Three years of Music Therapy

Music Therapy started out as a bid to be better mates with Neil Summers.

Me and Neil have always got on well and we bonded over the untimely death and musical life of Mark Hollis, the driving force behind the band Talk Talk.

I came up with the initial idea, Andy Hoyle at Tameside Radio gave us the green light, and Neil came up with the genius name.

Music is therapy isn’t it? 

Our show started during the second lockdown, on a Sunday night, with both of us at the time mildly dreading elements of our working lives.

We were convinced there are plenty of other people out there in the same boat, for whom Sunday night held an uncomfortable dread.

Music Therapy was always for them, something different, not too taxing, but ultimately uplifting.

Our first hour was usually full of nostalgic disco, Europop and a genre of music I never even knew had a name - sophisti pop.

I just thought it was the things I liked - bands like the Style Council, Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera, early Simple Minds, Roxy Music and lots of Talk Talk. 

The second hour we quickly christened bean bag blowpipe hour, typified by proper chilled out tunes you might imagine yourself listening to as you drifted off in Ibiza with your toes in the evening sea listening to the music of the iconic Cafe del Mar.

I’ve got plenty out of doing the show for the last three years, mainly a deepening of our friendship, but also an appreciation of whole new types of music and artists I never knew existed, from all over the world.

Neil also introduced me to mates of his like Blossoms, DJ s like Luke Unabomber and Justin Robertson and opened my ears to the magic of Colleen Cosmo Murphy, Leo Zero and Jason Boardman, who have in turn continued to curate incredibly inspiring sets of music that touched our souls.

I’ve taken a deeper interest in new music and had my eyes and ears opened to creative geniuses from the past who may well have passed me by had I not made such an effort with the show.

We are far from musical snobs though. 

Early on, Neil said our show had to have no such thing as a guilty pleasure. There must be no artist who was off limits. 

I wasn’t sure he meant that until the second week when he added Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits and something by Phil Collins. 

Trust me, in my snooty musical upbringing there is nothing as uncool as those two, and yet I had always secretly loved Romeo and Juliet. Lifting that cloak of snootiness, and appreciating a beautiful song for what it is, was a game changer for me.

Since then we’ve found a golden thread of glorious music from unlikely sources. AD/DC, ELO, Status Quo, Queen, we even did a Gothic special and dropped over 100 versions of True Love Will Find You In The End, which became our mental health anthem.

We’ve also been resolutely proud of being from Manchester, but without resorting to the increasingly tiresome nostalgia fest of banging on about what went on in a certain former yachting showroom on Whitworth Street, even though both of us were regulars at different stages of our lives. 

Along the way we’ve shared these with our loyal band of listeners all across Tameside and beyond. The power of technology and the internet means we have been able to prescribe our regular musical fix to Middle East, North America, Italy, France, Australia and Mexico.

So that’s it now. We’ve done three years at Tameside Radio and have called time on the regular Sunday slot. Alex Cann and John Dash have happily left the door open for us to come back and do other things in the future, but while we’re both up for doing other things together, we’ve also got to concentrate on some of our other creative projects for the time being.

It’s been amazing, thanks for listening, look after each other out there.

True love will find you in the end

Not long after we started doing our radio show, Music Therapy, I stumbled across a mesmerising and powerful song called True Love Will Find You In the End by Headless Heroes. 

I heard it on the soundtrack of the head-stretching BBC documentary series Can’t Get You Out of My Head by the film-maker Adam Curtis.

Headless Heroes are a collective of musicians who came together to record a number of cover versions, most notably featuring blossoming vocalist Alela Diane. 

The structure of the song is simple. 

The message of the lyrics a very obvious plea to someone in absolute despair to just hang on in there.

True love will find you in the end

You’ll find out just who was your friend

Don’t be sad, I know you will

But don’t give up until

True love will find you in the end

This is a promise with a catch

Only if you’re looking can it find you

‘Cause true love is searching too

But how can it recognise you

If you don’t step out into the light, the light

Don’t be sad I know you will

Don’t give up until

True love will find you in the end

It immediately felt like a song that was right for our Sunday evening show, Music Therapy. 

A simple song that folds neatly into our message that music can bring people together, make you feel a bit better and that by sharing thoughts, feeling, and ideas, we can look after each other.

It wasn’t until after that version of the song had lodged as a semi-permanent earworm that I started to discover more about its origin.

It was initially written and recorded by Daniel Johnston, an artist, and musician based in Texas who had a massive influence and touched an entire generation.

He died in 2019 from natural causes but had battled with his own fragile mental health all of his life. 

He was a cult figure in the alternative music scene in Austin, even though his pinched, high tenor vocals made it unlikely that he’d ever be a major star, his following flocked to the sincere raw power of songs like Life In Vain and True Love Will Find You In The End.

As well as his music, Daniel was also an artist of sorts and a doodle of a frog he produced in 1983, entitled Hi, How Are You? has become an emblem for a campaign in his memory - hihowareyou.org - and its location on a mural in Austin has become a shrine to him.

Its simple message is a call to check in with people and let them know you care about them when you know they are in trouble, and inviting supporters to pledge to do that. 

I’ve also discovered there are literally hundreds of versions of the song. 

We’ve shared a few of them with listeners to our show as the opener to the mellower second half of the show at 10pm and will continue to do so as long as we keep finding versions that do Daniel’s memory justice.

Neil declared his love for a version by American singer and songwriter Beck, which was recorded in 2004. 

I still don’t think the Headless Heroes version has been topped, but all the interpretations we’ve played have brought something new to what feels like a rising chorus of voices to do what we ask you all to do, as times get tough, to look after each other out there. 

You can listen to Michael Taylor and Neil Summers on Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Sunday evenings from 9pm to 11pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

Music Therapy has it covered

There's something great about a really well-performed cover version.

Not just a copy, but a really thought-through intelligent take on a great song. It gives the artist who is doing the cover a real credibility boost for having the sheer audacity to take a successful piece of work and put their own mark on it.

The greatest and surest trick is to respect the original, but do something new and different with it.

Sure, there are some takes on a classic song where you wonder why they bothered, but as I’m being true to my New Year pledge not to be mean on social media, or print media, I’ll do what my mum always told me to do - if you’ve nowt nice to say, say nowt.

What the Pet Shop Boys did with Elvis Presley’s Always on my Mind is a fantastic example of that. 

They managed to add it seamlessly to their confident camp disco range of songs at their 80s’ peak, probably introducing the work of the King to a new audience.

There’s a story too about Marc Almond of Soft Cell working as a cloakroom attendant at Wigan Casino, the mothership of Northern Soul in the 1970s, and falling in love with a song called Tainted Love by Gloria Jones, the one-time girlfriend of Marc Bolan. When it was originally released in 1965 it was a b-side, and a commercial flop.

Within a decade Soft Cell’s reworking of it quickly became an 80s’ pop classic, selling a million copies, making it one of the best sellers of 1981, alongside the Human League’s Don’t You Want Me.

There’s no doubt which is the more successful, and the best known, but which is the best version? 

Then there are some songs where you probably didn’t know the original because the cover version is far more popular. 

It just so happens that quite a few of these were written by Prince, probably the greatest musician of all time, so it seems only fair that he’s able to spread his genius around to the benefit of others. 

The two most notable songs that were made absolute staples lying there somewhat neglected in the archive of His Purple Highness were Nothing Compares 2 U, which Sinead O’Connor (pictured) did such an amazing, heart-rending job of, and I Feel For You, which most of you will think of as a Chaka Khan tune. 

That’s going to be a new feature on our show. Well known songs you maybe didn’t realise were cover versions, here’s the original, but which one is better? 

We kicked it off last week with a couple of gems. 

Firstly, China Girl by Iggy Pop, released in 1979. The song was written by David Bowie, and he later performed a very polished version on his incredible album Let’s Dance, the very high point of 80s’ slick pop mastery, given a big sound by Nile Rodgers from Chic.

Secondly, we dropped a glorious 70s’ soul track by Otis Clay called The Only Way is Up, which people of my vintage will know as an 80s’ nightclub floor filler with acid house tinges by Yazz. 

There are loads more out there, so let us know your favourites and we’ll offer our humble opinions on which we prefer. 

Unless it’s about the cover of Talk Talk’s It’s My Life by No Doubt, because there is nothing to debate.

This is my weekly column in the Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle.

Top ten Music Therapy tunes of 2021

When we set out to do our radio show, I honestly thought I would be delving into the past for our soothing Sunday soundtrack. But the greatest thrill of the last year of dispensing Music Therapy to Tameside has been discovering new music. So, here are my top ten new tracks of 2021, as featured on our show. And they’re all British artists. I Do This All The Time - Self Esteem. This isn’t the only end of the year list that will feature Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s spoken word lament, but it was a huge breakthrough track that propelled her album Prioritise Pleasure throughout the year. It’s raw, honest and superbly composed. Winter Solstice - LYR. A low key band fronted by the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, who also use the spoken poetic word technique overlaying intelligent pop music. I envisage this self-pitying plea to a lost lover to be the gaslighting response to Self Esteem’s agony. It isn’t, but I discovered the two in the same week, and I possibly love this because it borrows a line from Prefab Sprout’s Desire from one of my favourite ever 80s sophistipop albums. Feet Don’t Fail Me Now - Joy Crookes. Sometimes new music roots you in the present, but great music can also be timeless. This cracker from young Londoner Joy Crookes has all the glitterball uplifting joy of 1970s soul, with a touch of Amy Winehouse. Ritchie Sacremento - Mogwai. Manchester’s iconic Piccadilly Records had Mogwai’s album, As The Love Continues as their new release of 2021. For a largely atmospheric and instrumental band, this vocal track for me is the most awesome of a very hot batch. There’s also a version knocking about that’s been remixed by Stephen and Gillian from New Order. Pond House - Saint Etienne. Lockdown has been rubbish, but one of the unexpected pleasures has been how it has perversely unlocked the experimental in many artists forced to make do and mend. Saint Etienne’s 2021 album I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is a heady mix of samples and random memories, as is the glorious accompanying film made by fashion photographer Alasdair McLelland. It’s easy to lose yourself in the beautiful Pond House, featuring Natalie Imbruglia on loop with smatterings of Massive Attack’s Protection. Everybody Knows - The Specials. No stranger to the protest song, The Specials recorded a whole album of protest reworkings in 2021, and this Leonard Cohen cover is the cream of the crop. For covers to really work they have to respect the original and bring something new to the party. This does just that, with Terry Hall’s take just right. Heartlow - Jane Weaver. We call her the Kate Bush of Marple Bridge, but our near neighbour just keeps on producing incredible mesmerising music that pulses with energy and beauty. Hooked - Cobain Jones. Another local, this time the Tameside Troubador himself, young Cobain Jones. He’s had his diamond well and truly polished by the Coral’s James Skelly and this 2021 release is a delightful jaunty pop tune. Really chuffed for the lad, who got a record deal and a support slot with Paul Weller in 2021. Lover Undiscovered - The Coral. The whole Coral Island project lit up the middle of the year with a collection of conceptual pop songs that reminded us that the water supply of Liverpool has something special in it. Glad Times - Paul Weller. How the Modfather keeps delivering the goods after all this time, I’ll never know, but I’m so chuffed that he does. His sixteenth solo album sees him pushing the boundaries of perfect pop music again. This is a great track, but at a time when we’re told no one listens to albums anymore, this should be an entree into Weller world, and just a glorious way to make life feel better again. On our Boxing Day show I'll be reviewing our highlights of the year and adding a few gorgeous surprises to the mix.

A link to the show is here.

The Saying Yes to Everything Tour - an update

I mentioned a while ago that me and my wife Rachel and Neil and his wife, Rachael, are on something of a say yes to anything tour.

This blog is a slightly updated version of my weekly column in the Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle for the end of November. 

Having been locked down for the best part of two years has made us really appreciate the things we were denied for so long. There’s a real sense out there that many of you feel the same way. 

Concerts, comedy nights, talks, festivals, exhibitions, films, restaurants and bars, sporting events, walks in the hills. You name it, we’ve been on it. And yet we still have massive FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) when we see other people going to things we wish we’d gone to.

Out of this darkness, some real moments of magic have appeared and I wanted to share a few of them with you. Hopefully, they’ll encourage you to get out a bit and see what might happen.

Just to give you a flavour for this, we bumped into Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, last weekend. Neil had interviewed the Mayor a few weeks before for a film he made for the clothing brand Pretty Green. There was a competition to “meet the designers behind the brand” and get a discount voucher for some lucky winners. It turned out that it was actually a chance to hang out with Liam Gallagher.

Andy told us that he’d been at three gigs in a row last week - The Jesus & Mary Chain, Paul Weller, and Billy Bragg, who we featured on last week’s Music Therapy. One thing the Mayor has consistently done is support venues and give a helping hand to emerging artists across the area. One of the bands he trumpeted, Wigan’s The Lathums, supported Weller in Liverpool last Friday.

Apparently, I’ve been mispronouncing their name when I’ve introduced their tunes on Tameside Radio. This Sunday night I’ll get it right. Thanks, Mr Mayor.

Incidentally, it was brilliant to learn that the Modfather gave a support slot at his Llandudno gig last Saturday to the Tameside troubadour, Cobain Jones. What a lovely thing to do and by all accounts, Cobain absolutely rocked the North Wales audience.

We saw a similar act of generosity last Wednesday at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport. Top comic Jason Manford sold out this show two years ago, but only now has he been able to fulfil the date, even if it did clash with Stockport County’s FA Cup replay conquering of Bolton Wanderers, it was still packed. He didn’t have to, but he gave a support slot to Denton comedian Stephen Bailey, who was really good.

Neil had also seen a raucous event over in Wigan featuring Shaun Ryder from the Happy Mondays, interviewed in front of an audience of fans. The MC for the evening was Neil’s mate Brian Cannon, the graphic designer who did such iconic artwork for the album covers for Oasis and The Verve. Brian had his work cut out as his plan to steer a conversation gently was taken over by a local crowd who shouted out their own questions and Shaun answered the ones he wanted to. Pretty fitting really.

By way of contrast, we saw the writer David Hepworth at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester, promoting his book about British artists breaking through in America, Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There. This is a man who knows all about artists going off-script. It was David who famously interviewed Bob Geldof during Live Aid when the Boomtown Rat banged the table and urged the people at home to, er, donate a bit more money!

No such chaos at the Innside Hotel in Manchester last week, but we learnt a stream of fascinating stories. Not least that the first words that an American audience heard from The Beatles in 1964 were - Close Your Eyes and I’ll Kiss You. And boy, America certainly did.

Post script to this is we braved the wilds and drove over to Liverpool to see two delightful performances from two artists I've really got to appreciate in the last year. Jane Weaver was the support for Saint Etienne, a band I've always quite liked but never fully bought into previously. I'll have to try and think about what that might be.

Here's another resolution, I'm going to start adding the column here on this blog every Friday. Just to cross-reference it, and maybe be a bit assiduous about adding reviews of things we've done and places we've been.

Why I'm still proud to call myself a journalist

I was even more excited than usual when I received David Parkin's Friday newsletter today. 

We'd met up on Tuesday in Stockport and I'd given him the grand tour of my adopted town. He did say it would get a mention in his lively round-up at the week's end.

So imagine my surprise when I saw the headline: "David Parkin meets a true showbiz legend". Aw shucks David, that's too kind, I blushed.

Of course, he didn't mean me. He was talking about meeting Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket last Friday at the Bradford Club.

He did give a very warm account of our trek around Stockport's cobbled streets. Warm, of course, is very much the operative word as we enjoyed the last of our English summer. 

David described me - and thus himself - as "fellow former journalist". In the sense that we aren't editors for well-respect business publications any longer, that description is true. But I enjoy David's company, his writing and his insights precisely because he is very much a journalist, a kindred spirit.

I've just subtly changed my Twitter biog and my LinkedIn description to reflect this sentiment.

I'm working for myself these days - and am available for projects. But the thing that always gives me the most pleasure, the thing I hope I can bring to anything I work on, always comes back to journalism. The importance of a story, the discipline of a structured approach to doing it, and an appreciation of the voices of others. Wrapped around all of that is the cornerstone of being fair and accurate. 

Both my undergraduate dissertation in 1988 and my MSc thesis in 2020 were described as 'journalistic'. On both occasions, it wasn't intended as a compliment, but I'm taking it as one. I'm not an academic, I'm a journalist, who is practising his craft in the academic field. I've done other jobs over the years that haven't been editorial, but the bits that have worked best have been around communicating a story and harnessing a network. Yes, when Neil and I talk between records on Tameside Radio, or when I've written a speech on cyber security and industrial strategy for Peter Mandelson.

I thought the same when I was at Dave Haslam's book launch last night in West Didsbury. Dave has sold his record collection, but it's given him the stimulus to write a short book about it. When I first came across him in the 1980s he was editing a fanzine. He's a classic polymath, skilled and diligent at whatever he does. But he's always been a journalist too and that's a skill he's crafted and a title he's earned.

I'll return to this theme again soon, but in the meantime, as David Parkin says at the end of his peerless weekly missive: Have a great weekend. 

My Sounds of the Season 1983/84

So I've done my Sounds of the Season on Rovers Radio, like a Desert Island Discs for Blackburn Rovers fans. Usually, I do the interviews, but this was my turn to be in the hot seat.

You can link to it here. But this is the preamble.

Honestly, in many ways 1983/84 was a bang average season for Blackburn Rovers, not many memories feature in the history books, compared to what came several years later. The crowds were really low, in fact, we hit a new low. But it was really memorable for me for all sorts of different reasons, just going to Rovers, them becoming part of my life, was one of the emerging pillars of my identity, as were music, ideas, fashion, amongst others.

On the pitch, Simon Garner had a great season. Norman Bell got injured in the first game and never played again. So Garner was partnered with Chris Thompson mostly while Miller or Brotherston or Patterson provided the crosses. This season saw the emergence of Simon Barker alongside an ever-present John Lowey in the centre of midfield.

At the back, it was still Baz, Faz, Keeley and Branagan, in theory, but David Glenn filled in for Baz for most of the season, and all-rounder David Hamilton popped up wherever he was needed. Terry Gennoe was a solid presence in goal, with a cup run, an unbeaten league run, strong home form, on paper it looks like a good season, but too many draws meant although we finished 6th, it never felt like a promotion push. Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday were comfortably ahead, Newcastle finished third and Manchester City had to endure another season down in the doldrums. 

It was however a great year for music. A massive turning point, a breakthrough. Just look at the choices I make and think what it must have been like to be alive and excited by all of that happening for the very first time.

Culturally, this period of time probably had a more profound and lasting influence on me than many of the later years. I bailed out of my Grammar School a year into sixth form and enrolled at Lancaster and Morecambe FE College instead, and instantly felt so much more at ease. Some of the things I got into later I quickly backed away from, but there is a reasonably straight line from the person I was in 1983 to where I am today, which I am very comfortable with.

It was also a pretty violent and racist time. There was always tension in the air, a sense it could kick-off, especially as you were hunted down at away matches, or when the bigger clubs arrived at Ewood. I also could have relayed scrapes at nearly every match I mention here, but I survived. 

These are my Sounds of the Season, 1983/84. Do give the show a listen if you want to hear the rest of the story. I’ll dedicate it to Chris Heath (RIP), Nick, Phil, Tony, Mick, Daz, Dave, Neil Fell, Phil Shaw, Lancaster and Morecambe FE College, Baz Dootson, and an apology to Louise Stokes for not returning her David Bowie LP.

The Songs

My Ever Changing Moods - Style Council

Modern Love - David Bowie

This Charming Man - The Smiths

Thieves Like Us - New Order

Boys Don't Cry - The Cure

Ain't Nobody - Rufus and Chaka Khan

Nelson Mandela - The Specials

White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash

The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen

The Day Before You Came - Blancmange

World in Motion or Three Lions? Actually, both

 

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The best football song ever is New Order’s World In Motion.

I don’t just say that because I’m a New Order fan, I say because I’m a football fan. It just is the best of them all, there’s nothing else to say. 

The first ever official England song was Back Home, recorded for the 1970 World Cup, when England were defending world champions. It was written by legendary Irish songwriter and composer Phil Coulter and by Scotsman Bill Martin and featured the vocal exertions of the whole squad, filmed belting it out wearing tuxedos on Top of the Pops. 

Sadly it trigged a lamentable run of squad songs for major tournaments by our home nations that never really got any better until, of course, World in Motion in 1990. 

 But for England fans no song has captured the mood on the radio, the terraces and in the fan zones quite like Three Lions, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s anthem recorded for Euro 96 with Ian Brodie of the Lightning Seeds. The chorus of ‘it’s coming home’ still rings out whenever England are playing. 

 I suspect it has stuck partly because it was a song created by fans, for fans, rather than for the team. Even now you hear chants to that chorus almost as often as you do to the tune of Go West. Most of these, if we’re honest, are pretty unimaginative. And part of the problem is that crowds collectively have had this stuff served up for them as football becomes increasingly part of showbusiness. 

 One of the many things I have grown to dislike about modern football is the pumped in music in order to create atmosphere in stadiums. Not all clubs are fortune enough to have matchday DJ like Tameside Radio’s Dave Sweetmore, who entertains the punters at Rochdale FC’s home games. 

For a couple of season my team, Blackburn Rovers, walked out to the instrumental bridge of Coldplay's Viva la Vida, a rousing soaring anthem about a guilty liberal wrestling with his childlike understanding of religion. I never understood why. 

 My personal nadir for pumped in, pumped up music was the use of Status Quo's Rockin' All Over the World in February 2002 at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium as Rovers paraded the League Cup. It spoiled a genuine moment of joy. 

 I saw a clip last week of the Liverpool fans on the Kop terrace singing Beatles songs and Cilla Black’s Anyone Who Had A Heart, I suspect they had a prompt from the tannoy, but they weren’t drowned out the way those examples were and it feels like a beautiful collective moment. 

 Still, if you really want an example of a football crowd giving you a proper ‘hairs on the back of the neck’ moment, go and find the video clip of Hibernian fans singing Sunshine of Leith at the Scottish Cup Final in 2016. 

 And remember as you enjoy Euro 2021, there’s only one way to beat them, and that’s round the back.

(From the Tameside Reporter, Weekender, June 10, 2021)

A new column in the paper - Music Therapy

I've started writing a weekly music column in the Tameside Reporter. It's a bit of a plug for the show and a chance to share a few stories around the music me and Neil play every Sunday night. This one however is more about the therapy side of things. Hope you like it.

Link is here.

Music Therapy on Tameside Radio - getting into the groove

So, day two of the daily blog. We've had a good couple of months now of playing two hours of music every Sunday night. As I knew it would do, it's found its rhythm and Neil and I have found out more about each other and what we talk about between songs. It feels good, it feels like we're doing something different, fun and worthwhile.

It all came about last year when we bumped into one another a few days after Mark Hollis died. Neil was one of the first people I'd noticed commenting on him on social media when I'd seen the news when I was with my sons in Berlin. We shared a virtually identical Talk Talk epiphany on different sides of the world, but catching the bass line to Life's What You Make It in a dance floor setting. That's as much as you need to know. I knew then in that conversation, I needed to work with his musical knowledge. I went away not knowing what that would look like, thinking publishing, a TV idea, then the more I had time to think of other times when I've been really happy it took me back to a radio show I did a few guest slots on with my pal Adil Bux in Perth in 1989. I also remembered a show Terry Christian used to do on Sunday nights on Stockport station Imagine FM, Northerners With Attitude, where I don't ever recall him playing a bad song. We're not trying to copy that, far from it, but it always struck me as a very honest show.

One thing led to another, and here we are. Neil came up with the name for the show, Andy Hoyle from Tameside Radio took a punt on us, taught us the tech, and we were off. We try not to overthink it too much but the clue's in the name, we just want to try and use music to get people in a good mental space on a Sunday night. We only have one strict rule - there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Neil set the bar for that with his first play list that dropped a delicious Wham B-side Nothing Looks the Same in the Light. Since then we've found remixes and straight up classics from household names and forgotten wonders alike. I can honestly say I've never felt as musically liberated. It's been an absolute journey of discovery, education and thrills. Friends have also got what we're trying to do and made some fantastic suggestions. Keep them coming.

It's great that the station goes out on the internet, but we're now also on Listen Again, or On Demand, so you can listen at leisure. I do keep Spotify play lists, which I share, but they aren't always accurate versions of what we've played and you don't get us.

Let us know what you like, what works, what you might want to hear more of. 

Music Therapy on Tameside Radio

On Sunday nights from 9pm until 11pm me and my mate Neil Summers are going to be playing a few records and telling stories on a new show, Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6 FM. It's a breezy mix of the new and the familiar, designed to end the weekend on a blissed out way. I think of Neil as my far more clued up younger brother, nudging me to appreciate richer, deeper and more exciting music. There's no such thing as a guilty pleasure in our book, just an open mind and a love of great music.

You can listen to us live here. We'll probably get round to setting up a website with mini features, extended interviews and playlists. Possibly.

Massive thanks to Chris Bird and Andy Hoyle at Quest Media for giving us the chance. 

The road to being Wigan's peers - the BRFCS podcast

We recorded a podcast after the Wigan game, where I hope we got across how most fans are feeling after the draw at home to our promotion rivals. When our second goal went in it truly felt like we were the invincibles, guided by the magician that is Bradley Dack. When Wigan's second bobbled in it started to feel like a defeat.  I still think we'll go up, probably in second spot though. I'd much rather have the points in the bag now than the games in hand. 

The other positive I'll take from the game is that we have for the first time since 1996, or maybe 2001, the best player in the division playing for us. Dack is fantastic to watch: brave, tricky, generous and remarkably honest. I've never seen a player get fouled so much, but he always tries to stay on his feet.

These podcasts are great fun. Ian Herbert puts in great effort to make them a cut above what most people would expect from a fans ramble. Please share widely and give us a rating.

My mate #22 Mark Webster

Jonny Owen, Webbo and Me in London 2016

So, to the revival of the "my mate" series where I say something nice about one of my mates after a random shuffle of the address book, telling a tale about how we met, etc. 

This time it's Mark Webster, broadcaster, writer and Whistleblower.

Webbo and I worked together at a doomed TV station in the early 1990s called Wire TV. He was one of the best things about it. He was smart, funny, sharp and above everything else in broadcasting - he was good to work with. The reason Alan Partridge works as a TV character is because it's such an accurate parody of the worst kind of media personality. Mark is the total opposite of that, he works hard on getting the programmes right, but he is always as quick to share the love, as others can be to place the blame.

As a sports broadcaster Webbo also brings a much wider cultural hinterland. He writes for Jocks and Nerds magazine, used to be a writer on Blues and Soul, was a main DJ on Kiss FM and I think this brightens his writing about Sport on TV for the Mail. I think football has required that wider world view of its burgeoning media and I sense his success with his work reflects that. Partly that also comes from having a great address book. In the times he's invited me onto his Whistleblowers podcast I've met brilliant fellow guests - Kevin Day, Andy Smart, Alan Alger, Stuart Deabill and Jonny Owen (apologies if I've missed anyone out).

Here's another measure of what kind of bloke he is. When I did the podcast last summer (pictured) Webbo and Jonny were so good with my eldest lad, Joe. I can imagine Joe was dreading taking time out from our day in London by going to a pub to meet one of his Dad's mates. Jonny, I ought to mention, has made the brilliant I Believe in Miracles about Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and on St David's Day will be releasing a film about the Wales' adventure in France last summer, Don't Take Me Home.

So, thanks Webbo, see you back in the pod soon.

It's been a while since I updated the "my mate" series. I haven't stopped because I've run out of friends or anything, but it was born in the pre-social media era when this blog was a far more vibrant place. So, I'm reviving it. It's basically a chance to get some more variety on here as well. to do a little bit more than just moaning about Blackburn Rovers, Jeremy Corbyn and trains.

We've done another Podcast

In this episode of the Discuss podcast we again 'grasp the nettle', returning to the controversial topic of the recent DISCUSS debate: 'Is religion a force for good?' Joining me and Tom Cheesewright in the Pod this month: Angeliki Stogia, a Labour councillor for Whalley Range, Manchester City FC chaplain and Manchester's 'Minister for Business', the Reverend Pete Horlock. Also covered: Uber, 'the dismal science', whether Philip Blond has lost it, and the usual recommendations for your reading and viewing pleasure.

As far back as I can remember ... where we are with the Discuss podcasts

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to present my own radio programme. I dabbled in Australia with my pal Adil Bux, now something of a tycoon in the cosmetics and health industry. Back then music was our life and the high watermark of our show on 6UVS FM was when we interviewed Kevin Sanderson from Inner City, I recall.

I've hung around BBC Radio Manchester and helped them out at the drop of a hat, but they never seem to take the hint that I feel this as a calling. I've enjoyed standing in for Frank McKenna on CityTalk and think I do a good job, but it's Frank's show in his city.

So, in the spirit of Manchester innovation me and Tom Cheesewright have done our own. It's called The Discuss Podcast, we've done three now. We invite guests with something to say, steer the talk around what's going on around us - culture, politics, civic life and we seem to be getting the hang of it.

The very last BBC Radio Manchester business programme

It was a privilege to be involved in the BBC Radio Manchester business programme over the last 8 years. We recorded the very last one on the Monday before Christmas and I was proud to be the last voice on there. It's a shame it ended, but hopefully there's a proper sense in the station of the role that the private sector plays in the life of the city.

I was also on the BBC Breakfast News this year, not bashing the banks and on BBC Radio 5Live a few times. I have to say the BBC is a brilliant institution full of fine people. The move North was a stroke of brilliance.

Pictured are: Andy Crane (presenter), me, Steve Saul (producer), Brian Sloan (Chamber of Commerce), Jacqui Hughes Lundy (business team), Tim Murphy (Seneca Partners) and Reverend Pete Horlock (business chaplain).

Doing the radio with Gordon Burns

I really enjoy reviewing the papers on the Sunday morning programme on BBC Radio Manchester and BBC Radio Lancashire. It's hosted by the peerless Gordon Burns, who at 70 years of age has lost none of his wit or analytical skills. I've been on about 7 times now. Each one has been different, sometimes the stories that dominate have been uniform across the papers, sometimes they've been wildly different so we have to pick out the nonsense as well as the scoops.

It's also great fun working out the interests and complementary strengths of whichever other journalist is in that day. The last one was with Cerys Griffiths, the brilliant former editor of BBC North West Tonight and who now works at BBC Learning. She was super quick and knew how to summarise a story perfectly.

I enjoy the spontaneity of radio and the ability to project real emphasis to an idea. I also like the interaction around an idea with other people. Next time I'm doing should be in the thick of the silly season. Should be brilliant.

Ren Harvieu - where you heard it first

At first I thought she was Dusty Springfield, which isn't a bad touchstone for any emerging singer. A powerful voice, possibly tortured, certainly sounding like she'd lived a life less ordinary and one longer than 20 years.

Terry Christian has been stoically playing this Salford chantuese for a couple of years on his Northerners With Attitude programme on Stockport's Imagine FM. Say what you like about Terry (and I have done, here) but he has an incredible ear for a great tune and a nose for an artist with attitude.

I finally bought her album this week - and yes, it's a triumph. She has to be nailed on for the next Bond theme.

Charity shop classics - from Marple

James Graham, a journalist of this wider parish of Manchester, presents a delightful show on community radio station ALL FM based in Levenshulme. It's called Charity Shop Classics and features music purchased in the ever growing number of charity shops. The idea of the show is to show how much great, eclectic stuff you can find. There are a few Charity Shops in Marple as we know and programme number 10 sourced some of its music from the Cancer Research shop on Derby Way.


James says: "I was delighted to find that this was just two songs: Graham Parker and the Rumour – I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down, and Kris Kristofferson – Help Me Make it Through the Night from the albums Stick to Me, and Me and Bobby McGee respectively.

 "I remember thinking the general calibre of albums was pretty high, not too much battered stuff, or crooners like Doonican and Jim Reeves, or dreadful Scottish marching music." Here's a thing. They were both £1.99 which James thought was a premium price - the ideal rate being 50p or £1. "Sadly there's terrible price inflation in charity shops, fuelled by some stores who realised they were under-selling a lot of stuff." I thought maybe it's a Cheshire thing, but apparently not.

The show is on every Sunday morning 11-12 (apart from the first of the month) on allfm 96.9 which can be picked up across Greater Manchester.

Meeting Hooky at the BBC at Salford Quays

We had a great experience this morning as I was a guest on Gordon Burns' programme on the BBC Radio Manchester AND Lancashire. The first such show from Quay House at MediaCity. You will be able to listen to it for a while if you click the iPlayer link here.

I was reviewing the Sunday papers with Maria McGeoghan, the editor of the Manchester Evening News, who is always very lovely company. We picked up a few serious highlights to start with: Steve Jobs, the rising popularity of crafts and a good piece on climate change that Maria found. In the second part we highlighted TV shopping, the X Factor, Christina Aguilera's backstage demands, internships and I had a bit of a rant about the hopeless cause that his Blackburn Rovers under Venky's.

It was great to be broadcasting from a studio with a view and one where Rachel and the kids could watch from the office outside. It was also a fantastic experience watching Gordon Burns work, he has a great manner about him. He carries such authority but he also interviews and discusses in a very easy way. No wonder Sir Alex Ferguson wanted his first BBC interview to be with Gordon. But as much as he makes it look easy, he prepares very methodically.

The guest after us was the great Peter Hook from New Order. We had a good chat about his forthcoming concerts and the experience of RAW 2010 when he was interviewed by John Bishop. I was ready to apologise if he hadn't, as it was my idea. His daughter took this picture of us next to his old boss and our much missed friend Tony Wilson. I wish I'd told him how much his music has meant to me over the last 25 years.

There's a growing realisation that the BBC move to Salford isn't just a good idea, but a popular reality. It has started to put the inaccessible BBC just that bit closer to the heartbeat of the nation. Yes, this is good for the BBC, but it's also important for the North too. This piece in the Spectator by William Cook is refreshingly positive without being patronising. Hopefully the rest of the country will awaken to what greatness lies within the North, and appreciate that not only will great things happen, but that they have been happening for years and this is just another step.