When I first heard this track I thought the title was unusual for an instrumental. "I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine" is off Ry Cooder's 1979 album 'Bop Till You Drop', an album made up almost entirely of covers of earlier rhythm 'n' blues and rock 'n' roll classics.
This song was originally a single sung by Ike & Tina Turner and released in 1961.
Sing along if you know the words….  and ease into the weekend.

Here are the words, if you don't: click

Romance of the Cup ?

Or devaluing it ?

Another F.A. Cup round of underdogs proving the romance of the competition is still intact. But the reduced importance of the oldest cup competition in Football is also plain to see.
Non-league Lincoln City are the first club in 103 years to get into the Quarter Finals. Congratulations but how has this happened ? Teams above them picking to many reserve players and seeing a Cup run as a distraction rather than an attraction.
Premiership Burnley and Leicester went out on Saturday, while Man City have a replay against Huddersfield. Something they won't have to endure in the next round because I've just discovered these ties will be decided on the day as there are no replays in this season's Quarter Finals!
This further reduces the great tradition of the F.A. Cup.
Even the TV coverage at the weekend saw the BBC's lower leagues presenter Manish Bhasin get a full game by introducing MOTD with the weekend's pundits also having a distinct reserve team appearance about them. Maybe the BBC's assigned F.A. Cup team, but still not their best players.

FA Cup quarter-final draw

• Chelsea v Manchester United
• Middlesbrough v Huddersfield or Man City
• Tottenham v Millwall
• Sutton or Arsenal v Lincoln City

With the ties to be played on Friday 10th, Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th and Monday 13th of March. This rather spreads the action out and who plays when will still be dictated by the European involvement of Man City, Man United and possibly Spurs, the week before and after.

I've been swithering this week !
Nothing to do with Saints and weather forecasts or even a dance move of stylish agility. No I've been unable to make up my mind on what track to pick this week.
Then yesterday I was up in London and browsing away an hour to two in one of the few remaining record shops, namely Fopp in Shaftesbury Avenue. Between being amazed at the sheer selection and the prices of vinyl records now on offer, I was on the lookout for a bargain - which presented itself in the shape of Mumford & Sons 2015 CD 'Wilder Mind'. A more rocky release than their previous albums I might have picked any of the tracks but have gone for this one 'Believe', which seemed very appropriate when I found the official video.
Go on a whirlwind, kaleidoscope trip through London town. [  ] Full Screen is a must.

At only £3 (I thought it was a mistake) this CD was considerably cheaper than the two vinyl records purchased by the customer ahead of me in the queue, who didn't see any change from £42. Rock On !

A few weeks back we had a bit of a numbers things going on… 3,000 guests became 25,000 listeners leading on to 9,000,000 views ! (reminder here)
Those 9 million YouTube views got me asking, in this age of popularism, 'what are the most viewed videos on YouTube?' Amazingly the numbers get mind boggling: the most popular is Psy with 'Gangnam Style' > currently at (wait for it) 2,758,820,436 views > yes 2 billion and heading towards 3 billion - full list of the top 100 here.
Many on the list you'd not be surprised to see and it took me to the No.18 spot before I found something I fancied putting on today's music spot.
At nearly, but only, one and half billion views (1,486,847,323 and counting) this is Ed Sheeran singing 'Thinking Out Loud'. 

Romance ahead of Valentine's Day > coincidentally.

I had something else lined up for this week until I heard about the death of singer and bass guitarist John Wetton earlier this week. 
Immediately my mind went to the song he wrote in 1982 with Geoff Downes and released by Asia on their debut album and as a single - 'Heat of the Moment'.
I use to have this track on a playlist I called "This'll make ya smile". It still works for me.
Geoff Downes, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and especially John Wetton - thanks for this !

This Sunday the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs commemorates 75 years since it  was first broadcast on 29th January 1942. 
In that time more than 3000 castaways (guests) have chosen their eight pieces of music, one book and one luxury item to accompany them on a mythical Desert Island. Of the various kinds of music that have been selected, classical music has been the most popular. And when in 2011, Radio 4 asked listeners to vote for the songs they'd most like to take with them if marooned on a Desert Island, 25,000 people picked a Top Ten containing 8 pieces by classical composers: Vaughan Williams & Elgar (two each), Beethoven, Handel, Holst and Mozart. 
Just outside the Ten in 12th spot was Johann Pachelbel's well known 'Canon in D major' – but have you heard it played like this ? Maybe! As over 9 million views on YouTube testify, this version by student Laura Lāce from Latvia is quite something.
Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you 'Canon Rock'

Laura Lāce: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwrrcpcKag7QTHVJSADZUyA

Hang Múa, Ninh Bình

I nicked this photo off my son's Instagram page. Ninh Binh is an hour south from Hanoi, Vietnam.

"We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us"

Now this is going to sound real flash - so here goes. 

Recently one of my  FRIDAY MUSIC SPOT  listeners in California (told ya) put me onto a website called 'Live from Daryl's House' and in particular Episode 77 featuring Elle King.

The Daryl is none other than Daryl Hall (Hall & Oates), while Elle King is a GRAMMY nominated singer described by The New York Times as

"a sassy, hard-drinking, love-’em-and-leave-’em hellion with bad tattoos and a broad pedigree across rock, pop and country. She has Adele’s determination and Joan Jett’s stomp, Brenda Lee’s high-voiced bite and some AC/DC shriek"

They missed out mentioning Janis Joplin, so I will. I've checked out a lot of her music and as a result have found it impossible to pick just one song for this week. Therefore we have two, a bit like one those double 'A' sided singles they use to release years ago.
Depending what mood your in today, you can pick. Do you feel like dancing or just moved in other ways?
Elle King - Song and Dance (or skate):

Elle King - other Song:

There's also a great band version of 'Can't Be Loved' that's worth a spin……

A Diner ? Maybe a Snack Bar - or just a Garden Shed. (London SW17 0BB)

"How did I miss that one?" 
Occasionally you hear a song from way back and wonder why you have no memory of it, despite it being very popular at the time. 
Over Christmas BBC4 aired a programme called 'Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits'. Normally such a title would have us grabbing the tv remote, faster than you could sing "Merry Christmas, everyone", and swiftly changing channels. However on this occasion we didn't.
Intrigued no doubt by the opening song, a lesser known track by The Rolling Stones, we remained watching. Aside from a few dodgy 'hits' and a couple of the anticipated well worn festive ditties, the show was more unexpected than expected, playing music spanning four decades.
Question: In 1987 who had one of the biggest UK hit singles of that year? The Bee Gees, Madonna, maybe the Pet Shop Boys? Well Rick Ashley was 'Top of the Pops' for 5 weeks and, shortly before Christmas that year, so was T'Pau with 'China In Your Hand'. As they played this song I simply had no recall of such a big hit.
The single went on to top the charts in 5 other european countries, but didn't do so well in America and Australia. And here lies the explanation for my missing memory. During the height of its popularity I was away in S.E. Asia before moving on to Australia.

No longer missing, here is that TOTP performance.

During research I discovered that the single release was a shortened version of the album track and it was also slightly sped up to reduce its length. I'm sure you'd like to hear the longer version with extra verses plus I also found a 'live' performance with the guitar taking the sax solo. 
Longer version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfvJS4UO7xI
Live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ch-Z9HqV4