It was just a question of who was going to stomp on us first

It was just a question of who was going to stomp on us first. I've never believed in Labour as the new Jerusalem, but I am a member."Now, among the issues that appear to be preoccupying him is the politics of the music industry itself, including his own frustrations at the critics and radio stations that he believes control it. When he sent his latest album to the controller of music at Radio One, he E-mailed him back: "He said 'it's not the kind of thing we're playing', and he added, 'don't take it personally. We don't play Bob Dylan and Puccini, and they're very good too,' " says Robinson.It is also, for him, the main reason for supporting the festival, because aside from the big names, it is giving a platform to a wide spectrum of musicians."It's one reason for getting to be associated with the National Music Festival, because of the broad church of musicians being represented over all," he says.

"It's a chance to put a different viewpoint for all the other people in CD stores who aren't in the Top 40 and aren't in NME and Melody Maker every week."Although Robinson's own perspective on the current British music scene is cautious, he raves about Skunk Anansie, Detrimental and Dead Can Dance, and says Blur's "Girls and Boys" is one song he would be delighted to have written. He also suggests the standard of playing among younger musicians is much higher."As each generation gets used to hearing music played to a different standard, it gets better. A lot of it is drum machines and systems, which play in perfect time," Robinson says. "That's something we're just not used to, being really properly in time But what we oldsters can still score on is feeling.

If you take a Van Morrison record to pieces you'd probably find certain performances out of time. But it all hangs together."The sun is shining in Wandsworth, and Robinson's own situation is as unpredictable as ever. But he says his forties have proved his happiest decade so far, and he is happy to recall an incident from the first time he lost his place front of stage "I was down to selling off my guitars and amplifiers. And when a musician sells off his instruments it's getting serious. Among the people who replied were two scruffily dressed rastas," he says."They were looking at the stuff in my garage and TRB was written on one of the flight cases.

One of them says, 'Yeah, Tom Robinson, what happened to him? He was really good, man!' So I said, 'Well actually, I am Tom Robinson.' And the guy said: 'Hey, you ought to keep at it, you know. People who keep at it always come back in the end.' So I said 'Sure, look at Eddy Grant.' And he replied, 'I am Eddy Grant.' "Tom Robinson plays the Fleece & Firkin, Bristol, 12 June.. Gregory Isaacs The Cool Ruler rules, apparently with indefinite tenure. Can it really be 20 years since his garlanded roots reggae added a new coloration to the tonal palette of Jamaican music and, as a consequence, began to infiltrate the rock market as the punk's remedy to the late-night blues? Certainly, Isaacs' best cuts, on Virgin, GG's, Pre and African Museum in the second half of the Seventies, still stand as the apotheosis of reggae as a music of intimacy. They are minimalist in form and restrained in delivery, and though there are more technically gifted and extravagantly endowed singers to be found on in Jamaica, not one of them has the ability to get as close to his subject as the Ruler When Gregory sings, you feel his breath at your ear.

A recent album recorded for the British label Acid Jazz enabled Isaacs to revisit his rootsy Seventies style with some success. But for the most part, the past decade and a half have seen him wrapping the latest Jamaican sonic fashions in the parchment of his extraordinary voice. 21 June, London ForumNCSLEEPERIt's taken a while, but people are starting to pay attention to Sleeper's songs. When Sleeper first appeared a couple of years back, the music press centred on the band's allegedly controversial singer, Louise Wener. The reality is that Louise isn't quite the banderilla-brandishing toreador to the sacred cows of the politically correct she's been painted as: she's just a bit brighter than most musicians.She's also improving as a songwriter.