“I could live a million,” sang R.E.M. on one of their earliest tracks, though few had a clue what Michael Stipe was banging on about. Well...

The first book about Jimi Hendrix I read was written by my Melody Maker colleague Chris Welch and published in 1972, long before rock books...

Regular visitors to Just Backdated will perhaps have noted that certain big rock acts are conspicuous by their absence. Among them is Queen,...

In a departure from my usual habit I am posting on my blog today an e-mail I received about Andy Neill’s recent Ready Steady Go! book. The ...

Eddie Floyd isn’t a household name like Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding, his private life was never as lively as Marvin Gaye or James Brown, ...

The intriguing saga of Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam has taken another twist with the release of this impeccable re-recording of Tea For The Tille...

  I have just started to read Knock On Wood , Eddie Floyd’s autobiography which is co-authored by my friend Tony Fletcher. I’ll probably rev...

In March I previewed my friend Andy Neill’s upcoming book about Ready Steady Go! , the UK TV show broadcast between August 1963 and December...

Fifty years ago this past weekend on the Isle of Wight a crowd variously estimated at between 600,000 and 700,000 were entertained by a 3...

(Picture by Barrie Wentzell) It would have been 46 years ago this week when I last had meaningful conversations with Rod Stewart and ...