I went to a wedding at the weekend and this was their choice of first song. In that context, an occasion anyhow suffused with goodwill, it works fine. Otherwise, it’s too cloying for me – an overload of wide-eyed sincerity. Armstrong&#821[…]

Rare is the Eurovision winning country that doesn’t play safe on the follow-up. “Puppet On A String” had given Britain its first victory, and “Congratulations” keeps things unflinchingly upbeat. (It pulled in a very clos[…]

A snippy, impatient thing, “Lady Madonna” sounds compressed – not in the modern and technical sense, but everything in the song sounds like it’s squeezed in too tight, chafing against everything else like passengers stuffed on[…]

A little research on Dave Dee et al suggests they were a hard band to pin down – not a ‘manufactured’ group as we’d understand it now, but jobbing pop stars willing to turn a hand to whatever novelty their songwriters provided[…]

I find this song absolutely infuriating, but from a safe distance I can see that it gets the unselfconscious tweeness of love spot on – baby talk, fond banter, silly nicknames and all. That’s admirable, and the Ofarims are good comic acto[…]

Beginning a hot streak for mentalist bubblegum hits: I always think of this one as a children’s song, because I heard it when I was 7 or 8 and thought it was enchanting, mysterious and funny. As a grown-up I was surprised to learn it was a Bob […]

I don’t normally go into the “making of” stuff on Popular, but this one is a great little snapshot of the 60s pop biz at work. The band formed as a rich man’s present to his aspirational drummer son – all photogenic teen[…]

And so to 1968. Recently I read a book called 1968 – Mark Kurlansky’s breathless tour of that year, which touched dutifully on all the accepted counter-cultural highpoints without really bringing them to life. It didn’t talk much ab[…]

Your chance to vote on the songs you would have given 6 or more out of 10 to from 1967’s chart-toppers.

Number Ones of 1967: Which would you have given 6 or more to?
The Monkees – “I’m A Believer”
Petula Clark – “This Is My […]

Someone on I Love Music recently asked the sharp question, when someone says a song is “Beatlesque”, which Beatles records are they actually thinking of? (more…)[…]