Cursory research on this led me to surprise and disappointment. Surprise – mild surprise – that Tony Orlando was American, as this seems to fit right in with same-era UK pop like “Yellow River” and “Love Grows”. An[…]

Like many of the immigrants who brought the music over from Jamaica, reggae found Britain a land of indignities as well as opportunities. The marketing savvy of Trojan Records pushed the sounds to the commercial peak that “Double Barrel” […]

I long ago read a piece by Jonathan King, an attack on 70s pop as opposed to the 60s version. King’s argument was that the big stars who emerged in the early seventies – Bolan, Bowie, Elton – were all failed sixties wannabes who had[…]

 
Mungo Jerry’s shot at the mutant blues suffers from its proximity to Hendrix on the one side and T Rex on the other. Those sci-fi and glitter visions make “Baby Jump” sound like a smirk, not a strut, a cartoon growl that’s […]

At some point in the early 90s I was persuaded to go to a religious ‘discussion group’ set up by a liberal Anglican friend of my mother’s. These were frustrating affairs – mostly I remember being told repeatedly that doubts an[…]

The KLF’s The Manual famously details the steps required to have a number one hit – but with a caveat: the method outlined will only work once every several years. The dark – though somewhat obvious – marketing arts behind &#8[…]

Appearing briefly on the front page while I finish the next entry!
Every Popular entry gets a mark out of 10: here’s your opportunity to say which of the No.1s of 1970 you’d give more than 6 to. Highest marks from me this year went to Fre[…]

 
“I Hear You Knocking” is a 50s R&B cover, and more than just a cover – the enthused “Smiley Lewis! Chuck Berry! Huey Smith!” yells mark it as a celebration, and the tightly-packed, trebly arrangement seems designe[…]

I was playing this song and my wife walked in.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
“The Jimi Hendrix Experience”
“Oh. Couldn’t he have got a better singer?” (more…)[…]

In the whole Popular project so far, “Woodstock” represents my biggest turnaround in opinion between hearing and writing about it. On first listen it sounded dreary, sappy and self-satisfied – I had it earmarked for a 2, or even a 1[…]