I've been buying records in antique and second-hand stores, thrift shops, and Goodwills since 1965. In my town, there was a Goodwill store with a large display table, approximately six feet by four feet, piled high with hundreds of unsleeved 45 rpm records priced at two for five cents. I would go through them every few weeks searching for Beatle records, always unsuccessfully, except once when I found a new copy of Swan 4182 "Sie Liebt Dich (She Loves... Read More

Part 2 - Ceremonial and Occasional MusicBeyond the Coronation, I turn now to music written for other Royal ceremonial occasions (like funerals) and special occasions. I begin with more 20th Century music.Britten: Gloriana and Tippett: Suite for the Birthday of Prince CharlesMichael Tippett (l.) and Benjamin BrittenWe turn now to the two most prominent British composers of the generation after Walton, Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) and Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998),... Read More

Part 1: Coronation MusicWith the Coronation of King Charles III nearly upon us, the British monarchy is preparing to "put on a show” the likes of which only those who were around for Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953 will have seen before. Royal weddings are all very well, but the Coronation ceremony is on a whole other level of pomp and circumstance, to borrow the title of Elgar’s five glorious marches celebrating King and Empire. And music will play a major... Read More

Is rock ’n’ roll about the music, or getting thrown off a ferry? Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher probably never settled that argument (and likely never will), but Oasis’ legacy surrounds the music first and foremost, rock n roll antics and sibling rivalry second. While their rise represented a dated sense of 90s populist optimism, the tunes live on; nothing will desecrate the legacy of Noel's songwriting and Liam's distinctive voice on the first three albums.

So far we've covered ska in Part 1, rock steady the singers in Part 2a and rock steady the groups in Part 2b. We now come to the deejays and how in the early 1970's they became Jamaica's most popular recording artists.Some of the most famous deejays got their start working for sound systems. As recounted in part 1 of our survey, these sound systems often consisted of a truck equipped with a turntable, speaker, cables and amplifiers. The owners,... Read More

On April 5, 1923, one hundred years ago, in Richmond, Indiana, at the studio of Gennett Records, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band made the first recordings by African American musicians that are indisputably jazz. They are also the first recordings of Louis Armstrong, who, during the next eleven years, would revolutionize jazz and popular music in America and the rest of the world. Mixing African vocal techniques and concepts of improvisation and rhythm with... Read More

Classical music-loving audiophiles can sometimes feel like they've been left out in the cold with regard to all-analogue vinyl reissues. Not so rock and jazz lovers who are well catered to with excellent AAA reissues from Analogue Productions, Impex, Craft, Blue Note et al. Speaker’s Corner used to keep the classical reissues coming, but even their releases have dried up in the last few years - a great shame.However, relief is at hand. As reported by MF and... Read More