Must-have music
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Christmas is a time the distance that separates people who love one another should magically be made to disappear. There are songs that deal with this theme, but none that really connected with me, so I wrote some lyrics. ‘The Other Half of my Heart’ is the result. My good friend Nigel Black suggested I… Read more
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OK here it is, the definitive Top 15 List of the albums that rocked your world in 2011 – compiled lovingly with notes for your delectation and musical appreciation. Check it out. Read more
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More Indie love songs, but this time the emotional dial has been turned up to maximum. Here are 35 songs that will make you cry. It’s time to reflect on life, death, the loves you lost and the fast cars you drove past the people and the places you’ve left behind. Nick Clegg has used… Read more
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I first stumbled across Tracey Thorn on the Cherry Red compilation ‘Pillow and Prayers’ in 1983. She had three songs on the album under her own name, The Marine Girls and Everything but the Girl. I was astounded by the maturity, magical resonance and mellifluous marshmellowness of her voice. I also loved the feeling of… Read more
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Jon Hirsch is a dreamer, inventor, perfectionist and musician. He combines all these qualities in the form of his life’s obsession. Creating his own guitar. Like me, he’s listened to all the greats, wondered at the strange blend of spiritual transcendence and sheer down to earth sweat and toil involved in making a guitar sing.… Read more
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It’s January 2011 and the Atlantic rain is driving in on the unlimited causeway of my mind as I sit in one of the quieter moments of another new start, new year. As always at these times, I have the music. Read more
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Waiting for stars to come into alignment, precursor angels to whisper in our ear and a sense of imminent goodness to happen. Sure, 2010 was a tough year and some aspirations have had to be put on a ventilator for a while – but day by day that infant we call hope will grow imperceptibly… Read more
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Roy Stannard’s often requested Top Ten albums of 2010 – with the next ten thrown in for good measure. Read more
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Volume Three of The Greatest Indie Love Songs in the World, this time mainly from across the ocean, from the land of the free, from The Decembrists to Conor Oberst and a song from a little Irish band that will linger with you.. Read more
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