Tricky one, this. In spending time thinking about it, whilst simultaneously compiling a list for one of next week’s topics in addition to a Favourite 50 Liverpool Goals countdown (the latter for personal amusement, although it did start as a kind of therapy), and unfortunately not knowing when the voting would cease, I’m now mentioning it too late to positively affect the votes. Unless you follow the comments and tweets, that is. I’m sorry.

To make matters worse, I’m none the wiser for the time spent pondering and have given up trying to confidently produce a completed form.

So I leave it to the experts to enlighten, secure in the knowledge that there are plenty of you who know much more about Country and Jazz guitarists than I ever will or indeed would care to admit. I look forward to your commendations, particularly if you could suggest a song or two to go with the name.

Now that this is just for fun and the nominations cannot be transferred to the voting form irrespective of Guitar Player’s far stricter rules, your choices do not have to exclusively reflect recent activity, either on the road or in the studio, so you need not limit yourself to the creative outpourings of the last year, nor to the 36 days of this one. I trust that makes it much easier.

Best guitarists in as many of the following fields as you can muster, please (I know, Best again; should be Most Popular or at least Most Respected): Acoustic, Blues, Classical, Country, Jazz, Metal, Rock, Slide, World.

Told you it was tricky, but remember: it’s good for the brain to strain and stretch for those names, faces, riffs and melodies that are so often tantalisingly out of reach. And far less monotonous than Sudoku, I like to think.

Joe Bonamassa has been claiming the Best Blues Guitarist accolade in recent years – I think it’s four in a row for him now.

Other 2009 winners include Eric Clapton, Kirk Hammett, Fareed Haque, Warren Haynes, Pat Metheny, Brad Paisley and Derek Trucks.

Who do you predict will be triumphant in 2010?

If you really know your stuff, there were also categories for Best New (Guitar) Talent, Best Outsider/Experimental Guitarist, and Best Overall Guitarist.

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Best known for helping to create the most flawless of harmonies and for penning deeply meaningful lyrics, as well as for all those much-loved pop classics of the early Sixties, Graham, of resolute social conscience, has also been a loyal campaigner for issues that mean most to him, such as environmental causes (establishing NukeFree.org, for example).

He also gave his support – and song – to help Gary McKinnon’s campaign to challenge his extradition on charges of computer hacking. If you missed it or just want to enjoy it again, you can find ‘Chicago (Change the World)’ featuring David, Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof, with all-important download links, here.

Did you know that Graham is also a keen photographer and collector of photographs? If you share a passion for photography, have a look and perhaps, in addition to sharing which of Graham’s songs you like best, you can also comment on his diverse collection – there’s plenty to listen to whilst you browse.

Aside from the obvious (‘Just One Look’*, ‘Carrie Anne’, ‘Dear Eloise’, ‘King Midas in Reverse’, ‘Teach Your Children’, ‘Marrakesh Express’), a selection of my favourites would have to include ‘Postcard’, ‘Southbound Train’, ‘Helplessly Hoping’, ‘Liar’s Nightmare’, ‘Military Madness’ and this one, ‘On the Line’.

As a life-long Hollies fan, I’m really pleased to say that they will – finally! – be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month in a ceremony at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria. It’s about bloody time, too.

Congratulations, and Happy Birthday, Graham.

* ‘Just One Look’, you may not know, was co-written by one Doris Troy/Payne, probably best remembered ’round these parts for being one of the acclaimed female backing vocalists on The Dark Side of the Moon. Here’s her 1963 original.

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They are as follows:

- Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
- Dido, No Angel
- Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms
- Duffy, Rockferry
- Keane, Hopes & Fears
- Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
- Phil Collins, No Jacket Required
- Sade, Diamond Life
- The Verve, Urban Hymns
- Travis, The Man Who

The thing is, the BRITs being the music industry’s own awards, to be eligible you had to have already won a BRIT Award – in the Best British Album category – and you win this in the first place based on sales figures.

So, I had a look and found the other past winners… and realised that the shortlist probably is as good as it can get, although I would definitely substitute the two Manic Street Preachers albums at the expense of pretty much any of them bar Brothers in Arms and Urban Hymns. I would also like to see Annie Lennox (Union Jack-et negotiable) win a BRIT each year, even though she has seven already.

Do you favour any of these over the actual nominees? If, as many believe, Britannia ruled the (air)waves in the ’60s and ’70s, are these award-winning albums conclusive proof that things have gone downhill dramatically ever since?

- Adam and the Ants, Kings Of the Wild Frontier
- Blur, Parklife (Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell had been nominated)
- Coldplay, Parachutes and X&Y
- The Darkness, Permission to Land
- Fairground Attraction, First Of a Million Kisses
- Fine Young Cannibals, The Raw and the Cooked
- Annie Lennox, Diva
- Manic Street Preachers, Everything Must Go and This is My Truth, Tell Me Yours
- George Michael, Listen Without Prejudice
- Seal, Seal
- Stereo MCs, Connected
- Sting, Nothing Like the Sun

If, like me, you initially find the idea of the ten albums in contention representing the pinnacle of 30 years of British music as depressing as a bowl of cold porridge on a wet winter’s morn (and the use of ‘Best’ as contentious as, well, the last equivalent survey we discussed), you might find this stirs you from your malaise.

Ten ‘better’ albums, even if they weren’t as commercially-successful – from 1980 onwards, please. From UK artists only, don’t forget. (The Division Bell… Hello?)

Should you care to vote, voting closes at 9pm (UK) tomorrow – Thursday 28 January. The winning album will be the one with the most votes when voting ends.

You have to register to vote and the registration form asks for everything other than your shoe size, which may prove off-putting to some. (Slight exaggeration there, but why should one’s date of birth, not to mention telephone number, be required? Presumably the only advantage to registering is being able to cast a vote and leave a comment, not buy cigarettes, and nobody should expect a ring-back.)

The 2010 BRIT Awards will take place on 16 February. Will you be watching?

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Scots can be proud that their land nurtured, for example, the discoverer of penicillin (Alexander Fleming); the inventor of the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell) and the television (John Logie Baird); the writers of ‘Treasure Island’ (Robert Louis Stevenson) and ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (Kenneth Grahame). Not forgetting one of the greatest sportsmen: the King, Kenny Dalglish. (And could he play!)

In music, there’s Annie Lennox, Rod Stewart (you have by now heard ‘In a Broken Dream’ with David on guitar, haven’t you?) and the late John Martyn.

You might care to browse Scotland’s 100 best rock and pop albums, as compiled by The Scotsman in 2003. Thoughts?

The following are my most highly-regarded Scottish inspirations, anyway:

- Rory Bremner (comedian, impressionist and political satirist)
- James Keir Hardie (pacifist founder of the British Labour Party)
- John Muir (environmental activist and conservationist)
- Bill Shankly (irrepressible footballing icon)
- Samuel Smiles (writer and social reformer)

So, anything that is in some way Scottish and makes you feel good today, please; a theme that will continue into the chatroom when it opens on Wednesday for a cyber-supper of the Burnsian variety. Haggis optional.

*One of Robert Burns’ most well-known and -loved poems is ‘To a Mouse’, written in 1785. In it he apologises for the destructive and careless behaviour of mankind, which may resonate with some of you. Here’s a verse or listen to it all here:

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow mortal.

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They don’t have to be singles, album tracks are fine.

My favourite albums from 2006, On an Island aside, were as follows, so I’ve cheated with a favourite song off each.

- The Blue Van, Dear Independence – ‘Goldmind’
- James Dean Bradfield, The Great Western – ‘To See a Friend in Tears’
- Ray Davies, Other People’s Lives – ‘Over My Head’
- Bob Dylan, Modern Times – ‘Nettie Moore’
- Gomez, How We Operate – ‘How We Operate’
- Neil Young, Living with War – ‘The Restless Consumer’

Here are 100 from Rolling Stone to help you, or, should their list have the same effect on you as it did me, make you feel old and out-of-touch… and perhaps just a little grateful for it?

Not knowing approximately 65% of the acts listed, I’d like to know which, if any, are worth listening to; the titles don’t exactly make me want to investigate (I know, books and covers and all that). Besides, if the grammar, or lack of it, causes me to grind my teeth, I daren’t think what listening to the song could do. In all honesty, to my shame, I don’t hold out much hope that listening to some of them would be anything other than a waste of time that I can never get back. ‘Baby Let’s Have a Baby Before Bush Do Somethin’ Crazy’? Where do you begin? I clearly must be old and out-of-touch. God knows I’d like to add a comma to that title.

Pitchfork’s list is here, very helpful in that you can hear 30-seconds from each song with ease. Just play the first one and the others will follow. If you hear something you like, the player will show both artist and song title. If you hear something you don’t like, you can skip to the next one and curse my suggestion.

Knowing that you have exquisite taste, I genuinely look forward to your recommendations and to hopefully discovering something new to listen to.

Six more before I hand over to you, seeing as I cheated earlier. Know any of them?

- Baby Woodrose, ‘Growing Younger’ (Love Comes Down)
- Band of Horses, ‘The Funeral’ (Everything All the Time)
- Burning Saviours, ‘Lilly Marion’ (Hundus)
- Califone, ‘The Orchids’ (Roots and Crowns)
- Five Horse Johnson, ‘Feed That Train’ (The Mystery Spot)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, ‘Dani California’ (Stadium Arcadium)

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The song was originally recorded by legendary Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist and band leader Ramón “Mongo” Santamaria in 1963, and later that year, at the Newport Jazz Festival, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks of American jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (by now Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan).

Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames were one of the most popular, and most jazz-influenced, R&B bands on the London club circuit in the Sixties. They had two other UK chart-topping singles: ‘Get Away’, in June 1966, and ‘The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde’, in December 1967. The latter was also a Top Ten hit stateside.

Singer, pianist and organist Georgie, a founder member of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, also enjoyed a successful solo career and became a much sought-after hired-hand; indeed, he can be heard on On an Island, played and acted as musical director on all of Van Morrison’s albums between 1989 and 1997, and has also worked with the likes of Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Gene Vincent and Muddy Waters.

Here’s the song, anyway. Get a load of the front row. And you thought only the youth of today has a tendency to appear empty-headed and expressionless.

Just kidding, kids.

The topic today, then, as I hear you scratching your puzzled brows: recommended, possibly jazz-influenced, tracks from your favourite keyboardists and organists (as opposed to pianists, as we’ve already covered them).

I can’t decide if it would be best to spend an hour or so listening to the glorious music that Richard Wright composed before or after I attempt this exercise. The one thing I can be sure of is that I will not be the only one likely to question whether there has ever been anyone I have enjoyed listening to more.

Wikipedia has a list of Hammond organ players, which of course includes Richard, and has reminded me of a few talented others. For example, Dave “Baby” Cortez, who also recorded ‘Yeh Yeh’ in 1965 and apparently gave us the first pop/rock hit to feature the organ as the lead instrument (‘The Happy Organ’ in 1959, which was also Billboard’s first instrumental Hot 100 No. 1, fact fans).

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If I’m honest, and I almost always am, if we didn’t start 2010 by looking back at 2009 in order to applaud the good and jeer the bad, I’d feel that something’s not quite right (much like the quibbling as to how this new year should be referred: is it ‘twenty-ten’ or ‘two-thousand-and-ten’?), so let’s start with the decade’s finest long-play offerings and maybe we’ll think about the tunes another time.

(I’m curious to learn if you’re playing, never mind buying, fewer albums in favour of single tracks; I know I am, and I can’t help but feel slightly sad about that whilst, at the same time, uncomfortably asking myself whether many of the albums I have recalled as high points of the past ten years are really good ‘albums’ or just decent collections of songs, some of which are really good.)

Anyway, The Times jumped the gun slightly and produced this diverse, yet somewhat incomplete, list in November.

Here’s mine, trimmed down to leave one from each year, which wasn’t difficult for 2003, but was considerably so for 2006. What a fine musical year that was.

On an Island is obviously a given, so, should you choose to nominate a favourite on a year-by-year basis as I have done, please list another from 2006.

- Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, The Blue Trees (2000)
- Starsailor, Love is Here (2001)
- The Mooney Suzuki, Electric Sweat (2002)
- Kings of Leon, Youth and Young Manhood (2003)
- Jet, Get Born (2004)
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howl (2005)
- Neil Young, Living with War (2006)
- Eagles, Long Road Out of Eden (2007)
- Neil Diamond, Home Before Dark (2008)
- Ray Davies, Kinks Choral Collection (2009)

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…but same old blog. Happy New Year, all.

As I recall doing at about this time last year, I would like to get an apology in nice and early relating to the absence of exciting news of forthcoming albums and concerts. There isn’t going to be any for the time being, I’m afraid.

I’m also sorry that silly rumours still spring up like mould on cheese you should have eaten by now and falsely raise your hopes. I guess some people just need the attention.

So, the random stuff you sometimes like, sometimes hate, will continue in lieu of the kind of thing I know you hope to see (me, too). As ever, I hope you can dip in and out as your mood allows, and I thank you for it.

Pictured is the latest from Lance’s excellent sculpture. How good is that?

And how nice that BBC Radio 2 will re-broadcast the Mermaid Theatre concert during the final week of this month, possibly the first week of the next. Precise details when they’re available, but I trust you’ll all tune in to reminisce about On an Island’s first real public airing, which many of you were able to attend, of course.

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However clichéd they may be, whether you like them or despise them, I’m especially interested in different versions of the same piece for comparison’s sake. The Drifters’ version of ‘White Christmas’, for example. Frank Sinatra’s ‘Jingle Bells’. Celine Dion’s attempt at ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’. And so on and so forth.

By the way, in my view, which is flagrantly biased, never mind downloading ‘Killing in the Name’ to spite Cowell and Co.; people in the UK should be trying to make this Christmas Number One – and supporting Crisis at the same time. What do you think? (Proceeds will also be donated to Feeding America and the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Good for you, Bob.)

OK, I’ll get straight to the songs that I find most irritating at this (most wonderful) time of the year. I have a fairly high tolerance level when it comes to Christmas tunes, surprisingly, but draw the line at these. I’m really sorry if mentioning them causes anyone’s blood pressure to rise. You might want to hold your breath?

- Burl Ives, ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’
- Jona Lewie, ‘Stop the Cavalry’
- Mike Oldfield, ‘In Dulci Jubilo’

And breathe out through your mouth slowly…

As always, thank you very much for your company throughout the year, both here and in the chatroom; I continue to value your honesty and humour greatly. Enjoy the Christmas holiday, however you choose to spend it, and may the New Year bring all that you hope for, particularly good health.

At the risk of sounding like Shakin’ Stevens: Merry Christmas, everyone.

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Available on DVD as of 2001 (Paul McCartney, Live at The Cavern Club!), the show went out as a live webcast and is estimated to have been watched by some three million people worldwide – then a record for an online audience. A giant screen broadcast the performance to the many thousands gathered in a nearby park.

Did you see it at the time, have you seen it since, and what did you make of it?

Paul’s band also consisted of Deep Purple drummer, Ian Paice, Pete Wingfield on keyboards and the legendary Mick Green (of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates) on guitar.

For fun, if David could put together a similar band of talents to perform covers of anyone’s songs in any style, who would you want to see in the line-up, where would you want to see them and what would they play? As the Cavern gig’s set was an oh-so short one, I’ll have to limit you to choosing not much more than 45-minutes of material, please, so choose wisely… and not ‘Pink Floyd’.

How about recreating Jokers Wild somewhere in or around Cambridge, possibly involving a few early Beatles and Stones numbers, perhaps a smidgen of Sam & Dave, but almost certainly Manfred Mann’s brilliant ‘Don’t Ask Me What I Say’?

The chatroom will be opening for its final session of 2009 on Wednesday. Please note that there is a change to the time as has been advertised for the last week or so, thus the chatroom will now be open from 1pm (UK). Hope to see you there.

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