Over Our Garden Wall

After 6 months, and voting on over 350 songs, we came to our final podcast discussion on Scotland's 30 Greatest Songs. Our friends on Twitter/X had already decided that Nothing Ever Happens by Del Amitri was the No 1 song - our podcast panel had the chance to debate this, and indeed the full top 10 that was voted in. Suffice to say, they weren't in agreement! We also managed to chat about tin hats, Anchorman & punching Danny Wilson ( no, really). And, we also had an offer from Colin to sing at Donna's wedding ( and a quick song rendition from Colin too) More importantly, our panel & friends got the chance to put together an alternative Top 10 ( which in turn generated a new number 1) Its been so much fun doing this series, and big thanks to Caroline, Donna & Colin for helping us sign this one off.( and for putting up with a couple of Zoom gremlins) We did chat about possible topics for our next podcast series, however thats all for another day...Until next time, enjoy and stay safe.

The title of our podcast suggests that our guests will havesome sort of musical connection. However, it doesn't preclude us from getting guests on from other genres that are keen to talk about their gig history!Therefore, for this episode we were delighted to be joined bythe comedian & writer Jo Caulfield. We were pretty sure that Jo would talk with passion & humour about the concerts she has been to, and from the get-go trying to work out whether her first gig was at Rock City or De MontfordHall, we were right!  We got stories about seeking forgiveness for sneaking to agig in London whilst still in school ( from the Midlands!) , to seeing The Skids leading a mass TV Stars/Albert Tatlock singalong in a support slot, to her husband going to one of her bucket list gigs without her, Jo was on very good form. And, 28 podcasts in, we also got first time name checks for bothGeorge Melley & the Bluberry Hellbelly's.  We have so much fun doing these podcasts, and it wasabsolute pleasure to have Jo on as a guest. Just don't ask her about playing a stand up gig in Belfast…. Until next time, enjoy & stay safe.   

It was all going so well. Voting Party's going great on X, lots of love in our virtual room, some amazing songs getting voted through to the Finals. And then....we get to the 2000-2025 nominated songs. In a word, carnage. 107 songs voted on, only 14 voted through. Lots of big hitters missing out, and recriminations aplenty amongst our music friends. It is with this backdrop that our latest podcast was recorded, with our resident BCP panel member Caroline Binnie & the ( award winning) writer Julie Rea tasked with steering our music boat into calmer waters. Did they succeed? In a word, no. The panel did manage to vote 4 songs from the 2000-2025 'red' list back into the Finals ( all bangers too) - however, they also insisted that our ' max 2 songs per artist' remains a hard backstop. This in turn means that songs from four of our very favourite bands will have to be voted on again ( Julie & Caroline kindly gave us their suggestions) However, we finished the chat on a high, by agreeing how we should get from our current position of having over 100 songs in the Finals, to arriving at our Final 30 ( and ultimately our overall No1). Whatever the final 30 looks like, you cant say we didn't have a go...Until next time, enjoy & stay safe.

Our latest Live Music & Me guest was the singer/songwriter Xan Tyler. We were pretty sure that Xan would have some pretty good stories to share, and she did. From a first gig at Knebworth, to travelling to NYC for a first gig date, to missing Patti Smith playing at the Doune The Rabbit Hole festival, there was plenty going on. Xan also got mentions for 2 gig venues we haven't had before ( the Panopticon Glasgow & the Byron Bay Blues Festival, Australia), and, more importantly, gave us the lowdown on how to get the best seats at Ronnie Scotts ( if you are female) Oh, and let's not forget the tribute band WhamDuran. No, really....We had great fun doing this one, hope you enjoy it too. Stay safe PS Her 'one live album to own' recommendation was so good, we purchased a copy.

Our guest for this episode of Live Music & Me was the very wonderful musician, arranger & author Helen O Hara - and 25 episodes in we are still pulling rabbits out the proverbial gig hat. For example, we're pretty sure Helen was the first guest to get Ozzy Osbourne, James Brown & a Commonwealth Games closing ceremony into her gig answers. And it was definitely the first time that we could tell our guest that they were the answer to one of the hosts gig questions ( first date with a partner). And, on top of all that, we also managed to forget to chat about the legend that is Nicky Hopkin ( who Helen recorded with) until AFTER the cameras stopped rolling!Thankfully there was more than enough content to keep the conversation flowing - and of course it was lovely to get a couple of Dexys Midnight Runners anecdotes thrown in too from Helen ( loads more in her memoir What's She Like which is highly recommended). Helen was a delight to chat to, and we hope that comes across when you get the opportunity to watch/listen. Until next time. Enjoy, and stay safe.

For our first Live Music & Me podcast of 2025, we were joined by our good friend the Scottish singer, songwriter & musician JJ ‘Jinky” Gilmour. You go into the New Year full of plans to make the podcast lean and mean, focus on the music etc. However, before we even got to the first gig question, we had discussed the ageing process, the relative merits of the Old Firm and hot water bottles. No, really.As a long-standing member of The Silencers, we were sure that JJ would have a few stories to tell – and he did. From a first gig at the Glasgow Apollo that JJ remembered more for what was happening in the crowd (it wasn't moshing), paying tribute to the legend that is Phil Lynott, and playing Blenheim Palace even although the promoter didn't know who he was – JJ was on very good form. JJ also clarified how many Coatbridge tramps were in The Silencers (clue- it wasn't 100%) – and mentioned U2 & Simple Minds a couple of times during the chat. And for the last question, one of them got the ‘one live album we should all own' nomination from him (and it's a belter). We tried for thick end of 6 months to make this one happen, and we hope you agree it was worth the effort. Enjoy and stay safe PS. JJ mentioned that he has had a couple of personal challenges during his career and has always been a big supporter of those organisations that offer Mental Health support. For anyone interested in this area, check out Music Minds Matter Charity https://www.musicmindsmatter.org.uk

We have reached the 1990s! For this episode on our quest to create a list of the 30 Greatest Scottish Songs ever- as well as our resident Bay City Poller Caroline Binnie, we were joined by our friends, the actor Colin McCredie & Station Manager for Cumbernauld FM Gerry Duffy. In addition to the panel re-stating how great the 1980s nominated songs are ( all 42 of them!) we had a proper discussion on both the songs that have been voted into from the 1990s list, and more important those that weren't! Thankfully, all 4 panelist used their jokers wisely, adding a quality song each back onto the list. We also got Gerry & Colin to give us their ' die on a hill' Top 10 Scottish song nomination, and ended the chat by sharing some Wham trivia that aged us all in real time... A mighty fine time was had by all, hope that comes across when you have a look/listen. As ever, enjoy & stay safe

When we recorded Episode 1 of this series, we mentioned in passing that the 1980s looked like being a particularly challenging decade toagree a Top 30 on, and so it proved!   Episode 2 is pretty much taken up with chatting through the 1980s songs that did make the cut, those that didn't, and those that did but then didn't. Confused? Join the club.   We also managed to adopt another couple of bands into our ‘Scottish' family, although we remain unconvinced that even the bands themselves would agree!   As well as Brian & Caroline, we were also joined for this episode by our special guest the writer, activist & mum Donna McLean, who was 10 minutes late joining us, due to a combination of all three of these priorities all landing on the same day as the podcast recording. No, really.   Oh, and of course Zoom wasn't particularly happy to be working over the festive season and made sure that our screen formatting wasn't quite what we wanted it to be.   That Sony Award is feeling further away than ever….   Onwards and upwards   Enjoy, and stay safe. When we recorded Episode 1 of this series, we mentioned in passing that the 1980s looked like being a particularly challenging decade to agree a Top 30 on, and so it proved!   Episode 2 is pretty much taken up with chatting through the 1980s songs that did make the cut, those that didn't, and those that did but then didn't. Confused? Join the club.   We also managed to adopt another couple of bands into our ‘Scottish' family, although we remain unconvinced that even the bands themselves would agree!   As well as Brian & Caroline, we were also joined for this episode by our special guest the writer, activist & mum Donna McLean, who was 10 minutes late joining us, due to a combination of all three of these priorities all landing on the same day as the podcast recording. No, really.   Oh, and of course Zoom wasn't particularly happy to be working this close to Xmas and made sure that our screen formatting wasn't quite what we wanted it to be.   That Sony Award is feeling further away than ever….   Onwards and upwards   Enjoy, and stay safe.

When we finished our last music podcast series that took us almost 18 months! (101 Greatest Albums), we had no plans to do another. However, after some pub some chat with friends we concluded that, although there has been plenty of discussion on great Scottish albums, there has been very little on what a great Scottish songs list might look like. So…..we asked our Twitter/X friends for song suggestions. And,5000 nominations later, we are now having a go at working through a quorum of them. Episode 1 reflects all of the above, where we are joined by some of our resident podcast panel. It also covers off the online discussion we had about how you would define a ‘Scottish' artist. On the basis that none of Big Country were born in Scotland, it's not as easy as you think. This series will take us a while to get through, however we can categorically assure you it WONT take us 18 months! Number 1 priority at the moment – we give this new series a title it deserves…. Enjoy & stay safe.

Our guest on this episode of Live Music & Me is the songwriter, musician & singer David McCluskey. When your guests first gig is The Clash/Specials/Suicide - you know its going to be a good un... And it was. From a first winch pogoing at a punk gig, to being the only punks at a Captain Beefheart gig ( no, really) , to walking out on a Johnny Cash gig, David's gig memories were highly entertaining We also found out that, as well as being the backbeat of The Bluebells for over 40 years, David also played drums for another legendary Scottish indie band. Oh, and David threw in a Bunnymen Mac impersonation for good measure. It took us over 6 months to arrange this one, but you know what they say.... Big thanks to David - an absolute gentleman Enjoy & stay safe.

We ask a question about bucket gigs to all of our Live Music & Me guests when they join us. We also have a bucket list of guests we would like to get onto our podcast, and Martyn Ware ( Heaven 17, BEF) was on that list. As a musician, composer, arranger, record producer, and music programmer, Martyn has been in the music industry for over 40 years, and we were convinced he would be good company. He was. From his first gig anecdote that involved Marc Bolan and his satin pants, to visiting Neil Young's beach home and checking out his fridge, to giving Clive Davis from Arista the cold shoulder, the stories just kept coming. We also had some wonderful gig recollections too, both those he was at and those he wasn't ( including Live Aid). And to finish, live album recommendations that couldn't be any more eclectic if they tried, and are right up there with the best. Every guest we get takes us back through their life using gigs as reference points, and we are very grateful to Martyn for being so open, honest and entertaining. Enjoy, and stay safe

After a few false starts – for this episode, we finally managed to get on as our guest the singer, songwriter, musician Grahame Skinner.   Grahame's gig memories started on the 16th October 1978 ( Glasgow Apollo). We then weaved through numerous stories with a Stranglers connection, trying ( and failing) to become pals with the Bunnymen, and why Grahame, in his own words, was a ‘fanny'.   We also got recollections on walking back post gig from  Balhama to Drumchapel ( about 6 hours) , Lou Reed getting an electric shock on stage in Belgium, and the reveal that Ian Curtis & Michael Stipe both took all their dance moves from Grahame. Oh, and 2 recommendations for a live album we should all own ( and they couldn't be more different)   It took a while, however it was totally worth the wait. Big thanks to Grahame and check out the latest The Cowboy Mouth album when its lands. It will be a belter.  Enjoy, and stay safe. PS. Apols for the minor gremlins on the recording – it's still well worth a watch/listen

Just when we were beginning to think that we might never give this series the send off it deserved......here is the 22nd ( and final) edition of our 100 Greatest Albums series. Episode 1 was actually in November 2022, at a time when we had just changed Prime Minister - and we end at a time when we have just saw another one off - which feels pretty good. Over the last few weeks we have been voting to create our final Top 10, in order, from the 101 Albums we previously selected. And we reveal on this episode what Lisa, John, George and some of our guests/friends have come up with. We are sure you won't be disappointed. We have has so much fun doing these podcasts - and MAYBE, we will do another podcast series later in the year. For now, sit back, enjoy the chat, and when you have the time, get the greatest Top 10 albums EVER on your turntable/streaming platform. It's the very least your ears deserve. Big thanks to out podcast guests for propping us up, and for our Twitter/X friends for the banter... See you on the other side Brian, Lisa, George & John x PS. And of course, thanks to Metallica for being so bad that they gave us our podcast name :-)

When we are trying to get some of our favourite people on as guests, it's always a challenge to get diaries to align! However, when the guest is the legend that is Fay Fife ( Rezillos, Revillos, The Countess Of Fife) and she tells us she has a spare 30 minutes – we were up for making that happen.   And it goes without saying that Fay didn't disappoint. From her first gigs as a cinema attendant watching the Sensational Alex Harvey Band in Dunfermline, to watching the Cramps at CBGBs in the late 1970s, to travelling to Manchester to see James Brown, Fay used our time together to good effect.   We also nearly namechecked Cheryl Cole ( but didn't), discussed the genius of Prince, and talked about some of the fantastic performers that Fay is still hoping to see on her extended bucket list.   Oh, and Fay also mentioned the time she walked over 40 miles back from a gig from Glasgow to Edinburgh. No, really…   Lastly, we also got a couple of killer live album recommendations to get our ears around.   We covered all the bases, and a few more, and still came in under our 30 minutes diary window.   Many thanks for Fay for taking the time to join us – and if you haven't already, do check out The Countess Of Fife. They are very special indeed.   Enjoy & stay safe

Our latest Live Music & Me guest was the journalist, DJ and radio presenter Jim Gellatly, who was kind enough to give us an hour from his busy schedule. Jim could remember what his first 2 gigs were ( but not in which order). Tbf, they were both belters. He also regaled us with the time he patched a Bon Jovi gig to go and see Take That ( good decision!) , having a ticket to see Nirvana but not seeing them, and also being offered £800 for his U2 ticket ( and Jason Donavan was in that chat somewhere too). Oh, and also the small matter of moshing at The Sex Pistols gig for all of one song - AND being the first guest to mention the Anti Nowhere League. We guessed Jim would be good company - and we weren't wrong. Thanks Jim - top man. PS Shout out to Stephen Cameron from Into Creative for the super cool backdrop screen image.

We have now recorded around 20 episodes of Live Music & Me, and every one of them has been very enjoyable. However, we were extra excited for this one, as our guest was the musician and singer/songwriter Robert Howard ( we have been Blow Monkeys fans for a long time) It was also the first time we had attempted a pan European podcast with a time difference ( Robert lives in Spain now) ,and thankfully the technology passed the test ( and the time difference) We never know where the guests will take us with their musical memories. Robert took us from Kings Lynn, Norfolk to Sydney, Australia with his first answer! ( If you want a good trivia question, ask a friend what Jethro Tull & Marc Bolan have in common) We also found out that Robert actually wanted The Blow Monkeys to be like The Birthday Party, that you are never too old to say no to a guest gig pass from a good friend ( Mr Weller), and that Robert thinks there is more than one live album we should all own a copy of.... And, if you stick to your beliefs and values by making a political statement on the stage at Wembley Stadium you will upset a lot of Rod Stewart fans ( and Paula Yates too !) We are really pleased with this one - our 30 minute chat flew in. Big thanks to Robert, both for the podcast chat and for The Blow Monkeys giving us 40 years of great music.

Although we love having guests from some of our favourite bands on the Live Music & Me podcast, its extra special when we welcome an actor as a guest. And, even more so, when the actor is the Scottish legend Colin McCredie. Colin is well known for his acting prowess - however, from an early age, music has been an integral part of his world. Therefore, the discussion we had on his gig memories was full of cracking bands that he saw, and some brilliant stories connected to them.  From a first gig seeing Hipsway in their prime at the cultural metropolis that is Perth City Hall in 1987, to being pleasantly surprised at how good  Paul MacCartney was in Glasgow, to sneaking in under-age to see Texas at Fat Sams Dundee, ( we think we were at the same concert!)  - Colin was in very fine form .  He was also the first guest that managed to give the same answer to 3 different questions  ( a gig that he had a ticket to but missed, gig he travelled the furthest to see, and one Live Album we should all own a copy of!)  - and also the first guest to reference the same band for a bucket gig in the past he missed, and one that he still hopes to go to!  And to top all that, Colin also managed to somehow secure a ticket to the opening launch night at King Tuts in Glasgow  in 1990!  It was an absolute pleasure to host this podcast with Colin, and hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it! Enjoy, and stay safe

In 2023, we spent 12 months reviewing the Rolling Stone magazine 100 Greatest Albums list. After 20 podcasts, we had agreed that 66 of these albums were worthy of inclusion on our own 100 Album list. So....we then decided to get nominations from our podcast panel and our music friends, and held 20 Voting Party's on Twitter/X that voted on circa 100 more albums. ( they were very good fun, thanks to everyone who took part in them) When that was done, we had voted another 40 albums onto our list. This is course meant that we now had 106 albums on our list. This podcast tackled the 106 challenge head on and, as per normal, our panel weren't backwards at coming forwards. And, at the end of our 30 minute discussion, we had reduced the list, but not to 100! ( and we still have to decide what the final Top 10 will be too) Confused, you will be.... Enjoy, and as ever, stay safe. PS If we have now voted an album off the list that your really really love, then we suggest you start your own music podcast....

If you have been lucky enough to see/hear our guest Paul Simpson in other conversations, you will know that he is very good value for money ( and why his book Revolutionary Spirit is so well loved!) No surprise then that our podcast conversation about his live gigs covered a lot of ground! In between Paul telling us about how his first gig actually wasn't his first gig ( and also how he managed to ‘invest' the bob-a-job money he had been keeping for his scout troop) – we were also treated to wonderful stories involving The Jam & Sting, and also why he set his dad's shirt on fire. No, really... When we got round to actually talking about his gigs, Paul covered everything from Roy Orbison to Hawkwind to The Fall to The Bathers ( and a must-see ‘gig that he had a ticket to but missed' that beggars belief). Oh, and he also proved conclusively that, back in the day, Glasgow was indeed a bit ' tasty'. Paul was great company and the time that we chatted literally flew in. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did recording it. Stay safe

We love The Pearlfishers, and therefore were absolutely delighted that Davy Scott agreed to join us for this latest recording of Live Music & Me. Davy was honest enough to admit that some of the first gigs he went to was nothing to be proud of ( eg Clapton) - however we all did stuff when we were young we later regret! We quickly moved on - and Davy then took us through his gig memories, talking with fondness about Macca/Wings ( Davy played a small part in him having a US No1 single) , the Scottish folk club circuit, and the same artist that most surprised him, good and bad! He also told us what you should spend your student grant on ( gig tickets for you and your partner) , and finished off telling us all we must own a live album recorded in 1993/94 but not released in 2002 ( it's rather lovely) It was a 45 minute chat that flew in - and as expected Davy was a wonderful guest Enjoy, and stay safe

The guest for our latest live music podcast was the singer, songwriter, musician & producer, our friend Daniel Wylie. Daniel took us on a very varied musical journey, from Nana Mouskouri to Elvis Costello, and pretty much everything in between! We also had Daniel giving us a rendition of the Stripper tune ( but not the dance) and name-checked a whole bunch of his musical pals along the way. In between the name-checks, Daniel talked about the time he NEARLY met the Thin White Duke in 1978 at Glasgow Apollo And to finish, Daniel gave us three live albums we should all own a copy of (all are mighty fine, and one of them was a definite curve ball). As ever, we can't thank Daniel enough for taking the time to talk through his gig memories. We also had a great off air chat about the Cosmic Rough Riders supporting Paul Weller, however, that's in the archive vaults... Enjoy, and stay safe

The great thing about doing Live Music & Me podcasts is that every guest we have on always takes us down their own personal musical memory lane. Going down this episode's lane was the Scottish singer/songwriter/musician & producer Martin Metcalfe, and he was on top form. Martin's musical memories started in 1977, with the Rezillos at the mighty Glasgow Apollo, who supported The Ramones (and were better!) This started a run of Fay Fife/Rezillos/Revillos references, so much so that we feel obliged to give Fay a podcast co-credit! We also got a couple of Martin's favourites name-checked ( Nick Cave & Iggy to the fore), and some wistful memories from the time that Goodbye Mr Mackenzie supported the icon that is Debbie Harry/Blondie. Oh, and we had Martin comparing The Rezillos & The Ramones as curries. No, really... And to finish, Martin's nominated favourite Live Album was from the left-field ( but all the better for it). Big thanks to Martin, was a very enjoyable 30 minutes! If Carlsberg made music podcast guests, they would all be Live Music & Me participants. Enjoy and stay safe.

When we started this podcast over 12 months ago, we weren't entirely sure if we would ever be able to podcast review the top 100 albums from the latest Rolling Stone magazine. Therefore, our podcast panel was especially happy on this recording to be reviewing the final 5 on the Rolling Stone list. And, as luck would have it, this coincided with our podcast Xmas party - cue lots of parallel conversations and wine consumption ( just like any Xmas party) Somewhere in amongst all of the fun - we did manage to discuss, debate and vote on the albums voted No's 5-1 on the list, which were : The Beatles - Abbey Rd Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life Joni Mitchell - Blue The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds Marvin Gaye - What's Going On Our Twitter/X polls voted all 5 of these big boys onto the final list - would the Xmas cheer help our panel to do likewise? It was great to have Lisa, George & John all join us for this one - and even better that we managed ( after a year of trying) to get the Scottish author/playwright Julie Rea to join us as well. She was well worth the wait. After completing this podcast, we now have around 70 albums voted onto our ' final' list, which of course means we still have some work to do before we can get to our definitive list of the 100 Greatest Albums ever. We have some plans on how to plug the gap ( which will also involve our friends who watch and vote on each podcast). However, all that's for another day. So, for the last time this year, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. Special thanks to Lisa, George, John & Stephen for helping us to get this far, and of course to all our amazing guests for adding the va va voom. Merry Xmas, and a Happy New Year. Stay safe

A momentous day in the life of our podcast - when we finally got to the Top 10 albums on the Rolling Stone's list! Being the top ten - we expected, and got some' big' albums to discuss from: Lauryn Hill Bob Dylan Prince Fleetwood Mac Nirvana We proved by voting out Thriller on our last episode that reputation counts for nothing with our podcast panel & guests. And this episode maintained that tradition - when another 'iconic' album didn't make the cut. As well as having John & Lisa on, we were joined again by our friend Ian Smith from the wonderful Last Night From Glasgow record label. All three knocked it out the park - therefore it was real shame that we lost Ian towards the end when Virgin Glasgow had a major broadband outage (which quickly moved to Inverclyde) - however we managed to scramble through these issues like the good pro's we are :-) And, at the end of all of that - we have ended up with 63/95 ( or 66%) of the albums now voted onto our 'final' list, with one more podcast still to come, - hopefully before Santa brings his presents. Once that''s done and dusted - we will then start to have some fun filling in the gaps.... Enjoy, and stay safe

Question. What do you do when you have recorded a great guest interview on Zoom but the video is buffering throughout? Answer. Convert the file to audio and put it out without the visuals! So, in yet another first for us, on audio only.....we welcome our guest for this episode, the Scottish singer/songwriter/musician John Douglas. Probably best known as a member of the wonderful Trashcan Sinatras, however John has also recently released his self-titled debut solo album, and a mighty fine record it is too. John had plenty of cracking gigs to talk through. It's understandable that time can challenge the memory at times - therefore what John remembers as his first gig ( Numan Glasgow Apollo), was actually Still Little Fingers ( Glasgow Apollo) earlier in the same summer! John also shared his Reading Festival tent sharing exploits ( he's not a big festival fan), missing an early The Smiths gig even although he had a ticket, and also his big regret choosing not to go see Sinatra gig at Ibrox in 1990. On the plus side, he did manage to meet Willie Nelson in his own hotel room ( no, really) , and get the chance to play a gig at the iconic CBGB's New York. We packed a lot into this one, and even on audio only, I am sure you will agree it was worth the effort! Thanks again John. Top man.

When we ran our Twitter/X polls for this episode, it was the first time that all 5 albums were voted as a yes! So the big question was - would our podcast panel also go for the full house?! The artists on this episode were all strong enough to easily support the idea that their album is one of the best 100 ever, with albums reviewed from :Public Enemy The Rolling Stones Aretha Franklin Michael JacksonThe BeatlesHowever, even allowing for this heavyweight line up, one of them didn't make the cut! We have had a number of firsts on our podcasts - and this one was the first time that we have had two guests on the same episode. Caroline Binnie was back for a second visit ( thank you!) and all the way from Sheffield, Jack Davidson also joined us and a) lowered the average panel age by 20 years and b) demonstrated a depth of musical knowledge for one so young ( must have had great parents :-) ) No technical issues, and because John & George couldn't make this recording, no over 18s language to navigate through the YouTube censors! Mind you, we did manage to get the phrase ' Cocksucker Blues' into the chat - will see how the algarithm deals with that. Big thanks to Caroline, Jack and of course Lisa. And when we next speak to you, we will be in the Top 10! Enjoy, and stay safe Brian

Our last podcast episode was all about surviving the logistical challenges from Storm Babet. Nothing as biblical as that when we recorded Episode 17 of our 100 Greatest Albums music podcast. However, the recording didn't go as planned.... For this Episode we had reached the Top 20 of the Rolling Stone Magazine Top 100 list - and it did give us a super-eclectic list to get our teeth into. Over 90 minutes we discussed/debated and voted on albums from Radiohead ( second one on list) Kendrick Lamar Bob Dylan ( second one on list) Kayne West ( second one on list) The Clash At least one of these was our panellist John's favourite ever ( double) album which he understandably effused over, and at least one of them wasn't. We also had Lisa explaining, with great care attention and warmth, the concept, story and flow behind To Pimp A Butterfly. Overall, one of our better episodes, if we don't say so ourselves! Therefore, it was with a heavy heart that we found out that the recording had corrupted after approximately 20 mns ( the Zoom recording link failed!) - and other than John taking with passion about how average Kid A is, nothing else survived. So what to do? We didn't have the time, patience or energy to re-record all the lost content. No problem - we reconvened the panel a couple of days later and over 30 mins reviewed all 5 albums again. Lean and mean, all killer no filler - with the added bonus of welcoming back our friend George Paterson to the podcast discussion! We also had another first - when George's son Mike joined us for the Kendrick/Kayne discussions, and of course he totally nailed it ( he loves both albums btw, and quite right too!) And by the wonder of video editing - we have manage to splice together the original 20 mns from part 1 to the follow up discussion on part 2. After all that, we ended up voting yes to three of the albums going onto the final 100 list ( but possibly not the three you might think) , which means we now have 55 albums on our ' final' 100 albums list. Therefore, we are now 'only' looking for 45 more wonderful albums to get us to 100, with just 15 albums from the Rolling Stone list to review. Don't worry, we have a Baldrick-esque cunning plan currently under wraps. As ever, enjoy, and stay safe PS One day, people might talk in hushed tones about the ' lost episode' of Nothing Else Mattress from November 1st 2023 , in the same way that the original tapes from The Beatles only ever live performance on TOTP are revered. ( 16th June 1966 if you're interested). Well, they might...... PPS. On Spotify, we have a Nothing Else Mattress playlist, with a song from every album voted onto the final list on there. 55 songs now - it's a beautiful thing https://open.spotify.com/playlist/29Twz8NUhVl4Ezmy4dMDwZ?si=43b84db9ff6045d9

Storm Babet tried it's hardest, however our podcast friends are a hardy bunch! And, after having to re-arrange our recording on two separate occasions, Episode 16 is now available in all its glory! Episode 15 was an all male affair. Episode 16 on the other hand brings together one of our resident panellists Lisa with our special guest, the PR expert, music loving, fanatical gig going, Velvet Underground superfan, Caroline Binnie. As it happened we had the Velvets debut album on our 5 album review list which was handy, as well as albums from The Beatles ( 3rd time) , Carole King, Notorious BIG and Bruce Springsteen ( 2nd time lucky ?!) Caroline and Lisa were on great form, and managed to form an alliance on pretty much every album reviewed ( and some big hitters were given a pretty hard time) Of these, 4 were voted onto our ' final 100 ' list ( although a couple were very borderline) - which means that we have now voted yes to 52/80 albums from the original Rolling Stone list. ( link below if you want a nosey at that list too) Of all the Episodes we have published so far, this one probably has more chat about the actual albums/artists than most of the others, which kind of makes sense for a music podcast! However, Caroline did mention post-recording that the cat that sits on the cover of the Tapestry album is called Telemachus, after the character in Homer's Odyssey! We also ask our guests for an album nomination to add to the final 100 list - and Caroline gave us an absolute corker from 1985 to get our ears around. NB We also found out that Bat Out Of Hell is one of Caroline's Guilty Pleasures! Big thanks to Lisa and especially Caroline for making sure that we actually ended up with a recording we could publish :-) . Top 20 next.... Enjoy, and stay safe https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-band-music-from-big-pink-2-1063133/

For our latest episode of Live Music & Me - our guest was the cultural commentator and host of the cracking Scots Whay Hae podcast, Alistair Braidwood. Alistair is normally the one asking the questions, therefore it was really good fun to have him using the old grey matter recollecting his own musical memories! From a stellar first gig at Ibrox 1986 ( a sold out stadium gig that had lots of room down the front!) , to Grace Jones walking down a staircase at the Barrowland, to missing an early U2 gig because he had prelims the next day, Alistair was on great form. We also managed to talk about Pulp playing in a forest, and Alistair travelling hundreds of miles across Australia for a music festival ( that included one of our musical heroes Billy Bragg) - and we managed to name-check a band called Bingo Wings who supported Big Country. No, really.... And to top it all, we also pay homage to Mr Bowie. As ever, we end up covering a lot of musical ground in around 30 minutes . Big thanks to Alistair for both his time and his musical anecdotes. Enjoy, & stay safe

Our latest guest on our occasional series of podcasts on live music memories was the singer/songwriter/musician from The Bluebells & The McCluskey Brothers - Ken McCluskey. Ken's live gig chat ranged from The Damned at the height of punk, to the Young Fathers in Brighton, to U2 in Dublin. There was also chat about playing to 300,000 people in Barcelona with The Bluebells, getting arrested trying to buy a fish supper, and his brother David getting his tent ate by a cow at a festival. Oh, and why Glen Daly is a legend.... We have so much fun doing these - and this one was no different ( even with a little bit of video buffering!) Enjoy, and stay safe.

It would be great if all our podcast friends and guests lived on the same street in the same town. However, when they don't, you need technology to be your friend, and so far it has played a blinder. The panel this week was all about quality over quantity. In addition to John Welsh, our guest was Ian Smith, who has been working wonders at our favourite record label, Last Night From Glasgow for a number of years. We reviewed 5 more albums on this episode from Jimi Hendrix ( 3rd album on list) The Beatles ( 2nd album on list, with more to come!) D'Angelo Wu Tang Clan Patti Smith Three of these were voted in, but only after plenty of chat, opinion, some disagreement and a few laughs along the way. ( and a fair bit of musical knowledge!) As we do with every guest, Ian also got to nominate an album that he thinks deserves a place on the 100 list - and It's an absolute belter. That's 15 Episodes completed - and we have 48 albums now on the ' final' 100 list. Enjoy, and stay safe PS. The technology did get its own back a little on this episode - big thanks to John & Ian for sticking with it to the end (class is permanent)

We have been close to voting in 5 albums out of 5 on previous podcasts ( but didn't) The roll call on this one was very strong... The Beatles - Rubber Soul ( first time on the list) Stevie Wonder - Innervisions Amy Winehouse - Back To Black Beyonce - Lemonade Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue Our guest on this episode was the singer/songwriter/musician Jack ( check out his songs released under the solo project 'Goliath' ) - who brought remarkable knowledge to the chat for one so young! As well as the usual musical trivia and anecdotes - we also had George & Lisa talk emotionally about their love for Amy ( George actually spoke to her briefly a couple of weeks before her passing) So would the panel, including Jack - manage to overcome previous aversions to modern R&B/Soul and more importantly, Jazz, to vote in a full house? As ever, the only way to know is to hit the play button. ( or read our Twitter threads...) We have also put a video link at the end to a killer album track from one of the voted in albums Thanks again for watching/listening - and of course let us know your thoughts on how we're doing. Enjoy & stay safe

Welcome to the latest of our occasional video shorts, where we get some of our friends to talk about their Live Music memories. Our guest for this episode was the writer & musician Chris Thomson from The Bathers. ( who we love!) We covered a wide range of bands, artists & venues with Chris, ranging from first gig recollections ( Bowie at The Glasgow Apollo, cool or what?!) - to most surprised gig ( Van The Man in a stookie) to the bucket gig artist he is still waiting to see ( Dylan) Along the way, we also talked about buying gig tickets by postal order, Argentina World Cup '78, and when Chris met one of his heroes, David Byrne. Oh, and he also mentioned in passing how much one of his friends loved Rush. No, really... As ever, Chris was in top form, and our chat flew in. It's one beer/coffee length, unless you drink quicker than average - plus a link at the end to a song from his favourite ever gig.... Enjoy, and stay safe.

It's Top 40 time! On this episode we reviewed albums 40-36 from the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Albums list. Its a pretty stellar line up too, with albums discussed from David Bowie, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, Dr Dre & Michael Jackson. We love having guests join us - and for this episode we are joined by the main man from, amongst others Goodbye Mr MacKenzie & The Filthy Tongues, Martin Metcalfe. Martin is a self confessed Bowie fan, and therefore led the Ziggy discussion. However, he was also pretty vocal when we discussed the other albums too ( and not always feeling the love) We voted 4/5 of the albums yes - therefore keeping up our run of never having voted all 5 albums yes on any single episode. We've still got 35 more to review, maybe one day... As ever, the team were on top form, and in general there was plenty of warmth towards the albums discussed. But that doesn't mean we agreed when it came to vote. Where would the fun in that be! The birth of punk rock in 1972 , hip hop/post punk in 1980, Robert Palmer as a backing singer, white socks as a fashion accessory and llamas all big talking points over the course of the chat. If variety is the spice of life, it's bottled on our podcasts. Enjoy, and stay safe

12 Episodes in, so would this be the podcast where the panel finally votes in all 5 albums we discuss on an episode? Of course it wasn't.... We reviewed albums 45-41 from the Rolling Stone Greatest Album list - with Prince, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Radiohead & The Rolling Stones all getting some serious chat time. All albums discussed felt a fair bit of love, but only three of them were voted onto our final list. As well as our core panel of podcast friends - we had the pleasure of being joined by our special guest, the editor, author & member of Artisan and Vulture Party ( both favs of ours) - Dickson Telfer. Dickson more than held his own during the album discussions - especially when discussing the lyrics from Sign Of The Times ( he's not the biggest fan!) Speak of SOTT - John Welsh also declared that the track Hot Thing was written for him, and that Mrs John would vouch for that. No, really.... Dickson also nominated the album he thinks should be added to the final 100 list, and it's a belter. ( and like the other guests so far, not one we saw coming!) Even for us, this episode has a fairly chunky running time - so we would recommend watching/listening to it in bit size chunks! Enjoy, and stay safe.

t's always a pleasure talking music with Robert ( aka Bobby Bluebell), and this is especially true when talking about gigs! Bobby talks about his first ' big' gig, Elton John at Kelvin Hall. Glasgow, the first gig he went to with a partner ( Top Of The Pops, no, really!) , and the Burt Bacharach gig that most surprised him ( in a good way) As it's Bobby, we also asked him about his favourite Bluebells gig ( Barcelona and Glasgow, he picked two!), and we finished with his declaration of love for early Orange Juice and the Velvet Underground. Oh, and Bobby also gave us an answer to a question I didn't ask - "The first gig you saw a woman naked at "...... As usual, we have a couple of video links at the end of the chat to some of his favourite artists. Can't thank Bobby enough for taking the time to chat with us, and of course we are all delighted to see The Bluebells back with a bang. Enjoy, and stay safe.

Our latest guest for our podcast that celebrates all things live music, is the singer/songwriter/musician, and 20% of the Gates Of Light collaboration - Louise Quinn. Louise has a very eclectic music taste which comes through in her recollections. From her first gig going to see The Stranglers ( as a goth), to having a romantic gig date at the Reading Festival watching Gay Bikers On Acid, (!) to watching the Pixies stage collapse in Glasgow - its all good stuff. Louise also took in gigs in New York, New Orleans and Serbia along the way ( her band were big in Serbia!) - and is adamant that the Sub Club in Glasgow is better than any in NYC. Lou Reed is her favourite gig recollection - and Joni Mitchell remains her number 1 bucket gig wish. It was great fun doing this with Louise - hope you enjoy it too. Stay safe.

Having reached the halfway mark on our review of the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Albums list, the hope was that as we move into the top 50 we would get more agreement on what a great albums looks/sound like. However, Episode 11 suggests that our debates will continue unabated! On this episode, we reviewed albums for Jay Z & Outkast ( both 2nd time lucky?) , Bob Marley ( 2nd album going in?) Ramones & Paul Simon. Of these, our esteemed panel voted 3 yes and 2 no to go onto our final 100 list. However, not sure you would guess the three that were voted in! Panel chat was great - mixing up the usual snippets of musical trivia ( Simon & Garfunkel were originally called Tom & Jerry) with strong opinions on the albums we reviewed, good and bad ( the Graceland discussion was particularly interesting). Thank goodness the Ramones debut gave us all something to violently agree on :-) That's us now got 33 albums voted onto our composite 100 Greatest Album list. It's like pushing water up hill.... Enjoy, and stay safe.

When you have a special guest that has just been named as the ' biggest music star in the city of Glasgow' - it's important that a) the podcast team are on top form and b) the technology behaves. The team were on top form, so no problems there. However, it's fair to say we had one or two technical glitches, that included Lisa getting some ' in running' technical support from Mr Lisa. ( who is becoming a semi-regular participant in the podcast!) Our guest was our friend the Scottish singer, songwriter Grahame Skinner. Anyone who knows Grahame will tell you that he is a lovely guy who knows his music, and doesn't suffer fools - and Grahame demonstrated all 3 of these characteristics during our podcast. And thankfully, his video connection just about held out until 10 seconds before we stopped recording. Back to the music. We reviewed albums from Pink Floyd, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, and David Bowie. Grahame is a huge Bowie fan, and was very surprised to hear that the panel might not share his level of affection! We also had our much repeated debate about compilation records/are they an album? We ended up voting 3 more albums onto the 100 list. We have now reached the halfway mark having reviewed 50 albums, and we have voted 60% of the albums reviewed onto the list. Just got 70 to still agree on then..... Big thanks to Grahame for taking the time to join us, and of course remind us all how great Bowie actually is! Enjoy, and stay safe.

Our guest on this latest video short episode of Live Music & Me is the Scottish poet/writer Stephen Watt. Stephen starts with a classic first gig ( Ultravox on a Maltese beach!), talks about standing next to Wet Leg at their own gig, and professes his love for Faithless ( including arriving to see them at Barrowland in a limo. No, really!) . Oh, and he also calls out Chris Moyles for being a bit of a bell-end. He also tries ( and fails) to convince us that Dumbarton is the epicentre of post-punk, and finishes with recommending Babylon By Bus as the one live album we should all own. As ever, great fun to do, and big thanks again to Stephen for taking part. A couple of his favourite selections are added on links to the end of the You Tube video chat too. Enjoy & stay safe.

These are a series of video shorts we had in 2022 with some of our friends, all about their love affair with live music. We were due to publish them 6 months ago - however the hard drive with the edited audio and song inserts corrupted! We had great fun doing them, and have therefore decided to go ahead and publish the Zoom videos. This episode is with the bard of Bellshill, Duglas T Stewart. As its Duglas, the short video is a bit longer than normal! But he's on great form, giving us gigs from everything from Mud as a bairn to Tennis Courts ( all the way from Japan to Glasgow!). Grab a beer/coffee, chill out for 15 mns. Thanks Duglas, top man. Enjoy & stay safe.

The guest for this episode of Live Music & Me is the author, musician and kick ass DJ, George Paterson. ( we recorded it a year ago, technical gremlins prevented it from coming out until now, apologies!) George covered plenty of ground with his live music recollections - from his first gig at the famous Glasgow Apollo ( Toyah Wilcox) to Issac Hayes at the Town & County Club, to Sinatra at the Royal Albert Hall. He should also have ticked off Pavarotti, however a diary clash with a certain Glasgow football club got in the way - and for £3.50 he could have saw The Rolling Stones at the Glasgow Apollo. But back in the day, £3.50 was a lot of money....Big thanks to George for sharing his memories, and we have put a few of his favourites on the You Tube video link at the end of the podcast. Enjoy & stay safe.

These are a series of short Q&A chats we had in 2022 with some of our friends, all about their love affair with live music. We were due to publish them 6 months ago - however the hard drive with the edited audio and song inserts corrupted! We had great fun doing them, and have therefore decided to go ahead and publish the Zoom videos in full. This episode is with the drummer to the stars (and fellow Clyde Riviera resident) Lesley McLaren. Some cracking answers, but think Lesley might be waiting a while to see her bucket list gig ( Bowie!). You Tube video link at the end to some of the artists and venues chosen by Lesley. Thanks Lesley, much appreciated! Enjoy & stay safe

These are a series of short Q&A chats we had earlier this year with some of our friends, all about their love affair with live music. We were due to publish them months ago - however the hard drive with the edited audio and song inserts corrupted! We had great fun doing them, and have therefore decided to go ahead and publish the Zoom videos in full. This video short is with the musician Jonathan Lilley. ( The Gracious Losers, Sister John). Jonathan covers pretty much every decade and genre in his recollections - including Status Quo, Patti Smith, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Transvision Vamp ( great gig, unlucky in love!) - with special mention going to his most 'gigged' artist, Bob Dylan. As ever, Jonathan is on top form, and we are sure you will enjoy his selections. ( some of them are added on video to the end of the chat on You Tube ) . Enjoy & stay safe.

Our guest for this edition is the hardest working man in Scotland - musician, writer & Frets Concerts creator/facilitator/performer Douglas MacIntyre. This one is short and sweet, with Douglas giving us a window into his live music favourites, including gigs that he got to ( Sensational Alex Harvey Band & The Residents amongst them) and gigs that he didn't ( Buzzcocks at Glasgow Apollo, twice!). For your pleasure, there are also You Tube links to a few performances of some of the artists chosen, at their prime. Thanks again Douglas. Hope you all enjoy this one. Stay safe.

These are a series of short Q&A chats we had earlier this year with some of our friends, all about their love affair with live music. We were due to publish them 6 months ago - however the hard drive with the edited audio and song inserts corrupted! We had great fun doing them, and have therefore decided to go ahead and publish the Zoom videos in full, with audio version on streaming platforms. This episode is with the writer, architect and general cool cat David F Ross. Really interesting answers, funny and honest to boot. Hope you enjoy them, and big thanks again to David for taking part. PS the song links at the end of the You Tube video are connected to some of David's artist and gig selections. Enjoy and stay safe.

We have almost reached the halfway point with or review of the top 100 Rolling Stone albums. On this episode, we reviewed albums from Stevie Wonder, The Band, Led Zeppelin, & Liz Phair. We voted 4 of those onto our list - and its fair to say that, in general, the standard of the albums on the list is pretty good. In amongst the music chat- we also managed to fit in chat and comments about Van Morrison's dodgy house driveway ( no planning consent) , his personality ( scudbook), and the obvious connection between the sexy bastirds that are Robert Plant & George Paterson ( no, really) Sesame St also got some air time! We were down to three on this episode of the podcast - however we still managed to make it a 3 coffee/gin/beer length. Maybe next one will be a bit more concise! Enjoy, and stay safe.

When we have a special guest join us , its always nice if the guests taste in music aligns with some of the albums we review. Our guest on this episode was the singer/songwriter Chris Thomson. Friends Again & The Bathers are both wonderful bands, but difficult to pick up any elements of hip hop, hair metal or yacht rock in their songs! Unfortunately for Chris, on this episode we reviewed albums from Eric B/Rakim, Outkast, Steely Dan & Guns n Roses ( see above!). Thankfully, we also reviewed a classic live album from James Brown in 1963. The upshot of all this was that we voted three albums onto the 100 list, and two were dusty binned - which means we have now voted 23/40 onto our updated 100 album list. We also continued to educate our learned audience with trivia around band members sharing girlfriends, ( Guns N Roses, no surprise!) and how close Chevy Chase came to being the drummer of Steely Dan. No, really. Chris did at least get the opportunity to nominate his own favourite album for the list - and its an absolute belter.... The episode is long enough for at least 2 glasses of red wine..... Enjoy & stay safe. PS. The dog barks are courtesy of Hudson Davidson....

On Zoom calls , it not unusual to have incoming phone calls interrupting you and dogs barking. We had both on this episode, plus blinding sunlight create screen glare ( in Scotland!). However, none of that fazes our dream team podcast panel, who reviewed 5 more albums from the Rolling Stone Top 100 list on this episode . The albums were from NWA, Alanis Morrisette, Kate Bush, Jay Z & John Coltrane. In general, we were pretty impressed with these albums - but along the way we did manage to point a few metaphorical fingers too. As John's said, it's all about as a listener how much you love/don't love the record you are listening to. In the end, we loved 3 of the albums enough to vote them onto the list. ( it took us a bit longer than usual on this episode, feel free to dip in & out!) That makes is 20/35 voted in at the moment - which leaves us with just the 80 gaps to fill to get to 100.....until next time. Enjoy & stay safe.

25 albums reviewed. 14 voted in. 11 out. Now that we are in the Top 75, we are starting to see more big hitters come on the list. On this episode we review albums from Aretha, Kanye, Kevin, Neil & Bob, at least 3 of whom meet that definition. As ever, our panel impresses with their musical assessments and knowledge, as well as being a fountain of music related trivia ( who knew Kayne West was sued by Evil Knievel?!). In another first, we also had one of the team take the 5th amendment rather than review one of the albums, and another vote an album out and back in again! And all this was done of course in the best possible taste ( apart from George's visual prompts). At the end, 3 more albums were voted onto our list. ( with videos from each of them at the end of the podcast). That just leaves us with 83 gaps to fill before we get to a 100....Enjoy & stay safe.

Five music podcasts into trying to create a list of the 100 Greatest Albums, we are finding that, if anything, it's harder than we thought it was going to be. This is partly due to the amount of debate the podcast panel each week! However, we have also been pleasantly surprised by some of the albums we have reviewed from the Rolling Stone Top 100 list, and have voted some on I'm sure we all didn't expect to! This episode is no different. We reviewed albums from The Sex Pistols, Elvis Presley, The Who, Frank Ocean & Curtis Mayfield. Voted 4 in, but probably not the 4 you would be expecting. The panel are, as ever, on top form, with discussions on everything from what does or doesn't constitute an album ( harder to define than you might imagine) - to fascination trivia about Keith Moon & Bobby Farrell. Lastly, there are the usual video links at the end of the podcast to tracks from the 4 albums we voted in. We pack a lot in! Enjoy & stay safe.