1971, with Dennys Laine and Seiwell as well as Paul and Linda McCartney; The Small Faces release perhaps their most famous single ‘Itchycoo Park’ (August 4th 1967); Pink Floyd stage The Wall for the first time at London’s Earl’s Court (due to costs they only ever stage the show four times – August 4th 1980); Two 1960s milestones are released on August 5th: The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ in 1966 and Pink Floyd’s debut ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ in 1967; The Small Faces release their debut single, the wonderfully ungrammatical ‘What’cha Gonna Do ‘Bout It?’ (August 6th 1965); Pink Floyd’s film version of ‘The Wall’ premieres in America (August 6th 1982) and finally, Time Magazine becomes the first magazine to review the Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ released the previous month and – you’ve guessed it, they absolutely hate it, with a headline ‘avoid at all costs’! (August 7th 1964).


News, Views and Music Issue 108 (Top Ten): AAA Managers




They come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. They can make your life a misery, they can make your life easy, but live with them or live without them, all AAA musicians need a little someone to help them along in life. So here’s our tribute to the best, worst and (most commonly) mixed fortunes of the managers who brought talent into the world:

1)    Murray Wilson (manager of The Beach Boys 1961-64): Ah, Murray ‘Dad’ Wilson (as he signed his autographs) – pushy parent, musical soulmate or obnoxious windbag, he’s been painted as all things by all Beach Boys chroniclers down the years. On the plus side, Murray recognised his eldest son Brian’s musical gifts early and encouraging the early musical get-togethers of his three sons, nephew and neighbour, perhaps because he too had been a struggling songwriter before their birth. On the other, there’ve been hundreds of horror stories about how Murray pushed his three sons way past the point of breaking, even to the point of beating Brian up according to his son’s autobiography. He also struggled to show much comfort, support or love, perhaps because as a struggling songwriter he was jealous of the band’s talent and success. On the one hand the Beach Boys might never have got started without Murray there to push them, making all the phone-calls and interviews on their behalf (much to the chagrin of record label Capitol, who were embarrassed by his outbursts according to some). The last straw came when Murray tried to tell the ‘Boys’ what to record in the studio, interrupting take after take with ‘advice’ the band just ignored and forcing Capitol to build in a ‘dummy’ engineering console especially for Murray to work on (so he could ‘think’ he was working on the mixes when actually all his work was null and void). Best moment: Writing ‘Break Away’ with son Brian, the only time the two collaborated on a song at the time in the late 1960s when Brian needed support the most; recognising that the band’s then-contemporary surfing sound was one worth pursuing. Worst moment: fiddling the band’s publishing accounts so that he ‘bought’ Brian Wilson and Mike Love’s ‘Sea Of Tune’ catalogue of songs up to 1968 and selling it at a low price behind their backs.



2)    Brian Epstein (manager of The Beatles 1961-1967) Ask any Beatles fan who knows their stuff and they will tell you that Brian Epstein wasn’t just ‘helpful’ to The Beatles, he was essential. Back when r and b and rock was only played by African-americans, when bands were ‘out’ and music was only a hobby rather than a career, few people older than 30 would have heard anything of note in the Beatles’ music. The fact that ‘Eppy’ thought that the band would be ‘bigger than Elvis’ from the moment he first heard them is nothing short of extraordinary. When The Beatles had seemingly auditioned for every record label going in Britain it was Epstein who refused to give up, persevering with his requests and essential to getting the fab four their audition at EMI Parlophone (after the mainstream EMI label had already turned them down). Much has been made of Epstein’s high social standing – his parents were the head of NEMS enterprises and owned chains of just about anything across the North (Brian himself first heard about the band that was to change his life while manager at the families’ record shop in Liverpool). But Brian was also a misfit who never felt he fitted in with his family and was desperate to break out from them and find something of his own to his credit. Sure Brian made some pretty awful mistakes and signed away far more of The Beatles’ rights and royalty rates than he should have done, to Paul McCartney’s chagrin in particular, but then like The Beatles Brian was a truly gifted amateur who was learning the job as he went along and had no experience managing anybody (he hadn’t even managed himself that well). But even though faults came to light later, Brian was exactly what the Beatles needed in 1962-63, someone outside ‘their’ world who ‘got’ the band and their raw, powerful music but with a clean image and a background just posh enough to entice the record companies to give them a go. The Beatles would never have made it out of Merseyside without his belief and conviction, but equally it was inevitable that the sheer level of their growth meant they would outgrow their need for him, particularly when The Beatles stopped touring in 1966. Brian’s suicide/overdose (no one is quite sure which) seems to be the sad ending this story was always going to have at one time or another, partly because Brian couldn’t see a role for himself in the new-look Beatles empire and partly because he himself didn’t realise quite how special he was in The Beatles’ story. Best moment: Hearing what the world would hear in five years’ time, long before anybody else outside the band did. Worst moment: Naive business sense that saw Brian receive mere pennies for Beatles merchandise that could have earned the band and himself millions; a pretty bum deal with EMI that saw record royalty rates at a penny per single – far less than almost every other band of the day.



3)    Allen Klein (manager of The Rolling Stones 1965-68, The Beatles 1969-1970)– Allen Klein worked with many bands in the 60s – including two AAA ones – and they all seem to have the same pattern. The first few months of an artist’s career Klein is the band’s saviour, finding loopholes in contracts that enable bands to get more money, many of which they genuinely were diddled out of by crafty record company executives. Even Klein’s biggest enemies will admit that they never made anything like as much money as they did in the short time Klein was working for them. And yet, Klein would take it too far, to the point where it was scary and on the edge of legal (Klein did in fact serve a prison term for embezzlement in the late 1970s). He was also a manager well known for pitting members of groups against each other – for instance, he charmed John Lennon enough to win him, George and Ringo over but never succeeded in persuading Paul to back him. It took Lennon three years of being, well, ‘groomed’ by Klein (who knew his work and crucially Yoko’s too off by heart and praised them at all times) and various court cases before Lennon humbly admitted in private that Paul was ‘right’ to be wary of him. However, even though Klein has the reputation of being a bully and a criminal, it’s worth remembering that many of his business decisions were perfectly lawful and indeed just, bringing money to the artists themselves rather than the record companies trying to keep it all for themselves. Best moment: Depending who you ask, it’s either saving The Beatles from bankruptcy or closing down many of the lesser parts of the Beatles’ sprawling Apple empire (although, admittedly, many of the best parts went as well!); Worst moment: Putting Lennon under so much pressure to sign as the band’s new ‘manager’ (a position that had been unfulfilled for two years without any major dilemmas) that his appointment effectively broke up The Beatles.



4)    Jim Dickson (manager of The Byrds 1963-66) In many ways Jim Dickson was perfect for The Byrds. About a decade older than the rest of the band, he’d had a surprisingly eclectic time in music management for the times, starting out on Lord Buckley’s comedy records and working his way through folk, jazz and bluegrass – along with rock and country the cornerstones of The Byrds’ sound. He also noticed the promise in ‘The JetSet’ (as they were first called as a trio) when no other managers would go near them. Alas, Dickson was happier working with music than musicians – during his short time with The Byrds he managed to annoy Chris Hillman (punching the bassist for failing to turn up to a publicity event), producer Terry Melcher (for recording ‘It’s All Over Now Baby Blue’ without his knowledge after disagreements over what the third Byrds single should be) and most famously David Crosby (the two famously ended up fighting on the floor at one photography session in the band’s early days and butted heads continually throughout their time together).  Best moment: seeing a ‘gap in the market’ between Peter Paul and Mary and The Beatles (Dylan came later!) and encouraging the band to fill it; also getting The Byrds what was for the time a very reasonable record deal with one album a year (not four like The Beach Boys). Worst moment: The infamous ‘beach fight’ when the band were meant to be filming a video for the song ‘Set You Free This Time’, which soon degenerated into a band brawl involving Crosby, Dickson and Michael Clarke; rejecting second single and second biggest hit ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ on the grounds that it was ‘too preachy’ for The Byrds!



5)    Robert Wace and Granville Collins (managers of The Kinks 1964-65)– In 1995 Ray Davies promoted his autobiography ‘X-Ray’ with a ‘storytelling’ tour, combining songs with extracts from the book. The passage that inevitably won the biggest laughs of the night was ray’s impression of his dapper upper class managers Robert Wace and Granville Collins, the inspiration behind both ‘Dedicated Follower of Fashion’ and ‘Well Respected Man’. The pair have become synonymous in Kinks fans minds with being a good joke who got lucky– after all, Robert originally hired the band (then called ‘The Bo-Weevils’) to back his own singing, thinking their own attempts were clumsy. Ray also had more than enough reason to get angry after the pair’s botched attempts at business made even Brian Epstein look savvy and contributed to his breakdown in 1967 (when Ray attacked his music publisher with an axe). But, to be fair to the pair, they coped well with what was even by 1960s standards a very wayward chaotic band, soothing ruffled feathers when the band had yet another no-show and getting the band back together again after Mick Avory really did try to kill Dave Davies on-stage with his cymbal. They also saw in The Kinks something big when few other people did – yes Granville and Collins only hired The Kinks for their own ends originally, but they still backed the band after Ray started taking the lead vocals and singing his own songs – and there aren’t many managers around who’d have stood for that. The pair were, though, possibly the least swinging 60s types of managers on this list, in the business for the kicks rather than any great feel for the genre. Best moment: Giving The Kinks their name. Sure the band had mixed feelings but, as they said, the name really stood out on posters (it was shorter than anything else around at the time) and gave them a distinctive image (even if it was the wrong one!) Would the band have got as far as ‘The Ray Davies Quartet’ ‘The Ravens’ or ‘The Boll-Weevils’ one wonders? Worst moment: Hiring all the people that would rub Ray Davies up the wrong way – publisher and early producer Larry Page was completely the wrong era for The Kinks and wound Ray up by putting down his music; producer Shel Talmy wasn’t much better, suing The Kinks (and The Who)after they tried to leave his perfectionist grasp.





6)    Bert Schenider and Bob Rafelson (creators and managers of The Monkees 1966-68)–When Bert and Bob posted their advert for a new television series with the words ‘wanted – four insane boys...’, they could not have picked a better time. Younger than pretty much any other television producers around at the time, they wanted to see if they could find a new ‘Beatles’, taking ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ as their starting point and creating a radical multi-media campaign the likes of which had never been seen before. Loose enough to be different to everything else around at the time, but tight enough to keep the ‘stars’ on their toes and coping with a heavy workload that would have shut down lesser men, from 1966 to mid 1967 Bert and Bob succeeded beyond their expectations, with The Monkees briefly outstripping The Beatles in popularity. They even did admirably well in mid-1967, coping with the media snowstorm about the band ‘not playing on their own records’ by sacking the disloyal musical director Don Kirshner (who was working on and releasing records without the band’s knowledge)and backing the four Monkees up to the hilt, a very dangerous situation for such a huge cash cow that might have flopped badly. Alas when The Monkees did finally fall the pair were less honourable, destroying The Monkees image with the film ‘Head’ that on the positive side poked fun at the music and film industries and the TV series itself and, less charitably, at the four Monkees themselves. But after a money dispute that saw three members of the band out on strike and the cancellation of the TV series the two men just walked away, distancing themselves from the whole enterprise and re-launching their television careers without a second glance.     Best moment: putting equally unsure newbies Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart in charge of making the band’s records, creating a great TV staff, encouraging all of The Monkees to improvise their way around their ‘scripts’ and finally backing them in the great 1967 ‘revolution’! Worst moment: Their portrayals of The Monkees in the script for ‘Head’ which they co-wrote with Jack Nicholson – Mike is ‘a con man’, Davy is ‘a Manchester midget greenie’, Micky is a ‘blithering space case’ and Peter is ‘a wise man’s mouthpiece who doesn’t know what he is doing’. So much for loyalty after two years of superstardom and support!



7)    Andrew Loog Oldham (manager of The Rolling Stones 1962-67) –Blimey Andy Loog Oldham can talk. There are two volumes of his autobiography out at present and each is like a lengthy conversation that just keeps going, in real time more often than not. That’s quite apt for a manager who primed himself on being about image and style, able to convince anybody anything about the bands under his charge. He certainly managed to interest the press in the Rolling Stones – after a so-so first three singles he practically changed the way you do business with the music press with a series of articles about how the band were mad, bad and dangerous to know (after all, would you let your grandmother go out with a Rolling Stone, even now?) Of course, most of it was rubbish – Mick Jagger was so posh he had a business degree, Bill Wyman was a respectable gentleman who’d been in the army and Brian Jones might well be the richest-at-birth of all the AAA members (with Byrd Gram Parsons his only rival)- but people bought into the Loog Oldham ‘image’ and believe it even now. By 1967, though, things have gone weird – Oldham, always a dramatic personality, thinks he’s bigger than the band and knows more than they do. After a turbulent year involving prison sentences, drug busts, various wife and girlfriend troubles and increasing differences of opinion between Oldham and the band, Andrew quits. Or was fired. Like all things with Oldham, it depends who you ask what really happened. Less hands on that Epstein, less money-minded than Klein but just as pushy as Murray Wilson and Jim Dickson combined, Loog Oldham is the character most people think of when they talk about 1960s ‘managers’ – whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you. Best moment: That headline! After all, who could resist angering their parents by buying records with a group their parents weren’t meant to like? After the ‘would you let...’ article was in all the music papers, the Stones suddenly leapt from being a top 20 band to being a top ten one and I’ll lay odds this article was the key to that. Worst moment: That famous 1967 drugs bust. Worried his own drug and pill abuse might be documented, he kept quiet about it to the press – much to the band’s chagrin, especially with that ‘nice Mr Klein’ working so hard to get them out of trouble (little did they know...see above)





8)    Tito Burns (manager of The Searchers 1963-65) –Unlike every single other manager on this list, Tito had been a successful musician before he turned his eye to managing others. You’d expect him to be a benevolent father figure, then, one who recognises how hard musicians work and how badly they need a helping hand. From the reports given by the bands he managed nothing could be further from the truth – Tito pushed his acts past the point of breaking and then, when the inevitable collapse happened, he dropped them without a second glance. That’s what happened to The Searchers at least, who remember him with a mixture of loving and loathing even today – and fellow Burns actThe Zomblies who were, the band remembers, ‘like zombies most of the time’. To be fair to him, though, Tito was in his 40s when he took on The Searchers and had also been a jazz musician, tradityionally sneering at pop and rock stars –two very big reasons why Tito should have ignored the band and Merseybeat in general. And yet his love for The Searchers and their kind of music was very genuine indeed, quite remarkable for a man at least 20 years older than his peers. Best moment: Giving The Searchers their big break in 1963, before even The Beatles had reached their sales peak and right on their coat-tails. Worst moment: spreading himself so thinly – as well as The Searchers and Zombies, Tito also worked with the Stones for a time, helped discover Dusty Springfield and became head of variety at London Weekend Television, all in the space of five years. No wonder he lost track of what was happening to whom with all that going on!



9)    Kit Lambert (manager of The Who 1965-72) –Kit Lambert was another upper class toff looking to manage a band more as a hobby than anything else and actually approached The Who to be the subject of a film he was making at first, but to his credit he ‘got’ the band straight away and what they could become. Nobody else involved with ‘The High Numbers’ (as they were first known) thought much of them at all, back in the days when they only did covers, but Kit did. It was he who encouraged Pete Townshend first in his composing and then in the art of guitar smashing, allowing The Who to rack up equipment bills that would have crushed lesser men. Above all, he got two important things – firstly that the band didn’t centre around the toughman singer but the sensitive guitarist, turning Pete onto classical music and encouraging him to write longer, more involved pieces of work. He also got the theatricality of The Who’s work straight away, at a time when drawing attention to yourself on stage was out of fashion and long before The Troggs, The Move and Jimi Hendrix got into the equipment smashing mood. It all went wrong after ‘Tommy’, however, when Pete fell apart creating a follow-up and badly needed Kit’s guidance – only to find his friend and father figure was on a pilled and booze-filled collapse of his own. Lambert saw the band reject his own drug-addled script for a ‘Tommy’ film and became destructive rather than supportive, driving Townshend to suicide at one point when the guitarist overheard the words ‘he has blocked me at every turn’ (it was the fact his friend couldn’t even speak his name that hurt Townshend the most). The guiding light behind The Who? Certainly? The person who tried to end it prematurely when things got tough? Possibly that too. Best moment: Unquestionably ‘Tommy’. While I don’t think its The Who’s best album by any means, it did open a whole new avenue to the band after two years of flop singles and was very much Lambert’s baby, with Kit nurturing Townshend to create a ‘rock opera’ from bits and pieces at a time when most managers would have run for the hills. Worst moment: What happened from ‘Lifehouse’ onwards; unlike most fans I do think Pete could have finished his second magnus opus if only he’d had someone to talk to about it as he did through the making of ‘Tommy’ – with only a puzzled band and bored engineer to discuss things with, its no wonder Pete got cold feet over a project more esoteric and allegorical than anything written up to that time.





10) Eliott Roberts (manager of Neil Young 1969-date) –Considering we’ve learnt everything else we could ever possibly wish to know about Neil Young (his family, his Canadian background, his influences, his guitars, his train business, etc) I’m shocked that I can find so little material about the man whose been steering him forwards ever since the dying days of the Buffalo Springfield. Things didn’t get off to a good start – Neil fired Eliot from the Springfield days before leaving the band because he was out on the golf course instead of attending to his needs – but as the in-depth biography ‘Shakey’ implies, Neil only did that because he knew he was going solo and wanted to keep Eliott for himself. Certainly, the two have been close ever since as its usually Eliott (along with sometime producer David Briggs) who does all the ‘donkey work’, tidying up the mess of whichever band Neil has left to get on with his muse and making music. Less of a manager than the other nine here and more of a friend, Eliott is the main reason why Neil’s been allowed to get away with as much stuff as he has, from genre bending to breaking up bands left right and centre. However, as some have noted, has Eliott allowed Neil to get away with too much, allowing him to cancel projects at the last minute too often for his own good? Best moment: Allowing the ‘Doom Trilogy’ to go ahead, despite knowing it would wreck Neil Young’s commercial clout in the wake of ‘Harvest’ and ‘After The Goldrush’. Worst moment: 1991’s CSN box set is pretty darn near perfect. But it could have been even better – Graham Nash phoned up Neil directly to ask for his input and a couple of legendary CSNY tracks for use in the set. Neil said yes, then hesitated and got Eliott to get him out of the deal so that he could keep the songs for himself (he still hasn’t released them himself yet either, 20 years on). This has happened so many times down the years I could cite more, but the CSN box is in my view the big one.



Well, that’s it for another issue. My manager says I have to go and have a lie down now, so its goodbye till next week! Keep rocking! 8>)   

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