A Year in 52 Albums – no.24: London 0 Hull 4 – The Housemartins

As it was my birthday and I went on holiday in the middle of June, I chose a couple of albums which I already loved and would happily fit into what time I had free to listen. So this isn’t so much of a discovery, as revisiting a couple of old friends. When everyone else …

Song Stories: Ball, ball ball…

When the World Cup arrived in 1990, I was about to turn 11. I have a lot of good memories from that tournament – from the first day, when my friend Joe and I rushed home from school to watch Cameroon pull of a major shock by beating (in most senses of that word) Argentina, …

A Year in 52 Albums – no.23: Trailer Park – Beth Orton

It was the weirdness of the strings that pulled me in to start with. The first sounds of this album, the opening of She Cries Your Name, are spine-tingling to me – almost cinematic in the atmosphere they build in just the first 30 seconds. Having spent last week listening to the album again, I …

Shopping Ban – May review

A quieter month, which contained a visit to see friends at the seaside, lots of walks and a trip out to see a scale model of the solar system and a wildlife reserve… was a lovely return to shopping ban status quo. It was an easy transition back in some ways, but tough in others, …

A Year in 52 Albums – no.22: Coffee For One – Liisi Koikson

Sometimes, when it’s sunny and I have a few minutes to sit outside, I close my eyes and enjoy it. Occasionally, I find myself remembering the eighties: perhaps that’s the warm breeze that seems to be forever part of my recollection, but perhaps it’s more. I remember plenty of sunny days from back then – …