After moving twice, and one big summer tidy-up, I’ve finally got round to unpacking an enormous box of cassettes… I’ve even managed to throw a few out, on the grounds that they had been: a) broken; b) bought for 20p and so awful tha[…]

Wandering into HMV last night a short while before what would normally be closing time I was slightly bemused to find an unanticipated gaggle of 40 or so punters waiting for a Mark Owen promo appearance / live set. I was certainly amused, as I left, […]

Where, I was asking a few weeks ago, is a new ‘Careless Whisper’ going to come from? Where is the next ‘True’? All the current pop generation like their ballads – they love the opportunity to show off all those neat vocal tr[…]

The Hits, one of the only two digital video channels I get, is a year old. It’s my favourite on the rather weak basis that it seems a bit less likely to play horrid rock/indie tunes than the other one. The vids are chosen by viewer voting, and […]

TOM’S TOP TWELVE (Part 2) (As Promised) (Before the big pre-honeymoon decks-clearing pop roundup) (Now where were we…)
A-TEENS – “Upside Down”: I now suspect it was just a kind of wilful perversity that stopped me liking[…]

I nearly exploded with excitement when I found the debut of Dave Queen in the Village Voice this week! Dave Q. is probably my favorite music writer of all time (based on his ILM posts alone), a frequent correspondent and occasional partner in crime,[…]

Bubba Sparxxx – Deliverance
I liked Bubba’s debut, but I only really loved a few tracks on it, some really interesting hints at something new, some fecund mix where Timbaland’s customary brilliance (which we do take a bit for grante[…]

Pop’s Romo Roots!: this fansite to production and songwriting team Xenomania (Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Dannii, Abs, assorted others) has a couple of very intriguing entries – Xenomania started off as remixers of choice to the Romo ‘a[…]

At the party to celebrate my upcoming wedding a couple of Fridays ago, we finished the night with Mr. Acker Bilk’s “Stranger On The Shore”. After some frenzied numbers it was a signal to wind things up, turn the lights back on, put […]

Worst Guardian Pop Music Story EVER!: Yes, quite a claim I know, but go and check it out yourselves and gawp at i) the staggering idiocy of the ‘researchers’ and ii) the desperation and gullibility of the ‘newspaper’ recycling[…]