Day 345 Jonathan Richman "That Summer Feeling"

I'm not sure I'd even heard this song at the time, but it will forever remind me of a teenage summer spent in America with Chris Wagstaff. Elegaic..

Day 344 Jeff Wayne "The Eve Of The War"

Formative musical experience number one: staying at a mate's house aged about 10, and having the bejesus well and truly scared out of me when he played this WITH THE LIGHTS OUT.

Day 343 James Carr & The Flying Burrito Brothers "Dark End Of the Street"

No, not a collaboration (though just imagine...) I just couldn't decide which version of this I like best, and it is 365 songs in 365 days, so here's both versions.  Which do you prefer, listeners?

Tune in tomorrow for 872 versions of "Yesterday"...

Day 342 Curtis Mayfield "Jesus"

I hang my head with shame on realising that I've got this far without posting any Curtis Mayfield.   Ricardo Martin introduced me to this particular Curtis song. For that - and many other things - I thank him.

Day 341 Lambchop "Up With People"

Kurt Wagner during his Curtis Mayfield period. Wonderful. I'm pretty sure I was at this gig, too...

Day 340 Jurassic 5 "Concrete Schoolyard"

Of all the 'back in the day' Hip Hop tracks, this is surely the best. Pull out your beats, pull out your cuts, and pull out your kazoos...

Day 339 Patti Labelle "Teach Me Tonight (Me Gusta Tu Baile)"

I wish there were more tracks like this - amazing fusion of Latin and Soul that doesn't sound contrived...

Day 338 Gwen McCrae "All This Love That I'm Givin'"

The wah wah guitar on this rivals "Shaft" and it has the second best bassline ever...what's not to love? To paraphrase an old Northern Soul lag I once talked to, the only way to get them on the dancefloor quicker than playing this is to chuck a load of fivers on there...

Day 337 Steve Mason "Boys Outside"

I suspect the last 20-odd of these posts will be heavy on the 60's, 70's and 80's, as I shoehorn in classics I've forgotten about. So today I'll attempt to be at least slightly contemporary.  The former Beta Band man's album from 2 years ago is all fantastic - but this is the highlight for me...

Day 336 Jean Jacques Perry "EVA"

Happy birthday, Robert Moog...

Day 335 The 13th Floor Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me"

The last month of this whole crazy thing starts with the Best Garage Song Ever.  Wonderful intro too - incongruous...

Day 334 Sonny Burgess "Red Headed Woman"

There's not enough songs around about redheads, if you ask me.  Great, frantic backing vocals on this too...

Day 333 Chicago "Street Player"

Day 333?  I guess i should post something I used to play regularly at Mother Bar at the 333 on Old St way back when (50 quid a night plus all the beer I could put away - oh, the glamour).  If you don't like it - persevere - it's particularly good from about 5:00 on. And if it's good enough for Kenny Dope to sample, it's good enough for me...

Day 332 Dr John, Professor Longhair & Earl King "Big Chief"

It's the weekend and a holiday here - let's have something feelgood, shall we?

Day 331 Meic Stevens "Ghost Town"

Better known (though not much) for his Welsh language albums, this is an ace funky Dylanesque bit of 60's rock.

Day 330 Love "A House Is Not A Motel"

Whenever I think about my all time favourite records - of all time, mate - for some reason I always forget "Forever Changes".  Not today.   And while I don't want to sound like a pound shop Griel Marcus here - dissecting every second of a well known song -  those lines about mud mixing with blood and turning grey, followed by silence and then that piercing machine gun guitar? Well, I can't think of any other piece of music from the time that conjures up more vivid images of poor grunts dying in the mud and shit in 'Nam. Enjoy.

Day 329 Dexys "Free"

It's not often I'm so up on the musical play that I get to post a song that isn't even out yet, but here goes. Ok, so it's not by Grimes or anyone cool like that, but it is absolutely AMAZING. Watching this makes me immensely happy, tinged with a touch of regret - Kevin Rowland is crazy and brilliant, what if he had kept it together enough to make more records in the last 20 odd years? 

Day 328 Dennis Edwards "Don't Look Any Further"

There you go - best bassline ever. No arguments, please - without this, no "Paid In Full".

Day 327 The Beach Boys "Friends"

OK, the Best Bassline Ever will wait until tomorrow.  Me & Susan have had a great day with our friends Ben & Jane, and been thinking about the friend who introduced me to the wonderful world of post-surfing Beach Boys all those years ago -

Day 325 Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime"

It's got a claim to be the greatest single ever - it's both uplifting and unsettling, something very difficult to pull off. The second greatest bassline of all time too (the greatest up tomorrow.)  By the way, this is in no way a reference to City's title win today...

Day 324 The Faces "Wicked Messenger"

Up there with Hendrix's version of "All Along The Watchtower" as the best Dylan cover. And from the same album, too.

Day 323 Mission Of Burma "That's When I Reach For My Revolver"

A wonderful song, in that earnest post-punk way...

Day 322 Yeah Yeah Noh "Tommy Opposite"

2 and a half minutes that nailed the slow death of the idealism of the 80's left. I hear they're reforming - how I wish I was in Leicester now, rather than Istanbul.

Day 321 Cultural Vibe "Ma Foom Bey"

In keeping with the dancefloor feel of the last few days, here's some slo-mo weirdness from Tony Humphries. This, unbelievably, is from 1986.

Day 320 The Cosmonauts "Disco Biscuit"

More disco music, this time of the Italo-PSB persuasion...outstanding!

Day 319 Space "Carry On, Turn Me On"

Not just my favourite piece of space disco, but a snazzy bit of interpretive dance too - superb!

DAY 318 Beastie Boys "Shadrach (Live On Soul Train)"

A damn shame - remember him like this...