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By Narendra Kusnur  Album: A special playlist for former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green  (Spotify link below) On hearing of the death of Fleetwood Mac co-founder and guitarist Peter Green on July 25, my natural instinct as a journalist was to write an obituary. However, over the next few hours, so many British and American publications and websites had carried one, and there was nothing new left to write. Considering his enormous contribution, and the fact that iconic guitarists like Peter Frampton, Gary Moore and Slash were fans, a simple Facebook post with a YouTube link wasn't enough. This is where the idea of creating a playlist germinated. Now, it would have been great to just create a playlist and share it – the link is at the end of the file. But I thought I'd go a step further and explain the thought process and methodology that went into creating this one. First things first. A playlist on an audio streaming platform isn’t just a random list of...

By Narendra Kusnur  Event: Engelbert Humperdinck live from.home Date: July 23 Genre: Evergreen Rating: **** (Link below) At 84, singer Engelbert Humperdinck shows no signs of slowing down. We caught him suddenly on a live YouTube show which he gave from his home on Thursday, and for 40 minutes he sang to tracks and jived along. Dressed in black, those characteristic sideburns unchanged, he began with his super-hit ‘Release Me’, which he described as a song which could apply to any situation. Besides his other hits ‘How I Love You’ and ‘The Last Waltz’ (“a song which people have danced to all over the world”), he presented his own interpretation of Bob Dylan's ‘Forever Young’, Bruno Mars’ ‘Just The Way You Are’ and Toby Keith's ‘Don’t Let The Old Man In’ (which has also been covered by country legend Willie Nelson on his new album). The free gig concluded appropriately with Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Smile’. A couple of months ago, Canadian star Neil Sedaka, known for h...

By Narendra Kusnur  Event: FB Live chat on Anand Bakshi (link below) Panelists: Subhash Ghai, Vijay Akela, Rakesh Anand Bakshi Date: July 20 Organiser: IPRS, moderated by Rakesh Anand Bakshi Rating: **** The moment he had some free time, lyricist Anand Bakshi would take a dusting cloth and clean his trophies. “There were some 300 or 400 trophies in our drawing room, and he took regular care of them. These would include awards he won for songs or mementos if a film completed a silver or golden jubilee,” his son Rakesh Anand Bakshi revealed during an online Facebook Live chat with filmmaker Subhash Ghai and lyricist Vijay Akela on Monday. Held on the eve of Bakshi’s 90th birth anniversary on July 21, the chat was organised by the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS). While Ghai narrated many anecdotes involving their friendship and professional association, Akela cited incidents reflecting how Bakshi thought and approached his writing Rakesh talked of his habits and fo...

By Narendra Kusnur Many associate the vocals of British folk-rock band Fairport Convention to the phenomenally talented Sandy Denny, who died prematurely after a freak staircase fall in 1978. However, the group’s ardent fans would also recognise the contribution of Judy Dyble, who fronted the self-titled debut album in 1968. Dyble, who died on Sunday after a prolonged illness at the age of 71, was an immensely talented singer herself. Besides Fairport Convention, she sang for Giles Giles & Fripp who eventually formed the progressive rock group King Crimson, was part of the cult duo Trevor Horne and released many solo projects in the 2000s. Denny went on to be recognised as a legend, but Dyble remained under-rated, nearly unknown. Some remembered her for her habit of knitting a sweater or scarf on stage when she wasn’t singing and a long instrumental solo was on. Though she left Fairport in a huff and Denny’s arrival initially shattered her self-confidence, she was repor...

By Narendra Kusnur  Album: Essential Super Hits Artiste: The Charlie Daniels Band Genre: Southern rock/ Americana Label: Blue Hat Rating: ***** The term ‘Americana’ has been used regularly over the past decade, with even the Grammy awards having a category. Those who've heard the 1970s music of Charlie Daniels will probably agree that he was a pioneer in that genre, though the phrase didn’t exist then. Leading the Charlie Daniels Band, 83-year-old Daniels has left a huge void with his death on Monday after repeated illness over the past few years. A contemporary of the Allman Brothers Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, ZZ Top, Little Feat and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Daniels blended southern rock, country, blues, swamp music and bluegrass to create an American hybrid that was quite distinct. He himself played the guitar and fiddle, besides singing on his albums, but he was also known to play bass with Bob Dylan on three albums including ‘Nashville Skyline’. Appe...