Archives – 1999 – May  

The Singles Bar
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— 31 May 1999 Tom 3 comments

A coin in a jukebox, a basement that smells of piss and rust, full of vinyl at ten pence a time, a tape in a cheap cardboard sleeve, bought in a train station, a green courier bag holed where the corners of 12″s poked through, a radio aerial, q[…]

THE LEXICON OF LOVE: The Go-Betweens, Live In London, 17th May 1999
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— 21 May 1999 Tom Comment

What was that phrase? Grace under pressure? No pressure here any more, twenty years into the game and playing in front of an audience that’s more like a congregation, but Robert Forster and Grant McLennan are still gracious enough and more so. […]

Let’s Just Say That Sometimes
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— 10 May 1999 Michael Comment

If he had been born in any pop era, Brian Wilson would’ve flourished at least to some degree with those mad skills of his. He wrote and co-wrote cunning songs about surfing, hotrods and teenage autonomy without any firsthand experience; doubtle[…]

Latest comments on FT

  2. Firstly thank you for the work you do in starting this blog and keeping it going. I first discovered it…

  3. A good article, and all praise to your great endeavour over the last two decades. Though I should hope that…

  4. One of the best things I've read about art all year. Congrats on the first 1k and looking forward to…

  5. Well done for getting this far, and capping the first 1,000 with these essays. I discovered FreakyTrigger and Popular through…

  6. Astonishing read. I don't know if any of this is going to make sense, but thank you, Tom, for this…

  7. Thank you, Tom, for many years of enjoyable, insightful, reading. Really something that has endured and has proven its worth…

  8. Tom, thank you for such thoughtful reflections on Popular and the charts. I really enjoyed them, just as I’ve really…