10 great love songs

Happy Valentine's Day.

Here are 10 of my favourite love songs.

My Love Is Your Love (Forever) - The Isley Brothers

Flows superbly, gorgeous strings. 'Now girl, now that I found you, come closer girl, I wanna put my arms around you.

Only With You - The Beach Boys

Does it get any more beautiful than this?

'I wanna spend this life with you, only with you, yes it's true, all I wanna do, is spend my life with you.'

Don't Let Me Down - The Beatles

Lennon is so hopelessly in love that he says four words rather than three. Incredible middle-eight 'I'm in love for the first time, don't you know it's gonna last, it's a love that last forever, it's a love that has no past'.

I'm Thinking Of You - Sister Sledge

Disco heaven, this was sublime when Chic played it at Wickerman last summer.

'Without love, there's no reason to live, without you, what would I do with the love I give?'

'I'm thinking of you and the things you do to me, that make me love you, now I'm living in ecstasy'.

Mellow Doubt - Teenage Fanclub

I listened to this a lot before I proposed to Lynn.

'There is no choice, in what I must do, nothing is greater, than to be with you'

I Love Every Little Thing About You - Stevie Wonder

Stevie has written some inspirational love songs. Has he ever sounded so head over heels?

'I'm here to say, I love you every day, and I just wanna tell the world I love you so…'

Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In My Space - Spiritualized

From the truly exceptional album of the same name. J Spaceman is on a different level with this gorgeous lysergic lullaby.

I will love you till I die and I will love you all the time,

So please put your sweet hand in mine, 

We'll float in space and drift in time

I'm Sticking With You - Velvet Underground

Childlike vocals by Moe Tucker. The section when Lou Reed comes in is just stunning, flows superbly.

I'll do anything for you, anything you want me to, 

I'll do anything for you, woah-oh I'm sticking with you

Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac

Can you hear me calling, out your name,

You know I'm falling and I don't know what to say

Something's happening, happening to me

My friend's say I'm acting peculiarly 

Divine. 

Baby, I Love You - The Ronettes

Simple, heartfelt and soulful. This was our first wedding dance. Spector at his very best.

Have I ever told you

How good it feels to hold you

It isn't easy to explain

Tips for 2013

The end of year 'best of' lists are barely over before magazines, radio shows and bloggers launch feet first into their 'tips for 2013'.

I decided to investigate 5 of the bands being highlighted in these lists (many of which have top PR people working for them to get them there) to discover if I would be falling for any of them in the year ahead.

Palma Violets are receiving huge support from the likes of the NME. They look like they wanna be The Libertines, however they look far too clean cut to inspire the kind of devotion that Doherty and Barrat did.

The first song of theirs I listened to was 'Tom the Drum' via the BBC website and I thought it was so shite that I wouldn't bother listening to anything else they had to offer.

I did persist though and checked out 'Best of Friends' via their website. The chorus is admittedly pretty good. I just get the feeling that they are trying too hard for their look and sound. It was natural for The Libertines, this just seems pretty fake to me.

VERDICT - I won't be wasting much time on Palma Violets.They will probably release one moment of punky guitar pop genious but depsite being on the brilliant Rough Trade, I won't be holding my breath,

Haim are number one in the celebrated BBC Sound of 2013 list and have also been widely tipped across the music press. I discovered them towards the end of 2012 when I downloaded 'Forever' after a friend was tweeting about it. 

The song flows superbly and I do love the refrain at the end;

Go, go, go get out, get out of my memory

No, no, no not tonight I don't have the energy

'Don't Save Me' is more of the same, clever and catchy pop with echoes of Fleetwood Mac.

VERDICT - Definitely worth checking out. The album could soundtrack a sunny summer.

The Strypes are freshly signed to Mercury Records and are so fresh faced that they look like they would struggle to get served in my local pub(well they are all 14-16!)

When you google the band one of the items near the top is 'Elton John checks out RADAR band The Strypes at tiny Brighton pub gig'. That's when the cynic in me thinks - jeez they must have some good connections.

The Strypes play raw rock'n'roll, Van Morrison's days with Them seem to be an immediate stand out amongst their many influences; they have some choice covers from the likes of Bo Didley and the Stones on their YouTube channel.

VERDICT - A spectacular year including every festival imaginable but can the youngsters keep up the pace or will they crash and burn? Will they produce material of their own to match their great choice of covers? Kudos to their folks for introducing them to some great music.

Peace - are another band whose name seems to be cropping up in all the right places at the right time. My initial reaction to them was 'cool website'. I chose to check out their song and video 'Bloodshake'. The guitar melody is quite Vampire Weekend-y, the video comes across as being a bit like The Word (cult 90's TV show on Channel 4) and the band look like they aren't really a band - as in they are all a bit different. I didn't last until the end of the song.

I checked out their song 'Follow Baby' and it seems to be strange melting pot of Northside, Jesus Jones and Senseless Things. For those of you not as old as me - this ain't good.

VERDICT - Particularly poor. 

Next up I opted to check out some futuristic R&B courtesy of AlunaGeorge who made the final 5 on the BBC Sound of list. 'Just A Touch' is the song featured on the Beeb website and it had me hooked immediately with a catchy riff, gorgeous vocals and melody with a shift in pace at all the right times.

Next up I checked out 'Your Drums, Your Love' on YouTube and thought that the phrase 'futuristic R&B' describes them perfectly. This is not the kind of music that features heavily in my record collection but when I stumble across something like this then I do get into it. The chorus is uplifting, the production is sublime and the vocals are once again gorgeous.

VERDICT - A critically acclaimed album that gets to the Mercury shortlist.

So there you have it - pass marks for AlunaGeorge and Haim, a definitely maybe for The Strypes and a thanks but no thanks for Palma Violets and Peace,

Five for Friday 26.08.11

This weeks tunes are inspired by the DJ Greg Wilson. I can't get enough of his amazing selection of mixes over at his soundcloud account

Greg's mixes are flawless and he drops in some amazing surprises at times.


We start with 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' which appears at the end of his Bestival set, the edit played is just sheer joy. This is a rare and unreleased version that Greg may have got his hands on.

We then change pace with this Leo Zero edit/remix of 'No Tears To Cry' by Paul Weller - check the strings when they kick in, gorgeous.

Followed by a romp by ELO 'Last Train To London' again with glorious strings that Greg makes full use of in his Bestival set. The refain 'I really want tonight to last forever, I really want to be with you' would have sounded amazing at a festival.

Fleetwood Mac are next with the stunning 'Everywhere'. The opening lyric is just so catchy and emotional. 'Can you hear me calling, out your name? You know I'm falling and I don't know what to say.'

I'll end with a tune Greg has ended his sets with, the euphoric 'Movin' On Up' by Primal Scream.