Every week on my radio show, ( BBC WM, Sunday afternoons 2 'til 4, and repeated for 7 days on BBC Iplayer ) I have a quiz - and it's proving to be incredibly popular.

So, are YOU really into your music - do you consider yourself a bit of an expert on rock, pop, soul, blues, rock'n'roll, country, etc ? If so, you are going to love my brand new weekly blog.

Every week, beginning today, there will be a "BEV BEVAN'S POP QUIZ" - 10 very varied questions that might cover any genre of popular music spanning the past 50 years or so - from Fifties pop and rock'n'roll right up to the present day.

I recall the day I met Michael Jackson backstage in America.

He came to see ELO when we played in Los Angeles back in 1978.

He was ushered backstage and came to shake hands with us all.

He seemed cheerful but rather shy, and there wasn't any conversation between us.

But I was told that he liked our music, and that was quite a compliment.

The news of his death came as a great shock, even though he had looked frail in recent times.

I was a huge fan of his music during the late 1970s and 1980s. He was brilliant then.

I went to see him in concert at Wembley Stadium - I think it was on the Bad tour - and it was one of the best shows I had ever seen.

As a live performer he was fantastic. He was the best dancer on the planet, too.

It's best that we all remember him that way than for all the personal problems he faced.

LEVEL 42 Guaranteed and Forever Now ( Edsel)

ORIGINALY from the lovely Isle of Wight, Brit jazz/funk/rockers Level 42 racked up a total of 230 weeks on the album charts throughout the 80s and early 90s.

With core members Mike Lindup on keyboards and brilliant bass player and vocalist Mark King, the band also had several big hit singles with their distinctive mix of funky work outs and plaintive ballads.

After nine albums on the Polydor label the band moved to RCA for Guaranteed, which was released in September 1991 and peaked at number 3 in the British album charts.

"Forever now" was the group's second album for RCA, and it too made the top ten. Both of these albums have an accompanying, bonus CD full of B sides and 12" mixes.

Level 42 recently played the O2 in London and are set to announce more concerts later in the year.

Instrumentals with Strings and Things ( Ace)

THE moment commercial rock'n'roll reared it's fearsome and welcome head in the late 50s, the major labels lost their grip on the market.

The one segment they were able to retain their dominance and dignity, was the easy listening, middle of the road, orchestral format

And here are some of those orchestral, instrumental hits from that golden age of American popular music, spanning 1956 to 1967.

Makes me realise what a fabulously eclectic mix of music we had to choose from back then - rock, pop, folk, country, skiffle, soul, blues, novelty 45's and the instrumentals too - all managing to find places in the charts. How different from the bland and boring charts of today !

Saturday May 9th 2009

Got a text message from my old mate and former Black Sabbath colleague Tony Iommi, who's touring with his band Heaven and Hell in South America.

Sunday May 10th

Drove to a near deserted BBC at the Mailbox in Birminghham for my live two-hour radio show on WM 95.6, along with my co-host Jimmy Franks. Went well.

Tuesday May 12th

Set off to Batley in Yorkshire for charity benefit night at the famous old Batley Variety Club (now called The Frontier Club), to commemorate the one year anniversary of the sudden death of agent and manager Derek Franks.

He was an old friend of mine and put together many tours for ELO Part 2 in the Nineties. Place packed out and a lot of money raised for a local children's hospice - enough to buy one of those wonderful Variety Club Sunshine coaches.

Great show it was, too - a real Sixties pop extravaganza. There was Dave Berry, Brian Poole, Journey South, Maggie Bell, Vanity Fare, Chris Farlowe, The Manfreds, The Searchers' Mike Pinder and PJ Proby.

Comedian Martin Gold did a good job as the compere. Former soap star Frazer Hines and myself did the 21-prize raffle draw - something else for my CV, I'm a raffle drawer! Few drinks afterwards with Derek's widow Debra, Brian Poole and Dave Berry.

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Honey And Wine (Ace)

THIS is the second foray by the Ace record label into the huge folio of Goffin and King compositions, celebrating one of the most lauded songwriting partnerships of all time.

As a youngster Gerry Goffin developed a taste for Broadway musicals and began creating songs in his head.

He enrolled at college to study chemistry and it was there he met 17 year-old Carole King, a keen amateur songwriter in search of a lyricist. They hit it off straight away, penned a few songs together and dropped out of college to get married.

In 1960 they joined Carole's friend Neil Sedaka at New York's Aldon Music as staff songwriters, and within two years became the most successful songsmiths in the country.

Amongst original versions of songs included here are Bobby Vee's Go Away Little Girl (before Steve Lawrence got his hands on it), and The Rising Sons' Take A Giant Step (later covered by The Monkees).

Not to be missed is Nancy Wilson's No Easy Way Down, which Dusty Springfield included on her brilliant Dusty In Memphis album.

There's also the US hits Oh No Not My Baby by Maxine Brown, Gene McDaniel's Point Of No Return, and Gene Pitney's Every Breath You Take.

Over this side of the pond there are UK successes Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees and Up On The Roof by The Drifters.

There are also overlooked gems such as Chuck Jackson's I Need You, Freddie Scott's Brand New World and Jody Miller's very non-politically correct He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss.

Friday April 3, 2009

Up early to drive to The Mailbox in Birmingham to be on Phil Upton's BBC WM Breakfast Show, to publicise my new radio show, beginning on Sunday.
Whilst on the show I offered to donate a Gold Disc to raffle in aid of WM's Kidney Kids Appeal for Birmingham Childrens Hospital.

Saturday April 4

Phone interview on Jimmy Frank' BBC WM Saturday afternoon show to plug start of our new show, starting tomorrow.

Sunday April 5th

Another phone interview on WM, this time on Carl Chinn's programme. Carl, like me, a former pupil of Moseley Grammar School.

Drove to The Mailbox, getting there about 1pm for the first of my new weekly radio shows. Unlike all of the shows I did on Saga and Smooth radio, this programme goes out LIVE, which is a whole new kettle of fish.

Near disaster when my co-host Jimmy Franks managed to press a mystery button on the sound desk and completely took the station off air for a couple of minutes! Soon rectified, though, and the show started straight after the 2 o'clock news.

I felt a little nervous to begin, but all nerves disappeared as soon as I got on mic, announcing: "the boy is back in town" and we launched into Thin Lizzy's classic The Boys Are Back In Town.

I have known Jimmy for several years, ever since he used to introduce my band at our residency at the Jamhouse in St Paul's Square in Birmingham.

The show went well but we had to finish half an hour early, at 3.30pm, to make way for the sports team (including my old friend Ron Atkinson) and their coverage of the Manchester United v Aston Villa game.

MIDGE URE - Pure + Breathe (Edsel)

IN September 1991, Ultravox frontman and Band Aid co-founder Midge Ure released Pure, his third solo album.He waited until 1995 to release his fourth, Breathe.

Both albums featured an eclectic mix of guest musicians, including Robert Fripp from King Crimson, Paddy Moloney of the Cheiftans, Mark Brzezicki of Big Country and Liam O'Maonlai from Hothouse Flowers.

This expanded CD release of both albums boasts 13 bonus tracks too, including Ure's version of Peter Green's Man Of The World.

There's a live version, too, of Tom Rush's No Regrets, originally a solo hit for Midge in 1982.

MAXINE BROWN - Best Of The Wand Years (Ace)

SOME sophisticated New York City soul from the splendid Maxine Brown, who was one of the late, great Dusty Springfield's influences. Dusty, Rod Stewart, Cher and Manfred Mann all recorded versions of Goffin and King's Oh No Not My Baby but Maxine Brown's original remains the best. That recording was one of just three major American hits for her, along with All In My Mind and Funny.

She also sang several duets with Chuck Jackson, and one of these, Something You Got was a song I used to sing with The Move.

ELVIS PRESLEY

I Believe (RCA / Legacy)

THIS is an impressive 4-CD boxset and a fitting tribute to all of Elvis Presley's Grammy award-winning gospel and inspirational recordings.

It features the multi-platinum selling original albums Peace In The Valley, His Hand In Mine, How Great Thou Art and He Touched Me.

Also included are movie tracks such as Down By The Riverside from Frankie And Johnny, Swing Low Sweet Chariot from The Trouble With Girls, Sing You Children from Easy Come Easy Go and Let Us Pray from Change Of Habit.

It is interesting and surprising to note that throughout his distinguished career, Elvis Presley only ever received three Grammy awards and none of those were for his classic hits or groundbreaking rock'n'roll records, but all for his recordings of church music.

JOHN PHILLIPS

Pussycat (SPV Yellow Label)

JOHN Phillips was born in Paris Island, South Carolina in 1935 and is best remembered for creating folk-rock quartet the Mamas and Papas, who went on to enjoy several hit singles and albums during the mid-Sixties.

This shelved solo album, now on CD, was recorded in 1976 along with Rolling Stones Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood, and was produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Amongst the 10 original album tracks and the five bonus ones, you'll find Phillips' material from the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth, which starred David Bowie in the lead role.

This album was the last creative effort by John Phillips before his drug arrest in 1980. Sadly, he died in 2001.

Been listening to this album ...

VINCE TAYLOR
Jet Black Leather Machine
(Ace)

Lionised by David Bowie and covered by The Clash, Vince Taylor was one of the most remarkable rock and roll stars to emerge from late 1950s Britain.

For David Bowie, the rise and fall of Taylor was the inspiration for Ziggy Stardust.

In 1996, Bowie told the BBC's Alan Yentob that Taylor was "out of his gourd, totally flipped.

He came out on stage in white robes and said he was Jesus Christ.

"It was the end of Vince - his career and everything else".

Bowie recalled meeting Taylor in mid-60s London, outside Charing Cross Station.

Opening a map on the pavement, Taylor got a magnifying glass out and showed the aspiring rock star the sites where UFOs would land.

Jet Black Leather Machine is the first compilation to tell the Vince Taylor story.

He composed Brand New Cadillac, along with Cliff Richard's Move It and Johnny Kidd's Shakin' All Over - the only three British-made rock'n'roll records of the late Fifties to stand alongside their American influences.

As well as that classic , there are Vince Taylor and the Playboys' powerful renditions of My Baby Left Me, My Babe, Sweet Little 16, Twenty Flight Rock, Memphis Tennessee, Hi-Heel Sneakers and Long Tall Sally.

Tune in to my show from 2pm to 4pm Sundays on BBC WM 95.6FM

MARCH 2009

March 2nd

Drove to the imposing Mailbox building in downtown Birmingham for a meeting at the BBC with assistant MD Jeremy Pollock and my old friend Jimmy Franks, who will be helping me host my new Sunday afternoon radio show (BBC WM 95.6 , 2pm 'til 4pm).

A live two-hour show will be a new experience for me , but one that I am really looking forward to. I spent about five years with "SAGA FM" and around two years with "SMOOTH RADIO", but joining the BBC feels like being signed up by Manchester United!