Rip

I loved Chris Rea and was really sorry to hear of his passing today. A thoroughly decent man who endured a lot of physical pain in recent years, but still keeping his humour and love for music. He was rooted in the blues and smokey pubs of the North East but was equally adept at turning out pop classic after classic. Obv everyone knows the balearic connection by now, but I guess much of that is due to Alfredo who had this unique knack of finding unlikely records that somehow matched the mood.

My fondness for the music long predated that though. 'On the beach' was arguably the greatest single Sade never released, a true homage to the summer, which would've sounded even more exotic to sun-starved office workers in northern climes. There were lesser known hits I loved like 'Tennis' which have that melancholy I look for in music. Then there were his car tunes, true emblems of dadrock but which I mostly remembered fondly from my own motorway journeys with cousins. It was sad that his name became a byword for naff, especially for the sneering music critics and their ho ho ho dire 'rea' straits jokes; yet for some of us it stood the test of time and delivers nothing but the warmest memories. A musical great and an icon of the 80s at its best. RIP
 
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