I remember back in 1980 going to visit friends who were studying in Huddersfield and at the University, there was an artist playing called Ruby Turner (as mentioned in relation to Jools) – what a voice and what a show. I bought a couple of her CDs and they just didn’t live up to her live shows. Over the years that has changed, but she is still an act to see live.

A huge favourite of mine is Eddi Reader who I first heard when she was lead singer with Fairground Attraction who had a big hit with “Perfect” in 1988. The first time I saw her live was at the Guildford Festival in 1996 which was a special day as it was at that festival on that day that Peter Green returned from his reclusive life and rejoined the music world. Over the years, I have seen Eddi a few times and I have every solo CD that she has made. The number of her tracks that I love is a long list – I once tried to make a ‘best of’ CD but I couldn’t narrow down the list of favourites to make that possible. To see her live is an incredible experience and she conjures such a beautiful and moving sound. I’d love to have Eddi in my top 10 as listening to her always takes me to a beautiful place. I love her version of Dick Gaughan’s “What you do with what you’ve got” from her first solo CD called “Mirmama” (1992) but I will pick her 2001 album, “Simple Soul” as my NUMBER 9, but I really do struggle to choose a favourite as I just love all that she does. When Eddi tours, her guitarist is the incredible Boo Hewerdine who is a performer in his own right and whose songs Eddi often covers – so that’s a bonus too. (Boo’s song “My Last Cigarette" was covered by k d lang on her “Drag” album.)

I mentioned the pleasure I get from listening to the piano playing of Jools Holland, well there are a number of piano players who I like. When I hear boogie woogie or blues piano, I always imagine that it is me playing - I should mention that my piano playing is very similar to that of Ray Charles – well, that would be Ray Charles before he’d ever played a piano before – ok, I admit it, I can’t play the piano. Other favourite pianists are Dr John, Johnnie Johnson, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammonds, Dorothy Donnegan, Meade Lux Lewis, Art Tatum and so many others that I delight in listening too – but Jools rules the roost for me because of all the other aspects to him and the sort of history I have shared with him. But I digress – let’s get back to the job in hand.

I’d like to take a moment to discuss some local music as there is so much quality around Melbourne. I go to quite a lot of live music and am continually astounded at the quality on offer. Whatever the style you want, there is quality stuff available. There are just too many acts to list out, but my love for these people is rarely related to their records as much as to their live shows.

Having said that, I have chosen a local release as my NUMBER 10 choice. The choice is “Tell The Angels” by Vika and Linda. I have probably seen Vika and Linda (the Bull sisters) more than any other local act. They are amazing vocalists and they have a superb band to back them. “Tell The Angels” is a live gospel CD recorded in 2004 over 12 Sundays at a local venue. I was at each of the shows and watched the show evolve as songs were dropped and new ones added and the songs were fine tuned and the best of the recordings went to make the CD. I like gospel music anyway and it was a pleasure to see how this CD came into being - and as Vika and Linda have been a part of my world for the last few years, I decided to include their album. Having said that, the new soul stuff they are doing is going to make a sensational CD too, but I am getting ahead of myself.

To mention a few more local acts: There is the incredible Chris Wilson who is just a star – mainly in blues, but he is versatile and straddles a few styles. There is the story telling and voice of Archie Roach who has penned some fantastic stuff. In terms of blues guitarists, there is Geoff Achison, Lloyd Spiegel and Shannon Bourne. In the jazz world there is Paul Williamson, Gil Askey and the Cat Empire. In the country world there is Cyndi Boste. For Reggae there is Nicky Bomba. And then there is Bluehouse who are a class act. There are just so many – maybe it is easier to not try and list them out.

A quick mention for another fantastic local band that sadly are no longer performing. They were Tiddas comprising of Sally Dastey, Lou Bennett and Amy Saunders – I used to love going to their gigs and would marvel at their power and harmonies.

A band that aren’t really a Melbourne band (but used to be) are The Waifs who I have seen a number of times and each time I have walked away thinking that their shows couldn’t be any better – I just love them so thanks you to Josh Cunningham and Donna and Vicki Simpson. Incredible.

I think that I should end this ramble with my current favourite CD. I never would have thought that I’d include him in a list of things that I like. Not that he does bad things, but he doesn’t really do it for me. The act in question is Bruce Springsteen and when I was back in the UK recently, my mate Rocky was playing this particular CD and I loved it. I have now bought it and it is a damn fine album – it has a lot of musicians performing and a hell of a lot of energy – it just makes me feel good to listen to it. The CD is called “Live in Dublin” and it’s a lot of the songs from his recent CD called “We Shall Overcome”. I am loving it.

Ok – enough already!