#Top20LateNightSongs 3 🗣️ Tom Waits 🎶 Midnight Lullaby As with my top two, I am absolutely spoilt for choice with Tom Waits. Not just which song to choose, but also which album. All of his records feel like late night listening, but Midnight Lullaby is the pinnacle for me.

I've no idea what the official name for tonight's dinner was, but it seemed very Greek and it tasted delicious. Every single part of it made by my own (not so) fair hands, except for the crisps. No leftovers always a good sign...😋

I'm not alone in having 'Cello Song as my introduction to Nick Drake. And while it's the violin that is this song's hook, along with Drake's signature non-standard guitar tunings, it is the melancholy words that stand out above all else for me 👇 #MusicSky #NickDrake

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Simply Red 💿 Picture Book Mick Hucknall & Co. produced largely diminishing returns with every subsequent record, but this debut is absolutely stellar. Not a dud to be found, while Jericho and the title track are two of the most incredible tracks I'll ever hear. #MusicSky #VinylSky

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Talking Heads 💿 Speaking In Tongues The Heads never released a bad album, but this is probably the end of their golden period. The fact it's probably my fourth favourite of theirs, and that's not including live records, speaks volumes about their quality. #MusicSky #VinylSky

If I had a penny for every seminal record I own that finish with a gorgeous song called Saturday Night, I'd have two pennies. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happens twice. #MusicSky #VinylSky

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Suede 💿 Coming Up I don't own many 'happy' records to suit a lazy Saturday afternoon, but I think Suede's third record fits the bill. #MusicSky #VinylSky

#80sTop30 Starts 1st October. Select your favourite thirty songs released in the 1980s. They don’t have to be ranked but you can rank them if you want to. Post one song per day throughout October.

#90sTop30 Starts 1st November. Choose an artist. Choose a song. Choose another song. Choose a single. Choose a b-side. Choose an album track. Choose a classic. Choose a fucking classic. Choose a music challenge. Choose this music challenge. Choose wasting your life taking part in music challenges…

Okay, fair play. I can see what all the fuss is about with Geese. Getting Killed might be the closest thing we ever get to a 10th Radiohead album. I can't give it much higher praise than that. #MusicSky

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 318/365 🗣️ Mercury Rev 💿 Deserter's Songs I started with Born Horses. Then I went back to Yerself Is Steam. Throughout, everyone has been telling me how much I'd enjoy this modern classic. Everyone who did wasn't wrong. This is magic...

#80sTop30 Honourable Mention 🗣️ Duran Duran 🎶 The Chauffeur I can't believe this hasn't found a place in my Top 30. Call it fatigue from listening to it likely hundreds of times over the years, and also knowing this song and band will be doing well enough without my help.

#ArtistFaveLP Ranking every song on Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'. 3 | Videotape The haunting, piano-driven closer finishes In Rainbows off on a serene and fitting closer. It's not exactly sunshine and roses, but Radiohead at their most dour is almost always Radiohead at their best.

#REMtop30 4 💿 New Adventures In Hi-Fi 🎶 Leave After a minute of tranquility that picks up where E-Bow (more on that later) picks off, and then comes the relentless siren for six minutes of thumping R.E.M. goodness. Their longest album track, and one my favourites.

#Top20LateNightSongs 4 🗣️ Bark Psychosis 🎶 Eyes And Smiles If there was a late night album challenge, this would be right up there. The entire vibe is driving in the dark, chased by a mysterious force - the way this song ends is a perfect example of such onimosity.

Name me a greater Friday night record than Everything But The Girl's 'Walking Wounded'. Hint: you can't 😁🎶 #MusicSky #VinylSky

I'm not saying Remain In Light is the greatest album of all time... But when The Great Curve has you in its hypnotic grip, it's hard to think of a better record - Talking Heads at their absolute finest. And don't get me started on Adrian Belew's behemothic guitar solos. #MusicSky

#80sTop30 Honourable Mention 🗣️ David Bowie 🎶 Loving The Alien Any other decade that Bowie was active in is guaranteed to see him in my main list. The 80s were successful commercially if not critically, but there were still some really bright moments, not least Loving The Alien from Tonight.

Happy 56th birthday to The Beatles' Abbey Road, released #OnThisDay in 1969. I've got an hour left of an empty house, so it would be wrong to spend it doing anything other than listening to this classic record. A perfect record? I even like Maxwell's Silver Hammer... #MusicSky #VinylSky

"And if you think you can tell a bigger tale I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie" Out of all the weird and wonderful Tom Waits lyrics, that's the one that sums his storytelling credentials more than any other 👇

Delayed yet still appropriately Friday Morning tunes courtesy of David Bowie's 'Hunky Dory'. #AppropriatelyFridayMorningTunes

It's Friday afternoon, there's nobody else in the house, and Joy Division are blasting out of the speaker.

#ArtistFaveLP Ranking every song from Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'. 4 | Faust Arp This would have been an easy one to rank near the bottom given its brevity, but so much beauty is packed into 129 seconds, and I can never listen to it just once.

#REMtop30 5 💿 Out Of Time 🎶 Low One of three from Out Of Time in my top five. This is the slowest burner of the trio, but it gets better and more emotional with every single listen.

#Top20LateNightSongs 5 🗣️ Mercury Rev 🎶 Your Hammer, My Heart The Born Horses album just grows on me with every single listen. The spoken word, poetic narrative is reminiscent of I Trawl The Megahertz, and my favourite track is so reminiscent of midnight in a rainy city.

I'm spending the next few days and weeks in the company of some of my favourite Robert Redford films, and some new-to-me ones too. Every time he's on screen, in any guise, in any role, in any character, I feel comfort and joy. Tonight's film is The Great Gatsby.

Happy 30th birthday to David Bowie's '1. Outside', released #OnThisDay in 1995. Perhaps Bowie's most creative effort since his 70s heyday, Outside is a concept album grounded in Twin Peaks-like mystery and characterisation and Eno's unmistakable fingerprints. #MusicSky #OTD #DavidBowie

Happy 36th birthday to Tears For Fears' 'The Seeds Of Love', released #OnThisDay in 1989. The long-awaited follow-up to Songs From The Big Chair, Roland Orzabal took centre stage to combine Beatlesesque pop and jazz with a number of female artists on board. A majestic triumph. #OTD #MusicSky

RIP Danny Thompson. Not sure there's a much grander sextet than this lot to have contributed his wonderful double bass playing to. Add Gabriel's Up, Five Leaves Left, Amplified Heart, Secrets of the Beehive and too many more to list into the mix. Legend doesn't begin to cover it.

#ArtistFaveLP Ranking every song from Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'. 5 | 15 Step The opening track is distinguished by its rhythmic structure, born out of 'mad experimentation'. It sets the bar extremely high for what's to come, and as we all know, it's a fitting start.

#REMtop30 6 💿 Automatic For The People 🎶 Find The River My final choice from AFTP is the final song of the record - a gorgeous and fitting closer.

#Top20LateNightSongs 6 🗣️ Japan 🎶 Ghosts A song so sparse, you can play it loud at night and still not wake anybody else up. One of the greatest and most surprising songs to break the top five of the UK singles chart.

#NowReading ✍️ @chrisfrantz.bsky.social 📖 Remain In Love This is a gorgeous book, and a fairly long one I wasn't expecting to get through in one afternoon, but that's testament to the man behind it. And even more so, the woman behind that man. Tina Weymouth is everything here. #BookSky #MusicSky

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Mercury Rev 💿 Born Horses This was my introduction to Mercury Rev - about as far removed from Yerself Is Steam as possible. When I saw a sealed gatefold going for £12 on eBay, I couldn't not add it to my collection. It sounds as glorious as the cover art looks. #MusicSky #VinylSky

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Mercury Rev 💿 Born Horses This was my introduction to Mercury Rev - about as far removed from Yerself Is Steam as possible. When I saw a sealed gatefold going for £12 on eBay, I couldn't not add it to my collection. It sounds as glorious as the cover art looks. #MusicSky #VinylSky

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 317/365 🗣️ Bruce Springsteen 💿 The River I didn't think any Springsteen album could surpass the stark beauty of Nebraska, but The River might well have matched it. A double album with minimal amount of filler, and stunners across all four sides.

#ArtistFaveLP Ranking every song from Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'. 6 | Weird Fishes/Arpeggi One of Radiohead's most sought-after tracks of the 21st century, if not their entire canon. I cannot believe there are 5 tracks over this behemoth of a track, wrought with emotional imagery.

#REMtop30 7 💿 Green 🎶 Turn You Inside-Out My final pick from Green, and it's an absolute throbber of a track that pushes all the right buttons. There's nothing entirely new here, just a band firing on all cylinders and then some.

#Top20LateNightSongs 7 🗣️ Joy Division 🎶 The Eternal I think you could make a case for every single Joy Division song, but the bleakest of all reflects sombre, late night thoughts in isolation.y

#NowReading ✍️ Andi Coulter (33 1/3) 📖 Suicide I adore Suicide's debut album. The noise. The grit. The horror, it's all stupendously glorious. But having read what might be my new favourite 33 1/3 book, my appreciation for it and the band has gone through the roof. #MusicSky #BookSky

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 316/365 🗣️ Mercury Rev 💿 See You On The Other Side With David Baker gone, Mercury Rev switch up their style from the get-go. And though this is the precursor to the renowned Deserter's Songs, SYOTOS has more than enough going for it...

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 315/365 🗣️ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 💿 Deja Vu Not many better feelings than finally listening to a classic record and thinking, yep, that's why. Not every song here hits - oddly, the Joni Mitchell-penned Woodstock is my least favourite...

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 314/365 🗣️ NewDad 💿 MADRA 🙏 @tansleyjames.bsky.social Had this album on my listening list for some time, and James recommendation as being only bettered in 2024 by The Cure's return was the final push needed. And he's not wrong in that summation...

#365NewToMeAlbums #NowPlaying 313/365 🗣️ The Beach Boys 💿 The Beach Boys Today! I actually first listened to this a fair few weeks ago when I was fully on board The Beach Boys train. Knowing it was a turning point, the first side left me a tad disappointed...

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Frank Sinatra 💿 In The Wee Small Hours A very special record indeed, and getting its first spin after countless streams in the appropriate time of night/morning over the past few weeks and months. An absolutely majestic album from start to finish ❤️🎶🌙 #MusicSky #VinylSky

#ArtistFaveLP Ranking every song from Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'. 7 | All I Need One of the simpler songs on In Rainbows, but all the more powerful for the strength of emotion it carries off.

#REMtop30 8 💿 Up 🎶 You're In The Air Such a simple song in essence, but so, so powerful too. Up isn't universally loved, and I get why, but there are some incredible moments, and this is my favourite of the lot. I can never listen to this song just once.

#Top20LateNightSongs 8 🗣️ Catherine Wheel 🎶 Fripp One of the most relatable songs I've ever had the fortune of hearing. "On the sheets and pillow case In my bed for heaven's sake The devil's dancing until late in my head there But I could sleep with you there" ❤️

I'm spending the next few days and weeks in the company of some of my favourite Robert Redford films, and some new-to-me ones too. Every time he's on screen, in any guise, in any role, in any character, I feel comfort and joy. Tonight's film is Jeremiah Johnson.

#NowPlaying 🗣️ Can 💿 Tago Mago I have waited far too long for this record, so there's no time like the present to give it its first spin or three. Halleluwah on vinyl is about as close to a religious experience as I'm ever going to get. #MusicSky #VinylSky