Feb 28: The Global Jukebox #2

Another area of the wonderful Global Jukebox site is the Education Area.

This has a useful visualisation which you can interact with. 

Have a play.

Feb 28: A-Z summary

Thanks for following through the A-Z of the bands I listen to the most, as suggested by the Spotify algorithm which has been trained for about 15 years now and thousands of hours of music choices.

Thanks to those who have also been suggesting their own A-Zs  - I'd hoped for a few more.

I will update this page periodically...

Some of the acts and bands that have been mentioned are:

A - Aaron Copland, Abba, All Saints, Ash

B - Baxter Dury, Bad Bunny, Ben Folds Five, Blondie

C - Crazy P, Coldplay, Craven Faults, Catatonia, The Cure

D - Def Leppard (Sheffield based - seen them there, and also in a Wes Anderson exhibition), Drake, Dido, Dusty Springfield

E - Elliott Smith, Eminem, Elastica, Erasure

F - Fila Brasilia, Fleetwood Mac, Faith Hill, Faithless

G - Girl Ray, Green Day, George Michael, Groove Armada

H - The Hanging Stars, Harry Styles, Hear'Say, Hothouse Flowers

I - I am Kloot, Imagine Dragons, Iron Maiden, INXS

J - Joe Jackson (my son is heading to see him play live later in the year), James Arthur, James Morrison

K - The Kinks, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Kylie Minogue, Kate Bush

L - Lewsberg, Linkin Park, Liberty X, Lightning Seeds

M - Martin Taylor, Michael Jackson, Macy Gray

N - Nick Lowe, Nivana, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Natalie Imruglia

O - Oscar Petersen, Olivia Dean, Olly Murs, Oasis

P - Psychoderek, Paul McCartney, Placebo, Pulp

Q - Queens of the Stone Age, Quincy Jones

R - Runrig, Roxy Music, Raye

S - Sweet, Saja Boys, Steps, Stone Roses

T - Todd Rundgren, Taylor Swift, Terrorvision, Tears for Fears

U - UFO (seen them), U2

V - Venga Boys, Voice of the Beehive, Vitamin String Quartet (they play instrumental versions of Rush classics, and do a good job. Rush are in the news this week.

They were on the front cover of The Guardian yesterday.

Here's one of their Rush covers:

W - Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan (featured on the blog), Westlife

X - XTC, Xzibit

Y - Young Gun Silver Fox, Yungblud

Z - ZZ Top, Zara Larsson

Not too late to tell me yours and they will be added to this post as updates as March progresses.

Feb 27: Z is for Frank Zappa

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the last 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm. This is the final feature... and comes with a parental advisory.

Frank Zappa rounds off the A-Z.... I often use Zappa quotes for my geography presentations - either to start them off, or to finish them off...

Here's one...

Zappa was a real musical maverick. He recorded well over a hundred albums, and was constantly recording, rehearsing and sharing his philosophy to a wide range of audiences.

As his Wikipedia entry says:

"His work, which predominantly features electric guitar work, is characterised by nonconformity, improvisation, sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture".... plus lots of smut...

I have quite a few favourite albums - he recorded so many - but they are often NSFW, with scatalogical, misogynistic or sexual interludes... which were a big part of his live concerts as well... He went through various phases, with improvisation, jazz and then rock, with a phase working with George Duke, and violinists including Jean Luc Ponty and Eddie Jobson (him again). 

Check out instrumentals such as 'RDNZL' for example from his jazz phase.

If you want to know more about him, this Medium post is a useful introduction.

He was a countercultural icon, a pioneer in progressive rock and jazz rock, one of the greatest guitarists ever to grace the Earth, an often-controversial lyrical provocateur, and arguably the finest composer of his generation. He was also almost supernaturally prolific.

He often broke the barriers of polite society (and strained the barriers of good taste) in his earlier material, but starting with Sheik Yerbouti, Frank Zappa was writing lyrics deliberately meant to offend just about everyone.

So you have been warned... 

I listened to these a great deal over 40 years ago as a student in Huddersfield with the Bent Street gang...

There were some key albums which came out in the late 1970s and which we then listened to just a few years after they came out. These were also recorded with virtuoso musicians who Zappa drilled for hour after hour to get their playing just right, so that it sounded spontaneous.

Joe's Garage, Acts I, II and III

Tinseltown Rebellion

You are what you is

There are so many classic riffs and lyrics here, but caution is needed...

To finish, here's his version of Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' from an album of his which I have called 'The Best Band you never heard in your Life'. It's one of the few tracks I could safely include... the brass version of the famous guitar solo is a highlight...

And one of his last recordings from 1986 before his early death featured this Synclavier classic...

G-Spot Tornado - turn it up loud!

And, given that Zappa recorded a lot of albums, with orchestras, here's an orchestra managing to play that composition...

One reason I mention Zappa in my geography presentations, as I have done at numerous events is a connection with my own thinking on teaching and curriculum development.

Zappa's total output is unified by a conceptual continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases, ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. He also called it a "conceptual continuity", meaning that any project or album was part of a larger project. Everything was connected, and musical themes and lyrics reappeared in different form on later albums.

I try to plan curriculum so that themes reoccur and connections pop up - sometimes momentarily and other times for longer, and sometimes they may not even be a big part of the lessons, but I know they're there...

A full discography would include literally hundreds of albums...

Here's a sample that AI threw up....

And if you could let me know your own A-Z of suggestions that would be great - just open your streaming service of choice, and see what crops up...

More on this tomorrow...

Feb 27: British Music Experience - Liverpool

This is a museum in Liverpool. It is located in the old Cunard building on the Pier Head.

As the UK’s only museum dedicated to celebrating British music, the British Music Experience boasts an unrivalled collection of memorabilia, stage outfits, instruments, images and footage. 

The museum charts the beginnings, rise and influence of British pop from 1945 to the present day and includes outfits worn by artists from Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury and Dusty Springfield, to Adam Ant and The Spice Girls and musical instruments played by some of the world’s most renowned artists from Queen's Roger Taylor and Marc Bolan, to Ian Curtis and the Sex Pistols. 

You can even find the original statues from the Brits and the Apple Corp front door from Saville Row.

The Museum includes galleries, interactive zones, audio visual experiences and hologram performances. You can get hands-on in the Interactive Studio by learning to play guitar, drums or keyboards, dance your way through the eras in the Dance the Decades studio and get your voice studio-ready in the Vocal Booth.

The BME was initially spearheaded by renowned music promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, CBE, best known for the ground breaking Live Aid concert of 1985 which raised over £140m to fight world poverty. Harvey Goldsmith and the Trustees recognised a void in the music and cultural sector and wanted to give people the opportunity to both learn and celebrate the history of British popular music.

To fulfil the Museum’s charitable purposes, the BME through the support of bands, estates and management has amassed an unrivalled collection of rock and pop artefacts used to curate the rich history of popular British music alongside a social and political backdrop including:

• 600+ stage outfits, instruments, hand- written lyrics, and other objects brought to life with interactivity
• 6000 images, artwork & video clips embedded in a digital timeline and archive
• Musical timeline mirroring social history, politics, geography and technology in the UK

The BME has the only collection in the world to chart the rise of British Popular Music from its roots in Jazz to the present day and archive the successes of one the UK’s most creative and successful industries. After a 5 year run at The O2, London, the BME is now permanently resides in Liverpool, a UNESCO City of Music.

Has anyone been? 

Your reviews are welcome.

I will try to get over to Liverpool sometime this year.

Feb 27: Soundtrack suggestions #1 - Trainspotting et al

Back on January the 14th I added a Google Form which asked people about their favourite film soundtracks.

The music is often a major part of any film.

Here's the first batch of suggestions from people.

Here are a few of the suggestions that people added to the comments or form:

Trainspotting- distills that mid 90's era perfectly - with tunes such as Underworld's 'Born Slippy', Iggy Pop and New Order.

Casino: because the music matches each scene perfectly.

Hans Zimmer gets a few mentions including for 'Inception' and 'Interstellar'

Matt Podbury mentions "The Fountain" by Clint Mansell as being "mind-blowing".

And how about "A Hard Day's Night", which is described as follows:

A Hard Day's Night captures the Fab Four at a moment in time: a moment when they first went HUGE. It's four friends riding the wave and enjoying every minute of it. And when Ringo cuts loose and goes parading it's rock-doc meets psychogeography - Ringo walking along the towpath at Putney & looking over the river to a London that doesn't exist anymore.

Once Upon A Time In The West by Ennio Morricone. It drives the narrative(s) and is haunting as personal dreams and the American dream unravel. There's also a mention for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - also by Ennio Morricone

Jade said: Drive has an amazing soundtrack staring Ryan Gosling. 

If I had to have a close second the album soundtrack to Jackie Brown is amazing! The sounds fits her character to a tee she is such a dude.  

Jaws - the most iconic and instantly memorable associated with a film.

More to come in a future post...

Feb 26: Ticket Stub #4: Big Country

Before the days when you have your ticket as a QR code or bar code on your phone - even animated for particular venues such as the O2 - you got a proper ticket which you could keep.

I'm sharing some of my old ticket stubs which I took some pictures of a few years ago when I came across a box in the loft when we moved house.

This was the only time that I saw Big Country play. 

Front row on the balcony at the City Hall, which gives you an awesome view...

Obviously there's a geographical element to their name, and many of their best songs as well.

They were fronted by Stuart Adamson, who was from Manchester, but whose Scottish parents moved back to Fife when he was four years old. He was also in a band called The Skids before forming Big Country.

Their first album was an immediate success and came out while I was an undergraduate in Huddersfield and got played a lot at the time in the student house where I spent a lot of time. The 'bagpipe' guitars were achieved using a 

Mike Oldfield also added 'bagpipe guitars' to the list of instruments on his albums.

The drumming of Mark Brzezicki was a major part of their sound - very 'busy' and precise.

Here's one of their songs that I particularly liked at the time: a 12" version of 'Wonderland', which came out in 1984.

When I saw them, the drummer wasn't Mark who had left by then. Simon Phillips later played with them for a while.

A good timeline of their career here.

A favourite of mine is the soundtrack to the film 'Restless Natives'. This was a film made by Bill Forsyth, who also made several of my favourite films, including 

I also like the bounce and the bass of 'Rememberance Day' (with its weird spelling). Here it is being performed in 1986. I loved the bass playing of Tony Butler.

Very sadly, Stuart took his own life in 2001. 

The band still continues playing, but it's not really Big Country of course without Stuart.

A street in a small town in Fife is named after him.

Source: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fife/4376146/stuart-adamson-crescent-fife-street-tribute/

Feb 26: Y is for Yes

An A-Z of bands suggested by the Spotify algorithm. 

Coming to the end now... still chance to share yours.

I've been listening to YES's music since the late 1970s.

I've had the pleasure of seeing them play live quite a few times over the years too in various line-ups, and also seen some of the various incarnations of the band, and also some of the spin offs including Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe (with Tony Levin), the Buggles version, and solo sets as well, such as Steve Howe in a church in York and Rick Wakeman in a theatre in King's Lynn where Shakespeare also performed.

YES has had a number of line-ups over the years, but the classic line-up featured Steve Howe, Alan White, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson.

The last time I saw the band live was in Nottingham and it featured everyone apart from Rick Wakeman, who was replaced by Igor Khoroshev. I have my ticket stub from the gig which will feature on the blog too.

His parts are now played by Geoff Downes - which continues the Buggles influence.

The early albums included Tony Kaye and Bill Bruford.

For me, the classic album is 'Close to the Edge'. It features the most interesting musical arrangements of tracks, with real power and emotion.

Another great track is 'Soundchaser' from the album 'Relayer'. A great busy proggy song...

I'm a fan of the Rabin era albums with an 80s' feel... '90125' and 'Talk' (1994) - some good moments there. I remember playing it loud ...

Plus I like the fact that Eddie Jobson joined Yes. recorded the video for 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' and then left... and had to be edited out... although he can still be seen... Eddie will appear several times in the blog, as he's one of my favourite musicians.

One of their later albums which divides opinion with fans is 'Union', particularly as some of the playing was done by session musicians and not the band, and it had a lot of different producers and messing around, plus a lot of session musicians augmenting the sound. Rick Wakeman apparently referred to the album as 'Onion' because it made him cry.

Having said that, the tour they did to support the album was excellent. I remember their circular stage at Wembley - which is a bit of a shed. I had a decent seat and the sound wasn't too terrible - that was the only time I saw Trevor Rabin shredding - missing out on the later tour with Anderson and Wakeman.

Wakeman famously ordered a curry one night during the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour: a nicely geographical name for an album if ever there was one.

According to the Music Radar piece:

Mid-song in fact. A chicken vindaloo, pilau rice, poppadoms, a stuffed paratha, Bombay aloo and a bhindi bhaji to be precise. All laid out atop the Hammond, keyboards and Mellotron in front of the audience and a band of vegetarians…

The central inspiration for Tales From Topographic Oceans was Paramahansa Yogananda’s (1893-1952) book Autobiography Of A Yogi. 

Jon Anderson was deeply impressed by Yogi’s biography, which also inspired Apple’s Steve Jobs apparently.

This album was one of many that had Roger Dean's logo and artwork on the cover - often featuring 'impossible' topography, such as the classic cover for possibly their finest album - I played my vinyl copy of this album a lot: 'Close to the Edge'. This was released in 1972.

They have had their geographical moments as well.

The album 'Tormato' , released in 1978, had an image of Yes Tor on its cover, and a map of the Tor and other landscapes nearby printed on the inner liner.

There's a disputed story about the creation of the cover:

Howe pitched the album's original title of Yes Tor, referring to Yes Tor, the second highest hill on Dartmoor, an area of moorland in Devon, England. During the development of the album, a tomato was thrown at the artwork resulting in its title and cover being changed accordingly. RickWakeman claimed to have done this as he recalled the band were disappointed with the initial artwork despite finding it expensive. Steve Howe claimed it was a Hipgnosis employee who threw the tomato, which insulted him. This was corroborated by Alan White, who stated that the band was unable to decide on a cover and the tomato was thrown by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey Powell - who I've already mentioned: 

"I think Po ... put a picture of a guy with divining sticks on the front. Po took the artwork home one night and decided it wasn't working. So he threw a tomato at it".

More Yes-related posts to come as the year progresses.... such as the Trevor Horn / 'Buggles' era...

Which 'Y' band comes up on your algorithm?

Feb 26: Africa...

This came into my feed earlier... so of course it had to be added...

Feb 25: X is for XTC

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the next 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm. There aren't many X bands.

"XTC were clever and came from Swindon, so therefore we were crap ... I was always jealous of bands like Talking Heads, who were doing similar things to us but were from New York, and therefore cool. But the English don't like normal people doing intelligent things."

Andy Partridge (2004)

I used to listen to XTC quite a lot, particularly in the 1990s, in car journeys heading for the Peak District or in and around Rotherham and Sheffield, particularly Moorgate and in the company of my friend Caroline. They produced a lot of very fine albums.

XTC were founded in Swindon in 1972, with the two founding members: Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, growing up on a large council estate in the city. Their style is a blend of various musical influences and styles.

Their breakthrough track in 1979 involved them 'Making Plans for Nigel', (with its line about British Steel) which established their sound. I was 15 at the time and remember it being played quite a lot. 

My dad worked for British Steel at the time... but he isn't called Nigel.

One of my favourite XTC albums was produced by Todd Rundgren and is called 'Skylarking'.

It has quite a nature-based theme including referencing the cycle of the seasons in an early song. The production of the album was not without its problems.

Check out the Smartest Monkeys from their album Nonsuch: named after a large house which was demolished 

Another classic album is 'Oranges and Lemons', which was influenced by The Beatles in their more psychedelic phase. 

This included some memorable tracks including the off-kilter 'Mayor of Simpleton', 'King for a Day' and the final track 'Chalkhills and Children'.

Here's a review of 'Skylarking', which is described as a "pastoral" album.

 

I'll finish with one of my favourite of their song, a letter to God... 'Dear God'.

David Gregory from the band also played with the progressive band 'Big Big Train' (who will feature on the blog a number of times).

Partial XTC Discography - AI generated

What X would be in your algorithm? There aren't many to choose from to be fair....

Feb 25: Silent album

A silent album was released this week in 2025.

It was 'released' by over 1000 artists.

Here's Sir Paul McCartney explaining why he is against AI being used in this way. Of course, he used AI himself - or did he? Read this.

In 2023, Sir Paul and Beatles drummer Sir Ringo Starr used AI to extract the vocals from an unfinished demo left by John Lennon to produce a new song, Now and Then. The song, billed as the Beatles' final release, drew widespread praise and was nominated for two Grammys and a Brit award.

"I think AI is great, and it can do lots of great things," Sir Paul said. "We took an old cassette of John's and cleaned his voice up so it sounded like it had just been recorded yesterday. So it has its uses. But it shouldn't rip creative people off. There's no sense in that."

The album project called 'Make it Fair' was a protest about the use of copyrighted music to train AI models, which could then produce music which copied their style. Music generates billions of pounds to the UK's economy, and is also part of the UK's 'soft power'.

This was the 'track listing' on the back of the album...

The message is clear to Goverment, who have done *checks notes - nothing about it.

Generative AI can produce 'music' but it's not really music. Nick Cave has spoken about this elsewhere.

Sting warned about them back in 2023.

The campaign website is here, where you can find out about the artists who contributed to the project.

And don't forget that John Cage got there first with the silent piece of music back in 1952.

And here's William Marx performing the piece:

Feb 24: W is also for Whitby

David Boulter has created a new album released on Clay Pipe Music.

He is a musician who uses a range of electronic instruments and sounds.

Like many musicians who don't have the backing of major labels with huge marketing budgets, he makes use of Bandcamp to sell his music.

His latest album is a sound portrait of Whitby. This is a place that I know well.

It can be purchased from Bandcamp.

As with all Clay Pipe Music albums, the graphic design is excellent.

The album cover features imagery that is connected to the town: a place I know well and have spent quite a lot of time there over the years.

A KLOFMAG post.

Rather than relying solely on field recordings, Boulter masterfully reinterprets the coastal atmosphere through instrumentation. Tracks evoke the experience of walking the Cinder Track (once a railway line connecting Scarborough to Whitby – l've walked along that path north of Sandsend and it's a very other-worldly landscape) or sitting on the beach, weaving a tapestry of sound that reflects on history, the enduring landscape, and humanity’s impact. 

“At a time when it seems we are pushing our planet to the edge,” Boulter muses, “I felt such calm and connection to the landscape – and how simple beauty can be. 

But we can change.” “Whitby” is a poignant reminder of nature’s resilience and a subtle call for reflection.

It has added to the intriguing and creative roster of artists, and catalogue of albums which have been released by Clay Pipe Music.

Feb 24: The Global Jukebox #1

From this globe come voices from every region of human migration and settlement. They attest to the many ways of life we humans have carved from our earthly and social landscapes. Their songs have great feeling, meaning and power. In them, we find our ancestors, our families, and ourselves.

You can enter as a guest.

Pick Explore the World and you will be taken to a globe with circles. 

Click a circle to engage with cultures from around the world.

e.g. Cape Verde

https://theglobaljukebox.org/area/1050801

Feb 24: W is for The Who

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the next 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm.

The Who have been around for decades, and have just concluded a final tour (although they've said that before) and were also in the news in early 2025 for sacking their drummer... twice.

They were founded in 1964 - the year after my birth. They were a massively successful band, playing festivals such as Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival. Their aesthetic grew out of the Mod subculture.

I was pleased to catch the band on one of their final performances in the UK.  

They played at Sandringham House in the summer of 2023, supported by the Lightning Seeds and Richard Ashcroft - who later went on to support Oasis in their comeback gigs.

They were accompanied by an orchestra and performed a selection of songs from Tommy. 

This is my son's favourite film and the music and visuals were excellent. The Wikipedia entry describes the various film locations used for the shooting of the film.

The film was directed by Ken Russell. Pete Townshend received an Oscar nomination for the music.

Image: Alan Parkinson

Here's a much earlier version of 'The Who', performing, when they had all the band members and had such power. This was the final performance of Keith Moon.

This 1989 performance features the excellent Simon Phillips on drums. I have seen him performing with Mike Oldfield and he has appeared on a great many albums as a session musician.

For many there are some key songs in the set that they hope to be played. They include songs from 'Tommy' and also 'Quadrophenia' - which is based on the battles between Mods and Rockers down in Brighton.

They played a final tour in the USA - with no UK dates - as they were massive in the country. One sign of this is that they were the half-time act at the Superbowl - one of the major cultural moments in the year - back in 2010, playing a medley of songs...

And this post finishes with one of my favourite of their tracks, and one that they ended their concert at Sandringham with... one of the last times they played in the UK it turns out...

Who are the 'W' bands in your algorithm?

Update

Loren Gold, who has toured with 'The Who' for a long time, and was part of the SuperBowl show that I shared above has been announced as joining Rush for their tour next year... did I mention I have a ticket?

Feb 23: Album Cover Locations #4: Animals

OK, so I've already had a Pink Floyd album in this feature, but this is another iconic one.

For decades after this, the building (which is a power station) lay empty after it was decommissioned.  There were numerous plans for its redevelopment, but eventually money was raised for its redevelopment.

Here's an image of mine from 2015 when work was underway.

It's now finished and a high-end destination for shopping and entertainment. I recommend the beers and sausage rolls at the Brewery.

There was also the classic escape of an inflatable pig called Algie.

Images:Alan Parkinson

Feb 23: OK, so... what do I do now?

OK, so Rush are expanding their 50 something tour to the UK.

I first saw them play live almost 45 years ago...

How much are the tickets?

Do I really want to go when Neil is not on the drum riser?

Will they fill in some of those gaps if these dates sell out and perhaps go to some better venues? Hmmm....

Answer to my conundrum...

You go onto the Rush pre-sale (code R50) and get yourself a ticket for the O2 at a 'reasonable' price - comparable with other tickets I've paid for this year, such as David Byrne in 2 weeks' time... more on that to come....

“We are thrilled to support the ‘Fifty Something‘ tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honor Neil’s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist. Neil’s musicianship was singular. Compositions of intricacy and power that expanded what rhythm itself could express. As both drummer and lyricist, he was irreplaceable. Inimitable in his artistry, and unmatched in the depth and imagination he brought to the lyrics that inspired and moved so many, he profoundly shaped how fans connected with him and the band, giving voice and meaning to their own lives. As the band enters this new chapter, it promises to be truly unforgettable. We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again.”

Carrie Nuttall-Peart and Olivia Peart, Neil‘s widow and daughter.

And here's my ticket from when I saw them in 1983....

I had to pay more than £6 this time round...

Feb 23: V is for Vertical Horizon

An A-Z of bands suggested by the Spotify algorithm. 

This American band's greatest chart success came back in 2000 when the title track from their album 'Everything you Want' went to number one in the USA.

The band was founded by students at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. It has had quite a few members alongside the core members. With a little more support and luck it could well have been much bigger, but I like all of their albums.

Here's that most famous track from 2000. My guess is you may never have heard it before.

They also recorded several pieces of music with the late Neil Peart from Rush, including 'Instamatic'. The enthusiasm of Matt Scannell for this track was really wonderful to see - I posted it on the anniversary of Neil's passing.

Peart co-wrote the song 'Even Now' on 'Burning the Days', released in 2009. I like this a lot.

Vertical Horizon's discography

What V comes up on your algorithm? Tell me in the comments

Or fill in the Google Form below:

Type each letter in turn and see what emerges...

Update

After quite a few years away, Vertical Horizon released new music this week and announced some live dates.

Here's the new music:

Feb 22: Guest Blogger Carl Lee #6: Carols in North Sheffield Pubs

Another guest post from Carl Lee... this one should perhaps have been posted later in the year... but let's put it here now...

Carols in North Sheffield Pubs

In the early 1980s I lived in Malin Bridge, a suburb of Sheffield on its north-eastern border. It is where  the Rivelin and Loxley valleys merge before joining the Upper Don in Hillsborough. I was a student at Sheffield City Polytechnic, and a southerner. Malin Bridge was very much working class Yorkshire.

Many of the early water-wheels that powered the early metal works were found on the rivers Loxley and Rivelin.

One December evening we went into our local pub, The Yew Tree, and it was abuzz with noise, singing, folk singing Christmas songs, carols maybe, whatever, it was it was not to our taste, we had a pint in the snug and left. That was my first glimpse into the centuries-old tradition in north Sheffield of singing folk carols in pubs in weeks leading up to Christmas. 

In Sheffield this is as traditional as getting your best cutlery out on Christmas Day and it is a very local 'local'. 

Not in the south or east of the city, maybe drifting into the Derbyshire Peak District and north towards Stocksbridge, but basically the villages and suburbs abutting Hillsborough and stretching out along the River Rivelin, Loxley and Upper Don.

Tradition can sometimes be a sticky concept. Much of what is now considered traditional about a British Christmas has a history no longer than two centuries, often far less, and has often been drawn from older, and sometimes non- Christian, mid-winter festivities. In 1843, when Charles Dickens published his now perennial backbone of British Christmas tradition ‘A Christmas Carol’, an appetite for re-evaluation and reinvention of old traditions was afoot in British society. It was drawing on old folk traditions and as cultural critic John Ruskin sniffed at the time it was an re-imagining of Christmas as “mistletoe and pudding”.

Today carols are an intrinsic part of Christmas, the most famous of which are learnt by rote from an early age in school if not in the home. Although it should be noted that in the 18th century ‘While shepherds watched their flocks’ was the only Christmas hymn permitted to be sung in Anglican churches. All other carols were considered too secular. 

Image: not the Yew Tree pub in Malin Bridge, but Ely Cathedral - Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license on Flickr.

Carol services are therefore a relatively recent addition to British Christmas tradition with the first formal carol service said to be have been held at Truro Cathedral in 1880. 

Today whether Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or atheist, any schoolchild in Britain who doesn’t at least know the words of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ or ‘Away in A Manger’ has either has had a terrible attendance record at school or hasn’t paid any attention whatsoever. These ubiquitous carols are the Church’s canon, which was developed in late Victorian times but the Sheffield carols pre-date that period by centuries.

These are the carols of the English folk tradition that are sung in pubs rather than places of worship. From mid November to the end of December across a number of pubs in the north west suburbs and villages of Sheffield, Bradfield, Worrall, Lodge Moor, Oughtibridge, Ecclesfield, Dungworth and perhaps most famously Stannington folk gather together to sing folk carols to the accompaniment of whatever instruments are bought to the evening; fiddles are particularly favoured. 

Christmas carols in the Holly Bush pub Stannington, Sheffield - 'Hail Smiling Morn'

In recent years a resurgence of this tradition has seen it drift further into the city of Sheffield with even two of my local boozers in Nether Edge, coming to the party. 

Local media now proclaims that this daily, multi-pub public singing extravaganza is what a ‘Sheffield’ Christmas is about.

Guides are printed and ethno-musicologists come from elsewhere to sup Bradfield Farmers Blonde and soak in some folk authenticity, although some might grumble about local brass bands sometimes getting in on the act, as this was not how it was 'back in the day'.

If this was in Andalucía or Sicily, Sunday magazines would extol its virtues on the travel pages but it takes place on the dark, often wet and windy, evenings of terraces and villages that stretch from Sheffield into the south Pennine hills, and pretty much nowhere else in the UK - not quite like this in any case.

The leading academic expert on this is Professor Emeritus Ian Russell whose 1977 doctorate was based on the singing traditions of West Sheffield. 

Professor Russell observes that “carolling in pubs was, and is, primarily festive, seasonal, unrestrained emphasising sociability and conviviality”. The songs sung are folk songs and adaptions of carols within the existing cannon, most folk in the UK would not recognise many, they are essentially local to the tradition and have been passed down across generations. Variations occur between villages, and even between pubs in the same village.

Such hyper-localised musical traditions are not unique to Sheffield, the UK, Europe or anywhere but they are increasingly assailed by mass media homogenisation and at Christmas this appears particularly so, especially musically with Mariah Carey, Slade and George Michael leading the corporate charge in Britain. 

Yet a fiddle or two, a beer of two and some, often out of tune, hearty singing with your neighbours and friends seems as Sheffield as it gets, until somebody mentions football, but that’s for Boxing Day.

“We singers make bold, as in days of old,

To celebrate Christmas and bring good cheer;

Glad tidings we bring of Messiah, our King,

So we wish you a merry Christmas”.

Sources:

2025 listing of carols in pubs in and around Sheffield

Hidden Carols: A Christmas Singing Tradition in the English Pennines. 

There is also a tradition spreading into the Peak District and the Hope Valley.

One carol is called 'Stannington'

Carl Lee is retired but was a lecturer at The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, taught A level Geography for 20 years at Sheffield College, is the author of five books about geography and has a PhD in economic geography. He has been nuts about music since buying his first single in 1973: 10cc’s 'Rubber Bullets' if you were wondering.

Update

BBC News - December 2025 - 

Also the Repair Shop at Christmas featured a repair of a book that had been used in the services for many years.

Feb 22: U is for U2

An A-Z of bands from Spotify, based on the algorithm which suggests the best match to each letter of the alphabet.

I've listened to U2's music since 1983-ish. This goes back to their live album at Red Rocks. 

 

My first U2 experiences were back in the 1980s with albums like Boy. I remember bringing in the New Year in a holiday cottage in Wales in the late 1980s with 'New Year's Day'.

There are a few favourite songs of mine, including a live version of 'City of Blinding Lights'.

I saw U2 play in Sheffield on their 360 degrees tour in August 2010. I was in the city for another reason.

This was an outdoor concert, and their first in the city.

U2 started out in the city of Dublin in 1976.

Brendan shared a U2 story

Best concert: 

U2 at Wembley on Friday 12th June 1987, the day after the general election result. U2 were at the peak of their powers. Support included The Pretenders, Spear of Destiny and World Party. We’d tried to get tickets but it was sold out so we thought we’d go and listen to it from outside. We then realise that there was a hole in a wall above a fire escape so we managed to shin up and climb through the hole where it opened up on the roof of toilet block, which wasn’t very promising. However, we jumped down without injury and just ran before anyone could catch us and dived down one of the stairwasy onto the pitch just as everything was starting. For ‘Bullet The Blue Sky’, Bono changed the lyrics for the spoken section at the end of the song, saying ‘and they run and run, into the arms of…Margaret Thatcher’. The place erupted.


Bono has been involved in a great many political campaigns to some degree, and their shows are also very political.

I remember his involvement in the Make Poverty History campaign. A lot of us wore white wristbands for a while. There was an apocryphal story about an incident at a gig which is explored here at Snopes.

U2 Discography - AI generated.

What 'U' bands does your algorithm throw up?

What are your favourite U2 memories or tracks?

Update

Since I scheduled this post, U2 received a new EP - their first music for a long time, called 'Days of Ash' with a song called 'American Obituary'.

Feb 22: Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks

Tickets went on sale on Friday for the UK tour of Jon Anderson and his accompanying musicians 'The Band Geeks'.

I first heard Jon sing live in the 1980s with Yes. 

I was able to see the classic line up, with Alan White, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. I also saw a range of other musicians play in the line-up, including Buggles-era, and ABWH etc. 

More to come when I reach 'Y' in my A-Z of music for February.

I had access to the pre-sale so purchased mine on Wednesday, and went for the classic venue which is the London Palladium. 

Here's the band playing the Yes track 'Roundabout'.

For those in the know, the opening notes of this song were also the first part of the theme tune for the Brazil series I used back in the 1980s and into the 1990s.

This particular programme was used for years... called "Skyscrapers and Slums" - a term we would not use today as these are essentially people's homes.

It features Mauro "the show shine boy" who had dreams of being a pilot... one of the great mysteries of the geography world back then - in the days before the internet - was whether he made it... 

Who else remembers Mauro??

Feb 22: U is for U:K

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the next 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm.

U:K is a short-lived 'supergroup' of technically proficient musicians. They recorded several albums including a live one.

Japan had more visits by Jobson and crew than the country they were named after. The band had a classic line-up, although in recent concerts, only two were from the original.

This features the late, great John Wetton on bass and vocals. He also played with Asia - which he founded. Previous bands included Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, 

The guitarist was the late, great Allan Holdsworth, a pioneer of guitar synthesisers.

The drummer was originally Bill Bruford, who also played with Yes and Genesis as well as Earthworks. He retired a few years ago, but not for long. I've seen him play live a number of times with both of those bands.

On the clip below, the drums are played by multi-instrumentalist Marco Minnemann is an awesome drummer who is capable of incredible rhythmic patterns in complex time-signatures. I remember watching a clip of him auditioning for Dream Theater.

The big draw for me is Eddie Jobson. He is a multi-instrumentalist, classically trained and a phenomenon, and will appear elsewhere on the blog.

Here they are playing one of my favourites of theirs.

And this has just been added to YouTube because Eddie is going to be performing live for the first time in some years.

It's a live performance of 'Carrying no Cross'.

From Eddie Jobson's "Four Decades" solo concert in 2013, with special guests John Wetton and Marco Minnemann. 

Other guests appearing at the concert included Sonja Kristina (Curved Air), Alex Machacek (U.K.), Aaron Lippert (UKZ) and Ric Fierabracci performing a broad range of music from Jobson's forty-year career.

I have this concert on CD.

Feb 21: T is for Tangerine Dream

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series through February. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm.

Tangerine Dream is a band whose line-up has changed repeatedly over the years, but which continues to this day, and will continue indefinitely because its about the music and the idea and not the particular people who make up the band at any one point. The Wikipedia page explores all the musicians who have contributed to the project. I first saw them over 40 years ago.

It was founded by Edgar Froese and other key musicians for some years were Christopher Franke and Johannes Schmoelling.

The current line up is made up of the multi-instrumentalists Thorsten Quaeschning, violins from Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick - the most recent addition.

Their White Eagle album from 1982 has a nicely geographical front cover. The deluxe version has some excellent bonus tracks as well. This is one of my favourites.

I was very pleased to catch them playing a 50th anniversary concert based around their album 'Phaedra' at the Barbican in 2024. 

The 2nd half of the concert (after an hour long performance of the main album as a session) was full of hits and started with a storming 'No Happy Endings'. This is on the soundtrack to the video-game Grand Theft Auto V.

Here's a live performance of Madagasmala.

 

There is also this video featuring the last live performance by Edgar Froese in June 2014 and a cracker of a song 'The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green' featuring two of the current line-up.

Thorsten Quaeschning released an album with Steve Rothery of Marillion as a duo called Bioscope in 2025. It's very good also.

One of my favourite tracks played live is called The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green. This was often the final track played at gigs and this recording is particularly special as it was the final time that 

In January 2026, they released a recording of a special 50th anniversary concert at the Barbican where they played their album Phaedra plus a selection of other tracks. It's in my collection. I was there at the event!

Discography

There isn't room to put the full discography of albums as they have released over 100 I believe... 

Here's just a few ... from older albums to more recent ones...

AI generated so there will be some errors.

The penultimate line-up played a concert at the opening of a new concert venue, and the resulting gig is available free of charge here. It's wonderful...

What 'T' does your algorithm throw up? 

Let me know in the comments

And also your Tangerine Dream memories....