Come Monday the 4th of February 2019 there will be a lot of talk about Brighton Pride. Who knows, they may even break the Internet again. But regardless of the headliner announcement, the controversies or the so-called principled objections to an event that some will argue is not the “Pride” they once knew and fought for, I’ll be rooting for the wonders bringing LGBTQ+ Pride … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: C-Mos
If you grew up in the 1970s you soon appreciated the importance of closing your eyes and escaping to another world. The clash of floral wallpapers, candlewick soft furnishings and cheesecloth tablecloths, Hornsea crockery and gaudy patterned carpets (in the regulation shades of brown demanded by the decade) ensured it was an essential activity, saving your optics from the visual overload. An eye survival lesson … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Kraftwerk
This is for the lovers of sparse house. The deep souls who need just the house basics to lose it, a simple bass line, a succinct sample and a kicking hook. This is for the warm-up and the afters. The anticipation and the appreciation. The glory of the night ahead, the giggles from the party just passed. HNNY’s Tears on Local Talk is a tune … Continue reading 50 Tunes 50 Years: HNNY
Considering I’ve spent over half my life with my Queenie it figures that she’s going rock up on my 50 Tunes For 50 Years a fair few times. We’ve shared way too many stacks of speakers, amps and record players for her not too. But when you consider our track record one would think that the tune that soundtracked the beginning of my greatest love … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: The Breeders
It was 1980 and all I wanted in the world was a Harrington jacket. To feel the tartan lining on my skin, the buttons by my neck and cruise the streets of Frinton on my, er, hand me down Raleigh Shopper looking the dogs. In my Stay Press trousers of course. Sadly the local jumble sales rarely saw a donation from a generous Essex mod … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: The Jam
Pencil skirts and crushes. Soul music and Sunday afternoons. Love and Luther. Giving me the reason to Stop For Love. It was 1986 and nothing, not even Luther, could save me from that first unrequited love, that first true heartbreak as my big brown eyes failed to deliver the results they later would and I grew certain that this “phase” would ever end. Not that … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Luther Vandross
If there is one tune on this planet that captures being autistic it has to be Björk’s Hyperballad. Okay, I live on a hill and not a mountain but whilst view is beautiful there is no pile of car parts, bottles and cutlery at the bottom of our garden steps (although Hubbell’s keen on his collection of clothes pegs). Instead, there’s a pile of my … Continue reading 50 tunes for 50 years: Björk
We’ve all had our Bowie TV moment. You know the one. 1972. Arm dropped casually over Mick Ronson’s shoulder as he performed Starman on Top Of the Pops. Moments that made us feel we were no longer alone, that we were part of a tribe. I can’t sit here and claim that when I saw Frankie Goes To Hollywood on Channel 4’s The Tube one … Continue reading 50 tunes for 50 years: Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Today I’m feeling a little under the weather. Lurgy incoming. So it seems only right that I head towards the warmth of Nat King Cole. The crackling 33 1⁄3 rpm of Love Is The Thing from my early childhood that brought charm and cosiness to those long evenings spent on my Nan’s black leatherette sofa as I battled the scratch and static on my tight … Continue reading 50 tunes for 50 years: Nat King Cole
There is nothing so important to me as being strung out. Right proper strung out. Thanks to a childhood of being raised on the good stuff, oh how I loved my Nan’s Mantovani vinyl box set, I soon became accustomed to wanting my tunes filled with strings. And with disco endlessly glittering with the most glorious of instruments on earth, my life was destined to … Continue reading 50 tunes for 50 years: Debbie Jacobs
Wildblood and Queenie 