The Song For Today by Jimmie Oliver (free ebook reader for ipad TXT) 📖

displaying the new crossover sound of guitar music that you could dance to. It's very hard indeed to sit still to this three-minute piece.
{Also on this date, on Good Friday 1998 the Belfast Agreement is signed}

APRIL 11TH
Guns Of Navarone by The Specials (1980)
available on the album Stereo-Typical
Movies rarely 'move' me. One of the few exceptions is the closing sequence to the 'Guns Of Navarone' when the British ships boom out their appreciation at the collapse of the notorious guns from the cliff top. Ah yes, it almost makes you feel proud to be British. Fast-forwarding half a dozen years, the film's theme music would find itself covered by legendary Jamaican ska outfit, the Skatalites. Their own recording would be re-interpreted a dozen years later when a live version appeared on the Specials' 'Too Much Too Young EP'. Although it was 'Too Much Too Young' that attracted attention, the other four covers on the extended player were a brilliant commercial for the latest dance craze - ska music. Prominent among them is the 'Guns Of Navarone' which featured the Anglo-Jamaican trombonist Rico Rodriguez. Neville Staples, who was born this day in 1956, weighs in with his own unique ad-libbing (or toasting), pre-dating the emergence of rap. A former work colleague called David stated that it was his intention that this moon-stomping song be played at his funeral. Respect to you sir. Now that's what I call going out in style.
{Also on this day, in 1979 Uganda's military dictator, Idi Amin, is overthrown}

APRIL 12TH
He's On The Phone by Saint Etienne (1995)
available on the album Too Young To Die - The Singles
Sarah Cracknell was born on this date in 1967 in Chelmsford. This 'Essex girl' became the latest in a growing list of females to front pop groups, following the likes of Debbie Harry, Pauline Black, Chrissie Hynde, Wendy James, and Patsy Kensit. Though Saint Etienne didn't have a huge impact on the British charts, I am of the opinion that the Top Twenty single, 'He's On the Phone', deserves to be credited as one of the very best pop songs of the 'nineties.
{Also on this date, Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to travel into outer space in 1961}

APRIL 13TH
Atomic by Blondie
from the album Eat To The Beat
This recording had already surfaced on the outstanding 'Eat To The Beat' album several months before it became the third track plucked from the long player and released as a single. It became a case of third time lucky as this song would be the first chart-topper from the album at the third time of asking, whilst also becoming Blondie's third British Number One. 'Eat To The Beat' lays claim to being the first long player that boasted its own accompanying video cassette. This was an understandable move, given that the lead singer is very easy on the eye, and thus the videos were 'compulsive viewing' for us males. The video to 'Atomic' was memorable because it envisaged the group performing a concert in the aftermath of an atomic bomb. The single certainly didn't bomb in the charts and instead it exploded to the top. Co-writer and group keyboardist Jimmy Destri was born on this day in 1954. He had a knack of co-composing excellent Blondie items such as 'Angels On The Balcony', 'Walk Like Me', 'Do The Dark', and 'Slow Motion'. As for 'Atomic', there simply isn't enough space for me to roll out all the appropriate superlatives. Suffice to say that it is Blondie's best piece of work and I rate it as perhaps my all-time favourite song.
{Also on this day, Tiger Woods wins the US Masters in 1997 at the ripe old age of 21}

APRIL 14TH
Day After Day by The Pretenders (1981)
from the album Pretenders II
At the start of the 1980s, new group the Pretenders had the world at their feet: 'Brass In Pocket' was a UK Number One and their eponymous debut album fared likewise in its respective chart. Within a few years this talented band was in turmoil. First Pete Farndon was sacked for excessive drug use and no sooner had this happened than James Honeyman-Scott was found dead. A year later on this date in 1983, bass player Farndon himself succumbed to an early grave. Farndon and his guitarist buddy only contributed to two albums but they sure did make the most of their brief stay. The second long player, released in 1981, is an admirable follow-up to their chart-topping debut. It contains such hits as 'I Go To Sleep', 'Talk Of The Town', and the excellent 'Message Of Love'. However, a track that has grown on me through the march of time was the minor hit, 'Day After Day', featuring both a heavier guitar sound than usual, as well as a rare outing for the piano. The video footage also makes for interesting viewing as it displays this particular fab four in happier times, relaxing and having fun. However, it was Farndon's commitment to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle that was his undoing at the age of thirty.
{Also on this date, in 1986 the American Air Force bomb Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya}

APRIL 15TH
I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds (1970)
from the album Rockpile
Dave Edmunds was born on this day in 1943 in Cardiff. His love of early rock 'n' roll paid off handsomely in 1970 when his cover of 'I Hear You Knocking' (originally recorded by Smiley Lewis) spent six richly deserved weeks at Number One in Britain. It also earned the coveted accolade of the Christmas chart-topper back in the good old days when the Yuletide season wasn't sabotaged excessively by novelty records. If there was ever an award for the best Yuletide Number One, this tremendous rocker would be an obvious candidate. Such are the slings and arrows of the music industry (and more especially popular taste) that Dave Edmunds's formidable slice of rock 'n' roll was knocked off the top perch by 'Grandad' by that other great rocker, Clive Dunn!
{Also on this day, 96 Liverpool football fans are killed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989}

APRIL 16TH
Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty (1978)
from the album City To City
Did the 1970s produce a better song than this? Come to think of it, has any decade done so? Scotland's Gerry Rafferty, who was born on this date in 1947 in Paisley, had previously collaborated with would-be pop star Billy Connolly, and then he served his music apprenticeship in Stealers Wheel whereupon the worthy 'Stuck In The Middle With You' found chart success. However, Rafferty became the talk of the town with his solo projects at the end of the decade. His single 'Get It Right The Next Time' should have made a bigger splash, but by then Rafferty was dining out on the acclaim and record sales from the momentous 'Baker Street'. Boasting an unforgettable saxophone contribution and excellent lyrics about a drifter who never manages to settle down, this sad and powerful song culminates in a brilliant guitar solo. They just don't make them like this anymore.
{Also on this date, in 1953 the Royal Yacht Britannia is launched by Queen Elizabeth II}

APRIL 17TH
Johnny Was by Bob Marley And The Wailers (1976)
from the album Rastaman Vibration
1987 was a tragic year for the remaining Wailers as two of them were murdered. On this day, drummer Carlton 'Carly' Barrett followed Bob Marley into an early grave when he was gunned down at the age of 36. Marley himself had narrowly survived a gun attack in December 1976. Earlier in that year, Marley and his band had recorded a marvellous track for their 'Rastaman Vibration' project, entitled 'Johnny Was', which proved an ominous commentary on the violence that afflicted Jamaica. This relatively unknown song was not unlike Jimmy Cliff's 'Vietnam' in which the singer recounts a mother's loss of a son from an act of violence. 'Johnny Was' features a combination of simple but effective lyrics and an equally downbeat sound which contributes to this superb, but obscure classic.
{Also on this day, the ill-fated Bay Of Pigs invasion occurs in Cuba in 1961}

APRIL 18TH
Angel by The Happy Mondays (1992)
from the album Yes Please!
Don't be fooled by this song title, folks. There is nothing angelic about this tune, nor anything remotely angelic about its creators. For the uninitiated, this brilliant indie dance track's subject matter is angel dust. The Happy Mondays in fact have been described as a bunch of drug dealers who decided to form a band. Such was their consumption of illegal substances that even a couple of streetwise members of New York's Talking Heads were appalled by the group's high jinks when they convened on the island of Barbados for an ill-fated sojourn that resulted in the band's dissolution. At the very epicentre of this group of upwardly-mobile members of the underclass was their non-musical contributor Bez, who provided the dance routines and general 'stage presence'. He was born on this date in 1964. The future Celebrity Big Brother hero 'wrote' his own autobiography in the late 1990s. It was akin to Irvine Welsh's 'Trainspotting' - but there was one exception: Bez's antics were for real!
{Also on this date, in 1983 a suicide bomber destroys the American Embassy in Beirut}

APRIL 19TH
The House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals (1964)
available on the album The Best Of The Animals
In the year that Bez was born, the Animals were enjoying their greatest success with the fabulous 'House Of The Rising Sun'. This chart-topper included a fine soulful vocal performance from Eric Burdon, a monotonous, yet irresistible jangling guitar, and the distinctive organ sound of Alan Price. Price, the finest keyboardist that ever hailed from Jarrow, was born on this day in 1942. The Animals never quite scaled this height again, though 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' was another memorable single. After the Animals went their separate ways, Eric Burdon failed to make much of a splash as a solo artist despite the excellent 'When I Was Young'. Meanwhile, Chas Chandler went on to supervise Jimi Hendrix's rise to superstardom, while today's birthday boy, Alan Price (born in 1942), recorded a couple of decent hit singles.
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