Isolated music tracks are an absolute delight for obsessives - The Band, Beach Boys, ZZ Top, Stones, Beatles...and Linda McCartney!

A brilliant Lego tribute to Lemmy - and a bit of Bowie (because there hasn't been enough, obviously)

And my three favourite covers of Bowie songs:

Gertcha! A dozen of this Londoner's favourite London songs - from "Play with Fire" to "We're the Sweeney"

Jimmy Rodgers to Stevie Ray Vaughan - twelve terrific tunes toasting Texas

Thomas Sowell once mocked alarmist claims about the threat of overpopulation by pointing out that every single person on earth would fit into the state of Texas - in fact, given the Obama administration's love affair with illegals and its unwillingness to protect America's borders, I'm not sure the experiment hasn't already begun. Having once travelled across Texas in a Greyhound bus, I can quite believe Sowell's claim: damn thing seemed to go on forever. The only city I spent any time in was San Antonio, which was pretty, and I seem to remember stopping off in Dallas - but if I did, I can remember nothing about it. The problem is, I love greenery and hills and sea and geographical diversity - and all I remember about Texas (at least, what I saw of it) was endless, monotonous flatness unleavened apart from the occasional cow, oil derrick or truck-stop.

My fifteen favourite Bob Dylan tracks

I listened to an awful lot of Bob Dylan tracks before writing my post on The Basement Tapes, and, as it's my wife's turn to host her book group and I'm stuck in my top-floor eyrie this evening, I've been messing about coming up with a list of my favourites. I've gone for performances rather than songs - i.e. this isn't primarily about hipster coolness or political messages or about songs that changed the direction of popular music: these are the Bob Dylan tracks I still listen to for sheer, instant, visceral enjoyment. There's nothing after 1973 (although I have practically everything he's released since then), and there's a preponderance of tracks from his magnificent quartet of mid-to-late-'60s masterpiece LPs.

I salute the mighty organ - the instrument that went from zero to hero in 1960s pop music

Organs became big in 1959 when they featured as lead instrument in three major pop hits – Dave “Baby” Cortez’s chart-topping “The Happy Organ” (not to mention "The Whistling Organ" - now there's a novelty!), “White Silver Sands” by the Bill Black Combo, and Johnny and the Hurricane’s “Red River Rock”. Within a few short years, organs had shaken off their cheerful, vaguely comic “novelty” tag and were all over the pop charts: by the mid-Sixties, they were dead hip.

The Telegraph has published a list of the Top 10 all-time American Rock bands - here's my infinitely superior version

Little Feat

The Telegraph list (here) includes some odd choices. The Band - perhaps the greatest North American rock band of all time - were 80% Canadian, as the Telegraph admits; Bruce Springsteen isn’t a band; Jimi Hendrix wasn’t a band (and if he was, two-thirds of it was British); R.E.M produced some good stuff but (to my ears at least) were more New Wave pop than rock; The Ramones were fun, but they were a punk outfit, and extremely limited; Metallica were after my time (and, apart from their version of “Whiskey in the Jar”, I haven’t liked anything of theirs I’ve heard)...

The Rolling Stones were sort of okay at Glastonbury – but Keith Richards with a paunch? Really?

That's more like it

Okay, it was… quite interesting. And not too overwhelmingly embarrassing, I suppose. And at least none of them actually pegged out during the performance. Or broke a hip. Or had to have somebody “sit with” them for a bit while they recovered. But Mick Taylor looked a bit non-plussed, Keith Richards now sports one of those unattractive paunches skinny old men tend to acquire, and I did keep wondering whether Sir Mick wasn't going to do himself a mischief jigging around like that at his age. Mainly, it all made me feel horribly old.

Head Down No Nonsense Mindless Pub Rock – my favourite examples

Worth it just for the drummer!

Scrub my last music post – 1972 was almost as good as 1971 for albums, even better for singles!

Okay, I’ve got my excuses ready. The reason I was so wrong about 1972 is… the cat ate my homework! Will that do? Oh, the hell with it – I just got so over-excited by becoming re-acquainted with the glories of 1971, that I began dissing its younger brother without doing proper research. Truth is, ’72 – bless it! – was only a gnat’s behind ’71 in terms of albums, and actually ahead when it comes to singles.  The singles list alone is actually awe-inspiring – and I thought the early ’70s was meant to be the era of the long-player.

1971 - the best year ever for great albums and singles

The history of a famous bass riff - from "Summertime" to "Black Night"

Nick Lowe - Godfather of British Rock and all-round Good Egg

The Rolling Stones in 1968: the greatest return to form in music history

My guilty pop pleasures - please don’t judge me harshly, lest ye be judged!

Have you ever been with people you know when a record comes on which you love, but which you can’t admit to loving because it would result in everyone rolling around, pointing at you, and hooting with laughter? Have guests ever flicked through your CD or record collection and said “Good God, you don’t actually like this, do you?”

"The Band": the greatest LP in Rock history from the most talented band in Rock history

The most accomplished, inventive and intriguing rock band America has ever produced is The Band.  I enjoyed their 1968 hit single, “The Weight”and 1969’s UK hit, “Rag Mama Rag”, but I had just bought my first stereo system, recorded music was expensive back then, and there was oodles of great new stuff to choose from.