PopJunkie Sessions - Candle Thieves live in the studio

Laura catches up with the Candle Thieves to talk about their first EP, The Sunshine EP and managed to convinced them to play a few songs for us.  Read More →

Alice Cooper Covers The Left Banke’s Pretty Ballerina!

Yep, your eyes are not deceiving you, Alice Cooper covers Pretty Ballerina by Pop Junkie gods The Left Banke. This is not hot news, by the way, he did it four years ago on his Dirty Diamonds album. I just found about it this afternoon and thought you might be as astonished as I was. I am fully aware that were you to archive the 250 (give... 

Pop Junkie Q&A With The Hidden Masters

A few days ago I wrote that I had returned to Scott-mode, my ‘normal’ state; that of being incapable of listening to anything other than the works of Scott Walker and The Walker Brother. About three weeks ago I got stuck on one song for around four or five days. It was a song by a band who were new to me, discovered via the wonderful... 

Pop Music’s Next Knight? Arise, Sir Noddy Holder

Not that I was pondering who is likely to be the next rock star to be knighted. After all, there’s been Cliff, Macca, Jagger, Elton and St Bob. No, I just happened to be playing the brand new Slade Live at the BBC double disc yesterday afternoon and, overwhelmed by the music, the thought struck me that what we have here is a bona... 

Lucy’s In The Sky With Diamonds

Lucy O’Donnell has died at the age of 46 after suffering from lupus for many years. I saw the story on the front page of The Times as I went shopping for a spaghetti squash just now. It appears all of the major news services have run the story so it may not be news to you, but I found it a poignant tale and thought I’d pass... 

Set The Controls For Scott Land & The Walkers

Doing this Pop Junkie lark normally goes hand in hand with listening to music. Sure, I can ramble on about Bowie, Marvin gaye, Blur and Jarvis in my sleep, but it is usual for me to take a listen whilst doing so, just to set the mood or remind myself of a half-forgotten minor-gem album filler. When it comes to reviewing albums it is,... 

Let’s Slip Away With Johnny Dankworth

Johnny Dankworth? You mean Sir John Dankworth, of Johnny & Cleo fame? Yep. This is Pop Junkie, nor Jazz Junkie. What place has he here? Well, it’s simple. Let’s Slip Away is a new 39 track double CD of soundtracks and themes composed (or played) by Sir John between 1960 and 1973, and if you find me a pop fan who doesn’t... 

Broadcast’s Come On Let’s Go ~ The Best Pop Song of the Last Ten Years?

I can’t pretend that I’ve had my finger on the pulse these last ten years. In fact, apart from my love of certain Britpop acts, I haven’t truly had my eye on the ball since 1982. That said, I am sure that I know a damn fine pop song when I hear one. I heard one about six years ago when a pal loaned me Broadcast’s... 

Simply Thrilled to See Postcard Records, Edwyn, Josef K & Clare Grogan on the Telly

Postcard Records almost passed me by. Another year older maybe and I’d have been there. By almost, I mean that I read about this whole new sound going down in a faraway mythical land called Scotland. Bands with names like Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and Josef K. I saw their pics (floppy 60s hair, ties, cardigans, tweed jackets)... 

The Claim’s Reunion Gig ~ They Were Bloody Marvellous

As kids, my sister and I used to sit with our Nan each Tuesday to watch Vision-On and waspishly pass comment on the gallery paintings with the artist’s age displayed underneath. Along the lines of “That’s good for five…not bad for seven…that’s rubbish for ten.” The process usually has to be inverted... 

Bob Rafkin & Jim Boggia Play The 12 Bar Club next Week

The 12 Bar Club is one of my favourite venues despite, or maybe because of, it being so tiny. Whilst chatting to promoter Andy Lowe after Matt Deighton’s recent gig there he told me about a couple of great sounding nights for next week. On Monday (21st September) the club welcomes American singer-songwriter Jim Boggia with his... 

Not The Same Old Blues Crap Celebrate Their Fifth Anniversary

Oh goody, the magnificent Jim Jones Revue are about to unleash their second album Here To Save Your Soul, a collection of the band’s singles, on October 5th. Unleash is probably about right if their stunning debut is anything to go by. The band are currently steamrollering their way across the UK and Ireland as follows: Friday... 

Bobby Graham ~ Session Drummer Extraordinary RIP

Sad news reaches me this morning via my pal Brian Nevill, himself a sticksman of some repute, that the great Bobby Graham has lost his battle with stomach cancer. Don’t know him? You may possibly have heard him play. Have you ever heard a pop song from the 1960s? Have you ever heard The Kinks’ You Really Got me, Tom Jones’... 

Keep A Little Marc in Your Heart ~ Especially Today

It’s that day again ~ one of the saddest anniversary’s in the pop calendar. September 16th is the day we remember Marc Bolan and what he did for us. Today is the 32nd anniversary of his death, just two weeks short of his 30th birthday and coming exactly a month after we lost Elvis. Marc aka The Electric Warrior, The Jeepster,... 

Woah ~ We’re Talking to Geraint Hughes, Woah ~ the Man Who Wrote Barbados

Yes, ’tis true. Today I bring you a Q&A with a bona fide pop star. Not just any old pop star either. Through a chance meeting, I linked up with Geraint Hughes, one half of Typically Tropical, and thus writer of the pop classic Barbados, which takes me right back to the hot summer of ‘75 every time I hear it. Like all... 

Great Matt Deighton Gig at The 12 Bar Club (Slight Return)

You might think this is turning into a crusade, and I agree, it’s looking that way isn’t it, but it’s a worthy and noble cause and I’m going to pursue it valiantly to the very end. Matt Deighton is this country’s leading singer-songwriter of melodic folk/folk-pop and the reason I keep writing about him is... 

Never Mind the Olympics ~ London Hosts the World’s Greatest Pop Quiz

Or rather that should read London hosted… It was at 10am this morning. Yeah, I didn’t know about it either until about an hour after it had finished. The brainchild of Paul Guided Missile, resident quizmaster for Rough Trade’s Monday night quiz at the Lexington, Pentonville Road (yes, I have mentioned this before),... 

Is Mayer Hawthorne the New Sound of Young America?

So Daria writes me an email from her home in Oakland, California and sends me a link that doesn’t work with a comment that she’d be interested in what I made of this guy called Mayer Hawthorne. Now, I don’t like saying so-and-so isn’t really my cuppa unless I’ve heard them. Okay, so maybe I don’t give... 

Moon the Loon ~ Still a Drumming Genius & Inspiration

Thirty-one years ago this morning, I did what I always did. Got up as I heard the Daily Mirror being delivered, usually whilst Dad was shaving, and read it before he took off for work at about 7.45. I’d glance at the front page and, unless it was something exciting like a plane crash, earthquake or death of Elvis or Sid James,... 

Saint Etienne Deluxe Reissues Part II ~ So Tough

Phase 2 of the Saint Etienne reissues continues this week with their 1993 Heavenly album, and highest charter to date, So Tough and 2000s Sound of Water, originally released on Mantra and in America on Sub Pop, but now also out on Heavenly. I haven’t had chance to listen to Sound of Water yet and will do so over the weekend and...