- Oct 28, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: BEST DAY OF MY LIFE
Well, Tuesday may not have been the best day of my life but it did come with an unusually nice surprise. Before Tuesday evening I could hardly have been called a big fan of Tom Odell but much of that changed when I saw him perform a live set at my local church accompanied by a full choir. That is the choir was on stage with Tom, not seated by me. With vision slightly obscured, I think there were twelve of them plus choirmaster and collectively they made a mighty fine sound. T
- Oct 21, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: THE COACH HAS NOW LEFT
With Liz Truss lasting exactly as long as Brian Clough did at Leeds United in 1974, you may be forgiven for wondering which departure history will deem the more infamous. Of course, Cloughie went on to cement his already legendary status as a football manager via domestic and European success with Nottingham Forest, so really there is no case to answer. Meanwhile the political madness continues as we now have the seriously deluded demanding the return of Boris Johnson. Instea
- Oct 14, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: CALL MY LEXICON
Apropos of nothing, I may have a degree in English but I still have to look up words in the dictionary. Actually, I studied Medieval English Literature which may explain a lot. I am a terribly slow reader and there wasn’t much written so it suited me, I think. These days I get a lot of press releases about music which can take some digesting as it’s hard to sidestep the cliches. A selection from this week's post includes some repeat offences: highly anticipated, critically ac
- Oct 7, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: ANDREW MAXWELL MORRIS - TRACK BY TRACK
A variation to the customary F3F format today as we focus on the new album from Surrey-based troubadour, Andrew Maxwell Morris. I wrote recently that I had followed his musical career closely since first happening on his work on MySpace back in the days and discovering that he actually lived down the road to me then. His songs have an enduring quality and mature like a good wine. While Andrew may not have joined the ranks of his some of his more feted peers, he has had his mo