Taken from one of my favourite Beach Boys albums, Holland, this is a track which apparently Brian Wilson does not like and never has. A bizarre attitude to my mind.

The Beach Boys: Sail on Sailor

This classic song is yet another Lamont Dozier composition with the Holland brothers this time with Ron Dunbar. However, the credit on the label is to Edythe Wayne and Ron Dunbar. At the time the trio were in dispute with Motown (and had just set up their own record label Invictus) so required a pseudonym.

Hearing this always takes me back to the League Cup semi-final of 1970 when Dumbarton played Celtic at Hampden (twice.) At the first game – or the replay, I forget which – this came over the tannoy.

Freda Payne: Band of Gold

(There’s a clip of Payne singing this on a US TV show here but it’s followed by an extensive advert.)

One of Fleetwood Mac’s early singles from the Peter Green era, revived by Santana in 1970.

Fleetwood Mac: Black Magic Woman

Santana: Black Magic Woman

Another obituary in the Guardian. This time of Alan White, long-time drummer with Yes. Despite my liking for Prog Rock I was never into Yes. To me they seemed to take it a little too far.

Even without the Yes connection White would have had a notable career. He played on John Lennon’s Imagine LP and on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass.

He also drummed on this, released in February 1970:-

Plastic Ono Band: Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

Alan White, 14/6/1949 – 26/5/2022. So it goes.

Elkie Brooks first came to my attention as part of the band Vinegar Joe, whose members also included Robert Palmer.

This was her first solo (and biggest) hit, a number 8 in 1977.

Elkie Brooks: Pearl’s a Singer

A one-hit wonder from a Welsh band. The song was inspired by the film of the same name.

Racing Cars: They Shoot Horses Don’t They?

Simply magnificent.

The full version, obviously.

Don McLean: American Pie

So long then Meatloaf. I heard the sad news as soon as my radio alarm switched on yesterday morning.

I was never the greatest fan of his – the productions on his recordings were (I know deliberately) overblown – but I certainly recognised his ability as a performer whenever I saw footage of his concerts/performances on TV. You could certainly never mistake his voice for anyone else. That’s one of the things that makes for a distinctive artist though.

He seems to have been a relatively modest guy too; not like your usual pop star, though he would refuse that designation. He apparently didn’t like anyone using the words ‘icon’ or ‘rock star’ about him and refused to have them on any promotional material.

I must confess I don’t remember hearing the spoken word intro to this track – his first UK hit, albeit only at no 33 – before. Radio edits must omit it.

Meat Loaf: You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)

Michael Lee Aday (Meat Loaf:) 27/9/1947 – 20/1/2022. So it goes.

Also in the Guardian last week was the obituary of Robbie Shakespeare, one half of the rhythm section players Sly and Robbie.

Reggae wasn’t/isn’t my thing but I knew Sly and Robbie were well-regarded in the music business.

Another (private) blog I visit posted this, recorded when he was nineteen, as a tribute to Robbie.

Bob Marley and the Wailers: Midnight Ravers

Robert Warren Dale (Robbie) Shakespeare: 27/9/1953 – 8/12/2021. So it goes.

One of the more understated tracks on Jethro Tull’s 1971 LP Aqualung was this acoustic ditty, Wond’ring Aloud.

Jethro Tull: Wond’ring Aloud

On the compilation album Living in the Past, was a reworking/extension, Wond’ring Again, which may be Ian Anderson’s masterpiece. A meditation on humanity’s propensity to mess things – especially the planet – up. From forty years ago!

It’s also a perfect example of Anderson’s lyricism, moving from the poetic to the mundane within a sentence.

Jethro Tull: Wond’ring Again