CARRICKFERGUS by BRYAN FERRY Story by Stephen Andrew
A quarter of a century later, I hear this song again, rising spontaneously through the eucalypts.
TOO SHY by KAJAGOOGOO Tribute to Bob Hawke by Stephen Andrew
Stephen Andrew recalls the night of Bob Hawke's 1983 election triumph, via - of all things - a song called Too Shy by a band called - of of all things - Kajagoogoo.
NO REGRETS by THE WALKER BROTHERS Story by Stephen Andrew
The song still belts my heart like defibrillator paddles.
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48 – III. Elégie: Larghetto elegiaco. Poem by Stephen Andrew
Staring at nothing/But sleep’s petulant absence./Most nights were like this/Toward the end.
CAN THE CAN by SUZI QUATRO Story by Stephen Andrew
Listen to Stephen Andrew as he recalls errant high-school days and a taciturn teacher.
RATTLIN’ BONES by KASEY CHAMBERS & SHANE NICHOLSON Story by Stephen Andrew
The lyrics of Rattlin’ Bones were apocalyptic and disorienting but somehow strangely comforting after our deeply personal experiences of the Black Saturday fires.
ON THE ROAD by JACK KEROUAC Story by Stephen Andrew
Kerouac’s bebop fills my body. His mellifluous slurring cha-cha-cha’s itself into a new instrument, floating notes like his beloved Charlie Parker saxophone...
MOONLIGHT ON VERMONT by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and his Magic Band Story by Stephen Andrew
Unhinged, unwieldy, (apparently) uncoordinated and maybe even unlistenable. Despite or because of this, I pressed on. I'd read somewhere that this was supposed to be An Important Album.
YOU by PRINCESS ONE POINT FIVE Story by Stephen Andrew
It was a big deal in my heart when my brother responded enthusiastically to my studiously low key suggestion that he and I form a scratch band to play at the St Andrews Festival in 2007.
FILL IN THE BLANK by CAR SEAT HEADREST Story by Stephen Andrew
This song goes off like a nail bomb. It carries, not an earworm, but an ear leech, that latches on and will not be silenced.