A tale of workers’ rights in England’s southern farm belt — Tucked away, half-forgotten in the bucolic countryside of Dorset, southern England, is a monument to rural poverty, resistance and, ultimately, to how public pressure can get governments to change their minds. A trail, a sculpture, some houses, and a small museum pay homage to six 19th-century workers who wanted a…

A humble marker on a door — On a quiet street in London’s well-heeled borough of Richmond upon Thames is a sign that tells of seismic events in the history of rock. Inside the unassuming door is where The Rolling Stones held an afternoon residency at the start of what will soon be a 60-year career; it…

Father and son songs can show complex emotions — Songs about mothers tend to be simple. She worked for you; she sacrificed for you; she was always there for you. Not so, with fathers and their sons. Such songs are often riddled with Angst, oozing with regret, and painful to listen to (even if, like this author, you have…

The criminally neglected score of “Peaky Blinders” — A good soundtrack accompanying a film gives it a punch and at times sets the mood. Simon and Garfunkel’s score of “The Graduate” is a prime example. But it is rare indeed that a soundtrack becomes as important to the overall work as the acting and story itself. Such is…

A legendary band and a legendary singer-songwriter. What could be better. — When the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band first got together in 1966, Bob Dylan had just released “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.” Yes, that’s 56 years-ago — before John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire, among many others. Now, the legendary country rockers…

Buried music treasures that don’t sparkle as much as hoped — Let’s get something out of the way first. “Summer of Soul (…or when the revolution could not be televised),” the film directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, is a great documentary. It captures a moment in music history that was shamefully forgotten/ignored for decades. It…

The Fab Four’s demise was not as advertised — Seven hours and 48 minutes is not as big a commitment as it sounds. There is something magical about “Get Back,” the three-part documentary crafted by Peter “Lord of the Rings” Jackson from a month’s worth of 1969 footage taken by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg. …

R.I.P. Michael Lee Aday — Meat Loaf’s songs made you rock — but they also made you laugh. They bordered on parody and might have been dismissed as “novelty” hits were it not for the fact that he kept churning them out and that they were so fun. Following his death at 74, he is…

The best among them are like classical recitalists — Why is listening to a good band specialising in other peoples’ music treated with less respect than going to a classical concert? This thought came to me some time ago when I went to see The Australian Pink Floyd with some friends. …