- Dec 2, 2022
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: DECEMBER ONCE MORE
So, 2 December. It’s three weeks to Christmas and I find myself working to a backwards clock again. This was going to be the Christmas songs issue but I find I only have two of them. Never fear, they are both great ones. So here is a slightly truncated issue of Fifty3 Fridays with the further imposition of a deadline in that I am going to see Olly Murs in concert at St John’s Church at the top of our road and people have been queueing since lunchtime. They are only marginally
- Dec 17, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: MY FAVOURITE MONKEE
Like your favourite Beatle, growing up in the sixties we all had our favourite Monkee. Mine was woolly-hatted guitarist Michael Nesmith who we sadly lost last Friday, aged 78. While you might not immediately think of The Monkees TV show as a kind of cultural milestone, it was a true ground breaker that over time elevated the band from a bunch of actors playing at being a pop group, put together to cash in on Beatlemania, to icon status. The first episode was shown on New Year
- Dec 10, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: IT’S CHRISTMAS!!
OK, Noddy, we hear. Shame we can’t get your Nuts in Sainsbury’s any more. It just ruins my fortnightly shopping experience. With the big day looming yet still plenty of shopping days left for those stockings to be filled - physically or digitally - with some musical niceties, it seems as good a day as ever to lay some Christmas tunes upon you. Before you reach for the panic button, I won’t be dusting off my collection of 10 Christmas curios of old again; though if you wish to
- Apr 30, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN
Searching for a theme to marry some outwardly disparate songs together, it’s strange how odd lyrics seem to spring to mind. Today I recalled the classic opener from Black Sabbath’s 1970 hit “Paranoid”: “Finished with my woman / ‘cause she couldn't help me with my mind”. Maybe Ozzy should have dated a psychologist. A year earlier Led Zeppelin (pictured above) unleashed its self-titled debut album including the song “Communication Breakdown”, replete with a trademark Jimmy Page