Rolling Stone

I must thank my friend Riggsby for sending a bag of goodies all the way from San Diego. Riggsby's one of my oldest school friends now residing in California. I always look forward to his parcels landing on the doormat; in amongst the pot pouri of cultural gems was December's issue of Rolling Stone magazine: it was their round up of the year just gone and it's always good to see what our American cousins rate and hate. Also, it makes a refreshing change from the often stilted and predictable UK music monthlies - Word magazine excepted.

One platter they were gushing about was, I must admit, an album that passed me by entirely - Brothers by The Black Keys. What's refreshing here is that they've clearly dispensed with the minimalist guitar and drum dirge and augmented their sound with (crikey) a bass player and keyboards. Here's a belter from it entitled Howlin' For You: I particularly like the way they pay homage to Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll.