Friday 28 October 2011

News, Views and Music Issue 119 (Intro)




October 28th:

Phew! That’s that done! My 30 page incapacity form has been filled (me being me, with seven whole extra pages – they never give you enough space in these things to ‘encourage’ you to feel under pressure to leave things out), all 215 weblinks have been re-posted (if you see any difficulties please let me know, because it’ll mean I’ve missed one somewhere- all very easy to do), my broadband problems are all sorted and my Christmas shopping is back on-track. It’s been a hideously long, strange and tiring month or so but thankfully it seems to be over now. I feel a chronic fatigue crash coming on after all that extra work and sleepless nights...but before I do I just had to get in this week’s review for the new Noel Gallagher album. Now we keep mentioning new AAA CDs to buy in our news items recently – sadly they all seem to be box sets (all nine of them at last count: four Maccas, three Floyds, a Who and a Beach Boys, see our last few issues for more details) and I just can’t afford any of them at the moment (remember, keep buying stuff from Amazon via our website and we get 5% - costing you nothing!) so at last I’ve actually been able to buy something and tell you about it! Alas, its not particularly good...



                                                  

Beach Boys News: A late bit of Beach Boys radio news for you: BBC6 repeated their First Time interview with Brian Wilson on Sunday, October 23rd at 7pm it should still be around on Iplayer if you want it (and I actually know how to work it now I have broadband at last!) The interview took place originally to promote Smile in 2004 and, well, its not the best really, thanks to some really dumb questions (Ive heard you were really at home in the studio umm.....yeah) and no music choices outside the obvious. Brians on pretty bright form, though and sounds comfortable with his legacy here quite a contrast from pretty much any interview of the 90s and especially the 70s and 80s.   

Byrds News: Remember all those sea-shanties we used to get on Byrds CDs? Jack Tarr The Sailor John Riley, even Roger McGuinns own Space Odyssey?! Well, McGuinns recorded a whole C D of them, as a follow-up to his well received CD of folk songs last year. McGuinns never been the most prolific of writers but still wants to record and hes come across the best solutions, by recording forgotten traditional songs that are in danger of dying out if someone doesnt rescue them. Chances are therell be less takers for sea shanties than folk tunes but still, the wittily titled CCD (as in sea CD ouch, that hurt!) has been getting great reviews across the board.  

CSN News: Fans have long known that the Judy in Suite: Judy Blue Eyes referred to songwriter Judy Collins after Stills ongoing love affiar with her (which inspired many of his best songs). Judy has just released another volume of her memoirs (I think this is her fourth?) with the title Sweet Judy Blue Eyes and tales of her time with CSN and Stills in particular. 

Theres also a repeat for the Micky Dolenz-presented Laurel Canyon doc on BBC6, on Monday, October 31st and Tuesday, November 1st at 3am,  featuring lots of rare CSN audio footage. Weve covered it elsewhere on our site a couple of years back when it was first on suffice to say its well worth hearing just for the CSN section and hearing Monkee Micky Dolenz try his hand at becoming a radio presenter!

  Dire Straits News: A rare early live concert by the band at the BBCs Paris Theatre in 1978 is being repeated as part of BBC6s Live Music Hour this Friday, October 28th at 3am. Back in the days when Dave Knopfler was still in the band, it features lots of songs from the first Dire Straits LP. 

Hollies News: Fantastic! Look Through Any Window is the title of the long-awaited fourth release in the superlative British Invasion series due this November, full of 20 fascinating rare clips of The Hollies from 1963 to 1975. We reviewed the Small Faces edition in our pages about 18 months ago the best AAA DVD release weve had in years - and in news and views issue 69 we actually listed five other bands we wanted to see get the British Invasion DVD treatment : The Hollies came third! So well done all concerned for rounding up some fascinating footage of the band in their heyday and actually adding to the long list of suggestions we made. Theres even three tracks that weve already featured in our top 60 Youtube videos which weve already written to run during the next few weeks (and I dont fancy writing them out again so Im leaving them in, because technically this footage isnt available until next month!): the promo for Little Lover, the film clip of Nows The Time and the shot of The Hollies filming On A Carousel at Abbey Road. Even if you have all the footage youll still want to get this set for the new interviews with Clarke, Hicks, Nash and Elliott. More info when we buy this set as we surely will!

Oasis News: For the first time since Oasis in 2005, we have an AAA artist at #1! Yes thats right, Noel Gallagher has beaten Adele (who seems to have spent more weeks on the album chart than Dark Side Of The Moon recently, with two records in the top 10) and the latest goons from X factor to become the best-selling artist of the week. Does he deserve that accolade? Erm, probably not sadly...see below!

Noel’s also been doing a lot of plugging for his album recently. Firstly, he appeared on the new revamped-but-still-same-as-the-old-one Jonathon Ross show on ITV last Sunday along with the 21st century hybrid of Tony Hancock and Eric Morecambe, Miranda Hart. Noel looked most put out when he was left to look after her dog and in fact seemed uncomfortable most of the way through, mumbling both during the chat and an interminable version of debut solo single ‘AKA...What A Life’. In fact, had this been his first interview (instead of his first post-Oasis interview) on nationally telly, you’d be hard pressed what to make of him – the genuinely inspired wit of Noel’s commentary on the ‘Time Flies’ Oasis DVD simply wasn’t there, even though he did have a good laugh at the only two decent jokes on the show (‘the Gallaghers had lots of hits...until the roadies came to split them up!’ and ‘I thought they’d be together forever – I’m referring to your eyebrows Noel!’)

Noel’s also due to pop up on Radio 2 on as part of the station’s ‘In Concert’ series. You can see it on TV on the red button on a loop on Thursday, November 3rd from 9pm till the early hours. He’s also got a documentary on Channel 4, ‘Somewhere In Between’ which is at half past midnight on Monday, October 24th, although its repeated most days since. 

Finally, BBC4 have a whole night dedicated to record label Creation this Friday, October 28th – Oasis were, of course, the biggest success of Alan McGee’s attempts to overthrow the way rock labels were run back in the 1990s! The night starts with ‘Upside Down: The Creation Story’ at 9pm, moves on to the compilation ‘Creation At The BBC’ at 10.40pm and ends with an ‘Omnibus’ interview with McGee.

Pentangle News: BBC4 are repeating Bert Janschs Live Session from 2003 as a mark of respect to the Pentangle guitarist, who died a fortnight ago. The screening takes place on Thursday, October 27th at 11pm, was filmed at St Lukes in London and features Johnny Marr as a special guest.

Paul Simon News: Theres a new best-of compilation (the 8th?!) featuring Paul Simon and Simon and Garfunkel together coming soon titled Paul Simon: Songwriter. The set features 32 songs from across Pauls career although the only new song for collectors is a previously unreleased live version of The Sound Of Silence (why not just use the original?!)

The Who News: Pete Townshend has become the first musician chosen to speak at the BBC John Peel Lectures on Monday, October 31st (broadcast by BBC6 that day at 7pm). A good choice, given how lucid and iridescent Pete can be when talking about his favourite subject, music. BBC6 are celebrating by repeating Radio 2s Before I Get Old documentary from earlier this year from Monday to Thursday, October 24th-27th at midnight very handy for me because I missed the first part and the second was unexpectedly excellent! The programme was originally in two one-hour parts but has been split into four half-hour ones for this repeat.

Neil Young News: Ah, now the fuss over Jimmy MCDonnaughs in-depth biography Shakey becomes clear: Neils been working on his own memoirs, clearly fired up by the release (after 30 years of waiting) of the first part of his Archives project. Hes already signed to a publisher (Blue Rider Press, part of the Penguin group) and is already part of the way through the project, taking notes from how his dad (sports journalist and author Scott Young) used to work. The book is tentatively titled Waging Peace (as in waging war, but nicer) and is due for release next Autumn. More news if and when!


ANNIVERSARIES: Happy birthdays part #1, for those born between October 25th and 31st: Denny Laine (guitarist with The Moody Blues 1964-66 and Wings 1972-79) who turns 67 on October 29th. Anniversaries of events include: Dire Straits release their second album ‘Makin’ Movies’ (October 25th 1980); The Beatles sell out by accepting MBEs from the German-ancestor Queen Elizabeth II (October 26th 1964); A young record buyer named Raymond Jones (who may or may not be our own columnist Nelson sent back in time from  the future – see this year’s April fool’s day special) asks Brian Epstein for a record by The Beatles –  My Bonnie – alerting the NEMS Liverpool store manager to his future career (October 28th 1961); The Who release their break-through single ‘My Generation’ a year after being rejected by EMI (October 28th 1965); John Lennon and wife Cynthia officially divorce (October 28th 1968); ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ breaks the record for longest stay on the album top 200 when it charts for a staggering 491st week! (October 29th 1983) and finally, Hotlegs – soon to become 10cc by adding Graham Gouldmann to the line-up the following year – make their live debut supporting The Moody Blues (October 30th 1970). 

Happy birthdays part #2, for those born between November 1st and 7th: Bert Jansch (guitarist with Pentangle 1968-72 and various reunions) who sadly would have been 68 on November 3rd, Lulu (singer) who turns 63 also on November 3rd, Art Garfunkel (a quite different kind of singer) who turns 69 on November 5th and Gram Parsons (guitarist and much more with The Byrds in 1968) who would have been 65 on November 5th. Anniversaries of events include: The Beatles start their last stint at Hamburg’s Star Club (November 1st 1962); George Harrison releases the first solo Beatles LP which is also the first album to bear an ‘Apple’ catalogue number: his under-rated soundtrack to the ‘Wonderwall’ film (November 1st 1968); The Beatles wow mums and dads at their one and only Royal Variety appearance, telling those in the more expensive seats to ‘rattle yer jewellery’ (November 4th 1963); The Beach Boys’ legendary single ‘Good Vibrations’ enters the UK chart on it’s way to #1 (November 4th 1966); The Who’s Quadrophenia tour suffers yet another blow when the pre-taped section ends up playing out of synch with the band, causing Pete Townshend to physically attack the group’s sound man mid-gig (it’s not his fault by the way) (November 5th 1973); The Beach Boys manage the surely unique feat of making #1 in the UK charts in the same week 22 years apart – with ‘Good Vibrations’ in 1966 and ‘Kokomo’ in 1988 (November 5th); Bill Graham puts on the first of his many legendary ‘Fillmore’ shows starring AAA members Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, the former before they even have a record contract (November 6th 1965) and finally, Paul Simon comes out of retirement with his first concert for five years (November 6th 1980).


News, Views and Music Issue 119 (Top Twenty): AAA Youtube Clips Part #1




This week it’s the first of our three-part special delving into the magical world of YouTube. You may remember that we covered a top five YouTube clips on our site round about 100 issues ago. Well, since then I’ve discovered so much more (and users have posted so much more) so this week here’s an extended version of that original top 10 – to the extent that it’s now a top 60! Now it goes without saying that YouTube is endless and I dare say there are millions of things I’ve missed out – (so why not point them out on our forum?), but this is the best of what I’ver discovered so far. The only rules to be included on this list are that the videos have to be ‘exclusive’ to YouTube – ie not available officially in any form as of the time of writing (though a couple of Hollies clips only got in by the skin of their teeth – see above). The results below can be anything an AAA member has ever done, including TV appearances, music videos, chat show appearances, concerts (though they have to be rare performances or rare songs or we’d just be listing whole track listings for ‘Smile’), adverts, interviews, rare bits of audio accompanied by pictures, all sorts in fact. Some groups are here more than others of course – partly because some groups have released absolutely every shot of them ever taken already on DVD and there’s nothing there to find or perhaps partly because I haven’t found the right links to take me to them yet despite looking for every AAA member in turn every few months or so – perhaps we’ll be able to a ‘top 100’ list in another 100 issues time? To view these clips, click on the YouTube links we’ve included and they should take you straight there to the heart of the action (apologies to our readers in the future when some of these links may have been taken down, but as of October 2011 they are all present and correct). Look out for 40-21 as our countdown continues next week! Oh and while you’re about it, if you’re a fellow YouTube member why not add me as a ‘friend’ on YouTube and you can have a look through my ‘playlists’ to see what was still interesting but not good enough to make the grade? (I’m Alansarchives if you hadn’t guessed!):

60) Ray Davies appearing on ‘Wonder World’ 1982 (Australian Children’s Show): http://youtu.be/86cxVO81-IY

There’s no music and hardly any insight into Ray Davies’ life on offer here, but you do get to see a couple of incompetent TV presenters throwing a custard pie in Ray’s face and the elder Davies brother’s quite hilarious responses (‘I had quite a promising career when I came to Australia, but now...’ ‘Please don’t ask me that question, I’ve got so many problems already man...’ ‘Can you even afford this?!’) We never actually get to learn anything other than what a good sport Ray Davies is, but it will have you cheering on Ray as he attempts to get his own back. Messy fun on a programme never actually seen in the UK at all outside YouTube.

59) The Hollies at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame 2009:





The coming together of Allan Clarke and Graham Nash for what might well be ‘one last time’ is the reason I’ve bypassed my usual distrust of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and added this video of The Hollies’ long overdue admission two years ago. Sadly the R and RHOF left it so late in the day to tell the current touring line-upof the band that Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott were still on tour in Europe and couldn’t show. What we do get though is rare appearances from past Hollies bassists Eric Haydock and Bernie Calvert and rhythm guitarist Terry Sylvester, as well as the joy of hearing Nash and Clarke wrap their harmonies around each other as if the gap of 26 years since their last musical meeting was no time at all. Clarkey’s been retired for over a decade now and does find the notes on ‘Carrie Anne’ ‘Long Cool Woman’ and ‘Bus Stop’ a bit of a struggle at times but no matter – the blend between him and Nash is still one of the most magical of all time. There’s a bit of a now ‘legendary’ Hall Of Fame moment too where guesting singer Patrick Monahan from ‘Train’ (whoever they may be) is meant to be singing lead but harmonist Terry Sylvester is so into the moment on-stage he forgets to give the microphone back, starting a diplomatic incident between the band... (at least, that’s my interpretation of the look that Clarkey gives him when he scoops the microphone off him again!) Wow Clarke and Nash together again, 63 years after they first met – this is definitely the best R and RHOF date ever! (The Beatles performance is on YouTube too, the one where a missing Paul ‘had the script in his pocket’ according to George, but I haven’t added it to the list because Ringo – right in the middle of his ‘alcoholic’ years – is at his most inebriated and unwatchable).

58) Graham Nash and Travis “Another Sleep Song” (c.2005)


My favourite Graham Nash song of all time gets a rare outing when Nash appears as a guest at a Travis gig where they’ve cajoled him to sing this song. It’s unusual to see Nash so far out of his comfort zone on the opening behind-the-scenes chat (‘My wife got me into this...I don’t know how!....Wonder if I can ‘feel’ my own song?!’), which is a long way from the Captain Organisation personality we’re used to seeing on Hoillies and CSN documentaries. Nash is also unusually defensive when the lead singer of Travis says the song came out ‘the year I was born!’ (and he’s no spting chicken himself!) Classic song though and – for all the nerves – it’s a nice version of it too, with Travis clearly doing their homework on the arrangement. I may hate the only two other Travis songs I have ever heard but they have good taste here I have to say!

57) Justin Hayward on “This Is Your Life” (1997):





As far as I know Justin is the only AAA man to have ever been on the much-missed programme ‘This Is Your Life’ (producers and managers don’t count for now!) and he’s a more deserving recipient than most – I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word against Justin in all my years of collecting and I can’t say that about many musicians! Justin is as nervous and humble here as you’d expect, as he often is when caught off guard, and he’s completely flummoxed when Michael Aspel and the red book appear at a launch for his solo album ‘The View From The Hill’. You don’t get to learn much about Justin from the show actually – but then the Moodies have always kept themselves to themselves so its still fascinating indeed to see so much of Justin’s family and friends all in one place. Fellow Moodies Ray Thomas and John Lodge are there in person, Graeme Edge is there on video from one of his many holidays but sadly there’s no sign of Mike Pinder who left the Moody Blues in 1978 or replacement Patrick Moraz. The red book is handed over at the end not by the traditional big superstar but by the astronaut who took the Moodies compilation ‘Legend Of A Band’ with him in the 1989 space module Challenger, giving the band the moniker ‘first band in space’. Now why the hell isn’t this programme on any more, even on BBC4 (where all the good shows seem to have gone?)

56) Hollies “Snow On Heather Moor” and “Maureen” (Unreleased songs)

http://youtu.be/5BVjkD309Hk (Snow On The Heather Moor)


Two fascinating glimpses into how different two Hollies records could have been in the 60s and 70s. The first track is Bernie Calvert’s early version for what became ‘Reflections Of A Long Time Past’ on the ‘Hollies Sing Hollies’ album (1969), but in a more stylised orchestral form with less piano. The second, ‘Maureen’, was recorded during sessions for ‘Write On’ (1976) and was apparently a bit of a joke written especially for Tony Hicks’ sister – who just so happens to be Bobby Elliot’s wife! Despite being a bit of fun knocked off between ‘proper’ songs, its actually better than a lot of the songs from the same period, with especially tight harmonies that were sadly lacking on most of that album!

55) George Harrison – music videos for “Faster”, “Blow Away” and “All Those Years Ago”:

http://youtu.be/jMm4bhs6GYY (‘Faster’, 1979)

http://youtu.be/ddnRtFd7Hps (‘Blow Away’, 1979)

http://youtu.be/85Smw33PKJA (‘All Those Years Ago’, 1981)

There are other George Harrison promos around of course, both earlier (‘Crackerbox Palace’ is a gem) or later (‘When We Was Fab’ and ‘This Is Love’ – the former directed by 10cc’s Godley and Creme during their ‘video’ phase). But those are either available officially (on the ‘Dark Horse’ DVD included in the Dark Horse box set) or are repeated often on TV and in biopics – whereas these three videos are comparatively rare. ‘Faster’ and ‘Blow Away’ both come from the highly under-rated ‘George Harrison’ album and feature Formula 1 legend Jackie Stewart driving George around the Silverstone race circuit to the soundtrack of a song written in his honour (‘he’s a master at going faster!’) and the latter has George staring into rain clouds and playing his guitar alongside huge blow-up rubber ducks bobbing in the breeze(!) ‘All Those Years Ago’, meanwhile, mixes archive footage of John Lennon to moving effect long before the ‘Imagine’ film pulled off the same trick, even if the breezy nature of the melody betrays that this song was originally written about an entirely different event altogether before the great man’s death (and the two still don’t quite match). The music, naturally, is brilliant and of course – as the Living In The Material World DVD makes clear – how photogenic was George?!

54) The Moody Blues’ Coca-Cola Commercial 1969!:


Who on earth thought of getting the oh so serious Moody Blues to write a poppy ditty for Coca-Cola?! Clearly someone whose never actually heard the band sing anything. Despite the date of 1969, the backing to this song actually sounds more like Justin Hayward’s songs from the ‘Seventh Sojourn’ album, with a sweeping melody that only salowly shifts gears and hazy mellotrons for the backing. Justin barely gets a chance to get the name of the product in, so busy is he setting up the scene of finishing his heavy workload and getting home in time to ‘say sweet things to you’ (while slurping coca-cola, naturally). Alan’s Album Archives would like to point out that other beverages are available, by the way. 

53) The Who – live at Bingley Hall, Stafford, 1975:


http://youtu.be/QLV9Vu_ka2E  (I Can’t Explain)


http://youtu.be/nVKShU14PjE  (Heaven and Hell)


http://youtu.be/93MYgjTYtPQ (Baba O’Riley)

http://youtu.be/hJD1hYxlTps (Behind Blue Eyes)

http://youtu.be/J4tNdRyy_8c (Amazing Journey/Sparks)

http://youtu.be/IQRpGgI8lnU (Eyesight To The Blind)



http://youtu.be/ascdQ7_FJXg (Pinball Wizard)


http://youtu.be/L3qIthbnHDM (Tommy’s Holiday Camp)

http://youtu.be/Wi-5haPoVpw (See Me, Feel Me)

http://youtu.be/NF4crcPLdHY (Summertime Blues)



http://youtu.be/rSfJuZd-0_E (My Generation/Join Together)


I know, I know, there are dozens of Who bootlegs out there so why pick this one? Well, I have a vested interest. I grew up just down the road from Bingley Hall and I still can’t quite believe that we once had the world’s greatest rock and roll band playing there, even if this magical event did happen seven years before I was born. After all, who else of note in the rock world has ever been to Stafford since (Lindisfarne at one of their last shows actually, but nobody taped that gig!) To boot the year of 1975 is also my favourite era for The Who, the ‘By Numbers’ album being the last great Who album in my opiunion even if evberyoine else says its ‘Quadrophenia’, even though the band actually only do one song from that record (‘Squeeze Box’, making only its second appearance in their setlist). Instead there’s an excellent mix of the cornerstone trilogy of ‘Tommy’ ‘Lifehouse/Who’s Next’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ in the set – if you stick to official live recordings of the band you only tend to get one of these and not the others. The band are also on particularly tight form, with Keith Moon enjoying one of his last concerts where hesounds like the hurricane of old. So there we have it, a full 90 minutes of the ‘Orrible ‘Oo at their near-best! The sound quality is also much better than around 90% of The Who bootlegs on YouTube – the guy who recorded it must have been right near the stage – in which case I hope his hearing is better soon!

52) Hollies – rare promo clips for “Little Lover” (1963) and “Now’s The Time” (1964):


http://youtu.be/O8JvylP5FgE (Now’s The Time)

Two early ‘baby’ shots of the very early Hollies back when they seemed to be all teeth and hairdos. ‘Little Lover’ – the first Clarke-Hicks-Nash song to be released, even if it was under the pseudonym ‘L Ransford’ - was apparently intended as a single at one stage so The Hollies were filmed miming to it in an effort to race it up the charts (instead it ended up as a track on first album ‘Stay With The Hollies’). That’s the band’s first drummer Don Rathbone you can see, by the way, not Bobby Elliott with hair! ‘Now’s The Time’ dates from a year later but The Hollies still look impossibly young. It’s actually an extract from a weird biking film called ‘It’s All Over Town’ starring comedian Willie Rushton and is one of those 60s curios where the main action just ‘happens’ to go past a band singing before reverting back to the plot. The backing tape has been sped up so fast it makes Allan Clarke sound like Mickey Mouse, but the sight of a band barely out of their teens (and still in them in Tony Hicks’ case) is spell-binding when you know these two songs as well as I do. And get a load of just how badly that Graham Nash wants the camera to love him, flashing his teeth for all he’s worth! STOP PRESS: After sitting there, largely unloved, in my ‘favourites’ box for the past five years both of these film clips are now going to be made available officially on the Hollies ‘British Invasion: Look Through Any Window’ DVD. But technically the set isn’t out till November so I can still get away with listing them – just!!

51) Ray Davies “Soundtrack To Around The World In 80 Days” (1988):


Back in 1988, with The Kinks falling apart after yet another record company battle, Ray Davies decided he wanted to work on his own for a bit and set about writing a musical for London’s West End loosely based on Jules Verne’s novel ‘Around The World In 80 Days’. Contrary to belief the musical was put on that year, albeit ever so briefly in a minor theatre and long before many of the band’s fans got a chance to see it. This project has always intrigued the few fans still following the band by the late 80s (a very under-rated period for them I’ve always thought) and Ray recycled some of the themes and ideas for The Kinks’ excellent ‘UK Jive’ album, although sadly an early ‘Loony Balloon’ isn’t included in this ear-dropping 42 minutes’ worth of unreleased Ray Davies, though historically it should have been. Like many modern musicals by superstars, ‘80 Days’ is so aware of itself and its big ideas it’s uncomfortable to listen to in places, but for fans who love The Kinks’ big concept works of the 1970s then this is for you, with atravelling tale that’s actually a metaphor for the crumbling British Empire (similar to ‘Arthur’, in fact, but without the same emotion and humanity). Ray also hams up his ‘Englishness’ for all he’s worth with the Victorian setting – a big relief after 10 years of using a heavily americanised accent! ‘Ladies Of The Night’ – the second track from the end on this set – is in truth the only thing here up to even the average Kinks records of the period, but as all that’s left from a project cut off in its prime it’s all very fascinating to hear!

50) Paul McCartney “There’s A More Moose Coming Up!” (Remix):


Remember the Beatles’ Love’ project, which was basically an excuse for George and Giles Martin to mess around with sacred master-tapes on a big budget? Well, it was actually a bootlegger’s idea first and there were dozens of the things long before that project was even started. By far the best remix I’ve ever come across – the only one worth adding to my ‘favourites’ box in fact - is the merging of two of my favourite McCartney songs, ‘Coming Up!’ and ‘More Moose’ (from Wings’ London Town album). The two go together magnificently well in the style of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You Without You’ – the highlight of the ‘Love’ record – with the loose improvised jamming style of ‘More Moose’ merging with the punchy power pop of Macca’s best solo single to make a whole that, if not better than the parts, is certainly equal to them. And it’s not just my opinion that ‘Coming Up’ is a classic – even John Lennon pops up on a radio interview discussing the song as his ‘inspiration’ in coming back from his house-husband years – and as ever I’m with him, I prefer the ‘freaky’ version of this song too! The bootleggers have also remixed the ‘Coming Up’ promo video to match the new tempo of this song which is all very clever – how do they do that?! Someone should play this to Macca and tell him to give it an official release...

49) Dire Straits with Nils Lofgren “Solid Rock” (Live at Wembley 1985):


A true meeting of AAA minds, never to be repeated sadly. Knopfler and Lofgren have always shared something in common both guitarwise and headgearwise and they both bounce off each other to great effect on this rocking version of one of Dire Straits’ better early tracks. Alas Nils doesn’t seem to have had the chance to sing one of his own songs (‘I Came To Dance’ virtually is a Diore Straits song, music-wise, some five years before that band existed), which is a shame because everyone involved seems to be having fun  here. Now, the question which has vexed musical scholars across the ages: which came first, Mark’s headband or Nils’ bandana?!

48) Pete Townshend “Blue, Red and Gray” (performance c.2000?):


A rare solo performance of perhaps Pete’s greatest song, one that sounds all the better for the added age and experience in his voice on this comparatively recent performance against the original from 1975. As anyone whose read my review for ‘Who By Numbers’ will tell you, this is one of the greatest and most under-rated songs of all, hopeful without being trite and adding real depth to the rest of The Who’s canon around it, even if Pete himself doesn’t seem to think so (‘I was such a fucking liar when I wrote this!’ he declares at one point)

47) Noel Gallagher’s lead vocals on several Oasis songs he wouldn’t normally sing (1996-05):








The Hindu Times http://youtu.be/SzxHXCfi_1I


A fascinating assortment of Oasis bits and pieces with the ‘wrong’ Gallagher brother singing lead! The first five are straightforward live versions with Noel singing for whatever reason (perhaps Liam was having a tantrum or Noel just fancied taking over that might), mainly taken from a fascinating Oasis bootleg of unusual live recordings. What’s interesting is hearing Noel reclaim some songs from his catalogue that aren’t that well known and as far as I know he never sings in public again, such as the title track of ‘Be Here Now’, which sounds tonnes better here than it does on record with an optimism rather than the arrogance Liam gives the song. The sixth song here, ‘Acquiesce’, is of particular note because Liam starts off taking the lead, coughs really badly midway through the first verse and Noel swiftly comes to his aid in a rare display of brotherly love (he knows all the words too!)The next three songs are Noel’s working demos for the band, with him taking the lead, naturally – ‘Go Let It Out’ is especially different with an abandoned spoken section near the beginning while both ‘The Hindu Times’ and ‘Lyla’ sound better without all those overdubs stuck on top. A veritable treasure trove of what could have been in an alternate Oasis timeline where Liam Gallagher never existed!

46) The Monkees “So Far Out, She’s In” (Live 1967)


This one’s interesting for those of you who, like me, loved the Headquarters Sessions boxed set. One of the first songs The Monkees performed together as a band in early 1967 after their ‘coup’ against musical director Don Kirshner, they sadly abandoned the song after recording just the backing tape despite it being one of their more coherent moments during the sessions where they really ‘cooked’ as a band. This live version features Mike Nesmith singing the words to the song that the band never got around to adding (buried under an awful lot of screaming!) It sounds like a good song too – and it’s great to hear how it should have sounded, although other off-cuts from the same sessions such as ‘The Story Of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and what may have been ‘Masking Tape’ fare less well.

45) The Small Faces on the Morecambe and Wise Show 1967:


What do you think of it so far? Glorious actually – the Beatles appearance on the M&W Show was one of the funniest clips around (the highlight of the early episodes of ‘Anthology’) but this is even better, with a truly awful pun about needing ‘four faces’ and a rare live clip of the band singing ‘I Can’t Make It’. And very live it is too, sounding downright cacophonous compared to the polished studio version. Also, has anyone else noticed how hard it is to take your eyes off Steve Marriott when he’s in the ‘zone’, even with those short fat hairy legs on screen.

44) The Hollies “On A Carousel” (The Hollies recording as taped for a 1960s documentary on Abbey Road)


The Beatles weren’t available and Pink Floyd were acting ‘weird’, so who else could a BBC film crew go to for film footage of a band hard at work at Abbey Road’s seminal studios? Why The Hollies of course, who mime recording their latest single ‘On A Carousel’. As far as I know, this is the only footage of the band ‘at work’ to exist (even if it’s sadly not that genuine and every bit as ‘faked’ as The Beatles doing ‘All You Need Is Love’ at the ‘One World’ broadcasts the same year), so it’s fascinating to see such things as the band interplay at work and where each musician stood to record their parts and do their vocals, etc. There’s an interesting modern-day interview with the band (what was left of the original line up circa 2000 anyway) around too on YouTube if you want to look for it. Bobby Elliott says this was ‘an actual recording’ by the way which surprises me – they’re playing and singing at the same time as late as 1967 and it still sounds this good? Even for The Hollies that’s a tall order! This version of ‘Carousel’ doesn’t sound like an alternate take either, by the way, despite the billing, although there does appear to be a slightly different mix near the end in the harmonies. STOP PRESS: This is another clip said to be included on the forthcoming Hollies DVD ‘British Invasion: Look Through Any Window’. At this rate I won’t have any of my list still here by 2012!

43) Godley and Creme “Consequences” (Cinema Advert 1975)



Remember when music was so big it was treated to adverts in your local cinema? No, me neither – it only seems to have happened twice in AAA history, but then 10cc’s Godley and Creme weren’t ones for doing anything in the normal manner! Their first work as a duo was the triple LP ‘Consequences’ which must be one of the most sprawling, confused, weird, oddball, bizarre, convoluted, peculiar and downright bonkers concept albums ever made covering love, life, death, destruction, devastation and 5 O’Clock alarm calls in two hours, half of them instrumental. In other words it’s exactly the sort of thing that could have been turned into a film – so here’s the next best thing, an album treated as a cinema trailer featuring album guest comedian Peter Cook and various scenes of natural disasters. Can music save the world, as the announcer ponders? Well, two or three tracks can and are among the best the pair ever did with or without 10cc – can’t say I’ve ever played the rest too often as it makes even ‘One Night In paris’ sound normal. As an added bonus I’ve also added the link to a news item about the making of the album (see – music was important back then, it even made the news!), focussing on the Godley-Creme invention ‘The Gizmo’. And very fascinating it is too, with Lol Creme in particular very excited about showing off his new ‘toy’, used to ‘bend’ the sound of each instrument (which here sounds more like a string-based mellotron than the usual examples Godley and Creme gave in interviews). Have a look out for rare appearances for two other ‘Consequences’ tracks on YouTube, TV clips for ‘5 O’Clock In The Morning’ and ‘Honolulu Lulu’, also available on YouTube. And a huge hurrah to the 10cc Fanclub for uploading all of this rare footage – you’re doing ‘your’ band proud!

42)   Cat Stevens Unreleased Demos 1970-78

http://youtu.be/p_6Cr8UM0J0 (Can This Be Love?)


http://youtu.be/TT3ZgwBPqXg (Lookin’ For The Sailor)

http://youtu.be/xjBtYCqSKuI (It’s So Good)


Five unreleased Cat Stevens demos that have never appeared on album and show off five very different sides to Cat’s personality. ‘Can This Be Love?’ is a thoughtful song of doubt that questions whether a relationship really is ‘the one’ and would have fitted nicely onto ‘Teaser and The Firecat’ or ‘Catchbull’. ‘The Joke’ is a bluesy song in ‘Foreigner’ mode about old hang-ups getting in the way of a ‘new’ generation, ‘too many schemers and not enough dreamers’. It’s simpler than most of Cat’s oeuvre, but has a strong hook. ‘Lookin’ For A Sailor’ sounds like a studio jam that never quite develops, but if completed would have tied in nicely with the whole ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ theme, nautical but nice. ‘It’s So Good’ is a cute sounding song filled with double entendres that would have had ‘Mona Bone Jakon’ blushing which sounds like the acoustic songs written for the ‘Harold and Maude’ soundtrack. Finally, ‘The Fisherman’ is the best find of all, a story song about a simple man enjoying simple pleasures that sounds like another ‘Mona Bone’ outtake with twinges of ‘Caritas’ in the greek-style playing. All five are strong songs – far too strong to remain unreleased all these years, even with a box set (‘Majikat’) that did a good job of mopping up stray odds and ends with more rarities on it than most similar sets.

41)  Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and various members of the Ono-Lennon and McCartney families ‘Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue’ (sound only, 1995)


Despite the popular media idea that Paul and John’s widow hate each others’ guts, there’s actually a lot of camaraderie between them and it must be remembered that Macca’s early tape loop experiments while in the Beatles (circa 1966) weren’t that far removed from what Yoko was up to. That said, it’s still amazing that this recording exists, dating from the days when the pair used to see each other regularly during the ‘Threetles’ ‘Free As A Bird Reunion’ and – from what I’ve read – was recorded at John and Yoko’s Dakota home. Yoko sings, speaks and growls her way through a song about the nuclear bomb dropped on Japan that so damaged her family and changed her life forever (see any of our Yoko albums reviews for more on the story she kept hidden all those years), while Macca adds some cod operatics and improvised guitar playing, similar to his work on the ‘Fireman’ albums and not that far removed from John’s work on ‘Two Virgins’ (but with less whistling). It’s not the best thing that either artist involved in this work did and you can’t really hear the Lennon or McCartney clan at all, but it’s undoubtedly fascinating and in its own way moving – not least Yoko’s opening announcement ‘John...we’re here together now, for peace on Earth’ as if the magnitude of having John’s closest allies in the same space will be enough to unite the world and bring about peace. If only, but it’s good of them to still try. And if only either party had released this revealing, if obscure, musical gem.

And that’s that. You can visit us next time here on ‘news, views and music’ for clips no 40-21! In the meantime, why not drop us a line about what you thought of our choices. Any obvious choices left out? Anything new you’ve just added and want to tell us about? Get in touch! See you next issue for more newsing, viewsing and music-ing!

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