Recommendations

Yuja Wang

I found this on BBC iPlayer in 2023.  Both Yuja Wang and the piece she's playing (Vladimir Horowitz's Carmen Variations) were new to me.   What a treat!

Unbelievable dexterity from Yuja.  No sheet music either.  Every note is locked into this amazing lady's memory.

The Goes Wrong Show

This comedy team are the most original and refreshing I've seen in recent years.  I've not been to their award-winning stage shows yet, but I can thoroughly recommend their first TV series (which you might be able to catch on BBC iPlayer).

There wasn't much to laugh about during the coronavirus lockdowns, but these guys found the funny side in this little sketch for Children in Need.

Queen

If I had to pick my all-time favourite band, it would have to be Queen.  

They had everything: instrumental prowess, inspired songwriting, incredible variety, a uniquely talented front-man, and (importantly) a sense of fun.

I could have picked any of 20 superb songs here, but I've gone for 'Brighton Rock' from Queen's 1973 album 'Sheer Heart Attack'.  The instrumental section from about 1:45 broke new ground with its inventiveness and its thunderous attack!

Arguably, Brian May invented thrash metal in this song, and it would be another 10 years before Metallica grabbed the idea and ran with it.

Outlaws (TV series)

Calling your project a 'comedy thriller' is a risky move because very few shows succeed in being both comedic and thrilling.

But Stephen Merchant's 'Outlaws', about a bunch of misfits doing community service, has no such trouble.  I thought all three series were fun, fresh and exciting.

In this clip, the writers put two characters together who have nothing in common but somehow manage to find something likeable about each other.  The result is almost sweet.

Gogglebox

I first became aware of Gogglebox in about 2016.  There was a lot of hype around this TV show at the time, so I knew it must be awful.

But one Friday night there wasn't much on, so we decided to try it - just to confirm that the recursive format (where you're watching a TV show about families watching TV shows) was indeed a silly gimmick, and that the whole thing was a waste of time.

In practice, I could not have been more wrong, and after that one episode, I was hooked!  This unique, cleverly-edited show is still one of my favourites today.

I found it unexpectedly funny and engaging, but the really unexpected thing was the sense of well-being that some episodes left me with - particularly during grim times like the coronavirus pandemic. 

Watching their honest unscripted reactions to tragic events on the news provided a welcome reminder that most people are just decent human beings trying to live their lives, and maybe there's a bit more reason for hope than we thought.

The TV highlights within Gogglebox are really just to provide some topical food for the (brilliantly chosen) families to chew over.  It's the families' wit, charm and humanity that make the show so appealing.

My weekly fix of Gogglebox is like catching up with old friends, but without the effort of having to organise anything or go anywhere!  As an added bonus, I save loads of time by not having to watch all the other shows that Gogglebox has helpfully summarised for me!

All the families have their witty moments, but I think Pete from Blackpool, and the Siddiquis from Derby are perhaps the most consistent.

Vulfpeck

I love a bit of funk - all those off-beats grab my brain and give it a nice shake.

Here, Vulfpeck are playing a cool instrumental called Dean Town.  Before this, I'd never seen a crowd singing a bass-line before.  Joe Dart on bass is clearly loving it, and the whole thing just makes me smile.

Humans

If I had to pick my favourite TV drama of all time, I think it would have to be 'Humans' (Channel 4).  It's set in a parallel present where robots have developed to the point of near-human appearance and behaviour.

It probably seems odd that I would find a show about synthetic people more engaging than a thousand shows about real people.

But it was original, thought-provoking and gripping throughout.  I absolutely loved it!  This clip is a season 1 trailer.

Paramore

I stumbled across a track by Paramore on Twitter and was sufficiently impressed to go and buy an album.  I picked 'Brand New Eyes' and it turns out I picked brilliantly!  I like every song on the album. 

In case you're as late to the party as I was,  Paramore are an American rock band fronted by the petite but mighty, Hayley Williams, whose vocals seem to glide effortlessly between raw power and sweetness.

'Brand New Eyes' consists mostly of catchy up-tempo pop/rock that you could imagine being played at a high school prom in an American TV drama, just before things get out-of-hand.

But I think there's real quality in the songwriting, and the example I've picked is a ballad called 'Misguided Ghosts'.  The chords, melody, lyrics and Hayley's voice combine here to create something unexpectedly beautiful and moving.

Micky Flanagan

Micky's a masterful stand-up.  It's the combination of voice, accent, personality, attitude and, of course, great material.

Here he turns the idea of ambition on its head, while also making a comment about state education in inner-city schools.

I don't think this is one of his best-known routines, but it really appealed to me.  (You'll have to forgive a bit of swearing at the start.)

Dream Theater

Dream Theater are unusual for a rock band in that all the members are highly-trained virtuoso musicians.  

This track is one of my favourites - especially John Petrucci's guitar solo from about 4:13.  This is stunning playing for a live performance.

About  A Boy

Much as I admire Richard Curtis's screenwriting and the hugely successful films he did with Hugh Grant, I think Hugh's best comedy film is actually 'About A Boy', written by the Weitz brothers and Peter Hedges (from the book by Nick Hornby).

Having seen the film first, I found the book rather disappointing, and I can see why they changed the ending for the film, which I found funny and charming throughout.

Here, Hugh's demonstrating why his friends should not choose him as the godfather for their new baby.

Jacques Loussier

Jacques Loussier used to take Bach's rich classical compositions and rearrange them for jazz trio.  

I think he does a fantastic job on this one.  He's true to the original at the start, goes all jazzy at 2:00 and then finishes with some Metallica-speed arpeggios from 4:20.

From a composition perspective, I love the way that near the end (4:55), the same bass note is repeated 16 times.  Boring?  Nah!  It just makes the resolution all the more satisfying.

Rhod Gilbert

On a few occasions, Rhod's comedy rants have left me physically incapable on the settee, and we've had to pause the playback to avoid injury.

In this clip, he pokes fun at the ridiculousness of modern appliances.

(I would have included my favourite of Rhod's routines - where he tries to buy an egg-and-cress sandwich on a train - but, alas, it's been taken down.) 

Van Halen

I can still remember the excitement I felt as a 15-year-old when a schoolmate first played me this track.  

A crazy double-bass-drum intro from Alex Van Halen leads into an even crazier guitar intro from his brother Eddie.  After the first crescendo, it calms right down for a finger-style riff that's somehow a cross between country music and funk, and we haven't even reached the first verse yet!

Eddie Van Halen was an incredible pioneer of rock guitar, and a great inspiration to many (including me).   But he wasn't just a 'shredder' - there was depth to his musical innovation across a range of styles, and his rhythm playing was often as impressive as his soloing.

Frasier

My favourite sitcom would have to be Frasier.  They got all the ingredients right so often for such a long time.

This is a clip from the very first episode, where Daphne is being interviewed as a potential physical therapist for Martin.

Muse

If you like imaginative rock with lots of variety then Muse are hard to beat.  In Matt Bellamy's compositions you can hear influences as diverse as Chopin and Rush.  I like his singing too - powerful without being raspy.

This example, 'City of Delusion', is not so well known, but it stands out for weaving eastern musical patterns into western rock.  

Matt's vocal in the chorus is a triumph too.  He belts out out a big power note on the word 'avenge', and then holds it for ages while the chords change underneath.  Lovely. 

Bill Bailey

Comedian Bill Bailey ticks all of my boxes.  He combines intelligent articulate stand-up comedy with a bit of silliness and large amounts of musical skill.

At one Edinburgh gig, I saw him do a little routine about Abba that I've never seen him do on TV.  It went something like this:

"Not a lot of people know that I was actually the fifth member of Abba... I was responsible for a lot of their political material."

Completely silly.  I loved it.

This clip is Bill reinterpreting various chart hits in a cockney style.

It Bites

It Bites had enough talent to be huge, but their record company didn't really know what to do with them.  

The band burst into the charts in the mid-1980s with a superb pop song, 'Calling All The Heroes', built around a very neat keyboard riff from John Beck.

So everyone thought they were a pop group, but then they grew their hair and released a keyboard-rock album, 'Once Around The World', featuring an epic 15-minute title track!  They used too many keyboards to be seen as a rock band, but didn't have enough radio-friendly hooks to be a pop group.

It's a shame we have to squeeze our music into boxes or It Bites could have been appreciated for what they actually produced i.e. cleverly-constructed original songs performed brilliantly.

Frank Dunnery on vocals and guitar left for America after the third album and the band fizzled out.  But John Mitchell stepped in for a reunion in 2008 and did equally well.  I think the albums with Mitchell ('The Tall Ships' and 'Map of the Past') are as good as any.

Simon Pegg

Simon's a film star now of course, but I tend to enjoy his earlier sitcom work more.  As a comic actor, he's so natural, and so good with tone, timing, and facial expressions. 

This clip from 'Spaced' is a treat because it also features Bill Bailey.  I love the exchange, 'Twiglet?' -  'Better not.' 

The idea that a boss would offer someone a Twiglet on the way into his office is absurd enough, but the idea that accepting one might be so risky that they'd 'better not', pushes the silliness to the next level.

Iron Maiden

As a teenager, I listened to a lot of Iron Maiden - partly to improve my guitar playing.  I made a big compilation of all Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's guitar solos for practice purposes, and I still use it today.

This particular song, 'Number of the Beast', is one of my favourites, and it's notable for several reasons.  

Firstly, Bruce Dickinson had just joined the band on vocals, so there was a sense of renewed energy and purpose on this track (and the album of the same name).  'Number of the Beast' was the only album they made with this line-up, and I think it's their best (just ahead of 'Powerslave').

But it's Steve Harris's songwriting that stands out for me here.  Lyrically the song is about a traumatic experience with devil-worshippers - clearly a dark subject - and yet the music's in a major key!  A very happy D major.  What?

It's true.  You could play it at half speed with a string quartet and it would sound as sweet as pie.   Listen carefully, and the first notes that Bruce sings are actually the same as, 'Oh when the saints...go marching in'!

Yet played with aggression and precision, as the guys do here, it all fits.

Mark Watson

Mark's an excellent comedian who (a bit like Bill Bailey) treads a line between intelligence and whimsy very successfully.   I often find his under-the-breath asides as funny as the main punchlines.  

Here he is making some very entertaining observations on a trip to the Sydney Comedy Festival.

Rage Against The Machine

I have a confession to make: I don't really understand rap music.   

Since there are only four main ingredients in music (melody, harmony, rhythm and dynamics), the idea that a musical cake could taste better by discarding one of the ingredients (melody) doesn't make sense to me.

I realise the importance of rap in how it connects to millions of otherwise alienated people, but I find it hard to enjoy as a listening experience.

So how is it that I spend so much time listening to Rage Against The Machine then, given that vocalist Zach de la Rocha raps, shouts or screams over every song?  Well, it's because I think the rest of the band and their riffs are so damned good.  (Sorry Zach.)

Steven Moffat

Steven is a comedy writer with a long and glittering CV.  He started with the (BAFTA award-winning) 'Press Gang' then wrote the brilliant (but woefully under-promoted) farce 'Joking Apart' before moving onto 'Coupling', 'Sherlock', 'Dr. Who' etc. etc.

He's great with the one-liners but it's his plotting that impresses me most.  He's particularly good with plots involving phones.  In this clip from 'Joking Apart', Tracy calls a TV phone-in about divorce, only to find that the expert on the line is oddly familiar.

I reckon there are more clever comic ideas in this one clip than most sitcoms manage in a whole series.  It's a fabulous performance from Tracie Bennett too.  Enjoy!

Rush

Rush made lots of albums over a career spanning decades, but my favourite period was from 'Hemispheres' and 'Permanent Waves' into 'Moving Pictures'.  

There were only three guys in the band, so there was plenty of space for virtuoso drummer Neil Peart to plug the gaps with insanely difficult drum fills.

It's hard to pick a favourite, but I've gone for 'Spirit of Radio'.  What an intro!

A-Ha

It might seem a bit strange for a rock music fan like me to be celebrating the eighties Norwegian pop trio, A-Ha.  

But to me, this song, 'Take On Me', is perfect pop.  An interesting keyboard riff, some nice chord progressions and a clever melody are elevated by Morten Harket's remarkable vocal which spans two-and-a-half octaves in the chorus.

(I think a rocked-up guitar version could work too.)

Status Quo

At school in the 1980s, it was impossible to be cool if you liked Quo.  (But the kids who tried to follow what was cool were generally arses anyway so I didn't really care. )

Status Quo was the first band I fell in love with.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old when my dad came home from Woolworths with one of their LPs and gave it a spin.  The excitement of those raw guitar rhythms from Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi had me hooked, and that's what made me want to be a guitarist.

The band went through various phases over the years and some of them weren't to my taste.  But I never tire of their mid-to-late seventies albums, especially 'On The Level', 'Quo' and 'Blue For You'.

I think their drummer, John Coghlan, was more fundamental to the Quo sound than people realised.  His control of the hi-hat really enhanced the rhythms that Rick, Francis and Alan were playing on the guitars.