Scan the famous faces who populate the Sgt. Pepper album cover and one may seem conspicuous by his absence: Irving Berlin, regarde...

50 years ago yesterday, the talent show Opportunity Knocks was the last programme to be broadcast from ABC's studios in Didsbury, a ...

I thought this blog's series of posts about the early David Bowie, entitled Gnome Thoughts , had come to a natural end but today I ...

Some time ago I looked into the origins of My Old Man's a Dustman, the 1960 song by Lonnie Donegan which helped broaden his appeal....

For UK readers, the happy news that Dick Lester's It's Trad, Dad! is to get a rare television airing on Thursday the 5th of ...

Having written recently about Michael Hill, author of a memoir about the young John Lennon, this seems a good time to repost my earlier ...

  If you happen to be within reach of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a new musical about the Orioles and Deborah Chessler, entitled Soul...

If you aren't already familiar with the longrunning Something About the Beatles podcast, it can be heartily recommended -...

Such is the magic of onlinery that the above photograph, tweeted last night by Kliph Nesteroff, swiftly led to an explanation of a piece ...

Discovering that this great 1965 gospel record by Inez Andrews and the Andrewettes is, at long last, on youtube has prompted memories o...

I can pinpoint the moment I succumbed - at least, I think I can. When I call the details to mind they seem fantastical: a young cou...

Knowing of my regard for Ben E King's song Stand By Me, a friend emailed to share his unease that it had been "so casually a...

Forty six years ago, almost to the day, I went to my first concert: a 1972 benefit gig for Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, headlined b...

If you have already read about the Flamingos' early sides (list of posts here ) you may not be aware of a postscript recently added...

I don't normally review fiction on this blog but I'm going to make an exception for Spencer's Risk, a hugely enjoyable firs...

  I have just watched AKA Doc Pomus, a documentary about the songwriter best known for his partnership with Mort Shuman in the late 50...

It has been some time since the writer, singer and all-round force of nature Ian Whitcomb was mentioned in this blog, so this is to ...

After rediscovering the parody of Jennifer Juniper mentioned in the previous post, I looked around to see what else could be found out ab...

A few days ago, surfing the net in a rare moment of relaxation, I came across a Fairport Convention parody from 2013 by John Watterson, a...

I was saddened to hear of the death of Ken Dodd, who contributed a generous and funny introduction to Funny Bones, the book I wrote wi...

Paul McCartney fans may be interested to learn that one of the songs from the Red Rose Speedway album may actually date from Beatle d...

Oh Lord, Rupert Street 1975. Cheapo Cheapo Records would have been just there on the left, chock full of gold & wonder. I'd g...

It's now almost eight years since the death of Phil Cording, owner of Soho's Cheapo Cheapo Records , on the 29th of January, ...

Another Christmas, another Morecambe and Wise drama and/or documentary ... The formative years of the duo having been covered already in ...

Welome to the All-New 2017 Pismotality Christmas Quiz . ( *May include traces of questions from earlier years. ) 1 " ...

Directed by Leslie (father of Barry) Norman, who produced The Cruel Sea, and starring Max Bygraves as an idealistic teacher, the young...

[There are technical problems with the layout of this much-read post - go here for a tidier and revised version.] If, like me, you'v...

Possibly anticipating renewed interest in his work with the release of the film Goodbye Christopher Robin, Bello Books have recently rei...

I have now seen Goodbye Christopher Robin, the new film exploring the relationship between A.A. Milne and his son. As mentioned in the p...

There is likely to be a renewal of interest in A.A. Milne when the film Goodbye Christopher Robin is released this Friday. Neglected...

A radio adaptation by Ray Connolly of his screenplay for the 70s film That'll Be the Day has just been broadcast and will be availab...

Listening to the first episode of Robert Webb's memoir How Not to Be a Boy, serialised this week on Radio 4, I was surprised to hear...

Have just heard, and strongly recommend, a fascinating interview with Tommy Hunt, one of the two last surviving members of the Flamingos...

One significant name was left out of the recent series of posts about the Flamingos' early work: Bill Putman, who ran Universal Re...

The Flamingos had a larger backing band than usual for two numbers in their final session for Al Benson's Parrot Records. The web...

[Marv Goldberg] The Flamingos' second (and final) session for Parrot also yielded some notable sides. The pick of the bunch is th...

Some time ago in this very blog I dared to suggest that Robert Pruter's assessment of the remaining song from their first Parrot ses...

"Swoonsome" is the term which springs to mind for the opening of If I Could Love You, though not in the teen idol sense. R...

On My Merry Way was also recorded at the Flamingos' first session for Parrot. Robert Pruter describes it as  "a routine jump w...

Listen to My Plea was one of the last sides the Flamingos recorded for Chance. An earlier attempt at the song during their Christmas Ev...

September Song was well on the way to becoming a standard by the time the Flamingos recorded it in 1953. Written for the 1938 Broad...

The Flamingos' penultimate session for Chance took place on Christmas Eve 1953 and consisted of four sides: Blues in a Letter, Sept...

Hurry Home Baby is the only song from the Flamingos' first session yet to be discussed in this series, although Robert Pruter's...

Guitarist Lefty Bates can be heard to good effect on You Ain't Ready, another side from the same August 1953 session as Plan For Lov...

Plan For Love is an interesting performance in the context of the Flamingos' other work at this time, although it's not hard to s...