Not their first UK hit but the song that moved Travis into a bigger league.

Travis: Why Does it Always Rain on Me?

A nice piece of jangly pop from 1995 – though it wasn’t a hit till 1996.

Here it is in a performance from Later with Jools Holland.

The Bluetones: Slight Return

When I checked this out again before including it here the opening few acoustic guitar chords of this reminded me of A Day in the Life; but it’s something entirely different.

But typically The Verve.

The Verve: Sonnet

Kylie’s œvre is not really one of my things. I think this song is very effective though.

Kylie Minogue: Confide in Me

When I hear Confide in Me it always brings to my mind this song from the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book.

Sterling Holloway: Trust in Me (The Python’s Song)

I was shocked to read of the death of Pulp’s bass player Steve Mackey last week. It somehow seems very wrong for a 1990s rock musician to have died.

All the more so for me as Pulp was my elder son’s* favourite band at that time.

(*He was into good music at a very early age.)

Mackey was an important contributor not only to Pulp’s sound but also to their look and their videos.

This song is from 1992 but wasn’t a hit until it was included on The Sisters EP two years later, though it has achieved a BPI silver disc award, presumably from downloads/streaming.

Pulp: Babies

Stephen Patrick (Steve) Mackey: 10/11/1966 – 2/3/2023. So it goes.

I got home late last night just after hearing of the death of Burt Bacharach on the radio in the car.

Burt Bacharach’s roster of hit songs is just superb. Far too many to list here.

I noted his collaboration with lyricist Hal David in 2012.

It is fair to say that the 1960s would not have been the 1960s without their songs to help soundtrack the decade. Most of their songs have become standards.

In memoriam I present perhaps one of their lesser known compositions. Like many of theirs it was a hit in the US for Dionne Warwick (albeit with a slightly altered title) but in the UK it became Adam Faith’s last top twenty success.

Adam Faith: Message to Martha

Scottish band Deacon Blue covered it – along with three other Bacharach/David compositions – in 1990.

Deacon Blue: Message to Michael

Burt Freeman Bacharach: 12/5/1928 – 8/2/2023. So it goes.

Catatonia was one those Welsh bands that flowered in the 1990s. In their case it helped that singer Cerys Matthews has such a distinctive voice.

I love her rolled “r” on the word rage in this song.

Catatonia: Road Rage

Electronica – dance music in general – isn’t my thing. But the sound of Faithless, whose lead vocalist Maxi Jazz, died last week hadn’t passed me by: even if up until two or so weeks ago I didn’t know their name. It finally penetrated my consciousness when I heard their track God is a DJ on the radio.

One of the band’s claims to fame is that the following gained the distinction of becoming the runout music for West Bromwich Albion FC. Not a bad achievement.

Faithless: Insomnia

Maxwell Fraser (Maxi Jazz,) 14/6/1957 – 24/12/2022. So it goes.

The second single from the 1998 album of the same title. Not an obvious choice for a single but Pulp were still riding the Common People wave at the time though trying to get away from it.

This is a live performance from that year.

Pulp: This is Hardcore

I remember hearing this no 3 hit from 1996 described as a perfect piece of perverted pop.

Listening to the lyric and looking at the video it’s easy to see why.

Babybird: You’re Gorgeous