The Dreamweavers knew – absolutely knew – their song was a hit, but nobody wanted to record it. At this distance we can only guess as to why – too sad, perhaps? Too defeatist? Too old-fashioned? So the group did something remarkable[…]

The Rat Pack glorification of hard-drinkin’ Dino means that even conformist outings like this get compiled and recycled repeatedly as totems of a seedy glamour. If you knew nothing about Dean Martin the man, though, you’d hear this for wh[…]

What makes a hit? Gimmicks, among other things. Pop records have always provided their fair share of ‘water-cooler moments’ – “Have you heard that one?” – and it helps if they have a couple of good lines, or a soun[…]

Normal service is swiftly resumed with this seasonal trifle, an acrostic on C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S sung with perfect insincerity by Dickie Valentine and one whose lyrics tread precisely in the snowy footsteps of previous Xmas songwriters – with one […]

I can’t stop tapping my toes.
Is that because I’m enjoying “Rock Around The Clock”, though? Or because the way to move to rock and roll has got wired into my reflexes? This is the first song in Popular that I can’t remem[…]

“All you see are silhouettes / And all you hear are castanets / And no-one cares how late it gets / Not at Hernando’s Hideaway” – late night Spanish-themed drinking dens are romanticised by the Johnstons. Perhaps some of the s[…]

One of the great record industry myths is that British consumers don’t get, or like, country music. We’ve rarely been massive consumers of the style’s rawer end, and there’s not really the loyalist core audience country finds […]

A strange but very effective combination of music-hall corn and lonesome prairie ballad, with Whitman sliding vocally between a stagey archness and soft sad yodelling. The backing – clumsy piano, whistling and lovely touches of slide guitar &#8[…]

“Yew dreem-boat! Yew luv-abble dreem-boat!” – it’s like Alma is reaching out of the record to pinch all of our cheeks individually. The Girl With A Laugh In Her Voice as her box set calls her – a laugh, yes, and a hop an[…]

Some pub debate as to whether Jimmy was the only BBC Radio DJ to hit the top of the charts (“The Floral Dance”, heavens be thanked, did not.). It makes for a curious listen because this is a song that everyone knows, and we know it with a[…]