In the Spring of 1975 I was getting ready to graduate from college with a Bachelors degree in Math.  My career plan was to be a high school Math teacher and my final three months of school were set aside for Student Teaching at a local high school.  I had about a 30 minute drive to the local high school each morning and I always had the radio blasting to help me relax.

Fortunately for me, there was wonderful new song called How Long that was on high rotation on our local AM radio station.   The song was a great mix of British pop and Philadelphia soul, the lead vocal was incredible, and I managed to catch it on the radio almost every morning.  The fact that this song is such a big part of my memories from that time tells you how much I loved it!  Let’s listen…….

How Long was by a British pub band called Ace.  I bought their first album (named Five A Side) based strictly on my love of How Long.  While the album was pleasant, none of the other songs came close to How Long.   I was content; however, to wait patiently for their next single which I knew would be at least as good as How Long.  Unfortunately I am still waiting.  Ace, as a group, made two more albums but never again came close to recording anything that was as good as their first single.  Cue the crickets………..

By the way, I never became a high school Math teacher!

I am very happy to report that Paul Carrack, the owner of the voice that I fell in love with on How Long, went on to have an amazing career as a successful singer for a number of bands and as a solo artist.  Here is a great song that he did with Mike and the Mechanics.  Let’s listen…..

That boy had an amazing voice so I just have to play one more.  Here is one of my favorite Squeeze song with Paul sharing lead vocal duties with Glenn Tilbrook.