Jon Ellison

 Happy New Year readers! Entering 2024 brings a mix of reflections and hopes. The lows of the past year, marked by global challenges and personal loss, are acknowledged. The struggles of countries like Ukraine, conflicts, and the ever-present cost-of-living crisis are on the forefront.  Of course, we lost some famous faces in 2023. They include; Adan Rich Alan Arkin Algy Ward Annette McCarthy Arthur Schmidt Barbara Bosson Barbara Bryne Barrett Strong Bernadette Hunt aka Falcon from Gladiators Bill Butler Billy The Kid Bo Goldman Brian Tufano Bruce Bould Burny Mattinson Burt Bacharach Burt Young Charles E. Bastien Chas Newby Dale Meeks David Crosby David Elliott Dee Dee Wood Donald W. Ernst Doreen Mantle Droz Earl Bohen George Armstrong Gloria Dee Harry Belafonte Ian Bairnson Jean Boht Jerry Springer Jim Gordon Joe Fagin John Gosling John Nettleton John Waddington Keith Reid Lawrence Turman Lisa Marie Presley Mark Gilpin Mark Goddard Mark Margolis Mark Stewart Matthew Perry Mic...

 The Beatles, even after over five decades since their split, have long been regarded as one of the most influential and popular bands in music history. Lately, their most recently released single, Now & Then , has made the news. Inspired by the latest news and as somebody who grew up listening to the Beatles and being the son of parents who owned a few vinyls by them, I thought I'd analyse my personal favourite songs to have been recorded by George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. For each song, I shall be as brief with my reasons as possible.. So, here's my Top 11; Number 11; Octopus' Garden I start this list with one of the rarest songs sung and written by Ringo. I'd say that Ringo is the most underrated Beatle out of the others. To me, Octopus' Garden showcases his talent as a singer and songwriter.. But it also highlights how as imaginative he is as his colleagues. Number 10; Day Tripper As a family, we had Day Tripper on one of our ...

 Throughout general history, some fans of certain bands have stated that "(insert band)'s not the same without (insert a certain band member)". For instance, personally, I prefer the Electric Light Orchestra when Roy Wood was a member during the first couple of years - not to say that I didn't enjoy any of their later material at all. My reasons relate to the artistry. However, I always felt that Roxy Music remained as awesome as when Brian Eno performed with them. In fact, I can say the same thing about Yes and the material they performed with and without Rick Wakeman. As some readers of my previous blogs may know, Rick Wakeman is one of my personal favourite musicians of all time . My Dad had purchased a few of his albums; The Six Wives Of Henry VIII , Journey To The Centre Of The Earth , The Myths & Legends Of King Arthur and the Knights Of The Round Table , No Earthly Connection and White Rock . Each one of them has blown me away ever since, thanks to Rick...

 So apparently, today's the 12th day of Christmas. I say apparently because I never fully believed that there were actually twelve days of Christmas, aside from Christmases Eve and Day and Boxing Day (December 24th, 25th and 26th). I'd've thought it was just some silly carol that suggests that there are 12 Days of Christmas. But my family follows this tradition and that is; when it comes to the 12th Day, i.e. 5th January, now's the time to start taking the Christmas decorations down. I would've thought it was Boxing Day, but in our family, we have a few other traditions each Christmas and this holiday just gone was no exception. For us, Christmas Day is family time and not only did I spend time with my parents and my older brother, but we were all invited to join some of our other relatives for Christmas Dinner. We had a mixture of turkey and pork and some vegetables and we had music associated with the holiday playing in the background. Sounds familiar doesn't ...

 Happy New Year readers! It's that time again where we celebrate the start to a brand new year after a night of boozing in town and singing Auld Lang Syne or however one prefers to celebrate. It's also the time when we reflect on what's happened and what we'd been through over the previous year. In addition, it's the time to plan some New Year's Resolutions. This might be one of the lengthiest posts I've ever published, so grab yourselves a cup of tea or something as we go through the highs and lows of 2022. So, where to begin with how 2022 went? Well I feel that one should start with the negatives and then the positives as it's always best to end on a positive note. So here goes. Firstly, I'll start with those who passed on over the last year. These include; June Brown Bernard Cribbins Angela Lansbury Jet Black Robbie Coltrane Lynda Baron Meat Loaf Christine McVie Ashvin Luximon Terry Hall Matt Zimmerman Vivienne Westwood Maxi Jazz Raymond Briggs Mi...

 Hello fellow readers. For this blog post, I shall be ranking what I personally regard as the top best musicians. In this case, I'm defining an individual musician, which means that I shall be excluding music bands such as Queen and the Stranglers from this list. I'll be judging each musician by their skills in vocals, instrument playing, writing, and/or so forth. Some of the musicians are known to have performed in bands, but these bands will mostly have featured instrument playing musicians, with technical and/or writing skills. I judge not so much on one's personality, nor do I consider the "iconography" or success. Each time, I shall provide a list of what's included in the musician's portfolio which I personally recommend. For some, I have provided YouTube links, but only for those that I could find. Because this is a review based-post, all of the information is opinion-based and I'm sure you have different opinions, which is fair enough. But in t...