Songs in the Key of...

Welcome to episode 21 of "Songs in the Key of..." and this week it's all about music from LGBT+ bands and artists.

There's a deliciously wide variety of music to get through in this episode: from singer/songwriter acoustic-ery through to the full onslaught of a symphonic orchestra - with everything from blues to punk to Hi-NRG anthems.

Enjoy!

Angry anarchists, heartbroken indie-folksters and spaced out prog-rockers. And that's just scratching the surface.

Sweden has a long, long history of excellent music. Here, Stephen Morris digs through his shelves of albums, trawls the depths of his big box of singles and wades through a hard drive of mp3s to find a wide selection of songs in the key of Sweden.

Welcome to another instalment of Songs in the Key of. It's been a while but Stephen Morris is back with another ten songs that have been demanding his attention of late. There's long forgotten American folk from the 70s, satirical electronica from Liverpool and a group bonding reggae classic that sound-tracked a recent BBC drama.

Plus, inevitably, lots more. Lots more.

Welcome to the first "Songs in the Key of..." for 2021 - in which we'll be looking back at 2020. It wasn't all doom and gloom - at least not in the world of music.

Over the last twelve months there have been some fantastic records to have come out. Here, Stephen Morris selects some of the finest songs from those albums, EPs and singles to remind you of some great tunes - and point you in the direction of things you may have missed.

Welcome to the fourth and final episode of the mini series, Songs in the Key of Christmas.

As with the preceding three instalments, there's plenty of off the beaten track Christmas listening to enjoy - from 1950s comedy through to the latest in darkwave synth weirdness.

Listen, enjoy and have a very merry Christmas.

Welcome to the third instalment in this winter wander around Christmas's roads less travelled.

In this episode, we explore a diverse array of genres: punk, jazz, folk, calypso, mambo, Britpop, bizarre electronica, surf rock, beatnik madness and, of course, the obligatory tune from the banks of the River Medway.

So pour yourself a Christmas sherry, wolf down a couple of Brussels sprouts and relax to those opening bars of a Half Man Half Biscuit tune...

Welcome to episode two in the mini-series of Songs in the Key of Christmas. Here you'll find another ten festive treats from off the beaten track for you to listen to and enjoy.

There's a rather downbeat feel to a few of the songs this time round with tunes themed around the soul-lessness of commercialised Christmases, homelessness and missing loved ones.

But there's enough here to offset the misery, thanks to El Vez's interpretation of "Feliz Navidad" and a particularly perky rendition of "Jingle Bells" courtesy of Booker T and the MGs.

Tweet me on @reviewage with your thoughts and Christmassy recommendations.

Welcome to the first episode in a trilogy of Christmas songs where we'll take a look at some of the less celebrated tunes that mark the festive period.

There's World War Two misery, R'n'B innuendo, B-movie plotlines, hellfire and damnation from 1920s preachers and a seasonal reworking of a Link Ray classic.

So that's Christmas sorted.

He's been away for a few weeks but Stephen Morris returns with a Scottish themed selection of songs from his CD shelves. After some extensive pruning, he finds he's left with gems from the likes of Aztec Camera, Lord Cut-Glass, Rachel Sermanni, Idlewild and Trembling Bells.

If you like what you hear - or want to share your own love of Scottish music- drop Stephen a line on @reviewage on Twitter.

Disappointingly, this is NOT episode 13...

A slighted belated Halloween special with plenty of songs to chill you to your very core - or, at the very least, amuse you with the most tentative of connections to things that go bump in the night. Expect Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Expect Dusty Springfield. Expect The Violent Femmes. Oh, and expect the usual rummaging through a pile of indie landfill and two examples of acts from Medway.

Do not expect any terrible puns.

Opening music, as ever, is 'Plasticity' by Blue Dot Sessions, available on a Creative Commons licence.