It’s quite simple – just list five songs you’ve been listening to a lot lately. Give the reasons why if you want; that bit is entirely optional.

• Breathing Space – Questioning Eyes
  Some people have claimed that a song is diminished if you know who a song is about. I think that’s total cobblers. This is a real lump-in-the throat song precisely because I know what it’s about.
• Barclay James Harvest – Poor Man’s Moody Blues
  I never saw BJH in their prime, but I bought their 1987 live album “Live Dates”after seeing the John Lees Barclay James Harvest at the Cambridge Rock Festival last month. It’s got a lot of the standards like ‘Child of the Universe’, ‘Mockingbird’ and ‘Hymn’, but it’s this one that particularly stood out for me.
• Blackfield – Hello
  Closing song from their self-titled first album. Blackfield are very good at melancholy.
• Parade – The Diamond
  I need to do a full review of “The Fabric”. This is one of my favourite songs, some heart-melting vocals from Anne-Marie Helder, and great guitar playing from a certain Mr Josh.
• Arena – Purgatory Road
  “When the Martians land on London town”.  Arena are the Saxon of prog; It’s corny as hell, but knows it’s corny, and doesn’t care. This one stands out from the album “Pepper’s Ghost”.

I’m not tagging anyone – If you want to pick up the meme, post to your own blog, livejournal, facebook wall or whatever and link to it in the comments.