New single - 12th January 2026
Nobody Knows
Here's a song with unusual lyrics by Irish singer-songwriter and musician Paul Brady. I've since learrned that he played with the Irish traditional folk band Planxty who came to prominence here in England in the early 1970's together with The Chieftans and The Bothy Band. I had vinyl albums by all three during that time, including 'Cold Blow And The Rainy Night' by Planxty and 'Chieftans IV', which featured the beautiful song 'Mná Na hÉireann (Women Of Ireland)', later covered by Jeff Beck. It seems that Paul Brady, whose work straddles folk, pop and other genres, is still working and making music. I tip my hat to him.
Shamus Dark - vocal
Rick Laughlin - piano and keyboards
Paul Harvey - guitars
Paul Carmichael - fretless bass
New single - 19th December 2025
Mellowing Grey
People of a certain age will remember the band Family, who released a number of well regarded albums during the late 1960's and early 70's. Fronted by vocalist Roger Chapman, they were variously decribed as prog-rock, jazz rock and heavy rock. This song is from the band's debut album ‘Music in a Doll’s House', released in 1968 and produced by Dave Mason, erstwhile member of the band Traffic. Written by Roger Chapman and Joh Whitney it's a more gentle example of the band's output.
As usual, it's available to stream or download at all the usual music websites
Shamus Dark - vocal
Rick Laughlin - piano & keyboard
Paul Harvey - guitar
Paul Carmichael - bass
When Autumn Leaves Start To Fall - November 2025
Here's a pic I took today of a wonderful, centuries old plane tree in Brunswick Square gardens in Bloomsbury, London. Some people call it a London plane, but that's a bit of a misnomer as it's commonly planted all over Europe, especially as a street tree on wider roads and boulevards. Here in Brunswick Square it's been allowed to develop naturally, with lower limbs that stretch out at head or even waist height a 100 feet or more. But it's not a natural species, being a cross between the oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) which is native from Italy east through the Balkans, Turkey, and the Caucasus to Iran and the occidental plane (Platanus occidentalis), native to the eastern and central United States. The reason you see so many planted in urban environments is because of it's resistance to pollution, a definite advantage especially in the 20th century. But there's very little value to wildlife, so while it does provide some important benefits, the birds, bees and insects don't get much at all.
What's this got to do with music? Well, while putting this up I'm listening to the marvellous live version of ‘Autumn Leaves’ by the late Eva Cassidy. You can watch her here…
October 2025 - something a bit gruesome for Halloween!
You Don't Know What Love Is
The original version of this video had some technical problems, so I took it down some years ago, then forgot all about it. Anyway, what with halloween nearly upon us, here it is again with a new beginning and ending. The music track is from the album 'Songs For Suicidal Lovers' and as usual, is available for streaming or download at all the good internet stores.
The video features footage from the film 'Night Of The Living Dead', a cult zombie horror movie now in the public domain. The complete film is available to watch on Youtube.
Music track produced In Hong Kong by Pete Millward with trumpet by Michael Kurtz.
October 2025 - Gone With The Wind (Singles collection volume 1)
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK and a new compilation album
What music did you grow up listening to when you were a child? During the 1950's, the only access I had to music was through the radio, or the ‘wireless’, as it was then called. I remember liking, or quite liking, records by Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and other american singers, but not an awful lot else. The jump from ‘parent music’ to ‘my music’ came during the mid and late 1950's with the rise to prominence of artists like Elvis, Little Richard, The Everley Brothers and Buddy Holly, to name just a few. But the real ‘big bang’ came at the age of 13 with the coming of The Beatles and all the wonderful music that followed during the 1960's and 70's.
So why then have I chosen to record many songs that were written before I was even born? Well, in later life, the September of my years, so to speak, I've delved into and come to appreciate more and more, the brilliant work of writers like Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Matt Dennis and many others. Together with great arrangers and producers like Pete Millward, Rick Laughlin, Paul Harvey and Andy Dewar, I hope that we've managed to give a different perspective to many of these great songs. The tracks on this new compilation album are all previously released as singles, but are now gathered together into what I hope is a coherent body of work. As with all the other releases in my catalogue, this album is available to stream or download at all the usual worldwide websites.