Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega
We’ve recently been away on a family road trip. My six year old is tolerant of different music, only once politely remarking that Steve Reich was “a bit boring”. But my three year old is fixated on children’s music and…
Aphoristical
Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
Music Quiz – Greatest Hits
Congratulations to Tony and to 2Loud2OldMusic, who both scored full marks in last week’s debut album quiz. This week we’re looking at the other end of artists’ careers – the compilation. Can you name the artists that released iconically titled…
Restoration Day by Deborah Makarios – Book Feature
Usually this blog focuses on music, but my sister-in-law, who’s a full time writer, just self-published her first novel. Deborah Makarios grew up in Papua New Guinea. After completing University, she gave up her burgeoning career in imports and exports…
The Classical by The Fall
Over the last fortnight, while on holiday, I’ve been reading an oral history of Rough Trade Records, who boasted acts like The Smiths, The Fall, The Strokes, and The Libertines. While on holiday, I also heard of the passing of…
Weekly Music Quiz: Debut Albums
Congratulations to Rich and Aaron who both scored full marks last week (and apologies to any late entries – I posted this in advance, as I’m on holiday). This week’s quiz requires you to guess the debut album by the…
Borderline by Madonna
As an eager young music fan, I was perhaps an archetypal rockist. I wasn’t necessarily sexist, but 19 year old me dismissed Madonna as too pop, not playing an instrument, and in the case of this song, not writing her…
Weekly Music Quiz: Big in Canada
Congratulations to Geoff and Tony who both scored 28/30 in last week’s tough anagram’s quiz. Geoff is going to have a slight advantage this week, as this week’s quiz is focused on Canada. Link the Canadian acts to their well…
Ella Guru by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
One of my favourite books is The Rolling Stone Rock ‘n’ Roll Reader, a collection of Rolling Stone articles and interviews from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It captures a point when the magazine, and rock music as a…
Music Quiz: Anagrams
Congratulations to the 20/20 scorers last week – 2loud2oldmusic and keepsmealive both scored full marks. I found this week’s challenge more taxing than usual – there are 30 anagrams to unscramble, ranging from piano parts to country stars. It…
Revolution Blues by Neil Young
It sucks to be me, but I’ve just spent most of the last week at a work conference at a Thailand beach resort. This week’s selection is from Neil Young’s 1974 album On The Beach, while it’s also a commentary…
