BLAIR MORGAN

The reviews are still coming in for Foreign Tongues, and most critics seem relieved simply to have another Rolling Stones album. Fair enough. Mick Jagger is now approaching 83, Keith Richards is 82, and nobody seriously expected another studio record after Hackney Diamonds. Listening to it, though, I kept thinking of another Stones album - one that almost nobody rates - Dirty Work.

Watching Elvis Presley in Concert in a movie theatre recently reminded me of something that often gets lost in the mythology surrounding Elvis Presley: the music itself.

Not content with completing three music autobiographies in winter, three more have been added to the list: Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell, The Silver River by Jim Moginie, and The Harder I Fight The More I Love You by Neko Case

Los Lobos prove that a band can keep evolving, experimenting, and still stay together. The wolf, indeed, survives..

As the nights have closed in, I’ve found good company in three new music-related reads that cut across pop stardom, rock mythology, and gritty crime fiction.

Every now and then, a song taps you on the shoulder and more or less demands to be written.

What a life John Mayall had. From compulsory military service in Korea in the 50's through sepia tones of early 60's England trad jazz & blues, a self imposed exile to Los Angeles from the late 60's through to the 2020's..