🎵 Music
Crucial Track 🎵 May 17, 2026
"The City: Grass and Concrete / Taxi To Brooklyn / Speak Easy It's a Whiskey Scene" by Mark-Almond
One of those bands that are so far under the radar in 2026 that subterranean doesn't even start to describe it - and they have so many 'CRUCIALS' - that I ended up choosing this one because it is over 10 minutes of total bliss. Originally from the Mayall School of Music - look it up kids.
And it's Mark Almond - NOT Marc Almond - who one day will get his own entry.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 16, 2026
"Oh Well (Live)" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Talking of superb covers … as I wrote 🖇️ here not even a month ago - a glorious cover of track by Fleetwood Mac. Before John and Stevie. Even before Christine.
Bonus Round ...
🔗🍎🎵 PartONE that Tom covered.
🔗🍎🎵 PartTWO that Tom did not cover - totally different and Peter Green's favourite part.
both performed by Fleetwood Mac.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 15, 2026
"I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow
Never a fan of Barry. Too saccharine, too schmaltzy. Not my style - but there is always an exception to the rule (still looking for Rush’s exception - but that remains another story.)
When I first heard this in 1976 - my instant reaction - was - ‘TYPICAL - BLOODY BARRY. ’I’ write the songs … seriously? The arrogance.
But it hooked me. Totally - and still to this day remains on my Apple Playlist called Just Good Songs.
Of course he didn’t write the song, something I learned a little later - and so my dichotomy was resolved. Of course it was a great song - it was written by a ‘Beach Boy’ - and the claim ‘I write the songs …’ as certainly more defensible. Even more so when I realised that;
The ‘I’ in the song is God, and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in everyone.
💬 Bruce Johnston
(Why not share Bruce's version? In my mind - just not as good - so sticking with the version that hooked me.)
Crucial Track 🎵 May 14, 2026
"Une Nuit a Paris, Pt. 1 / The Same Night In Paris, Pt. 2 / Later the Same Night In Paris, Pt. 3" by 10cc
Thought I would follow a prompt for a change:
Share a song you call something other than its official title. What do you call it?
That's the way the croissant crumbles
Epic - from one of the most underplayed bands in the history of 'oldy goldys' - 10CC - and this offering will always be 'One Night in Paris' - I am English for heaven's sake.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 13, 2026
"Perfect Day" by Lou Reed
Whenever it doesn’t seem right … Lou sets me straight.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 12, 2026
"The New Math (What He Said)" by OSI
I was sat on a plane reading an interview with Bowie who talked about this band he'd just heard. Made a note of it, and ordered it online. Their first album arrived and this was the first track and I was IN. How could you not be?
Crucial Track 🎵 May 11, 2026
"Thank You for the Music" by ABBA
Today’s post is a sister post to this one.
My memory … sitting alone tin a large Odeon(?) cinema - South London - Streatham. I really can’t recall the movie - except the closing credits - as Wiki says:
The song also plays over the closing titles as the camera pans out from the band performing in a hut on an island in the Stockholm archipelago to views of the archipelago itself.
That is my only memory and on that day, for whatever reason found it so uplifting. Where are we now? What 47 years later - and that memory is locked. That song. Locked. Loved it then. Love it now.
Abba? Sure I have great respect for what they did. The songs they wrote and recorded - but in all honesty - never really my bag.
Except this one.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 10, 2026
"When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease" by Roy Harper
I wouldn’t describe myself as a fan of cricket .. but this one is nothing to do with cricket and everything to do with life. Been in the soundtrack of my life for 51 and counting years and hard to reach the end without life memories coming to the fore.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 9, 2026
"The Ocean" by Richard Hawley
Hawley’s voice has me … every time. You can … I do .. just fall into his songs .. not just the ocean,
Crucial Track 🎵 May 8, 2026
"Infected" by The The
The first track of Matt’s second album left the speakers in my living room and arrived in my ears nearly forty years ago. I never looked back .. the power of this opening track hit me like a sledgehammer and does a stunning job of introducing the ‘tour de force’ that is the album.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 7, 2026
"Fever (Adam Freeland Extended Remix) [Adam Freeland Master]" by Adam Freeland & Sarah Vaughan
Cover? Mix? Do not know. First heard it 21 years ago .. been on the non existent mix tape of my life ever since. Give it a whirl.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 6, 2026
"Woke Up This Morning" by A3
I watched the occasional Sopranos back in the day. But somehow it never stuck. Unlike the theme which has been in my Just Good Songs playlist since I discovered playlists. Such a powerful song. Never tire of it. Here’s to the next 29 years.
🎵 Rare Birds by Jonathan Wilson
I have no idea how I missed this - futzing with my sound set up last night and Siri suddenly started playing ‘Trafalgar Square’ that I had to Shazam to find out what it was. Then listened to the album once and here we are. Great album. Always nice to discover a ‘new’ artist.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 5, 2026
"Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson
I was listening to the new Joe Jackson album - really rather good - but for me - it still doesn’t meet the excellence of Joe’s crucial track.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 4, 2026
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult
Prompt Share a song you love that has parentheses (in the title).
A song that would have been in my ‘Just Good Songs’ playlist the day I heard it - it’s just that 🍎 hadn’t got round to inventing it - mainly because mere mortals didn’t have the internet.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 3, 2026
"Rockin' In The Free World (Glastonbury 2009)" by Neil Young
Live. Glastonbury. Well over ten minutes. Neil rockin' out.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 2, 2026
"Hi Ren" by Ren Gill
Stunning. A friend shared this with me last year. If you want to listen to a totally original and highly talented artist - start here.
Crucial Track 🎵 May 1, 2026
"Permanating" by Steven Wilson
In the Venn Diagram of music that jax and I both like - this one sits high ... so clearly needs to be pulled out first.
🎵📼 🔗 Tom Petty does ‘The Mac’ - and his ‘Welllllll’ must be the best ‘Wellllll’ I have heard in any other cover. It might also be better than the original.