After The Noise
Everything Is Equal
Monday 09 March 2026
Status Quo – Tune to the Music (1971)
Very underrated, Status Quo. Still the right thing.
From psychedelia to the three-chord boogie, this one sits right in the transition period between the two. Caught in the middle, before everything solidified into the blueprint.
A non-album single which didn’t trouble the charts. Back in the days when troubling the charts and getting your face on Top of the Pops was what artists aspired to.
It’s been a good day. A good weekend. Learned a few lessons along the way. Feeling groovy, as Paul Simon once said.
Feeling like crap though. And for good reason. A little bit of overworking can become a bit too much.
A small slice of Quo blasting out of your phone at the right moment really does hit the spot.
Just right.
Viva La Quo!
Red Simpson – Truck Drivin’ Man (1966)
About a year ago I built a massive country music playlist. Massive to the point where it surprised me just how massive a country playlist could be. One artist I came across during that phase was Red Simpson.
I don’t even know how I came across him.
Red liked trucks. That’s it. That’s all he wrote about. There’s even a Christmas album about trucking (Truckers’ Christmas, 1973).
And I mean that as the highest compliment.
I mean, concept albums about trucks! And I work with trucks! I can’t drive the blooming things but I work with them!
There’s an album where he plays a highway cop (The Man Behind the Badge, 1966), which is fantastic. But his 1966 debut Roll, Truck, Roll is pure Red Simpson doing what he does best. Songs about trucks. Straight down the line. No nonsense. Trucks rolling. Songs doing exactly what they say on the tin.
And that’s why it works.
This always makes me smile. Makes me tap my feet. Makes the day feel lighter when it comes on. There’s something comforting about music that doesn’t pretend to be anything else.
Red Simpson did what he said he’d do. Sang about trucks. Sang about the road. Sang about the job.
Makes me yearn for a life on the road in the mid-1960s using primitive trucks. Stopping at coffee shops. Drinking endless refills of coffee. Smoking Marlboro. Wearing a checked shirt.
When things do what they say on the tin, life feels a lot better.
No metaphors. No posturing. Just momentum.
Bee Gees – Love So Right (1976)
Or, as Kenny Everett once called them, the singing teeth. That line has always stayed with me. And it still makes me guffaw heartily.
Barry remains, as of early 2026, the last Bee Gee remaining in the building.
This is from Children of the World, released just before Saturday Night Fever propelled them back into stardom after years lurking in pop’s wilderness.
It’s mellow. Exactly what I need this morning, after working till 3 AM and only getting four hours sleep.
And that is that.
Sir John Betjeman – Indoor Games Near Newbury (1974)
Sir John Betjeman.
What a man.
This is Betjeman reading poetry to music, which immediately makes it more interesting. Jazzy, slightly surreal, and strangely calming in heavy Manchester traffic. Quintessentially English language delivered with complete confidence.
Jim Parker did the music.
Rather splendidly.
The album is called Banana Blush, and I wasn’t expecting the music to be quite so trippy. It really surprised me.
This reeks of not giving a fuck. In the best possible way.
He wasn’t trying to compete with Bowie or T. Rex. He wasn’t trying to be relevant. He just released it.
That confidence matters. It always has.
When your mind’s clear, things come naturally again. Not easily, but naturally. That’s an important distinction.
And it makes this wonderful playlist all the more important for my sanity.
Thanks, Sir John.
Mind clearer.
END OF LISTENING LOG
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